Silence enveloped her for a few moments before a familiar voice broke through the stillness after a few minutes of hesitation.
"What is it?" The Princess of the Garden asked.
"Beneath this Garden, there is an inheritance trial that, upon completion, grants participants my 'Divine blood,' transforming them into my divine apostles. There's even a chance they may acquire my Crimson blade, crafted from my divine blood and my essence and soul. And beyond that, there's thou—an unsuccessful abomination."
"Then there is an unknown race that has come under my protection and endeavoured to defeat a bloodthirsty god responsible for the death of me and my children just as we were on the brink of leaving that forsaken, dead world," Aerialia explained, spreading her divine senses around.
"Do thou truly believe all of this was a coincidence?" she added.
Silence enveloped the space around her once more. After waiting for a few seconds, she didn't receive any response.
"Although, I doubt that my appearance here might have been planned since I was only able to seal a huge portion of my soul because of him," Aerialia released a deep sigh as she continued, "However, that doth not mean that everything else wasn't. And if I were to guess correctly, then all this was orchestrated for thee."
"The participants of the inheritance who inherited my 'Divine blood' and the crimson blade, White Flame, and his death—something I had fervently wished for at any cost, considering how far I went just to gain the chance of coming out victorious in our first and last battle. It's already quite obvious what that god, Naka, planned when he orchestrated all of this. However, he must be jesting if he thinks I'll let him go just because of this."
"...So you are saying that all of this was meant for me," the Princess of the Garden asked, her voice echoing within the inky void.
"Yes, if things had gone as he had planned," Aerialia said, nodding in response. She paused, her lips curving upwards in a light smile, "However…" Aerialia said as she immediately stretched her divine senses toward what she presumed was the core of the Princess of the Garden's consciousness.
The Princess of the Garden immediately sensed what Aerialia was up to and screamed, "STOP! PLEASE STOPP!!"
"I am here now. Worry not, I understand that this is not thy fault, which is why I will try my best to ensure that I avenge Naka for thy sake and mine," Aerialia said.
Her consciousness continued to envelop the Princess of the Garden's consciousness until, suddenly, it came to a stop.
Aerialia blinked, unsure of what had just happened, as she was certain she had felt another consciousness outside her own, grazing against her divine senses.
The Princess of the Garden had sensed it, too. With fear brimming within her heart, she screamed, "Please, don't harm my child!"
"Your child," Aerialia repeated absentmindedly, in a daze.
The Princess of the Garden's words slapped her senses back to reality. She snapped her head and looked around the inky void, "How… How are you pregnant?" she asked, her voice quivering in disbelief.
She might have disregarded the Princess of the Garden's words; however, she had undoubtedly felt that consciousness had grazed her. As such, she understood that it was not a mistake.
"The same way everyone can."
Aerialia felt her brows twitch as she responded, "Don't play games with me. Even if thou art a failed replica of this goddess, thou art still a goddess, which means that thy body should have removed anything that it deemed impurities, including a child. Therefore, thou shouldst not be pregnant. So, how art thou pregnant?" Aerialia demanded an explanation.
Silence enveloped her once more before the Princess of the Garden's voice sounded out again.
"I really don't know how I became pregnant. All I am aware of is that Orion penetrated me and released his semen deep within me. Within just a few hours, I started to feel a slight throbbing pain in my stomach, and that's when I realized that I was pregnant."
After the Princess of the Garden explained, Aerialia deeply pondered her words.
Previously, she might have dismissed the idea that a mortal like Orion could impregnate a goddess as impossible. However, after witnessing him control an extremely dangerous energy capable of consuming divine energy, she realized that the Princess of the Garden might not be lying, and Orion could have indeed been the one to impregnate her.
Aerialia stretched her divine senses, following the traces left behind by the other consciousness, until she came in contact with it.
What she encountered was a slight, drumming heartbeat before she withdrew her consciousness to avoid harming it.
Muttering under her breath, Aerialia focused her attention upward and said, "Orion."
….…
Orion held onto the Princess of the Garden's body, which spasmed at different times since the last minute she fell unconscious, trying his best to find a way to wake her up until he noticed her eyes fluttering open.
Orion opened his mouth to speak, "Are you okay? What happened?" he said.
Before he knew it, Orion was pushed backwards as the Princess of the Garden immediately rode on top of him, pressing her hands down on his chest.
"Hey, don't hurt him."
"Tchh, I'm not hurting him; I only want to hear the truth from him."
The Princess of the Garden and Aerialia spoke, their voices sounding like mixed vibrations of two voices as they left her lips and resonated in the air.
Orion stared wide-eyed at the scenes before him as he watched the Princess of the Garden and Aerialia seemingly arguing audibly, their voices emanating from the same person.
He stared at her two whitish irises and could feel the different emotions coming from the two.
"What are you looking at?"
"Which one of you is speaking now?" Orion asked.
"It's this goddess, of course."
Orion furrowed his brows as he looked at her. Despite the fact that Aerialia was now speaking normally, he couldn't help but admit that this was the weirdest situation he had ever found himself in.
