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Chapter 49 – Lovely

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Liones Castle

After the ambassador from their Kingdom who had visited Camelot Kingdom was allowed to go home, his presence was immediately demanded by Great Holy Knights. In the meeting room where Great Holy Knight Hendrickson, Great Holy Knight Dreyfus, Cardinal Helbram, Gilthunder and Howzer listened to Loire's report. Loire fidgeted nervously as he recited what happened, what he witnessed from the banquet within the Castle on the Capital of Camelot Kingdom.


The young King Arthur officially announced on the banquet that he would open the rebuilt Cameliard Kingdom as wedding gift for Guinevere. Guinevere seemed shocked and she was teared up a little. She wrapped her arms around the young King's shoulders and kissed him which Arthur gladly reciprocated, ignoring the jeering and cheering from the others. However, everything turned hell after the banquet was held. Guinevere covered her mouth, puking bloods before she lost her consciousness. Holy Knights of Round Table were on alert, they heightened the guards on the Castle. Two of them, Escanor and Bedivere were the ones who giving instructions to lead the others.

Arthur cradled Guinevere on his arms, clearly panicked but trying to stay calm "bring the healer to heal her, quick!".

Merlin barged into this room, dark veil covered her face "Guinevere!".

Escanor wrapped his arms around her waist, telling her to calm down as the healer of the Castle, the Druid tried to heal her. Suddenly, a miracle happened. Guinevere's body floated on the air. Water and gentle light like fireflies enveloped her body. Within the water orb, Guinevere choked and her bloods that had mixed with the poison, came out from all system of her body. After all the poison came out of her body, the water orb broke. She was wrapped within the gentle warm light as two pairs of white-feathered wings came out of her back. They heard a yelp from a startled guest because a cat came into this room from the veranda. That cat leaped and landed on top of Guinevere's body and her wings disappeared. She floated down slowly and Arthur caught her in his arms, looking down to her. Her face still looked pale, but her breathing was even and it looked like she just fell asleep soundly. The healer quickly checked on her and stated that she was gonna be okay, that she was no longer in danger of the poison.

Arthur sighed in relief, turning to Merlin "can you explain what happened just now?".

Merlin sighed in relief as well, hugging Guinevere. After kissed her adopted daughter's forehead, she turned to the cat "well, first of all, why don't we ask thsi Cath Sith?".

They were surprised when the cat talked with its child-like voice "yes, like you see, I am a Cath Sith. My name is Neko Chaos, but if the princess wanted to give me another name, it would be my next name".

Next second, they freaked out "the cat can talk!".

Except Merlin who still looked calm "and what's your business here, Cath Sith?".

"of course, I am! I am the Fairy Cat! Why should you freak out just because you see a talking cat like me, human? For your question, Sorceress, I approve the princess Guinevere Cameliard as my Master, that's why I came here to serve her as her Guardian. I was sent by the Lady of the Lake", the Cath Sith scoffed before it leaped to settle on top of Merlin's lap "if you all wondered what happened just now, it was just the princess' healing ability as the descendant of Goddess Clan and the blessing, sort of self-protection in her body from The Lady Of The Lake".

"okay, we can hear whatever your explanation. For now, we should put her to her chamber", Arthur carried Guinevere on his arms, leaning his forehead into hers, whispering "...I swear no one can bring harm on you, ever, again".


"that's what happened", Loire finished his story and he turned deadly pale as he remembered what the young King did on the trial to the Assassin "honestly, I can't imagine what would happen if something ever happened to the princess. He is truly, sincerely, totally in love with the princess from he deeply adores the princess so much. He seems like the type of a man who can wage the war with other Kingdom for the sake of his woman".

"ha! Told you!", Howzer raised his hands up as if he just won the bet before he sat back and shrinking under Dreyfus and Gilthunder's stares "sorry".

"so princess Guinevere, soon-to-be Queen of Camelot, earned the blessing from the Lady of the Lake and the descendant of Goddess Clan?", Helbram clasped his hands and exclaimed "interesting! What an extravagant news, Sir Loire! I hope we can meet with this princess someday to learn more about her heritage".

