Chapter 338: Golden Cage

"Here, Evelyn, try a little bit," Esther says, handing me a spoonful of cake mixed with my medication. Only two hours have passed since I "returned" to my body, and she’s already brought me clothes, partially loosened the chain on my collar, and let me move to the bed beside hers.

’So terrifying...’ I swallow hard, accepting the spoonful of food. Now that I’ve gone deeper into my spiritual powers and nymph abilities, I can "see" and "taste" Esther’s emotions.

And it suffocates me. It’s like trying to swallow an entire bottle of pure honey at once — dense, viscous, suffocating as it "slides" down my throat, sending tremors through me that I try to hide.

I’ve never felt Esther’s emotions before. Before going to the other world, I had never felt the feelings of other living beings. But after going to a world where Hikishin didn’t exist, my nymph powers became my absolute focus and grew to extreme lengths.

And I began to see and taste the emotions of others, and over time it only amplified. Now, by reflex, I keep this ability active even if I don’t want to, since I don’t think I can "turn it off."

’I feel suffocated... Esther’s love is too thick. It’s like each gulp slides down slowly, heavy and sticky, coating my throat until I feel like I can’t breathe.’ It’s completely different from what I expected her emotions to be.

’It’s not a normal emotion. It’s excessive, concentrated, almost sick. As if every thought of hers is trying to seep inside me.’ And considering how different my body feels because of the pregnancy, it’s simply nauseating. I feel like I’m going to throw up.

"That’s it... take your medicine properly, Evelyn..." she says while I try to swallow the pills, but I’m too nauseous, so it takes me a long time to finish.

"How is it?" she asks as if everything were normal, as if I weren’t chained up in this room. But I’m forced to ignore the situation to answer.

"...S-Sweet... very sweet," I murmur, hearing how the chains shift when I move uncomfortably in the bed.

"You seem scared. Why are you so afraid of me? Do you think I’ll hurt you? I only restrained you. I think that’s not reason enough to be afraid, right?" she asks while I don’t know what to say.

It’s obvious that I still love her. I love her too much to want her far from me, but at the same time, her love is suffocating now. It’s almost physically unpleasant for me, making me want her to stay just a little distant so I can breathe.

"I-It’s nothing, I-I just feel weird because I’m pregnant... I’m just a little nauseous..." I tell her even though I want to pull away a bit. She’s too close, which only intensifies the taste and the heavy sensation of her feelings.

I wonder if her feelings were always so "clingy" or if they just intensified too much during the time she was away from me. I have no baseline, because this is the first time I’ve "felt" and "tasted" these emotions.

"I understand. Pregnancy hormones, right? Don’t worry, you’ll feel better soon," she says, caressing my belly. Her touch is somewhat cold. Was it always this cold? Or is it just this place, naturally cold, that ended up leaving her physically cold?

"Y-Yeah... that’s... that’s it... I’m feeling a little strange because I’m pregnant..." I just agree with her. What else could I do in this situation? I’m confused, uncomfortable, and worst of all, I’m completely at her mercy. So, as always, it’s better to just give in to Esther’s whims, even if the prospect of being trapped in this place forever is terrifying.

"...Since you’re not really in the mood to eat, you just need to finish your medicine and we can do something to distract you a little..." she says while I look at the cake.

"Why are there so many extra pills?" Normally there were already a lot of pills — some for my mental health, others for my physical health, and others for the baby’s health. But now, on top of the cake, there are almost four times the amount of medicine I usually took before.

Since I was a "soul" outside my body, I technically didn’t need medicine in the other world. But when I arrived in this world and received the memories from my soul backup that was in my place, I realized he only had memories from eight and a half months, and then everything went blank. Meaning Esther "froze" him in that capsule somehow.

But up until that period, everything was normal — probably because it was within the time frame I promised to return.

"They’re just a few extras I asked Saluvia for. That’s not a problem, is it?"

