For ages, the Slerus Empire governed the entirety of the Fliokerim Realm. No king ever dared march past the borders of the Slerus Empire. Not even Heskel, the King of Vampires, or even Doru, the King of Celestials.

Even the 12 gods couldn't decide the fate of the Slerus Empire as they all feared him—the man who stood atop all, the Emperor Raoul Slerus.

———————

All of the 12 princes and 18 princesses of the Slerus Empire had come of age. Every one of them was burdened by expectations. They'd to live a life that honored the name, 'Slerus.'

And compete to obtain the legacy of their father.

But,

This is not the story of any high prince or princess.

Neither is it of the Son of Doru, Darius, who planned a rebellion.

Nor of the Daughter of Heskel, Viessa, who fell in love with a human.

This is the story of a boy who was confined in solitude till the age of 18.

This is the story of 'Lust.'

———————

Light.

He wanted to stay in a room lighted by candles or lamps, but life doesn't always you give you what you want.

He rested on his bed, glaring at the dark ceiling. The noise of the wooden floor, creaking, disturbed him from being able to sleep. But, the further disturbing part was the moans of the woman coming from the other room.

The wooden walls were thin, so he could clearly hear everything. God knows how many years had it been, but he still could not get used to the noise.

He never knew who his parents were. From as far as he could remember, he was raised by Merle, the woman whose moans were coming from the other room.

She was the only female he'd ever met. In fact, she was the only other living being he'd ever met.

His room was dark and compact. In a way, the room was like a prison cell. Every time the woman brought anyone here, she would first lock him up inside his room.

The room was hot and suffocating.

Soon after the creaking stopped, so did the moaning.

"Lust," A voice called out.

Lust. That was what she called him. He never understood why.

Creak!

The wooden door opened. Lust jolted up from his bed and exited his room. The room outside was octagonal. Every corner except the one with the exit gate and Lust's room entrance was filled with bookshelves.

Lust hurriedly took a towel from the nearby table and rushed near Merle.

Merle stood naked while smoking a cigar and looking down upon the bed with a conceited smile. She'd plump breasts and milky skin along with black hair. Her eyes expressed a shade similar to a lilac flower. If anyone saw her face, they would undoubtedly mistake her as a woman in her early 30's. But as for her actual age, no one knew.

"H-here," He handed her a towel.

"Good boy," Merle said as she patted his head and took the towel to clean her wet thighs and crotch.

Lust stood there, looking down at his feet. This was not the first time.

"Clear the bed," Merle commanded. After cleansing herself, she strolled near the war drove and donned upon a lavender nightgown. Then, she left the room.

After Lust heard the sound of the door closing, he looked behind to check. Seeing she was truly gone, he sighed.

———————

He could not help but feel pity, looking at the emaciated corpse remaining on the bed. He didn't understand why but this happened to every man she slept with. And it was his task to clean it up.

The corpse had little to no muscles. Lust could clearly see its bone structure through the darkish skin.

It was a horrendous sight.

He always wondered, maybe this was the reason he lost all attraction for her. It was about six years ago when his shaft first got hard, seeing Merle. At the time, Lust was 12 years old. That was when the concept of male and female first dawned upon him.

He used to relieve himself, hearing her moans. But that did not last for long. Maybe, it was because he knew the consequences faced by those who slept with her.

Lust slid one arm down the corpse's back and another down the corpse's leg and carried it to one of the compartments in the room. The room had three compartments—the kitchen, the wardrobes, and the morgue.

Lust placed the corpse in a long iron slab in the morgue. His task was not to bury it but to dismantle it.

There were many knives and buckets stored in the morgue.

Lust had to separate the bones and tissues. Once separated, he'd keep the bones in a bucket and hand them over to Merle. As for the tissues, he would boil them in plain water and consume them. It had an unpleasant flavor, but to him, who ate only that his entire life, he thought that was just how things tasted.

———————

After dismantling the corpse, and Lust strolled near the bookshelves. From as far as he could remember, his everyday routine was the same—wake up by hearing Merle's moans, dismantle the corpse, eat the tissues, and then read the books. Merle had given strict instructions that he should never waste time. Lust never disobeyed. He was a perfectly trained puppet.

He'd never left this room. Every time Merle opened and walked outside this room, Lust would wonder, what's outside?

The little knowledge he'd about outside was from the books he read. All of the books on the shelves were about spells and incantations. He couldn't use magic, so he wondered why Merle would order him to memorize all of them? Of course, he never asked her. No matter how curious he was, he never questioned her. He was but a puppet.

But he had emotions. From the books, while learning about spells to create mountains, he learned the term "Mountain", while learning about spells to poison rivers, he learned the word "river", while learning about the spells to kill other species, he realized there were other species. From the little descriptions he could find, he would try to picture how the outside world looked.

Numerous times had he stood in front of Merle with the urge to ark her to take him outside and show him the trees, the rivers, the blue skies, and other people, and so much more. But the words never did come out of his mouth.