Later, on Hendrickson's secret laboratory, Hendrickson looked up to the hanging red Demon, both his hands behind his back "do you understand how thrilled I am, Helbram? Not only princess Elizabeth, we also have two more offerings that we can use as sacrifices to break the seal. Princess Guinevere and if what you said is the truth, the young Maiden who possessed lost magic, the Phoenix Priestess, lost descendant of Goddess Clan. We have to get them no matter what".

Helbram crossed his arm before his chest, bowing as he thinking of how menacing his superior looked like.


Ordan Forest, East Of Vaizel

Isolde felt chilling on her nape and jolted, looking around. She was sure that Dawn Roar had gone home to the Capital of Liones with their souvenir, Castor and Pollux the twin doppleganger who disguised as Jericho and Elias in tow.

Veronica blinked in confusion as she helped Isolde to prepare the utensils after their little feast on their lunch "what happened, Isolde?".

Isolde shook her head, caressing her nape "no, somehow I felt that I'm in danger".

Tristan wrapped his arms around her shoulder, hugging her from behind "just call me when you feel in danger. I will come flying right away to your side".

Isolde blushed furiously, feeling the gazes from the others "um... Sir Tristan... I don't mind at all with the skinship but everyone's watching".

Instead of let her go, he nuzzled his nose on her nape and exhaled, earning her jolt "and you better stop with 'Sir' because you can just call me by name".

Isolde sucked in deep breath, feeling her heartbeat rocketing and luckily before she dropped to her knees or lost in his passionate, seductive touch, Lily called her "Isolde~ If you have finished, can you come here for a second?".

Isolde broke free from his hands and immediately rushed to aide Lily "coming!".

Because Isolde had come back, Lily and Elias started the 'surgery' to pull out the 'Demon Seed' from Jericho's body. Lily explained that after drinking the Demon blood, someone would earn magic power with the 'Demon Seed' was planted as the main source of their magic power.

Elias told Jericho what needed to do was only to detect where the 'Demon Seed' "because Lily is more expert to pull it out".

Diane cautiously asked "um, by you mean you're gonna pull it out...".

"isn't it clear?", Liy rolled her sleeves up with overly sweet smile on her face and cheerfully remarked "I just need to put my hand into her body. And after my hand enters her body, I just need to pull it out before Isolde heals the probably created-gape on her body when I pull out the 'Demon Seed'~".

King waved his finger to the Fay Queen "don't say it cheerfully like that when in fact it sounded like you're gonna kill her in the process!".

Ban contemplated "first Lancelot, then her... the children of our Cap'n is really something...".

Elias snapped his fingers, using his Enkidu chains to hold Jericho down "sorry, actually I can do it too but considering you're a woman, I think it's more proper to just let my mother to do it".

Lily wriggled her fingers "where is it, Elias?".

Elias lifted his finger "there, above her intestines near her liver".

"you're lucky your 'Demon Seed' hasn't reached your heart yet, like Sir Dale had, otherwise you're done", Lily smirked devilishly as her fingers entered Jericho's torso, pulling out 'Demon Seed' without leaving the traces of wounds or the gaping hole like they imagined. Looking down to the unconscious Jericho with bubbles on her mouth, Lily tilted her head "oh my, did I scare her too much?".

(on the background, Diane and King hugged each other, like Griamore and Veronica did when Lily's fingers had entered Jericho's torso).

The spectators protested loudly "yes, you did!".

"well, if it were me, perhaps it would indeed leave the gaping hole or wounds. I'm still nowhere near Lily's level, after all", Elias tried to lighten the mood as if what just happened was nothing "Isolde, your turn".

"yes, yes", Isolde lifted her hands, using her fire to burn the 'Demon Seed' into ashes. She's learned a little trick from Lily, that she could use her magic power not only to heal, but also to attack and purify. This time she only used her magic power to purify the evil entity (Demon Seed) with her fire "done!".

"okay, to kill the boredom when we wait the Cap'n and Neiva...", Ban wrapped his arms around Elias and King's shoulders before dragging them "let's talk, only the three of us".

