My stepsisters are sexy demons, and I must protect them-Chapter 83: A past of sin and remorse

Misaki’s voice trembles.

She sobs uncontrollably.

Big tears fall from her eyes.

«Hakuto... I... I’m your mother...»

Silence falls over the room.

Heavy. Absolute.

Not even the sound of their breathing can be heard anymore.

Hakuto stares at her, eyes wide open, mouth ajar.

His entire body trembles.

He steps back slowly, dragging his feet across the carpet.

His vision blurs.

Nausea. Vomit.

He loses consciousness and collapses to the floor.

Misaki instantly jumps out of the jacuzzi, grabs his arm, pulls it around her shoulders, and helps him onto the bed.

He doesn’t say a single word.

His mind shuts down, severed from his body, a defense mechanism triggering right before insanity could take over.

Four simple words.

So common.

Yet together, more devastating than any demonic spell.

A phrase that would’ve shattered Hakuto even under normal circumstances—but here, now, after everything that happened... it’s just too much.

Another wave of nausea.

He vomits again at the foot of the bed.

Misaki desperately tries to revive him with fresh water.

It takes nearly forty minutes before Hakuto finally resurfaces from the abyss of self-induced unconsciousness.

Slowly, he turns to Misaki with a weak, devastated gaze.

«This is a really messed up joke, you know...? If you didn’t want to go through with it, you could’ve just said so. You didn’t need to stage all this...» he whispers, voice hoarse, a fake, nervous smile on his lips—his last attempt to deny reality.

Misaki simply shakes her head, terrified.

Her heart pounds violently as she sits beside him on the bed.

«Hakuto, I would never joke about something like this...» she murmurs softly.

At that moment, even Hakuto’s final mental defenses collapse.

From his mouth comes the most inhuman, desperate, gut-wrenching scream imaginable.

His eyes become rivers, overflowing with tears.

He sobs loudly, under Misaki’s gaze filled with pity and sorrow.

«W-Why...? Why did you abandon me...?»

It’s all Hakuto can say, his voice barely a whisper, his soul shattered.

Misaki shuts her eyes tight and takes a deep breath.

Her lips pressed together as she tries not to break down completely.

«Because I’m stupid. An idiot. I don’t think there are words in this world awful enough to describe me. And I won’t even try to justify why I abandoned you and your father after you were born. I won’t ask for forgiveness or beg you to accept me as your mother... I just want you to know the truth. A truth that’s been eating me alive for almost twenty years. Will you listen to me, Hakuto?»

He nods in silence, eyes empty, staring at the ceiling.

All emotions gone.

«It all started twenty years ago, at HESPARC Academy. I was head of the research department back then. The training department’s head—Vincent Carreaux, your friend Chantal’s father—was close friends with the man considered the strongest Monster Reaper in the world. Your father. Thanks to their friendship, Vincent convinced Shin to lead a three-month course at the academy. That’s where everything began. It was love at first sight. At least, for me. There were rumors he was sleeping with students, so at first, our relationship was more physical than emotional. But after the three months ended and he returned to Japan as the director of HESPARC Japan, we kept seeing each other. Not to brag, but I think I was the one who helped him settle down. We were so in love, so absorbed in each other. I felt like the happiest woman in the world. That happiness peaked when we got married...»

Misaki’s eyes fill again, overflowing with tears she can no longer hold back.

«Then, suddenly, without us ever even thinking of having a child... you came along.»

Misaki’s hand slides toward Hakuto’s.

She squeezes it tightly, but his hand stays limp, unresponsive. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

«Shin was over the moon... Who would’ve thought? Shin Tendo, the man who fooled around with students, now happy to become a father? I know it sounds strange, but it’s true. I’d never seen him so happy. And the more you grew inside me, the more his joy grew too... Seeing him like that made me happy too. Or maybe I was just too blind to see what I really wanted.»

Misaki’s voice becomes shakier. Choked.

She struggles to even form words.

«What I’m about to say is the worst thing a mother could ever admit... but it’s the truth. It’s what I truly felt the moment I left you both and ran away... I only gave birth to you to make Shin happy, not because I truly wanted you. Back then, I wasn’t even thirty. I was a young woman with a promising career ahead of me. A woman full of dreams and ambitions. All of which I would’ve had to give up to raise a child I didn’t even want...»

