His eyes seemed strangely distorted and his lips parted slightly, but no words came out. Still, I could easily guess what he was going to say.

He was going to ask me if being kind to him meant changing the future, wasn’t it? The fact that he hesitated to say those words made something inside me tighten.

Uncharacteristically, he looked like a frightened little animal, as if my answer might hurt him enough to make him cry. Although realistically, if I said yes, he’d probably tear my throat out with his nails.

If he didn’t want to ask, I didn’t have to answer. Maybe I was the one who felt relieved. If he looked at me like that and asked, I might tell the truth.

And that would be the end of it – he’d kill me in a rage and flee, only to be caught and killed soon after by the temple priests for daring to attack a member of the royal family.

“I will end up all wrinkled if I keep waiting for you in this water. When will you come?”

So I changed the subject. It was perhaps a form of escape. I decided to leave the conversation and invite him to join me.

Zetak certainly understood my intention. And it was as if I was tacitly admitting that I was indeed trying to change the future.

“I’ll pass. I’ll wash up as soon as you’re done, Your Highness.”

He knew my intention, but chose not to bring up the vision again. He too stepped away from that line of thought. A tacit agreement. I had a feeling we’d never speak of it again – neither of us.

“I’ll stay here until you come in.”

“…….”

“You’re the one who needs to wash up, not me. You’ll stay wet.”

Zetak looked at me and I expected him to protest further, but he obediently began to undress. I could tell he was frustrated by the roughness of his movements.

A few buttons bounced off as I failed to control my strength. His top came off and then his trousers. His underwear was pulled down, exposing his c*ck. Considering he’d been trying to remain invisible, he hadn’t hesitated at all.

It seemed too small to make an impression, but it didn’t. It was certainly smaller than an adult, but not as tiny as I’d thought. I’d underestimated it, thinking it was just a pupa, but I may have to correct that. It’s more like a chrysalis – somewhere in between. He might even be a bit big for his age.

“Your p*bic hair has grown a bit.”

He seemed to tense slightly as he rinsed himself with water. I ignored it and examined him closely. There wasn’t much hair, but since it was dark, it stood out. What was I like at that age?

“Wait a minute. I think I see a little spot down there. It’s hard to see because it’s hidden by your right testicle. Move it a little to the side.”

I heard the sound of teeth grinding.

“Damn, watch your eyes.”

“How dare you speak to royalty like that…”

Perhaps that’s understandable. I decided to just look away. What harm could a simple glance do to his pride? After all, he’s seen mine plenty of times. Maybe he’s just sensitive about being in the pupa stage.

After he had rinsed off, I heard the sound of him stepping into the bath. He was big enough that the water hardly stirred as he moved. I looked over and saw him sitting far away from me, staring sullenly at the wall.

I decided to approach him. As I approached, he frowned and looked at me, clearly displeased, but still surprisingly calm.

It was almost confusing. Was he really fused with a demon? His body was already over 80% transformed. If he had lost himself, he should have been acting irrationally and out of control by now. How could he still have such human composure?

“How can you be so calm?”

“Calm… Damn it.”

Again, with that frustrated expression, Zetak looked at me as if he wanted to kill me. I pulled him towards me and pinned him between my legs, bending my knees to block his escape. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing him against my chest so he couldn’t get away.

There was no escaping me this way. Achieving my goal made something inside me feel strangely full.

I wondered if this was what contentment felt like. I closed my eyes and enjoyed it. The hot water made my body feel drowsy, and the feeling of him fitting perfectly into my embrace was comforting.

But Zetak didn’t seem to feel the same. I heard him muttering.

“Can’t kill you, huh?”

What could I do? I was royalty, and I wanted what I wanted.

Unlike the demon realm, where power dictated everything, the human realm operated on authority.

As long as he was my servant, he couldn’t disobey me. Of course, there were times when he resisted, but that was probably because of the sins I’d committed against him.

“May I ask something?”

“Go ahead.”

The sound of water droplets echoed. In the otherwise quiet bathroom, I could hear Zetak grinding his teeth softly.

“Why are you touching my thigh like that?”

I looked down at Zetak. I noticed that my numb right hand was indeed rubbing his thigh. You, with no feeling at all – what are you doing there?

“It seems my hand has a cramp.”

“Right, a cramp. In that case, could you please stop touching my stomach with your left hand?”

I looked down at his stomach. I hadn’t realised it, but I was actually stroking his belly. Even after noticing, I had no intention of stopping when he asked. It felt quite firm and I liked it.

“That’s not enough. I want to touch you, so you have to let me touch you.”

Zetak sighed deeply, like an old man. He pressed his fingers to his forehead and rubbed his face wearily. Honestly, my words hadn’t had any s*xual connotations. It was just a lazy moment that almost made me forget my real purpose – to examine his body.

Chimera’s experiments. He had been subjected to some sort of test. Since I was holding him close, it was difficult to examine his back at the moment.

Instead, I decided to examine his front and ran my hands down his chest. My fingers brushed over something and I scratched it lightly with my nails, causing Zetak to grind his teeth. It must have been a n*pple. Did it hurt? I felt a bit bad, so I rubbed it gently, soothing it before moving on.

“Damn, seriously…”

Zetak muttered, covering his eyes and taking deep, shaky breaths. I must have scratched myself a bit – it must have hurt quite a lot.

Thinking I should be more careful, I loosened my grip and moved my hand lower.

There were no incision marks on his stomach either, indicating that none of his internal organs had been replaced.

I couldn’t find anything unusual on his torso, at least. Perhaps scars or snake scales had covered whatever was there.

As I moved my left hand down his stomach, my fingers brushed against his hip bone. The sensation was oddly pleasurable.

What an indecent body, I thought as I stroked it with my thumb and Zetak grinded his teeth again. Worried that he might damage his teeth at this rate, I decided to move on from that area.

I moved my hand further down, feeling some body hair, and finally my fingers hit something.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw his d*ck through the rippling water – it was *rect. Ridiculously, it stood there proudly, as if to say ‘here I am’. But it was still just a ‘cocoon’.

“Be thankful my body is still young.”

Zetak muttered, covering his eyes with his hand. There was regret in his voice that his body was not growing. I knew the way to make it mature, but I wasn’t going to tell him. Not now, maybe never.

“Maybe if you want to…”

I turned him away from me, feeling down his back until I found the spot that seemed right – the place I thought his tendrils could grow from. When his shoulders tensed slightly, I knew I must have found it.

“Would you like to try to get your tendrils out now?”