King (although, deep down in his heart he felt grateful to Ban) and Elias gawked "EH!?".

When Elias reached out his hands to her with pleading looks, Lily smiled broadly and chirped, waving her hand "good luck, son!".

Elias struggled to no avail "MOTHER!".

"don't you think you tease the people around you including your son too much?", Veronica narrowed her eyes to Lily "though I can see clearly from who you earned this part of you, the cheerful, carefree and meany attitude".

Lily cupped her cheek with overly sweet, innocence smile "oh my, what do you mean, princess?".

Meanwhile, once Ban was sure they were out of eyesight and earshot, he put down the siblings to the ground "now, let's make it all clear. Talk properly like the siblings do".

Elias hesitated and averted his eyes, which King bowed his head and apologized but they were surprised when Elias yelled "no, Harlequin! Lift your head! You are the Fairy King and a King should not bow!".

"I apologize to you not only as the King, but also as your brother. Forgive me, I wasn't there when you and Elaine...", King gulped and lowered his head, unable to continue his words. He squeezed his little brother's shoulders before he looking up with encouraging smile "you have every right to hate me, to not forgive me, I accept it... I just want you to know, I'm glad that you're still alive, you have new home with a great mother waiting for you".

"no... I'm the one who should apologize to you, Harlequin", Elias squeezed King's wrists before crying. He apologized for unable to fulfill his promise to him, failed to protect his home and his twin "not only that... I even can no longer claim myself as the part of Fairy Clan... because I'm dead already that day... and I'm back to life as Fay, not as Fairy... you saw it, right... the change in my body...".

Elias apologized to King, telling him that he felt he had no place on Fairy King's Forest or Fairy Clan anymore with the changes on his body. It was thanks to Lily who reached out her hand with sweet smile on her face, telling Elias that he would always have a place to go home on her side as her son, that was the reason of why Elias could move forward to face his brother like this. Elias once told Lily about it and Lily accepted him, welcomed him on her Clan as her son if he didn't feel like he was the part of the Fairy Clan or thinking he had no place on the Fairy King's Forest again. However, Lily told him to try talking with King about this even if just once.

King smiled lopsided "...surely, Lady Lily is really a great mother, huh?".

"eh, knowing who her father, not too surprising~", Ban caressed his nape before patting Elias on the head "look, it's alright if you don't want to go home, but remember, you're always welcomed whenever you want to go back to the place that you consider as your home where the people you considered as your family waiting for you, as long as you're still alive. Just be honest with yourself, because when you realized it's too late, what you can do only regret it. I don't want you to go through it because I know, deep down in your heart, you're a good kid".

"Ban...", King felt touched before he demanded "argh! Okay, let's make this as an opportunity to clear everything! You two, clear everything to me about what happened 20 years ago!".

Ban and Elias exchanged glances before they told the story on their part. After everything was clear, they called it off after they apologized to each other and reached the reconciliation.

"but I wonder, King", Elias scratched his cheek "you said you lost your memory and it was Diane who found you unconscious and saved you on the river, so it meant you two are lovers?".

"one-sided, kid. Diane has been having crush to our Cap'n, Dragon Sin Meliodas, your mother's father", Ban just realized it "wait, it means you're the Cap'n's grandson now!".

"but Lily only adopted me and we shared no blood relationship. It's kinda weird. Not only he looks younger than Lily, like he's around my age, he also my older brother's superior", not to mention mostly Junior Sins were Meliodas' children although the others did not know about it yet, so Elias decided to shut his mouth for a while, as long as no one asked him "so I will just call him Sir Meliodas like the princess or 'Captain' like the Sins do".

"Elias, you said an interesting thing just now", Ban knew perhaps he crossed the boundaries right now, but he couldn't help it. He was curious and he was sure their Captain would tell nothing about it, given how Lily reacted to Elias when her adopted son barely let it out "can you tell us what happened to Lily's parents?".

Usually King knew better to not interfere on others' business but he also felt curious, and his curiosity won over the privacy this time "I also want to know about it! Lady Lily said the Captain is her biological father but you and Neiva said that her parents passed away already. What is the truth, anyway?".

