TGS - Chapter 199

Chapter 199: Darling

A military meeting concluded, and the participating generals walked out of the council hall one by one.

After they had left, the personal guards standing outside the main doors closed them. Inside the hall, only Alyuin remained, sitting with her gaze lowered in deep thought.

Recently, there seemed to be some unusual movement from the Kasnie army. The situation of a standoff, with occasional small-scale skirmishes, was likely to be broken soon.

This was not surprising. Not long ago, Solancia's military provisions had arrived, enough to support the needs of the upcoming battles. Kasnie, on the other hand, was supported by many small defecting nations, so their speed of raising war funds would not be slow, at least not much inferior to Solancia's.

When neither side had any worries about their rear, and the only thing to consider was victory or defeat, the relatively stable situation was bound to change. The only difference was who would be the first to break this superficial peace.

It now seemed that Prince Kaimon of Kasnie was more eager to seize the initiative. He was ambitious but had been forced to temporarily retreat due to previous setbacks. He must be very eager to avenge his shame, and the more unstoppable and devastating his advance, the better.

But on this point, Alyuin was actually more desperate than Kaimon.

Assuming victory was possible, anyone would hope for the war to be as short as possible, to reduce the chance of accidents and minimize the consumption of military supplies... But this time, her considerations went beyond that.

Kasnie's Creator God was still sealed. It would be for at least half a year, or at most a year. A season had already passed, and time was running out.

Before Lotus left, she said she would use certain changes to counter Perseus. But if her method failed, the only way was to destroy Kasnie, to destroy all of it, and make Perseus lose the foundation of her existence.

This was something only Alyuin, as a human, could accomplish.

Ending the war within a year and defeating Kasnie in a situation where both sides had their advantages, though full of uncertainties, was not an impossible fantasy.

The difficult part was how to completely destroy it in such a short time, to make Perseus lose her civilization while sealed, and dissipate without a sound.

Alyuin rolled up the parchment with the topographical map, returned it to its place, and envisioned that bloody future in her mind.

Not a single person from Kasnie could escape, including young children, the elderly who couldn't move, and civilian men and women who had never set foot on a battlefield...

The Princess stared at a point before her, her gaze calm, yet her eye color naturally made it seem brilliant, sharp, and impossible to look at directly.

If it really came to that, would she do it?

There was no answer. It was hard to say what her choice would be without actually reaching that point. The only thing to do was to destroy the Kasnie army first and worry about the rest later.

The only thing she could be certain of was that nothing could compare to Lotus, let alone be placed on the same scale of choice.

Alyuin stood up. Just as she took a step, she felt a faint, almost imperceptible breeze pass through the hall.

As the tail end of the breeze brushed past the corner of her clothes, Lotus's voice sounded by her ear: "What are you thinking about?"

The Princess's steps didn't even pause. She spun smoothly on the balls of her feet, turned, and took the hand of the person before her, pressing a light kiss to it.

"Thinking of you."

After pressing the kiss and then nuzzling her cheek against the hand, Alyuin straightened up. She looked up at Lotus, the ends of her eyebrows raised in slight confusion.

Logically, it should be impossible for a human to sense changes in a deity's aura. But perhaps it was due to her status as a god on earth, or the inexplicable connection between her and Lotus—in any case, the Princess sensed something different about her lover.

Lotus: "..."

She had always known Alyuin was perceptive, and she was right.

A moment later, the two returned to Alyuin's residence.

Pulling the River Goddess to sit at the small round table by the window, Alyuin clasped her hands under her chin, assuming a posture of being ready to listen attentively.

Lotus spoke first. "For various reasons, I am now a Creator God, the Primordial Water of chaos."

She said this first to put Alyuin at ease, to show that no ill changes had befallen her and that she had a chance of winning against Perseus, so there was no need to worry.

Hearing this, Alyuin did not look relieved. Instead, she grew more tense. "Were you harmed? Did you have to pay some price to become a Creator God?"

Lotus was taken aback for a moment, then said gently, "No." Not yet.

"Really?"

"Really."

Alyuin relaxed. "Alright, I believe you."

Lotus felt as if she had successfully soothed a ruffled cat and breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did she briefly recount her experience of ascending to the rank of a Creator God.

She had returned to the mythological space of the past, merged with the Primordial Water amidst the chaos. The entire process had no side effects, though building the early mythological world from scratch had been a bit mentally taxing.

Alyuin listened just as she had as a child when the River Goddess told her stories. When she heard that the journey back in time relied on the mirror she herself had picked out, she unconsciously glanced at Lotus's waist.

The bronze mirror, once suspended from her belt by divine power, was gone. It was clear the object was no longer in the goddess's possession.

She didn't plan to ask more, but Lotus wanted to be honest.

"Before this, that mirror had also taken me through spacetime once, bringing me far from my homeland to the Solancia of a thousand years ago," Lotus said. "This time, I sent it back to where it belongs—to where I came from."

Alyuin was silent for a moment, her tone hard to read. "Without the mirror, can you still go back?"

Lotus shook her head gently.

"I actually knew you came from another place."

"...Hm?"

"You mentioned it when you taught me that word from a distant country. You didn't say it outright, but I could tell."

A distant country, farther than the Kingdom of the Gods.