"...N-No... I... I guess not," I stare at the pills. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem; my puppet body wouldn’t let effects like poison have any use. But considering that Esther managed to block something extremely specific from my blessing, what guarantee do I have that these pills aren’t some heavy or dangerous drug for me?

"Here you go. You’re going to take your medicine, aren’t you?" she asks, scraping the surface of the cake, scooping up all the pills together with the cream mixture on the spoon. Just the sweet smell of the cake mixed with the suffocating sensation makes me nauseous.

"A-Aaahh..." I open my mouth for her, and with a smile, she moves the spoonful of pills toward my mouth. The taste of the cream is very sweet as I feel the pills on my tongue. I force myself to swallow everything while looking into Esther’s eyes. She has a strange smile on her face, deeply unsettling.

"Good girl," she strokes my head, making my tail wag contentedly at being praised. Her touch is gentle and calm, caressing softly up toward my horns. The caress is quite pleasant, but it feels almost like a bribe after doing something malicious.

"I-I’m a little cold. Could you get me a blanket? Please?" I ask, trying to get her away from me so I can breathe properly.

"...Of course," she finally moves away from me and goes to the wardrobe. I take a deep breath, still nauseous, but just having her a few meters away makes the taste of her emotions less intense.

Now it makes sense why nymphs try to draw people as close as possible — the closer they are, the more intense the taste of the emotion.

"Here you are, Evelyn," Esther returns to me with a sheet, and she also brings a nail clipper, which confuses me. She positions herself slightly over me, covering me gently, and then takes my hand.

"I’m going to cut your nails, so stay very still, okay?"

"Why?" Esther’s actions right now are the most confusing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

"...I just thought it would be nice," she says, starting to cut my nails. But her actions — restraining me, leaving me naked and then picking out a dress, feeding me, and now cutting my nails — make me feel like I’m a doll being cared for.

Each snap of the nail clipper is like the sound of a clock’s gong marking a painfully long stretch of time. The change in my blessing even makes my perspective in this body dominant, while the perspectives of my other bodies become secondary.

So my consciousness is completely trapped in the moment of this body, which isn’t the best of moments.

"D-Don’t you have work at the castle?" I ask her as she finishes with my right hand and picks up my left, her touch extremely careful.

"No, I sorted things out with those three marionettes of yours. Vermilion, Amanda, and Cypher, along with three semi-material copies of me, handle 89% of the paperwork, while I take care of only the important documents."

"I learned this copy magic precisely so the copies would be intertwined with my mind, so it’s still me taking the reins of everything. So don’t worry, I have plenty of free time to live here with you," she says, delivering terrible news for me.

"O-Our daughter! Do you plan to make her live locked up in this room!?" I question, somewhat agitated.

"No, you don’t need to worry, Evelyn. We’re in the [Black Rose Palace], a huge and complex castle-like structure. This ’castle’ is bigger than the one we used to live in, and it’s all yours."

"Outside, the view is beautiful, and you and our daughter will be able to enjoy all the space and beauty of the forests and gardens, as well as flower-filled fields. I won’t keep you chained to this room forever — that wouldn’t be good for your health. I just won’t let you leave this place ever."

"But sometimes I’ll need to release you from the collar so you can stretch your legs a little and enjoy the beautiful view of this place. As long as you don’t irritate me, your collar will become just a cute little accessory," she says, stroking the collar on my neck.

"...Unless... you’re not okay with it? Then I believe we’ll have a problem... And Evelyn, I think you don’t want us to have a problem, do you?"

"N-No... I-I’m okay with it, h-hahaha... I-I’m very happy... with this," I tell her. She places both hands on my cheeks and uses her thumbs to press my lips into a smile.

"Then if you’re happy, you should smile, Evelyn."

"..." I give a fake, ugly smile while she forces me to smile.

"Good girl, that’s how it should be," she says, giving me a kiss as she moves her hands to my back in an embrace, her belly pressing against my pregnant belly.