"but still...", Elias frowned, he was sure Lily wouldn't like this but next second, impish grin appeared on his face as a brilliant idea appeared in his mind and King knew too well this wouldn't be good for him. Caressing his chin, Elias smirked "very fair, but I'd like to have 'give and take', brother. Tell me about your story with Miss Diane and I will tell you about Lily. As for you, Ban, prepare a story you haven't told me. Deal?".

Ban smirked "deal!".

King knew his little brother very well, of course he wouldn't accept 'no' so King gave in "...fine".

Ban went first. He told about his little sister and Zhivago which in result, Elias cried and King stared to him in sympathy. Patting Elias' head, Ban tried to make it light "nah, you're still crybaby like before, huh?".

Next, King told the story between him and Diane, all of it. Ever since Diane found him until he met her with her again in the Sins. After knowing that he had erased Diane's memory about him, Ban and Elias exchanged glances before they said in unison "you are an idiot".

King deadpanned "you two make a team now, huh?".

Elias growled "brother... do you realize how cruel what you've done to her?".

King flinched before Ban started pestering him, calling him an idiot for erase her memory when Diane perhaps loved him but he chose to erase it even without contemplating about her feelings. Elias agreed on Ban this time. For Elias' part, he even added about how miserable and frustrated it was to unable of remembering about his lost memory.

"for 20 years... in the name of whatever Gods in the world, I needed 20 years to remember everything for heaven's sake... even if you reasoned it was for her sake, but how could you just erase her memory, the woman you loved!", looking at how guilty his deadly-silent brother, Elias sighed and rubbed scars on his temples "look, I know I'm not in the position to say anything but... know this, brother. When I remembered everything and I found out about what happened to you, Elaine and Ban for as long as I lost my memory. I've been feeling guilty of how happy I have been as long as I live with Lily and her Clan, when you, Elaine and Ban have suffered... do you think... how exactly Miss Diane would feel... if she remembered everything about you? It will hurt her and probably she can't forgive herself for it... and it's unbearable, overwhelming guilt...".

King and Ban thought instead of talking about Diane, Elias talked about his own feelings. They hugged Elias when Elias started crying again in the end of his words, trying to convince him that he shouldn't have to feel that way. With little promise with Elias that King would tell Diane about his love, no matter what the result, either she would reciprocate his feelings or not, Elias agreed to end this topic, for now. They still needed to catch up later.

"but remember this, I only can tell you about what I heard from Spriggan, okay?", after asking them to never tell about this to anyone especially Lily and her siblings, Elias explained who was Spriggan and Silky, the husband and wife who had served Lily's family even before Lily was born "before Lily was ascended as the Queen, it was her mother, Lady Bethany who had been the first Fay Queen".

Elias went to explain about the history of Fay Clan first, where it was known as Phoenix Clan at first under Lilith as their Queen, but then the Clan was divided into two factions where one sided to Lilith and the other sided to Bethany, Lily's mother. After Lilith disappeared (which they knew it was Nel Hativa's doing, sending her own biological mother to Purgatory, for putting the cruel curses on her daughters and son-in-law), it was the moments of peace for years under Bethany's hands as their Queen. One day, an outsider named Meliodas came and married with Bethany. However, everything went to hell when Bethany was pregnant. Fay Clan was under attack, civil war broke between Bethany's people and remaining members of Phoenix Clan who supported Lilith.

"on the final battle, Merlin, Tristan and Neiva helped to defend Fay Clan, fighting along with Spriggan and Sir Meliodas when Silky stayed with Lady Bethany who was in heavy labor. Obviously, they won. However, Sir Meliodas was nowhere to be seen so they went back to the shelter where they left Lady Bethany with Silky. When they arrived there...", Elias fidgeted with his fingers and hesitantly revealed "...from what Silky told them, not too long after her husband arrived, Lily was born but Lady Bethany passed away due to severe bleeding in her confinement... and Lily's father killed himself to follow Lady Bethany after that...".

Ban and King stopped breathing and shared the shocked gazes. Their Captain was strong, he wasn't the type of someone who would kill himself... or they just didn't know that part of him, yet.

