159. Why Do Only the Parties Involved Not Know? (1)
"Do you really know... how much of a pervert you are?"
Eunhyeon had summoned fresh new mattress, sheets, and pillows from his Inventory, laid Elenoa upon them, and covered her with a blanket.
Elenoa suddenly wrapped her arms around Eunhyeon's waist, whining petulantly.
"Elenoa didn't show her face."
"I didn't want you to see... that face from earlier. It looked too vulgar."
"Now you're saying that?"
"Women... have all sorts of reasons for things. Sigh..."
As Elenoa let out a sudden sigh, Eunhyeon gave her a puzzled look.
Gazing at his face, Elenoa offered a wry smile before speaking.
"It's just... I feel like the road ahead is so long. Marrying you seems harder than just connecting with you physically—convincing everyone around us will be the real challenge..."
"Yeah, that's true..."
Eunhyeon hadn't rejected Elenoa because he didn't like her rationally.
Their relationship evolving into romance faced massive obstacles.
Differences in status, their respective positions, surrounding relationships—countless issues stood in the way.
The only reason Elenoa could confess her feelings was the attempted rape and the aphrodisiac's effects, which had shattered her mentally.
Realizing her feelings for Eunhyeon played a part, but for an intellectual, duty-bound woman like her to abandon her obligations as the Duke's daughter—that showed just how broken her heart had become.
And the biggest worry plaguing Elenoa now was none other than how to convince Illyana Kenifer, Eunhyeon's current lover.
One wrong move, and she'd be treated like a thieving cat, her whole body set ablaze.
Such anxious thoughts crept in.
To shake them off, Elenoa buried her face in the torso of Eunhyeon, whom she clung to tightly.
"I'll convince the Witch, your father, your brother, and all the nobles of this kingdom. I'll work hard so I can fit between you and the Witch... so don't give up midway—you have to take responsibility for me until the end, okay?"
"...I understand."
The Duke's daughter, indirectly chosen by the gods as the next saintess—Fernin's Flower—had awakened a new, corrupted wall without even realizing it.
'No turning back now...'
This was blatantly different from embracing Verdandi, her own goddess, while Illyana existed.
Pondering how to explain this to Illyana upon returning home, Eunhyeon gently disentangled himself from the sleeping Elenoa, whose stamina had drained completely, and laid her properly on the bed.
[Hum, hum.]
"...Goddess?"
Eunhyeon startled at the familiar woman's voice echoing suddenly in his mind, turning to gaze at Verdandi.
Unable to hide his sheepish expression, he glanced at Elenoa sleeping soundly beside him before asking Verdandi.
"Did you... see everything?"
[Sigh, yes.]
"......"
Eunhyeon was at a loss for words at Verdandi's sighing affirmation.
[My cute child who suckled my milk so deliciously... to think he'd embrace someone besides me or the witch girl. It's a complicated feeling.]
Verdandi had no intention of meddling excessively in Eunhyeon's actions, but the complex emotions stirring in her heart were unavoidable.
Eunhyeon soon flashed a wry smile and blatantly changed the subject.
"Has something happened in the divine realm? It's been so long since you descended—I've been worried something prevented you from coming down."
[Th-that's...]
"Goddess?"
Verdandi averted her gaze with a caught-off-guard expression, her face oddly flushed. As Eunhyeon tilted his head in confusion,
[I planned to descend to the mortal realm right after my child did. But then he suddenly started that with the witch girl... so I couldn't come down.]
"Still, quite some time has passed since then..."
After restoring the holy sword and busying himself with wedding preparations alongside Illyana, a good deal of time had elapsed. If nothing urgent had arisen, why hadn't Verdandi descended?
[After that... watching my child and the witch girl unite, I ended up comforting myself...]
"Pardon?"
[Memories of doing it with my child suddenly embarrassed me, so I needed time to compose myself...]
"......"
What kind of sentiment is this?
His goddess, turning away in embarrassment, no longer resembled the maternal figure who had accepted all of him in the divine realm.
She seemed just like a bride gazing at her husband the morning after their wedding night.
Her beauty in that moment was so captivating that a smile unwittingly spread across Eunhyeon's lips.
[D-don't laugh! Ah?]
Naturally, Eunhyeon reached out, touching Verdandi's cheek. She flinched in surprise.
[Ch-child...? How can you touch me?]
The rule—bound by unfair divine law, allowing only one-way contact from Verdandi to Eunhyeon—had been broken. His hand stroking her cheek was astonishing.
"Goddess. Did you forget? I have divine power now."
[Ah...]
Eunhyeon had always used the divine power Verdandi provided, but receiving Vulcanus' Hammer and Aegis from the gods allowed him to generate divine power from his own soul—a true demigod.
Still human in category, yet dipping fingers into divine realm, the gap was planetary versus a pebble, but he stood on equal footing with Verdandi.
