NOVPUBBy the time Aditya finished, almost everyone had lost their appetite for food. So Watson instructed the servants to clear the dining table.
He stepped closer to one of the servants who was heading to the kitchen carrying a plate of fruit salad. "Prepare green tea along with some light snacks." Watson knew that Clara and Leo might want to have them.
"Understood! Would you like me to add Dragonfruit?" The servant asked, knowing that their Emperor really enjoyed having cold dragonfruit cut into small cubes.
"That won't be necessary." Being Aditya's butler for this long, Watson could almost perfectly guess what his master might want to eat, depending on the situation. The current situation did not look like a good time for dragonfruit.
After Aditya was done, he simply waited for Laura to digest everything. He knew that even for someone like her, this was just too much.
For a few minutes, no words were spoken.
Everyone seems to be lost in their thoughts.
"So what's now?" Julia finally broke the ice.
She glanced at Aditya and waited for his answer.
"Well, I was thinking that waiting here won't give us any solution." Hearing this, Laura and Kate also stared at him.
"As we discussed yesterday, Laura's situation is only going to get worse. There is simply no way to find a replacement or 'fix' her missing soul. At least, none of us knows of any ways to fix her soul. The only solution we have is to find Athena and let Laura merge with Athena."
Hearing this, Laura closed her eyes for a few seconds.
"But that would mean that Lady Laura would disappear." Kate became distressed.
Tears filled her eyes.
She couldn't accept a solution where Lady Laura would disappear.
Aditya and others could see just how distressed Laura's poor maid was.
It was understandable. After losing her family to the humans, Laura was her only family. And if Laura also disappears, Kate will ultimately lose her path in life. She saw no other meaning in life other than to follow Lady Laura and eternally serve her.
"Kate, calm down!" Laura said, opening her eyes.
"But...!!" Laura looked at Kate. Kate looked like a little child who was about to cry at any second.
"First of all, I am a part of Athena. I never really existed. My birth wasn't natural." Although she felt bitter about this whole situation, surprisingly, she was able to accept everything very quickly and be at peace with it.
She always felt that something within her was missing.
At first, she thought that this was because of her missing memories. After all, she had heard people who had lost their memories saying the same.
But now she finally understands.
The truth was clear to as day and night.
"Lady Laura...!!" A tear rolled from her left eye. She couldn't hold it in anymore. This was just too painful for her.
"The second thing that I would like to add is that I have a feeling that I won't disappear even if I merge with the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena." Laura's voice was calm and collected. It was clear that she did not just add this sentence to calm her Maid.
[You're me, and I am you. There is no difference between us.] - It was like she could still hear this sentence in her mind.
This sentence held a deeper meaning.
Logically thinking, even if Laura merges with her remaining soul, it's not like the memories that she created are going to disappear. Those memories will remain. There was a chance that her memories might be merged along with her soul and her other half.
Hearing Laura's explanation, Kate finally calmed down a little.
"Laura, have you decided?" Aditya asked.
"Decided what?" Little Clara asked, not understanding what Aditya meant.
Aditya's women looked at each other. The atmosphere felt really heavy, but they knew that it was inevitable. This was something that cannot be changed.
He looked at her and said. "If she wants to head to the Main Continent."
While nodding her head, Laura took a deep breath. This wasn't an easy decision, but it was necessary for the greater good.
"I am ready."
"I will head to the Main Continent to find my other half and merge our souls together."
"In that case, I will take you there." Almost everyone had expected him to go along with Laura. After all, with the League of Black Tombs targeting Laura, someone needs to tag along to keep her protected.
"Then, I am also coming." Kate sounded stubborn. Fearing that she might never see her Lady again, she wanted to accompany Laura wherever she went.
"Kate.....!!"
But Kate continued before Laura could say anything else.
"Besides, it's not safe for you to travel with this guy. What if he seduced you as he did to other girls?" Hearing this, Aditya did not know whether to laugh or cry.
'I never seduced any woman.' But then, looking at Rin, he felt that this might not be the case in her case. But even for her, it wasn't one-sided seduction. It was rather mutual affection that grew as they kept meeting in the spiritual world.
"Kate, in my absence, I will need you to stay and maintain peace, order, and stability in the Deep Sea Palace." Laura said in a very soft and gentle tone. It was almost like she was talking to her child, not her maid.
"But...!!" She understood the importance of staying behind. But at the same time, she did not want to leave her Lady alone, especially when she might never see her Lady in her life again.
"To be honest, I have no idea how long this trip will take, but if I had to say something to assure you, I would say this - Athena has the power to separate and create a clone. Even if they merge, I suspect this will be only a temporary thing, and there is a very high chance Athena will separate Laura from her."
Hearing this, Kate finally felt like she was at peace. At least there was some hope.
"Exactly which region of Main Continent are you guys planning on going to?" Asked Alicia.
"Well, we have a clue as to where the Goddess of Wisdom might be." Aditya said with a small smile.
"What clue?"
"Around twenty years back, the Goddess of Wisdom was seen." Everyone looked at Amelia, who had joined the dining table just ten minutes before Aditya began talking.
"It was just after Aditya was born that she appeared in front of his parents, and thus, the Goddess of Wisdom was engaged to be the Crown Prince of the Celestial Dragon Empire."
"More like ex-Crown Prince," Aditya said with a wry smile.
"Big brother, you're the exiled Prince of the Celestial Dragon Empire?" Asked Leo with a look of shock and disbelief. A few others around the table also looked quite shocked at the revelation.
"I never told you?" Leo and Clara both shook their heads.
"Well, now you know the truth. To be honest, I moved on. At this point, this did not just matter, and I felt no need to talk about it." He wasn't the type to drown in the past.
In fact, if he stayed in that Empire, he never could have accomplished all these things. Maybe being pushed out of his comfort zone shaped him to be the person he is today. Now, he had a bigger legacy.
"We will need to head back to that region from which I was exiled." It was also the region where The Lumina Centauri Empire once existed, and now the ruins of this Empire remain there.
"If you two are heading there, there is also the possibility that the League of Black Tomb, who are after Laura, will target you two. This means you two will need to be prepared." Aditya nodded his head.
He wasn't afraid. Even if an army of 5th-order cultivators came after him, he was more than prepared.
"Once you step into the Main Continent, the danger level will immediately rise to another level. There, cultivators and magic animals won't be restricted to just Peak 5th-order anymore." Amelia warned him from her experience.
She has seen many underestimate the power gap and end up regretting or even losing their lives because of it.
"Don't worry, I will make my preparations." And if necessary, he will use the system to break through higher order.
"Aditya, I will also need a few days." As the Empress, she cannot just leave now.
Not after what happened to her capital yesterday.
"I understand! This is why we will set out in 3 days." Three days should be more than enough for him to make full preparations.
"Aunt Amelia, I want to know everything about the void." The void was the boundary between the Main Continent and the Six Continents. It was one gigantic tunnel that everyone used to cross between two worlds (The Main Continent and the Six continents). The tunnel was said to be so huge that cities were built inside it.
The void had its own atmosphere and ecosystem.
"Last time I crossed the tunnel, I was unconscious the whole way. I did not have the opportunity to see anything." This is why he asked Amelia, who regularly crossed the void, to go to the Main Continent.
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