Genetic Ascension novel Chapter 2292

Sylas listened to her story from start to finish, and the only answer he could come up with was the fact that she likely wasn't just moving through portals between the worlds. She was stepping through time warps as well.

The other potential explanation was the down time she had spent as the so-called "Demon Queen" of so many worlds. It sounded like she had spent a lot of time just waiting around, it was very possible that the time passed very differently from what she wanted. It could have been the system's method of ensuring she was in top condition to act when it was necessary.

But had this been the explanation, the Duchess would have likely been smart enough to see through it. Unless… 'She was moving back and forth between a Demon World she had no recollection of and a Real World she had never lived in before. Without a reference point for either, it would be impossible for her to tell how much time was passing outside of the time she personally experienced.'

After a long while, Sylas' lips parted.

"Come here."

The Duchess blinked, not quite understanding. But Sylas didn't repeat himself.

After some hesitation, the Duchess chose to stand.

Sylas, still seated on his rocking chair, extended a hand.

The Duchess looked at it, not even knowing what to do with the hand. In the end, she could only hesitantly reach out and touch it.

Sylas took her hand and pulled her into his lap. It was an action someone as strong as the Duchess should have been able to very easily fight back against, but she was in too much shock to respond.

Something about that young girl who first met Sylas, the young girl who first learned what it meant to feel safe in the arms of a man who wasn't her father or brother, shone forth.

No… it wasn't just that…

She couldn't remember the last time she had been by anyone who had given her warmth at all. How long had her brother been dead? How long had her father been dead? How long had the Sanguara ceased to exist?

How long had it been since she interacted with someone who wasn't treating her like the enemy of a lifetime, or didn't have eyes filled with lust that seemed to want nothing more than to defile her in the worst of ways?

She simply couldn't remember, just like she couldn't recall just how much time had passed.

She found herself curling into Sylas, her heart trembling for a moment like a shivering kitten hiding beneath the blankets. A single tear fell from her eye and it soaked into Sylas' turtleneck before vanishing like it had never been there.

She had truly forgotten what it felt like to experience warmth from anyone. Not warmth like this.

These last few days, Cassarae was very much correct. She had warmed up to her, but only because it was such a novel feeling that even Cassarae's crude jokes and cultural mismatch had left her smiling inwardly in ways she hadn't thought possible.

And now…

"… I'm sorry..." the Duchess said softly.

Sylas didn't reply, but he also didn't need to. The tears of the Duchess were enough, and many more of them fell after she spoke those words.

Was he softer because of the life in her belly? Maybe. But maybe that was also the sort of man he wanted to be in the first place.

He was fiercely prideful toward himself and everything that was his. And now, the Duchess was his.

…

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