Ban instantly stood with serious expression, firmly stated "let's go back".

When they arrived on the Boar Hat, they saw the heated argue between Lily and Meliodas. They asked what happened and Diane told them that Lily offered to help them, even willingly to bring her Clan's Warriors to aide them in their conquer to Liones Castle but Meliodas sternly refused, telling Lily it was not her fight but theirs.

Lily clenched her fist, looking straight to Meliodas with pleading looks "father, please".

"NO", Meliodas sternly said "if you fight alongside me, it only will slow me down".

Next second, they were surprised to see some part of the woods overgrowing, some turned rotten before Tristina, Tristan and Lancelot yelled in unison "sister, snap out of it!".

After Elizabeth hugged her from behind, Lily stopped her magic power and dropped to her knees, trying to calm her heart down and thanking Elizabeth. Elizabeth only let her go once she was sure Lily was okay and reached out her hand to help Lily stand.

"you know I can fight... you chose mother over everything and follow her, I understand. You asked me to stay on the safe place, to live my life peacefully on Enchanted Woods with my Clan's members as their Queen when only Gods-who-knows what kind of danger you might face outside, I understand. However, even if just once, can you at least consider about how do we, your children, feel towards you, our parents?", Lily bit her lips and lowered her head further, her hair masking her expression. Lifting her skirt, she gracefully left, turning her back against him "next time, just tell me out loud that I'm only your burden that only weigh you down ever since I was born".

Meliodas' eyes widened and he called out as he reached out his hand to her retreating figure "Lily, that's not what I mean!".

Elizabeth also cried out, calling her name but Lily had fled to the sky. The others perhaps too stunned to witness the fight between this father daughter (although Elias wanted to hit Meliodas right away but unfortunately Ban held him down, just like how King held Diane down when giantess wanted to give a good punch to their Captain or Tristina held Hawk down when the sweet piggy wanted to kick Meliodas) so they didn't expect it at all when Tristina who had stopped Hawk, lunged into Meliodas, giving a hard and good head-butt. Hawk and the others flatly gawked and said 'what'.

"Daddy is stupid! Insensitive! You should have known it better than anyone! What Lily has always been afraid of... is whether you hate her or not! She thought that you hated her because mother passed away when mother gave her birth and you should have known than anyone that she's sensitive on that spot. Yes, she's changed after she met with Dahlia but in case you forget, let me remind you, old man. For the rest of her life, Lily has strived to be the Queen of her Clan, with hope that you and mother would be proud of her and come back to her! Should you cast her aside, ignoring her feelings like that? Not that I want to blame you, but just like Lily said, even if just once, please think about how we, your children feel towards you, our father!", panting, without waiting for her father's answer, Tristina leaped to the sky, using her magic power to levitate "Lily, wait!".

"great, women in our family are mad to me now", Meliodas didn't expect it coming from Tristina, he expected it coming from his rebellious son, Tristan "...you don't want to punch me, Triss?".

"what? You expected me to punch you instead? Figure it out. I'd like to, but it feels more hurt for you that way, right?", Tristan scoffed "besides, it's not like I have the right to say anything about it when I'm just the same with you".

Meliodas knew what his son referred to "it's different".

Tristan insisted "it's just the same".

"if you have time to argue here and now, why don't we finish our latest task here before we go looking for Lily? Mom was right when she said that the men of our family are idiots bunch", after he smacked Meliodas and Tristan's head with tree branch on his hand, Lancelot shook his head. Looking down to his father, Lancelot sighed "you know Lily is a good girl, right? She would not blame you, instead most likely she would blame herself for lost control and lashed out to you a little just now. Do you think it's okay to leave her alone?".

"Tina is with her, she's not alone. Despite her tiny body, Tina is grown up woman mentally. She can take care of Lily and I believe Lily will need time to calm down. Hence, Tina was older than Lily so obviously she could handle Lily who practically her own little sister", feeling the eyes from the Sins and their spectators, Tristan blinked "what?".

Elizabeth stuttered "um... Tina is your twin sister, she called Sir Meliodas as 'father' and you said that... then it means she also...".

