IYAMD: Episode 114

After reaching the roots of the Sacred Tree, Marsilia left Jaha behind and approached the tree. Since the heart was too large to hold with one hand, he had no choice but to begin his prayer without touching the tree.

As the heart responded to the divine power, the tremors in the ground became even more intense than before. The vibrations lasted for quite some time, enough for droplets of water in the lake beneath his feet to rise into the air. Marsilia did not stop praying during this time.

“Answer my prayer.”

As soon as the long prayer ended, his ears felt numb. It seemed as though all sounds had vanished, leaving only a faint hum in his ears. The sound of the water rippling and the ground shaking had disappeared, as well as the sounds of the wind or the leaves rustling far away. There was no weight felt in the hand he extended. Slowly opening his eyes, Marsilia found himself standing in a space filled with a faint light.

Inside, there was nothing. Just a white space, a place without a boundary between the sky and the earth. It felt as if he was standing on water or floating in the air.

However, he felt no fear of the unknown. It made sense, as he could sense overflowing divine power in this place. Although not exactly the same as his own power, it was a similar force. This place was undoubtedly the goddess’s domain.

“You have waited long, my child.”

A voice, booming in his mind, made Marsilia look around.

“Who are you?”

Although there were no sounds, the entire space seemed to be smiling. Then, in the next moment, a familiar voice came from behind her.

“How should I introduce myself? You already know, don’t you, my son?”

Marsilia swallowed nervously. The voice he had not heard for over ten years, yet could never forget, was his mother’s.

He gazed at his mother, whose face had not changed at all since then. She wore a white dress adorned with yellow flowers and had her platinum-colored hair beautifully styled. Marsilia was familiar with this appearance.

“Mother…?”

His mother smiled with an unreadable expression.

“It’s been a long time.”

With a casual greeting, Marsilia blinked in disbelief.

Am I dreaming? To confirm whether his was dreaming or awake, Marsilia moved hid lips.

“Am I dreaming?”

Ingrid covered her mouth and laughed at her son’s blank question. The quiet laughter that spread across the space made Marsilia feel as if he was becoming more and more disoriented.

“If I were to explain, it would take quite a long time. Sit down.”

When she opened one hand, a tea table and chairs appeared in the empty space. Steam rose from the tea and snacks on the table.

Marsilia furrowed his brow at the idyllic scene. When he shook his head and opened his mouth, Ingrid decisively spoke first.

“Sit down.”

In the blink of an eye, Marsilia was seated in a chair.

He looked at his mother with a cold expression as she held a teacup. Marsilia asked, “Who are you?”

Although he already knew the answer, he had to ask. He wanted to be sure, to confirm whether the person in front of him was indeed his mother.

Ingrid, the goddess, slowly closed her eyes.

“You humans are always like this. You already know the answer, yet you always seek a response from me.” She clicked her tongue, as if a little tired, and continued, “Realize that your answer and mine are not so different now.”

Her cold answer made Marsilia feel a tightness in his chest. Why, why was the goddess here, in his mother’s form?

The goddess smiled sweetly at Marsilia, who struggled to hold back the urge to swear. It was the same smile he remembered from his mother.

“Before we begin the story, I’d like to ask you something. Are you, the goddess, my mother…?”

Marsilia, who had been carefully considering his words, sighed deeply when he realized how absurd his question sounded.

“If you’re asking whether I gave birth to you, then yes. But if you’re asking whether I am Ingrid, I could answer both yes and no.”

Marsilia felt as though someone had struck him hard, and the words seemed to fall out of place in his mind.

He suddenly remembered his mother’s death, a loss for which he had never been able to find an explanation.

“The reason my mother suddenly passed away?”

“Because I decided it was time to go back.”

His jaw clenched, his wisdom teeth grinding with the weight of the truth. Even though the doubts he had carried were finally confirmed, he didn’t feel any sense of relief or happiness at all.

“Is it because of you that my father’s Soul Mark remained?”

The goddess nodded without even a hint of a smile.

“I can’t give another soulmate to the man who was mine. Once I got hold of him, shouldn’t he remain mine until the end?”

Suppressing the urge to curse, Marsilia glared at the goddess. Though it was difficult, since she was in his mother’s form, he did not want to swallow the seething anger inside him.

“You must already know how my father lived and died,” Marsilia said, glaring.

Ingrid lowered her eyes indifferently and answered, “Yes. I wanted to bring Herzen to me right away, but you were too young.”

