SIDE STORY – REUNION (1)

As soon as Jude and Cordelia returned from Earth, they checked the date.

“How long has it been?”

The time in Earth and Pleiades flowed differently.

To the extent that 20 years here were only 13 months on Earth.

Therefore, in simple calculation, nearly three years could have passed in Pleiades at the time Jude and Cordelia spent two months on Earth.

If that had been the case, Jude and Cordelia would have definitely given up on going to Earth from the very beginning.

Even if they had gone with that time difference, they would not have spent close to two months on Earth.

“Three months have passed.”

“Oh, is your calculation correct?”

Each world moved in a certain cycle like how celestial bodies moved.

In other words, there was a time when each world would be closer or distant to each other.

‘It’s… the reason why Heaven and Hell lost its connection with each other, and why Hell and Pleiades were suddenly connected.’

It was also one of the reasons why the archangels in Heaven could only watch the death of Solari.

At that time, the distance between Heaven and Pleiades was so great that immediate intervention was impossible.

‘Moving on.’

Combining his experience in Hell and the knowledge of the goddess Atalia, Jude calculated the period in which the distance between Earth and Pleiades grew closer and farther, and realized that the distance between the two worlds, as well as the flow of time, had changed once again.

‘I think there’s a difference of 1.5x.’

A day on Earth was equivalent to a day and a half in Pleiades.

The difference was nearly 14 times compared to the previous one, so it was a drastic change, though there was a good reason for this.

One was the fact that the flow of time and the distance between the worlds were greatly distorted in the process of copying and pasting the world of Pleiades several times by the goddess Atalia.

As the distortion was resolved and returned to normal, the gap in the flow of time returned to its normal state.

‘No matter how the far the worlds are, it’s rather abnormal for the flow of time to differ more than 20 times.’

The second reason was their fight against Auriel and Asmodeus.

Because during the forced connection and disconnection of the connecting road, the movement cycle of Pleiades was greatly affected, making it return to its normal cycle.

“Oh, I see. Anyway, it’s been three months.”

“Well, that’s right. If you think about it excluding all those complicated stuff.”

In response to the answer of Jude, Cordelia suddenly furrowed her brows and groaned with a pained expression.

Jude was surprised at her actions and hurriedly asked her.

“What happened? Do you feel sick anywhere?”

“No, I just feel very sad because I haven’t seen those angelic little ones for three months. Kids grow up fast.”

The children of Gaël and Adelia.

In short, it was about the twins who were the niece and nephew of Cordelia.

At the words of Cordelia, Jude sighed in relief and shrugged as he said.

“How much have they changed in three months? At best, they will have begun to babble, sit alone, or stand while holding the wall… that kind of change.”

“Hey! Those are very important changes!”

How can you say all of that as if it were nothing?

When Cordelia put her hands on her waist and glared, Jude replied as he held up his hands to calm her down.

“Woah, woah, calm down.”

“Didn’t I say that I’d bite you if you did that?”

“You’d bite me even if I didn’t do it. Even in bed yesterday, you bit me here and there…”

“Woof!”

Cordelia snapped and bit the hand of Jude who snickered and said.

“It doesn’t hurt at all though?”

“F*ck!”

Because the body of Jude was strong enough that it could bounce off spears and swords.

Cordelia spoke in a muffled voice as she continued to bite the hand of Jude, and Jude said as he pinched her cheek with his other hand.

“They have the blood of an angel, right? It’s a bit regretful, but I think their growth will be a little slower than their peers.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Hmm…”

“Why again?”

“No, just… it’s good that I can see them young for a long time, but if their growth is slow in the end… will they not get along with people their age?”

“The gap isn’t much that it will make them feel left out.”

“Is that so?”

Cordelia muttered with a face that still looked worried and concerned. Jude smiled again and looked around.

“Anyway, let’s go outside and see our people first. Because I’m curious about what happened in the past three months.”

“Okay! I want to see Dahlia too!”

With a big smile, Cordelia hugged the arm of Jude and they left the secret room.

***

“Young master!”

Jude and Cordelia were the gods and rulers of the Holy Nation of Judelia, but had no children yet.

In other words, there was no one else in the holy palace whom they could address as ‘young master.’

Nevertheless, there was one person who still addressed him as ‘young master.’

“Maja!”

Jude happily shouted and shortened his distance with Maja at once.

She used to be the housekeeper and an influential figure of the August Bayer county, but was now called Countess Tantalotte.

Her official position in the holy nation was Lady Chamberlain.

