Bai Changming blinked as he found himself back in the garden on the top floor of the Starlight Corporation.
He rubbed his tired eyes with his right hand and felt an intense fatigue that he could take at least a day of sleep to recover from all this.
He knows that from this day, everything will be changed and that the Administrator was right; his seemingly simple goal is now the most challenging goal he could take right now. Even becoming a Heavenly Emperor seems more straightforward than having the peaceful life he desired. He knew very well that even if he wanted to deny being a reincarnation of a great person, he could not deny his instinct that all this is entirely possible.
He always wondered why System helped him, and why the hell problems seemed to follow him. Everything just clicked into place if he imagined himself as a failed reincarnation of some ancient being. He is weak but is a target of powerful enemies, making others come to protect him.
"...Of course it's not that simple. That Administrator seems to be hiding something, I can't believe everything said by one who created this damned System in the first place. But, what should I do now..."
"...Young Master."
"What!?"
Spooked by the sudden voice, he turned to his right to see his secretory standing just beside him, staring at him as if she had been standing there since the beginning.
"What the hell?...Why you are here? Your tour finished? Wait, it's not even an hour since Gildor went, but he stopped it so soon?"
Alicia shook her head. "I was here since you went to the other dimension."
"What are you sayi-...Oh, you are the person that Administrator mentioned. The god slayer huh, you have quite a ability don't you. Even the Administrator of the so called most powerful System was scared of you."
She shrugged at his words, not denying them and looked back at him. "Do you want to talk here?"
"Let's got the conference room. I will call for some snacks and other refreshments on the way, man, I am going to have quite a hectic day."
Bai Changming entered the elevator and looked properly at her. She was still wearing her office clothes but her expressions looked more humane. After pressing the button to the 48th floor he still continued to look at her face. Getting a bit irritated at this she looked at him while frowning causing him to move his gaze and cough to hide his embarrasment.
But he knew that he could not avoid this situation, so he went to ask what he was confused about with another goal in his mind.
"That, don't look at me like this. It's that I am feeling as if you are showing more emotions now. Is it my imagination or reality. Well, you were quite emotional yesterday too, so it will be bad for me to think you as someone who is just emotionless."
"Does me showing these so called human emotions matter, you kind of have some idea what I am don't you."
"Hm. I don't think that there is a law where a God can't show emotions. I mean, whether we like emotions or not, not having them, wouldn't it be cruel for them."
She looked at him with surprise as her eyes shook at the similar words she had heard ages ago.
She controlled all her emotions and suppressed her surprise a tad bit late as he was already caught by him looked, "Why do you think so? Don't say that you feel pity for the ones who can't feel emotions."
"Well, there's also that. But I believe that without emotions every sentient being is flawed, they just can't survive. Without emotions you can't feel happy when you do something you wanted to achieve, you can't feel jealous when others get what you desired, basically without them the whole race can't move forward properly. If they were so useless evolution must have removed them from the DNA. And as you know I have went through different worlds altogether, have seen many species, every one of them had them."
"...But don't you think that for the race who can live for eternity these emotions are useless thing. Aren't they useless baggage when you are already in the top of the evolution? With these emotions Gods can only face sadness for losing things they cherished, happiness is just fleeing for us, its the sadness we face every single moment with these emotion."
As Alicia looked at him with teary red eyes, he knew very well that his initial guess of her being someone close to his past was right on the spot. He felt a bit sorry for making such a beautiful goddess cry but blamed his past life for all this while ignoring that he instigated her just now.
Looking at her, asking for his reply, he stayed silent for now and stepped out of the elevator, which opened to the floor containing conference rooms for different purposes.
He passed through the employees wearing clothes quite similar to what he saw on Earth. His presence was normal to him, so they were not reacting much to him and his appearance in casual clothes but every one of them was baffled to see the famous Ice Witch in tears. He also felt bad for making her cry to check his claim but he can't wait and soothe her here or else the bastards who already considered him saviour would credit him with making even Ice Witch cry with words.
He opened the door to a relatively small conference hall, pulled out a tissue from his inventory, and handed it over to Alicia while pushing her inside the room.
He then asked the housekeeping employee who was patrolling the floor to provide him with snacks and drinks both he and Alicia like before going to the room himself.
Looking at Alicia, who gained her appearance once again, he sat down beside her at the conference table.
"Are you fine now?"
"...You still believe that we Gods need emotions like you mortals? Can't you see what it does to us? We have quite a powerful memory you seem, if we accept these emotions we may even feel the strongest of them almost every single time!"
He opened his mouth to initially say what the heck she is saying now but stopped himself. He inwardly felt strange that instead of her explaining things to him, he has to engage in this debate with her.
But looking at the wet tissue, he knows that he can't go anywhere before soothing her.
"Is it biological for Gods to feel emotions?"
"...Yes."
"Then it is okay, it's there because its needed. Nature will not add anything useless for our survival after all."
