CHAPTER 437: [DEFILEMENT]

"...What are you doing here?" I ask, staring at that goddess, brought from another place.

"I came to talk about something... may I just call you Delphina?" she asks nervously, with obvious fear of me.

"Tsukuyomi, call me whatever you want. Just tell me why you’ve come to my home," I say, already irritated by this invader. I hate it when people come to my palace without permission, though I must say I’m impressed she managed to get all the way down here to the bottom of the ocean still in one piece.

"I-I came here to get some distance from Pandora and to warn you about something..." she says to me nervously, while I’m thinking about whether I should kill her for trespassing or just throw her out.

"Say what you came to say," I say, growing impatient.

"Well, Pandora got Zephyra pregnant and had another child..." When she says that, my expression immediately shifts from shock to anger.

"Y-You’re lying!! I said I should be next!" I say, feeling irritated and confused. Pandora knew I wanted to be next after she’d already had Eclipsya, and now I find out Pandora has another daughter with that damned Grimm, so that makes two!!! TWO!!

"Why did you come here? You’re lying! Pandora wouldn’t... she wouldn’t... SHE WOULD DO THAT?!" I become so furious that the ocean outside the palace begins to tremble and grow darker. Pandora really would do that.

Because she’s a damned pervert who can’t see a pretty girl without wanting to shove her tail into them.

"Why did you come to tell me this?" I ask, unable to keep the venom from my voice. Pandora loves to tempt fate. She knows I hate being left in second place.

And this time it’s not even second place, it’s literally third place, and that’s if she doesn’t decide to have another child in the world.

"...I’ll be honest, Delphina. When Pandora pulled me into this world and I saw you, I was terrified. You’re scary... but I also understood that you love Pandora very much, and Pandora respects you a great deal... Pandora hurt Zephyra, who is my friend, very badly."

"So... I decided to leave the castle and came looking for you to tell you that Pandora had another child. I know you’ll do something... because you’re also Pandora’s wife, right? Maybe you can knock some sense into her," she admits she’s trying to use me for something.

"...You... forget it, tell me everything!" I’m angry, but not just angry—I’m hurt that Pandora has put me beneath others again. It’s so unfair to me, who loves her so much.

She’s the reason I fell for her. She’s the one who barged into my life out of nowhere and decided to make it a little better, but along with that, she brought me stress, hatred, jealousy, and a lot of anger towards her for continuing to play with my feelings as if I were a toy.

"..." I lead Tsukuyomi to a special room for a private conversation while I think about how to punish Pandora for once again lowering my importance.

Tsukuyomi quickly tells me everything that happened, and honestly, as I listen, I don’t find anything interesting about it, because I don’t care about that dragon girl, and if she couldn’t handle Pandora, then she’s weak.

I could easily handle everything she went through and would be happy to do the same. It sounds like a dream to be locked in a room with just Pandora for months while we make a child together.

As Tsukuyomi speaks, I understand what she wants from me. She hopes I’ll put some "sense" into Pandora’s head through a conversation. Tsukuyomi quickly figured out how Pandora works.

Pandora will only submit to someone if that person is much stronger than her and if she doesn’t hate the person. In other words, if I threaten Pandora, Pandora will behave better.

And given my current hatred, I really feel an immense desire to leave my palace and go after her to complain about this, but that won’t change Pandora.

Tsukuyomi hasn’t yet understood that Pandora won’t obey anyone, even if that person is stronger than her and she loves them. If I go fight with Pandora, she’ll just find a way to circumvent my orders and requests.

And worse, after breaking the rules I impose, she’ll just do something romantic, and I, like an idiot, will forgive her because I love her and can’t win against her when she’s affectionate and romantic.

In the end, me going there won’t change anything because Pandora will just deceive me with sweet words of love, and I’ll fall for it even though I know it’s just manipulation.

