“I love Mommy the most!”
The Holy Sword girl’s clear, ringing voice echoed through the private room.
“Huh? R-really… is that so…”
Cecilia picked up her solid wooden goblet, her voice trembling slightly.
crack!
But the very next second, several fractures split across the goblet in her grip. Purple wine seeped through the cracks, staining her hands—yet she didn’t even notice.
Dorothy, seated beside Cecilia in the second position, reacted completely differently.
Her golden eyes, usually so cold and unreadable to the outside world, were now gleaming with a light of pure infatuation.
She sat there quietly, both hands cradling a glass of juice, her gaze stuck to Primrose like honey stretched into silky threads.
Whether it was the Goddess’s flustered embarrassment at being kissed, the faint blush spreading across her cheeks, or that stiff yet helpless posture—Dorothy absorbed every last detail without missing a thing.
She even found herself helplessly fantasizing.
If it were her sitting cross-legged on the Goddess’s lap right now.
If it were her kissing the Goddess’s cheek…
Then would the Goddess show such an adorable, such a teasing-worthy expression for her too?
At that thought, Dorothy felt her own breathing grow hot.
Primrose, though in the throes of her own ordeal, still caught that predatory gaze through her sharp intuition.
She turned her head slightly and met Dorothy’s eyes—full of tender affection, yet looking like she wanted to devour her whole.
Primrose’s heart gave a sudden thump.
Back in the underground fissure, that woman had said something like, “I only wish to gaze upon the Goddess’s divine countenance”—words that gave her goosebumps.
And now this look… it was like a wolf that hadn’t eaten in three days spotting a juicy piece of meat!
Primrose quickly averted her eyes, feeling like Tang Sanzang who’d stumbled into the Spider Cave, surrounded by female demons all wanting a bite of her flesh.
Exhausting.
Truly exhausting.
To break the suffocating atmosphere, Primrose seized the excuse—celebrating her mother reaching Level 100.
Cecilia stood up first.
“Come, let’s raise our glasses together. Congratulations to the Hero… ah, no, Mother, for reaching Level 100!”
Cecilia lifted her goblet high.
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
Lin Naiyue’s smile was gentle, and her voice carried that signature warmth and approachability that made anyone feel like a spring breeze.
“Thank you, everyone. I really didn’t do much.”
“It’s all because of Prim’s good teaching. Otherwise, I couldn’t even beat a single slime.”
But Primrose, seated at the head of the table, watched her mother’s face and frowned slightly.
Something was off.
Her mother was smiling now, but that smile seemed to lack genuine joy—there was a forced quality to it, as if she were playing along just to please everyone.
It was like she wasn’t really that happy, just unwilling to dampen the mood, forcing a smile.
Even earlier, when she’d watched her and the Holy Sword girl…
At that moment, despite her own discomfort, Primrose had kept her focus sharp.
She’d seen confusion and bewilderment in her mother’s eyes.
And now, studying her mother’s eyes more carefully—
In the depths of those smiling violet irises, Primrose keenly caught a lingering worry, a sense of helplessness toward the unknown, and even… a hint of fear.
What was her mother afraid of?
The banquet finally came to an end after Clotilde finished gnawing on the last bone on the table.
That night, everyone bathed together in the bathhouse.
When they came out, the Holy Sword girl had fallen asleep, reverting to her holy sword form, and was placed on the sofa in the room.
Primrose entered the room and closed the door behind her.
The magical lamps weren’t lit, leaving the room dim.
Only the pale moonlight streaming through the huge floor-to-ceiling window painted a silvery curtain across the floor.
The night sky of the otherworld was strange—no stars, only two enormous moons hanging overhead.
One large, one small—one violet, one white—both radiating a cold, clear glow.
Lin Naiyue, wearing a thin white nightgown, stood quietly by the window, gazing up at the unfamiliar twin moons in the sky.
Her silhouette, stretched long by the moonlight, carried an indescribable loneliness and melancholy.
“Mom?”
Primrose called out softly, walking over slowly.
Hearing her daughter’s voice, Lin Naiyue’s body gave a slight tremble.
She didn’t turn around immediately. Instead, she hastily raised her hand, wiped at her face a couple of times, and only then turned.
Under the bright moonlight, Primrose’s silver eyes widened slightly.
She saw her mother’s red-rimmed eyes, with a single crystalline tear still clinging to the corner, not fully wiped away.
Her mother had been crying?
“Mom, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Primrose hurried to her mother’s side.
Lin Naiyue forced a smile and shook her head.
“N-nothing… the window wasn’t shut tight just now, and the wind blew into my eyes. They’re just a bit sore.”
How could Primrose possibly believe such a flimsy excuse?
She reached out and took Lin Naiyue’s hand.
It was a little cold.
Primrose held it tightly, trying to pass her warmth over.
“What’s really going on?”
Lin Naiyue looked at the daughter before her—silver hair cascading to her waist, beauty beyond mortal comprehension, eyes brimming with deep concern.
She squeezed Primrose’s hand back.
“Prim… Mommy’s just a little scared.”
“Scared of what?”
Primrose quickly reassured her.
“I’m here. Those demon race bastards can’t hurt you. And now you’re max level, with the holy sword’s blessing too—in this world, no one can bully you.”
Lin Naiyue shook her head.
“It’s not the demon race I’m afraid of… Mommy is afraid…”
She paused, as if struggling to find the right words, or as if she feared that speaking her thoughts aloud would make them real.
“Mommy is afraid… because we don’t share blood ties anymore, do we?”
Primrose froze.
“Huh?”
Lin Naiyue lowered her head, a flicker of light passing through her violet eyes.
“Back home, before all this, you’d always shut yourself in your room, playing games on your computer, barely talking to Mommy all day.”
“Sometimes when Mommy called you to eat, you’d act annoyed with me.”
“Back then, I’d feel a little down sometimes, but deep down, I wasn’t worried.”
“Because I knew—you were carried in my womb for ten months, you were a piece of my own flesh. We were connected by blood.”
“No matter how mischievous you were, you were still my child.”
Lin Naiyue lifted her head, gazing at Primrose’s beautiful face—so unfamiliar, yet so familiar.
“But now…”
“We’ve come to this world. You’ve become an exalted Goddess, and I’ve become some kind of Hero. Our bodies aren’t what they used to be.”
Her voice grew quieter and quieter, carrying a fragile insecurity.
“Between us… that bond of blood is gone.”
“I’m afraid… afraid that one day, you’ll decide I’m no longer your mother.”
“You’ll think I’m useless, a burden, and then you’ll leave me.”
“Prim, in this world… Mommy really has nothing left but you.”