Chapter 2: The Goddess’s Command

It was like watching a live stream with an unbearable delay. For half a minute, the Royal Council Chamber was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.

Then the place exploded.

“Chosen? She’s the Chosen?”

“How is that possible? Her?”

“First he picks a blacksmith’s dimwitted son, and now this nineteen-year-old tomboy who can’t get married? Could it be that the Goddess’s taste… ahem, I mean, the Goddess’s will is so unfathomable?”

“Perhaps it’s not the Goddess’s will, but the meaning of the Goddess’s reincarnation?”

“Could it be?”

The whispers among the nobles were deafening, and public opinion gradually abandoned the Queen to turn to the sidelines.

The Queen, who had thought victory was in her grasp and had been huffing and puffing, finally lost her composure. Her eyes widened.

“Your Holiness, you’re not joking, are you? Her? The Chosen?”

“That is correct.”

Celestine replied in a flat tone.

“You are unaware!”

The Queen’s voice suddenly rose.

“Any noble maiden of the capital is more worthy of the title ‘Chosen’ than this Miss Aurora!”

Then she listed them like singing a song:

“When she attends court banquets, she sits like a market hawker! When she curtsies, she’s so perfunctory that even a three-year-old does better! She never attends any noble lady’s tea parties or poetry societies, nor does she come to the palace to pay respects. She only wastes her time in the dark alleys of the dock district, fraternizing with those fishmongers and commoners smelling of fish!”

“She is nineteen and still hasn’t passed the transcendent graduate exam of Frania University! Such a person who despises tradition, wastes talent, and spends her days with the rabble—and you say she is the Chosen?!”

“It seems Her Majesty the Queen is even closer to the Goddess than the Goddess’s reincarnation.”

Aurora seized the loophole in the Queen’s words and delivered a follow-up blow.

Taking Aurora’s lead, Celestine lowered her eyes and replied coldly to the Queen.

“Only the Goddess can appoint Her Chosen, Your Majesty. If you have no other business, please leave. Goddess’s followers have important matters to discuss.”

After this exchange, the Queen was rendered speechless and silently resented that the Goddess’s reincarnation had deliberately targeted her.

The merchants the Queen had brought as witnesses, seeing the situation turn unfavorable, shook with fear like sieves. The King’s guard knights immediately arrested them and sent them to the dungeon.

The Queen backed down, and no one dared to trouble the daughter of Prime Minister Ed. King Louis promptly declared the matter closed, dismissed the noble advisers, and led the Queen and the Prime Minister elsewhere.

Moments later, the vast Royal Council Chamber was left with only the Goddess’s reincarnation and the two Chosen.

Aurora hugged her arms, unsure what Celestine was up to.

— Odd changes, even changes, look at the signs?

And that impeccable Chinese? What the hell?

Why would a half-elf living in another world know such an old meme that even Aurora herself had almost forgotten?

Had her memory been stolen when she trespassed into the forbidden land? Or was there really a divine personality that knew memes from her past life?

Why did that mysterious voice in her head know these things?

What did she have that such a great being could covet? Not much, right?

Celestine broke the silence first.

“Don’t ask me what that incantation means. I don’t know either.”

“Everything is a manifestation of the Goddess’s will. I am merely a vessel receiving her decree.”

Aurora asked her, “Then what does the Goddess want Your Holiness to do?”

Celestine replied, “Not me. You.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to marry Lord Balian here and have children.”

“?”

Aurora’s head tilted eight degrees.

She couldn’t quite process what she had just heard.

Marriage? Me?

Are you saying that a deity worshiped by hundreds of millions across several kingdoms, her mortal proxy, is urging me to marry a guard under my father’s command?

Seeing Aurora’s lack of reaction, a puzzled expression appeared on Celestine’s face. She raised her voice and repeated herself.

“The so-called Chosen Saintess is the wife of the Chosen Hero. This has been decided since the Saintess was born into the world by the Goddess’s instruction.”

Then she muttered to herself:

“If it’s convenient, we could hold the ceremony next week. Lord Balian is young and strong, and with the church’s potions and enchanted items, it shouldn’t be long before you conceive…”

As she spoke, she made a gesture with her index finger and her other hand forming an O.

“Conceive? Conceive?!”

Aurora’s face turned pale, then red, and finally green.

A goddess with such big eyes is arranging a child marriage for me?!

Before she could explode, she heard a “thump” behind her. She turned to see Balian.

He knelt heavily on one knee, his head lowered, his right hand pressed firmly over his heart. His body seemed to tremble from fear—or perhaps excitement and anticipation?

“Miss, since it is the divine will, it seems we have no choice!”

“You’re clearly looking forward to it, aren’t you? Watch your status, servant!”

Aurora retorted irritably.

Balian had come to the household as a servant when Aurora could barely walk. She had essentially watched him grow up.

He seemed quiet and slow, but he wasn’t stupid.

Moreover, the guy surely had feelings for her. His entire adolescence had been spent in a cycle of hyping himself up to confess—getting rejected and beaten by her father Ed—working hard at swordsmanship—hyping himself up again and confessing again. Now he was pretending to be reserved? Who did he think he was fooling?