Wearing an elegant Rococo dress instead of a maid uniform, she was walking with the maids who helped in the management of the holy palace, but stopped in surprise the moment she saw Jude and Cordelia.

“Maja!”

And Jude embraced Maja.

“I missed you, Maja.”

As if hugging was not enough, Jude held the waist of Maja with both hands and even lifted her up.

And spun around.

After spinning around, Jude hugged Maja again who had screamed a bit, but eventually burst out laughing.

“I really missed you.”

Was it because he saw Natasha?

It was probably right.

Because when he recalled his childhood as Kang Jin-ho, he remembered the times he grew up as Jude.

Jude was always at the center of the copy and paste method of the goddess Atalia, so he was the one who most accurately remembered all his past lives.

He had repeated his childhood many times.

And every time, he loved Maja as his mother instead of his own mother who died when he was a baby.

“Maja.”

Jude spoke again and hugged Maja tightly, and Maja also tightened her embrace on Jude.

Although the attitude of Jude was a little more intense than usual, Jude was a precious family member to Maja in the end.

Maja was also very happy to see him after three months.

“My little young master.”

Maja whispered small and closed her eyes as she softly smiled, and so did Jude.

And after a while when they finished hugging.

“Ahem, ahem.”

When Maja felt the gaze of the people around them whom she had forgotten when she hugged Jude, she quickly coughed and adjusted her posture and expression.

There were maids who worked in this place for a long time, but there were also new maids present.

The young and handsome ruler god and the beautiful Lady Chamberlain shared a very deep hug.

And even in front of the wife of the ruler god who was another ruler goddess!

One of the maids was at a loss, another looked at Cordelia with a frightened expression, and another silently screamed as she covered her mouth with both hands.

Because of that, the face of Maja turned red and she gave Jude a slightly resentful look.

“Oh my, other people are watching us. You idiot.”

And as for the one person who did not care.

Cordelia immediately kicked the butt of Jude and was surprised at the senior maid who said ‘It’s a normal occurrence’ instead of the maid who said ‘I-Is this the start of a couple fight?!’ She looked back at Maja and spread out her arms.

“I missed you, Maja.”

“I missed you two a lot, too.”

Maja and Cordelia shared a rather deep hug, so the new maids were strangely relieved.

Cordelia smiled at the sight of the maids and asked Maja.

“Where’s Dahlia?”

“Countess Ale is patrolling the border of the holy nation. She’ll return today, so you’ll see her soon.”

Just as how Maja became a countess, so did Dahlia.

She was the knight commander of the Holy Knights that protected the holy palace of the Holy Nation of Judelia.

In terms of size, the Holy Nation of Judelia was only a little larger than the average counties, so it would not take that long to patrol the entire border of the holy nation.

‘It takes a day or two.’

Given that she was returning today, it seemed like she had left yesterday.

“I see. Then please prepare the table for dinner tonight. Maja, Dahlia, and the two of us will be eating together.”

“I will prepare as you instructed.”

Maja gracefully bowed and Cordelia smiled at her, so the maids blushed and exclaimed a bit.

[They must be admiring the seriously beautiful – no, the glowing beauty of Cordelia.]

[What the heck are you talking about?]

The face of Cordelia heated up at the narration of Jude in her head and she kicked his butt again, but he snickered and hugged her waist.

***

In general, there were many people who attended the dinner of rulers.

Servants who checked for traces of poison in the food.

Attendants who served the meal.

Soldiers who escorted them in case of emergencies.

If the meal of a ruler was accompanied by someone, the scale was bound to increase.

The dining table was also very large, so the distance between the diners was naturally wide, making it hard to tell if they were eating together or just eating in the same place.

But it was difficult to find such a sight in the Holy Nation of Judelia.

“There’s a danger of poisoning!”

“Well, there’s no need to check it.”

They actually checked it, but only needed to cast a spell to check for poison before eating it.

And in reality, it was impossible to secretly put into their food a poison that could do enough harm to Jude and Cordelia.

‘Unless it’s poisonous enough to melt the food as soon as you put it in, we will not even be harmed.’

Anyway, for this reason, there was no poison checkers, and the ones escorting them had no choice but to leave too.

“Who is protecting whom?”

When Cordelia asked with a tilt of her head, they could not help but step back.

Them being attacked was least likely in front of Jude, one of the Ten Great Swordmasters.

The poison checkers were gone, and so were the escorts.

“We have hands too.”

A lot of the attendants were also gone.

“We prefer private dinners.”

Who could disobey them?

Therefore, the dining scene of the couple in the Holy Nation of Judelia was very different from that of usual countries.

