My Wife is a Dead Villainess, and I'm Her Living Weapon
Chapter 144: Valestra

Chapter 144: Valestra

Elian continued to gaze deep into Bianca’s mesmerizing eyes. When she pursed her lips and batted her lashes, the Tyrant’s pulse surged—even in a body that was technically a fake human.

"But Elian, we don’t know how powerful the other Crucible races are past the Iron rank! What if, because I kept you to myself, I end up losing you? I am not even a... real human."

"Oh right, Bianca. What did you mean earlier by you’re not a real human?"

At his question, Bianca froze. The surrounding temperature began to plummet. This was typical phenomena when the woman before him got flustered, angry, or upset.

She turned away, avoiding eye contact. "Y-You misheard. I didn’t mean anything."

Elian gently pulled her closer. He took her hand in his and whispered to her like pillow talk.

"Bianca. I’m going to be a Tyrant soon. Someone who’ll wage war across worlds. But you—you’re my Anchor. The most important person in my life. Whatever it is you might fear that I will react, I will tell you now that you are overthinking it."

"..."

With slow, reverent movements, he clipped her magic bag to her waist, slipped her gloves over her hands, and fastened the soulgem necklace around her pale neck.

The Tyrant gazed into her eyes and kissed her cheek.

"No matter what you did, what you are, or what your past is, I will accept it all. I want you to know that I am yours," he paused, then rubbed his chin, "Yeah, I want you so much, even if you leave me, I will follow you like a mad stalker. So the only way to be rid of me is to destroy this."

Bringing his soulgem out of his body, Elian placed it in the witch’s hand.

She could only stare at the small marble. She looked... apprehensive—an expression he barely recognized on her.

Elian sighed in defeat, leaned back, and brushed his hand over his face. "You’re a man. That’s it, isn’t it?"

"WHAT? OF COURSE NOT! I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A WOMAN!"Bianca retorted in anger.

Bianca’s sudden outburst made him smile with relief.

"Then, I see no problem."

"Idiot. You always do this... How do you always find a way to make me feel this way?" Bianca murmured in a barely audible tone.

Hearing her cute reaction, Elian smiled as he boasted smugly, "Because I’m charming? Apparently, I have so much of it now that I seduce women without meaning to."

Hearing his stupid joke, Bianca couldn’t help but giggle in delight. Elian hugged her from behind and similarly laughed in bliss. It was during such moments that the world seemed so quiet and peaceful.

"Bianca, I am sorry for being pushy, but I have to know everything. We are about to start a really big fight with everyone. I need to know how I can protect you," Elian said in a soft and warm tone. He wrapped his arms around his lover’s waist securely.

Anyone who heard him would not be able to think that this person was Elian Reed. The lunatic who created human flags, raised the dead, and butchered an alien invasion barely a day ago.

The couple spent a few minutes in silence. Elian didn’t rush, and Bianca took her time.

She turned her head to look at him while whispering, "This is the last secret I have been keeping from you, Elian. And I am terrified that you will change the moment I tell you."

Seeing her fear and apprehension, Elian tried to reassure his lover.

"Bianca, you and I are partners. Almost husband and wife. Not even death can tear us apart. Tell me. So that I can show you how silly you are being."

She gently pushed Elian’s arms and turned to face him properly.

"Elian, my name is Bianca Valestra. Dr. Magnolia gave Bianca to me for my white hair. I wasn’t born with that name. In fact, I wasn’t even born at all. My first name was test subject: 9339-73. The seventy-third specimen in the 9339th iteration of Project Valestra."

All of a sudden, all the words of Heaven’s Fist and Strength of Winter began to make sense.

The strongest human called her an abomination, an affront to humanity and humanity’s greatest mistake. Now he understood why.

Elian felt his entire body begin to heat up. But as Bianca had yet to finish speaking, he clenched his jaw and summoned his ally.

[Talent: Adamant – activated. Elian Reed is now immune to fear and psychological effects so long as the Talent remains active.]

Forcing his emotions down, the Tyrant could just barely keep his rage from spilling. He reminded himself that rather than his mental state, Bianca’s was far more important.

