Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1280: Kaelira’s Decision

Ayame straightened her spine. The sharp amusement faded from her delicate face. Her eyes settled into a calmer shape, steady.

"Of course, having said all that... At the end of the day, you are your own person. You are not a slave." She paused and chuckled dryly. "Well, you are, but that is beside the point I’m trying to make."

She tipped her chin toward Quinlan. "He is not a rapist. If you want to reject what happened here, call it an accident born from your condition, you can. The only question is... Do you want to do that?"

Kaelira’s gaze stayed locked on Quinlan.

His expression had not shifted much since earlier.

He was calm and focused, a man waiting for an answer without pressing for one.

Yet when she held his eyes longer, something beneath that stillness showed its shape. A steady pull. Intent held quiet. A promise that needed no words.

She understood exactly what it meant.

If she accepted him, he would guard her with a devotion that bordered on unhealthy possessiveness, but he would also lift her up with the full weight of his power.

She saw the shape of it in the steady way he watched her. A future where he carved paths for her without apology. A life where he refused to let time or gods rob him of the woman who chose him.

Becoming his woman meant stepping into the orbit of someone who would never let her fall behind. Someone who would break mountains for her and expect her to stand with him.

She swallowed. Her fingers tightened on the blanket until the fabric wrinkled under her grip.

Ayame continued to wait. Quinlan waited too.

Kaelira drew in a shaky breath. Her mouth opened.

’Yes... it was...’

The words snagged in her throat. Her tongue stalled. Her breath caught. She tried to force the words out, but nothing moved.

Quinlan’s posture did not change, yet his attention sharpened, focused entirely on her. He was ready to accept whatever she chose. He was waiting for her clarity.

She tried again.

"I... it was... I mean..."

Nothing came.

Her voice failed her.

She looked at him harder, as if the answer might appear in his eyes instead of her own mouth.

Another breath. Her shoulders trembled.

Then her gaze softened, just for a moment, as if something inside her finally settled.

Her voice slipped out in a quiet whisper.

"It was not a mistake. I wish to take back nothing."

Quinlan sat at the edge of the bed where she had pushed him earlier, after realizing they had multiple witnesses to their first kiss.

Slowly, he lifted a hand and cupped her left cheek. His palm felt incredibly warm and homely against her skin, so much so that it outright bordered on the supernatural.

Kaelira froze.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she felt the firmness in the hold, ensuring she was looking at him without turning her head away. Her ears, now red, twitched, stiff at first, then trembling with every shaky inhale she failed to hide.

Their eyes locked.

His voice came out quiet, yet absolute.

"Are you ready to become mine, Kaelira?"

He paused for a moment.

"I’m a jealous man who hates suffering heartbreak. That is why I’m striving to become the single strongest entity in existence. No one takes my women away from me. No kings, no emperors, no gods. Not even the women themselves."

His hand held her with calm certainty.

"So I’m asking... Is this what you want? What you really want?"

Her pulse kicked hard.

She felt it in her throat, in her temples, in the spot beneath his thumb. She’d already said it was no mistake, but back then, she was answering Ayame’s question...

Now that the words left his lips, articulating just the exact extension of the decision she was facing, it felt even harder.

Heat rushed through her face until her skin warmed under his palm like heated metal.

She held his gaze the entire time, unable to look anywhere else.

But despite feeling the exact weight of the decision, or perhaps because of it, she felt it even easier to make up her mind somehow.

Kaelira had always been the quiet girl, happy in her smithy. When Quinlan first met her, she was a deserter stuck in the human lands who escaped from the Elvardian army, together with the five elves who are acting as Rosie’s caretakers now.

Quinlan could’ve treated her as a slave, a tanker to be used and discarded once her usefulness expired.

But instead, once she opened up, he believed in her dreams. He believed despite the utter outlandishness of them. In the world of Thalorind, an elf becoming the greatest smith was akin to saying you’ll surpass the Goddess.

Pure blasphemy.

But he did not carry that sentiment with him. He looked at her, without judgment for her race or gender, and observed the creations she made, checking their quality with an open mind.

It was such a simple gesture, but one could not understate how rare it was in a world filled with prejudice, with preconceived notions about the way the world should operate.

Once he looked enough and liked what he saw, he built her a smithy, bought her expensive gear, and told her to go wild.

Kaelira already knew that he might’ve been the only person who could look at her objectively like that, without prejudice. After all, to a man like him, the preconceived notions of the denizens of Thalorind meant nothing.

How could they?

He was the greatest blasphemer himself, outright claiming that he would surpass the Goddess with a straight face.

Perhaps... It was meant to be. A mortal like her, who challenged the norms of society, could only feel truly at home by being beside an immortal who challenged the norms of the world itself.

Her lips parted.

A small nod pressed into his hand.

"Yes..." she whispered. Her voice came steady despite how wild her heartbeat felt. "Yes."

Quinlan’s eyes softened.

A slow smile touched his lips, one that made her chest tighten all over again.

He leaned in.

This time, he was the one who kissed her.

It was slow.

It was tender.

It held zero hesitation.

Kaelira, on the receiving end, looked like a startled deer that had wandered onto the highway.

Her red ears twitched uncontrollably. Her fingers curled into the blanket. Her back straightened, as if bracing for impact despite the kiss being feather-light.

Her lips trembled against his, shy and soft and completely unprepared.

By the time he pulled away, her entire face had gone scarlet.

"The pact has been made. You’re mine forever and ever."

The elf’s mouth opened and closed as if she wanted to speak but couldn’t form even a single syllable.

The sight was so disarmingly cute that even Ayame’s composure threatened to break for a moment with her fingers itching closer, wanting to pat this beyond adorable creature’s head.

She restrained herself with visible effort.

Quinlan examined Kaelira with a big grin, loving the expressiveness of the usually steady girl.

"It seems my sexy elven tomboy lover is very easy to get flustered."

"Nuuu...." Kaelira made a small, strangled noise and hid half her face behind the blanket, fully now.

"You’re still injured," Quinlan said, standing up.

Hearing his departure from her side, the elf peeked out from behind the blanket with worried eyes, wondering if her shyness disappointed him. She had heard many tales from his wives, knew perfectly well what should come now.

Seraphiel and her tales ensured she understood the actions a man and woman conducted at night.

But she saw no disappointment or scorn in his gaze, only that of tender care. "You shouldn’t let your heart beat that hard. I’ll leave you to rest for now. Your sole job right now is to relax and get well as soon as possible. Is that understood?"

"Y-yes!" she replied with a flustered, rosy face. She was used to taking orders from the man, but now, somehow, it felt entirely different. The care for her well-being was far too evident in his voice.

As he stood, Synchra reacted. A harmless red flame unfurled from her surface, drifting toward the elf and brushing her arm with the lightest warmth. It lingered there like a gentle nuzzle, a child greeting her mother.

Kaelira looked at it with wide eyes, throat tight.

Quinlan turned to Liora and Rosie.

"Work together. Make sure she recovers safely."

Rosie saluted so fast her leaves rustled.

Liora’s calm nod followed, her attention already shifting to Kaelira’s condition.

And Kaelira sat there, blanket pulled to her chin, red ears twitching without rest, trying and failing to process the fact that she had just kissed the Primordial Villain and was accepted as his woman... all while her entire team watched.

Her life had just changed.

And her face showed every second of it.