She scoffed at his words instead, "What if your so called Nature imposed it on everyone for selfish reasons?"
"Then that's fine too. But instead let's now focus on why you are sad? I have quite a strong feeling that its because of my past life. I can answer your question better if you can share with me why you are sad."
"...You left me."
"...I am sorry but I died didn't I, so why not move forward."
She looked at him with wide eyes while wondering which screw got loose this time in his head.
"Cough, I meant I am sorry to make you feel bad for leaving you. But it would be better to move on. The person you knew does not exist anymore, you know, as you know better than me I am only made of fragment of the soul of the person you knew, it would be bad for me to impersonate him and tell you I am back and exploit the relationship you cherished, so please, just move on."
"...You promised that you would stay with me forever, never to part from me in sickness and in heath, to love me and cherish me forever."
"Hey! Hold on miss! If you continue, anyone hearing you would think as if you are talking about marr-"
"Yes, we married each other."
Bai Changming felt as if his soul went into the abyss, he even wanted to have his soul live there and never come back, but it eventually came back as he looked at the determined eyes of the beautiful woman who does not seem to be jocking now.
"What the hell you are saying!? There's no wa-"
She grabbed his right hand and made it touch an icy blue ring that appeared on her left hand's ring finger.
As he touched it, his entire body shook as Chaos Armor formed around him involuntary to protect him from danger, but even it could not dare to challenge the determined goddess.
After a few minutes, they parted with Bai Changming looking at the ceiling with blank eyes as if questioning whether it was worth living until now.
He felt a dull pain on his own ring finger and jerked it out fiercely to see a total black ring he never saw adorned on it.
He looked at the woman in front of him smiling as if she was successful at her mission; only after looking at that he could understand that he was not the only one who started all these useless talks for some purpose.
Ignoring his bewildered expressions, she just smiled sweetly at the ring she saw in the very long time and rubbed her own to feel a connection she thought she could only dream about for many years.
"...You acted this whole time?"
"It was just too fun to see you preaching this whole time."
"Tch. I was not preaching, they were all my real core beliefs. Damn, I got baited bad this time. I made a fool of myself."
"Hahaha, don't feel so bad. I never thought that you were wrong. I actually agree with you there. I believe in a different version of that thought, but seeing you I will have to share mine sometime later."
"Yes. What is this ring?"
"As you are thinking this is our wedding ring."
"Don't tell me you are also reading my mind."
"Ah, never. Both of us can never read our mind as long as we have these rings."
"...What are these rings, are they some bonding contract?"
"You are quite near. But they are marriage rings we created for each other, the one you gave me is this blue ring, see I still have it on me."
"...Did we just got married?"
"Don't be silly, we never divorced. We were always married. Do you remember the pain you felt yesterday? That pain also happened because our Promise resonated, me getting to know about your System was only an extra there."
"...Please tell me everything I need to understand. Be concise and clear, I have many things to think about now."
"Wow! You are quite rude towards a goddess now!"
"No, I am being rude towards a con woman who got me in this strange situation the moment I lose focus."
"Now, don't be so mad. That ring is quite unique you know, your System will tell you more about it. Where do you want me start from?"
"Just explain what's useful for me now."
"My real name is Alicia Carter."
"...You didn't wait any time in changing the surname huh."
"Anyways, I am a high level goddess in the whole Universe. You can say only a few are as strong as me in the present world. There was a war between Gods where you and I met. You were a mortal and I am a god, and you were quite famous as the Butcher of the Myths and I was a famous Goddess of Life. We eventually fell in love and married, but you did not became a God as at that time there was no cultivation system to allow mortals become gods. If you simply died you would have been reborn with all of the memories, but you decided to sacrifice yourself to protect the Universe."
"That guy was quite great, a hero among the heroes; but you do know that I am not that guy, don't you?"
"No, you are him. I checked it myself during all these years I worked as an assistant. At first I came here because I was not able to read your mind properly, only thing which can do that was the Promise, the ring we can see in your finger. I though that you have some contact with my husband and stayed with you to find traces of the ring."
"...This ring is a tracker?"
"It is a contract. We married with a contract not with the words only, it was a wedding with godly standards you know, this ring is the evidence of our contract and it can only appear on your soul."
"But I am not him...Damn it! I don't remember a thing! Don't you think that it is unfair to me being forced acting as a husband just because of my damned past? I didn't choose this!"
"...I also didn't choose being a widow for billion of years."
*sob*
As a suppressed sobbing reached his ears he tiredly waved his hair over his forehead and massaged a bit to ease his tired brain. He can't verify again for the authenticity of her words, but knowing that Eternal beings can live more than a million years a goddess living billions will not be something impossible. He understood clearly now that she is the one who suffered the most due to his action. He also understood that she has substantial leverage over him and has a higher moral ground than he previously imagined.
He looked at her softly and hesitated a bit before grabbing her right hand, startling her as she stopped to look at him in surprise. He put a little a pressure in his grip and looked at her with most serious expression he could create for now.
