#innocent zero

He was always annoyed at having to waste his time teaching you his magic knowledge.

But he had to keep up the lie, feign liking, and—ugh!—be your friend.

Not only that, he had to watch you become great friends with Meliaduol and Walberng.

He disliked you, how your presence changed his whole world, even though you didn't even have magic.

You interrupted him with your doubts and pointless eagerness to learn.

You constantly sought him out, trying to deceive him with your smile and lively attitude.

"Come on, let's take a break. I brought cookies and tea," you said cheerfully, pointing to your basket.

"I'm busy," Cyril said, ignoring you as he practiced a new spell. Walberng had already mastered it, and Meliadoul had succeeded on his first try.

"Oh, come on, you need to rest."

"I need a calm and undisturbed environment."

You were offended when he called you annoying; you were only trying to be kind. Before insulting him, you decided to take a breath and avoid getting into trouble.

"Okay, good luck with your homework." You abandoned the picnic basket and blanket and quickly left the woods.

Cyril continued practicing his spell until he was completely exhausted. He had no idea how he would get back to school.

Until he noticed the food you had left for him.

He hadn't planned to eat it until his stomach growled with hunger. With no other options, he tasted the food.

"…"

Cyril didn't admit it that day or the following days, but it was delicious.

Then Walberng and Meliadoul came into your life. He was happy that you finally had someone else to tease.

Or so he thought, until your company and your slightly irritating voice were no longer background noise.

"Now I'm better."

He didn't understand why seeing you with his two companions bothered him.

Seeing you being hugged by Meliadoul, while she played with your hair or touched your face, how she boasted about her sleepovers and shopping trips, where she made you try on tons of clothes and you obediently complied.

Your help with Walberng's experiments, your little adventures with him in the city or the forest—now it was Walberng who was eating your snacks.

"Come on, you want to be a great magician, you can't get distracted," he repeated harshly to himself.

Even so, he couldn't help but watch you having fun with his companions or other small children.

You'd run around the garden, or sit reading books under a tree; sometimes I'd find you in the library, where you'd just greet him with a smile, and before he could say a word, you'd walk away.

Something in him longed to be with you, to hear you talk endlessly, to hold your hand…

No, no, those were just distractions.

"Uh, Cyril, can you help me?"

You appeared in the library, after disappearing from the garden where he had seen you a few minutes ago. Of course, he was only watching you to make sure nothing happened to you; Adam had made them promise to look after you.

"You know, I want to learn magic."

How absurd, the man thought.

"And the only way I can think of is through potions," you said, fidgeting with your fingers nervously.

That… he had never considered that possibility, but seeing you learning magic wasn't something he liked to think about.

"I…" You didn't let him answer.

"It's okay if you can't, I'll ask Walberg, although I think you're better at potions." It was one of two things: either you bruised the man's ego so he would agree, or you didn't humiliate yourself waiting for his answer.

"I'll do it," the boy sighed in frustration.

"Yay!" you celebrated, jumping up and down.

It was a pleasant sight; you almost infected him with your joy, almost.

"Add a few drops of nymph's tears."

"Don't let any bubbles rise."

"It's only 20 grams, no more, no less."

The first few days were difficult; he almost gave up and left you to your own devices, but then he saw you reading more potion books, practicing measurements, studying each ingredient.

"It's just two mermaid scales." "Two mermaid scales."

You nodded, remembering the potion, and continued with great concentration.

"And you must stir it…"

"Stir it over high heat until a slimy substance forms."

Cyril admired how you moved with such concentration among the other ingredients, without taking your eyes off your book and the cauldron.

You were simply… wonderful.

Your hair, tousled in a messy bun, with stray strands pinned across your forehead, your face glistening with sweat, your lips a small, amused smile from your work, your white dress billowing out the tunic you wore to protect your clothes and skin.

You were, truly, enchanting.

Cyril, he truly fell in love.

He doesn't know exactly when, whether it was from the first time they met, or from the moment you clung to him, being the only person you knew.

The only thing he was sure of was that he loved you. He couldn't stop thinking about you, searching for you, reliving their moments together, feeling your skin, remembering your smile.

He hated seeing you with other boys, seeing you smile at them, being touched by strangers.

He hated when you walked away and he couldn't see you.

He hated when your smile wasn't just for him.

So he did what he did best: plan, weave a grand scheme to trap you and never see you with anyone else again.

He manipulated you, yes.

Cyril imposed a world on you where it was just him and you.

He isolated you from everyone else.

You blindly believed him, walking the path he carefully designed for you.

Innocently, you accepted his good-boy image; your boyfriend couldn't hurt anyone, or so you thought. Cyril is ready to take down anyone who dares to harm you.

Like the traffickers who tried to kidnap and sell you because you didn't have any lines on your face.

The crazy followers of a religion where the absence of magic was a sin.

The boy who had fallen in love with you.

His hands didn't tremble as he finished off each one.

When Adam died, he had a clear path to take you far away.

He would keep his promise; he would take care of you, love you, and give you happiness.

Locked away in a large house surrounded by an endless forest, you remained under his spell, ignorant and happy.