Upon hearing the Goddess reincarnate’s decree, the guy must be overjoyed inside.

Let him be happy!

Aurora had no intention of getting married and having children.

And she had the capital to refuse—she was Marquis Ed’s most beloved daughter and important advisor. If she said “no,” a mere knight and a powerless Goddess incarnate couldn’t do anything to her.

The mysterious voice sounded in her head.

“I know you’re anxious, but don’t be. Politely decline, be tactful, don’t offend anyone.”

“Do I need you to tell me that?”

“Goddess Incarnate, this is too sudden! Balian and I have known each other since childhood, but I’ve never thought about marriage. Right, Balian?”

Right? Right! Right!!!!!!!!

Balian flinched under Aurora’s gaze and had to follow her lead. He said quietly,

“When I was chosen as a Hero candidate, you told me that if I wanted to marry you, I first had to defeat Marquis Ed in swordsmanship—I haven’t won yet.”

“Then how about you try a duel with my father tomorrow?”

Aurora continued to provoke him.

Celestine’s eyes darted between Aurora and Balian. Seeing both opposed her request, she sighed softly.

“What the Goddess left behind is not a decree, but a prophecy.”

Celestine chuckled.

“The prophecy says that when the two Chosen marry and produce a legitimate heir, that will be the day the orthodox religious world is reunited.”

Seeing that the two still showed no sign of changing their minds, she said helplessly,

“Very well. Please take your leave, both of you.”

Under Balian’s escort, Aurora returned to the Marquis’s mansion not far from the council chamber.

The journey was silent, except for Balian inquiring about Aurora’s health, which she rebuffed with “I’m fine, just worry about yourself.”

Once home, Aurora shook off everyone else, ran to her bedroom, locked the doors and windows, and questioned the mysterious voice in her mind, demanding answers.

The mysterious voice didn’t stall. In a few breaths, the scene before Aurora’s eyes changed like a television channel.

Her view suddenly opened up. It wasn’t a gloomy dungeon or a weird altar, but an extremely luxurious hanging garden.

Massive white stone pillars supported a dome covered in deep purple vines. Soft light scattered over a sea of blooming roses.

In the center of the garden was a chaise lounge draped in crimson velvet.

A woman in glamorous, seductive attire reclined on it, swirling a glass of blood-red wine.

Aurora considered herself well-proportioned among the noble ladies of the kingdom, but compared to this woman, she felt like a little girl.

This woman’s figure was simply scandalous.

Her upper and lower curves were exaggeratedly prominent, almost hindering movement, while her waist was so slender one feared it would break.

She wore only a silver dress with an exceptionally low neckline, the fabric thin as silk, hanging limply on her body like it had just been pulled from water, revealing the color of her skin.

A pair of milky white legs were sprawled out carelessly, a high heel dangling from her toes, swinging back and forth.

Aurora unconsciously swallowed, her eyes sweeping over that exaggerated S-curve.

Finally, her gaze moved from the chest to the face, and Aurora’s eyes widened instantly.

It was a face almost identical to her own.

The platinum blonde hair was no longer a shoulder-length maiden style but cascaded down her back like a waterfall, the ends curling naturally like waves. Her eyes slightly upturned at the corners, carrying an innate allure and laziness.

Aurora asked,

“Are you our family’s ancestor?”

“No, I am you. More precisely, you from twenty years in the future.”

“Huh?”

The noblewoman who called herself future Aurora rolled her eyes. Even that gesture was exuding charm.

“Sorry to disappoint you. It’s not the cliché of an ancestor rising from a coffin.”

“You’re future me? How did you do that?”

Aurora asked.

“Magic. I am a master of magic.”

“So, are you happy now?”

“Happy?”

The noblewoman raised her hand and pointed around.

“I am the Queen of the Fran Kingdom. What do you think?”

“Me? Queen!”

Aurora’s eyes instantly turned into stars.

I know this plot! The cool female lead script!

The second daughter of a marquis, rising all the way to the peak of life!

“That’s right. You will have everything you want.”

The noblewoman lowered her voice, tempting.

“And you will receive a hundred times the happiness you desire.”

“Happiness?”

Aurora raised an eyebrow, curious about the word “happiness” from the queen’s mouth.

The happiness I desire?

Er, waking up with power over the world, and sleeping drunk with beauties in my arms?

If future me is queen, then I have the power.

Beauties in my arms?

Isn’t that a bit strange? In my case, that would be homosexual.

Heterosexual is even less possible. Liking men?

…Shameless. I’d rather die.

Queen Aurora didn’t answer directly. Instead, she waved her hand casually.

Did it get dark?

Aurora suddenly couldn’t see anything.

She could only hear strange noises…

“Gluck… gluck…”

What kind of sound is that?

Are they raising pigs in the palace?

Before she could realize what the sound meant, her vision cleared.

In that instant, her mind seemed to crash.

A dim room with only a few candles burning.

An overly large bed, on which a dazzlingly white body knelt obediently.

That face identical to her own was almost impossible to look at.

“?!!!!!!”

Her gaze finally fell on the man behind the queen.

“Balian???”

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