Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 448

Chapter 448: The Hidden and Forgotten
‘When the battle ends, a stench of burning flesh and death overcomes the land, gunpowder with a faint hint of the forest aroma. The murmurs of death that follow a great battle, like a stone skimmed across a great river, creating countless ripples…’

Asura’s dark red eyes narrowed, the battle long over, yet his heart was far from calm watching the mass of lost life, some burned, crushed, and many no longer resembling human life.

His figure draped in a black uniform and cape, sitting at the edge of the collapsed wall, the wind blowing through his raven locks that dance in the bitter mid-evening breeze.

“Can you do me a favour, Amalia?”

“What would you ask me to do, Prince Asura?” Her voice was neutral and lacking her usual sisterly tone because of the situation.

‘I wonder if my lovely sister also suffers from this sight; after the monoliths and my changes became this developed, I stopped feeling the dread and sorrow from the loss of life. Yet I remember the soldier who used to train alongside me two days before and his brown eyes as they shone talking about his mother back home. Is it wrong that I only feel it’s a pity rather than any true emotional attachment?’

“Maybe if it was Gaius…”

“Pardon?”

“O-Oh, nothing, Amalia. Could you help the other mages to restore the fallen to at least a presentable state? I don’t want them to be trapped in this land in their inhuman forms for too long, and they all equally deserve an eternal rest.”

Amalia’s beautiful eyes flickered, the silver light becoming bright as she leaned forward to bow, “My Prince, should I include the enemy soldiers?”

Asura’s eyes flicked to the side and met his sister’s, her lovely face dyed orange in the late sunset with a look of apathy on her face. It felt like looking in a mirror because he also lost the feeling of sorrow when seeing a dead human after several battles.

“Please, if possible, send a messenger and inform them we will not hinder their attempt to collect the dead. The battle is over—let us not cause more needless deaths. Even the great empire needs time to mourn their losses.”

“I will seek Sister Helliana’s help. She is the most refined and respectable lady and shouldn’t cause any problems.” Amalia’s voice trembled for a moment. Maybe it was her immaturity, but her heart began to race, a feeling of confusion as to why her brother would care for the enemy troops.

‘Well… is it because of my life as Sura, maybe the time as the silver prince? To me, the worst part about a battle is the end and dealing with the dead. Some of these kingdoms will leave them to rot, buried in the place they fell, creating grudges and disease.’

“That sounds like a good idea. Are you confused, Amalia?”

Her lovely face faltered for a moment as she looked at Asura with a slightly uncomfortable face and nodded after several moments, the wind gently whistling as the sound of animals echoed from the forest behind them.

“If it were you or anyone, that might mean something to me. I would never forgive myself if your body were left in a place like this, cold, alone and forsaken, without a guiding light for your soul to pass on to the next life.”

“!!!”

Amalia’s cute mouth turned into a large circle before she seemed to realise her actions and snapped back to her normal face while working as a Valkyrie.

However, Asura felt a little strange today and took her hand, gently pulling her light body into his embrace.

“B-Brother?!” Her facade collapsed, the desire to be seen as a woman strong, yet her desire to be close to Asura and their strange fate as siblings was hard to discard in moments of surprise.

“Don’t worry, Amalia. If you wish to cry or be upset, your brother will not judge you or blame you. It’s your first time, right, seeing such a horrific scene of death?”

Asura’s eyes gazed down at the beautiful woman in his arms, someone who grew up alongside him at first, a girl he saw only as family. Yet when his soul fused with the other fragments, he began to understand both himself and the world on a deeper level…

The day he learned she was not his true sister was the moment he could no longer stop his feelings from changing.

So Asura made a stupid promise so that they would be parted and distance would form between them so he could hide his dirty, unclean feelings for this beautiful fairy now sitting on his lap.

