Asmdoeus spent several hours removing the old exoskeletal legs from his lovely Arachne daughters. Once the process ended, each of them slowly became drowsy, curling around him like little cats, sleeping in a soft sac of webbing.

"Well, there goes my fun."

Lumina complained as she sat beside him, swaying gently in a silk hammock.

"There’s always next time, right now..."

"Mhm, I know our girls come first." She seemed a little disheartened, but her lips remained locked in a broad smile.

He ran his fingers through their silky hair, rarely getting the chance to see his daughters sleep, because they hid deep in the nest.

The nursery had finally fallen quiet.

Soft breathing replaced excited chatter, while the endless creaking of silk settled into a slow, rhythmic sway beneath the cavern ceiling. Warm amber crystal-light washed across the sleeping nest, illuminating the tangled cocoon of webbing where the four little Arachne slept curled around their father.

Aranya had somehow wrapped herself around his arm during sleep, tiny fingers still clutching part of his sleeve defensively.

Seraphae rested against his shoulder with her faint forehead, eyes dimmed completely for once, the eerie glow finally gone in slumber.

Luthiel slept directly atop his lap, all her tiny spider legs unconsciously curled inward beneath the oversized silk dress.

Meanwhile, Miris stubbornly remained upside down even while asleep, hanging within the web-sac like some tiny bat wrapped in silver threads.

Asmodeus carefully brushed stray strands of hair away from each sleeping face.

The freshly moulted spider limbs, hidden beneath the silk blankets, now looked healthier, smoother, and free of the cracked remnants of old chitin.

What surprised him most was how different the girls acted from the few times he’d met them during official meetings or when they came to visit the main palace.

"I’m just glad nothing went wrong... but I should help you, right?" He glanced at the faint traces of cracked exoskeleton on her back legs. "You’ve failed to moult properly, right?"

"W-Well..." Lumina’s cheeks turned red.

She glanced at him while swaying within the suspended silk hammock, "Are you sure?"

Asmodeus glanced sideways at her.

Her swollen body still looked uncomfortable, though the heat marks on her skin had lessened somewhat after spending time with the girls.

"Can’t we just wait?" She asked, her brows lowered as she glanced at the girls. "I can endure this pain, and they seem so happy to sleep with you."

Lumina rested her cheek against the hammock, watching the four girls clinging to their father with a faint smile. "Our daughters come first, right?"

"Well..." He swallowed, letting his eyes trail along her plump, porcelain white thighs before pulling away. "I understand.

Despite the disappointment in both of their voices, Lumina looked genuinely content just watching them sleep.

Asmodeus also continued running his fingers through the girl’s silky hair in silence.

Rarely did he get moments like this.

Usually, by the time he visited the nest, the girls had already vanished deeper into the web tunnels to play, hunt insects, or torment palace servants with harmless pranks. Getting all four to sit still long enough to care for them properly felt almost impossible.

But now they were sleeping against him without hesitation.

Their trust in him appeared to have exploded when he helped them shed.

Honestly, a strange warmth settled in his chest.

Lumina quietly watched him from the hammock nearby.

"...You’re making an adorable face again, Honey."

"What face?"

"Hmmm... your cheeks become slack, and you smile like a fool?"

Asmodeus snorted at her poor explanation.

"Well, I do adore them."

"Hmph, you should also adore me~"

He glanced at her as she began to slide her long legs together, lifting her silk white gown higher, revealing her extra soft hips.

The hammock swayed gently as Lumina’s gaze softened further.

"We’ve been waiting for you every day, you know?"

His fingers paused slightly against Luthiel’s cheek.

"Every morning they ask if you’re visiting the nest." Lumina smiled faintly. "Miris pretends she doesn’t care, but she’s always the first one to ask about you. Though I don’t know about normal Arachne, it seems that this is rare, from what Alice told me."

"Rare?"

"Mhm, normally the male is devoured by the female upon successful fertilisation. So the girls wouldn’t even know what a father is... It’s truly strange."

"..."

He found himself a little off guard.

Though thinking back to when Lumina lacked her full intelligence, and the ritual that the dumb tiger helped them perform to help restore her mind. She tried to bite his throat several times, injecting him with a strange venom.

’Luckily it had no effect...’

Lumina’s expression turned strangely affectionate watching him.

