*** “Forgive us, Your Highness.” Amy and Mara fell down. They kissed the floor while begging for forgiveness in front of Cristela. The old queen's brows furrowed in deep thought. She wondered who was the one that had kidnapped and interrogated Amy and Marta about Odette’s background. “Please get up,” she said after a moment of silence. The two women raised their heads and sat cross-legged while looking at Cristela, who was standing in front of them. “Can you tell me the characteristics of that person?” “No, Your Highness. The man and the people he was with covered their faces,” Amy explained. “But I know his voice well,” Marta chimed in. Cristela fell silent again. She was really curious as to who wanted to reveal Odette’s identity. “Forgive us, Your Highness.” Marta and Amy hit
Rion watched Odette silently in the doorway. “... Dario dumped Celestial after his goal was achieved. He even disowned Odette as his daughter.” Cristela’s words rang in his mind. After he heard Odette’s past, Rion's chest felt stuffy. He didn’t expect Dario to do something terrible like that. All this time, he saw Dario as a father who loved his daughter very much. Dario adored Rose, but he dumped Odette. Rion's heart ached thinking about it. After a long silence, he walked in. His arrival made Odette turn around and smiled. “How was your work today? Are you going to work late again tonight?” “No.” “Working hard is good, but you have to take care of your health too,” Odette said cheerfully. However, her face became serious when she saw a flat expression on Rion’s face. “What is it?”
*** “Mmh….” The sun’s rays made Odette’s sleep restless. She tilted to the side and felt something strange from her position. Her hands fumbled and felt something rough. It was slightly wet below. Like… like grass? “Huh?” Odette opened her eyes and found herself leaning against someone’s body. She looked up and found Rion’s face smiling at her. “You sleep well, Duck. Um, I mean... Odette?” Hearing this, Odette immediately opened her eyes wide because she realized that the one who was currently with her was not Rion. “Lu-Lucifer...” The man smiled warmly. Odette hurried to get up, and another surprise greeted her. Around them were trees with yellow leaves and dry grass. “Wh-where is this?” She was confused, then she slapped her cheek once. “Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming. Come on, wake up. Odette. Le
Odette sat opposite Lucifer. The man told her that he was out to buy lunch, and she asked where Lucifer bought it. Lucifer told her that he got it from a seller not too far from the house. “There’s a seller in this place?” “Yeah. The townspeople make bread and sell it.” “A town? There is a town in this place?” Odette tried to find out where she was, and Lucifer nodded. “What is the name of the town?” “I don’t know.” Lucifer shrugged his shoulders, not wanting to tell Odette. He then told Odette to eat, but the girl still wanted to ask a lot of things. “You… bought this? When you came here, did you bring money?” Actually, Odette wanted to ask, where did you get the money from? However, she had to be careful when she spoke. She couldn’t offend Lucifer. “No.”
The city of Estia was a small town in the west of the capital. Odette found out that Lucifer took her to the outskirts of the town. A secluded place and a bit far from the crowds. Ever since Rion opened his mana seal, Lucifer also took advantage of it. He dashed back and forth like the wind. Now, Odette understood why she didn’t wake up at all when Lucifer took her to a place quite far from the palace. The night had arrived, but Rion still hadn’t come back. It made Odette very nervous. Odette and Lucifer were in the town right now. Lucifer said he wanted to look for food and other daily necessities. He forbade Odette to come, but Odette insisted on going with him. Odette said that she was afraid to be left alone, even though she was worried that Lucifer would abuse the food seller or other sellers again. Before looking for food, Odette told him that the first thing they had to do was to find
Odette turned her face away as Lucifer was about to kiss her. Her brain thought about the impact she would get if she let Lucifer go further. The alter could get addicted and keep wanting the same thing. It would become z motivation for him to keep showing up and put Rion to sleep. She must not let Lucifer take Rion’s place as the main personality. Odette felt trapped. If she pushed Lucifer away, she was worried that the man would get angry and hurt her, or Lucifer would leave that place and hurt other people out of anger. It would make Rion feel very guilty when he woke up later. She had to come up with an excuse to get out of the situation. Odette let go of Lucifer’s hand that was wrapped around her waist, then distanced herself from the man. “Why?” asked Lucifer, staring at her intently. “I… I don’t want to do it,” she said while observing Lucifer’s face warily. Odette was worried that her
Rion could hardly believe it after listening to Odette’s story. Lucifer had taken over his consciousness for almost twenty-four hours. Worse yet, Lucifer kidnapped Odette while the girl was sleeping. Damn it! “But that asshole didn’t hurt you, did he?” “Rion, the man you call an asshole is yourself. I told you not to hate him." Rion just stared silently at her. The man looked very reluctant to do what Odette said. In the end, Odette sighed and changed the subject. “Are you okay? I was so worried because you suddenly disappeared. I was looking for you everywhere. I am so scared right now.” “Sorry. I didn’t know you were here,” Rion said regretfully, hugging Odette and kissing her again. “Rion.” “Hmm?” “Do you know whose house this is?”