‘Sometimes, I regret forcing you into a corner. It was never my intention to do this to you, Amalia. I already see you as a fine lady. Back then, I just didn’t wish to lose my connection with you and took an unfair path to avoid losing you as my sister or a woman…’

Amalia remained silent for a few moments before her soft lips finally opened, and she told him her feelings and fears. “When we learned of the attack while flying here, all that came to mind was that I might never see you again, brother. Then, seeing so much death, all the corpses and bodies suddenly turn into your face when I closed my eyes…”

“Are you worried about my death?” Asura interjected while stroking her soft silver hair, the smooth feeling pleasant to touch like a high-quality silk dress.

“How could you ask that, stupid brother? Of course I am. You always fight or disappear to protect everyone you care about and return wounded or hide those wounds…”

“Oh? How did you know? I am sure most people don’t even realise.”

Asura’s eyes lifted, his crimson orbs watching the reactions of his sister with a curious gaze, wondering who might have told her these hidden truths that most of his beloved women might not even know about.

“Ignis and Xavida, they would never let your injuries be a secret… Xavida always insists on adding expensive healing agents and elixirs to the food at the mansion. When you come home, she will go out in secret and collect expensive medicinal fruits and herbs, all because she knows you are suffering or injured somewhere.” The tone of Amalia’s voice increased gradually until her lovely and concerned chirp was just like the past before anything changed. A loving sister nagging her slow and idiotic brother.

“Hahaha….”

“Don’t Laugh!” Her lovely face pouted while Asura’s gaze hardened from his mental state and slowly eased and became softer.

“Are you jealous of those two?”

‘Ah… her cheeks are swelling like a squirrel.’

Asura truly loved his sister as both a woman and family, the two opposite feelings constantly in conflict within his heart, yet now it felt they found harmony, and he no longer cared about the taboo these feelings might bring.

Because his existence was a taboo in itself.

“Of course… they are women who are allowed to love you, to care for you without outside eyes. But not only that, Xavida seems so carefree… she doesn’t seem normal one moment, she is like a child doing insane acts, then she becomes like a mother, gentle and benevolent, especially with you and your situation!”

Amalia’s chest began to heave, her passion growing with each word.

All the bitter jealousy and inferiority she felt towards Xavida and her brothers and other women seeped from her mouth as if the seal was ripped from her heart. She didn’t hate them or dislike them, but the inferiority and self-loathing fell because Amalia thought about herself too much and the people’s eyes.

Yet the women who loved their brother would just throw away those cares and fall into his arms, gladly accepting any negative rumours or thoughts from others.

“I am frustrated…. and angry… at myself.” Her beautiful cheeks were stained with fragile tears, silver drops of her deepest emotions seeping down her cheeks as Asura gazed down at her with a warm and accepting aura.

“You did your best, didn’t you, Amalia? I am proud that you worked so hard.”

Amalia’s body trembled, his words the deep tone and strange feeling coming from the man she called brother. It wasn’t Asura’s usual rejection or pushing her at arm’s length. She felt him lifting her body and leaning closer to her, unable to calm her racing heart.

The memories of battle, corpses and death long vanished from her mind.

Now it was filled with her brother, his face inches from hers, that handsome face that reminded her of a dirty and wicked desire to own him.

‘Why did it take me so long to see her true nature, this vulnerable and lovely girl who just wanted my affection? Because of my actions, it was twisted and became something distorted.’

Asura peered into his sister’s face, her soft, plump cheeks and lovely white teeth showing each time she nervously smiled at him. His finger slipped along her juicy red lips, enjoying the sticky sensation as her eyes, like enormous globes, widened.

“B-Brother… I–”

He didn’t wish for her to be forced to take the first step all the time. Instead, he leaned forward, that small gap between them he forcibly maintained.

Asura closed it himself.

“Mmmnph….?!”

‘Ah… it seems my heart was screaming out and I never noticed my despair and pain at this situation…’ He thought to himself while enjoying the sweet, soft taste of Amalia’s lips.

Her flavour was like a fresh red apple in the summer, refreshing his mouth and soul as she froze in his arms, shocked by the sudden kiss.

Amalia’s hands grasped at Asura’s uniform, clenching tight…. before slowly her hands wrapped gently around his arms, holding onto him as if to let this moment last for an eternity.