This was not the first time Roel was enveloped by the Black Moon, but it still wasn’t a pleasant experience.
It made him feel cold, helpless, and frightened. When countless black hands reached for him, his willpower, which had been tempered time and time again till it was unyielding like steel, felt heavy despair like never before. Even so, he made no attempt to resist it.
The Black Moon was a frightening entity that could doom even the gods, but like any weapon, whether it did good or harm depended on the person wielding it.
And the person controlling this cataclysmic weapon was Alicia.
Roel’s trust in Alicia ran so deep that it was practically imprinted in his bones, and it wouldn’t change regardless of whether her memories were incomplete or not. Furthermore, he knew his attitude could affect her.
She was already in an emotionally unstable state due to his injuries, and he didn’t want to further hurt her by doing anything that would make her think that he feared or distrusted her.
Thus, he chose to close his eyes and go with the flow when the Black Moon enveloped him.
Not looking at the Black Moon helped, as the countless tiny black hands stretching out from within were distressing to look at. He still felt a myriad of negative emotions and his body was tense nevertheless, but that was at least bearable.
Of course, that wouldn’t be enough for him to survive the Black Moon.
What powered him through was Alicia’s anxious breathing and heartbeat, which told him that she was actually the most nervous person here.
Amidst the swooshing of ocean waves, countless tiny black hands wriggled toward Roel to probe the faint light shining in his injuries. As soon as they came into contact with him, he felt his consciousness and body plunging into utter coldness.
I see. Is this the reason even gods are unable to escape from the Black Moon?
His body, his mana, and his soul were frozen in an instant, true to the absolute prowess of the Black Moon. Despite the discomfort, he surprisingly felt a familiar aura within the Black Moon.
Is this… the Mother Goddess’ aura?
Accompanying that thought were the memories of a reassuring profile, and his tense mind slowly relaxed. Moments later, he fell asleep.
…
Alicia momentarily panicked when Roel lost consciousness.
She anxiously checked his pulse to confirm that there was nothing wrong before she finally heaved a sigh of relief. Then, she shook her head as it suddenly occurred to her that she cared too much about him for her own good.
But her emotions refused to agree.
The clash between her rational mind and her emotions evoked a sigh from her. This conflict was likely due to her having yet to fully regain her memories, but her feelings were spilling out like from a burst dam.
Each injury she saw on his body felt like a cut on her body. Each pained expression he showed made her heart skip a beat.
She couldn’t help it. It was an instinct ingrained in her, and she had no desire to change it at all. She instinctively realized that this was the real her.
As she caressed his cheeks, she felt such strong fluctuations of emotions that it induced a sharp pain in her heart, forcing her to take deep breaths to control herself. She closed her eyes and affirmed her determination once more before slowly retracting her hand.
The Black Moon then released hundreds of needle-like, black hands into Roel’s injuries to curb the faint light. The collision between the two forces caused fresh blood to spill once more.
Alicia clenched her trembling fists tightly, but she forced herself to push through. Slowly, the light imbued in Roel’s injuries was driven out of his body and dragged into the Black Moon.
The process took several hours. By then, Alicia was exhausted, and her Divine Domain was shaking nonstop.
Long hours of controlling the Black Moon had taken a toll on Alicia, but she wasn’t done yet. Looking at Roel’s still-injured body, she slit her already-recovered palm and allowed her blood to seep into his wounds as the purest source of life force.
Only upon confirming that his injuries were recovering did she finally retract her Divine Domain. The vast ocean and the Twin Moons vanished, and the two of them returned to the palace.
Alicia had almost depleted her mana in the earlier operation, and the excessive loss of blood left her so dizzy that it was hard to balance on her feet. However, these adversities couldn’t hope to bring down the Silverash Child.
She mustered all her strength to lug Roel into one of the rooms before collapsing onto a bed with him.
Bam!
“…”
By coincidence, Alicia found herself lying on top of Roel’s bare chest. This unexpected contact made her eyes spin and her breathing hasten. It took a while before she composed herself, but her face still remained red.
She didn’t feel anything earlier, as she was too focused on treating him, but now that his condition had stabilized, she found his warmth intoxicating. Her mind suddenly heated up, and she felt a strong reluctance to tear away from him.
The more she looked at the sleeping man, the stronger this feeling became.
A question surfaced as a result.
How did the old me behave in front of him?
I should have been demure since I’m a woman, but why is it that my head is filled with all sorts of dirty stuff?!
Alicia felt both embarrassed and flustered, and it didn’t help that her memories were still blank.
“H-have I always been like this? Just looking at the bare body of a man is enough to… No! No no no! How can that be? Ha. Haha…” Alicia forced out a laugh as she averted her eyes away from the burning heat engulfing her body.
She refused to believe that she was a pervert.
But just like how all living beings eventually succumbed to their instincts, after some hesitation, Alicia still slowly lay back down on Roel’s chest.
“I-I’m just tired… I mean, this room is mine! I’m just checking on his heartbeat to confirm that he’s fine. It’s just for a short while…”
Finding an excuse for herself, the red-faced Alicia murmured under her breath as she lay down in Roel’s embrace. As she stared at his sleeping visage, her heartbeat slowly settled down, and a tinge of bliss started spreading in her heart.
She suddenly felt like nothing else mattered in the world, be it the war between the Savior and the Mother Goddess, or the terrifying woman from the Ascart House. All that mattered was for them to be together, so that this feeling of bliss could last for eternity.
In fact, Alicia’s subconscious choice of teleporting to this place instead of the Moonsoul Tower reflected her mental state. That showed that she was worried that the Mother Goddess might harm Roel, which, in a way, showed that she had prioritized him above all things else.
She happily nuzzled against Roel’s chest as her heart finally came to peace. Her exhaustion quickly sank in, and just like that, she fell into deep sleep with Roel in her arms.
…
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