"IF YOU leave now, I'll disown you."
"Can you afford it, Father?" Yoan asked his divine father casually. "Can you afford to make an enemy out of me right now?"
Half of the Upper World was destroyed, and the major gods were all heavily injured.
Even if Lord Levi was the God Among Gods, he would still have a difficult time fighting Yoan in a life or death match.
Not if his divine father wanted to keep the Upper World intact.
"You've become cocky ever since you got close to Neoma de Moonasterio, Yoan."
"Father, Neoma has never been a bad influence on me in any way. Please don't assume that my rudeness and arrogance are because of her," Yoan said. "I've always been this way. I was only obedient to you in the past because I have no reason to disobey you."
"But you have a reason to get rebellious with me now?"
"Father, do you really not know that Larissa and the others were planning on turning Neoma into the new Aether?"
"I didn't know Larissa would go that far," Lord Levi claimed. "I made a deal with Neoma de Moonasterio because I genuinely believed the other gods would be satisfied just to get your princess clean up the air pollution here in the Upper World."
[What utter nonsense.]
"You're lying, Father."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You're the type of person who's always conscious of what the majority WANTS, so I'm sure you already know that Larissa and her faction wanted Neoma to be the next Aether," Yoan said bitterly. "You just pretended not to know because you didn't want to take responsibility– you didn't want me to hate you."
Lord Levi fell silent for a moment. "Do you know what's currently happening in the entire world, Yoan?"
"I know, Father," Yoan said, clenching his jaw. "The entire world is being contaminated by Darkness so corrupted that once you got tainted with it, you're already a goner."
That was the reason why he couldn't leave the human world easily.
He was helping the people of the fallen Great Moonasterion Empire rebuild their lives when he noticed the malicious Darkness that was slowly killing people.
Worse, it also affected even the stronges races co-existing with the humans.
It honestly looked like it was already the end of the world.
Even so, being busy with the human world's affair wasn't a good excuse to neglect Neoma and their baby.
It may sound like an excuse, but Yoan's perception has changed.
The few weeks that he couldn't contact Neoma felt only a few days to him. Hence, even though he was worried, he didn't feel the urge to return immediately because of his duties.
Of course, now he was full of regrets.
[I should have been a better partner to Neoma…]
"Yoan, I know you'll hate me for saying this," Lord Levi said in a serious tone, snapping Yoan out of his thoughts. "But the world needs Neoma as an Aether."
"Father!"
"The Aether is the only tree in the world that grows from Hell to the Upper World," Lord Levi said firmly. "Hence, if Neoma de Moonasterio becomes the next Aether, she would be able to purify the Darkness in all the worlds that she would pass through in order to reach the Upper World."
"Stop it, Father," Yoan said, clenching his hands tight. "If you say more, I might really forget that you're my divine father."
"Yoan, you love the world and the humans much more than you want to acknowledge."
"Father–"
"It's wired in your system to love the world and the human race," Lord Levi said firmly, cutting him off. "After all, it's your duty as the God Slayer to protect all worlds."
"…"
He didn't want to admit this, but hearing that from his divine father made him realize why he was obsessed with protecting the world and the humans.
[Even so…]
"CAPTAIIIN!"
Yoan immediately turned his head and glared at Aspen who was running in his direction while holding the bar where his precious baby was stored. "Shut up, Aspen. And be careful. If you drop that jar, you're dead."
"But it's an emergency, Captain!" Aspen yelled in a cracked voice, his eyes brimming with tears for some reason. "The Sapling– it's turning black!"
***
[IT'S hot.]
To be honest, Neoma wanted to scream but she held it in.
She was good at hiding her pain, after all.
[I'm not sure, but aside from pain, I don't feel anything else?]
The Eternal Flame asked Neoma to touch it earlier.
When she did, she felt the scorching heat of the flame enter her body– it flowed through her veins until it reached her heart.
To be precise, the heat of the Eternal Flame combined itself with her Core.
