All sorts of things were happening all over the Empire and the capital had simply become a place of chaos underneath. However, none of the disturbances and undercurrents in the capital stopped the day of the coronation from coming. Time was like a river. No one should a.s.sume they could touch the same water there twice. Even though some people who could read fortunes and the skies or had knowledge of how the future would play out hope time could pause, there was no way their wish would come true. The day that Jiang Li, Rome Natividad, and Su Luxi looked forward to gradually neared.
Everything was pretty much set, even that one about the Royal Concubine position. After all, while it was unfortunate, Rumina could not refuse. No, she was not even given the chance to say her opinion because it was the Saintess who appointed her.
Rumina could only hatefully thought, "It must be nice being given the highest status in the church. huh. She did not work for it. Nonetheless, she has a position that would not let anyone but the Pope, the Emperor, and the Prophet to ignore her words. Why?"
Sadly, there was also n.o.body who could give her an answer.
Due to her firm belief that Rumina Bolden was truly ill, the Saintess chose her as the side concubine. Wanting no one to steal her husband"s attention from her, Su Luxi naturally required somebody bound to die for the position.
The male lead had mixed feelings about it, remembering the state of the girl that he saw when he visited her. However, his fiancee had already spoken and with regards to the matter of choosing the Lady Royal, the authority was solely hers. He couldn"t and shouldn"t interfere.
There was also his mind which kept dictating him to just let things be and his heart which seemed to have no repulsion against the idea. With the Saintess close by, there should be a chance the Royal Concubine could recover, right? He told himself repeatedly in an attempt to convince himself.
On the eve before the fated day, for various reasons, there were many people having sleepless nights. The female lead"s was due to anxiousness and nightmares. The expression Rome directed at her that time he first visited him drained away all the few good feelings the plot had given her.
Since she wanted no marriage to happen between them, Rumina tried to stage her death and escape. However, the Emperor"s people were guarding the whole ducal residence. Hatred started to grow in her heart against the heavens. She began fervently praying that Duke Lilac"s rebellion becomes successful. That was how she spent the last day before the coronation.
At the same time, inside the palace meant for the crown prince, the male lead was too excited to sleep, thinking he would be able to marry the two most influential young ladies in the empire. Of course, nothing could beat the excitement brought by the thought that finally, by tomorrow, he would be the master of a whole Empire. Several plans beneficial for the empire swirled in his head, there were also terrible kinds of stuff like giving troubles to people he disliked. Duke Wade and his heir were of course on top of his list. He simply couldn"t wait for tomorrow to come.
As for the prophet, he slept late due to having randomly remembered when he went to the female lead that morning and realized a fatal flaw in his logic. Sleeping and remembering something from his encounter with Rumina before had no connection? Not really. Recalling that it was him who snuck into House Bolden"s mansion days ago, a realization dawned on him.
Why couldn"t he be the one to go see the G.o.ddess? The thought made him leave his bed and pace around the room.
He was unlike the other mortals who could only go to the realms of G.o.ds if they could reach the peak of the magician path and ascend. He was different.
Even if he was wary of it, it was still a fact that the system was a weapon that could utilize.
"d.a.m.n idiot me!"
After a minute of debate and blackmail, cough, exchange session with the system, Jiang Li dove into his bed again and closed his eyes. Who knew what the system did, but courtesy of the 100 points he spent, it showed him through his dreams a palace which stood above the clouds.
From the distance, it looked like a dreamy ethereal place. The light enveloping it seemed too holy and pure.
Yet Jiang Li was sighing. Although the green vines running along the walls and the moats appeared to be designs, same with the small cracks here and there, he knew the G.o.ddess" place was simply not taken care of for who knows how long. n.o.body was manning the gates. He suspected there was n.o.body inside the palace apart from the detained G.o.ddess.
The man looked around more. When his interest waned, he then inspected himself and then concluded he came into this place in his spirit form. The system was not with him.
n.o.body stopped him from entering. There was also no magical barrier that made him halt his steps. He walked the deadly silent pathways and corridors. The more he saw the desolateness of the palace, the more his heart grew heavier.
Before. she could at least speak with him. He also had a hunch she could see him through some sort of medium or spell. Still, the physical presence of a person to somebody was different from an interaction limited by a device. Long-distance relations.h.i.+ps could hardly withstand the test of time precisely due to this. What the heart doesn"t see, the heart doesn"t feel. He disliked the idea, so here he was, wanting to see her, even for a brief period of time.
The walk ended shortly. He arrived in front of a tall door that seemed no different from the others he had pa.s.sed by along the way. But his feet brought him here due to a faint feeling he was getting from this direction.
Would she be here? The texts he gathered hinted that she was a divinity who almost fell but was saved by the Creator, either by the urging of the plot or for an entirely different reason? What was her situation right now?
He extended his right hand forward.
Only by pus.h.i.+ng the door open would he know. Feeling a bit expectant and nervous, he twisted the doork.n.o.b and pushed it.
Lights more radiant than any he had seen in this lifetime greeted him. The lights were not actually painful to the eyes. However, he also couldn"t help but squint his pupils.
Suddenly, before him, a person with long blonde hair and a face exactly the same as Ye Xinya appeared. She was holding her breath and was staring wide-eyed at him, shocked.
To be honest, he too was dumbfounded. Was she standing there all the time, or did she only do so after feeling an intruder"s unwelcome presence?
Anyways, here was a devastatingly beautiful woman in front of him, dressed in a sleeveless long white dress that reached her calves, exposing silver chains on her ankle.
"... My prophet?" a gentle and beautiful voice drifted into his ears.
Jiang Li shook off the useless thoughts. "G.o.ddess."
The next moment, the surprised woman who then started to ask him how he got to her home became more shocked. All of a sudden, he pulled her into his arms. Right. A G.o.ddess like her suddenly found herself confined within the arms of the white-haired man who should not be at this place at all. Of course, the woman tried to escape.
However, before she could truly do so, he was already patting her head and she stiffened due to her body"s familiarity with the action. Or maybe it was due to the feeling that the man hugging her seemed to be treating her like somebody he regained? While she was also trying to question herself why she felt oddly happy and content, the preposterous mortal took that chance to mutter, "I learned your situation late..."
"... What?"
The confusion might have acc.u.mulated and bewildered her greatly so the G.o.ddess subconsciously stepped back. That single movement caused a series of rattling sounds to echo throughout the room. Jiang Li"s eyes darkened when he saw the chains. Those things were normally unseen, but his case might be different since he was no ordinary soul, but one who had been through five worlds.
Suppressing the anger in his heart, he told the girl in a distressed manner, "I"m sorry... I should not have been late to see you."
...