Taliyah waited with bated breath, she had a feeling that she knew the name Lirian was about to say, and she had half a mind to tell him to stop.
But soon his voice sounded and his words hung on the air like the cold air during winter nights.
Just two words sounded and Taliyah felt her whole body tremble in response.
"Telamon Dao."
Lirian waited in silence for an outburst, for a cry of disbelief or for another slap to strike him across his face, he couldn't see her face and nor could he read her emotions but he could her breathing, it was enough for him to tell that she was shaking.
Whether, it was in fear, anger, or heartbreak he couldn't tell, "Mom if you think that I'm lying about this..."
"She must have done it without his knowledge," she breathed out her voice colored in conviction, she would never bring herself to believe that the man she thought of like a father would dare to harm her or her child, not after all he had done for her.
"It's Efrideet she must have manipulated him like how she manipulated Alastor..." she added trying to convince Lirian.
Lirian couldn't tell what expression she was making, but he felt that anyone who saw her would think her pitiful.
He slowly shook his head and walked in the direction he believed the door to be, "That is absolutely impossible,", he said coldly, he knew that it would hurt but on this, he would not relent.
Even a fate spinner like Katerina would never dare to say that she could control someone on the same level as her without their consent, he thought to himself.
It took only a second of thinking her name and the voices in his head went wild, he grimaced slightly and continued to speak.
"I have never forgiven a single person that tried to cause me harm, and I never will even for you mom, when I have the power no matter who stands in my way, I will kill him... but know this... I will make it worse for him than I did for any other... because his actions have harmed you... I will make him pay,"
"ENOUGH!" she yelled with trembling eyes and a shaky voice, before he could say anything further.
Taliyah could barely even control her breath, she couldn't remember the last time she felt so out of sorts, even when she thought Lirian was about to die and she found out that her children were dead, it never hurt so badly.
Lirian wanted to run to her and hold her tightly, to tell her some soothing words, but that wasn't him, he knew that he could never be that kind of a person.
Besides the last person, she needs comforting her is the one who shattered her illusion, he thought and walked towards the door with his hand held up in front of him.
---
Lirian walked out and was greeted by the endless darkness in the corridor, "Being blind feels like crap," he muttered to himself when he suddenly heard the voices of Belinda and Helen.
"You're up Lirian," Belinda called out pleasantly surprised.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" Helen asked seriously, it was disrespectful to avoid meeting the eyes of your elders and Lirian's eyes were drifting around, she found it strange even for Lirian he was never blatantly disrespectful and that's when the reality struck her.
Belinda scrunched her eyes while looking at him and could hardly believe what had become of him, she looked at him expectantly hoping that he was just pranking them, but that murky black that entered his eyes made it hard to believe that it was some prank.
Lirian sighed, "It's as you guessed, I'm blind..."
He didn't get to say anything further because he soon found himself caught in a tight embrace from both sides, 'Huh,' Lirian thought in wonder, ', I could get used to such a nice feeling but I don't remember being all that close to anyone other than Anya.'
Belinda's reason was none other than the empress, she had been with her from before she became empress and she had come to know every child of the empress but more than that she knew how devastating it was for the empress every time she lost a child.
Taliyah would go into depression for years, and it would become a chore for her to get out of bed, but now Lirian going blind was as good as a death sentence for him during the trial. It would probably end up worse than ever before.
Helen on the other hand had made huge bets on how spectacularly Lirian was going to perform in his trial, she even had bets on him breaking into the fourth-grade before returning and a few others bets that people would call absolutely ridiculous, but after witnessing first-hand how exceptional he was she didn't hesitate to invest much of her future salary into the bets but now all that was gone.
She was going to go broke for the next few hundred years, not to mention her wine collection, she had bet so many of her oldest bottles that were next to impossible to replace, she couldn't describe the sorrow she felt, and Lirian realized that something was not right when actually tears soaked his clothes.
"Would you too stop acting like it's already his funeral," Anya's voice rang out beside them and she looked at Lirian with a complicated look in her eyes.
Lirian smiled when he heard her voice, and turned to face her, she had heard everything, "Tell me, how confident are you in passing the trial?", she asked.
"Is that even a question!", he smirked, "You'd have to cut off all my limbs for my odds of success to drop by half a percent."
Belinda and Helen were both taken aback, if they were in his place they would have been devastated, yet they could hear his heartbeat it was as powerful as ever, and his voice held that same power as always.
If they didn't look at his eyes, they would say that he was the same as ever and it baffled them.
"Hey, Anya can you help me with some sensory deprivation training, I need to adjust as quickly as possible," he said while pulling himself out of Belinda's and Helen's embrace.
"Go, down to one of the training chambers, if you can make it by yourself consider it a deal," she told him. ", Lirian how is her majesty?" she asked as he began to walk away.
"She... she has a lot to think about,", he answered hesitantly and it left the three of them slightly surprised, ", it would be for the best if no one disturbs her for now."
Lirian made his way with steady but slow steps, and the further he went the better his ability to pace himself became, and soon he was walking almost perfectly.
He was familiar with the passages of the manor, so Lirian could confidently strutt around even without his eyes.
Helen looked on in wonder, "Do you think it's because-" she looked at the two of them in the eye so that they would understand what she meant.
"Probably,", Belinda said with a slightly hesitant smile, they were the only ones that knew the truth about Lirian's origins and so far she had been crediting all his achievements to his naturally given talent, but that attitude he just showed, she didn't know she could really credit it to talent, it was something much, much more than that.
"No!" Anya said firmly, she knew Lirian better than anyone, and while she knew that he was a former god, his past was very vague to her.
She had learned very little of his past but if there was one thing she came to understand from speaking to him, that was, he worked himself to near-death for every single thing that he did and he never gave up.
"He is the real deal, a true prince candidate the likes of which has never been seen before," she said proudly as he vanished around a corner.
"A true candidate does not despair if they lose something, they take whatever scraps they are left with and they keep moving forward because they are the first to understand that the world is fair to no one and if you want to win, there is no time to waste in despair."
Both of them listened to Anya's every word, after all even amongst the aides Anya was special existence, she was once a candidate, a princess, and an empress candidate and with every word she spoke, they could her fire being rekindled.
Anya found herself thinking of her past, she wondered, if I had been like Lirian just a century ago, would I have won, but she quickly shut down those thoughts as soon as it happened, her rebellion all those years ago had failed and she had no choice but to flee with her tail between her legs.
If not for emperor Albus coming to her rescue she would have been space dust on that day, if there was one thing she definitely agreed with Lirian on, it was that diviners truly were a royal pain in the ass to deal with.
She clenched her fists and followed after Lirian, as she washed away the memories of that day when her fleets were thrown into a panic as fire rained down on them from amongst their own ranks.