Lancelot frowned "you two, stop it. Still pretending as strangers, huh?".

Meliodas pointed out, lifting his forefinger to Tristan "nope, I did introduce him as my son and I do call him my brat".

Tristan pointed out, lifting his thumb to Meliodas "I did introduce myself as his son and I did call him my old man".

Again, the chaos ensued.

"wait, Tristan, Tina, Lily, Lancelot", King lifted his fingers to count "all of them are your kids!?".

Diane felt like fainted "then it means... Irina, Iris, Oberon and Elias are your grandchildren!?".

When King and Diane turned to him, Elias deadpanned "adopted grandson, yes. Also, you didn't ask".

Ban jawsdropped and demanded "Cap'n, just how many kids you have produced!?".

Meliodas flatly declared "what? I don't think it's important for you all to know since they are no longer children anymore, they already have their own family and they can take care of themselves just fine".

"except for me and two of my sisters who haven't married yet", Lancelot cheerfully clarified "because one of my sisters, the oldest one is taken and is gonna married with Arthur, but I can't say it out loud here and now because I have hunch feeling that they're gonna have heart-attack including Dad".

"before you ask, yes, we have different mother and it's only me with Tina who share the same mother", Tristan clarified with lazy attitude "practically, we share the very same mother who have reincarnated many times, though".

"as fun as it seems for me, Lancelot's right, let's back to our business", Nel Hativa interrupted "though I don't agree to how you tried to cast Lily aside just now, Meliodas".

Meliodas rolled his eyes "your point is?".

"Fay Clan is a perfect result of my mother's project with the Demon King. In order to create biological weapon they could use as human resource, they created the offspring from the Succubus Clan, who still part of the Demon Clan, mixing their bloods with Fairy and Goddess, so all members of Fay Clan will earn magic power from these three Clans. It's been the custom-built for Fay Clan to train themselves into powerful Warriors and the strongest of them will be their Queen. In other words, Fay Clan itself is Warrior Clan created by Demon King with my mother as his representatives, all members of Fay Clan are the living weapon and obviously their Queen is the strongest Warrior of their Clan. At this point, the Fay Queen is Lily, your daughter", Nel Hativa twirled her hair on her forefinger "one word from Lily is enough to move her Clan. If she ever wanted it, to conquer and bring down a Kingdom is easy task for her. Scratch that, Lily alone is enough to conquer and take down an entire Kingdom. Not to mention you always raised your children learning the martial arts, to let them knowing how to defend themselves".

Meliodas growled "and if you think I will ever use any of my children as weapons, think twice! She's not the living weapon, she's my daughter!".

"that is, she is your daughter with Bethany, not mine. I just helped to raise her in Bethany's stead. Tell her honestly, she will listen to you and understand it, that you only want to keep her safe", Nel Hativa pointed her forefinger to brush his nose. She straightened and narrowed her eyes disapproval "maybe she's the Queen of her Clan, the strongest warrior of her Clan. Maybe she's married already, having her own family with her husband and sons, but she's your daughter and nothing will ever change that fact. You're an egoist if you can't even think about her feeling as a child to you, her father. I don't want to talk about this out loud in front of everyone but think it as a punishment for you because you make her crying again".

Meliodas challenged "say the one who postpone her responsibility to Gowther?".

"I do not...", Nel Hativa stopped her words. Trying to defend herself now only made it sounded like she didn't want to take the responsibility while in fact, she wouldn't do it. Challenging him back, Nel Hativa sent icy glare to Meliodas "...very fair, I will make up everything with Gowther and you have to make up everything with Lily, for the lost time we have with them. Do we have a deal?".

Meliodas promptly agreed "deal".

"do we know each other? What do you mean with 'make up everything' with me?", Gowther's usual monotone voice spoke up his interest "who are you? Why can't I use my Invasion to see your heart or to enter your mindscape?".

Nel Hativa poked Gowther's forehead with her forefinger "bad habit as usual".

Gowther felt Deja Vu, but this time in his mind, he saw familiar red-haired golden-eyed woman poking his forehead with her forefinger instead. Gowther rubbed his forehead and Nel Hativa explained. Once there was a powerful magician, so powerful even the Demon King had to acknowledge him, his name was Gowther. Gowther was Merlin's Master, Nel Hativa's adopted father and he was also the one who created the doll Gowther.