*** The higher-ups from the medical center and other health experts from various cities, as well as the leading alchemists in Panthera, visited the palace. They came to attend a meeting with the queen as the one who had the idea of the manufacture of infusions and the development of anesthetics. Because of this idea, Odette’s name was often mentioned among the doctors and people who worked in the health world. It made her suddenly become famous in the capital. Slowly, like calm flowing water, her name also began to spread out of the capital. And she was known as King Rion’s second wife. Rion ordered several knights to monitor Odette and everyone who interacted with his queen closely. The man was worried, thinking about Odette being the target of the dark race. If he could keep an eye on the girl himself for twenty-four hours, Rion would do it. However, he also had a lot of work that he couldn
“Doctor Ody.”“Mia?”Mia smiled and sat beside Odette.“I know you’re feeling scared right now, but we can definitely handle it properly,” Mia said reassuringly.“You’re not afraid of him?”“When Bee was born, and I saw him for the first time, I cried because I remembered when Alvin was born. At that time, I didn’t want to see his face because I hated his father so much. Every time I remembered that, my heart hurt, and I felt bad for having such a thought. Alvin doesn’t know anything, so why should he be hated?”“Mia...”“Bee doesn’t know anything either. He’s a sweet child with a heart as pure as an angel. Why should I be afraid of him?” Mia smiled, then looked at the sky. “Since my parents died, I don’t have anyone anymore. People who should be called family actually treat me like trash. Perhaps even tr
“Odette!” Hans finally came. He quickly approached Odette, who was struggling to get away from one of the firefighters who were holding her and preventing her from getting closer to the flames blazing the house.“Senior, help Bee! BEEE!” Odette let out a hoarse cry.Then Hans was stunned to see Bee being carried out by the firefighter. “Bee?”“Baby, Honey.” Odette immediately dragged her wobbling feet to approach the child, carefully taking him from the firefighter. “It’s okay, Honey. Mom is here. Mom is here.” She rubbed Bee’s back and kissed him as she hugged him so tightly. It wasn’t long before Bee suddenly lost consciousness.“B-Bee? Bee!”“Let’s take him to the hospital!”Odette and Hans rushed into the car and took Bee to the hospital. Arriving at the hospital, Bee was handled by the doctor immediately.“Bee…
In the palace garden, Rion, Trish, and Anwen sat together while enjoying dessert.“What?” Anwen and Trish were shocked to hear of Rion’s plans to retire and leave Panthera.“Are you serious, Your Majesty?” Trish asked hurriedly. “What’s wrong? Why so sudden?”“It’s not sudden. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”“Then what about Panthera?”“There is you.” Rion casually said it as though it wasn’t something serious, then cut the cake in front of him before eating it in delight.“What?” His eyebrows raised a little upon noticing the sharp gaze from Anwen and Trish. The two of them couldn’t believe what the king had just said.“Your Majesty, your joke isn’t funny at all,” Trish said flatly.“This isn’t a joke.” Rion took a deep breath and then looked up at the sky.