"I am sorry. I am really sorry for your loss. But I can't take the responsibility."
"...You will have to take it."
"...I will take some of it. I will try to make you happy, not as a revived husband or what not but as a friend and as a boss for the pain my past me caused. More than this, please don't expect. I can't just love a woman who loves someone else and is looking at someone else as she is looking at me. You don't need the rings or some proof for making my promise, please take it back as I can't remove it."
"What if I love you as you are?"
"...Have you gone out of your mind now Miss Alicia?"
"...You are not so different now. You are still a sick bastard who wants to help as much people he could with his power while not taking any credit."
"Are you badmouthing me or praising me?"
"Both. I can't completely praise your trait which caused me all this suffering you know. Actually, if I was just a normal human who worked as your assistant I would have fallen in love with you after seeing your efforts and charm. One of the reason I am known as Ice Witch is also because to them I am the mortal woman who can be cold to you."
"...You have gone really gone crazy, aren't you?"
She looked at him a bit pitifully as if she was looking at a kid who refuses to see the hard truth in the adult world.
"You don't understand your charms at all. You were quite dashing in your past life, but you were way far from this. My power is locked here due to restrictions, but even then I can use full power of an Immortal Emperor here you know, but even then you are beating my charms with a beginner Immortal level. It would not have been strange for a normal woman, who is so close to you, to jump on you and beg for your seeds, or some gentleman to rethink about his taste in this life."
"...What's your damn point?"
"Hm, don't be angry, I am just saying that if I was a human I would have loved you. And as a god who loves your soul more than everything in this Universe when you got a complete soul I would eventually love you."
"You gods surely have it easy huh."
"Its easy if you find the correct soul mate. If you chose wrongly only misery awaits, I have seen one corrupting the other so badly that their whole divinity changed. There are only a few like us who don't feel any change when our souls get int the contract like this, did you feel any strange feeling when Promise appeared here?"
"...No. But aren't I only a fragment of my previous self? What if someother fragment appear, will you love it too?"
"Well, since you are recognized by Source as the Grant. You are him. The Divine Titles are all with you, I checked them myself, you got the complete legacy of every life you lived in past. Even if other fragments come they can't do anything, and firstly it was strange for a broken soul to become complete during the ascension, it is not normal at all. So don't worry that I will be a fickle wife.
I knew that you were the person I was looking for since the very moment you became Immortal as I was not able to read your thought even a bit. The Promise would have appeared sooner or later too, but since I am here, I just used the resonance of my Promise to bring yours out.
Actually, I would have come to find you even if I was not here since the very moment you became Immortal as Promise would have come to help you out sooner or later, and the moment it would have appeared, I would have known about it."
"This damn thing is really a tracker huh, but what if I was not like this. What I was a bad guy or a type of person you hated?"
"You will know yourself what is the real meaning of soul as you grow. I will not spoil much, but just remember that every soul has some fixed character traits with it. These traits rarely changes and it didn't change for you. But tell me first, do you dislike me so much that you just want to deny all this?"
"I...I don't hate you at all frankly. I just don't like all this sudden changes."
"I am not expecting you to love me or so in exchange of my actions, but you will honour your promise of paying for my billion years of loneliness, don't you?"
"...Yes I will."
"Then its fine. Let's leave our feelings to time. I can wait some more time anyways, and I don't want to push you to do something you hate the most."
"...You even know what I hate the most. Did I really not change at all?"
"Hahaha, don't think much about it. Ah, here our refreshments came, let me serve you."
She stood up and opened the door to meet the man who was just going to knock on the door. The poor man felt his soul flying into nirvana upon seeing Alicia's playful smile; ignoring the man's plight, she took the tray and closed the door before serving the snacks before sitting on her seat with a can of orange juice she likes.
"You also remember what I love huh."
"...Its normal for a boss to know what his secretory likes. Don't think much about it."
"Hahaha, okay, sure. You are the boss after all."
She drank half of the glass and ate some chips before looking at him with concerned expressions.
"Can you tell me about your story too, everything from your birth till now."
"You meant my time at other dimensions?"
"Yes. Maybe it could help us to find about the one who brought you back. Its a fact that I am happy that you are here, but it is unsettling a bit now. From your meeting with your Administrator I can feel that it was not a coincidence that I met you here while I was travelling the Universe, someone the fates to make all this happen."
Bai Changming gulped a can of Cola and nodded at her words as he too believe that the wife of his old life becoming his secretory is not possible without someone else direction.
"Very well. But it will take time if you want full story."
"My boss gave me a leave for today, I have all the time to listen your story today."
"Well, your boss sure would have wanted you to relax properly today."
"If you feel so please tell him to give more leaves to this poor girl."
He smiled at her words and started telling the story, which no one besides her heard in all the three realms he ever visited. He didn't even feel strange or apprehensive of telling his biggest secret to her from the depth of his soul, something he would understand only sometime later.