I knew that She was disappointed, but seeing Her, as the Moon Goddess, slapping a mortal, who happened to be Her mate, was so surprising that I found myself speechless. Even Papa had the same reaction.
| I told you to love our Dameta, yet what did you do, Harchier Cantavalle?|
I felt this immense chill crawling behind me upon mentioning Papa’s full name. It suddenly made me remember when Papa used to call our names whenever he was emphasizing that he was furious while having that frigid tone.
“Lunaria…” Papa gulped and was about to touch her hand, but Mother jerked it away.
I flinched when Mother raised Her head. | Go and finish your business in the mundane realm, Dameta. I am going to handle everything here with your father.| In an instant, Mother was already in front of me before She raised her hand to wipe something off my cheek. | I shall take it from here, my beloved daughter.| She nodded, urging me to go now.
I glanced at Papa behind Her and saw his gaze was on the ground. What shocked me more was Papa started to shed tears when our eyes met.
“Um… C-Certainly, Mother…” I returned my gaze to Her and found myself nodding even though I did not know if I understood what She said.
However, I was already in the mundane realm, greeted by a thick fume of flame while hearing the screams of agony in the whole estate. I snapped back, feeling my heart pumping wildly when I started sprinting.
“Papa…” For some reason, why did I feel… melancholic?
Papa looked like he had suffered enough and had this expression that it seemed like his longing had finally been answered. However, his actions would cause him now to lose Mother before him.
“We can deal with that later, Dominixe.” I inhaled and exhaled, wanting to focus on this mission.
My nose filled with the richness of the metallic smell of blood that became an air freshener when I went to look for my other siblings. I needed to check them to see if they were doing alright, not wanting to see that they were dying before my eyes.
However, just before I could go to the nearby garden, I heard some giggling in a frenzy.
“It has been a while… Please do forgive me, uncle. You are a hindrance to my plans.”
I halted upon hearing Demetrius’ voice. My stomach somersaulted as I rushed in that direction and gasped upon seeing Demetrius sitting on Ingram’s stomach while he was holding his dagger and kept piercing Ingram’s… cadaver?
I felt a strong emotion surge from inside me. “What have you done?!” My thunderous voice echoed throughout the whole garden, and I almost thought that my voice had reached the end of the gates.
Demetrius stiffened and raised his head. Then his expression softened. “Oh, Mother… You are here…” He giggled and stood up. “I have come here now to reunite with you. We will be together as mother and son.” He was smiling, yet his eyes were filled with coldness.
I could feel my emotions start to blind me before I chuckled bitterly. “I, Dameta, the seventh daughter of the Moon Goddess, am the Goddess of Time, who shall return to the moment before Demetrius killed Ingram.” I cast my incantation just before Demetrius could react.
“No!” he said furiously, using his wolf speed to reach me.
But I watched as the time reversed and I returned to the moment I was in the celestial realm with Papa, where he had just found out Mother was behind him.
My eyes widened, shocked, before I quickly opened the portal. “I have to go, Mother!” I said just before Mother slapped Papa again.
I gulped, transforming into my wolf form to reach the garden just before the incident where Ingram was killed. My eyes were filled with tears since I knew my youngest brother did not deserve to meet his death yet.
I must save him before Demetrius kills him for the second time around.
I arrived just in time when Demetrius and Ingram were already clashing their weapons; Demetrius used only his dagger, while Ingram used two swords since he was a dual wielder. I hid behind the tree, watching everything to see how Demetrius had made my brother defeat him.
I would take that as an opportunity to finish the blow.
No.
It was time to deal with the issue of the relationship between the mother and her son.
“I do not know how it happened that you are Domi’s son, but… I think I shall believe since you have the fighting skills only belong to the Cantavalle family.”
I snapped back when I heard the loud clashing of their weapons. Not only that, it seemed that these two had been conversing.
“But I wouldn’t believe in your words that Domi hurts her own flesh. That is truly-”
“Shut up! You do not know anything and keep defending her!”
My chest was being squeezed so tight hearing that outraged tone of Demetrius. It was enough to know he was holding a grudge against the other Dominixe.
“Tsk… Other me… Look what you have done to him…” I inhaled and exhaled, clutching my skirt before tearing it between my thighs. “Now… I need to settle my last problem…” I muttered before sighing before mind-linking Henry, who was settling not far from the estate.
He was the player who needed to oversee everything so he would know what to do. He was like playing a game of chess and already knew who he should summon or, to emphasize it clearly, which chess pieces he would move.
‘Tell Rachelle and Claude to deal with Britanny and Caroline if Valerian is not done with them. I need Valerian here to settle this problem about Demetrius,’ I told Henry where I was so he could tell Valerian.