[To think the day would come when my child could touch me from the mortal realm...]
"I'm thrilled too."
[Does that mean... we can do that here too?]
Eunhyeon panicked at the goddess's question laced with subtle anticipation—he hadn't even considered it.
"Th-that... I haven't thought about it yet..."
[So you've laid hands on Vesta's child too...]
"I had no choice..."
[I watched from above, so I know your situation. Still... sigh, I'll have to discuss this with Vesta sometime.]
'Lady Vesta...?'
Elenoa's fading consciousness sharpened at the bizarre sensation of a voice directly entering her mind and the man's voice that had explored her body all night.
"Ah..."
Opening her eyes suddenly, Elenoa sighed softly, rolling them around while lying down.
"Ugh..."
As she tried to rise, pain from her abdomen made her grimace.
'His stuff is still filling my belly...'
The intense pain she hadn't noticed yesterday was utterly bewildering.
The aphrodisiac-amplified pleasure had merely masked it; the wounds and internal soreness from their union remained, resurfacing now that the drug's effects waned.
"It hurts..."
"Does it hurt a lot? Can't move?"
"If you can't bear it, I'll heal you with holy magic. We need to head back to Fernin right away. Your father and brother... Ngh!"
"Don't push yourself. I can carry you and run."
"Thank you. But..."
Elenoa's gaze drifted past Eunhyeon to the empty air.
[Hm?]
"Huh?"
Realizing what—or who—her gaze fixed on, Eunhyeon reeled as if struck hard on the head.
Elenoa stared blankly at the floating entity; Verdandi was shocked that her presence was recognized. Each other's existence baffled them all.
"...I'm not hallucinating, right?"
"This is..."
Clueless, Eunhyeon glanced at Verdandi.
Verdandi examined Elenoa's body intently, sensing the energy within to pinpoint the cause.
[...My child is the cause.]
"Me?"
[Didn't you just explain it yourself? About your body's condition.]
"Ah, so then..."
[Your guess was right. It seems... when you ejaculated inside the noble girl, my divine power mixed in flowed into her.]
Just as Verdandi's milk from the divine realm contained vast divine power that Eunhyeon drank, his semen held trace amounts of his own divine power—the decisive factor.
Eunhyeon muttered in disbelief.
"What kind of situation is this..."
[Cases like yours are exceedingly rare, so this phenomenon is novel in its way. Hehe.]
Verdandi floated before Elenoa, pressing her divine palm to the girl's cheek. Seeing her hand pass through harmlessly, she nodded in understanding.
[Only faint divine power seeped in—just enough for her to perceive me. But... Vesta might take issue with this.]
Another god's power dwelling in the body of her apostle candidate—Vesta's reaction was unpredictable, but Verdandi ought to apologize first.
"Lady Vesta...?"
Elenoa's expression hardened at Verdandi casually addressing her own god—whom Elenoa served as priestess—by name alone.
She glanced at Eunhyeon.
"Is this lady...?"
"Yes. She's the goddess I serve."
"My goodness..."
At Eunhyeon's wry nod, Elenoa stiffened.
From the start, things felt extraordinary; tales of a god pulling Eunhyeon from death were hard to believe.
But coming from him, she trusted it. Now, she truly grasped the man she'd entangled with, her face tinged with despair.
"Elenoa? What's wrong?"
"Do I... have to convince even a goddess to have you...?"
[Hehe, noble child. No need.]
Verdandi smiled warmly at Elenoa's wary glances.
[I respect my child's will unless it harms him. He chose you, so I honor that—no need to mind me.]
"Th-thank you..."
Elenoa bowed deeply, relieved of a great burden.
[Besides, you have the witch girl to convince. I won't add to your burdens.]
"Ugh..."
Mention of Illyana made Elenoa grimace and tremble slightly.
"We'll sort details later. For now, pack up camp and prioritize returning to Fernin. Elenoa, can you move?"
"It's tough, but... I'll recover with a prayer of healing."
Channeling holy power to heal herself, Elenoa marveled at the potency of her divine magic.
"My rank... rose a bit. Why...?"
A simple healing prayer had instantly restored her to perfect comfort—unlike usual. She couldn't miss it.
Not yet connecting it to absorbing trace divine power from Eunhyeon's semen, she was baffled.
Eunhyeon summoned priestess robes of similar design for her near-nude state, handed them over, and exited the tent.
"Master, I have a question."
The doll girl, who had stood vigil all night guarding the perimeter, immediately pulled out a question card as her master emerged.
"What is it."
"This unit's data lacks concepts of 'ovulation,' 'fertilization,' and 'implantation.' Please explain in detail..."
"I'll tell you at home. Pull out 'Retona' from the Inventory now."
"...Command accepted."
Wearing a deeply displeased expression, Emilia couldn't refuse her master's order.