In the bedroom of Lilith, hearing those words from Persephone, Sol had never felt so cold before.
The shock was so much that, rather than panicking, Sol began to think of everything from a detached viewpoint.
"How long does she have?"
"I don’t know exactly. This is something I have never seen and that is saying something. But, at this rate. I would give her between two weeks and a month."
Sol closed his eyes,
‘Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.’
Since even Persephone wasn’t sure, it would be more prudent to think that Lilith only had a little more than a week to live.
“Do you have a way to stop it?”
Persephone simply shook her head while frowning,
“This is another thing I do not understand. I tried feeding her the life force from my own magic, but nothing happened. It was as if it was being rejected. This led me to think that she needs something special.”
Silence settled in the room,
“What about Medea?”
This time Persephone nodded,
“Medea’s magic could indeed stretch the time we have but that's all. She cannot rewind the time of an object or a living being beyond 24 hours. So, even though it helps, this doesn’t solve the main problem.”
Sol pinched his eyebrows, tiredness visible in his eyes.
This week had been incredibly stressful, and it seemed that he was getting only one bad news after another.
Firstly he had to deal with the internal matters of the kingdom.
What’s more, he also had to go to the Astral realm, where he will face a second trial to have the right to contract with the phoenix.
There was also the war against Wratharis and the diplomatic measure Greed Dike placed against them.
If it wasn’t enough, Medea had informed him that the Supreme Witch wanted to meet him so that they could discuss Kali's punishment.
The Wings of Freedom were preparing some nefarious plan.
And now this...
At this rate, Sol felt like he would bust. Things kept happening one after another so fast he wasn’t even able to breathe.
Still, Sol knew he couldn’t falter.
Not now.
He could moan, cry, whine, scream or throw a tantrum all he wished once this mess was taken care of.
But right here, right now he had to stay strong.
Letting out a sigh, he finally opened his eyes,
“I am going to visit Miss Ambrosia. If Lilith--”
*Groan*
Sol’s words were interrupted as Lilith leaked out a groan.
This was followed by her eyes fluttering as she slowly woke up.
*Cough* *Cough*
Putting her hand over her mouth, Lilith coughed a little and finally opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw as she woke up was Sol's worried expression.
Even though she was quite disoriented, it didn’t take long for her to understand what was happening.
“I am sorry for worrying you.”
Looking at her like that, so weak, so feeble, Sol couldn’t but caress her hair as gently as he could.
“As long as you are alright, everything else doesn’t matter.”
Lilith’s eyes opened wide. It has been quite a long time since someone treated her like that.
Persephone, who was watching this scene with her usual motherly smile, simply shook her head in amusement.
She wasn’t particularly saddened about Lilith's eventual death.
Everyone died.
If even the stars could die, what could the measly life of mortals like them account for?
What was important wasn’t the fact that people died–But how they died.
Until the moment of their deaths, people were capable of the best or the worst.
That was why she found life and death so entrancing.
‘Ah~! Dear Lilith. I wonder...Is your epilogue coming soon? Or will it be the beginning of a new chapter?’
She really couldn’t wait.
Thinking about it, she stood up and said, “I think I will leave you alone. You must have many things to say to each other.”
Once she closed the door behind her, she spared a glance at the maid standing respectfully on the side.
She recognized her as the cow woman who was far too strong to be normal.
Sighing inwardly at why so many anomalies existed in this kingdom, she gave Milia her usual smile and left.
Back in the room, the silence was extremely heavy.
For Lilith, the last thing she clearly remembered was her unsightly breakdown when she heard about what happened to the sword.
She had always wanted to keep a strong front and her reaction made her feel embarrassed..
Sol on the other hand was silent because he was organizing his ideas. Everything he had heard was from Gerald's perspective after all.
What’s more, now that he knew about her origins and her impending death, something popped into his mind.
Finally, deciding that it couldn’t go on, Sol opened his mouth.
“Persephone told me that you didn’t have much time left.”
Lilith's eyes widened a little, before she let out a sigh, “She shouldn’t have told you that.”
“What she should have done doesn’t matter. She did tell me and I know. From your reactions, I am sure you had an idea about it long ago, right?”
“Indeed.”
“As I thought. Is it because you are a homunculus?”
Even though Sol was quite knowledgeable in myths, he didn’t know much about homunculus outside of what was shown in some anime he liked.
Homunculus was a term for existence created through artificial methods to produce fully functional lifeforms from sperm and other elements without the use of a womb.
Even though they had their differences depending on the source, all those homunculi had one thing in common.
Their short lifespan without a stable source of energy that could empower them.
“!!!”
This time Lilith nearly jumped from her bed,
“Who told you that!?”
