Chapter 2

Even though they were currently being held captive by the space pirates, as far as the nobles of Earth were concerned, these astrals were lowly savages.

In our previous lives, my sister and these other humans had eventually been rescued by the Astral Alliance.

They were taken away in an astral spaceship to live on the astral planet.

Yet I was left to drift among the stars, surrounded by nothing but unending darkness.

All I could do was fantasize about the astral forces saving me from the clutches of Dirk and his space pirates.

But later, I heard how at the great banquet to welcome my people, the high lord of the Astral Alliance had demanded that each human female must choose at least three "guardians".

My sister had called these astrals barbaric. She said they were debased.

She said she'd rather die than meet their demands. She screamed that she would only accept lifelong monogamy.

The astrals, despite what to them was a grave insult, did nothing to punish her.

On the contrary, they showed patience. They gave the human women half a year to make their choices.

During this time, my sister would frequently contact me via optical computer.

She would brag about the splendid gifts that the astral nobles had lavished upon her.

I begged her to reject them all.

Even on Earth, it was considered rude to accept someone's gift if you had no interest in their advances.

This was even more so for the astrals, for whom only one in ten thousand were female.

The lifespan of an astral could be 500 years long. Even though one of their number might look as though they were 20, they could easily be 200 years old.

My sister's greed, along with her unique way with words, would not go unnoticed by those with so much experience in life.

It was only because they were so desperate to find a spouse that they were willing to put up with her behavior.

My sister thought I was jealous of all her endless gifts.

In the end, the Astral Alliance ran out of patience with her protestations that she be allowed lifelong monogamy.

They locked her up inside their "breeding center".

The result was that any astral male who was willing to part with a significant sum of money could, through the use of my sister, acquire their own child.

After I lost contact with my sister, I made a deal with Dirk, whereby I would give him a child if he helped me to rescue her.

While Dirk was far from happy with my proposal, his desire for his own progeny was so strong that he sacrificed half his pirate crew to attack the wealthiest part of the Astral Alliance.

The high lord of the alliance sued for peace, and in the negotiations that followed, Dirk secured my sister's release.

Despite all I had done to save her, my sister felt nothing but jealousy. At my wedding to Dirk, she brought in a concealed dagger which she used to end my life.

I curled up in the corner and slept fitfully all night.

It was only when the person next to me shook me awake that I noticed Dirk standing over me, a satisfied look on his face.

"Good morning, brother-in-law," I said, as endearingly as I could.

My choice of address seemed to please him.

"Julia wants you to attend to her." Having said his piece, he turned around and left.

I hurried after him.

Thinking of the night she must have endured, I was certain my sister meant to take out her misery on me.

It was clear that she did indeed have hidden talents.

In my previous life, I had remained unconscious for a full day after every night I spent with Dirk.

When I pushed open the door to find my sister looking like her very essence had been sucked dry, my knees went weak from shock.

There didn't seem to be an inch of her skin that had survived intact.

Her body was covered with fang marks, deep holes piercing every surface.

She had clearly applied medicine but was nonetheless covered in scabs.

The thick scent of photinia flowers hung in the air but did little to mask the tinny aroma of blood.

Once Dirk had left, I found a container of nutrient solution and put it to her lips.

"No! Bring me pork broth!" My sister's eyes snapped open and she stared at me, venomously.

"Julia, resources are scarce on the pirate ship, there's no pork to be had."

But my sister wouldn't believe me.

"Liar! You're just jealous that I've taken your place by Dirk's side. You're trying to make things difficult for me." My sister's voice twisted as she roared.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Julia, if the space pirates were living in a state of plenty, don't you think all the other astrals would come begging to join them?"

She must have had things too good in the Astral Alliance before her rebirth, otherwise she'd have known that the abundance of food available on Earth was not something that was common elsewhere.

In reality, foodstuffs that seemed plain and ordinary on Earth were a rarity even to the nobles of the Astral Alliance.

My sister seemed to have finally accepted that I wasn't trying to deceive her.

Her expression suddenly turned ugly.

"Kneel!" She screamed at me.

I furrowed my brow and looked at her coldly.

"I want you to kneel! Feed me!" She gritted her teeth, spitting out each word as though it were its own sentence.

I had no intention to follow her orders.

"You can't always blame every misfortune on me."

My sister let out a mocking laugh. "You dare to disobey me?"

Without waiting for my reply, she raised her voice and bellowed, "Dirk!"

The door opened instantly and Dirk sauntered inside.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

My sister replaced her wrathful expression with one of pitiful distress.

"My sister is jealous that you married me. She was saying mean things to me."

Dirk turned his cold, emotionless gaze toward me. My blood seemed to freeze in my veins.

I wanted to explain myself, to protest my innocence, but I knew that male astrals would always side with their wives, no matter the circumstances.

No matter how fierce Dirk might be, he could never overcome his biological programming.

He swung his tail around in a massive arc, throwing me hard against the wall.

The rancid stench emanating from his mouth was almost enough to make me faint.

Seeing my obvious distress, a look of smug satisfaction overtook my sister's face.

But the next moment, her smile froze in place.