Chapter 377: Baby (1)
At night, Everly was sitting in front of the computer, carefully studying the crime-scene photos on the screen, when a warm body suddenly pressed against her back without warning.
“Everly~ It’s so late. Time for bed…”
Warm, moist breath brushed against her ear, followed by Kesuye’s muffled, drawn-out voice. The heavy nasal tone was thick with an unmistakable note of childish pleading.
Everly glanced at the time in the bottom-right corner of the screen. 9:12 p.m.
She turned her head and, just as expected, found herself facing a pair of droopy, aggrieved puppy-dog eyes.
“It’s not bedtime yet. What, feeling lonely?” she asked.
Kesuye didn’t bother being coy. He immediately nodded.
As he moved, a few loose strands of hair brushed against Everly’s neck, prickling and tickling like countless tiny hooks tugging at her skin.
That was the hair Everly had cut for him.
Kesuye’s human-form hair had been far too long, hanging all the way down to his calves when left loose. It was thick and incredibly abundant. If left unattended, he would easily end up sitting or lying on it. And with the strong winds and heavy dust in the desert, his hair needed to be washed every couple of days. It was quite a hassle.
So, after discussing it with Kesuye, Everly had taken out a pair of scissors and ruthlessly cut his long hair to shoulder length.
The length suited Kesuye’s face exceptionally well. The ends of his silvery-white hair curled ever so slightly, clinging close to his beautiful face. His appearance was pure and neat, yet carried an unconscious allure—sweet and alluring at the same time, making him look like an exquisitely crafted doll whose gender was almost impossible to tell.
The hair she had cut off hadn’t gone to waste, either.
With hair that long, throwing it away would have been a shame. Since she had nothing better to do, Everly had simply tied the strands together one by one and braided them into numerous little plaits. Then, using the same technique used to weave straw sleeping mats, she pressed and interlaced the flattened braids horizontally and vertically, weaving them into a neat, square little silver-white cushion.
She placed it in the nest of Kesuye’s little pet, “Tail.”
Tail was, after all, flesh that had fallen from Kesuye’s own body, so it naturally felt close to Kesuye. Needless to say, it absolutely adored that little cushion. Even when it was doing photosynthesis, it refused to let go of it.
To borrow the terminology used by certain netizens in Everly’s previous life, that cushion could practically be considered Tail’s “comfort blanket.”
Anyway, that was getting a little off-topic…
In short, the short-haired version of Kesuye was ridiculously cute. Sometimes Everly didn’t even need to do anything; she could simply stare at his face and admire him for ages. And every time she was done, she was in an inexplicably good mood.
Sure enough, she was nothing more than a vulgar woman who could be seduced by a pretty face!
Thinking this, Everly raised her hand and gently brushed her fingertip across Kesuye’s cheek.
It was soft and smooth to the touch, like stroking a piece of silk.
“Everly…” Kesuye let out a soft whine. He obediently closed his eyes, tilted his head, and rubbed his face vigorously against Everly’s palm. A faint blush quickly spread across his fair cheeks.
“Wait a few more minutes for me, okay? You can go play with Tail for a bit. Just a few minutes. I’ll be done as soon as I figure out what the trick is,” Everly coaxed.
Kesuye lowered his eyes, looking a little dejected. “Then I’ll wait here.”
“Okay.”
Everly shifted her body slightly to the left, making room for half the chair.
The body pressed against her back withdrew, accompanied by a soft rustling sound. Just as Everly assumed Kesuye would sit down beside her, she suddenly felt a weight settle on her knees.
“Hm?”
Everly briefly tore her eyes away from the screen and looked down at her legs.
Kesuye hadn’t squeezed into the chair as she had expected. Instead, he was kneeling on the floor, leaning forward with his upper body and resting his fluffy head on her thighs.
“Why aren’t you sitting properly? The floor is hard. Come on, get up.”
Everly pushed the chair backward and tried to help Kesuye to his feet. But the moment she moved back, Kesuye immediately went limp like he had no bones at all, his upper body flopping forward again.
Everly didn’t dare let him fall and hurt himself this time. Startled, she half-crouched and slipped both hands beneath his arms. Before she could even exert any force, Kesuye had already toppled into her.
His warm body fell into her arms. A pair of arms naturally wrapped around her waist, along with four or five soft, remarkably elastic tentacles that wound tightly around Everly, holding her fast.
Oh, no. She’d fallen for it…
A puff of warm breath brushed the side of her neck, making Everly feel ticklish. The hand supporting Kesuye’s back couldn’t help but grab a lock of his dangling curls. She wound it around her finger and gave it a gentle tug.
“Ah…” Kesuye winced. His neck was pulled back into a taut curve, and a muffled groan escaped from his nose.
