Chapter 80: Chapter 80

Langrion began to reveal his painful thoughts to Shia. “It’s not the wedding that worries me... It’s you... What if the Ancient Evil sways you to come to his side, hmm? I will be the only one in the losing end here if that happens...”

That’s right... Who was to say that Shia would not get tempted to come to the Ancient Evil’s side? Once she gets trapped with him, would she be able to resist him? They have been lovers since the olden times. The goddess that occupies Shia’s body has a long history with the Ancient Evil. Wouldn’t she be swayed if they come face to face with each other?

She turned her face towards him. “How can he sway me? I don’t love him. If I can be swayed, then I should have joined him when we were at the ball or when he tried to take me away at Gaulane. However, that’s not possible. I’m not Freya... I’ve got no feelings for him.”

She clutched the blanket that enveloped his lap tightly. “I understand your fears. They are my fears too, but more than anything else, I don’t want to lose you... I can’t lose you to him like this...”

He looked back at her tender eyes and started to play around her now short hair. They were still as soft as silk under his touch. How can she ask him to lose someone so precious like her too?

“We’ve already consummated our relationship... That would be enough for now.” Langrion replied quietly.

Shia’s face went red, and she pinched his cheeks aggressively. “Why did you ask that question in front of Galahad and Templar? Weren’t you being a little too much? You should have thought of protecting my honor, at the very least!”

Langrion didn’t follow her reason. Weren’t the two the very gods of Teotroly? Surely, they would already know what had happened to mere mortals like him even before revealing them, right?

He didn’t want to say this out loud to Shia though. Instead, he caught her hand and kissed it playfully.

“Allow me to protect your honor forever, then. Marry me, Shia Andry!”

******************

He repeated his words when she did not answer. “Marry me, Shia...”

Shia laughed. A few minutes ago, he was so adamant that they shouldn’t marry each other. Now, he was proposing to her.

“Prince Langrion, you are really sick in the head, do you know that?”

“I know. I’m really sickly and deathly in-love with you. Forget about asking for a wish, but please do marry me.”

He pulled a necklace from his chest and quickly unclasped his mother’s ring from it. He slid it effortlessly around Shia’s left ring finger.

“No one else will suit this ring but you. Will you marry me?”

Shia looked at the ring around her finger. Just like before, he had put it on her without waiting for her answer. He was really a tyrannical prince.

She propped herself away from his lap and sat on the bed. She looked at the ring on her finger once more.

“I can’t marry you, Langrey, unless we try and extract our wish from Sirion... I can’t have you now only to lose you again to his curse...”

Shia’s heart began to throb. She remembered Sirion’s words. He said that he would free Langrion and his twin from the curse if she would only join Sirion in his quest to rule against men. If she marries Langrey now, he might end up killing him. She could not afford to take that risk.

A long and heavy silence ensued.

“Then, take me with you...” he finally said. “Take me with you when you travel through the void. I can’t just stand in a corner and watch you die. If you die, I’ll just die with you.”

She looked back at him, seemingly unable to comprehend his words.

“I won’t be able to persuade you against it, won’t I? If you really insist on getting your marriage wish, then take me with you. I can’t just wait around and see you die.” Langrion said. He caressed her face. “You mean the whole world to me. What’s the point of living if you’re not in my life anymore, Shia?”

Shia’s eyes were filled with tears. Just as she had thought that life would be hopeless without Langrion, it seems like he was also thinking the exact same thing.

“Then... that means we are marrying each other, right? You’re agreeing with it?” she said hoarsely.

“I had just proposed to you. You’re the one who should be giving me your permission!”

Shia wounded her arms around Langrion’s neck tightly.

He kissed her lightly on the cheeks and stroked her head with a smile. “I’ll take this as a yes then...”

The next day, the two of them sent a letter to Templar and Mage Silas to inform them of their decision. It was Mage Silas who went to see them first.

“What’s this?” Mage Silas said, throwing their letter at the small table by the garden. He walked at them during breakfast time, just a few minutes after they had sent the letter.

There was a scowl in his face. “What do you mean by this?”

“We are going to be wed.” Shia replied.

He seized her by the arms. She looked back at him, alarmed at his sudden display of animosity.

