500 Fateful Night
On a fateful night, Patia-Neva moved. He had no fear of King Clyte detecting him. The Clytes were too weak. They had only become the new Royal God Clan by default. King Clyte himself was only marginally stronger than a normal God Clan head, only being at the peak level of the first celestial stage. So, even if he did detect Patia-Neva, what could he do?
Queen Clyte could not have been more hopeful in seeing Patia-Neva descend into her room. There were a mere few days before she gave birth to Delia, and here came her past love at the perfect time. The only way she had held out for this long was because King Clyte had continued to completely neglect her, instead choosing to toy with his other wives.
Patia-Neva watched coldly as Queen Clyte rushed to him with tears in her eyes, begging him to take their child away.
“Ramiro,” Sofia pleaded, “I know you want nothing to do with me anymore, and I tried to protect our child to the best of my ability. But, I can no longer do so. Please. Not for me, but for the sake of Little Delia. Please take her away.”
Sofia didn’t care where her love had been, all that mattered was that he was here now. With her having lived for so long, her cultivation had reached a high enough level for her to be able to tell that somehow, Patia-Neva was far stronger than King Clyte.
She cried tears of happiness. Happy that her Ramiro had succeeded in his cultivation path and the path he had chosen had worked for him. And, even more happiness that with his strength, saving Delia would be easy.
She didn’t dare to hope that he would take her away. She saw herself as a tainted woman. Someone who had laid with a man other than her love, simply for the sake of survival. She had done so to save her child, but she only wanted the best for her love… And she felt like she wasn’t it.
Patia-Neva only nodded to this request, spending the coming days simply meditating in the corner of Sofia’s room.
These days were the happiest that she had had in centuries. She had begun turning away all of her maids for decades in preparation for this day, so when she continued to do so, no one found it suspicious. They simply left her alone.
Patia-Neva didn’t speak a single word the entire time, but Sofia happily narrated things lovingly. She kept speaking about how with Ramiro took Delia away, that she must treat her well. How girls were different from boys and needed a gentle hand early on, before a more firm guidance later in life. She laid out all of the little dresses she had sown for Delia in her decades of seclusion and she spoke about how much she would love for Delia’s favorite color to be green, like her mother.
“I want her to be as firm and determined as you are,” Sofia continued, a bright smile on her beautiful features, “But, I want her to her to have a little piece of me too. I won’t be able to be by her side, but I hope you teach her some of my family’s sword techniques. We were never too strong, but that was our one pride. And –” Sofia frowned, bringing her hand to her large belly. A strong contraction sent waves even through her powerful body as the backlash of years of repressing her pregnancy hit her all at once.
Liquid fell as she stood abruptly, holding her stomach as she stumbled to her bed. She didn’t have anyone to rely on, she had to get through this on her own. But she refused to allow herself to pass out, if she did, wouldn’t her child die? How many centuries had she spent protecting Delia? She wouldn’t give up in the final moments.
Patia-Neva immediately noticed this change, and he opened his eyes from his meditation and watched silently as Sofia pulled a basin of water from her private bathroom before waving her hand to fill it with her water will, lacing it was its innate healing properties and many herbs she had prepared for this moment.
Hours of screaming agony passed as Patia-Neva silently watched, his cold expression never wavering.
The years of suppressing her pregnancy had truly taken its toll. But, at the same time, Sofia didn’t dare to output too much of her power in healing herself so she didn’t alert anyone to her labor. Plus, even if she could, giving birth put even martial women in such a vulnerable position that controlling their energy was nearly impossible. If Sofia used even a strand of saint energy, it could very well kill Delia!
Soon, it became clear that she couldn’t hold on any longer. Even as the days of agony raged onward, Sofia just couldn’t manage to push past her final hurdle, and she knew that if she took any longer, it would be Delia that suffered.
“Ramiro, please. Cut her out of me. Don’t care for my life,” Tears streamed down Sofia’s cheeks, “It’s not worth living anyway…” The emotion of her child’s birth had completely torn her outward resolve. How could she continue to hide the pain in her heart now? It was too much.
Patia-Neva walked over, slowly lowering his hand to Sofia’s large belly. His eyes were so cold that Sofia couldn’t even find it in her to continue crying. Was this really the love of her life? Was this the same man she cried over every night?
With one swift motion, Patia-Neva did exactly as Sofia had asked. It was but a moment before the cries of a new born child filled the room. Bloodied? Yes. But very much alive.
Seeing this, Sofia could no longer hold on. Centuries of fatigue washed over her as she passed out, her lower stomach bleeding profusely. In a few more moments, she would lose too much blood for even a saint to continue living.
In one arm, Patia-Neva held a blood covered baby as he looked down at his past love. She lay with her head at the end of a tub of water, but a dark red was very quickly thickening the once herb filled liquid.
Patia-Neva looked on before raising his hand to the still crying Delia, ‘Kill.’