Staring deeply into Elian’s eyes, Bianca continued to share her deepest secret. "The Valestra project and institute were created to answer a problem. Is it possible to increase the mana limit for humans?"

Elian saw the rationale behind the question. Compared to other races, humans were far too lacking in both physical ability and mana pools. He himself had already seen the vast disparity during his short time as a Breaker.

"The first generation felt the barrier of trying to increase their mana with fully matured bodies. No matter what artifacts or monster cores were used, they couldn’t match the vast mana pools of other races. You must have noticed the huge difference."

Elian nodded.

"When nothing worked, they opted to find a way to create stronger humans. They tried to see if starting the training younger would improve the results. Thus, they introduced activators from early on and created breaker combat schools to ensure success."

Her words caused Elian to put two and two together. "The Defects..."

Bianca grimaced, "Yes, in order to hide the fact that humanity wanted to create child soldiers, they needed a story. They needed a narrative to explain why the even children were being given activators."

"I see."

At Bianca’s explanation, the final pieces came together. Although he already understood that the Defects were created to force humanity to adapt to mana, he didn’t understand why.

He wanted to get angry at them, but as he was now a Tyrant in the making, he understood. Prior to the Big Three taking over the world, there were far too many religions, ethnicities, and cultures. Those divisions had served no other purpose but to keep mankind divided.

"Although the Defect concept worked, it needed time to show results. They found that the earlier a human was given mana, the more they accumulated in their lifetime. And if mated with humans of the same caliber, the next generation grew far stronger."

Elian kept her eyes on Bianca. Although she was sharing what would now be ancient history, she still hadn’t spoken about her part in it.

"Back then the Big Three were far closer than they are now. They actually pooled their resources together. One researcher, named Alfred Valestra, made a suggestion." Bianca’s face warped as she continued.

"Giving them activators after they have been born is already too late. It needs to start earlier."

Bianca took Elian’s hand and gripped it like a lifeline. Her shoulders slumped and her body shivered. In this moment, the fierce witch of the frozen night was nowhere to be found.

"That was the sentence that created me, Elian. They took the sperm and egg cells of the strongest breakers of the first generation and rapidly incubated them. Over nine thousand batches later, I was born. My life is literally built on the lives of thousands of artificial humans."

Elian said nothing but only held Bianca tighter. She cried as she continued her story.

"We were not treated as humans, Elian. We were treated like cattle born only to grow our mana, breed, and die. I grew up with hundreds of siblings, but only I survived." Bianca tucked herself into Elian’s chest as she began to sob.

"I still hear them, Elian. The siblings who screamed as they were taken away. They were decommissioned because they were deemed failures. By the time I was eight, there were fewer than twenty of us remaining. I studied, lied, cheated, did everything I could to survive."

Like a dam, Bianca broke open. Every grief, hurt, and sorrow she kept locked in her heart spilled out. The tales of those she was forced to kill and those she had to abandon were overwhelming.

Elian listened and hugged his lover. He couldn’t do anything else. There were no words that could be said to make the hurt go away.

For all of his supposed power.

In this moment, he could only lament his weakness.

"When I escaped the institute, Dr. Magnolia and her husband found me. By their power, they shut down the entire project. I hid myself as her assistant but soon learned that my body had an extremely short lifespan due to the growth acceleration."

She almost smiled when she spoke of the Dawsons.

"Dr. Magnolia then suggested to me a way to overcome my body’s issues. It was by turning myself into a ghost through the job ,Psychomancer. The journey was long and but I gained power that dwarfed the rest of humanity. You know the rest."

When Bianca’s story finally ended, she turned to Elian and asked.

"That is who I am, Elian. I am a bastardized zygote from a horrific, unethical science experiment for the crucible. I do not even know who my real parents are. I am a dirty little secret. I represent humanity’s darkness and only survived because I trampled on ..."

Before she could finish, Elian embraced her and gently took her lips. Passionately, he kissed her. When they finally parted, Elian got down on one knee, pulled out a ring, and asked the woman before him.

"Bianca Valestra, I love you. Will you marry me?"

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