I reincarnated as an elf .......and married the yandere villainess.-Chapter 39:Mine

Atheline let out a hollow laugh at her question. He looked at her his eyes dilated.

"...To myself?" He pushed himself upward slightly," Thats funny."

His eyes locked onto hers. They fell into a staring contest his eyes revealing the darkness within.

"You know why...ha... because I was about to ask you the same thing."

Her fingers twitched as quiet ensued. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed.

"So you know," she said.

Atheline nodded.

"Yeah," he replied flatly then added, " they told me."

She frowned at his words her head tilting a little to the side. Her hair fell over her cheek as she contemplated what he said.

"They?" She repeated softly.

There was something dangerous in the way she said it. She didn’t press Atheline for any more or even try to defend herself.

Atheline looked at her confused. He had expected her to explain maybe defend herself, lie, or anything but what she had to answer was They.

"...Well?" He said while looking at her with expectations he himself didn’t notice he had.

His voice cracked despite himself as he continued, " ...are they wrong?"

She held his gaze, unblinking.

"NO."

That little word cut through Atheline more than he could have imagined destroying any little balance he had tried to hold inside.

Atheline exhaled softly. A shaky sound. He let out a forced laugh, quieter this time.

"Right."

He looked away. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to calm himself.

"..of course they’re not," he said loud enough for her to hear him his voice shaky.

Inside him, his core started to rotate, and the elements within started to react to his failing emotions. The area around him was still before his power moved outwards slowly destroying everything around him again.

The calm he had tried to maintain in front of her was slowly slipping.

"You.. you could have told me," he said in a tired voice.

She did respond to him and Atheline didn’t even look at her again. His eyes stayed on one of the burnt trees.

"I could have," she admitted.

His head snapped back towards her. He had not expected her answer.

"Then.. why didn’t you tell me?"

For a moment, she didn’t answer. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife.

" ... Because you would have run," she said simply.

Atheline froze.

"...And I was right."

That did.

The energy around him spiked sharply. Atheline choked back a scream as the power was released from his body.

He didn’t want to appear weak in front of her, that was the last dignity he was trying to hold onto.

His eyes had turned red as anger started to build inside of him. Atheline himself couldn’t understand where it came from.

"So that’s it?" He snapped, "You just what... decided for me?!"

"I’ve known you far longer and better than you know yourself Atheline," she corrected him.

Atheline laughed, a sad hollow laughter.

"So what?" He said his voice rising, "I trusted you!"

The words came out sharper this time.

Something in her calm expression shifted barely noticeable. Atheline didn’t notice it as he looked at her waiting for her answer.

"I know."

The quiet response hit harder than anything else. Atheline flattered almost falling to the side but he regained his balance.

His expression hardened again.

"Was any of it real?"

There it was again, the question he could never escape.

She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed before she started to approach him slowly, as if he were something fragile.

"Yes."

This breath caught.

"...not all of it," she continued honestly," but none of it either."

That answer, that in-between was worse than her telling him a lie.

Atheline shook his head slowly.

"That doesn’t make it better."

"I didn’t say it would."

Silence fell again. He grimaced as the power shot through him again.

She was able to catch his pain immediately.

Her gaze sharpened.

"...your core is unstable."

"No kidding," he muttered through clenched teeth.

The energy surged again, stronger this time. The elements clashed inside his core tearing through him from the inside. He could feel some of his organs getting affected and had started to fail.

Before he could react, she moved and caught his wrist in a firm hold.

The moment she touched him, everything stilled.

Atheline’s eyes widened in surprise.

Her Aether flowed forcefully into his body and surrounded his core. All the elements came to a standstill as though a pause had been placed on them. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"What?" He blurted in shock.

Her grip on his hand tightened a bit.

"You’re going to die if you keep letting it run like this."

Their eyes met, closer this time. He could feel her breath calm and collected unlike himself.

"Then let me," he said quietly.

She had not expected. Lily looked at him in surprise before her gaze hardened. Her grip hardened around his wrist almost painfully.

Atheline groaned.

She lightened her hold after noticing her mistake.

Her eyes looked at him glowing brighter than before.

"NO," she said with finality.

Those words didn’t give him any room for refusal. They carried the weight of her possessions and obsession with him.

"I won’t allow that."

Atheline let out a homourless laugh.

"You don’t get to decide that."

Her eyes darkened.

"I already have."

The world fell silent from the weight of her words.

Then more quietly and closer she added.

"You’re mine!"

The words slipped out almost gently, but they carried a very large weight nonetheless.

It felt as though the surroundings were holding their breath at the declaration.

Atheline went still. He didn’t know how to react. He had expected something, anything but this felt suffocating just hearing it.

But deep within Atheline something shifted, darker than anything, a satisfaction he himself couldn’t even place. He knew he wasn’t the only one in these murky waters and that excited him more than his own psyche wanted to admit.