[Dragon Realm]
The wine in the bottle continued to diminish as the two downed glass after glass. The drink session was relatively silent as Nent was simply focusing on brooding and washing away her sadness.
The more she drank, the hazier her gazes became and she could even feel herself going back to a time when everything was easier.
She always wondered what could have been if she had appeared sooner in Lustburg and saved Hansel and Gretel before they were executed.
She knew it wasn’t her fault even then.
The flow of time between the two worlds was not constant and she could not stay there for long for no reason or just to fool around.
She also had her own duty to perform and it was impossible for her to be at a different place at the same moment.
But regrets were called thus because of all the ‘What If’.
What if, she had paid more attention when they began to develop their theories?
What if, she had made sure that they completely settle in the Phoenix territory rather than stay in the mortal realm?
There were so many possibilities. So many ways it could have gone better.
All of this would have been possible if only she paid more attention and had been more careful.
But all those IF were useless.
The reality could not be changed.
She had lost her friend not once but twice.
She had also let him down twice.
Once by failing to save them and the second time by ruthlessly deciding to not stand on his side.
How hurt he must have been? She could see that Hansel had the complete belief that she would take his side and she shattered that belief without hesitation.
All of this was because of a boy she barely knew.
‘Hahaha, how pathetic.’
Now here she was, drinking her sorrow like a pitiful loser. She was drinking in order to forget.
But the more she drank, the more she remembered, and the more she remembered the more she wished to forget.
This created a vicious cycle that she had difficulty escaping.
But…Did she even want to escape?
—-
When the bottle was finally empty, Nent looked down at her glass before looking suspiciously at Sol.
“Did you cheat?”
She could see that despite being lightly buzzed, Sol showed no sign of being drunk.
This was pretty surprising as even one drink was enough for one to see stars usually.
The perfect proof of this was Isis who was sleeping so soundly on the side that it looked like she would not wake up even if there was an earthquake next to her and even Nent was feeling completely drunk.
“Would I tell you if I was?”
Nent was startled before nodding, “Indeed, cheaters like you are sly bastards that act as if they know everything and never show their hands.”
“Haha. Well, honestly thought, I didn’t ‘cheat’, as you put it. The poison Hydra put in this is most likely unable to go past my defense. That or I am just a natural at drinking."
“Oh my. This is pretty surprising. Let’s drink to that!”
At this level, she did not even know why she was drinking, she simply wanted to drink even more.
She moved to take another bottle but a hand from Sol stopped her, “It might be cliche to say this, but being drunk won’t change anything. When you wake up, reality will still be as shitty.”
“You say this as you snatch the bottle from me and already filling another glass for yourself, seriously?”
Next was baffled at the shameless attitude of Sol just now and complained rightfully so but Sol smirked and ignored her complaints.
“We are not the same. You drink to forget your pain. Uselessly trying to flee from your sad reality. As for me, I am only drinking because I like the taste."
Nent massaged her eyebrows with a tired expression. His words were beginning to affect her inebriated mind and not in a good way.
“You are truly good at spewing bullshit.”
“I am good at spewing the truth, you mean.”
“So you believe you have all the answers!?”
She looked up fiercely at Sol and even shouted a little, something the sober her would have never done.
‘Ohoh, I really wish I could record everything and show it to her when she is sober.’
It was interesting to see her lose her usually stellar control like this and this helped him better understand her.
He knew very well that alcohol always made one show their ugly side. As such, he did not become angry no matter what she said and simply listened,
“I do not have all the answers. I am not omniscient you see. Still, I search for them like any other one and one of the wisdom I learned is that alcohol when consumed in excess is dangerous and bring you absolutely nothing but more misery.”
It was of course not the health aspect that was the problem but the mental one
Sol knew how devastating Alcohol addiction or any kind of addiction for that matter, could become. Currently, Nent was numbing the feeling of loss by drowning herself in alcohol.
She might think that she was strong enough. That she would stand up eventually and she may be right. Perhaps Sol was underestimating her mental strength. Perhaps he was worrying for nothing and using his human standard on Nent.
In the first place did divine beasts even produce the exact same kind of chemical reaction as humans? Could they become addicted?
What could addiction even do to them? He doubted it would affect her health and that she could become sober at any moment using her holy flame.
So indeed. He was most likely worrying for nothing.
But…Why take the risk?
‘Should I push her buttons?’
He wanted a more explosive response from her. Only then could he make sure she could snap out of it.
“You know…You look pretty pathetic right now.”
He thought he might need more. But those words, more than anything, resonated strongly with that Nent had realized herself and this triggered her past her limit.
“What do you know!?”
They said that nothing hurt more than the truth and they were right.
Thunder rumbled as Nent grabbed Sol by the throat, moving so fast they were already a few hundreds meters away from the table.
Her eyes shone with fury and resentment as she looked at him,
“Who the hell do you think you are!? Your whole life is a blessed one, nearly free of all pain. Everything works out for you, no matter what you do. So what the hell do you even know about loss!? Nothing, you know absolutely nothing!”
Nent shouted as she raised Sol high with one hand, lightning flowing out of her body and her grip strengthening.
At the end of the day, she was still a King, one of the oldest and most powerful kings, the difference in raw power and skill between her and Sol was simply that high.
Still, even as she held onto his throat, even as she completely overpowered him when she looked up and held his gaze, she could see absolutely no fear nor pain, only a sense of disappointment,
“So you decided that resorting to violence was the answer.”
By using <<whisper>>, despite his throat being partially blocked, Sol was still able to convey his words perfectly.
“!!!”
As if realizing what she had just done, Nent hurriedly released her grips and turned around.
She was so ashamed of herself, she couldn’t believe that she had lost control of herself like this and even struck at him.
All the alcohol in her system had been immediately purged by her outrage.
“I guess you are sober now?”
Sol calmly arranged his clothes, the flow of the conversation was completely in his hand since the start and now was time to strike while the iron was hot.
(AN: I just made some research and realized that When lightning strikes, the air it passes through is heated to 50,000 – 70,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's five times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Definitely didn’t know that lol. Thank god what we have here is magical lightning XD)
