TGS - Chapter 115
Chapter 115: Confession
In the Kingdom of the Gods, within the temple of the Goddess of the Earth.
The goddess, dressed in a dark green robe, sat by a low table, smilingly resting her chin on one hand. She used her divine power to guide the sweet-smelling, viscous honey into a dough cake.
Compared to the large dollop of honey, the dough cake was pitifully small. Of course, any person or god who might eat it in the future was also quite deserving of sympathy.
Suddenly, Suojia’s eyes opened slightly.
As if she had lost control and made a mistake, the honey fell freely, splashing all over the tabletop in a mess. Even so, it wasn't enough to make its creator go over and check.
Suojia rose with a solemn expression. One moment she was in a warmly colored kitchen baking small sweets, the next she was in the silent and solemn inner sanctum.
Looking up, the polished stone dome, so smooth it could serve as a mirror, was engraved with the outline of Solancia's map. Points of light symbolizing faith flickered upon it.
The Goddess of the Earth slowly waved her right hand from left to right. As her palm swept across, the pattern on the dome's surface gradually changed, becoming the stone platform of divine birth in the center of the Kingdom of the Gods' floating island—this was the place where the eight major gods worked together to draw the pantheon's star chart and construct the protective barrier.
And now, the blue divine power belonging to the Goddess of the Yilu River had fallen into disarray. Like a shallow pool of water, ceaselessly expanding circular ripples fell upon Suojia's eyes, signaling an unforeseen event.
This wouldn't cause any major problems; after all, for the several hundred years before Lotus had awakened, the barrier had been maintained by the other seven gods.
But, such an anomaly meant that Lotus's condition was not good. Very not good.
At this very moment, the same image was reflected in the temples of all the major gods.
All the major gods who were not in slumber sensed it. Although they didn't know what had happened, they still responded at the first opportunity.
"I can feel it… in Senna City. It seems to be daytime in the mortal realm now. Suriel, take a look first."
In the depths of Adia's jade-green eyes, crimson veins slowly swirled.
With a confirmed location, the Sun God easily found the scene illuminated by daylight.
"I see it. Lotus is with a human, face to face. It seems there's no problem. Wait, is that the corpse of a Luntelila Snake next to them?"
A venomous snake could take a human's life, but it couldn't cause the slightest harm to a god.
But even if she looked safe and sound, it didn't mean nothing was wrong. Otherwise, the power maintaining the God Power Field wouldn't have fallen into disarray for no reason.
The major gods were completely baffled. Only Adia, the Goddess of Love, thought of another possibility, and her expression changed.
She observed the veins symbolizing love and desire before her more closely. No matter how she looked, the result was exactly the same as before; she couldn't see any other changes.
The love of gods was never within Adia's scope of observation to begin with.
Never mind, forget about that—
"We have to bring her back first."
The gods didn't dwell on the reasons behind it for long and quickly reached a consensus.
Clouds half-obscured the sun, causing the light and shadows to shift. On the garden lawn that had just witnessed two life-and-death struggles, the god and the human were extremely close, a distance that had already broken the boundaries of intimacy.
The treatment was over, yet the pain and dizziness continued, just without worsening.
No longer needing to perform delicate operations, Lotus's mind relaxed. She subconsciously pressed her temple, finally having the spare energy to let her thoughts return to normal.
What just happened?
The thought had just formed when the scene, previously filtered out by instinct, reappeared before her eyes.
Alyuin's approaching face, the soft and clearly intentional kiss. Even though she had been practically unconscious at the time, the touch that delved past her lips and onto her tongue seemed to intensify the dizziness. Swirling, invading, mingling with the taste of blood.
Even if she wanted to say it was just an accident, a misunderstanding, she couldn't deceive herself.
Perhaps the snake venom's effects really did include blurring the victim's consciousness and causing hallucinations? It must be, that's the only possibility.
—But no matter what excuses she made, she couldn't ignore the palpitation and the inexplicable ripples of that moment.
It wasn't the concentric circles from a stone tossed into water, which would dissipate after a few moments. It was raindrops, raindrops falling onto the water's surface, creating circles that rose and fell one after another, so clear it was frightening.
This is wrong, how could she—
Lotus pressed her temple harder without realizing it, her fingertips turning white from the force. The silver-haired deity stood with her back to the light, her expression unreadable, her face a sickly pale.
Lotus didn't speak, and Alyuin was also silent.
The Princess maintained her posture, head raised, staring unblinkingly into the goddess's eyes, as if trying to discern something from them.
To reveal things at a time like this was definitely not the opportune moment she had envisioned, but…
"It was you who saved me, wasn't it."
The format of a question, the tone of a statement.
And in your true divine form.
Alyuin lifted a strand of silver hair, raising her eyes to look at her.
To say that the River Goddess's true self had come specifically for her seemed a bit far-fetched. Besides, there had been clues before today, like the gods who always sent messengers to "Lotus's incarnation." It was just that, for some indescribable reason, Alyuin had never allowed herself to think in that direction.
But once she did, the so-called incarnation theory fell apart.
The one who had accompanied her through everything for years, was it really just an incarnation—
"It was you who saved me. It has always been only you, hasn't it?"
