Chapter 158: Lucifer's Daughter

"Emilia is the daughter of Zeus' ex-lover and the angel Lucifer?" Asteria repeated what she just heard.

"Yes," Sophia replied.

"That's not possible. You must be mistaken." Asteria tried to refute the possibility of Emilia being the daughter of Lucifer.

"I am not mistaken. There is more than enough proof to prove that."

"What proof? You are just thinking too much."

The tension in the kitchen was more than it was during Nero and Thor's fight.

"When I first laid my eyes on Emilia, I saw a faint resemblance of Zeus' ex-lover. But to be honest, all humans look similar to us angels. So I just shrugged it off at that time."

Asteria listened quietly with a serious look on her face.

"Emilia's accent is similar to Zeus' ex-lover, but different language, of course."

"That doesn't prove anything!" Asteria retorted.

After witnessing Asteria getting so angry for Emilia, Sophia couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

Sophia patted Asteria's head and uttered, "You truly are a good girl, just like princess Astrea."

"You also knew princess Astrea?!" Asteria exclaimed.

Asteria was aware of princess Astrea's moments with Nero, but she never saw Sophia in her dreams.

"Yeah. We spent a brief time together. And to tell you a secret…" Sophia lowered her voice and whispered, "I always hated the girls who were in love with Zeus', but for some reason, I couldn't hate you. That time too, and this time too."

A wide smile appeared on Asteria's face as she tried to hug Sophia but stopped midway after remembering Emilia.

"Tell me more proof," she demanded.

SIGH!

Sophia sighed and muttered, "I honestly don't want to tell you because it is too hard for me to take in. But I guess, after sharing it with you, the shoulders would feel light."

"You see, some things Emilia did all this time, one way or another, they all resemble Zeus' ex-lover, but I always told myself to not think too much about it."

"Then one thing led to another, and after seeing her yesterday's battle with the cursed skeleton titan, I was 99% sure."

"Don't tell me you—!"

"Yeah. That's why I kissed her to make sure and I was right. I was… right." After a brief pause, she murmured, "I hate myself."

Asteria hugged Sophia and started crying.

"Why? Why did this have to happen?" she asked.

"They both have already suffered so much in their lives, and just when everything was going well. Just when I thought Zeus' was back to his old self…"

Sophia wiped her ears and asked with a serious look on her face: "Don't tell Zeus about it. If we keep it to ourselves, then nothing will happen, and everything will stay the same."

"I can't," Sophia shook her head.

"Why not? No one would ever know about it and—"

"Do you truly believe that? Do you seriously believe that Zeus' would never find out about it?"

"...." Asteria stayed silent, or rather, she didn't know what to say.

"Even if we keep it a secret, would you be able to bear all this? Would you be able to see Zeus' and Emilia being happy, knowing that one day… one day… they might…" Sophia couldn't finish her sentence.

"You are right. I apologize for being snotty," Asteria apologized.

"There is no need to apologize because I thought of the same thing. But it's not for me to decide whether to tell Zeus' or not." After taking a deep breath, Sophia continued, "It's Emilia's choice to tell him."

"Are you to tell Lady Emilia about this?" 

"I have to. And I will let it up to her on whether she wants to tell or not. No matter what her choice is, I will respect and support her choice."

"Same!" Asteria exclaimed.

Asteria and Sophia resumed making the dinner.

Once they were done, they prepared the table and began making the juice and Emilia's favorite soup.

"You know," Sophia placed the bowl on the table and said, "Now that I think, it's more than obvious that Emilia is Lucifer's daughter."

"What do you mean?" Asteria questioned with a puzzled and curious look on her face.

"Lucifer was a master in sealing art, so he must be the one who placed Zeus' and me in the prison realm, and then he placed a 'blood seal' on our seals.

"Blood seal?" Asteria's face looked even more confused.

"Blood seal is exactly what it says. The seal created by blood is called a blood seal, and no one other than the sealer's blood can break or unseal the blood seal.." After a brief pause, Sophia continued, "Lucifer used a blood seal on us, and Emilia's blood broke Zeus' seal; that was the door. Then, according to my guess, those two adventures probably used Emilia's blood on my seal, and that broke the seal on me."

"But you said you were sealed by Zeus', so how come Emilia's blood—"

"Let me rephrase what I said," Sophia scoffed and rephrased, "The seal Zeus' cast on me was inferior to Lucifer's blood seal. So when Lucifer cast a blood seal on me, Zeus' seal was broken."

"I see." Asteria mixed the soup as she wondered, 'Honestly, I was scared of Lady Emilia before. But not anymore. However, I still get goosebumps when she looks at me, but that's just my soul and powers.'

'I don't know much about Lady Emilia, but I know she loves Zeus' more than me, more than any of us ever could."

"Oho!" 

Nero entered the kitchen with Emilia and jumped on Sophia to hug her, but Sophia pushed him back, saying, "Dry yourself first."

Nero shrugged his body to dry himself and snapped to conjure new clothes.

"Fast as ever," Sophia muttered.

Emilia tried to imitate Nero by shrugging her body, but she ended up spritzing the water everywhere.

"Emilia!" Sophia yelled.

Nero raised his hand and conjured a towel for Emilia.

He wiped her hair and body before she conjured clothes around her body.

Sophia and Asteria smiled wryly after looking at the happy smile on Emilia and Nero's faces.