Forever…

Or perhaps not…?

he kind of saved your life from the bureau, which is why the two of you got married. he wanted your body in return for saving you, so you got married to him, was annointed husband and wife, and never knew peace ever again.

not in the way that innocent zero was a bad husband, but he wasn't good either. other than when he's getting you pregnant, he doesn't really treat you like you exist.

to him, you're just another pawn in his plans.

but that is far from meaning he'll let people do whatever they want with you. what's his is his and will stay as such, no one else gets to have you. if there's someone mistreating you, he'll get rid of them, only because he's possessive af like that.

generally speaking, your first son, doom, was a good kid. he was well-mannered, though he had a strong capacity for magic. and honestly, you prevented your husband from training doom until the boy was eight, saying he should have a proper childhood at least.

doom is equally protective of you, not allowing your husband to let his anger out on you for not obeying him and being a good son. you've taken care of him for years, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let you get hurt for something small.

famin is a bit more unhinged, but he still shows some form of care for you. he plays pranks on you with his invisibility magic, but it's usually him popping out of nowhere with a small bouquet of flowers he got from the forest.

i like to think famin was one of the clingier ones when he was a kid, just to be a brat to your husband. he has a heavy favoritism over you than his father and it SHOWS

doom makes it a little hard to tell, but you're his favorite too. he would die before he forgets the love and care you've given him.

now a little fun fact about epidem is that you turned into a major sweet tooth during your pregnancy with him, with your most common craving being pudding. it'd explain his obsession with it, but i don't think any parent would have expected things to go that far.

you've tried getting him to eat something else, but he only eats begrudgingly knowing his father is going to punish you because he doesn't have a good diet.

he's seen you get beat to the moon and back because of him, he won't let it happen again.

delisaster is probably the most clingiest and brattiest kid in the whole family.

he'll cause chaos everywhere he can, even when you try to control the damage, he gets things messed up pretty bad.

you actually got into the most trouble with innocent zero because of him, but he didn't care until doom forced him to watch you get punished for his wrongdoings.

he was, reasonably, terrified because his father just beat up his mother into a bloody pulp without hesitation, and he began to see why you were so stressed about him having good manners. not only could he be punished, but you were going to be hurt the most.

it's not enough to have him completely obedient, but he'll better his manners for you only.

he essentially becomes a mama's boy, listening to your naggings without complaining, doing a complete 180 in terms of personality when it comes to you in front of his subordinates.

after what he saw all those years ago, he would never find it in himself to disrespect you.

domina was mostly raised by innocent zero because you fell ill after giving birth. you weren't there to shield him from the damage, and would beg doom to protect domina as much as he could without endangering himself.

and obviously, domina grows up hating you because he thought you didn't like him, when that was the furthest thing from the truth.

he probably won't learn until innocent zero is defeated, you're finally free from the horrible marriage you've experienced, and you're free to live as you please.

there were no charges given to you after hearing what your sons and husband had to say.

the most contribution you had was literally birthing seven sons, and you even went as far as protecting them from the man himself, which didn't earn you many punishments to give.

at that point, domina willingly visits you and finally takes a good look at how ragged you are.

you're worse off than everyone in the family, having gone through too much stress and illnesses and injuries that your body couldn't heal itself like it was supposed to.

he visits every weekend now, sometimes bringing his friends along so you have happier memories to keep you company when he's not there with you.

helps you find hobbies to spend your free time with and will get you a bunch of novels and books so you're not left alone with your thoughts.

mash, despite being taken from you so early, had taken a part of your heart with him, and you were nearly inconsolable after he disappeared. you were hoping you could protect him more than you did domina, only for your husband to be crueler than before.

when he hears that he has a mother, he was rather shocked. and scared, honestly.

he's lived with regro his whole life, and only sixteen years in he learns he had a mom this whole time?

he doesn't blame you for not looking for him because he had a feeling you did a lot.

the first time mash and regro visit you, you were crying for most of the time, apologizing over and over for not being able to raise him properly and unable to protect him from his own father.

regro insists that it was okay. mash was a wonderful kid to raise, and you did nothing wrong. the only one to be blamed for all of it was innocent zero, and with him gone, you were free to spend as much time as you wanted with mash.

regro was content with letting you raise mash, knowing that you were nothing close to innocent zero the moment you started bawling at the mere sight of your son.

the old man could tell not being able to raise mash hurt you a lot, and seeing him as a grown boy only rubbed salt into your wound.

so the next time he came along, he got you a photo album of mash's baby pictures, so you could see the whole process of his growth. you thanked him so many times, regro wondered when you were going to run out of tears.

mash, after having spent some time with you, gets pretty attached to you.

perhaps it's knowing the fact he's your real son or the fact you treated him like glass, but a month after mash started visiting you every other day, he started sitting on your hospital bed then placing his head on your lap, letting you play with his hair, and so on.

after you start feeling better, you start asking the divine visionaries if you could see your sons and husband, which they deny heavily at first.

and shockingly, the first one to cave is actually ryoh.

as a married man with a kid, he had a feeling you cared a lot for not just your sons, but for innocent zero too.

he has no idea what you saw in him, but perhaps that was what kept you from running away from him for so long.

and turns out, a few months after sitting in a prison cell was enough for your husband to realize he cared about you a lot.

after most of your kids were grown, he started to soften around you a lot without even knowing. he'd look at the injury you had for a month and got worried, knowing that he was keeping your body in perfect condition the whole time, but your immune system stopped working.

thus, he was severely overprotective of you but covered it under the guise of not wanting you to cause more trouble for him later.

he carried you around a lot, kept you on his lap whenever he was sitting on his throne, never brought you to the battlefield, and did his overall best to take care of you in a roundabout way as to thank you for giving him his children.

he's visibly shocked when you show up at his cell, thinking he was hallucinating at first.

he doesn't recall feeling so relieved to see someone, but here you were.

he's grabbing your hand, making sure you're recovering okay, his eyes are scanning every inch of your body, and everything to make sure you weren't being mistreated. he might as well let the world burn if you weren't being treated well.

when you tell him how happy you were that you got to spend more time with mash and domina, cyril doesn't know what to say.

he knows he's the reason for all the pain you've gone through, and he didn't deserve to even see you so happy, but a part of him was happy you were still thinking about him.

maybe the two of you meant something to each other but never got the time or chance to talk about how you felt towards each other.

he hopes, that in in another life, he would have a chance to treat you well.