That strand of silver-white hair coiled around the Princess's fingers like living silk, reflected in Lotus's eyes.
Has the divine power that changes my appearance failed?
This was Lotus's first reaction.
No, it wasn't just the power that maintained her changed appearance. The divine power that usually remained docile and quiet within her divine core was now uncontrollably leaking out.
The divine power had formed a huge "field." It was still relatively gentle for now, but there were faint signs of it spiraling out of control into a vortex, with her and Alyuin at its center.
Lotus was so used to enduring pain it had almost become a habit, yet she still had to try her best to rein in her divine power while pondering the meaning of the Princess's words. Her slightly sluggish thoughts turned over and over before she finally realized:
I've been found out.
It seems my cover has been blown.
It seems my cover has been blown by the Princess who just kissed me in an emergency.
Lotus: "..."
In that moment, it was no exaggeration to say her world was spinning. The River Goddess stood up involuntarily, not understanding which part of the plan had gone wrong.
And as she stood, the change in angle fully revealed her paper-white face.
Alyuin's expression shifted slightly. She grabbed Lotus's wrist. "How are you—"
Before she could finish, Lotus subconsciously pulled away and even took half a step back. The bewilderment and shock in her expression were too obvious to ignore.
Alyuin lowered her gaze, looking at her hand still held in a grasping posture. The shadow cast by her bangs half-hid her eyes, and against the backdrop of the scattered bloodstains on her collar and the side of her face, her look was almost chilling.
"...Is it because of what I just did?"
That was a factor, but not the whole story. Lotus's feelings were too complicated to describe. Without even realizing it, she adopted a self-protective stance.
Distant.
Whether in the modern world or here, aloofness and indifference were always the best shell, preventing others from seeing what she was thinking, maintaining a calm surface.
Lotus lowered the hand from her temple, hiding the pain and dizziness beneath a calm expression. She said flatly, "Although I separated and removed the venom, there will still be some residual symptoms. You should go back and rest. Where is Lena?"
She actually intends to just ignore it.
Alyuin's gaze darkened. "So that's all you have to say."
Even after committing such a defiling act against a god, she wasn't met with disgust, only a quiet distancing. This was already the best outcome she had imagined countless times long ago.
But why did she feel even more unwilling to accept it than before? Why could she no longer conceal her presumptuous desires, wanting only to shatter the goddess's superficial calm?
"I kissed you, just now. Do you really have nothing to say?"
"That probably wasn't your intention, Alyu. The snake venom..."
"Yes, the venom made me delirious. When I opened my eyes and saw you, I thought it was a dream."
Hearing this, Lotus should have felt relieved, but for some unknown reason, she felt a momentary sense of loss.
But then, Alyuin's tone shifted. "It was because I thought it was all a dream that I kissed you, without any hesitation."
...Huh??
Meeting Lotus's instantly widened eyes, Alyuin laid her heart bare with near coldness and cruelty.
"Yes, this has always been my dream—to kiss you, to embrace you, and even more. That's why I haven't dared let you enter my dreams for so long. This is the reason."
"I am very clear-headed. I always have been."
For a moment, even the wind in the garden fell silent, as if the only sounds were breathing and heartbeats.
Lotus opened her mouth, and the divine power she had halfway gathered was like water being poured into a bowl that suddenly tipped, splashing everywhere.
Alyuin grasped the goddess's wrist again, squeezing it gently. This time Lotus didn't pull away. To be precise, the River Goddess made no movement at all, almost like a lifelike statue frozen in place.
"Now that you know all this."
"Do you still not want to say anything to me?"
Lotus: "I—"
Just then, the sound of footsteps, approaching from a distance, suddenly rang out. The pace was urgent; someone was clearly running toward them.
Lotus glanced around. A snake's corpse, a human's corpse.
She looked down at herself again. The loose silver hair, the clothing adorned with blue chalcedony and Snowtu-shaped petals—it couldn't be said to resemble her previous lady-in-waiting attire; it was completely unrelated.
"Go back and rest," Lotus said rapidly, immediately turning into a spiritual form. The solid feeling in Alyuin's hand vanished.
Immediately after, Lena rushed out of the doorway, sword in hand, her face filled with urgency and worry.
"Your Highness, are you all right over here?"
Before the words were out of her mouth, she saw the Princess standing perfectly fine in the garden and immediately slowed down.
"There are Luntelila Snakes here too, and in the house. It was a bit scary having one block the path. How strange, Senna City doesn't seem to be a suitable habitat for this kind of snake."
Lena had also encountered a Luntelila Snake, but a snake controlled by someone was completely different from one slithering randomly on the ground. With the latter, one could escape unscathed just by being careful.
Therefore, Lena couldn't imagine what kind of life-and-death crisis Alyuin had just experienced.
"...Your Highness?"
Alyuin stared at the empty space before her, her gaze unfocused, profoundly cold, and seemingly... sad.
The Princess remained silent like this for a moment before raising a hand to undo her braid.
Her unbound black hair hid her expression and also concealed the wound from the snake's fangs.
"Let's go."
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