“Wow, this is really delicious.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

Maja naturally replied as if she was familiar with eating together with the couple, and Cordelia smiled as she sliced the chicken in the large plate and placed it on the plates of Maja and Dahlia.

“Eat a lot.”

““Yes, miss.””

Maja and Dahlia answered together, and Cordelia looked pleased again.

As for one person.

There was a man who frowned despite having the luxury of eating with beautiful women.

“What about me?”

“You have hands and feet. Go get it yourself.”

Cordelia deliberately said with a snort, and Jude had a sulky expression while Maja and Dahlia grinned at that sight.

“By the way, Maja. Nothing big happened while we were gone, right?”

Maja slowly nodded at the question of Jude and then talked about what had happened one by one.

Merchants came and went from the Sälen Kingdom.

Several small incidents that took place in the holy palace.

It was more of a chatter at a dinner table rather than a formal report.

“Nothing really happened. Peace is the best.”

At the time when Cordelia spoke with a satisfied expression.

“There’s something for you two.”

Dahlia voiced and took out a letter from her pocket.

“This is a letter I received from the messenger of Count Bayer whom I encountered while on patrol.”

It seemed like she had received it while on the way here.

“My father?”

“I think it’s your brother who sent it.”

Gaël had known that Jude and Cordelia left for Earth.

But looking at the letter sent to the holy palace, perhaps something urgent had happened.

Jude and Cordelia exchanged glances and hurriedly opened the letter.

***

“Ah goo goo~ you little cuties! Auntie is here!”

As Cordelia spoke cutely, the twins lying on the crib burst into giggles.

“Oh my, you’re always cute whenever I see you. I don’t know why you’re so cute.”

The expression of Cordelia loosened as she gently held the soft and cute hands of the babies and giggled again.

“Why don’t you have a child if you like it so much?”

Cordelia pouted at the words of Adelia.

“Hmph, is that easy to do?”

“If you work hard, you can do it, right? So work hard. Very hard. With all your heart and soul.”

Adelia said with a bit of pride, and Cordelia pouted again and looked at the babies.

“You haven’t decided on their names yet?”

“Father is still thinking about it. But… if he can’t decide by this week, I’ve already told him that I’ll name them myself.”

It had already been over half a year since the babies were born, so it did not make sense for them to not have names yet.

Adelia grumbled a bit, and Cordelia giggled before asking again.

“What about father-in-law?”

“He said that he’ll leave it up to us to name them… Actually, I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Huh? He isn’t back yet?”

Before they left for Earth, or to be exact, four months ago, Count Bayer had left on a trip.

But he still had not returned.

Did he go to the east?

“I think he went to the empire.”

“The empire? Why?”

When Cordelia questioned again, Adelia closed her lips and beckoned instead of answering right away.

“Unnie?”

“Sit here.”

The attitude and tone of Adelia were unusual, so Cordelia unknowingly shut her mouth and took a seat next to Adelia.

And at the same time.

The office of Count Bayer was located a little further from the first floor where Adelia and Cordelia were located.

Gaël and Jude sat facing each other with a low table between them.

“Jude.”

“Yes, brother.”

The letter from Count Bayer that arrived yesterday did not contain many words.

Excluding the customary greetings in the front and end parts, it could be summarized as follows.

[Come home.]

What had suddenly happened?

And why did he not reveal the reason?

On the way here, there did not seem to be any problem with the Bayer county.

There was nothing unusual about the behavior of the servants, and Gaël and Adelia were not acting strangely either.

Then, what was it?

What had happened?

Gaël took a breath again and then straightened his posture as he opened his mouth.

“Don’t be too surprised when you hear it.”

An introduction that only came out when one told something that was definitely surprising to hear.

So Jude unconsciously gulped and focused on Gaël.

What happened?

What in the world happened to make him act like this now?

Gaël closed his eyes.

Perhaps it was because he was trying to calm himself and also Jude. After taking another breath, he opened his eyes and spoke.

“Jude, our mother is back.”

“Pardon?”

“Our mother is back.”

Gaël repeated and Jude could not understand it.

After all, their mother had already passed away.

Are you saying that she was resurrected as an undead? Perhaps a remnant of the demon followers-

The furious Jude jumped up from his seat, but Gaël quickly got up too.

Having figured out what Jude was thinking, Gaël promptly stretched out his hand and said.

“No, it’s not like that. It’s literally.”

“Brother?”

“Our mother is alive. And she’s now coming home.”

Jude stared at Gaël with a blank expression.

He was speechless, or rather, his mind had gone blank.