Loriel looked at Elise in awe. He thought his wife was truly smart. This woman was different from Elise Leoralei he married fifteen centuries ago. She was meek, soft, and loved him too much to the point that she let herself be hurt.

This Elise was outspoken, and she stood up for herself. She also didn't take too kindly at being deceived by Loriel these past few months when he wanted to woo her so he could marry her again.

"You don't have anything to say, do you? Please leave me alone and let me gather my thoughts, Loriel." Elise tried to calm herself down but her shoulders were shaking. "It's already hard trying to talk to you. I don't know what to believe in anymore."

There was a certain bitterness in Elise that sprung up when she realized that Loriel knew about her previous pregnancies and didn't say a word at all.

Without waiting for another moment, Elise quickly spun and moved around. Elise also felt Alexei's heavy gaze on her but she couldn't even look him in the eye. Elise managed to drag him into this mess because of her, didn't she?

Elise had no right to even be here.

"Elise? What about your memories?" Alexei asked. He was positive that his uncle would come out soon enough. He was an ancient god who had lived for much longer than almost anyone he knew, and Alexei was sure that if anyone would know how to help Elise regain her memory, it was him.

Even though Alexei was boiling with rage, the young god didn't forget his promise. He still wanted to help Elise. No matter how convoluted the situation now seemed to be.

In Alexei's eyes, it just cemented the idea that Loriel, the man who killed his parents, was more of a bastard than anything else. What kind of person hid one's truth to his wife and kept her in the dark for who knows how long?

Elise looked at Alexei and hesitated. She did come with Alexei to meet with someone who could help recover her memories, but for now, Elise wanted to be alone.

"I'm sorry…I-I… think I need a moment to myself, alright?" Elise said. "I'll be back."

"Understood. I'll keep this guy out of your hair too." Alexei turned to Loriel and once again summoned a lightning bolt. The powerful lightning cracked and sizzled against the pavement street and created another crater.

Remnants of the pavement were thrown at Loriel who only glared at the other god.

"I have no intention of fighting you and I don't even know who you are," Loriel spat at Alexei. As much as Loriel wanted to chase after his wife now and comfort her… Loriel understood that he was not what Elise needed right now.

Elise continued to walk away from them, her thoughts solely focused on everything revealed. Tears continued to drip down harder and harder.

Neither Loriel nor Alexei decided to approach the woman and thought that it was only fair enough for them to give Elise some space. She needed a lot of it if she were to actually process everything that happened.

Elise was only moments away from falling on the street and crashing out of shock.

It was difficult, but she took one step forward and then another.

Before Elise even knew it, both Loriel and Alexei were in the street behind her and she could no longer see them or hear what they were doing. She held back herself and kept herself strong, but Loriel's revelations were like a heavy burden placed on her shoulders.

The information that Alexei gave her was world-shattering, but it was Loriel's words that broke everything into tiny pieces.

A part of Elise knew that Loriel loved her.

Elise really did know and could see how much Loriel loved her and Elise loved him back… but Elise still felt betrayed, confused and hurt that Loriel kept everything away from her. And what's more painful was the fact that she had lost two pregnancies. She needed time to grieve.

Loriel said he had lived for fifteen centuries as he waited and looked for her. He already had all the time in the world to process his grief, not Elise. She just found out today.

And it was more hurtful because Loriel kept all of those a secret, making her think she was the one with a dark past and had to tip toe about not offending or scaring her husband away.

Did Loriel plan to keep everything to himself and pretend that they were a new family?

Was that his plan?

If Loriel said he was looking for Elise then it also meant that Ellise left Loriel or was taken away by someone else. Were things that troublesome between Elise and Loriel that she still disappeared from his side?

There were so many questions in Elise's mind and none of them truly had the answers that Elise wanted.

Loriel probably wanted to tell her the truth and the story of how it all happened… but Elise wanted her own memories back.

Elise wanted her own perspective to this matter and not Loriel's. Knowing how her husband kept things a secret for so long, he might not tell the her the whole truth anyway.

Elise didn't think that Loriel would lie to her now that she knew the truth, but in his perspective, Loriel would defend himself and while it was Loriel's right to do that… it would still be biased to him.

"Hah…" Elise looked across the street and took the moment to sit down. A part of her considered going back to Baron's penthouse and staying there because she couldn't trust herself to make the right decision once Loriel met up with her.

Elise wanted to forgive Loriel because she loved him. But was it really fair for things to be that easy for Loriel?

Even if Loriel had good intentions by trying to keep the secret of Elise's past with him… didn't Elise have a right to know? It was her memory that they were talking about!

"Elise, is that really you?" a gentle voice suddenly asked.

When Elise looked up, it was a face that she could hardly recognize… but somehow, a part of her instantly knew who he was.

It was the Time Master. He was the only person that she could never forget. She promised him that much.

.

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*************

From Missrealitybites:

I'm excited! We will enter the next volume in the next chapter and the story will reset to the moment Elise first met Loriel.