‘To be honest, Valerian and I are the ones who are managing your two sisters. But goddamn it! They are so strong.’ I could sense the distress in his voice. ‘Valerian is on his way. I shall do everything since Claude is on his way here.’
‘I see.’ I clutched my upper clothing with huge relief, seeing that Demetrius would defeat Ingram. At that moment, I charged swiftly into the sky before making a surprise movement by kicking Demetrius to toss him away from Ingram.
“Domi!” Ingram turned at me, limping with his injured leg.
I rushed to him. “Ingram…” I held him on his shoulders, almost shedding a tear that I saved him this time and managed to avoid his death. I hugged him so tight that I thought that I lost him again. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Hmm!” He nodded and looked behind me before returning the gaze to me again. “Is it true? That young man is your son, Domi?” He glanced at Demetrius again, who stood up on his feet with his back slouched as if he was getting accustomed to the impact I had caused him. “It is impossible, right?”
Demetrius cocked his head from side to side before a devilish smile crept into his lips. He even looked up in the sky, filled with thick smoke.
“Yes, it is impossible… yet.” The last word came to a whisper since I wasn’t certain I was pregnant this time. “Anyway, you must flee and escape with the rest of our siblings. You still know where we are going to meet, right?” He nodded. “Good. Then, I shall take it from here.”
“A-Are you certain?” Ingram gasped when Demetrius was preparing to charge in our direction again.
“Yes. Go!” I pushed him away as soon as Demetrius was sprinting towards me. Ingram stepped back, looking at me worried. “We will meet later. I promise,” I added to ease his feelings since it looked like he was struggling to stay and help me. “Do not look back.”
Ingram clenched his hands before transforming into wolf form and dashed out while I evaded Demetrius’ reckless attack.
“Mother… It is just you and I…” he said cheerfully. “And I am happy that I am fighting with you. This time, I am going to kill you for real!” Then his tone changed into an angry one before his dagger almost hit my flank, but I kicked him away on his stomach to distance him from me.
“Demetrius… You can stop now, and let’s talk… mother and son…” I emphasized those terms to get my feelings to his shattered heart.
I could feel my body exhausted from stopping and reversing the time. But I could still manage somehow and feel fine. I just needed to get things over with.
“Mother and… son…?” he said bitterly. “You did not even treat me as your son!”
“That was my other self, Demetrius. I haven’t conceived you yet in this timeline…” And I wanted to apologize to him when before I reversed the time when I was detained in my chamber as soon as I knew that Papa knew I was in Henry’s villa along with Valerian and Demetrius.
I told him some hurtful words which I was not supposed to say. It was a double-edged sword, I had already admitted. I wanted Demetrius to know that.
“Please… Demetrius… I promise… in this timeline, Valerian and I will love you…”
But Demetrius did not listen as he kept laughing lunatically while I kept avoiding his dagger. He targeted lacerating my clothing since I was defending myself, not fighting him.
I thought that we still needed to talk about this before I could do something that could harm him. I was holding back, but it seemed Demetrius found it offending on his part.
It was why his attacks had become aggressive, and his dagger almost stabbed me. But I stopped the time before it could happen. I snatched the dagger from him while my surrounding was not even moving.
“Demetrius…” I shed a tear when I saw that Demetrius was as cold as the first rain of a hailstorm. Before I decided to unlink from stopping time, I came to hug him to catch him off guard.
And that was a success.
“Demetrius, let me say this to you once and for all…” He was stiffened, hearing the fast melodious of his heart beating near my chest. “I may be the Dominixe, but remember that I haven’t conceived you yet here in this timeline.”
But I felt myself being pushed away. At the same time, I gasped when Demetrius pierced his hand to my lower abdomen and clutched my organs there, making my eyes widen in horror.
Demetrius chuckled evilly. “Mother, is it alright for me to remove your uterus, right? I never want even to be born in this world.” I groaned in pain when he gripped my organs and roughly pulled them out before I screamed in so much pain. “Nor would I even let you get pregnant.”
“Demetrius…!” I dug my nails into his arm when he was about to pull my organs out from inside me. “Stop… Please…” I begged him, shaking my head.
I wanted to reverse the time, but Demetrius looked like he was trying to exhaust me. He must have expected that I would regress again, so he immediately found my weakness.
“Demetrius…” I bit my lower lip not to scream at the top of my lungs again, but the more Demetrius squeezed a certain organ inside my body, the more I felt that I was about to collapse.
“Yes, Mother… Farewell to-”
His words were cut off as he coughed some blood. My eyes widened when a large fist was being pierced from behind him.
“If you think you can get away with this, you are wrong.”
I felt chills down my spine when I looked behind Demetrius and saw… Valerian, with his darkened face, looked like he was about to turn the world upside down.