The System Sent Me to Breed an All-Female Amazon Tribe-Chapter 56: I Never Loved You, Not Even One Bit

Sakura had hugged Benjamin’s torso, weeping aloud that he shouldn’t leave her alone, and that she loved him so much she wanted them to be a family now.

Her arms were still wrapped around him like weak chains on a giant, trembling with every sob that tore from her throat.

Her tears soaked through his kosode in hot, spreading patches, and her face buried against his chest as if that could physically anchor him to this place—to her—by sheer force of will.

Her voice cracked on every cry, raw and desperate, the proud Queen of Shishi-no-su reduced to a woman pleading for the one thing she had never begged for in her entire long life: a man’s love.

But Benjamin, though he initially almost agreed, finally got some clarity. He had been taken away from the Amazons, from Sara and the others. And he had to get back there because it was... his home now.

Shishi-no-su was wonderful indeed, but the bond Benjamin shared with the Verdant Spire was too great—a bond forged in healing, in shared battles, in quiet nights under ancient trees where he had first felt truly seen and recognized.

"Sakura..." Benjamin held her face and looked at her eyes. "Yes, I love you. Very much so. And I love Shishi-no-su more than you could imagine... But..."

Sakura clenched her teeth as more tears rolled out, her jaw trembling with the effort to hold back a sob.

Benjamin continued, with a firm voice, despite the hurt in his own chest. "I can’t stay here forever, please understand. I have a home to get back to... I have a family there, and they’ve been waiting for me for two whole weeks."

"Then, make me your family too!" Sakura cried, shaking her head unhappily. "I want nothing more than to be with you, Benjamin! I will leave Shishi-no-su in charge of Lily—"

"No, you can’t do that!" Benjamin was stern and firm in his expression and voice.

Sakura’s amber eyes widened at his sudden strictness, as she gazed at Benjamin’s resolved eyes, then she brought her head low and pushed his chest away.

"Traitor..." She murmured beneath her breath. "Traitor, traitor, traitor!"

She cried more, hitting his chest with her hands; not quite hard enough to harm him, but hard enough to express the storm howling inside her.

Then she stood up and was about to turn away, but Benjamin grabbed her hand.

"Let go of me!" She shrieked, trying to break free of Benjamin’s grip, but it was impossible.

She even tried to teleport away, but she could not. Not while being held.

Sakura realized that he was using some type of ability to achieve such feat, but still she struggled to break free, to no avail; her wrists twisting, her shoulders straining, and even more tears flying from her lashes with every furious movement.

Benjamin then drew her into his embrace, while she still thrashed to escape, now beginning to say hurtful things.

"Unhand me, you bastard! You know something? I never loved you, not even one bit. I was only using you, like the gullible fool you are! But I see that you are far too naïve to even be exploited properly, so I’m letting you off my snare! Leave me, I said!"

However, despite the wounding things being said, Benjamin only smiled warmly and brightly.

"What?!" Sakura yelled angrily, looking at his sunny face.

"No, it’s just," he scratched his chin sheepishly, "I was about to say something cool like, ’Hey! Don’t frown so much, you’ll ruin your pretty face!’ but... you’re still so gorgeous when you’re crying, huh..."

Sakura’s flailing had slowed, then stopped. All she was doing now was just looking into his eyes, wondering where such a man even came from.

"I’m sorry, Benjamin," she brought her head down, "I did not actually mean those things I said... But you still refuse to be with me? Even though you said you love me?"

Benjamin raised his hand and rubbed her head, as her ears pressed down on her head.

"I keep telling you this; I’m not going away forever. I love you for sure, but I also love my family. And I just... want to go home because it has been a while already. I miss them, you know."

Sakura’s face reddened a little below her eyes, then she glanced at the full moon bathing the entire verdure that surrounded them.

’I... lose this one,’ she then thought quietly, ’and this loss is truly great... merely because of those tree dwellers... You have my respect, Elara of the Amazons.’

Then she looked at Benjamin again, to some extent, mischievous this time.

"And... so you adamantly refuse to make me your family?"

"C’mon Sakura. You’re the one who would make ME your family. I mean, you’re a queen. A powerful one too. If I take you away from here because of something so selfish, Shishi-no-su would curse me."

"Then, Benjamin, what am I to you?" Sakura laid her hands on his chest.

Benjamin smiled and brought his face nearer to hers. "You’re this adorable but scary fox woman I want to keep by my side forever, only if it is reasonable."

"Ehhhh? Just that?" Sakura pouted, her lips trembling in teasing offense even as her amber eyes shimmered with fresh hope.

"Ack! Ah, also your furs are fluffy and... Uh, velvety?"

"Now you are simply making things up!" Sakura laughed lightly against Benjamin, the sound soft and broken, then she tenderly looked at him. "Geez. I love you, you traitor."

"I love you too, Sakura~!"

And their lips joined in a gentle kiss, under the silver glow of the moonlight:

The first touch was soft, barely more than a brush against each other, but it carried everything they hadn’t said at all.

Sakura’s lips were warm and trembling slightly, tasting of salt from earlier tears and the faint sweetness of some mochi she’d eaten at the step mother.

Benjamin cupped her face with both of his hands, his thumbs stroking the damp tracks down her cheeks, and she sighed into his mouth like she’d been holding her breath for centuries.

It began to grow hotter and deeper. Sakura led Benjamin to sit down on the dragon-designed seat, then she climbed on him and sat, her pale thighs visible as the kimono she wore went up.

The carved stone was cool beneath him, the dragon’s stone scales were pressing into his back through his kosode, but Sakura’s heat overwhelmed everything else.