Despite spanning into the sky, the nursery tunnels narrowed as they descended deeper beneath the palace, rather than ascending.

Unlike the elegant royal chambers above, where they spent their time awake or playing.

This section felt like a living nest.

Layers of silk covered nearly every surface, some woven into soft rugs while others stretched across the ceiling in dense overlapping patterns. Tiny glowing insects drifted through glass containers embedded in the walls, illuminating scattered toys made from tightly braided, polished webbing.

"It’s quite eerie..."

Lumina scoffed, smiling at her husband’s expression.

"The girls enjoy reading monster stories."

"Really?"

"Mhm, they like when spiders show up, running to me, shouting ’Mom! Mom! Look, it’s you!’ then point to a massive spider, no matter how ugly."

The two joked about the girls’ habits, but for some reason, the pair grew a little concerned when the nursery felt too quiet.

Lumina’s eyes scanned the room before she called out.

"...Girls?"

A thin silk thread suddenly brushed against Asmodeus’ shoulder.

Then another slowly wrapped loosely around his wrist, the colour slightly golden.

"Hm?"

The moment he looked up, four tiny blurs dropped from the darkness above.

"Attack!"

Aranya crashed into his back while laughing victoriously, spinneret patch twitching wildly as sticky silk splattered across his shoulders.

Seraphae landed silently beside Lumina and immediately began rubbing her back legs together, forming a faint glowing runic circle beneath her mother’s legs.

Lumina blinked.

Her mouth agape as she peeked down at the shimmering rune.

"...Are you trying to immobilise Mommy, Seraphae?"

"N-No," Seraphae averted her gaze, with a lovely pink glow on her cheeks.

A glowing web shot from the rune, tightening around Lumina’s legs.

Her little voice followed, "...Maybe..."

Meanwhile, Luthiel clung upside down from the ceiling directly over Asmodeus’ head, tiny hidden spider limbs poking nervously from beneath her dress. At the same time, she attempted to lower herself dramatically on a silk strand.

Unfortunately, she spun too quickly.

"P-Papa, help—"

Asmodeus barely caught her before she faceplanted into the floor.

Miris remained hanging upside down nearby, her spider legs crossed over her chest, smugly mimicking Lumina’s usual pose.

"I told you, this is why ambush-type predators required discipline and patience."

"You were also part of this ambush, though, right. Miris?" Lumina asked, her voice growing increasingly rough.

Two spider legs lifted, showing a small victory sign.

"Correct, Mama."

Lumina pinched the bridge of her nose, glancing at the three girls all peeking at her with their glistening ruby eyes.

"I told you four to stay in bed, what happened?"

"We were in bed," Aranya argued proudly from atop Asmodeus’ back. "But what if Papa left while we slept..."

"How could he leave when we were coming to your bedroom!?"

"...That is unrelated! Mama wants to hog Papa all for herself!"

"Yeah! Mom always calls Dad’s name in a strange voice when she sends us to bed...!"

Asmodeus laughed quietly as he hugged Luthiel against his chest, her tiny spider legs still peeking from the oversized dress made of silk webbing. He couldn’t help but notice the small bit of chitin peeling away from the connected legs.

She curled against his chest quietly as he reached out.

The smooth chitin felt loose, like the lid of a pen.

"Luthiel, let me know if it hurts..."

"Mhm, okay, daddy."

He gently tugged the loosened parts, slowly tracing beneath with his sharp nail, cutting the lingering, tough chitin still stuck to the soft, newly grown legs.

"Nnngh!"

"Asmodeus, what are you—!?"

"Shhh." He placed a finger to his lips.

His fingertip slowly pried the stubborn chitin, ever so slightly peeling it away from the delicate insides.

"It hurts!"

"Okay, Luthiel, it’s okay, I’ll make it stop soon."

The hard chitin slipped farther down the small leg.

He became even more focused, ever so slowly removing the old chitin, which eventually slipped free with a pop and subtle crack.

"Dad~ it’s tingly."

Luthiel’s tiny body shivered against his chest as the brittle strip of old chitin finally came loose. Asmodeus carefully held the translucent piece between his fingers before setting it aside atop the silk bedding nearby. Beneath it, the newly revealed spider limb looked softer, smoother, almost glossy compared to the hardened outer shell.

"It’s pure white... how beautiful."

That’s when her soft, milky voice asked. "R-Really, Dad, is Luthiel pretty?"

He peeked at her with a wide grin. "Extremely pretty, but we need to help the other legs become pretty, right?"

Lumina’s voice quickly disturbed their moment, but he could feel the subtle worry as she breathed faster, seeing his actions.

"Don’t touch the fresh layer yet," Lumina warned immediately, crouching beside them. "It hasn’t fully hardened."

"I see, well, it’s truly beautiful."

"Lurthiel is unfair! Her leg looks just like Mom’s!" Miris pointed and shouted.

"Heh, you were the one who cried when Mom tried to help you!" Seraphae snorted while creeping ever closer to her father, who held Luthiel like a precious doll. "How nice... Dad looked so handsome when he helped Luthiel."

Asmodeus couldn’t help but love these four little terrors; each of them resembled Lumina in different ways.