“What are doing to her?!” Langrion said, his own anger welling up.

Recovering his composure quickly, Mage Silas reluctantly let go of Shia’s arm. “May I talk to you in private, child?”

Shia sighed deeply and smiled. “Alright. Let’s walk a little further in the garden.” She turned to Langrion and hugged his head lightly. “I’ll be right back.”

Langrion didn’t really want to let her go, but he held his tongue and nodded his head.

They walked a little further under a tree, and when they have reached a place out of Langrion’s earshot, Mage Silas – or Galahad – started to raise his voice once more.

“You are pushing through with the cleansing ritual! Have you gone mad?”

“Galahad, we all know this is the opportunity that we have been waiting for. Did I not tell you that I would kill Sirion? If I want that to happen, then I must take this chance now.”

“Do you think Sirion is that easy to kill? Didn’t it occur to you that there is a reason why you haven’t been able to kill Sirion a thousand and one lifetimes ago? It’s because he is a formidable opponent!”

“Well, did I ever wed a mortal and asked for a marriage wish in any of my former lifetimes?”

Galahad froze. He stood there as if struck by lightning for a long time before he was able to answer back. “You didn’t... You had always fallen in love with Sirion, and he always succeeded in killing your mortal body in the end...”

“All the more reason why we should do this then...”

Shia had already guessed as much about her actions and decisions from her past lives based on her previous conversation with Sirion. How else could he be brave enough to assume that she belongs to him if she had not always chosen him in the past? This time, however, it will be different. She definitely won’t be choosing him.

“But this method is dangerous! Did you not know that the way to the underworld is laced with life-threatening spells? Head God Heedra had created the void leading to him, and he made it so that it’s almost impenetrable. Did it not occur to you that you might die from this?”

“It cannot be helped... I will die either way if I lose Langrey.”

He started to seize her shoulders violently once more. “That mortal – is he all that you care about?! Don’t you even care about what the others who love you feel?”

Others who love her? Is Galahad referring to himself now?

Shia’s thoughts went back to the god who had pleaded before the council to join her as she lived through her punishment in the mortal world. How could she forget such devotion?

However, that was all it was – devotion. Freya didn’t deserve that kind of devotion from him. She had let him down when she was a goddess. Now, it seemed like she would have to let him down again as a mortal.

It has been days since Shia had discovered some more things about Freya’s magic. She had learned that she can undo an oath. She conceived a ball of light from her right index finger and raised it on her left wrist – the place where she had signed her name when she had asked Galahad to swear an oath to her.

“Galahad, I release you from your promise towards me... You no longer needed to protect me. From now on, you are free to go on your own path...”

This was the least she can do for him – the god who had left his place at Teotroly to guide her. Freya did not choose him in any of her other lifetimes, and she could not choose him as well in this lifetime. Thus, she should just set him free.

He hugged her fiercely. “This isn’t what I have meant! Do you think releasing me from the promise I have sworn in your mortal body would make me worry less? Even if you throw me away a thousand and one times, I won’t stop trying to save you!”

Shia hardened her heart and painfully forced the words out of her lips. “I am not stopping you from saving me... I want to stop you from loving me...”

He froze, and Shia pushed him gently away. “God Galahad, the Freya you loved did not love you back in the way you wanted. I’m sure she loved you, but only as a friend. I too love you as a friend... I couldn’t possibly repay you for all the things you’ve done for me. However, I couldn’t let you love me more than that...”

“I don’t intend to abandon you, so do not push me away. Don’t irk me any further, child! This talk about my love for Freya isn’t going to affect the peril you will face in meeting Sirion...” He glared ferociously at her.

“If you won’t support me on this, I have no choice but to push you away... I will save Langrion and kill Sirion on my own.”

He looked at her for a really long time. It was such an intense look that she wanted to crumble under his gaze. Despite the numerous aids she had received from him, why did Shia always feel like something unsettling was about to happen under Galahad’s stare?

“If you are bent on marrying the mortal prince, I won’t stop you, but I can’t honestly congratulate you on this... Go and find someone else to help you. I won’t watch your young body die...” After uttering these words, Galahad left, leaving Shia feeling extremely guilty and wretched for hurting someone like him over and over again.