Those words hit Hakuto like a dagger to the heart.

His emotionless mask shatters, revealing a face twisted in pain and anguish.

Ever since Hakuto began to suspect his mother might still be alive, he kept asking himself why she had abandoned him.

And now, the answer to that question—the one he feared would never come—is the most painful thing a child could ever hear: that he was never wanted.

Not even after being born.

So unwanted that she ran away.

At that point, Hakuto has to shift position.

He turns over, lying on his stomach, his face buried in the pillow.

Misaki resumes her story, struggling more and more to continue.

«I never wanted you. Never loved you. Not even when I held you in my arms after giving birth. It didn’t feel like I was holding my child... it felt like I was holding a burden. A wall between me and the future I had always dreamed of. Or at least, that’s what I thought back then... The months after leaving your father were the hardest of my life. I felt empty. Alone. As if a part of me had stayed with you two. I kept telling myself it was Shin’s love I missed... but deep down, I knew that wasn’t true. I just couldn’t admit that it was you I missed. Because accepting that would mean giving up everything I had fought for. To follow my heart—to accept you as my son—meant the end of all I had built. And even though I secretly longed to be your mother, reason always told me to cut ties with you forever...»

Hakuto’s sobs, muffled by the pillow soaked with tears, make it even harder for Misaki to hold herself together.

She manages to continue only through sheer willpower.

«But after a year and a half of thinking about you and Shin non-stop, my ambition, my reason—they gave up. I wanted to love you. Be there for you. Raise you as you deserved. That’s why I decided to give up my job. My career. Everything. I did it to show Shin I had changed—that I truly wanted us to be a family again... But he slammed the door in my face. And honestly, who could blame him? I’ll never forget what he said: Yesterday you didn’t want to be a mother. And today, all of a sudden, you remember you have a son. And tomorrow? What if tomorrow you wake up again chasing your career, seeing our son as a burden? I’m sorry, Misaki, but I won’t risk Hakuto being abandoned again. He’s not two months old anymore like you left. The last thing I want is for him to ask me someday: "Dad, it’s been two days since Mom left... where is she?" Goodbye, Misaki. And don’t even think about showing yourself to Hakuto or calling yourself his mother. I’ll tell him you’re dead. It’ll hurt less for him to believe you’re gone than to know the real reason he grew up without a mother.»

At that point, Misaki is so overwhelmed by pain that she starts to waver.

She can’t even sit straight anymore.

She leans forward slightly toward Hakuto—her tears fall onto his back.

«Thanks to my scientific knowledge... it was easy to find a university position and move to Japan. I stayed far enough from Tokyo, where you were living at the time, but still close enough to reach you in a few hours, just in case Shin ever changed his mind. And when fate brought you right here... I was the happiest woman alive. Every night, I thanked the God of Light for letting me see you again every day. Even if it tore me up inside not being able to tell you who I really was... I missed you so much, Hakuto...»

Finally, Misaki collapses onto Hakuto.

Her tear-soaked cheeks press against his back.

She hugs him.

Tight.

With every bit of strength she has left. Hakuto stays silent—inside him, the most brutal battle he has ever faced rages on.

A war between hatred for the woman who abandoned him... and the longing to forgive her, fueled by the unmistakable regret in her words.

«Hakuto... please, Hakuto... I’ve been an unworthy mother. No, worse. Not even a mother at all. But I want to make things right. I want it more than anything in this world... I don’t want to keep pretending I’m just your ex-teacher, or worse, your lover, just to have a reason to stay close to you... I love you, Hakuto. More than anything else. Please give me another chance. I’m begging you... forgive me...»

Misaki slightly lifts her head from Hakuto’s back just as he turns again, lying now on his back with his gaze fixed on hers.

His eyes are red and swollen from crying.

He stares at her for a few seconds.

His body shakes.

His chest feels crushed, as if pinned down by a heavy boulder.

But then, he finds the strength.

The courage.

He sits up sharply and throws his arms around Misaki.

He hugs her—harder than he’s ever hugged anyone in his life.

So close that their tears blend together. Hakuto’s breaths come out heavy, stifled by emotion.

He can barely whisper the words.

«I forgive you... Mom...»

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