Queen Of Adis

"Bloody hell! Are you out of your mind?" Haru couldn't believe what she just heard and her uncouth mouth unexpectedly cursed. She then crossed her arms in front of her c.h.e.s.t and frowned at the prominent visitor. "You better have a good explanation for that."

Elior winced at her outburst while Adis snickered in approval. The tables have suddenly turned for the two gentlemen.

"Ah, Adis, you brat, help me out here," the Pope turned to the Demon King for help.

"Hmph," Adis simply harrumphed and felt schadenfreude while watching him squirm.

The pope sighed in defeat and coaxed Haru to calm down. "As much as I am enjoying the grandeur of this garden, this old man prefers to sit inside that glass building and have a chat with you." He walked towards the greenhouse and invited himself in.

Elior's aura reminded her of Zen, except his profile was more simple with just a modest white winter cloak. He was also as blabbermouth as the King of Lumine but the way his eyes glimmer told her that there's more to his easy-going demeanor than meets the eye.

As always, Fang immediately appeared from the shadows once Adis called for him and proficiently prepared tea and pastries on the table.

"Rumors didn't do justice to this place," Elior started as he looked inside the structure and checked every bed of soil. "This is place is like Vesta's playhouse in my home, so warm and magical." After he looked around, he sat on the chair and patted his cheshire cat's head.

Vesta was currently busy nibbling a macaroon in her two hands to even notice her owner.

The pope continued, "I saw your awakening through my visions and I enjoyed seeing a new life bloomed and the return of the nature fairies in this world. It's been a long while since my eyes saw something... joyful." He looked at her with a melancholic smile and sincerely whispered, "...Thank you."

Haru opened her lips but she didn't know how to respond to his sudden seriousness. She honestly preferred his mild and playful nature.

"In two days' time, troublesome people will go to my place and will request to anoint you as the new goddess of spring. Although it is their own cunning way to gain your favor, I shall support this recommendation," Elior revealed his vision.

"But I am not a goddess and I don't need any title." She declined with great fervor. Having a title meant trouble and more prying eyes and she's sure as hell she didn't want that. "I am only doing this world a favor because I don't want Adis to keep on worrying about the citizens and I want my kids to have a better place to live in. In a nutshell, I am acting according to my own selfish reasons."

It was Elior's turn to scold her. "Child, whether you are a real goddess or not, it doesn't matter as it will just be in name only. If you want to marry into the royal family you need a title before your name. Otherwise, even if the royal family accepts you, the citizens will condemn you. You think you can marry a King just because you like it? Marriage is a business in the world of aristocrats. Without a title, a dowry or a good household as a support, then what can you offer? Right now, you are literally a nobody, am I wrong?"

Haru blinked for being blatantly admonished for her shortcomings. She honestly didn't have a comeback for that. She knew everything he said was true, but the truth always hurt like a bitch.

"She passed her rite of passage as Queen, the majority of the powerful demon clans already accepted her and she was blessed by Yggdrasil as the spring maiden. What else do they want?" Adis defended her beloved and gripped her hands on top of the table. With a determined voice, he added, "We don't need the entire world to accept us. In the worst case, you can just banish me as King and we can live in Eremus mountain in peace."

Elior's gentle face frowned in opposition and he abruptly stood up in exasperation. "You brat! Do you want your ancestors to crawl out of their graves in anger? How can you even say that? After all the years of our hard work to help the citizens, you will throw everything just like that? Did you even consider what will happen if you're gone? Those corrupts will have a field day and Umbra will plunge into misery, not that it's not miserable enough yet.

"Is there even a person more capable than you to rule the Dark Realm? Not to mention, anyone who dares to sit on your throne in the Dark Palace instantly disintegrate no matter how powerful of a demon he may be. Besides, a goddess title supersedes any title even that of a King--"

"All right, all right, I will accept it." Haru intervened in the brewing storm between the two powerful men. She decided to change the topic to lift the mood around them. "Ah, you still haven't explained the reason why you will erase my memory."

However, instead of uplifting the mood, it seemed that the topic she mentioned was worse than the previous one. She squirmed on her chair as the surrounding fell into an ear-deafening silence.

The pope calmly drank his tea then breathed out heavily. "As I have mentioned, the Gift of Vision is more of a curse than a blessing. Almost all the 'gifted' ones committed suicide. So far, I'm the only one who is still alive. They all found the gift too much to bear and could not take the visions that they saw. Two years ago, the previous oracle gouged her eyes out just to escape from the visions. Even so, her mind had already suffered too much and drank poison at the end. That lady was Aquarius' fiancé."

She was absolutely stupefied that she lost her ability to speak once again.

After a while of silence, Adis finally talked. "I never want you to meet Elior because most of the seers' power awakened once they found the truth. I don't want to take any risk when it comes to your safety." He tightened his grip on her hand and intently looked at her eyes. "When I saw your amber orbs the first time, I instantly knew that you are a seer. After the death of the previous oracle, Elior and the royal family agreed that no seer must be awakened from their powers anymore.

"Elior had been waiting for you... so he can stop your new ability from awakening by erasing a part of your memory that may trigger your power of as a seer."