Chapter 295: Mother's True Heart

“Not qualified?”

Gabriella asked.

She wiped Creis’s tears at once.

On that face, such a thing was hundreds or thousands of times rarer than the most expensive gem in the world.

Creis’s voice was very low.

“A thousand years before the Heavenly Oracle Era I decided to protect all the humans of this plane, and every living thing here. That is my duty.”

“After a problem appeared on the plane the Star God ruled, I retrieved humanity’s legacy, the [Heavenly Oracle Envoys], and sent them to this world to be raised. I thought they could become girls who guarded the world and kept the peace.”

“Gods rarely gather. Not knowing one another and keeping their distance is the usual state. They come only when there is a plane-level crisis. So that day, they came to find me.”

“I told them the Heavenly Oracle Envoys had not been polluted by shadow and could exist as my aides. They said of course they could—only that I was not qualified. They believed the Heavenly Oracle Envoys had to be buried together with Shadow and vanish with that plane. I refused.”

“Not qualified…?” Gabriella tilted her head. “Mother is clearly very strong. Are the other gods even stronger?”

“They did not believe my authority could control the Heavenly Oracle Envoys. They said I did not possess the ability to command this plane.”

“They wanted to replace you?” Gabriella asked.

“No.” Creis shook her head.

“They wanted this world to disappear. They wanted the Heavenly Oracle Envoys to disappear with the dregs of the past. I tried hard to refuse and received only one sentence: ‘You’re still that incompetent.'”

As Creis spoke, her eyes began to dodge again.

She pressed her legs together, like a little rabbit looking for a corner to hide in.

Gabriella sighed softly.

It was not an unexpected answer after all.

“They gave me some time. Because of that, in order to make the gods acknowledge us, I created you. I am the one who should apologize.”

“I wanted to create an existence the gods would recognize. I wanted the gods to acknowledge the humans and Heavenly Oracle Envoys of this plane. So I chose Olivia… What happened after that, you already know. The Evil God was not destroyed. She descended into this world and brought us new trouble.”

“I did not know that leaving Olivia would make her so sad. I did not know… that what I did would hurt you, my daughter. I don’t know how to explain all of this. I don’t know…”

The more Creis spoke, the more the shadow in her body began to boil again, as if it might at any moment stop her from enduring this grievance and apology and make her erupt with all the unwillingness and suppressed anger in her heart.

Yet a lock like a steel stamp in her heart made her only breathe heavily and force her feelings back under control, even though her heart was almost unable to bear the pressure.

Gabriella stroked her Mother’s smooth back.

When her hand reached a certain place Creis felt ticklish and flushed at once.

She had clearly not expected it, but more than that she was enjoying it.

“The truth is I know you’ve been lying to me all along, Mother. For example, you always wanted me to throw away feelings, as if they were something meaningless.”

“Mm…”

“I still think Mother has been very gentle with me.”

Gabriella smiled.

“Even when you knew I had gone off the path and become mad, you still chose to stay. Thank you.”

Gabriella was quite confident in her own judgment.

After all, these conclusions, backed by solid evidence, had already been pieced into a complete fact during the two months she had spent thinking in bed.

She was selfish as well.

Simply put, it was because Mother could no longer resist the power of shadow at all that she was willing to say everything—including that she knew of the irreconcilable contradiction between the Evil God Era and Mother.

Those things, though, were from several thousand years ago, even tens of thousands of years ago.

She had not wanted to say them and break the comfortable relationship she had with Creis now.

At this point, however, there was no longer any need to hide.

What Gabriella had not expected was that Creis would actually cry.

At first it was only a sob too fine to hear.

She clutched Gabriella’s body as if she were stuck to her.

Gradually, as if she had thought something through, the sobs became weeping.

“Waaah…”

Warm tears soaked the cloth on Gabriella’s shoulder.

She no longer held it back.

She cried out loud.

For some reason, compared with Gabriella herself, the Mother before her seemed more like the daughter at that moment.

“Wuu… wuu…”

At last this icy mother opened her heart and wept herself breathless in Gabriella’s arms like a little girl.

Creis cried for half an hour.

Seeming to feel that tears were somewhat unseemly, she shed a little less.

When she finally let go of Gabriella and looked at her with hazy eyes, her face was still red and her voice still caught.

Then, as if she had not been held enough, she wrapped her arms around her again and murmured.

“My daughter. Daughter… Hehe.”

Amid the comfort and relief, Gabriella also felt somewhat unburdened.

While Creis held her and wailed, she tried releasing shadow of the same origin as what was inside Creis and quietly drew out the disordered part, so that her body would feel better.

She did not know whether Creis had deliberately failed to see it, or was only pretending not to notice.

In that instant the standard cross-star of the Evil God even appeared in Gabriella’s eyes.

Her true body nearly broke free of the holy body and showed demonic features.

She reined herself in at the last moment and pulled the power back.

That obvious exposure of strength had been a hint from Gabriella to begin with.

She even half hoped Creis would notice and face the facts—face that so-called Isa was the Evil God, face that her daughter was one of the “chief culprits,” and throw herself into shadow’s arms of her own will.

Gabriella had originally meant to show Isabella her demonic body as well, yet in the end she stopped.

She had to leave Mother room to choose.

That was what Master hoped to see.

Just as Gabriella had guessed, her dummy of a mother was very happy the entire day.

She talked with Gabriella about every subject—the Heavenly Oracle Envoys, the gods, her own body, even the child.

Creis said that if Gabriella had no time to look after the child later, she and Olivia could take turns helping.

She spoke of looking after a child with the standard blank expression of a three-no girl, only now Gabriella could already read that special gentleness of hers.

She never mentioned shadow at all, as if she were hiding something.

When evening came, Creis suddenly decided to go to the kitchen and try making desserts.

Isa was discussing the coming trip to Monastar with Simona.

Morphis was busy as well.

Gabriella took the chance to go down to the basement.

There was someone she wanted to find…