TGS - Chapter 163
Chapter 163: She is a Goddess
For a moment, Lotus was bewildered.
Then, following Rhea’s lowered gaze, she saw the princess’s hand toying with her bracelet. The movements were light, yet filled with a lingering tenderness that was impossible to misinterpret.
Lotus’s expression remained serene. She took Alyuin’s wrist with her other hand, her fingertips tapping against the small, protruding bone there. She felt the skin beneath her touch tremble slightly.
Only then did Lotus look back at the priestess and say gently, “Thank you for your blessing.”
She had admitted it directly.
With her guess confirmed, Rhea was suddenly too embarrassed to voice her support as loudly as before. “It’s nothing, Lord Messenger,” she mumbled, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
In truth, she had many more questions.
For instance, did the Goddess Lotus know about this? Did she approve? Or perhaps the goddess was pleased by it—after all, it was a devout believer and her own messenger…
As for the fact that both of them were women—or rather, that one of them wasn’t human, but a female divine messenger—Rhea didn’t give it much thought.
While it was rare for two people of the same sex to become partners, it was not unheard of.
The kingdom’s laws did not explicitly regulate this, but same-sex marriages did occasionally occur among the common people, with all the arrangements being the same as for any other wedding. When disputes arose after the union, such as the division of property, they were typically handled according to the law, provided they didn’t escalate to the Tribunal.
As a priestess, being well-versed in the law was a required course of study.
But more than these issues, Rhea was concerned with the goddess’s attitude.
What would the Goddess Lotus say?
Across from the young priestess, Lotus maintained a faint smile, speaking unhurriedly. “You are very perceptive. However, this is not what I wished to discuss with you.”
Rhea paused. “Then what is it you wanted to say…”
“I would like to ask you to write something.” Lotus raised her free hand slightly. “Hymns, narrative epic poems, or short stories.”
“You must know many bards. It is they who have spread the poems praising the River Goddess to every corner of the land, making them known among the people. If possible, I hope they can also help spread a new story to more people.”
Hearing the first half of the sentence, Rhea had beamed, clearly delighted that the divine messenger was paying attention to her writing. She took out the paper she had just filled, looking as if she wanted to ask the messenger for her opinion on the spot.
But the more she listened, the more something felt off, and Rhea’s expression grew hesitant.
“Are you asking me to write a story about the Goddess Lotus?” Rhea asked tentatively.
Lotus shook her head, her expression calm and certain.
Rhea looked at Lotus, then at Alyuin.
A divine messenger and a devout believer, and yet what they needed wasn’t a poem in praise of the goddess?
On second thought, Alyuin was now the de facto ruler of Solancia. As a future queen, she would indeed need poems to celebrate her achievements.
Although the threat of foreign enemies was rampant and her official coronation might be delayed indefinitely, it was never wrong to prepare in advance.
Rhea convinced herself. She felt she was up to the task of preparation, and she could even slip in some praise for Lotus along the way. After all, Alyuin was the favored of the Goddess of the Yilu River.
Lotus was unaware of Rhea’s inner monologue.
After a moment of consideration, she said, “I want to ask you to write the story of another god.”
“However, this new god’s name is Alyuin.”
Rhea’s head snapped up. The movement was so abrupt that a lock of hair swung by her ear, tapping against it, but she was in no mood to tuck it back.
For a moment, the atmosphere was still and silent.
The only sound was the wind, which blew the curtains open, allowing sunlight to spill into the room. The slanted beams of light poured onto the tabletop, exceptionally bright, and one could almost see the tiny dust motes swirling within them.
“Is this… the will of the Goddess Lotus?”
Lotus, the goddess herself, nodded.
Rhea blinked, nervously clutching the corner of her robe. Nowadays, she could hold her own even before her mother, but sitting across from the divine messenger, she was once again the shy, timid young girl of the past.
In truth, Rhea had spent very little time with this divine messenger named Lorja.
Back then, Lorja had appeared and immediately left for Digebia with the princess. She had then gone to Akhet. It wasn't until Rhea arrived in the royal city to become the successor to the High Priestess of the River that their interactions increased, but still not as much as her interactions with the princess—the messenger Lorja never joined in discussions praising the goddess.
Rhea had never doubted the messenger’s identity because of this.
With the Goddess Lotus’s instructions to her mother in a dream, the messenger’s identity could not be mistaken.
An undeniable fact had to be acknowledged here—Rhea’s reverence and worship for the divine messenger might have been related to Lorja’s unique temperament, but the primary reason was that she represented Lotus.
The messenger of Lotus.
First came Lotus, then the messenger.
Rhea hesitated.
Suddenly, a possibility occurred to her, and she relaxed imperceptibly. “I understand. Her Highness is the favored of Lotus, an honor rarely seen throughout history.”
“Is it that… the goddess wishes to appoint Her Highness as a subordinate god, and that is why you need…”
Lotus lowered her eyes and shook her head gently. “This new god will become one of the main gods.”
She would be Solancia’s ninth main god, presiding over war, becoming a force that constituted the God Power Field.
Rhea was speechless. She looked at Alyuin again, wanting to know her opinion on being depicted as a god.
But the princess was gazing at Lotus.
