Chapter 337: Unexpectedly unexpected

"..." I wait with an unpleasant anxiety for my body’s "real" signal that I can appear in it again, I wonder how he is and if Esther took good care of him.

Every second of waiting is like torture, I don’t know why else I’m so tense, nervous, and with a certain fear and dread of meeting Esther, maybe because I know how she is and I’m certain she’s going to punish me somehow for taking too long.

’I shouldn’t have promised one year...’ I thought one year would be enough, but I forgot to consider that time in another world wouldn’t be the same as time in this world.

"Haa..." I take a deep breath feeling something like a "spark," the connection to my body starting to return, 1 hour has passed, that same hour felt like an eternity I wanted to end quickly, but also wished had never ended.

"..." Eve is in a military cabin taking care of Shizuka while I’ve already seen the army is advancing well, we’re about halfway to the angels’ main kingdom, and from here on things are going to escalate further.

"Well, you can’t say it won’t get ugly... but she doesn’t have much to complain about, right?" My other body begins to regain consciousness, as my focus shifts entirely to this body.

"Nghh..." I feel immediately strange, my body is somewhat stiff and I look around realizing it’s very dark, my body shivers from the cold as I sit up.

Glancing briefly to the sides I notice I’m inside some kind of capsule connected to 4 pillars brimming with magic, there’s so much Hikishin it has practically altered the atmosphere of the place.

"!!!" I look at my belly and notice it’s HUGE and my breasts have grown a bit too, and I’m also naked, the sight is so strange and alien to me that I freeze staring at it for some time before understanding why I’m like this.

’That’s right, I’m pregnant... of course it would grow...’ The weight I feel inside me is uncomfortable, not to mention the weight of my breasts, they’ve become much fuller and more "mature" in a way.

"You look great" I hear Esther’s voice and look to the side, immediately my body breaks out in goosebumps.

"E-Esther?!" The level of power she emanates now is frightening compared to when I "went away," it’s like nearly 3 times stronger! Which is a lot considering how strong she already was.

"..." She stares at my belly and you can see her disgust for our baby, it seems even more blatant than in the past, maybe because now the baby is obviously visible.

"S-Sorry for the delay... I-I didn’t expect the time difference, i-in the other world barely 4 months had passed..." I answer her trying to stand up while justifying myself, but when I try I notice I’m chained by the dragging sound of the chains.

"!!?" I look down seeing there’s a collar holding me to the bed through chains.

"W-What is this?" I ask indignantly looking further down seeing my right ankle is also restrained by another chain, the ankle chain is already much longer, easily allowing me to walk around the entire environment if I wanted to.

"I simply realized something, with your powers you can escape me through childish games even with your soul being my slave, however I also realized your body requires a base body where your core will inhabit"

"So what I did during this extra time you were away? I spent a year fixing your power to this body you’re in now, it means you can no longer flee to another body and make it your main body"

"To summarize, a restriction, from now on you are unable to stay more than a week in other bodies, and you will automatically return to this body here, and you also cannot change which is your main body"

"W-What the hell?! Why did you... w-wait... h-how?" Before I complain I realize something frightening, how? Switching bodies is a power of my blessing, it’s not merely magic to be restricted.

There are ways to block certain capabilities of a blessing, but the restriction she imposes is too specific, she didn’t stop the functioning of my blessing, she only prevented me from being able to define other bodies as my main body.

"I don’t need to tell you how I did it, that would be foolish after all" She speaks in a tone that reminds me much more of the old Esther.

"W-Why did you do this?" I don’t understand so I’m left so confused, what’s the point of doing this? She already trapped my soul so why chain me to a room?

"Why? Isn’t it obvious, to ensure you are and always will be mine, if you ran away from me I would go crazy, so... I made my arrangements" She says this with a calmness that is simply disturbing.

"Arrangements? D-Do you plan to keep me locked up here forever?" I question with anger, frowning at her.

"Yes"

"?!" She doesn’t deny it, doesn’t give excuses, doesn’t beat around the bush, she is cold, direct, and blunt in an answer that shocks me for being too honest in such a terrible context.

"It’s not like you need to go out, is it? We are in a place I built specifically for you, can you feel it? You can’t, right? It’s impossible for you to know your specific location or at what point in the world you are right now"

"But don’t worry, I won’t isolate you permanently, you still have your other two bodies, don’t you? The one currently in the castle, the same one that went to the beastmen kingdom with my clone and resolved the matter by making the beastmen give up the war, and you have the one on the angelic continent"

"Besides, here there’s a door that will take you to the castle when I’m feeling generous and want to give you a treat"

"Y-You think you can just lock me up here? I-I’m the Queen!! And there’s Saluvia—"

"Saluvia is here too, she also knows, and the fact you’re here doesn’t influence your position as queen, after all your other body is in the castle, everyone sees the queen there, I won’t stop you from governing, Evelyn"

"...?"

"You seem shocked, did you think I wouldn’t bring Saluvia? I need her, she’s your doctor and helped me a lot to become stronger, she was also the one who helped me lock you up here, you know the most ironic part? Saluvia only cares about your health, she doesn’t care if you have freedom or not, as long as you’re healthy"

"And guess what, I managed to convince her that locking you up here was safer, healthier, and good both physically and psychologically, soon you’ll get used to living here"

"H-Have you gone insane?" I question getting up with great difficulty because of the chain attached to the collar on my neck.

"No Evelyn, I’m just being cautious, besides stop making such a fuss, you still have all your puppets, power, and extra bodies, all I did was lock down your body that I can now call ’true’ permanently"

"Y-You think I’ll accept this?"

"You will, because you have a baby you want to protect, don’t you? Know that I have ways to kill it without breaking any agreement between us, don’t forget that many things are only maintained as you want by my benevolence, benevolence that cooled greatly when I spent two years without being able to see you"

"...I-It’s not fair to punish me for something outside my control!"

"I don’t care about fairness, Evelyn, are you really going to complain? Stress is bad for the baby, just lie down on your ’bed’ and don’t worry, the view from the window here is beautiful, although only I can open it, and you’ll like the food in this place, I made the best of the best for you"

"H-Have you completely lost your mind?!"

"Maybe, that’s what so long without seeing you did to me, you’re like a drug, and left me with severe withdrawal from seeing you, now please obey and stay quiet in your bed, I’ll fetch clothes for you, besides the baby’s delivery is expected to happen within one to two weeks, Saluvia will help you with it" Esther speaks coldly heading for the door of this place.

The entire place is made of strange black walls with an elegant white chandelier in the middle of the ceiling, the furniture and most of the things are made of similar materials, but with colors varying from black, gray, and white, they seem to be the same material in every corner.

"W-Wait!!" She ignores me closing the door as she leaves, meanwhile I stay here trapped in this place barely able to move properly.

"D-Dammit t-this is so unfair..." I went to another world to fetch a soul precisely to help in the war so Esther wouldn’t be at risk, and look what I get in return? A permanent prison and a restriction on my powers.

"S-So unfair..." I lie back down where I was, it’s so cold here, it makes my tail wrap around my leg trying to warm myself while I feel suffocated by the claustrophobic environment.

It’s different from being devoured alive, from having pieces ripped from me, or from being beaten by Esther, something about this isolation causes a dread that spreads through my body.

The cold, the silence, the situation, all of this causes a kind of fear that only complete isolation from the outside world causes, and even though I can see and receive memories from the other bodies, the prospect of being trapped in this body that is trapped in a strange room is terrifying.

"Haaa... Haaa..." I gasp feeling more alone than I’ve ever felt, an undeniably horrible situation for me in a way I could never have predicted.