Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 187. Then Feel Something!
After Rick told her about the Leviathan and the animated genocide victims, Nerissa stood completely still.
The water around her shook a little, which was the only sign of any trouble that might be going on underneath her calm exterior. Her empty blue eyes stared at nothing in particular, taking in information with the speed that had characterized her rule for fifty years.
The quiet lasted for thirty full seconds.
The gathered ocean dwellers waited for their Empress to respond, give orders, and show leadership in the face of this terrible threat. But Nerissa just stood there, her water dress flowing around her and her face blank like carved marble.
Rick felt something break inside of him, and it was his frustration seeing the empress just being difficult at times like this.
"That’s it...!"
He had witnessed this woman nearly grasp his hand just hours earlier. He had seen her shed tears for the first time in fifty years.
He had seen that small crack in her emotional armor. And now, just when her people needed her most, she was going back to being numb.
This occurred precisely at a time when thousands of individuals she had slain were resurrecting to seek vengeance.
This was precisely at the moment when a corrupted Guardian, capable of submerging continents, was concealed in the depths beneath her city.
Rick said softly, "No..."
Then louder. "NO! I’m not going to let you do this shit again!"
"Ah! Fuck it all!" He shouted.
Rick swam straight toward Nerissa before anyone could stop him and before his tired body could remind him that it was only sixty percent healthy. The Empress didn’t move or say anything.
She just watched him come closer with those blank eyes.
Rick grabbed both of her shoulders with his bloody hands and held on so tightly that his fingers dug into her pale skin. Everyone in the plaza gasped.
In most kingdoms, touching an empress without permission could lead to execution. It was unfathomable to grip her firmly.
Carmilla tried to step in, but Natasha stopped her by putting a hand on her arm.
"Wait," the ice mage said in a low voice. "He needs this."
"Your Majesty," Rick said, his voice rough with pain, anger, and something else. "I just fought a corrupted Guardian while I was bleeding to death to save your people!"
"Your daughter respected me because I was willing to die for people I didn’t know!"
"And I even made you shed a tear for the first time in fifty years!"
"Are you really going to stand here and shut down again, being all numb!? After everything you witnessed!?"
Nerissa’s face stayed the same. "Let me go, Demon King."
"You don’t need to worry about this anymore."
"I’ll take care of the Leviathan threat."
"It does worry me, though! I mean by a fucking lot!" Rick shook her a little, not caring about what was right. "The end of the world is near, and your ocean is currently dying!"
"Thousands of trench dwellers you killed are coming back to get you, and you’re just going to stand here and do nothing about it?!"
"I told you to let go of me..." She spoke in the same flat tone.
Rick’s frustration turned into real anger. He was bitter at someone who wasn’t an enemy for the first time since he got to Zorathia.
This woman had everything she needed to save her people, like the weapons, power, and resources. However, she was choosing to remain numb rather than take action, to prioritize safety over bravery, and to accept emotional death instead of facing a painful life.
His demonic instincts woke up when they saw a threat to authority. His dragon-like nature rose up in anger at weakness that looked like strength.
Rick had never felt anything like this when talking to a potential partner before.
"THEN FEEL SOMETHING!" Rick yelled, and his hands moved from her shoulders to her face, making her look right at him.
His grip was tight, almost cruel, with his fingers digging into her cheeks. "Get mad that I’m touching you right now!"
"Be angry that someone who lives on the surface is disrespecting you!"
"Feel anything but this cowardly numbness that’s holding you back as the real ocean empress!"
Everyone in the plaza was shocked and froze. His bonded partners looked shocked, too.
Carmilla’s hand was on the hilt of her sword. Natasha’s ice magic flickered in and out.
Liora’s divine energy throbbed with fear. Zara’s eyes were wide open, showing a mix of amusement and interest.
Nerissa, however, neither summoned the guards nor unleashed her water magic to drown him. She did not exhibit the fury expected of an empress when a foreign king dared to touch her.
Instead, those empty blue eyes blinked. Something that could have been surprise, interest, or even the smallest hint of real emotion breaking through years of hiding it.
"You dare," Nerissa said in a low voice, but she wasn’t angry.
She was just curious, like she was looking at a strange creature that had come into her throne room.
"Yes, of course I fucking dare! Rick’s grip got tighter as his demonic and dragon-like instincts kicked in.
A part of him was horrified by what he had done, but a bigger part of him was determined to go through with this risky new plan to make Nerissa come back.
"Because someone has to!"
"Your kids are too scared! Your subjects are too polite! However, I am a Gooner from another realm who passed away in solitude, and I am fully aware of what emotional self-destruction entails."
His voice broke with real emotion. "You killed seventeen kids with your hands and didn’t feel a thing."
"You drowned a whole kingdom and didn’t cry about it."
"You’ve been a great ruler and a dead person for fifty years. And now, when your people need you the most, when the Leviathan is going to destroy everything you’ve worked for, you still choose to feel nothing!"
Rick leaned in close so that his bloody face was only a few inches from hers. "So feel my anger and frustration!"
"Feel how furious I am that you’re wasting your second chance at emotional life!"
"Maybe now... you can feel something because someone is finally treating you the way you should have been treated after fifty years of shutting yourself off from your own heart!"
The water around them moved violently because of how strong his words were. His hands were shaking, either from being tired or from feeling something, or both.
Blood from his wounds mixed with the water, making it look red.
Nerissa’s expression shifted. It wasn’t the anger he had anticipated—she didn’t appear upset or imperious.
Instead, her face softened just a little, like ice melting after a long winter. "You are treating me badly," she said, and for the first time, her voice had more than just flatness.
"Your hands hurt."
"You are yelling angrily at an empress..."
"You are being rude, crude, and pushy."
"Yeah," Rick said, still holding on tight. "I am."
"You are the first person in fifty years to treat me like I’m real," Nerissa said, and Rick noticed the faintest hint of a smile attempting to form on her lips.
"Not just a queen... not merely a symbol, and not an ideal ruler who must always maintain her composure."
"Just like a real person would..."
Slowly, her hands rose, not to push him away, but to rest lightly on his wrists. Not letting go of his grip, just touching him back.
"Everyone else treats me like I’m fragile glass that could break..."
"You’re treating me like I need to wake up..."
Rick’s anger started to fade, and he was left with confusion and a little bit of hope. "So you’re not going to kill me for grabbing you like this...?"
"No." Nerissa’s blue eyes held his, and they weren’t as empty as they had been. "I’m going to look into the Leviathan threat."
"It seems you’re determined to come with me, even though you’re injured, simply because you refuse to let me go."
She looked past Rick at the crowd that had gathered. Her voice went back to sounding like an emperor, but there was a hint of warmth in it.
"Everyone stay calm!"
"The Demon King is not going to be executed for what he did. He is being given some freedom because he saved this city."
"Go back to your duties right now!"