"You probably don’t notice these little things, being so busy, or how we choose to act like things are fine when you’re around. But, even the other women and children do the same, Nyxielle is a cute, lovable little girl... but she seeks your love more than the others."

Her eyes shimmered in the dark. "Maybe it’s something she got from her mother. Velvet is one of the clingiest of us in bed, after all." Her voice lowered softly. "But our daughters love you very much."

The nursery fell silent again afterwards.

Only the soft breathing of sleeping children and the distant shifting of silk echoed through the warm nest.

Asmodeus closed his eyes, enjoying this moment of serenity, before he took a peek at his wife, the woman who supported everything. Lumina might’ve once been a source of hatred inside his heart.

He even thought it was foolish to accept her request to marry.

Yet, once he took her in. He realised just how much he actually adored her, and she returned his trust with devotion.

If one of his wives needed help, she would offer it.

If the children were acting up, Lumina would play with them.

Despite her harsh job of organising the royal guard, she still supported Serena as the Empress.

"Are you sure you don’t want me to help you finish moulting, Lumina?"

Lumina went quiet.

The silk hammock swayed gently beneath her weight as several of her long spider legs curled tighter against the threads.

For once, she didn’t immediately deflect the question.

"...You already helped enough tonight."

"I don’t mind."

"I know..." Her soft answer travelled through the nursery, before "but I mind."

"Why?"

Asmodeus studied her carefully in the warm crystal light. The redness beneath her pale skin hadn’t disappeared entirely, and faint cracks still lingered along parts of the dark chitin covering her lower body.

Even now, he could see the occasional twitch running through her abdomen whenever the moulting pain flared.

Yet despite that, she still prioritised the children.

It reminded him of something uncomfortable.

How many times had she endured things silently like this while handling the palace, the guards, the nest, the children... and him?

Lumina suddenly laughed under her breath.

"If you help me, then I won’t be able to stop myself from wanting you."

The confession lingered in the air, without her usual teasing or joking threats. It was just an honest answer.

Asmodeus looked at her for a long moment while the hammock continued its slow, gentle sway beside him.

"...Is that really such a bad thing?"

Lumina gave him a look of exhaustion through half-lidded garnet eyes.

"Normally? No." One of her spider legs tapped lightly against the silk floor beneath them. "But right now my instincts are a complete mess."

He remained silent and listened to her.

"When an Arachne moults, our body becomes overly reactive." Her gaze lowered toward the sleeping daughters curled around him. "Touch feels stronger. The heat feels warmer. Even scents start to overwhelm us. Though these girls are still children, I am not..." Her head leaned to the side as a faint flush crept across her cheeks.

"And with you nearby, it’ll be like back then..."

The unfinished sentence spelt out her meaning.

He thought back to the first time they came together, spending almost two days interconected, fornicating almost forcibly until she conceived.

Asmodeus couldn’t help the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Lumina immediately narrowed her eyes.

"Don’t look so proud, you arrogant man!"

"I wasn’t."

"You absolutely were."

He chuckled softly under his breath, careful not to wake the girls.

The sound seemed to relax her slightly.

Lumina slowly lowered herself from the hammock afterwards, moving with surprising care so the silk wouldn’t shake too much. Several of her long spider legs folded beneath her as she settled beside him on the edge of the nest.

Much closer than before.

Close enough that he could feel the lingering warmth radiating from her skin.

"...It irritates me," she muttered.

"What does?"

"How calm you are about all this."

Asmodeus raised an eyebrow.

"My wife is sick and uncomfortable. Why would I tease you over it?"

Lumina stared at him for several seconds before her expression softened and she stopped resisting, leaning against his shoulder while clinging to him with all eight limbs.

Much like her daughters.

"For now, this is enough... maybe later we can, just for now... okay?"

Asmodeus remained silent, only stretching his hand and softly stroking the back of her head, massaging her scalp with slow movements.

"Nn..." Lumina let out a soft moan before letting more of her weight rest against him, her hair sliding across his cheek. "I think..." she whispered, voice barely audible over the shifting silk around them, "that’s why I ended up loving you so much."

As he watched her close her eight eyes.

Asmodeus smiled. "Maybe, it’s the same for me..." he ran his fingers through her hair like a rake before whispering. "Seeing you like this. I cannot help but fall in love with you."