Chapter 388 - Burden

"Hi?" Maki Yuuka awkwardly greeted back before turning her eyes away from Alinea and Perun, whom she knew as Kazehaya Sora, now her fiancé.

Father and daughter exchanged looks with the young lady obviously amused. She leaned forward to whisper in her father's ear. "I think mama misunderstood," she said.

Perun nodded. "I'll let you down first," he whispered back.

This little exchange of words was, of course, audible to the deities and demigods in the Cedar Palace. Kazehaya Gin was vibrating like a mobile phone as he clamped his hand with his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. He couldn't, else the lady next to him would be offended.

Maki Yuuka honestly looked heartbroken – a good sign that everyone thought so.

Still, it's not good to let the woman continue to misunderstand.

"Your father and daughter tandem makes me jealous," Gin commented as he pushed Yuuka so she'd go and sit with the others.

Perun raised a brow at his brother's suave way of clearing up the misunderstanding. "Go get your own daughter then," he scoffed.

Alinea grinned at her uncle, her silver eyes dancing mischievously. "Go take Emi and work hard on making babies tonight. We won't bother you two."

Emi who sat quietly on the side suddenly had a coughing fit that her husband had to walk over to her to pat her back. But he didn't stop with just that. With a mischievous grin, he scooped his wife up and winked at the others.

"Now that's my cue to sweep the wife off her feet. Excuse us," he said with an evil grin as he walked away with his totally embarrassed wife in his arms.

Several seconds after Gin and Emi disappeared, Alinea walked over to Yuuka and sat next to her. "You're here! Did Ryuu and uncle pick you up?" she asked.

As expected, Maki Yuuka looked confused. "Uncle?"

"Kazehaya Gin," Alinea answered with a toothy grin.

"He's your uncle?" Yuuka was more than surprised but frowned as she glanced at Ryuu. "But I thought he's the Koutaishidenka's cousin?"

Ryuu walked over to them. Perun did as well, while Ivan stayed with Alinea's friends a couple of meters away. They knew Ivan had a thing for Rin and wanted to be closer to her.

"Well…"Alinea began as she looked at her father and husband.

She had no idea to what extent Yuuka knew so she'd rather let someone else explain things to her clueless mother.

Oh!

Remembering that Yuuka was her mother, Alinea suddenly anchored her arm on the lady's and rested her head against her shoulder. She was like a kitten rubbing her head against her master, but she didn't care. Yuuka didn't seem to mind either. In fact, she absentmindedly started scratching Alinea's head as she waited for an explanation.

Perun looked taken aback at the sight of mother and child but quickly recovered. His face wore on a calm expression but his eyes obviously lingered on his wife and daughter with warmth.

Alinea noted her father's look and quickly held out her hand to her husband who handed her her mobile phone without being told. She opened the photo application and smilingly urged Yuuka for a photo that the other confusedly took with her.  Perun and Ivan both had their own mobile phones now and Ali would send the photo to her father later. She returned to her position, resting her head on Yuuka's shoulder afterwards.

"We already talked to you about what we are, right?"Perun asked softly, and when Yuuka nodded. "We told you we are deities but didn't tell you our specific identities."

"S-Specific identities?" Yuuka was of course not knowledgeable about deities in general, but she knew what that logically meant. "Like the type of gods? God of fire, the god of wind – like that?"

"Is… is there a need? I mean I don't want to trouble you anymore than you already have been. You don't have to explain to me."

Alinea quickly lifted her head and stared at Yuuka disbelievingly. "Are you not even a bit interested?"

She already promised her father she would let the matter with her mother be, but she couldn't help sounding hurt with her obvious rejection. Yuuka had drawn the line. She didn't want to know more.

"I'm tired," Alinea suddenly announced with a grim expression. She stood up and walked away towards the private quarters not caring about the reactions of those she had left behind.

Good or bad,  Alinea didn't care about the result of her tantrum at the moment. She was frustrated and wanted to just not see her parents right now. She went to the bedroom she shared with Ryuu and marched into the bath to soak into the hot water to mope.

On the other hand, there was an awkward silence when Alinea left. Yuuka felt she said something very terrible and felt guilty.

"I'm sorry about that," Perun apologized to her but Yuuka shook her head.

"I think it's my fault. I should have explained more. I was trying to say earlier that you don't have to explain things to me since I had selfishly chosen to abandon my memories after. I do not deserve to know more."

For some, Yuuka's words might sound more selfish and cowardly. It was as if she was too scared to know more than she already knew. But there was no fear in her that anyone in there could detect, even the human kids. She was simply telling the truth, and the truth was she looked at herself as a burden to them. She didn't want the others to feel they owed her information because they didn't.

"You are not bothering us. These things – it's our fault in the first place. If we were not negligent in our duties, the shadow lurker wouldn't have infiltrated your family. We are the ones who should apologize for getting your family involved, and that until now we are bothering you with our matters."