Betelgeuse, Alpha of the Orion constellation.Betelgeuse D. Panther was the star in the hearts of Odette and Rion.“Bee...” Odette kept smiling as she watched Bee’s sleeping face. When the boy was asleep like this, he became very calm.Somehow, every time she looked at Bee, she was like seeing Rion’s figure when he was small.“Mom… Zzz…”“Mom’s here.” Odette chuckled when she heard Bee calling out to her. She remembered Rion also calling her name in his sleep. Indeed, Bee really was the son of Arion D. Panther.“Sweet dream, Honey,” she whispered and kissed the boy’s forehead.She then got off the bed then left the room, walking towards the living room. When she arrived, she saw Mia was busy with piles of fabrics that needed to be sewn.“Mia.”The young woman stopped her activities and turned her head naturally.&ldqu
“Drystan,” Rion called the young man again, and this time, Drystan cast his gaze at him.“Is my father…?” Drystan wanted to ask about his father’s condition but couldn’t finish his sentence. The words stuck in his throat as though, deep down, he had already guessed it.“Did you already know about this?”Drystan nodded with a faint smile, but sadness was evident in his eyes. He told Rion that before going to the capital, he went to Bosa with his father. When his father found out that Aathreya was dead, and so did Rion, he decided to take that step.“He regretted that he never gave any happiness to Odette. If you died, Sister Odette would definitely suffer a lot, and he didn’t want her to suffer anymore. I told you that my father deeply regretted all the things he had done in the past, and now he had proven it. That’s it, I’m leaving,” Drystan said in a self-deprecating man
“Big brother?” As Anwen saw Rion’s fingers moving slightly, she rushed to kneel beside him, followed by Dario.As Rion’s consciousness returned, Dario’s consciousness actually faded.“When… when you meet your sister-in-law, tell her that I’m sorry,” Dario said while looking at Rion wistfully.Anwen was silent. She didn’t give any responses, as she wasn’t sure if there would be a chance to see Odette again or not.Dario’s eyes quivered. They slowly closed before opening again, closed again, and opened again. This continued until his body slumped to the ground helplessly. Luckily, Anwen immediately reacted and supported his back.Dario’s eyes were still open, and he looked in a daze at the cloudy sky above him. At this moment, he had sunken into his trove of memories of Odette.‘I DON’T HAVE A FATHER! MY FATHER IS DEAD!’The image of Odette
Rose sat by the river while Rion lay on her lap, enjoying every second of their togetherness.“Rose, I’m sorry,” Rion said as he looked at the woman, holding her hand, which stroked his forehead gently.Rose smiled gently. “You’ve said it 100 times.”“I am so sorry.”“You’ve said that a hundred times already.”“Since you left, I couldn’t breathe properly every day, and something invisible kept tightening my heart.”“Yes… You’ve said it, and Lucas also told me.”“Lucas?” Rion got up and looked at Rose questioningly.“Yeah. He said Trish told him about it.”“Trish?”When Rose told him everything Lucas had told her, Icarus arrived at the Rose Garden. Anwen was surprised to find Dario and Saintess Angela there.Dario hopped onto Icarus’ back and carried Rion down
Aiden was finally gone as his body was destroyed from within by the combined power of Rion and Aathreya. However, although Aiden was dead, the problem wasn’t really over because Gerald’s soul had already left his body and resided in Rad’s body instead.At the moment, Gerald was floating in the air, under the purple eye that still stood firm in the sky. He raised his hands to activate the Divine Eye, but Icarus came and breathed out a powerful flame, forcing Gerald to move away to escape it.“Narine?” Anwen muttered when he saw the little fairy on the back of Icarus flying towards her.“Get the king onto Icarus’ back,” said Narine briskly.“What?” Anwen and Trish felt puzzled.“Just do it if you still want to meet the king!” Narine exclaimed in a bit of a hurry as if she was being chased by time.Roul, who was listening to their conversation, nodded to Trish as the man lo
Swoosshh…The wind blew against the leaves of the shady trees while the blooming rose swayed gracefully and gave off a sweet fragrance. Several butterflies flew around and perched from one flower to another, showing off their stunning wings.Odette walked among the roses while looking right and left. That place reminded her of the Rose Garden in Green Castle, or… was she actually in the Rose Garden?Her gaze swept around the area, looking for the Green Castle building, but no matter how far she looked ahead, she didn’t see the building anywhere.Tap!Her steps came to an abrupt halt when her eyes fixed on Rion’s figure, who stood a few steps away from her. The man was wearing a charming white cloak with gold thread fluttering slightly. For some reason, Rion looked more handsome than usual.“Rion?”The man smiled gently at her.Seeing that, Odette couldn’t help but feel an endless joy