One stole her subtle, cute charm.

One had her aggressive and sly nature.

One held the curious way she viewed the world.

One was pure and gentle.

He gently brushed his thumb along the side of Luthiel’s leg instead, avoiding the exposed section entirely.

The little Arachne squirmed.

"Daddy~ it feels weird..." she mumbled.

"That’s normal, don’t move your new leg too much, it’s still sensitive." Lumina sighed, gently stroking along the surface with a strand of golden thread to clean it.

Meanwhile, Aranya had already climbed halfway onto Asmodeus’ shoulders, trying to inspect the removed shell piece.

He glanced up at her. "What’s up, princess?"

Her eyes lowered to the hard chitin in his hand.

"Can I have it?"

The question was so innocent and cute that he considered the answer.

"No."

Lumina snatched the chitin from his hand and smacked the naughty Arachne’s bottom with her back legs.

"Aww..."

While this happened, Seraphae silently tiptoed along the webbing from behind, holding a small ceramic bowl in both hands.

Inside the bowl was a thick, golden paste.

"Mom, I brought your special ointment!" she announced proudly.

Lumina blinked twice, then her eyes lowered.

Her face instantly turned bright pink as she snatched the bowl from Seraphae’s hands and hid it from Asmodeus’s view.

"...where did you get this Seraphae!?"

"I watched you do it before and then took it from the small cupboard beside your bed."

Miris descended from the ceiling upside down as usual, eying the bowl while tilting her head, her nose sniffed the air before she quickly pulled away.

"Ewww, Mommy, it smells strange..."

The pink on Lumina’s cheeks progressed to a deep red.

’What’s in the bowl...?’ Asmodeus tried to slip closer, only to find Lumina suddenly leapt a dozen metres into the webbing above.

"Ah.... D-Darling, I’ll be back in a moment, please... wait there."

The way she stuttered and held the bowl as if it were some precious treasure only created more questions in his mind.

’Hm?’

A small hand tugged at his robe.

He turned his head to find Seraphae glancing up at him with both human arms held up towards him.

"What’s wrong?" He asked, lifting her onto his lap, leaning back against the silk chair with two girls now on his lap.

"Mommy was mad at me."

’So she does care...’

Though Miris and Seraphae acted naively, he knew they loved Lumina more than it appeared. Otherwise, they wouldn’t sleep on her back whenever leaving the nest together; being naughty was just her nature.

"I don’t think so. Mommy seemed more embarrassed than shy." He paused before lowering his voice so the distant Lumina wouldn’t hear. "What exactly was that paste you found?"

Seraphae twiddled her back legs before turning her head left and right.

"Promise not to tell?"

"I promise."

The small spider climbed onto his shoulder, then placed a hand to his ear, and whispered.

"It’s Mommy’s special mouthing cream."

Asmodeus blinked.

"...That was it?"

Seraphae nodded confidently.

"Mhm. She rubs it on herself whenever she gets swollen."

Miris immediately dropped down beside the chair, still hanging upside down.

"Mostly on the squishy places."

Aranya gasped loudly from across the room.

"The chest ones!"

"And her butt," Miris added helpfully.

Luthiel quietly covered her mouth.

"We weren’t supposed to say that..."

Asmodeus pressed a hand over his face as his shoulders started shaking again.

The image of Lumina fleeing into the ceiling webs, life-or-death desperate over something so mundane, showed that these girls weren’t old enough or didn’t fully understand what the paste was to make their mother react like an embarrassed young girl.

Seraphae tilted her head.

"Dad, why are you laughing?"

Before he could answer, the silk overhead trembled violently.

Lumina descended upside down from the darkness in complete silence.

Her beautiful face was utterly expressionless.

Which somehow felt far more threatening than anger.

The ceramic bowl was gone. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"...Ahem," she spoke slowly after clearing her throat, a faint pink still dying her neck and chest. "Shall we help them moult now, darling?"

Asmodeus nodded, still curious about the paste and its origins.

"Mom! Seraph told Dad what the cream was!"

"I-I didn’t, shut up, Miris!"

The two girls began to argue, their little legs clashing as they spat webs at each other.

Aranya climbed backwards, fleeing up the webbing like a criminal, while Luthiel remained in her father’s arms, ignoring the fight as she buried herself inside his robes.

Lumina slowly lowered herself until her face hovered directly in front of his.

"Look what you’ve caused."

"I didn’t do anything!"

"Tsk..."

"Don’t be unfair now."

Her cheeks were still burning bright red beneath the cold glare.

Then, to his complete surprise, Lumina suddenly rested her forehead lightly against his shoulder with a long, exhausted sigh.

"I miss when they couldn’t talk."

The four girls gasped in unison with betrayal.

"Mother!"

"That’s so mean!"

"We were adorable!"

"We still are," Luthiel mumbled softly.

Lumina immediately grabbed all four daughters at once using her spider legs, pulling them into a tangled, struggling pile against her abdomen despite their squealing protests.

"...Yes," she muttered quietly while holding them close. "You are."

Then she glanced up at Asmodeus with her shimmering garnet eyes.

"Now let’s peel these stubborn legs!"