After a long while, Rhea pressed her lips together.
“I am willing to serve you, but I still have my doubts. With such doubts, I cannot produce good work.”
“Lord Messenger, is this truly the will of the Goddess Lotus?”
Adding a main god, rewriting mythology—such a thing was a bit too much for a priestess. It was only natural to be apprehensive, not to mention…
Rhea looked at the two clasped hands across from her.
Lotus’s response was a faint smile.
“You can ask me, Rhea.”
As the first syllable was spoken, the ends of her hair began to glow silver-white. Her features shifted subtly, gradually returning to their original form as she spoke. When the last word fell, the one sitting at the table was no longer the black-haired female official, but the silver-haired goddess.
Light fell upon her hair, refracting in a soft glimmer.
On the hand holding the princess’s, a fine chain connected to a golden wrist ornament, from which hung a plain white silk ribbon. Her eyes were frost-blue, the exact same shade as the eyes of the statue in the sacrificial chamber.
Rhea’s eyes widened.
She pinched the palm of her hand to confirm it wasn’t a hallucination. The eyes of the High Priestess of the River Goddess immediately began to sparkle.
If the Lord Messenger had actually been the goddess herself all along, did that mean she had been in close contact with the goddess without even knowing it?
Ah, she was simply the happiest river priestess in all of history.
This time, when Rhea looked at Alyuin and Lotus’s joined hands, her gaze was completely different.
Shock, envy, and something indescribable.
The divine messenger… no, the Goddess Lotus, the goddess herself had not denied the blessing she had offered earlier.
So, was Alyuin truly in love with a god?
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, Rhea’s mind went blank for a long moment.
Slowly, it rebooted.
Lotus began, “Let us discuss your doubts—”
Rhea said in a daze, “I have none, Your Grace Lotus. I have no doubts at all now.”
As a devout believer and the High Priestess of a deity in the mortal realm, no one could refuse a commission from the god they served.
Even if that commission was to add the god’s lover to the mythology, she…
Rhea took a deep breath.
She could do it.
Lotus had watched the entire progression of the priestess’s expressions and silently apologized in her heart.
Because she was about to start spinning a tale again.
“Strictly speaking, this is not adding to or changing the mythology, but restoring it,” Lotus said. “Alyuin was always one of the main gods.”
Rhea was startled. “Eh?!”
Alyuin raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Lotus maintained a dignified expression, making her fabrication sound like the truth. “Don’t you think that compared to the number eight, ‘nine’ is more complete? Because that is the number of main gods there should be. Only with nine main gods, each governing a different domain, can Solancia be peaceful and stable.”
“Alyuin was once one of the main gods. Twenty-five years ago, to face the impending crisis in Solancia, she went to Emute, forsook her divine body, and came to the mortal world through the land of reincarnation, to be reborn into the royal family.”
Lotus lowered her lashes, her expression cool and detached, exuding an intangible sorrow. “She made this decision, yet I was the last god to know—if Alyuin had not been exiled to the temple in Kadera by the usurper, perhaps I would still believe she was safe and sound in her divine hall.”
At some point, Rhea had taken out a fresh sheet of papyrus and was writing furiously, clearly having bought the story completely.
She even had the courage to glare at Alyuin mid-sentence, as if reprimanding her for not telling Lotus anything before her reincarnation, thus saddening the River Goddess.
Alyuin, who had always been human, was speechless. “…”
How should she put it? Watching someone else get taken in by the story was surprisingly pleasant.
Having been born in the modern era, Lotus could conjure up all sorts of angsty, dramatic plots with ease.
The actual situation could not be written into the mythology, of course. When you couldn’t write the truth, wasn’t making up one story the same as making up any other?
It was better to construct a tale full of twists and turns, one that would capture the hearts of the Solancian people and become deeply ingrained in their minds.
Because Lotus had reason to believe that the formation of a human-turned-god was related to the scope of their myth’s circulation and the degree of public acceptance.
People had to remember it before they could believe it.
And once they believed, that belief would become faith.
With the reputation and achievements of being the last of the royal bloodline, the people of Solancia already held a reverence for the princess that bordered on faith.
They just needed to be told that Alyuin was a god to begin with.
Why couldn’t that reverence be transformed into faith?
When Lotus finished speaking, Rhea looked at the two pages she had filled with notes, only now realizing how eagerly she had been writing.
The priestess’s face showed a hint of conflict, which she then resolved herself.
There was nothing wrong with this. Didn’t the priests of the Goddess of Love write about Adia’s love stories? Didn’t the priests of the Sky God sing of En’s union with the snowy mountains?
Compared to that, what she was about to write was nothing.
And she had firsthand material!
Organizing her notes, Rhea looked up and asked, “But, Her Highness—I mean, the Goddess Alyuin—” She paused, finding the title awkward. “What is the Goddess Alyuin’s divine domain? What power does she command?”
Lotus had already thought this through and had discussed it with the other main gods and Alyuin herself.
But as she actually said it, watching it being recorded on paper, she still paused for a moment.
“She is the goddess who commands war, combat, and victory; the guardian of royal power and dominion; the embodiment of the kingdom’s order,” Lotus said. “Her simplified title would be the War Goddess.”
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