"Tsukuyomi, I’ve heard enough. I understand what Pandora did... but I won’t do anything... not yet." When I say this, Tsukuyomi looks at me with disappointment.

"...I understand. Sorry for wasting your precious time..." She just accepts it as she stands up to leave.

"Don’t come here again to tattle on Pandora..." I say in a threatening tone. She shudders all over while quickly nodding her head. I understand her idea was "good."

She just wanted me to make Pandora more responsible for her actions, but I don’t care about that. All that matters to me is that Pandora once again trampled over my wishes.

"S-Sorry... I’ll leave now... and don’t worry, I won’t do this again... it’s not like there’s anyone else I could do this to besides you..." She says something logical as she starts to leave.

"I’m only not killing you because Pandora wouldn’t want me to," I say to her. She understands the message: she must not come to my palace again without permission. I hate uninvited visitors.

Even if that visitor is Pandora, I hate it when people come to my home without me letting them in, just like when Pandora fought that damned Hydra inside the ocean. It’s hateful to know someone is destroying my oceans.

As soon as she leaves, I use magic to see how she got here. I see how she moved and quickly understand the method she used.

’I see. She used a swap...’ She’s exchanging positions with the ambient mana. She’s in one place and swaps her position with something else that’s where she wants to go. It’s not teleportation, which is why my barrier didn’t stop her.

I use my magic to add a prohibition against positional swaps, so she won’t be able to enter here using that method again.

"At least... she told me something I didn’t know..." In a way, tattling on Pandora was supposed to be a good thing. She didn’t expect me to punish Pandora, just to get Pandora in line.

But now that I know Pandora has another child, I’ve decided I’ll also have my own child with her.

’Pandora.... always likes to be on top... this time it won’t be like that...’ I’ve already figured out how to get back at her for having another child. That child was supposed to be mine! We talked about it!

But now I’ll do things the opposite way Pandora wants. Obviously, when she wants children, she’s the one who wants to impregnate the others. But this time, it will be the opposite! I’ll put a child in her belly!

’How does pregnancy happen? I need to study! I’m going to get Pandora and make her regret this!’ I’ll let things be calm for now. I’ll let Pandora enjoy her pregnancy and her new baby.

There’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of: Pandora will soon leave this planet. That’s because she’s already reached the top on this planet and can’t get any stronger here. In other words, there are three places she can go.

And there’s only one place that’s the most likely, and that place is the Abyss. I’ll try to intercept her before she gets there. I’ll keep an eye out, and when the chance arises, I’m going to grab her and impregnate her!

Having a child sounds great, but my focus isn’t just the baby! It’s to show Pandora that pissing off a goddess like me has consequences. She’s lucky I love her and won’t cut her head off for this trickery.

’Maybe a little sooner... I just need to catch Pandora at a moment she doesn’t expect...’ I’ve studied a lot about my race. Ever since Pandora entered my life, I’ve focused heavily on my studies.

I’ve learned a lot about biology, sex, and especially culture. The mermaids are a complex race I created and let do as they pleased, so I never learned their culture.

But now I’m learning a lot about them, and interestingly, I discovered there are mermaids who are like me—sharks.

And it’s even more interesting because I found out it’s common for sharks to kidnap their partners. So I have a cultural excuse to kidnap Pandora and not just seem jealous.

Even though it really is 100% jealousy, I admit it! I’m full of jealousy and anger because Pandora didn’t give me a child first. After all, she already has two kids now! And I’m sure if I don’t make my move, Pandora will have another child and leave me even further behind.

’Ah... since when did I decay so much as a goddess? That damned Pandora has turned me into a depraved weirdo...’ I look at my body, feeling dirty compared to the past.

It’s true I’m happier now, but it’s also true that my body is experiencing things I don’t understand.

I can’t decipher if it’s good or if it’s bad, but now I don’t have much choice, especially with the system approving of it.

’Why does the Primordial Goddess allow this to happen?’ I don’t know if Pandora knows this, but goddesses can’t easily have relationships with other beings.