Still, he'd hope in heart. After all, Merle often said, something good would happen when he would turn 18. Her words had filled his heart with hope that she would take him outside.

—————

Flip!

Lust skimmed through one of the books. He could read over 20,000 words in 1 minute. Yet even after all these years, he'd only managed to complete 25 books. The books were small in size but were enchanted. No matter how many pages he flipped, the pages never seemed to end. Thus, just reading one book took about a year or more.

After a while, the candles all dimmed. It was time to sleep. Lust took a yellow piece of paper and kept it between the pages. It was a bookmark. Lust had a strong memory, in fact, all it took for him was one look to memorize texts, but the reason he needed a bookmark, was because the book's pages were not numbered. The only way to keep track was to use an enchanted bookmark.

He stood up in the dark and headed to his room.

———-

Every night when he rested on his bed, he would dwell on his routined lifestyle. Little by little, his lifestyle was burning him. He would feel an ache in his chest, and sometimes his eyes would tear up. He would shudder all alone in the dark. Right now, he himself did not understand what he felt.

But it all changed the day he became 18 years old.

That day he did not wake up hearing Merle's moans but woke up because his body felt extremely hot.

"~wake up, my dear puppet."

He huffed. His body was consumed by a sensation he had never faced experienced before. He felt strange. Little by little, his vision returned. It was blurry, but he could see Merle's figure looming over him. She straddled his waist with her soft legs.

As Lust felt her soft skin through his skin. A shiver of an unknown sensation passed through his body.

He realized he was in her bed. The realization filled him with horror.

Any man would get be engulfed by ecstasy if he found himself beneath such an enticing naked beauty.

But not Lust. He'd seen what happened to the ones who slept with her.

The images of all the corpses he had carried and dismantled flashed through his mind. He gritted his teeth.

He attempted to retaliate and throw her off for the first time in his life, but his body felt highly numb and sensitive.

He could not describe the sensations he felt. All he knew was it felt similar to the times when he used to relieve himself, but over 1000 folds more.

Thump! Thump!

His heartbeat grew louder as he saw her bewitching face.

Fear engulfed him. He did not want to die.

Merle noticed the expression on Lust's face. Her face brewed a sinister smile, "Ahh ~ how you must feel," She had an angelic voice, but to Lust, her words felt like the murmurs of a demoness. "To have dismantled all those men ~ just to end up like them," She started to grind on his shaft using her bottom lips.

Even now, all Lust wanted to do, was ask why? But not to Merle but himself.

Why was he born? Why did he follow her orders?

He wondered if this was just how life worked. To do repetitive tasks for a while, then end up as a corpse. Was that all there was to a person's life?

Thump! Thump!

His heart ached. He lost his vision.

.

.

.

.

[You Have Died]

.

.

Lust jolted up his bed and huffed. He felt a sharp pain passed down his head.

Argh!

His arms supported his head. After a while of taking harsh breaths, he looked around. It was his darkroom. Everything looked normal. He could hear the creaking of the floor and Merle's moans.

A dream? But it felt too real.

His body shuddered, and his heartbeat grew louder. He was in a state of extreme confusion.

"Lust," A voice called out.

As soon as he heard the voice, his body stopped shuddering, his thought process halted. His body instinctively reacted. He dashed out of his room and handed her the towel.

When he saw her face, he acted normal.

His face expressed no emotion because he did not know what to feel.

Like a diligent puppet, he made no mistakes. He handed her the towel, dismantled the corpse, and sat down to the read the books.

But while holding the book, his hands trembled. His feared his dream. He feared his own lifestyle. After a while, he did not care whether it was a dream or not. Because he realized he did not want to live this way.

Out of habit, he opened the book.

He blinked as he saw no bookmark. He always kept the bookmarks. So, where was it? Or was this not the book he was reading?

Strange.

He was sure that he was currently reading the 5th book on the 5th shelf.

He stood up and checked the 3rd book. The bookmark was not there either. Then the 2nd book. Nothing.

He found the bookmark on the 3rd book on the 4th shelf.

For a moment he wondered if his memory had degraded. But no, in total he'd read 25 books, and he vividly remembered every letter from every page of all 25 books.

He hurriedly skimmed through the book's context. He was right, he had already read this book before in fact, exactly 2 years ago, then why was the bookmark there?

He skimmed through the other books, he'd already read all of the books till the 5th book on the 5th shelf.

Then he noticed his fingers that held that book. He'd not noticed it before but his fingers looked slightly smaller.

Lust had incredible perception. For example, he was able to dismantle a corpse perfectly after he witnessed Merle do it just once. His eyes could perceive even the tiniest of the details, that was how he was able to dismantle a corpse using sharp knives without ever damaging his own arms or the corpse's bones.

Now, that his thought process had stabilized, he recalled back when he handed Merle the towel. It was not by much but by a slight margin, he was shorter than her. Again, which was strange because he was sure he'd outgrown her after his second growth sprout at the age of 17.

Again, his head started to get dizzy.