Her voice rose an octave as she screamed.
This was her greatest secret. Something only two people alive should know about.
The first one was Camelia.
Since Camelia could see souls, she had already known that Lilith wasn’t a normal human from the start.
But no matter how much she and Camelia butted heads against each other, Lilith knew Camelia would never betray her secret.
Then, the only one left was none other than,
“Gerald.”
She gritted her teeth as she uttered that name.
She knew she should have killed him when she activated her Zone during the attack.
“Indeed. But this isn’t the problem. Answer my question please.”
Lilith closed her eyes as she thought back about her past.
“You aren’t wrong. When Neptune created me, even though he was only partially successful, he wasn’t particularly disappointed. After all, in his eyes, I was nothing more than a prototype. How long I could live was irrelevant.”
A deep sense of powerlessness filled her when she spoke about this. Her origin was not something she was particularly proud of and in fact, she hated everything about it.
“Even though I was born with a seemingly normal body, I am physically weaker than average. What’s more, my lifespan has always been a problem. Initially, I shouldn’t have been able to live past my twenties. That was why he had prepared for the eventuality of my death.”
“Lilin.”
“Yes.”
Silence once again fell between the two of them. There were many things he wanted to say. But he had to stay focused.
“I have two questions. One, you said you shouldn’t have lived past your twenties. If so, how are you still alive?”
This was a very important question. After all, if they could understand the way she did it, it could be possible to replicate the solution.
“My second question. Will Lilin suffer from the same problem in the future?”
After all, Lilin was already 18 years old.
Stretching a little, Lilith slowly got up from her bed while showing off her incredible body.
“You do not have to worry about Lilin. Even though she was still cursed with zero capacity like him, she managed to get some of the skills of the Nightmare Queen. As for me, I only managed to boost my lifespan a little by creating an avatar. If I wish to live longer…”
She took a short pause and continued,
“If I wish to live longer, the sole and only viable solution would be for me to become a demi-god.”
Lilith said those words calmly as if the one with a death sentence wasn’t her but someone else.
She had already come to terms with her own death long ago.
Her only regret was that, in her initial plan, she should have been able to stay alive until the start of the war, and would have gone with a bang when fighting the Wolf King.
Sadly, it seemed that this wasn’t meant to be.
But...She wasn’t worried.
Sol did not need her anymore. He was already mature enough and had a great entourage.
The same went for Lilin. Even though she wasn’t really her mother, she wasn’t that much different. After all, Lilin was born from her own blood and womb.
Back then, the brother of Loki Gorfard, with whom she was betrothed to was just a facade. On their wedding night, he did not even manage to touch her since one of her maids drugged him.
After this, Neptune simply killed him since he had already fulfilled his role.
As to who the biological father of Lilin was...This was a secret she would never divulge no matter what.
“Do not worry. Everything will be alright, you will see. You will learn many things, see many things, continue to grow and advance.”
While she was speaking out loud, Sol slowly walked toward her until he stood just a few centimeters away from her.
Being so close to him, she was reminded once more how much he had grown, as he stood so much taller than her.
He wasn’t a kid anymore, but a man through and through.
Placing his hand on her shoulder, Sol murmured, “Lilith…”
Lilith felt her cheek flush a little. She couldn’t understand why. After all, she had even bathed naked with him not long ago.
Why did she suddenly become so conscious of him?
Looking at him slowly lowering his head toward her, Lilith felt her heartbeat speed up.
‘Is he going to kiss me?’
Just as she was wondering about how she should react...
*Bang*
“Ouch!”
Sol headbutted her so hard she felt as if she was seeing stars.
Massaging her reddened forehead, with tears in the corner of her eyes, Lilith asked,
“Why?”
The situation was so unexpected that she didn’t even have the time to reinforce her body with mana.
Without Mana, her body was even below average, and it was even more so when compared to Sol's hybrid dragon body.
Sol meanwhile showed a rare expression of anger.
“You piss me off so much! Every time–every damn time, you spout the same bullshit again and again like a broken record!”
He was so angry that he couldn’t even keep his polite speech.
He hadn't even been this angry when he learned about Gerald's betrayal back then.
“You always speak as if you were some kind of sage who understands the world! You always tell me how I will feel as if you could read my heart! You always give up first even though there are so many people who wish to save you!”
Stopping there, he looked at her fiercely and asked, “Lilith, tell me please, who the hell do you think you are!?”
(AN: Another long ass chapter. Wasn't easy to write. Lol about the man whose genes were used to create Lilin, I am sure many of you already guessed who it is. Now then, everyone, even the mc is tired of Lilith's BS. Time to make her see a new road.)
