Reincarnated As The Villainess's Son-Chapter 541: [A Hopeless World] [12] [Concepts]

[Head Base of the Three Gods Church]

[Kandam Continent]

"...How many women did you have in your life?"

As I walked down the front courtyard, Zenith asked in a grumpy voice.

I turned my gaze to where her eyes were and saw Kana and Kaelia sitting on a chair.

Kaelia like always just turned her head away while Kana waved at us.

"They were just guests." I said, placing my hand over her head and turning it away from them. "And don’t you worry, I didn’t like either of them."

"Who said anything about anyone liking them?"

She grumbled but I could clearly feel a sigh of relief from her.

We walked inside the house as the maids bowed slightly in my direction.

"Christina hired them."

I said, shutting her mouth before she could even complain about the maids.

One of them walked forward and asked. "Would you like me to clean the guest room?"

"No." I replied. "But clean the room on the same floor as mine, please."

She looked surprised, gave Zenith a quick glance before she nodded. "As you wish."

I turned to look at Zenith who was giving me a suspicious look.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"You had something to say?"

"No."

She began to wander around before I could ask anything else.

But her steps halted only after a few steps when she saw a redhead walking toward us.

Zenith instinctively moved back until she was in touch with me as the elf slowed down her steps.

She kept staring at Zenith who clutched my shirt slightly before she turned her attention toward me.

’Ah right, Nymeria used to bully Zenith in her first year.’

I had forgotten how complicated their relationship was in the academy.

Nymeria gave me a gentle smile as she asked. "You were back."

"Yeah." I replied. "Things didn’t go too well on Akasha."

Nymeria’s gaze shifted back to Zenith.

It wasn’t hostile but it wasn’t warm either.

Zenith stiffened beside me, fingers tightening on my shirt like she was bracing for impact.

"...She is Zenith, right?," Nymeria asked softly. "She has changed a lot."

"Yeah," I said. "I brought her with me because Akasha wasn’t doing well."

Nymeria nodded once, accepting that answer without questioning further.

Zenith instinctively shrank back another half step when Nymeria stood in front of her.

"...You looked healthier," Nymeria said to her.

Zenith, caught off guard, could only blink.

Clearly, that was not the kind of thing she expected to hear.

"...What?"

"You looked more like your mother, now," Nymeria said calmly.

"Are you... insulting me?" she asked suspiciously.

Nymeria tilted her head slightly. "No."

A short silence followed.

Then Zenith muttered, "...You used to call me useless."

"I did," Nymeria said simply. "Because you were useless."

"S-shut up you elf witch—."

"I lost my mother too." Nymeria spoke softly. "I could understand your pain."

"...."

Zenith just stared at her without speaking anything.

Nymeria turned to look at me, her affectionate smile back on her lips.

"Would you like to eat something?"

I shook my head in response as I gestured toward Zenith. "I would have loved it if you could help her accommodate in the house."

She gave Zenith a glance before nodding. "Sure."

"And don’t bully her."

"....Alright."

I patted Zenith’s head before I left them alone.

Despite knowing full well about their history, I had no plans to keep them separately.

It would have been better if they could overcome their past on their own and get to know each other.

Both of them had gone through some serious trauma and had matured enough not to fight like children.

’....Well, I really hoped they didn’t fight.’

I didn’t want them to mess up the peaceful palace that I was trying to build.

I held back a sigh as I reached toward the garden where Elijah and Heather were already present.

Elijah smiled when he saw me. "How did things go?"

"Not well." I replied. "We might have been in a greater mess than I anticipated."

Elijah’s smile faded immediately.

Heather straightened from where she had been trimming a rose bush, her scissors pausing mid-air.

"...How bad?" Elijah asked quietly.

I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I looked up at the sky.

Even here, far from Akasha, the pale ring could still be seen faintly like a scar across the heavens.

"Bad enough that we might see a full invasion of an Outer Goddess."

Elijah frowned. "That bad?"

I just nodded slightly as I glanced at Heather who stood up and grabbed his hand.

I looked at the werewolf girl who had a nervous look on her face.

"Something to say, Heather?" I asked, folding my arms.

