"I love you."
With a straight face, Lyssa could only start the conversation there, leaving Heron baffled.
"E-eh?"
Those were the only words that could come out of Heron's mouth. He was still processing what she just said.
"C-could you... could you repeat that?"
Heron nervously asked.
At that moment, he remembered the strange voice in his dreams this morning.
--- Mother doesn't hate you ---
--- She can definitely forgive you ---
--- Will you try to let her talk? ---
'I will!' Heron thought.
Upon her husband's request, Lyssa finally felt the embarrassment from what she said.
Lyssa's usual cold face broke. Her neck turned reddish, her expression turned nervous, and her eyes rolled to the side when she repeated.
"I-.. I said... I love you..."
Seeing Lyssa in this state for the first time in ages, it was as if an arrow just pierced through Heron!
He literally retreated a few steps back.
Like Lyssa, his face turned red. He felt heat on his cheeks.
In contrast to his tired look when he came home, he looked so lively right now.
Looking at his reaction, Lyssa subconsciously clenched her eyes closed. She waited for his response.
When Heron finally snapped out of his daze, he said what first came into his head.
"You... don't hate me?"
'What Elihim said is right!' thinking about this, Lyssa became a little more confident.
"No, I don't..."
Lyssa wanted to retain her composure, but she became timid instead.
"..." Heron continued to murmur, "I thought you hated me for not becoming an Imagi."
"No!" Lyssa immediately responded.
She had already expected Heron's thoughts from the information Elihim fed her.
"Why would I hate you?!"
She shouted.
"I thought you hate me. Your attitude changed when I turned thirty years of age, losing my last chance of becoming an Imagi!"
"No, you're the one who changed. I just gave you some space, that's all."
"Space?"
Upon hearing this, Heron felt his world turn upside down. Instead of being angry at this misunderstanding, he was secretly elated.
"So you're not ignoring me?"
"No!" Lyssa strongly denied again.
"You did not accept my feelings just because I have the potential to become an Imagi?"
"No!"
"You did not use me to gain standing in the Hramm City?"
"What? Use? Oh my God, Heron, of course not!"
"...But even if you are just giving me space, why are you cold at me at that time?"
"I... I'm also angry at that time, okay?! When you failed to become an Imagi, you changed. It is as if you need to become an Imagi. I was angry at that time... I... Okay, that was my fault since I'm actually wanting some comfort from you!"
Lyssa no longer cared about the embarrassment, she just wanted to say what she had been wanting to say all this time. All the pent-up emotions all these years were now finally released.
Heron could only reply in a gasp. He wanted to kneel right now and cry out of relief.
'So all this time it was my insecurity that broke our relationship?'
Not giving Heron time to recover, Lyssa continued.
"I didn't even know that you had the potential in the first place. I even severed my connection with my family to remove my nobility and be with you! I really, really love the Heron who didn't care about what others say and do whatever he can to get me!"
"-Puh!"
On the dinner table, Elihim spat out what he just ate. He immediately covered his reddened face.
'Deactivate Ears of Walls!'
[Law cannot be deactivated by command. Twenty-one minutes left before Law Deactivation.]
'No! Please, deactivate Ears of Walls! This is too embarrassing to hear!'
[Law cannot be deactivated by comm-]
'Ah, alright!'
Ellie raised her eyebrow. Her jaw was left hanging down as she waited for Elihim to feed her. Her big brother was undoubtedly spoiling her.
"Elihi, why are you covering your face?"
"No-nothing..."
.....
Heron finally kneeled on the ground. He felt he was about to puke rainbow from how much sweetness he was hearing.
"..."
Lyssa finally let out all her thoughts and then turned silent. While her head was turned away and her fingers fidgeting, she was glancing at Heron, waiting for his reply.
'She's finished?' Heron thought.
Although he was both satisfied and relieved, he couldn't help but have greed from Lyssa's previous sweet words.
He then stood up and aggressively went in front of Lyssa. Tears coming out of his eyes like a faucet.
"Lyssa! I'm sorry!"
"Eh... hm... okay..." Lyssa lightly nodded, "I... forgive you." she whispered.
Heron took her head and sincerely apologized again.
"No, you don't understand. You shouldn't forgive me! What I've thought is unforgivable! Because of my insecurities, I thought you're using me. I actually thought that you're a vixen and a snake!"
"E-eh?!..." Lyssa didn't expect that from him. However, considering his poor state, she tried to understand him.
"T-then... I can't forgive you... if you don't reply to my feelings earlier..."
Lyssa's face fully turned red that she actually felt dizzy.
However, she was not the only one feeling this.
"Eh? Elihi, are you okay? Why is your face so red?"
"No-nothing..."
Elihim clenched his fist from the second-hand embarrassment he was hearing.
When Heron finally realized what Lyssa was saying, he exclaimed.
"I love you too! You're the strongest and most beautiful woman I've ever met..."
'Oh shut up!' Elihim internally commented. Even with his vast experience, this was the first time he was forced to hear someone opening up to their partner.
After hearing Heron's confession, Lyssa teared up too.
"Dear..." she muttered as both of them hugged and kissed.
It was so passionate that Elihim could hear it.
[Law cannot be deactivated by command. Eight minutes left before Law Deactivation.]
Eight minutes later...
'They're... still kissing!' Elihim was about to burst onto their room to stop them when the Law finally deactivated.
Elihim felt that eight minutes was forever.
'At this point, the aphrodisiac will not re-spark their relationship. It will become a fuel to their flames!' Elihim was slightly panicked.
Although he wouldn't be able to activate Ears of Walls, as he named it, again even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be sure that the sound from their "nightly activities" wouldn't pass through the walls.
'Elihi is acting strange...' Ellie silently ate while she watched Elihim.
It was for another five minutes or so that the door opened and the couple came downstairs, looking at each other sweetly like a newlywed.
Ellie froze and dropped her spoon, seeing this.