Chapter 208: There’s Never Been a Reason Why Childhood Sweethearts Can’t Conquer a Goddess (Two-in-one)
Lover…
Lover.
Although she had already guessed it in her heart.
However, when she heard the black-skirted maiden in front of her personally give this answer.
Liliana’s heart couldn’t help but tremble.
She looked up slightly.
Her gray-black eyes scanned the black-skirted maiden in front of her, and then the figure on the throne.
Because, at this moment, Liliana suddenly recalled a past event from over five hundred years ago.
A past that had long since been buried in the dust of history.
It was when the Elf Royal Court had not yet fallen into the abyss as it was now, and was still a lonely little island above the boundless sea.
Her conversation with Sister Heiser.
“Sister Heiser… what is your relationship with that newly arrived human?”
She, who was still naive and childish back then, and was just an unremarkable little girl among the Gray Elf Race, had asked the Golden Elf Elder Heiser a similar question.
And her answer—
was exactly the same as the current leader.
Even the distant gaze, which was looking at her but seemed to have passed through her body and reached a more distant world, was the same.
The Gray Elf little girl back then was still in a state of ignorance, only half-understanding words like “lover” and unable to comprehend their meaning.
However, at this moment, Liliana, who had become an elder of the Gray Elf Race, could already understand the meaning.
And the huge vortex contained within this seemingly insignificant information that could overturn the entire Elf Royal Court.
“Speaking of which, Lily.”
“You are an elf born on the Lost Island before that fall.”
“That is to say, you must have also seen what that Golden Elf looked like when she was with Shaya back then?”
The black-skirted maiden suddenly withdrew her distant and ethereal gaze.
She looked at Liliana in front of her, her lips still curved in a faint smile.
“Can you tell me about it? About their past.”
“Or to be more precise… what was the nature of their relationship back then?”
A drop of cold sweat slid silently down Liliana’s cheeks.
She was no longer the ignorant Gray Elf little girl she was back then.
She could tell how deep the trap in this question was just by thinking about it.
She was sweating profusely on the spot.
However, although she was panicking inwardly, Liliana was now an elder of the Council Hall.
On the surface, she still maintained a thoughtful expression.
After a long time, she shook her head.
“It was all a long time ago when I was a child, I don’t remember it very clearly, Leader.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
The black-skirted maiden nodded, her plain white fingers gently resting on her delicate chin.
“Then I’ll ask another question.”
“Lily… who do you think he looks better with, Heiser or me?”
What a devilish question…
The cold sweat on Liliana’s forehead flowed even faster.
To be honest, Liliana had a good impression of Sister Heiser, who had taken care of the Gray Elf Race when she was young.
However, in terms of kinship, the leader in front of her, who had helped the Royal Court to revive and settle in the abyss after its fall, held a higher place in Liliana’s heart.
Moreover, Sister Heiser was not in the abyss, but the leader was right in front of her.
Therefore, the answer to this question was self-evident.
“If I remember correctly… Sister Heiser only spent less than a year with him.”
“I think one year of time can’t compare to five hundred years of companionship, can it?”
“Is that so?”
Upon hearing Liliana’s answer, the charming curve of the black-skirted maiden’s lips became even more pronounced.
However, she soon waved her hand casually.
Faint night and shadow behind the maiden wove into a simple and elegant pitch-black throne.
And she gently sat on that throne of shadow, side-by-side with the frozen throne behind her, but slightly lower.
“Although it might just be my heart speaking, I’m quite happy to hear such an answer…”
“But—”
A complex color suddenly appeared in her eyes.
“Five hundred years of companionship.”
“Can it really be compared to that one year of time?”
The black-skirted maiden’s words suddenly carried a hint of confusion.
And a trace of lament, and a fleeting unease.
This made Liliana’s heart tremble.
As the acknowledged leader of the Elf Royal Court, or rather, the true guardian.
Throughout the years, even in the eyes of the legendary elders of the Council Hall, the image of the black-skirted maiden had always been mysterious, majestic, and unfathomable.
As if she were a god looking down on all beings from the clouds, protecting the mortal world.
Since Liliana had known the leader, this was the first time she had seen the black-skirted maiden in front of her reveal such confusion, and even a hint of unease.
“Actually, my previous answer was a lie, Lily.”
The black-skirted maiden rested her elbow on the armrest of the shadow throne, propped her chin with her hand, and quietly gazed at the sleeping youth beside her.
“His relationship with me, Shaya’s relationship with me, is not that of lovers.”
“This is just my one-sided wish…”
“Unrequited love.”
She smiled, but there was no joy in her words.
Instead, there was a hint of bitterness.
“In fact, he might still keep some distance from me now, unwilling to have too deep an interaction with me.”
“Perhaps in his heart, my impression is still just a friend, or even just the relationship between a Beast Tamer and a familiar.”
“Closeness, trust, even being able to lie on his head to bask in the sun without restraint…”
“But that is ultimately only the closeness between a Beast Tamer and a familiar, not the relationship between people, where hearts truly connect and they become each other’s reliance.”
The black-skirted maiden’s voice was very soft.
“He is very smart, he couldn’t possibly not notice my special affection and closeness towards him.”
“However, because of how we first met as a familiar and a Beast Tamer… in his heart, he always attributes my affection and closeness to me to the dependence of a newly hatched dragon on the first creature it sees, or to the reason of the Soul Pact.”