The floating islands of the divine kingdom were above the clouds, a place Lotus could reach with a short flight. Did a place farther than the divine kingdom truly exist in this world?

She thought not. But only that "distant country" could make Lotus reveal such a soft, nostalgic expression when teaching her to write words in that foreign script.

From that moment on, Alyuin had her suspicions.

Lotus tried to recall when she had taught Alyuin modern words. She quickly remembered it was before the Princess returned to Akhet, during the time they were openly traveling together in the merchant caravan.

So she guessed part of it back then?

Lotus's feelings were complicated.

Alyuin lowered her gaze. "Will you have regrets, not being able to go back?"

"I had a few before. But now, I've made my formal farewells."

She might feel nostalgic, as it was her world of origin, and its indelible marks were carved into her way of thinking, but that was all.

What was truly important was—

"I'm very glad I could choose to stay." Lotus smiled. "In that world, I didn't really have any attachments. It's different here."

"I am needed, and I need everything in Solancia. I belong to Solancia, and even more so, I belong to you."

"I've said it before, I will only return to a place where you are."

A triple strike!

How could Alyuin withstand that? She immediately took the newly-ascended Creator God's chin in her hand and kissed her pale red lips, which shimmered with a moist glow.

After a while, a honey-colored hand reached up and drew the curtains hanging by the window.

A hazy, chaotic divine power spread like a watery mist, establishing a God Power Field that covered the room. In this absolutely private space...

Having been separated for two months, Alyuin was a little impatient, but she remembered that no matter who initiated, Lotus preferred a gentle and restrained rhythm.

So, she subconsciously slowed her movements, nuzzling close.

Perhaps even Alyuin herself didn't notice that her attitude was a bit like handling the small glass idol in the temple, filled with her usual piety and caution.

Until Lotus unconsciously gripped the Princess's waist, her voice still relatively steady. "Alyu. Are you afraid of breaking me?"

Alyuin: "..."

Such words, at such a time, it was hard to tell if it was teasing or provocation. Although those two words were rarely associated with Lotus, but—

Alyuin's fingertips twitched.

"May I ask, can I make you lose control?"

Lotus turned her head, panting softly, and finally closed her eyes.

"You can do anything to me."

Whatever you wish.

Her dark bangs half-concealing her golden eyes, Alyuin responded with a deep, "Mm."

That afternoon, a rare sunshower fell.

Low rumbles of thunder sounded. The sun was not obscured by clouds; instead, it radiated a brilliant light. The wind was light, but the rain fell quite heavily. Under the intense sunlight, the lines of rain looked like threads of gold.

In the garden outside, the pond rippled densely. The raindrops struck the snowtu flowers, causing them to lean. The water splashed like shattered gold on the petals and the pond's surface, finally collecting in the center of the snowtu flowers like a half-cup of flowing amber light.

When the rain was at its heaviest, Lotus was pressed against the Princess's shoulder, holding back from making too much noise. This restraint was all the more reminiscent of the beautiful dreams of one's youth, making one want to profane her even more thoroughly.

When the sunshower ceased, water droplets rolled off the edges of the snowtu petals.

Inside, Lotus lay peacefully on her back, her hands resting on her stomach. Her blue eyes, the corners still clearly flushed red, stared at the ceiling as if pondering something.

Alyuin didn't want to move either, but her sleep schedule was regular and her constitution was good, so she wouldn't get sleepy until later. She leaned against the headboard, turning her head to gaze at the goddess. If nothing else came up, she could have watched her until nightfall.

Lotus glanced at her.

Alyuin was in a cheerful mood. She deliberately blinked her thick, dark lashes a couple of times and said with a grin, "Next time, you must do whatever you wish to me, too."

Lotus: "..."

She certainly learned quickly.

The Creator God chose to close her eyes and pull the blanket up, looking as if she were about to sleep, but then she suddenly spoke. "Alyu, you'll wake me up, won't you?"

Alyuin was startled. It sounded like a request for a wake-up call tomorrow, but Lotus had never needed such a reminder before—deities didn't need ordinary sleep and could wake up at a set time on their own.

Even so, the Princess replied, "Alright. Go to sleep."

"Good night, darling."

Alyuin: "Good—"

Alyuin: "!"

The Princess confirmed she hadn't misheard, her tone rising slightly. "You just called me darling, didn't you?"

Lotus fell asleep in a second, unable to hear.

It was the first time she had heard such an emotionally open term of endearment. Alyuin savored it for a few seconds, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and leaned down to give the goddess's earlobe a light bite.

Then, her eyes curving, she let out a muffled laugh and returned to her own spot.

---

The next day, Lotus was indeed awakened from her brief sleep by Alyuin.

After waking, Lotus naturally couldn't continue to spend her days leisurely in Surinia. She had to return to the Kingdom of the Gods to take over from the Goddess of the Earth in guarding Perseus, until the day Kasnie's Creator God awakened.

And only Lotus was the best divine choice for this task.

After a brief one-day reunion, they had to part again immediately. Alyuin watched her with a hint of melancholy but said nothing—she herself was about to be so busy she wouldn't have time to touch the ground.

Soon, Lotus returned to the Underworld, dragging the sealing crystal into a secure battlefield space to wait for the seal to loosen or break.

If all went as expected, this would be the final battlefield for the two Creator Gods.

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