"It wasn't a coincidence. It was a choice," she continued.
"And that choice was to keep choosing him in every possibility."
She paused, her gaze drifting toward the glass doors that led to the garden.
Outside, the sky darkened as night slowly settled in.
Silence stretched. The others stared at her.
Including me.
"The Great Recreation was something I invoked myself," she said calmly.
"Using the Plenitude Without Reason."
A breath.
"Because… I am the Self and the Will of All That Is."
She lowered the taco she had picked up earlier, placing it back onto the tray.
"Existence didn't end just once."
Her fingers rested lightly against the table.
"It collapsed, and was never meant to be again."
She slowly lifted her gaze once more, giving me a brief look before meeting theirs.
"Everyone here already knows that you came from something I call The Constant," she said evenly.
"And that it was also the one who ended existence once before."
Rania and Roselia froze.
Kagariel remained silent, his gaze drifting into the distance.
"You're all aware that you are not Absolutes. Of course not. No Absolute would still choose. Or act."
A pause.
"Which is what I once was."
Rania's eyes lowered.
Roselia, however—
"Is that… what you meant by being not framed as anything at all?" Her voice wavered. "Because you're… you're literally—"
"Yes," Anathasia cut in calmly. "I am not a god. I am not a law."
Her voice did not rise.
"I am the Will that separated itself from an Absolute. So that existence could remain stable."
Silence.
"I excised myself from my own entirety."
For several moments, no one spoke.
The three Outer Gods remained still.
Anathasia simply stared at the tray, not reaching for anything this time.
Carthanalenia and I—
"Anathasia…" I murmured.
She looked up at me.
Then she smiled.
Small. Gentle. Softer than before.
"It's fine… I'm fine," she said quietly, reaching out to run her fingers through my hair while pulling Carthanalenia closer with her other arm.
"Please don't cry. I did everything of my own volition."
Her voice did not waver.
"Because I choose both of you. Every time."
A quiet sob escaped Carthanalenia as she buried her face against Anathasia's stomach, clinging tightly to her.
And something beneath my ribs tightened. Sharp and unexplainable with every word she spoke.
"You really are an idiot…" I muttered.
My eyes drifted to Carthanalenia.
"Everything…?" My voice dropped. "And you kept all of it to yourself?"
"I would still do it again," she replied softly.
And the moment our eyes met, something inside me began to crack.
Because how was she still able to look at me like that?
After everything?
"Why didn't you tell me?" My voice wavered, but I forced the words out. "When you told me about that back then… why didn't you just—"
It broke anyway.
"You're always like this. Carrying everything alone. Acting like it's fine." My jaw tightened. "Like you're fine."
She avoided my gaze, her eyes shifting away as she held Carthanalenia closer.
"What happened to being a team…?"
"Anathasia…?"
She didn't respond.
Maybe she couldn't.
She didn't even try to meet my eyes. Not while Carthanalenia sobbed quietly against her.
The others stayed silent too.
Kagariel. Rania. Roselia.
No one interrupted the quiet.
And when I saw her avoiding my gaze, I caught it—
That flicker of guilt.
Before I realized it, my body had already moved.
I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around her.
"I'm not angry at you…" I whispered.
She tensed at first.
My other hand gently stroked our daughter's hair as I held them both closer.
"I know I don't have the power to change what already happened," I continued softly. "But at the very least… you could've told me. Instead of carrying everything alone."
I pulled back slightly, still close enough to feel her warmth.
Her eyes glistened when they finally met mine.
"Why didn't you tell me…?" My voice lowered. "Aren't we a family?"
For a moment, she only looked at me.
Her eyes shimmered before she finally nodded.
"We are…" she breathed. "Of course we are."
Her hand tightened slightly against Carthanalenia's back.
Then she shook her head.
"I broke our promise again… didn't I?" Her voice trembled. "We said we wouldn't keep things from each other. And yet I…"
Her gaze fell.
"I kept this from you."
A quiet sob slipped past her lips.
"I didn't know how to say it. I didn't want it to sound like I was manipulating you. Like I was using what I gave up to bind you to me."
Slowly, she lifted her head and met my eyes again.
"Because I never once regretted what I did."
Her voice steadied.
"Even if it meant losing what I once was."
The room fell quiet.
Her words lingered in the air, heavy and undeniable.
Without thinking, I reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. A tear slipped down her cheek, and I caught it with my thumb.
"You…" I hesitated, but forced myself forward. "You've done enough."
I pulled her and Carthanalenia closer, my arms wrapping around them both.
"You're such an idiot," I murmured. "You don't have to carry everything anymore."
"I'm here. I'm not leaving. I told you I'd choose you, didn't I?"
She paused.
Then she nodded.
"Yeah…"
Another tear fell, quieter this time.
Carthanalenia pulled back slightly, wiping her own face before looking up at her.
"Mom… you've already lost enough."
"No," Anathasia said gently.
Her fingers brushed our daughter's hair.
"I regained more than I lost."
Her gaze shifted between us.
"I got the two of you."
A small smile curved on her lips. Softer, freer than before.
"And for me… that's enough."
Her eyes met mine.
"For me… that's everything."
My chest tightened as she reached up and cupped my cheek.
"Like I said… it was a choice."
—
By the time the silence finally settled, it was already past seven.
Rania was the first to speak.
"I see…" she murmured. "That… explains everything."
"It does," Roselia agreed quietly, her gaze lowered.
"The protection… the rewrites… the absence of any measurable limit…"
She lifted her head.
"It was never just because Miss Veridielle acted as the maintainer. Or even as the Godhead."
Her eyes softened.
"It was because she was the source that remade everything."
Her gaze drifted toward me.
"As well as a mother."
A pause.
"And a lover."
Even as they spoke, Carthanalenia remained wrapped around Anathasia, who continued to gently stroke her hair.
"I understand now…" Roselia said quietly, lowering her head once more.
"Miss Veridielle… I owe you an apology."
Her hands rested on the table, fingers curling into tight fists.
"I treated you like a catastrophe waiting to happen."
A breath.
"Even though you were the one who guided me from the very beginning of my journey as an Outer God."
Her voice tightened.
"I was afraid of what might happen if you ever lost control. I convinced myself I was protecting stability… by watching you. By preparing for you."
Her knuckles turned pale.
"But I never stopped to consider the full picture."
Her voice dropped further.
"And because of that fear… I schemed behind the scenes."
Her gaze flickered toward me.
"And Sir Kyle was placed in danger. I forced your hand."
Kagariel and Rania both turned toward her.
Anathasia, however, remained quiet, her expression unchanged, gentle.
"You…" Rania's face twisted as she looked at Roselia.
For a moment, silence returned to the living room.
Kagariel observed quietly while everything unfolded.
Rania, however, abruptly shot to her feet, her hand already lifting to strike at Roselia.
But before she could take a single step, Anathasia lifted her hand.
That was all it took.
Rania's jaw tightened.
After a brief pause, she sat back down.
Anathasia's gaze returned to Roselia.
"In the end… we all just wanted stability, didn't we?"
Her voice remained even.
"And that includes you, Roselia."
Roselia's fingers twitched slightly.
"We all have something we're trying to keep from collapsing," Anathasia continued. "Even you have someone you care for dearly."
A beat.
"That's why you acted behind my back."
Roselia froze.
Slowly, she lifted her head.
Anathasia's gaze drifted briefly toward Rania, then returned.
"We're not so different, you and I."
Her tone didn't waver.
"We both chose to protect someone in the end."