“It’s here! It’s finally here! I’m free! I’m free!” Vivia yelled, screaming happily around Natalia’s room. They watched her dance around the room and smiled, as her happiness was contagious. Even though she was confused, Adelie watched quietly. When Vivia realized the children were watching her, she finally stopped and turned around, coughing to hide her embarrassment. “Ahem! This young lady has gone from being Lady Adamantine to Lady Hazel. To me, that is wonderful news. But to you children, it might be a little more difficult. So, whatever you choose to do, I will abide by your decision.”“We’ll stay with you mother. You have the power to choose our spouses and I’m sure you won’t make the wrong decisions concerning our lives.”“Of course, my dear daughter. As you are my adopted daughter, Adelie, you are my daughter as well. Whatever your decision is, mother will help you.”“Thank…you…” Adelie mumbled in reply. Being the adopted daughter of Vivia meant she had access to a private t
“How grand. They could spare some thoughts for the children on the street at least,” Adelie complained as she walked through the palace halls with the Hazel family. “They don’t even spare any thoughts for the ones under their own roof. Adults can be less thoughtless than one would expect.”“Then why are they being allowed to lead an entire kingdom?”“It’s because of bloodline. By the way, asking that question out loud is treason. You can lose your head for that.”Adelie kept her mouth shut and continued walking until they reached the room allocated for the Hazel family. Incidentally, they ran into the Grand Duchess and her son.“Your grace,” they all greeted and curtsied. She greeted them back with a short nod, her face on Vivia’s.“I heard about your divorce, Lady Vivia. It must have been distressing.” “It was but I’m glad that it’s over. Thank you for caring about me and my children, your grace.”The shy child that clutched his mother’s hand was not the Grand Duke Fredrich that Na
“Your highness! Third princess! Princess Alana! Your highness!”“Why are you letting her do as she pleases? There can’t possibly be a princess here,” Adelie said to Sebastian. “Believe it or not, a member of the royal family actually lives here. We’ve only seen the third princess on a few occasions but she lives like she doesn’t exist because of the Queen. If we can call out to her, we can find her.” “I didn't even know there was a third princess,” Adelie grumbled. Sebastian looked at her, dug around his pocket and handed her a piece of candy. “If you’re bored, you can take this. Don’t worry about finishing it. I still have more with me.”“Ah, thank you.” “I’m your brother. This is nothing.”“You just accept it? She decides to take me along with her and the whole family accepts her decision? No matter how much I think about it, it’s still strange.”“My sister is the reason why this family is together and safe. Every decision she makes is for our safety so there isn’t an iota of do
“Introducing Lady Vivia Hazel, her son, Sebastian Adamantine, her first daughter Natalia Adamantine and her second daughter, Adelie Hazel,” the chamberlain announced as they entered the ballroom. They walked in confidently, ignoring the comments the nobles said as they came in. they were nothing short of rude and uncourteous, mostly about the divorce and a surprising other child. Before they reached the Queen, there was already a rumor of an illegitimate child from the nobles. “Congratulations on the occasion of your birth, your majesty. By the great spirits, you will live a long and healthy life,” Vivia said, bowing appropriately. “Thank you, Lady Hazel. I didn’t really expect that you would show up and with your children no less. I admire your strength.”“Thank you, your majesty. It’s really comforting, knowing that you understand how I feel, especially after I was betrayed my the one supposed to love me.”Natalia tried not to smile, knowing what her mother was doing. As the Queen
“Did you intentionally interrupt our dance?”“Why would you think that?! I only came to give you food! Honestly, you’re such a sister lover!”Natalia froze upon hearing that. If it was the Sebastian of her past lives, then she woud’ve believed it. But if it was the Sebastian she knew now…“You’re just jealous that I’m closer to Natalia than you are. It’s okay. If you kneel and call me teacher, then I can teach you how to get closer to her.”“WHAT?! That is preposterous! I am already her sister, I don’t need to…”“PFFT! HAHAHAHA!” Natalia burst into laughter. She never thought she would hear something like that from Adelie’s mouth, especially since she spent the last two lives trying to kill her. “Why are you laughing?”“Oh, nothing. The both of you are just so adorable, I couldn’t help myself.”“W-What?! What do you mean Adorable?!”While the argued, the door opened again but this time, it was their mother. She heaved a sigh of relief and walked to where Sebastian was standing and sa
“Over there! They’re finally here! I can’t believe they really came to this party. Do you think we’ll be able to talk to them?”“You want to be able to talk to them? In your dreams. People like that are only meant to be admired from afar. People will curse you if you try to separate one person from the group.”“But won’t they eventually end up getting married?”“Shhh! They’ll hear you.”Loitering by the entrance of the mansion of Count Selene were a particularly noticeable group of people. Not only were they visually appealing, they also had very distinctive achievements in the continents. Despite the fact that there were a lot of eyes on them, they still behaved naturally.“That dress looks nice on you, Alana. I told you, you can never go wrong with Borisque boutique.”“Just relinquish control over my wardrobe, okay? I think I’m old enough to choose what to wear by myself.”“If you show me you can wear what is befitting of a future Queen, then I shall relinquish all control over your