The tentacles wrapped around Everly’s waist tightened even further. Their flexible tips slipped beneath the hem of her clothes and brushed against the skin underneath. At the same time, Kesuye’s warm, moist breath traveled upward until it reached Everly’s ear, where he urged her pitifully,
“Everly~ I haven’t seen you for a whole four hours today. I’m so lonely. Let’s go rest…”
“Ah…” Everly sighed helplessly.
She was a person with very good habits. Even though she didn’t have to clock in and out like an office worker every day, she still held herself to strict standards, getting up at fixed times and exercising, eating, and working according to a schedule.
That orderly, disciplined lifestyle gave her a deep sense of security and satisfaction.
Originally, according to the schedule she had set for herself, Everly’s work on the Reveal Board was supposed to continue until 9:30 p.m. But Kesuye was simply too clingy…
Was it because he was pregnant? He had never been this afraid of being lonely before.
In the past, whenever Everly was busy with work, Kesuye would find something to do himself—knit sweaters with knitting needles, go soak in the underground pool, or play games with his pet, “Tail.” Even when he had nothing to do, he generally wouldn’t disturb Everly. He would simply sit obediently beside the computer and wait for her to finish.
However, ever since becoming pregnant, Kesuye had wanted to cling to Everly practically every moment of the day, and he had also become much more prone to acting spoiled with her.
The problem was, Everly actually fell for it.
No matter how firm her resolve was, whenever Kesuye acted cute, threw himself into her arms, and whimpered for a while, Everly would think about the baby he was carrying, and before long, her attitude would soften.
What else could she do? He was carrying their baby, after all!
—Yes, that’s right. Kesuye was pregnant!
When Everly had first heard about it, she had been just as shocked as you are right now, staring at the screen.
Although Kesuye could take on a human form, strictly speaking, he wasn’t human. He was an experimental organism created by mixing the genes of humans, orcas, octopuses, jellyfish, and various other animals into a giant egg belonging to an evil god. During his growth, he had also swallowed all sorts of bizarre things, including Gary, the Five-Tailed Shark, and various underground monsters. At this point, even Kesuye himself probably wouldn’t know what exactly he was.
As for Everly, after successfully using the Fountain of Youth to become a perfect human, she should theoretically have lost the ability to reproduce as well.
It didn’t take much imagination to realize how terrifying it would be if immortal, ageless beings could still reproduce. Their population would only continue increasing, and given enough time, the Earth would eventually become hopelessly overcrowded.
Everly hadn’t menstruated at all since returning from the Fountain of Youth, which further supported her theory.
And yet, somehow, these two people had ended up with a child.
Er… perhaps before getting into that, it would be better to explain how the two of them ended up together in the first place?
It was actually something that had happened quite naturally.
First of all, Kesuye was very good-looking.
Humans were visual creatures. Regardless of gender, whenever people encountered someone attractive while walking down the street, they couldn’t help but stop and take a closer look.
Everly wasn’t completely lacking in aesthetic appreciation, either. With a beauty like Kesuye constantly by her side, it was only natural that her gaze would unconsciously be drawn to him.
Secondly, their personalities clicked.
Everly herself was the type with a strong desire for control and a relatively assertive personality. She hated losing control and liked the feeling of having everything firmly within her grasp. In a world where horror movies seemed to be playing out everywhere she went, that gave her a long-missed sense of peace and security.
At the same time, she knew that many people disliked being controlled, as it made them feel disrespected or intruded upon. So in everyday life, Everly tended to keep a certain distance from others. That way, she wouldn’t constantly feel the urge to control what other people did.
If the person in question was Kesuye, however, all those concerns disappeared.
Because he had always liked Everly very much and was perfectly willing to follow any instruction she gave him.
Everly had once thought his affection for her stemmed from Lamia’s blessing. But after Lamia moved into Lemot Town, Everly realized that she had misunderstood Kesuye.
Compared with Everly, who had merely received Lamia’s blessing, Lamia, as the true daughter of the Sea God, should have possessed an even stronger attraction to marine life.
Yet in Lamia’s presence, Kesuye wasn’t particularly enthusiastic. Watching the whale and the sea demon converse often gave Everly the impression that they were only socializing because circumstances left them no choice.
Very formal. Very polite. Very distant.
It was the kind of situation where the people involved didn’t notice anything wrong, while the onlookers were already cringing themselves into the floor.
“So why do you like me so much?”
Everly had once rested her chin on her hand and stared down at Kesuye in puzzlement, stubbornly wanting an answer.
“Mm… Like you… um… I just like you. Does there have to be a rea—”
Mid-sentence, a wave of overwhelming sensation struck, and Kesuye struggled to swallow, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
It seemed he had choked a little. Tears glimmered in his bright eyes, while an unmistakable flush, burning with heat, spread across every inch of exposed skin.
In this disheveled state, he knelt on the floor with his clothes in disarray, gazing up at her with single-minded fascination and devotion, as reverent as a fervent believer before his god.
“Is that so?”
A thoughtful look appeared in Everly’s eyes.