Olivia was certain this was a technique Creis had learned from the other maids.
It was just like how she had once merely glanced at the swordsmanship of the leader of the human God-Slaying Organization and mastered it after exchanging only a few moves.
Now, she had learned how to act cute from them.
She observed the girl once more.
The icy clarity on her face resembled snowmelt from a glacier.
Her beautiful eyes sparkled, as if love from the deepest recesses of her heart—for her wife, and for the person before her—had welled up without warning.
Olivia’s heart softened.
“You’ve done well taking care of Gabriella,” she sighed.
“If you want to be a good mother, I’ll take it as you simply wanting to care for Gabriella better.”
“I will make her into a true god.”
“She hasn’t recovered her memories yet, so you still can’t reveal yourself to her. In any case, you need to build a solid relationship with Gabriella first, right?”
At those words, Creis immediately shook her head.
“Not yet. We can’t let her remember for now.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to answer.”
Creis shook her head.
That memory was best kept between Gabriella and herself alone.
If possible, she never wanted Gabriella to recall it—perhaps even wished for that entire piece of history to disappear completely.
“What happened in the past…?”
Olivia pressed.
She gripped Creis’s wrist tightly.
Her sharp eyes caught the flicker of emotion in the other woman’s words.
“After I died, what happened to our daughter?”
A long silence stretched between them.
Creis didn’t pull her hand away, but she said nothing.
She turned her gaze aside, seemingly debating whether to share this memory with Olivia.
Half a minute passed before Creis finally shook her head. “She broke down.”
“Was I killed by you?”
“No.” Creis answered softly.
She wasn’t lying, nor did she have any reason to.
Olivia realized she couldn’t recall the memory of her death at all.
She didn’t even have any recollection of physical weakness.
She only remembered being killed by some kind of “curse.”
Afterward, just as Philina had described, the conflict between the Evil God and the Heavenly Oracle Envoys had been fully ignited.
The full story… Was Creis innocent? No…
“Was it you who revived the other Heavenly Oracle Envoys? She was the root of this conflict. It was because of her that—”
“It wasn’t me either.” Creis shook her head. “I’m investigating it as well.”
Olivia shook her head.
She knew this wasn’t the time to ponder such things.
If they could offer the Celestial God—Creis—to the Evil God, many issues would resolve themselves.
But making Creis submit was currently the hardest part.
Unlike her, Creis didn’t dote on their daughter or follow her wishes so readily, and she possessed far greater power.
A direct confrontation wasn’t wise.
They had better solutions.
Most importantly, Olivia had noticed that Creis had changed significantly from before.
Perhaps it was precisely these “changes” that convinced her the plan could succeed.
“Alright, then let’s start with the basics.”
Olivia stood up and released Creis’s hand.
She pointed at the two bowls of onion soup that had been finished on the table.
“Learn how to cook from me.”
“Mhm. Understood.”
Creis nodded.
For two powerhouses above the Imperial level, lighting candles served little practical purpose, yet it added a touch of atmosphere.
She started the fire, unsealing the stock and the pre-prepared vegetables once again.
Pulling Creis over to the pot, she explained the essentials and tricks in detail.
Watching Creis nod repeatedly, Olivia was reminded for some reason of the silly maids back in the inner palace.
Some of them would often pull out little notebooks to record what they learned, despite being powerful demons.
This time, she instructed Creis not to rush for quick success.
She should follow the standard steps at minimum, so she would know exactly where she went wrong if something failed.
Creis followed the instructions.
She carried them out step by step: chopping vegetables at the cutting board, adjusting the flame under the wok, and checking on the meat sizzling and glistening with oil inside the oven.
For a moment, Olivia recalled how she and Creis had fallen in love.
They had once shared a period of passionate romance—at least, those were beautiful memories in Olivia’s eyes.
Creis was not simply a bad person.
Strictly speaking, she was as complex as anyone else.
When Olivia was still very young, she had suffered a true curse.
Its power had been suffocating, draining her life force and tormenting her to the brink of death…
It was Creis who had suddenly appeared and saved her.
At that time, Olivia had lost all feeling in her legs and feet.
She lay bedridden, practically helpless.
As a Heavenly Oracle Envoy facing death, she should have been sealed into a “recovery pod” for hibernation.
She would have entered a long slumber, with no one knowing when it might end.
But Creis had refused to allow it.
She visited every day to bring meals, coming to see her in that tiniest room in the Heavenly Domain.
She even bought her clothes and took her out to relax and cheer her up.
If a young Heavenly Oracle Envoy was like a tender sprout, then the Olivia of that time had been a sickly child carefully nurtured—and she had miraculously survived.
Later, after Olivia had fallen hopelessly in love with Creis, she learned that the other woman felt no love or affection.
She had simply exerted every effort to “save” her.
It wasn’t cold indifference that had kept her alive, but that Creis had studied how to care for a pitiful girl on the verge of death.
She had truly given everything she could.
Every time Creis appeared at the door on schedule, Olivia’s heart would race.
She had no reason to refuse her.
Interestingly, it was Creis who had initiated the “proposal.”
The reason was simple.
Creis had discovered that Olivia was the most gifted Heavenly Oracle Envoy.
The Creis of that time wanted a child, so she needed…
“Creis~? If I become pregnant with a child, what should we name her?”
“You choose.”
“I don’t think I’m very creative. Since it’s your wish, shouldn’t you name her?”
“I’m not good at it. You understand these things better.”
“Hmm, looking at you like this, I suppose I’ll do it… How about ‘Gabriella’? It feels like a star’s name, full of hope.”
“Mm.”
That warm, ambiguous life had ended once she conceived the baby.
Creis left.
Not for any special reason, but simply because she believed “a powerful Heavenly Oracle Envoy does not need care.”
At the time, she happened to have other matters to attend to, so she departed.
That day, Olivia received no message at all, nor any word about the Celestial God.
She didn’t even know that the Celestial God had left her—had abandoned her…
She only knew that before dawn, the Celestial God had left their home.
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