It sounded as though she was saying it was his fault that his father had lived longer than he should have. No, Marsilia knew it too. He knew that his father had lived on because of him, but hearing it directly from the one who appeared as his mother was more painful than he had imagined.

Marsilia took a deep breath, feeling his chest tighten. The air felt like it wouldn’t reach his head, even as he inhaled deeply.

Silently watching him, Ingrid slowly spoke.

“When the gods decided to leave this world, I thought it would be necessary to delay things. Humans would need time to prepare for the absence of the gods. I thought that if they were given some time, they would learn to live on their own. So even after everyone left, I remained here to watch over you.”

She skipped the story of the mythological era and began explaining directly. It seemed like she had no time to waste and didn’t care much about Marsilia’s reactions.

“But you humans were even more foolish than I thought. No matter how much time passed, you did not try to live with your own strength. Whenever something happened, you sought me out and asked for my power.”

She said that she had no choice but to remain here to protect this world, but that over time, it had become more and more difficult for her.

“There were no proper ones. The so-called emperors used my power, yet they thought it was because of their own greatness. They believed that as long as they had divine power, everything would flow smoothly. Watching that, I had to find another way. Even though my time was limited, you kept nagging at me.”

After the gods crossed over to another world, it is said that the goddess could no longer exert the same power as before. In the end, she focused on passing her strength to the imperial family, but there was no improvement. So, the goddess explained that she waited for someone to pass her trials, hoping the right person would appear.

“After wasting nearly two thousand years, I finally found another way,” she sighed tiredly.

“If there were no outstanding child, it would be better to create one. So, I descended into Ingrid’s body. Fortunately, there was a child named Exion who had decent talent.”

However, Exion was no different from the other emperors she had encountered. The goddess, tired of his arrogant belief that his abilities and efforts should be highly rewarded, turned her attention to Herzen.

“At least Herzen was different. Even though he was born with weaker divine power than his brother, he never gave up. Your father worked hard and persevered. I thought if he had the right temperament, he might be worth expecting.”

The goddess smiled with a distant look, as if recalling those days.

“When I gave birth to you, I knew my experiment had succeeded. You inherited my power more purely than anyone else. But humans grow differently, and that causes great differences. So, I raised you alongside Herzen.”

“Did you raise me to be the ideal human you wanted?” Marsilia asked in a calm voice, and the goddess simply smiled.

“Ha.” Marsilia couldn’t hide his bitterness. It felt as though his whole life of hard work was being negated. Even sitting still, he felt as though the ground beneath him was shaking.

The goddess’s eyes seemed to pierce deep into his heart, and she shook her head, giving him a look as if telling him not to do so.

“I gave you various trials. You passed them wonderfully, unlike those humans who sat on the throne and acted arrogantly.”

Marsilia lowered his head and rubbed his brows. He felt exhausted, and a hollow, empty laugh escaped him.

“Was it also a trial for my partner to be from the Eastern Continent?” Marsilia began to chuckle lightly as he asked, and the goddess nodded.

“Yes, humans from the Eastern Continent were different from you. They believed in gods, but they quickly learned how to live on their own strength. So I wondered how it would be if your partner was someone from the Eastern Continent.”

Marsilia let out a long sigh and tilted his head back. What had he been living for all this time? The emotions that had been boiling in his chest seemed to have turned to ash and disappeared.

“So, was this grand trial as well? Did I pass? What’s next?”

Marsilia asked indifferently, and the goddess replied, “You think the current situation is unreasonable, don’t you?”

“Of course not. That word is something you can only use among humans. It is not a word to use lightly with the goddess. I know that much.”

But knowing it didn’t erase the feeling of wanting to complain. Marsilia curled his lips up, trying to suppress his irritation.

“Since you must be able to read my mind, I won’t say more. If you have something left to say, go ahead. Are you leaving this world behind? Is that what you’re saying? Let humans fend for themselves?”

“I’ve used too much of my power here. You humans, greedy as you are, desire the power of gods.”

She said that she no longer had the strength to resist and that it was almost time for her to leave.

The goddess smiled faintly at Marsilia, as if feeling a bit sorry.

“Of course, my divine power won’t disappear immediately. It will take time for you to get used to it. It will probably continue for another 100 years. At least until your child.”

“Child? Is that the issue right now?” Marsilia laughed bitterly, shaking his shoulders like a madman.