Lust Knight

723  An Impossible Connection?

The Water Spirit seems surprised by Lucien's question, but he is sure she already expected that.

After all, even though people without any connection may seem alike due to a coincidence, he can't believe that's the case, especially when everything in his life seems to have a hidden meaning.

"..." the mysterious Blue Lady falls silent, a peculiar gleam in her eyes. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lucien and the Sins try to read her expressions more than ever, but they have no idea what she could be thinking.

"You're not going to tell me about it?" he asks, already sounding less hopeful. "Is it someone else's secret?"

"No," she quickly responds.

However, she falls silent again, leaving Lucien even more curious. "So what?"

The Water Spirit thinks for a moment and seems to come to a conclusion. But before speaking, she casually acts and takes another sip of wine.

"Why do you think there's some secret about it?" she asks sarcastically. "I mean, you're beautiful, I'm beautiful, it isn't weird that we can have similarities, you know..."

Lucien could believe that excuse if the Water Spirit wasn't acting so suspiciously.

He can't force her to speak, but he tries to put another piece on the chessboard to corner her.

"What about a Water Goddess? Is she also beautiful?" he asks, which elicits an unprecedented reaction from the Water Spirit.

Her expression becomes a mix of disgust and hostility, but unlike the hostility towards his wives, especially the Sins, which resembles jealousy more than anger, the hostility at hearing the name of the Water Goddess seems palpable.

Lucien doubts many things about the Water Spirit, but he is certain that her hatred for the Water Goddess is entirely real.

"That ugly BITCH?!?" The Water Spirit reacts quickly with fury.

Before Lucien can say anything, she continues, "Comparing me to someone like her is an insult!!!"

While he is unsure of what to think, the Sins speak in his mind.

"No way!" Envy quickly exclaims.

"She's lying," Lust comments. "The Water Goddess may be a disgusting bitch, and even her own people don't trust her, but no one can deny her beauty, which is among the most stunning in the universe."

Lucien doesn't know the Water Goddess, but he believes everything the Sins and his other wives, especially Helena, have said about the cruel woman.

He doesn't like to make assumptions without evidence, but it seems that the Water Spirit hates the Water Goddess, perhaps because she is genuinely a bad person or maybe due to something more personal.

And he shares his thoughts with the Sins. "Perhaps some kind of rivalry? I mean, both are water-related deities, right?"

"It makes sense," Envy agrees.

"Maybe?" Lust doesn't seem entirely sure about that.

But Sloth immediately counters, "It doesn't make sense at all; think about it, the Water Goddess must be the fourth most powerful person of her race, probably still in the sixth layer of the Cosmic Realm..."

"So she should be the one feeling envy and anger towards the Water Spirit, not the opposite..." Lucien complements Sloth's thought.

"Yes," she responds. "It doesn't make sense for someone as powerful as the Water Spirit to have a rivalry with the Water Goddess just because of power."

"So it has to be more personal," Lust comments.

Lucien wonders about that as he listens to the Water Spirit unleash more insults towards the Water Goddess.

"She hates the Water Goddess... but that doesn't explain why she appears with both her and me," he mentally comments to the Sins.

The three of them wonder about it, and Envy quickly brings up a dangerous assumption. "She's using such a face to mess with you."

"Why??" Lucien doesn't want to believe that, but he still wants to hear Envy's entire theory.

And she quickly explains, "We're sure there are powerful people trying to manipulate all of us, right? It seems to have something to do with your mother, but what if she's also involved with the Primordials?"

Lucien says nothing, and in the silence following Envy's words, Lust voices her thoughts. "It sounds crazy, but... first, the Nature Spirit appears in Argerim and asks you to visit the Brow Star, and now this Water Spirit..."

Sloth and Lucien remain silent, making it clear that they don't believe Envy's theory, but they don't have another one now.

No matter how creative he is, it seems impossible to imagine a connection between them, especially with the addition of the Water Goddess to the puzzle.

As they try to understand what's going on, the Water Spirit seems to be trying to calm down after that outburst.

It's evident that she's quite upset and nervous, so Lucien doesn't think he'll be able to get any answers from her now.

He's not sure how to act, but since he seems to have touched on some kind of emotional wound, he apologizes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," the Water Spirit quickly turns away, and Lucien catches a glimpse of her pouting.

"Great!" Envy complains in his mind. "Now she won't tell us anything."

Sloth can't help but compare her to the other Primordial they know. "She's nothing like the Nature Spirit..."

"Perhaps she's the younger, spoiled sister?" Lust wonders.

Lucien agrees that the Water Spirit is a young girl with a difficult personality, the opposite of the mature and wise air of the Nature Spirit.

But he doesn't see that as a bad thing; after all, he's used to dealing with spoiled girls inside his harem.

In fact, his most spoiled wives are that way because he spoils them too much.

He also doesn't see any problem in giving those girls a good life, especially since some of them have suffered a lot in the past.

But he knows he'll have to be tough on his children to make them good people.

The idea of being tough on a small, badass version of Sophia makes Lucien's heart ache, and he quickly tries to push such thoughts out of his mind.

His concerned expression is quickly replaced by a gentle smile as he looks at the Water Spirit's back.

He can't see it, but she's also smiling now. Yet, she forces herself to stop smiling and turns back with a neutral look again.

"I let you ask your stupid questions..." She begins to speak in a fake cold tone.

"You can't blame me for having such doubts," he quickly comments.

"Then you should seek out those who can answer such questions," she responds, making it clear that she won't give him any more answers.

Lucien sighs and nods. "Okay, thank you anyway."

The Water Spirit sees that Lucien is trying to be friendly despite being clearly disappointed.

She shakes her head. "My father taught me to be fair, and since you helped me, I still want to help you."

Lucien regains hope of getting some answers and mentally thanks the Water Spirit's father.

But before he can get too excited, she throws a bucket of cold water on him. "But I still won't tell you other people's secrets!"

He tries to seem excited about anything coming from the Water Spirit. "Then what can you do for me?"

A beautiful blue gleam appears in her eyes, and her lips curve into a confident but gentle smile. "I have something for you."

Lucien becomes genuinely curious about that. "What is it?"

"A gift," she quickly responds.

"Oh, don't tell me it's a seashell!" He can't help making such a joke.

"Hahaha..." The Water Spirit bursts into laughter, but the gleam in her eyes only becomes more beautiful.

"I'm not like my father," she comments. "You won't have to wait for centuries for this gift to be useful."

Lucien becomes more and more excited about the gift, and he mentally comments to the Sins, "What could it be? A treasure? A weapon? An ability?"

The Water Spirit also seems very eager for that moment, so with a graceful gesture, she extends her hands, and between them, a mysterious object appears.

It looks like a kind of bluish stone wheel, with multiple circles adorned with various crystals and an open central area.

Lucien can't tell what the object is, but he senses a powerful and familiar aura emanating from it; it doesn't take him long to realize that the energy matches that of the Water Spirit.

"What is this?" He asks.

In his mind, the Sins are also impressed with the object and quickly begin to voice their theories.

"It looks like a Soul Weapon..." Envy comments. "Maybe her soul weapon?"

"Why would she give Lucien her soul weapon?" Lust asks. "Also, I don't sense any offensive energies coming from it; this must be some kind of defensive treasure."

Sloth once again hesitates to form an opinion based solely on assumptions, but upon seeing several runes carved around the stone circle, she comes to a solid conclusion.

"This is a key," she speaks in Lucien's mind at the same time the Water Spirit speaks out loud.

"A key?" Lucien is surprised. "And what does it open?"