Chapter 4

"I did not."

So this was Rowan's accusation.

"Is that so?"

Seraphina narrowed her eyes and called out, "Celeste, show yourself and tell us whether he speaks the truth."

The words fell, and Celeste arrived on the wind.

My heart rose to my throat. I looked at Celeste nervously, my face pale and my hands and feet cold.

It felt much like that time.

I was afraid I would be betrayed again.

But Celeste took my hand instead. Under my shocked gaze, she said to Seraphina, "I sent Elias home willingly."

In that instant, my eyes grew wet, and a thread of warmth appeared in my despairing heart.

Seraphina stared fixedly at our joined hands and gritted her teeth.

"Absurd! Absurd! A criminal slave and an immortal? How can you be together?

"Celeste, do you not find this humiliating?"

So that was why she had casually cast me into the mortal realm. She thought I was humiliating.

Celeste shook her head and replied, "Your Majesty, I am not like you. I do not worry so much and then refuse to face my own heart.

"The first time I saw Elias, I liked him. But at the time, he was engaged to you, so I went into seclusion to avoid my feelings."

After hearing that, I froze and looked at Celeste's profile, stunned and confused.

She was probably making up an excuse to help me escape blame.

"Celeste, you..."

Seraphina's face darkened. Then she clenched her fists and said, "You are both so shameless. You deserve punishment! Punishment!

"From this day on, Celeste is stripped of her immortal title and will be exiled to the Underworld with Elias. You may return to the Celestial Realm only after you have delivered every wandering soul in the mortal world.

"Everyone to the Severance Platform. I will personally remove their immortal cores."

Her voice thundered through the three realms.

Cold sweat poured down my back. I quickly said to Celeste, "You do not need to sacrifice your immortal path for me."

Having one's immortal core severed and being exiled to the Underworld was too heavy a punishment.

It would destroy Celeste's entire life.

"It is fine. I am tired of the Celestial Realm anyway. It should be nice to visit somewhere else."

Celeste smiled faintly, then turned and walked toward the Severance Platform.

I followed behind her bitterly.

All living beings in the Celestial Realm gathered around the Severance Platform.

When my parents saw me, they shook their heads in disgust. Rowan's lips curved with the smile of someone whose plot had succeeded.

This time, he had won again.

Seraphina hovered in midair and questioned Celeste.

"If you admit your mistake, I can spare--"

Before she could finish, Celeste severed her own immortal core, and memories of the past appeared.

Countless times, she had stared at me in a daze.

Even when backlash during seclusion left her unconscious, she still called my name.

The memories faded.

Celeste's face showed no fear as she resolutely leapt through the gate to the Underworld.

I froze. I had not expected Celeste to truly like me, much less to destroy her own immortal core for me.

In that instant, tears poured from my eyes.

If I survived, I would never fail Celeste in this life.

"Elias, look at the trouble you have caused! If you had not seduced Celeste, how could this have happened?"

In her fury, Seraphina waved her hand and threw me onto the Severance Platform.

"I should never have been softhearted toward you. I should have let you reincarnate as livestock and cripples, suffering every pain in the world."

As my immortal core was slowly pulled out, I screamed in agony, and my past lives appeared one by one before the immortals.

In my first life, I was born in a pigpen.

All the immortals were stunned.

Especially Seraphina. Her brows tightened at once, and she murmured, "How could he have reincarnated as a pig? In the first life I clearly arranged for Elias to be born into a wealthy household as the son of a concubine."