"You had a… lover in this life too?" Asteria asked with a surprised look on her face.
"Sadly, yes. But before I was sealed."
"But you two were going to get married, right?" Asteria asked as though it was obvious.
Nero furrowed his brows and glanced at Sophia with a puzzled look on her face: "Did you tell her?"
"No," Sophia shook her head like never before.
Nero then looked at Emilia, but he knew Emilia wasn't even aware of it— just by looking at the expression on her face.
Nero raised his brows at Steria and asked, "How do you know about that?"
"I… I don't know. I just… I just knew it," she answered with a confused and baffled look on her face, as though she herself had no idea why or how she knew about that.
Nero could see Asteria struggling to remember something and thought, 'Is she truly a reincarnation of princess Astrea?'
There had already been many occurrences where Nero thought of that, but he just shrugged them off, thinking it might be because of her blood or maybe just a coincidence. However, now the possibility of Asteria being a reincarnation of princess Astrea was increasing.
Nero took a deep breath before answering, "You are right. I was indeed going to marry her, and I… I was sealed on our wedding day before I could… we could marry."
"Zeus," Sophia called out to Nero.
Nero turned to Sophia and said with a gentle smile on her face, "Don't worry. I am okay."
"You are wrong," Sophia asserted.
"What?"
"You did marry her," Sophia proclaimed.
"Huh? What are you talking about? And you were sealed before me, so how do you even know that, or on what basis are you claiming I married her?"
"I was indeed sealed before you, but that was after your marriage."
"No…" Nero tried to deny that, but he wasn't sure as he couldn't remember about that day.
"How far do you remember?" Sophia asked with a concerned look on her face.
"The last thing I remember is waking up on my wedding day. And after that… Lucifer congratulated me, then we talked and went out. And… I…" Nero tried to remember as hard as he could and recalled, "The news came that there was a war between races outside the capital."
"I tried to postpone the wedding for a later date, but 'she' denied and…" Nero's eyes widened as he remembered, "And she said she wants to marry me right there and there."
"Yes." Sophia nodded and continued, "And you two got married."
"I… I don't understand. Something is not adding up," Nero asserted.
"Unfortunately, I don't remember anything after that either. The only thing I remember is—"
"That's enough!" Nero shouted and walked down the stairs, saying, "I am going to my cabin to rest."
He then pointed his gaze at Emilia and Asteria and said, "You can tell them about everything if you want. But don't ever discuss or even speak about that in front of me."
Nero rushed to his cabin and closed the door behind him, leaving Asteria, Emilia, and Sophia to stare at each others' faces.
Sophia sighed and asked, "Do you want to know more?"
"I don't know. One part of me wants to know, but the other part of me doesn't," Asteria replied.
Sophia then glanced at Emilia with a curious look on her face to hear her reply.
"I want to know everything about him, so I can love him more and more," Emilia answered.
Sophia chuckled and shook her head, wondering, "Why did I even bother asking you? I should have known what your reply would be."
"Can you start now?" Emilia frowned her face and said, "I also want to go into Nero's cabin to give him some pleasure."
"Where should I start?" Sophia pondered, then sighed and uttered, "I will just tell the most important parts."
"So, as you know that humans were the last in the food chain, and they were enslaved by other races, right?"
Emilia and Asteria nodded in response.
"And then they turned to god, and the gods gave humans unimaginable powers," Emilia added.
"Yes. But among them, there was one person who was the god's favorite. So, he was known as a hero."
"He was called a hero because he was the one who fought the leaders of the other races and made an agreement with them that they will free the humans. Thus, the humans were freed from slavery."
"The person who freed them was branded as a human king. He was the first human to be king."
"What does it have to do with the story about Nero's lover?" Emilia asked.
After a short sigh, Sophia continued, "She was the descendant of that human king. Time passed, and the mortal realm was at peace. But one day, the other races attacked the heavenly island— where the king's descendants and some other humans lived."
"The other races sought revenge, and their rage was unmatched. The island sank, and every life on it died. But one girl survived."
"Sounds like a plot armor,' Emilia muttered.
"More like a god armor since gods favored her," Sophia remarked.
"She was around seven years old at that time. When she somehow survived the attack, the sea took her to the nearest continent."
"There, she grew up and trained to be a nun. Fast forward to years, she became a nun, then got promoted, and became a priestess. And at the age of 15, she was a high priestess."
"She was so beautiful that even angels couldn't rival her. Her powers were more divine than angels, and her blessings were more effective than angels. If humans could become angels, then she would have become a goddess."
"It seems like she was 'too' favored by gods that she betrayed a demon— who was Nero."
Sophia shook her head and said, "That's not what happened. She… she was going to be promoted as a Pope. But she declined and relinquished her job as a high priestess."
"She thought she would do no good if she stayed in one church while there were thousands of lives waiting for blessings."
"So instead of the humans coming to her for blessings, she went around the world to bless?" Emilia questioned.
"Indeed. And that's where she met Zeus."
"I don't want to hear how and where she met Nero or how they fell in love with each other. I want to know why she betrayed him!" Emilia roared.
"Even I don't know why she betrayed him. But all I can say is she loved Zeus more than you, or I, or any other girl who claimed to love him."
"I love him the most!" Emilia shouted.
"You have no idea what type of girl she was. She was… so kind and a good person that even demons never harmed her."
"I don't believe it! If she was truly kind and loved Nero, then why did she betray him?"
"Who knows? And Zeus doesn't seem to be interested in knowing."
"She was only a human, right?" Emilia tried to confirm.
"Yes. So she must be long dead by now," Sophia shrugged.
"Good. And even if she was still alive, I would have killed her myself," Emilia declared with a serious look on her face.
Sophia smiled wryly after hearing that and muttered, "You can't… or rather, you wouldn't be able to."
"What was her name?" Asteria asked hesitantly.
"Trust me, I want to tell you that, but Zeus hates her name more than he hates her. And he stopped me by speaking her name before, so I am sorry, but I can't tell you her name."
CREAK~
The cabin's door opened, and Nero walked out. He looked at Sophia and the others and walked straight downstairs, saying, "I am going to the kitchen."
"We made him upset by talking about his past lives, didn't we?" Asteria questioned.
"Don't worry too much about it. He will be back to normal in no time," Sophia reassured with a smile.
"Maybe she betrayed him because she was 'gods' favorite' and gods asked her to do that?" Emilia wondered.
"No. The gods were indeed unhappy about her relationship with Zeus, but she was committed to Zeus. She was ready to leave everything behind for Zeus, and that included gods too."
"Nero once said he hates Lucifer. Who was Lucifer?" Emilia asked, wanting to know more about Nero's relations.
Sophia frowned her face after hearing Lucifer's name and said, "He sealed Zeus. And don't mention his name in front of me again."
"Then what about you? You were in love with Nero, and the heavens got to know about it so—"
"Oh!" Sophia exclaimed and quipped, "Half of the heavens knew I had hots for Zeus."
"So they decided to seal you too?" Asteria questioned with a curious yet calm look on her face.
"No. I wasn't sealed by heavens, gods, or angels."
"Then who sealed you?" Emilia followed Asteria's question.
"I was sealed by…" Sophia looked in the direction Nero went and uttered, "Zeus."
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