"even if we don't share the blood relationship, we were raised by Gowther like siblings. He created you as his proxy. For your face, he initially modelled you after Lady Glariza, his deceased lover, the one who should be my mother, who died on Holy War on Archangel Mael's hand", Nel Hativa clenched her bicep when she mentioned Mael before she closed her eyes and sighed, rubbing her the bridge of her nose in between her eyes "but he created you with a boy's body so he would harbor no passion or lust towards you".

Elizabeth covered her mouth and gasped "you poor thing!".

Ban twitched the corner of his mouth "sounds awful to me".

"so we're sort of sister and brother", Gowther concluded and shook her hands with flying flowers on the background "nice to meet you, my sister".

King dropped forward before he demanded "wait! Then why did you never say anything about it ever since we met?".

"because this Gowther is entirely different with the Gowther I've known", Nel Hativa cupped his cheek "Gowther, even if you're a doll, father created you with his magic heart. You're not an ordinary doll, you also had the heart, you had emotions and feelings like human... so what happened to you? What happened till you lost your heart?".

"I... had the heart? no, no... you lied...", Gowther took a step backwards before feeling the memories uprising on his mind. Thinking it was dangerous noise for his mind that he should erase, he lifted his hands "Lost World".

"no, you don't, idiot!", Diane went flying to give side-kick to Gowther "I remember that spell! You must have tried to erase your own memory, right? I will not let you do it and I will join your sister to stop you!".

When Gowther ran away, Nel Hativa calmly pondered. Nel Hativa told them the reason of why Gowther erased his own memories, Gowther's Sin. Nel Hativa knew and understood how it felt for wanting to erase the painful memories "should I leave him be if it's really what he wanted?".

"no, you're wrong! So long as those memories were engraved deep into your heart, because those are precious memory, nobody can truly erase the memories and feelings that important! Nobody has the right to do it!", Diane heavily objected, teared up "when someone died, they only can live on people's memories... if you forget them, then they will really die! When someone precious died, of course it feels hurt but if you forget them, they will entirely disappear! Are you really okay with it?".

Ban and Elias rolled their eyes to King who shrunk in his place. Thankfully, they didn't say anything but they had to talk about it later.

"you are really a good girl, kind-hearted girl", Nel Hativa smiled and leaned her forehead to Diane's. It was exactly why she decided to keep her memories, the opposite with Gowther "can you help me? I will give you something as the reward if you help me to catch Gowther".

"with or without reward, I will help you", Diane sniffled and wiped her tears, giving endearing sweet smile "because Gowther is my friend in the Seven Deadly Sins".

King, Ban and Elias volunteered to help. When Nel Hativa turned to Meliodas with intention to ask his permission if it was alright because she would be rather rude with Gowther, Dragon Sin was nowhere to be seen because Meliodas had gone to find Lily with Elizabeth in tow. Hawk, Veronica and Griamore decided to follow them.

Meliodas ran as fast as he could, because how could he forget it? Lily cried in joy when the first time they met again after he died and resurrected back to life. Lily cried in fear, apologizing to him with fear for 'causing her mother died on the childbirth' when it was not her fault at all. It was his, his fault to not able to protect Bethany, his fault for failed to accept the overwhelming grief of her multiple death in front of his eyes, his fault to leave her side when Lily needed him the most. Now, he had to put ease on her grievous mind.

Before they went though, Ban indeed asked Tristan "why did you never say anything to clarify that you are our Cap'n's kid?".

Tristan bitterly said "...I guess what happened on Cornwall Kingdom was enough to be the proof that I'm nothing but the failure of his son".

Lancelot sent flying kick to Tristan and when Tristan went back, pulling him by his collar, Lancelot casually said "well, I believe if Dad were here, he would send flying kick to you as well. You, father and Lily have something in common by this point".

Tristan retorted "what point?".

Lancelot flatly answered "tendency of blaming yourself for whatever terrible things happened on our family even though it's not your fault".

