Ch.260The Road to Lake Ceres (1)

Lake Ceres.

The birthplace of Maria Taylor, the goddess of the moon…

The Sky Warden was heading toward the birthplace of the one who had made my wife and me sexually disabled.

The atmosphere on the bridge was not just quiet but downright frigid, as Simon had informed the soldiers about the “most unfortunate incident” that had befallen us and taken measures to prevent any unnecessary commotion.

Ah… Even soldiers less fortunate than me are hearing the words “father” and “mother”… How tragic it is that I will never hear my child’s babbling!

I finally sighed and entered the captain’s quarters. I had thought that being with the soldiers would at least allow my sense of responsibility to alleviate my depression, but I feared I might say harsh words out of unnecessary jealousy.

“Damn it… Nothing is ever easy.”

Given the situation, there’s no other option but to complete the pilgrimage.

No matter how powerful the moon goddess may be, she can only exert her power because my wife and I love each other, and furthermore, because our souls are connected. In truth, the moon goddess was a deity who, like my wife, had partially ascended.

The saying that husband and wife are one body has existed since ancient times, and when the sun ascended, the earth needed a spiritual mother to protect them from eternal flames.

That’s why Maria Taylor, who had been Her Majesty, ascended as the moon goddess and the sun’s wife.

Just like the eternally burning sun, she swore to remain eternally frozen.

She was certainly a great person who had achieved tremendous feats, but compared to Saburo, who had communed with the world itself and made a contract, her status was indeed lower.

Even during the Imperial era, the imperial family and subjects considered themselves leaders and subjects of the Sun Empire, not the Moon Empire.

Of course, as divine spouses, the moon was always included in official documents, but like the phrase “sun and moon,” the sun always came first. Even during the fanatical Imperial era, the atmosphere regarding her divinity was one of “His Majesty Saburo is acknowledged, but isn’t Her Majesty Maria somewhat lacking???”

In the end, for her frozen form to shine, she needed the light of the sun.

Though what she did left deep wounds in our hearts, I still had enough composure left to empathize with others.

Just as Nariakira Saburo suffered from extreme stress and pressure as the leader of human civilization at that time, along with an obsessive sense of mission that he must save humanity and the fanatical expectations of those around him, Maria Taylor also endured extreme stress as his wife.

Though their marital relationship was good, her husband always had to leave her side to fight the endless hordes of monsters. When they reunited, rather than enjoying their reunion, they were pressured to produce heroic offspring, forcing themselves to share a bed, resulting in 10 pregnancies… and 10 miscarriages.

Human life at that time was so wretched that they couldn’t even give rest to a pregnant woman.

In the final battle for humanity’s fate, Nariakira Saburo bestowed his surname upon his most trusted subordinate, adopting him as his son before heading to the battlefield, and Maria had to watch this while barely standing with the help of her attendants.

Nariakira Ichika was not her son. Not his son.

Her child, their child, had been in her womb, waiting to be born, but all ten times, they couldn’t endure even the short ten months and died.

How much must she have screamed each time dead blood and flesh came out of her womb instead of a warm child? How powerless must she have felt when her husband’s successor was determined by political logic rather than blood?

Why can’t I even support my husband?

Despite having good bedding and food, she was dominated by a sense of powerlessness at being unable to follow her husband who was fighting desperate battles on the terrible battlefield.

And finally, in the last battle, when humanity was on the brink of extinction, overwhelmed by monsters, the sun rose, and all monsters burned in the sunlight that had risen again after hundreds of thousands of years, saving humanity. But one woman wept uncontrollably.

He would never return.

She could never embrace him again, never be embraced by him, never feel his warmth again.

That’s why she cried.

While everyone else laughed and cheered, only this one woman who had lost her husband wailed, and the Sun, taking pity on her, lifted her to the sky and made her the moon.

Unfortunately, the couple has not been able to meet until now, but at least she could forget the pain.

In the cold that freezes even the soul, the pain of loss fell away.

They say mothers are strong, but she ultimately never became one.

“…Is it jealousy?”

I murmured as I held my wife tightly.

I said miscarriage, but they were actually stillbirths. I just described it that way to reduce the shock for those hearing and seeing.

Even the elderly mother of a common serf becomes like a beast, wailing when her child dies. If something that couldn’t even take human form, that couldn’t even be nursed, flowed from one’s body ten times, could my wife or I have endured it?

…

Why am I not the most pitiful person in the world? Why am I not the most unfortunate person?

It’s so unfair that happiness has limits, but misery and suffering do not.

As my head cooled, I was consumed by sympathy for her.

Could I blame her?

I am the descendant of Nariakira Saburo, inheriting his divinity.

Like Nariakira Ichika, who established the empire as the adopted son carrying on Saburo’s will… no, I am an entity even more fundamentally close to him.

Parents don’t want their children to repeat their failures.

Because they can clearly see the pain and results of that path, they try to stop their children, even packing lunches for them, despite the child not being them and the path not being the one they walked.

“Maria… my Maria. Why are you so far away… Even after 350,000 years, I long for your voice. Where have my children and descendants gone? All turned to dust, to ashes, blown away by the wind. Now nothing… nothing remains…”

He spoke through me.

“Saburo. My lord. Why can’t you melt the ice surrounding me? The light that illuminates the earth does not reach me. Please bestow your mercy… I want to hold you once more. I want to hear your voice once more. When will our suffering end? How much more blood must be shed? How many more years must pass before those who were once kin can gather under one flag again…?”

She spoke through my wife.

“I don’t know. No one knows. I can only watch and burn… Our suffering may never end. But if we don’t suffer, humanity will suffer once more. Remember the reign of darkness. Do you want to repeat those horrors? I chose eternal devotion. Just as your soul did… After countless ages, my agent has finally come. Our connector has come.”

He spoke sorrowfully, comforting my wife.

His art was sacrifice, his virtue was radiance, his merit was justice, and what he bestowed was will.

“Then on the day his pilgrimage ends, can we be liberated? Can a beacon built on order and virtue, not freedom maintained by sacrifice, liberate us?”

Her art was patience, her virtue was darkness, her merit was rest, and what she bestowed was peace.

“…”

“…”

The two embraced through our bodies.

Without words, without expression. My wife and I simply endured in silence, maintaining quiet for the couple who had not reunited for over 350,000 years.

Soon, she and he left our bodies, and I laid my unconscious wife on the bed before kneeling again before the Sun’s altar.

[Thank you… Though it wasn’t her, I could hear her voice.]

There’s no need to thank me. I only did what needed to be done.

[Of all those many years. Only you have been my faithful servant…]

Someday, people will each have their own sun. That will be when your sacrifice ends, and when her pain ends.

[…Will such an era come?]

When he asked, I raised my head.

It will come.

It will definitely come.

Even if I don’t live to see its end…

I will certainly take the first step.