She nodded, her face firm with resolve.

"We both would have liked to visit Arisha to talk with Amaury." She said. "I may have a way to talk him out of this madness."

I remained silent as I could clearly feel the resolve and confidence in her voice.

"You really think so?" I asked.

"I had been his best friend since childhood." She said. "If there was anyone, it was me."

Her grip on Elijah’s hand tightened slightly, but her eyes stayed steady.

"He isn’t the same Amaury anymore, Heather." I spoke softly. "He isn’t going to listen to anyone."

"But we could still try." Elijah added. "He is still my friend."

’...How did she get him to join her?’

Elijah wasn’t that stupid, he knew very well it was almost impossible to persuade him out of this.

"It’s not safe—."

"Please don’t stop us." she cut in gently, "if I didn’t at least try... I will regret it for the rest of my life."

Ah, she thought she was responsible for what had happened to him?

I let out a slow breath.

"Fine." I said. "You guys can go but don’t expect any positive response from him."

Her shoulders relaxed as she nodded.

"...When did you want to leave?" I asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Heather answered.

I nodded and turned away. "Good luck."

There was no point in persuading them any longer.

They could take their own paths without my interference.

I walked away from them until they were no longer in my sight.

Then, I slowly sat down on the grass as I gently touched it.

"Arawn." I said, looking up.

The elf immediately appeared in front of me. "How can I help?’

"Can you tell me more about how an Eternal reached demigod rank?" I asked as I leaned back slightly. "I wanted to know more about the whole process."

Arawn didn’t answer immediately, he just looked at me for a long moment.

"...You are planning to break through soon," he said quietly.

"Yeah," I replied simply. "I didn’t have much time left to sit around."

He let out a slow breath and stepped closer, his expression turning serious.

"Then you should have understand this properly, my lord," he said. "Because reaching demigod rank is not the same as reaching Eternal."

I tilted my head slightly. "How so?"

Arawn crouched down on the grass across from me.

"Eternal rank is about perfecting your existence and kingdom," he began. "Taking your body, soul and energy to the peak of what a mortal body can hold."

I nodded slightly because that part, I already knew.

"But demigod..." he continued, "...is about stepping beyond that completeness."

"Beyond?"

"Yes."

He raised one finger.

"To reach demigod, you had to anchor yourself to a concept."

"...A concept?"

"Yes." He replied. "The thing a demigod needed to do was evolve their kingdom into a small world."

I nodded slightly.

"Most demigods took a single concept and built their world around that concept." He continued. "My concept was Sun and Time."

I stared at the sky again.

"...So every demigod became like a walking world."

"In a way," Arawn replied. "A demigod’s kingdom was no longer just a domain. It became a living ecosystem."

He drew a small circle in the grass with his finger.

"Inside that world, they were absolute. Their concept becomes law inside their world."

"...So if someone’s concept was fire, they controlled all fire inside their kingdom?"

"Not just control," Arawn corrected gently. "They defined it."

He looked at me.

"They decided what fire meant."

That made me pause.

"...That sounded dangerously close to becoming a god."

"It is," he said quietly. "That is why they are called demigods."

I rubbed my temples as I stared at the grass on the ground.

"...And what about someone like me?"

Arawn didn’t hesitate this time. "It is up to you to decide." He said. "I can not help you with everything."

I nodded my head as I let out a sigh.

There were so many things that I needed to do to reach demigod rank.

I lay back fully on the grass, staring at the pale sky.

The faint white ring still hovered there like a scar that refused to heal.

"...So basically," I muttered, "to become a demigod, I needed to choose what kind of law I wanted to become."

Arawn nodded.

"Yes. That was the simplest way to put it."

I closed one eye, thinking.

"That sounded less like training and more like... deciding what kind of existence I wanted to be."

"It was exactly that," Arawn replied.

He sat beside me quietly.

"For most beings, this decision is natural. Their nature already leaned toward something."

"Like you with Sun and Time."

"Yes."

"But for me...."

"You didn’t have a single nature," he said calmly. "You are... fragmented."

"...."

A soul with a conflicting nature.

My previous life had come back to bite me.