“Such a boring party. Maybe I should’ve stayed at home,” Fredrich complained.“I thought you were burdened with the endless paperwork at home and decided to come here. I told you that you didn’t have to come.”“How could I possibly miss the swarm of women trying to catch Sebastian’s attention and his scathing rebuttal whenever someone says anything bad about you and your sister? No, this is far too entertaining.”Natalia shook her head, her hands still moving nonstop to sow the pattern at the edge of the handkerchief. Fredrich observed her curiously, knowing she wasn’t the type to do this sort of thing. She was making it for Marvis, seeing as the letter M was sown in with blue thread. “I heard he has a wall where he hands these in his room.”“Have I really made that much?”“I imagine this is what you use the endless stores of fabric gifted to you from the Merchant Association for. Well, it is quite cute.”Natalia looked at him with disbelief. In two past lives, he couldn’t stand sitt
“Your next transaction is in Polivia. I don’t think you look well enough to travel. Should I reschedule?”"No, I will attend to it regardless. We will get ready to travel soon. Have you told the head butler that I wish to see Grandmother?""Yes, my lady.""Then I shall go to see her."Her assistant looked worried but Natalia had more important things to worry about. She walked to her Grandmother's office and saw a familiar face there. She gave a courteous greeting. "Hello, Lady Edna Hazel.""Natalia. You still greet me formally like we aren't cousins.""You are the future family head. I can't address you any other way." "You are putting a conscious distance between us. Not only that but you don't socialize with the other family descendants unless you're mandated to. Are you trying to say you're not interested in a part of this family's inheritance or are you trying to say we're unworthy of your presence?""I had no idea my actions were interpreted this way. I have barely been home t
Upon hearing the cry of a baby, their hearts of multiple people became calm. The mother had been in labor for a total of two days, trying her hardest to push her babies out. The second followed the first closely and they were both taken out to be cleaned. The father of the child had been there the whole time, clasping her hand as tightly as she clasped his. He kissed her forehead and watched her until she fell asleep from exhaustion before going out of the room. "Is she well? Are the babies well?" He was bombarded with questions as soon as he came out. He nodded, smiling. Messangers were sent out immediately. The royal heirs of Polivia had been born. Natalia had always asked herself this question: What would a timeline without me look like?Since she was never born, her mother didn't have to go through the pain of bearing another child. Her relationship with Marquis Adamantine became better, she made the step to reconnect with her family and she went on to have a fruitful married l
They readied their weapons, holding their breaths. Fighting ascended gods was vastly different from fighting original gods. The weakest was Madaline, who was both lacking in the number of wings she had and an ascended god. Luckily, her barriers were the strongest in the world. “Wait. They’re just looking. It’s like they’re waiting for something or…someone.”They looked down at Nataroth and saw that giant white wings were sprouting from her back. She was growing larger by the second, soon dwarfing out the space. She stopped growing and focused her eyes on them.{My children. I…have returned}Marvis figured out the patterns and used the teleportation portal to get them to another room. It was relatively intact like the other rooms and it didn’t look like it was affected by the blast. But after seeing the coffin in the middle of the room, they soon realized why. Just as they were about to figure out their next move, Denitra fell into Marvis’s arms. They thought it was intentional until
Even in the spirit world, where nothing was solid, the ground began to shake. The coffins that surrounded Nataroth opened of their own accord and a thick miasma formed on top of it. The bodies in the coffins rose, slowly climbing out of the coffins. Maowry watched this all unfold with fear in their heart. “You can still stop this, Maowry. They are still vulnerable.” “Even if I can, why should I, Uriel?”“You’ll regret this!”“I am regretting this but I want to see how far this can go.”“MAOWRY!”They ignored her, looking at the bodies slowly coming closer to her. They walked like the undead, unstable and unstoppable. In a way, they were undead but with the large spell, not for long. They could recognize the magic being used and the obvious bending of world order. However, there was something they didn’t recognize, something that transcended both magic and world order. It was the reason why the spell was working in the first place and there was only one god that could use it; Natarot