[Defilement] is a rare element that arises when something impure and something sacred come into contact.

This is an element that easily arises when a goddess has physical, spiritual, or psychological contact with beings far beneath her, and this element is too destructive for other beings.

When Pandora introduced me to lust, pleasure, and love during that bath, [Defilement] should have naturally arisen. But until now, that element has never been born.

I see this as an approval. Pandora has the Primordial Goddess’s permission to "defile" goddesses, but I don’t understand why she has this permission.

’Why did the Primordial Goddess let Pandora become a goddess and even interact with others in this way?’ Pandora would be considered an ’impure’ being, while I would be considered a ’sacred’ being, meaning our contact should generate Defilement.

’Unless... Pandora is [Sacred]? No... that can’t be... an abyssal being can’t be sacred, right?’ This question finally occurs to me.

’If Pandora is sacred...’ I decide to stop thinking about it. I don’t think Pandora is sacred because she is an abyssal being. Being a goddess doesn’t guarantee you are sacred.

The Goddess of the Abyss, for example, is ’impure,’ not ’sacred,’ even though she is a goddess. The Goddess of Demons wasn’t sacred either, and even Aradia isn’t sacred.

"Well, I don’t get it! So I won’t think about it! I just need to figure out how to get Pandora pregnant as revenge!" I’ll make a point of filling Pandora so much she’ll never forget this day.

I’ll leave a "mark" on her forever so she’ll understand she can never put me in second place again.

"Or should I not do it... wait, would she hate me if I were on top?" I freeze as a single feeling emerges: "fear." Fear that Pandora would get angry and abandon me if I kidnapped her... would that be rape? Mermaids do that constantly... but I’m not a mermaid.

’Would Pandora be angry if I got her pregnant? Would she hate me?...’ My body trembles with fear at the idea of Pandora hating me for this, and along with the fear comes cowardice about going through with the plan to take Pandora.

Should I just accept that she broke a promise and wait for her to finally give me a child? Should I just be passive like always... Besides, do I even know how to be aggressive to that point during sex?

In fact, if I kidnap Pandora for reproduction, wouldn’t the opposite happen just a few minutes later because I can barely handle the pleasure? In the end, wouldn’t it be Pandora impregnating me while I’m left moaning on the floor, even though it’s supposed to be me impregnating her?

"Dammit... Pandora, you damned... you always leave me confused and messed up." Pandora alone destroyed my plans just 1 minute after I made them.

’I’ll give up on this plan... for now...’ I can’t handle this. If I do this, I know Pandora will dominate me just a few minutes after we start. But I also can’t just wait and forgive her for breaking promises.

"Sigh... it’s all that Tsukuyomi bitch’s fault... if she hadn’t come to tattle on Pandora, I wouldn’t know anything and I wouldn’t be confused..." I hate being so reclusive and ’sensitive.’ Having lived isolated for so long, I don’t understand boundaries and whether I’m overstepping them.

I’m afraid I’m going too far. If Pandora hates me... I would really destroy this entire planet just to vent my anger, and then I’d be even more alone.

"AHhhhhhh, I’m so angry!!!..." I decide to do something I’ve never done before... ask my subordinates for help regarding matters of romance and boundaries.

I’ve never asked for help in this sense. I feel... stupid... I don’t understand relationships, romance, or how things are supposed to be. Everything I know about relationships came from Pandora and a few books.

But no matter how many books I read, Pandora always comes up with new things that confuse me.

’I’ll ask the servants for help... but... will they know how to help me?’ I don’t know, but I decide to give up on all the plans to impregnate Pandora and ask my maids for help... they seem to know a lot about love, I think, since they came from the cities.

So they should be able to help me... I really hope so... and I hope I know how to talk. I always just give orders and kill them for failures. Will we be able to have a real conversation? I don’t know... but trying is all I have left.