“I can understand his thoughts… he thinks that my closeness and dependence on him stem from the coincidence of my hatching, from the external restraint of the Soul Pact, rather than from my heart.”
“This is not true love, but just some kind of twisted emotion.”
“So he doesn’t want me to be tied down by this deformed fate, nor does he want to constrain himself.”
“But…”
She spoke softly.
“I know clearly in my heart that it is not like this.”
“What ‘special emotion of a newly hatched dragon towards the first creature it sees,’ what restraint of an ‘equal contract’… such things might influence a young dragon that has just been born and is ignorant of the world.”
“But how can these restraints and attachments last for hundreds of years, or even for several epochs?”
The light flowed in the black-skirted maiden’s crimson-gold eyes.
“In those long days, I thought about resenting him for unreliably leaving me, and about rejecting his vile act of kidnapping minors.”
“But in the end, after the long period of settling and cooling, and after clearing all the impurities and杂念 from the ocean of my mind, I was able to see with absolute clarity.”
“The most intense, most passionate emotion in my heart for him—”
“Is still longing, and affection.”
She blinked.
“Being able to become his lover like Heiser… perhaps, from the very beginning, it was just my own wishful thinking.”
“However, Lily.”
“Since everything is not yet settled, there is still a chance, right?”
“Even if this five-hundred-year companionship was just my unilateral decision… when he wakes up and sees everything I have done for him.”
“Even the most stone-hearted person should be moved, and even open their heart, right?”
The black-skirted maiden’s voice was very soft.
At this moment, she no longer seemed like the mysterious, incomparably powerful, and majestic leader in the eyes of the people of the Elf Royal Court.
Nor was she the Queen sitting on the throne of the Night.
She was just a maiden with delicate feelings, worried about her own heart’s desires, yet filled with unspeakable anticipation amidst her worry.
“Yes.”
“Although I’ve only met him once, I think Shaya brother, who smiled at me even at our first meeting, is definitely not such a heartless person.”
“A heartless person would never have done something so decisive for Sister Heiser.”
Liliana blurted out without hesitation.
This time, her answer was no longer the perfunctory response of “eyes on nose, nose on mouth, prioritizing error avoidance” from before.
Instead, it was her true thoughts from the bottom of her heart.
Upon hearing Liliana’s answer.
On the throne of shadow, the black-skirted maiden merely closed her eyes slightly.
The entire hall fell silent, as if even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard clearly.
Her lips curved at times, and moved at times, but there was more joy than melancholy.
After an unknown amount of time, the black-skirted maiden opened her eyes again.
Crimson-gold luster appeared, like flowing lava.
And it was crystal clear and bright, like the radiance of the moon.
The joy and melancholy intertwined in her crimson-gold eyes disappeared.
In an instant, she returned to the unfathomable, beautiful, and utterly captivating Queen of the Night.
“That’s right.”
“He was never that heartless.”
“Moreover, since ancient times, there has never been a reason why childhood sweethearts can’t defeat a goddess.”
“If that were not the case, how could Little Ai be the most special one by his side?”
“The story between him and me—”
“has only just begun.”
Although at first, it was just a self-encouragement, spoken with a hint of self-doubt.
But by the end, it carried an undeniable majesty.
A trace of tenderness flashed across the black-skirted maiden’s crimson-gold vertical pupils, replaced by an indescribable, awe-inspiring radiance.
This was the image Liliana was familiar with, the image of the leader that the elves in Snow City saw.
When countless elves in the Elf Royal Court were disoriented and couldn’t find their way at the bottom of the abyss after its fall.
It was the mysterious leader who emerged from the deepest part of the Royal Court.
With unparalleled might, she helped the elves establish this Snow City on the ice field, using the ruins of the Royal Court as a foundation in the abyss.
She also used several mysterious holy relics to create edible crops that could grow and be harvested in the barren soil, even in the desolate and lifeless abyss.
It could be said that without her, this Snow City could not have been established, and the elves in the Royal Court would have gradually declined in aimless confusion.
Many residents of Snow City, including the legends, had speculated about the true origin of this guardian and leader, who emerged from the depths of the Royal Court, had an unfathomable background, and was incomparably powerful.
Some said that she was an elder of the Council Hall who had gone into seclusion hundreds of years ago to break through to a higher realm.
Others said that she was a descendant of the former Elf King, or perhaps even the Elf King himself.
But in fact, only Liliana, who was close to the leader, knew.
The reason why the leader became the guardian of the Elf Royal Court and had guarded Snow City for hundreds of years was actually just because of a very trivial reason.
“This is, after all, Heiser’s hometown.”
“We are considered best friends, even if our relationship is a bit plastic, but after all, our opponents are not just each other, but many more people.”
“Since that’s the case, it’s on the way, so let’s just take care of it.”
It was just for this reason.
“Alright, I’ve finished complaining.”
The black-skirted maiden casually leaned back on the throne shrouded in night.
Her crimson-gold eyes returned to their original lazy and casual appearance.
She lowered her gaze and looked at the Gray Elf maiden in front of her.
“Let’s get back to business. It’s time to talk about important matters.”
“Lily, report to me. I asked you to investigate the gap between the Abyss and the Prime Material Plane.”
“The movements of those false gods on the Western Continent.”
“A certain Golden Elf who is about to return from the Deep Astral Realm…”
“And—”
“The matter of the ‘Black Tower’.”