Tristan let him go before cracking his knuckles "just say it out loud that you want to have a fight with me, brat".

When Tristan and Lancelot were engaged in another fight, Elias told Nel Hativa and the Sins to just go find Gowther while he would stay here with Isolde and Morgan to stop two brothers in case Tristan and Lancelot's fight turned into dangerous state.


Camelot Kingdom

Guinevere felt chilling on her nape and jolted "that was... it felt like someone was having ill intention to me".

Arthur grabbed her hand "what's wrong? You don't feel well?".

"not that, sort of my dangerous instinct. I just feel like someone has ill intention to me", Guinevere sat and waved her hands "ah, please don't burden yourself with that, Arthur! I'm fine".

"you always said you're fine even if when you aren't...", Arthur hugged her and leaned his forehead on hers, asking her to be careful "now rest, but don't doubt to call me whenever you need something".

After Arthur gently pushed her down on her bed and kissed her forehead, lifting the blanket to cover her and patting her head, Guinevere sank to her deep slumber. Though, it was not pleasant one tonight.


Usually it was the 'Dark Side' or 'Light Side', or both, who would stay with her when she arrived here. Instead, this time she heard two voices. One gruff and rough baritone voice, sounded like an old man and the other one was sweet and alluring, yet she sounded as dangerous as the former. One thing was the same from them, they both had the very same intimidating, dangerous presence.

Suddenly, she was back at this place again. She remembered having this kind of dream ever since she was a child, sometimes she would wake up on her godmother, Merlin's arms or when Merlin was away, she would wake up with tears streaming down her face and three sisters, the princesses who slept with her, would look down to her with those concerned eyes.

Looking around, she was surrounded by several people cladded in dark cloak with wide hood. She was unable to make out what happened. What she knew, before she realized it, they grabbed her hands and legs. Overwhelmed, she was pinned down on the operation desk with both her hands and legs chained. She screamed in fear, asking them to stop but no one seemed to listen, neither they seemed the sign to stop. However, before they could do anything to her, with a blink of eyes, what she knew the darkness came to envelop these people. After they were swallowed by the darkness, the darkness shifted into two persons, a raven-haired woman and an armored bearded old man.

Kinda the opposite with the raven-haired woman, this armored bearded old man laughed maniacally "she did it! She truly did it!".

She would ask to the raven-haired woman "what did he mean?".

With solemn expression, raven-haired woman pushed her to go to where the light was "you can just forget everything".

She obeyed but she was dragged by the hands of shadows before someone whispering from behind "oh, where'd you go? Why don't stay here instead? Isn't it lovely? All alone in the darkness where no one can bring harm on you".

No, she had to go. She had to leave because outside there, where she could fight her fight and had the reason to live her life. She wanted to feel alive. She couldn't do it here in the darkness. She tried to fight back to no avail, but someone with dainty fingers grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of the darkness. When she opened her eyes, she gasped as she found the scattered corpses around her. Looking up shakily, she found someone who had pulled her out of the engulfed darkness, a goddess with bright light masking her upper face and so many pairs of wings came out of her back.

Shaking in fear, she asked to the hovering figure "who are you? What happened here?".

"...from your reaction, looks like you don't remember, huh? For now, I only can tell welcome home", she crouched and poked her forefinger above her head "O' the most beautiful of all flowers, you can't run from your fate, ever".


"NO!", Guinevere reached out her hand and cried out, but when someone caught her hand, she turned her head to the side and saw someone she dearly missed for years "...big sister Margaret?".

"hey, easy dear", like the old times on their childhood when she had nightmare, Margaret squeezed her hand and shushed her. Margaret smiled reassuringly and wiped her tears, gently caressing her head "you are safe. What happened? Do you have a nightmare again?".

She didn't answer because with what she registered first was her fear, she broke down and hugged her, Margaret that she considered like her older sister, before she was crying silently on her embrace. Like the old time, Margaret said nothing and she only patted her head, lulling her from her overwhelming fears.


A/N :

In case you realize it, yes, this chapter's title is inspired from song with title 'Lovely' from Billie Eilish.