[I'm supposed to be all-powerful now. Is there something wrong with me? Or did the Eternal Flame just overestimated himself?]
"Do you know why I chose you, Neoma de Moonasterio?"
"I would like to know, too," Neoma said indifferently. "Every time something goes wrong, the world seems to find a way to make me work."
"You're the perfect vessel to carry my flame."
"Am I?"
"You have strong affinity with fire," the Eternal Flame said. "Moreover, you have that god within you."
Neoma knitted her eyebrows. "What god?"
"Your "Soul Beast.""
"What?" She got even more confused, but she remembered that she didn't want to become more powerful than she already was. "Forget it. I don't want to know."
"Are you sure? If you can tame that god–"
"No, thank you," she said, then she turned to Seraphine. "Child, what's your request again? You're here because you need something from you, don't you?"
"This is blatant discrimination," the Eternal Flame complained. "You're cold and rude to me, but you're speaking to the child softly."
Of course, Neoma just ignored the Eternal Flame and urged the young de Moonasterio to speak.
Seraphine looked hesitant at first, but in the end, she took a deep breath before speaking. "My body is now an old and dying Aether. I want to take a rest now, but I can't do that until I draw my last breath. The gods believe I still have at least three years left, but I don't want to wait longer." She clasped her hands together as if she was praying. "Please burn my body, Princess Neoma."
Hmm.
That sounded easy.
"Alright. I'll do it for you, Seraphine," Neoma said, then she opened her hand and concentrated until a ball of fire appeared above her hand. "This should be enough, right?"
"Impossible," the Eternal Flame said in disbelief. "I haven't taught you how to use my flame yet, so how did you summon it already?"
"I guess I'm a genius then."
***
IT WAS actually fun.
Neoma used too much of the Eternal Flame that not only did she burn Serpahine's old body– allowing the poor young princess to finally pass on– but she also burned down the Sentinel Tree.
Then, the Eternal Flame helped her return to her physical body.
That was how she was able to come out of her "grave."
"Neoma…"
[I knew he'd be here already.]
Neoma smiled when she saw Yoan waiting for her while holding the jar where their baby was stored.
She immediately checked on their child…
… and that was how she quickly lost her smile.
"What happened, Yoan?" Neoma asked nervously, then she raised her head and gave Yoan a threatening look. "Why does our baby like that?"
She already knew the answer, but her brain refused to acknowledge it.
[No, it can't be…]
But Yoan didn't say the words Neoma wanted to hear from him.
"I'm so sorry, Neoma," Yoan said in a cracked voice, tears rolling down his cheeks in silence. "Our baby is gone."
No.
She did not hear that right, did she?
[I didn't ask for a lot when I said I wanted a child, did I?]
What was so difficult about her wish?
She just wanted a child.
A family that she could call her own.
She wasn't hurting anyone, was she?
So why?
"Why?!" Neoma yelled angrily, a burst of brilliant red flame coming out of her body. "Why can't you let me be happy this time after I have already suffered all my life?! Why can't you just leave me alone? Why do I always have to sacrifice myself for the damned world that only knows how to take precious things away from me? Why me? Why is it always me?!"
That was how Neoma's sanity finally snapped for real...
… and how she awakened Crimson, the God of Wrath, while spewing hurtful things at Yoan for the first time in her life.
The Eternal Flame, ignorant of Neoma's pain, shined brighter than the sun.
***
NOTE: I posted the Royal Secret Alternate Universe novel here on Webnovel. Just search for Let's Not Divorce by sola_cola, or look for the story in my profile.
I'm grateful that there are two readers who subscribed to read the complete story on my Patreon page. Even so, my heart feels a little heavy that only two people got to read the story that I poured my heart and soul into writing. LOL. So, I decided to share it here on WN for the people who don't have access to Patreon. But, of course, there are parts that will only be available on my Patreon page.
It's already completed there, you may head to p atreon.com/sola_cola if you want to read the entire story in one sitting. Thank you. <3
***
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