Chapter 416 Become My Holy Consort
Zara's lips trembled. Then they trembled again. "I..."
[I'm going to kill you!]
She could tolerate him seeing through her true nature, but this crossed a line no human being could endure.
A menace like him had no right to remain alive.
The instant the thought surfaced, Lucian grew alert. "You want to kill me just because I can hear your thoughts?"
"Anyone would want to kill you over this!" Zara snapped.
For once, what she said aloud matched exactly what was in her head.
Lucian looked away. "I won't tell anyone."
"This isn't about whether I trust you. I can't stand it. I simply cannot..."
It was mortifying, even worse than having someone discover her browsing history.
When Lucian stopped looking at her, he realized her thoughts had gone silent. "I don't think I can hear you when I'm not looking at you."
With his memories altered, Lucian had become even more straightforward than before. Despite speaking to a woman he supposedly did not know, his tone remained calm, and he showed no hesitation about revealing the secret to her.
"F*ck!" Zara burst out.
"I already told you not to be so crude," Lucian said. "Besides, are you planning to fight me here?"
Zara stared at him. "Oh, look at you. Got a pair of wings and suddenly you think you're untouchable?"
He was using her power and already acting like he ruled the universe!
Lucian abruptly turned back toward her.
Zara instinctively covered her face with both hands.
He studied her for a moment. "I can't hear you now."
"...Really?"
Still suspicious, Zara slowly spread her fingers and peeked at him.
[Can he really not hear me?]
"I can hear you again," Lucian said.
Zara immediately covered her face once more and snapped, "Stop looking at me, or I swear I'll kill you right now!"
Lucian gave a quiet scoff.
"Lucian, forget everything else. Sign these first."
Once he handed over the inheritance, there would be even less reason to keep this version of Lucian alive, especially now that he could hear her thoughts.
Some people were technically alive, yet already dead to her.
Lucian gave her a strange look before taking the papers.
He read them for a long moment, then seemed to understand. "You want my assets?"
Apparently, his altered memories had not erased that part of his life. Valerius probably still needed access to his wealth on Earth, so Martin Family Group remained under Lucian's ownership.
It was the empire he had built there himself.
Still covering her eyes so she would not look at him, Zara said, "Of course not. I'm only preparing for the worst. You've returned to the Divine World and inherited the position of Holy Sovereign, so you don't need your assets on Earth anymore."
She added, "Besides, everyone there will assume you're dead. Someone has to inherit everything."
Lucian looked at her. "If you want the position of Holy Sovereign, why do you also want my property on Earth?"
"I've never wanted to be Holy Sovereign..."
She immediately realized that was part of the story the High Priest and the others had fed him.
"They lied to you!"
Before Lucian could grow suspicious, Zara hurriedly began inventing a perfectly reasonable explanation.
"Do you ever feel like you've forgotten something important?"
Zara was willing to bet the arcane spell had flaws.
Her power was far too strong to be suppressed completely.
Lucian hesitated. "Yes."
"Then I was right!" Zara exclaimed. "They lied to you. Back on Earth, I was your fiancée. They thought I wasn't good enough for you because I came from an insignificant family, so they made up an excuse to lure you back here. I have no interest whatsoever in becoming Holy Sovereign."
Lucian fell silent.
So did Aurelion.
Incredible.
After all those twists and turns, they had somehow ended up right back where they started.
The people of the Divine World had probably never imagined Zara would simply invent this version of events.
Aside from Lucian's new ambitions, their relationship was apparently going to remain much the same.
"But that isn't what I remember..." Lucian began.
Zara waved dismissively. "Memories can get distorted. They wanted you to forget me, so of course yours don't line up."
While Lucian was still considering that, she continued without giving him time to question her.
"They even tried to kill me to keep me quiet.
But because you wanted to protect me, you gave me half your power.
That's the only reason I was able to defend myself and survive long enough to stand before you now. "
Aurelion was speechless.
Brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.
This was better than any TV drama he had ever watched.
Whether Lucian believed it or not, Aurelion certainly did.
Lucian remained silent for a long time.
Zara still had her face covered, so she could not read his expression. There was no way she was going to look at him while spinning a lie and let her thoughts expose every word of it.
She had never imagined anyone could hear her inner voice.
Had the arcane spell activated her power inside Lucian and somehow given him that ability?
But why couldn't she hear his thoughts?
After a long silence, Lucian finally said, "All right."
Zara fell silent.
[All right, my ass. Sign the damn papers!]
Perhaps she had told so many lies that she no longer realized how unconvincing they sounded.
Lucian, however, appeared to believe her.
Then he said, "If I loved you enough to give you half my power, you should love me too. Why do you need my assets? If we're together, everything I own will already be yours."
"I'll ascend the throne next week, and they intend to choose a suitable Holy Consort for me. I don't like the woman they've selected." He added, "So you can become my Holy Consort instead."
Zara froze.
[Are you out of your damn mind?]
She spread her hands in disbelief, then noticed Lucian watching her and immediately covered her face again.
"But my status isn't worthy of you. You said so yourself. And you promised to give me some security, so just sign the papers. Once you're Holy Sovereign, why would you even care about those assets?"
Aurelion felt Zara was handling this badly.
She was far too impatient.
She sounded like a shameless gold digger trying to manipulate him.
"If you become my Holy Consort, everything I possess will belong to you," Lucian said. "If I was willing to give you half my power, why would I care about a little money?"
Zara fell silent.
Damn it.
Her own lie had come back to bite her.
"But I... I need something tangible. Otherwise, I feel so insecure. Boo-hoo..."
Just sign the papers already!
Why was inheriting his fortune so unbelievably difficult?
"Don't worry," Lucian said. "Once we conquer Earth, the entire planet will belong to you."
Zara fell silent again.
[What a load of crap. By the time you invade Earth, it'll already be far too late.]
Allen would be devastated.