The fights between the gods raged on. If they met on neutral grounds, Maowry versus Uriel wouldn’t be a one sided beat down. However, Maowry’s powers were fading because Thiton and Madaline kept shattering the ancient barriers of the spirit world. Madaline also had to repair those barriers immediately so Thiton was able to get some blows in. “Why won’t you just roll over and die?! You have always been a pain in my neck and you keep making aggravating decisions that bring us to this point every single time! What is wrong with you, Madaline?”“The way you speak Thiton, makes it obvious that you are obsessed with me. That’s worrisome. I cannot let a disgusting creature disguised as a god profess his love to me that loudly. Why don’t you just die?”“You’re delusional. Your attachment to Nataroth even though you’re an ascended god just like us shows how much of a hypocrite you are!”“Coming from the person who killed me?! That’s laughable. You, of all people, are claiming to care for the
“Lovely, isn’t it?” “I feel like you’re ignoring me. It is lovely. Is that made from purely cotton?” “Yes, it is. You love even lovlier in it, your highness. The wedding is soon, is it not? I cannot wait to be there.” “What about you? Why won’t we attend your wedding? Come on, Lady Natalia. You know you would look absolutely beautiful in a wedding dress.” “I hate wedding dresses.” “...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.” “I’m not angry, Princess Temara. I know how much you care about me and I know how much you love my brother. Honestly, it worries me. Would you really slit your throat if he asked you to?” “...of course not.” “Your highness, you hesitated. Well, it doesn’t matter because he would never ask you to. Like I was saying, I understand why all of you are worried about me. Yes, I know you’re all behind that door. But I know what I’m doing. I’ve been doing it for a long, long time. But if you don’t all trust me to make the right decision, then is it really love?”
In Madaline’s palace, there was a direct portal down to earth. Sylph and the fairy sent to rescue her were ready to send her soul back but it was too damaged to travel whole. They had no other choice but to wait for Madaline or find an alternative. It was difficult to patch a soul and not just any god could do it. If they waited any longer, it would affect her chances of escaping significantly.“Shouldn’t Madaline have returned by now? What’s taking so long?!”Back at the platform, the gods were amazed. The fight was on a different level than the one they watched earlier. Two of the most powerful gods going head to head without fear. The first weapon they used, they had both broken them even though they were items not built to break. They were fighting solely with magic, causing all forms of natural disasters. The sky began to darken all around the world, alarming the mortals. Madaline's magic was focused on barriers. No matter what anyone did, you couldn't get past her barriers. Her
"Grandmother!" Natalia dashed into the mansion, heading to the living room first. She found the butler and he told her she was in the office. She could finally calm herself and walk into the office. "Grandmother, you really came.""You have a very nice office, Natalia. This old woman is jealous.""I can make the exact one for you. I'm just curious. Why are you here?""Sit, we need to talk.""I'm terrified. If this is about my marriage, you need to give me more time…""This is not about that. It's about your inheritance.""You came all the way here for that? You could've just asked me to come to you. It must be more than that.""Yes. Why did you bring a hostage and ask the plan to be sped up? You know how sensitive the whole thing is! You didn't even tell anyone else about it and now you want to hasten it out of nowhere! What happened?""The hostage is critical. I had to put her away so she wouldn't affect my plans. Two, there isn't much time left. Even after I went back in time two
“W-What do you mean the god of death and destruction?!”“Yes, what do I mean indeed?” she just smiled, looking at the body in the casket. He just stared back at her with his eyes open. "I was very lucky to find him, you know. Gods are not just objects you find on the side of the streets. I actually built this whole thing because of him but not for him. He belongs in another world so you have to be curious as to why he's here. He won't say anything though which is disappointing.""Are you insane?! That is the most dangerous of the original gods!""I doubt he is as dangerous as Nataroth. Anyway, now that I've shown you my treasure, let's take you to your room, shall we?"They left the room, the doors locking behind them as they left. The boy laying still in the casket rose to sit up and stared unblinkingly at the door. As they faced down the two royal heirs, a servant came running out from the mansion, handing a letter to Sebastian. He frowned and burnt the letter immediately. "You w
After dinner and settling her friends and hostage into her home, she could finally rest. She soaked herself in the tub, feeling the knots in her body loosen. There was also the fact that she was being massaged by little fairies that fluttered excitedly around her. She sighed with content. "Do you like it that much?""Hmm, it's nice. Did you miss me, Madaline?""You worried me but you really came back without a scratch. Berinda is Uriel's territory so I cannot intervene at will. I'm glad it went well.""No, I got attacked and that's why I have a hostage. Now that you say it, she's probably Uriel's Saintess.""You took another god's Saintess?! Since when did you start acting so recklessly?""It was not a reckless or juvenile decision. You know what my goal is. By the way, I have a question.""What is it?""If Adelie is Ducroft's Saintess and Denitra is Uriel's Saintess, does that mean I'm your Saintess?""No, it's not you. It's Marvis's mother." "How cruel. You could've reserved that