novelraw Chapter 73 : The Goddess Speaks
Chapter 73 : The Goddess Speaks
Iris’s POV
The Valemont house lights dimmed one by one as night settled over the borderland. Selene’s silhouette disappeared into the doorway, Lyra trailing behind with baby Riaz. Even Darius, his blade still in his hand, finally retreated indoors.
I stayed.
Alone beneath the great tree, I knelt in the grass. The glow of its blue-green leaves bathed me in soft light. My fingers pressed into the soil as I whispered the words my grandmother taught me:
“Great Goddess of the Tree… why have you chosen a child?”
The branches rustled. A soft giggle floated down like wind through chimes.
“You pray like an old lady,” a voice teased.
I looked up sharply. From the trunk, a girl stepped out — no longer chibi but tall as a child, hair a cascade of green and blue, eyes bright like gems. She stood barefoot, the earth bending beneath her toes.
I bowed my head instinctively. “Great Goddess…”
She tilted her head. “Maori,” she corrected. “Call me Maori.”
I swallowed. “Why, Great… why Maori did you
choose Rooga Valemont as your caretaker? In my clan, the title of caretaker is sacred. In all our history, only three of my ancestors were honored enough to bear it.” My voice trembled. “And yet you give it to a child?”Her expression softened. “Don’t tell Rooga this,” she said quietly. “He doesn’t need to know yet.”
I blinked. “Know what?”
“That this is the first time,” she whispered, eyes glinting. “The first time I’ve grown this fast in all my reincarnations.”
She stepped closer, her glow warming the night air. “He can already cast Aqua Bloom. He gives me four… five blooms a day. Do you know, little half-elf, how many your so-called great elders ever gave me?”
I shook my head.
“One,” she said. “Once a year. And even then, it was small. Some of them nearly died just to give me that single bloom.” She laughed softly, but there was no joy in it. “But this child — this Rooga — he gives me more in a week than entire bloodlines gave me in lifetimes.”
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I stared at her, stunned.
Maori’s eyes flicked to the window where Rooga slept. For a heartbeat, she didn’t look like a goddess at all — just a girl, tired and wistful.
“That child Rooga is not a mere human,” she said softly. “I have never seen a being absorb everything so fast. Not just learn — take it to the next stage.”
Her voice dropped even lower, trembling like leaves in wind. “For the first time in my life… I feel like I can be spoiled. Like I can be loved. Not as a goddess. But as… as family.”
I felt my throat tighten. All my life I’d been taught the goddess was distant, demanding, untouchable. And yet here she stood, confessing vulnerability like a sister.
Maori turned her gaze back to me. “So don’t betray him. Don’t betray me. Not yet.”
I bowed my head, tears stinging my eyes. “…I won’t.”
Her smile flickered — soft, tired, and strangely human.
The night air in the borderlands was heavy, carrying the scent of damp earth and wild grass. I should have returned home, but Selene had offered me a bed. Truthfully, I couldn’t bring myself to leave the Valemont estate — not after what I had seen beneath the tree.
At first, Selene refused me. “No one learns alongside my son,” she said flatly when I asked to join Rooga’s lessons.
But I dropped to one knee and bowed my head.
“I swear on my life — and on my bloodline — that what I’ve seen here will never leave my lips.”
Silence stretched. Her gaze cut through me like steel, weighing truth from falsehood. At last, she turned away.
“…Very well. Watch. But understand this, Iris — if you falter even once, you won’t live to regret it.”
Chill ran down my spine. But I nodded. “I understand.”
It was simple mana circulation at first — Selene correcting Rooga’s tiny hands, his posture, the rhythm of his breathing. But what shocked me was not her teaching. It was him.
At the Academy, the best students strained to make a single flame dance. Here, a three-year-old manipulated his mana with such ease it looked like second nature. His eyes shone, brimming with curiosity and joy.
No wonder Selene’s face never changed when I displayed my magic. If this boy was her baseline, I was nothing but a flicker compared to his sun.
“Again,” Selene said firmly.
“Yes, Mama!” Rooga chirped, little hands glowing faintly.
My breath caught. He made it look like play.
Then Selene gave me a sharp glance. “Come. Watch closely.”
Rooga toddled to the great tree — to Maori. He placed both palms on the trunk, eyes narrowing in concentration. The air shifted.
And then it appeared.
A sphere of water, vast and luminous, bloomed from his hands. It was larger than his own body, glowing with shifting hues of blue and green. It wasn’t just water — it was life itself, pulsing like a heartbeat.
The sphere burst into radiant droplets, showering the tree in shimmering rain. Leaves rustled, glowing brighter with every drop. Wisps danced, singing silently in the air. The whole grove seemed to exhale, alive in a way I had never dreamed possible.
I felt my knees weaken. “T-This…”
Rooga laughed, doing it again. And again. His face scrunched in childish determination, casting not one, but several blooms in succession. Each time, the light grew more radiant, the air more fragrant.
I could only whisper, stunned: “Not even close… not even close to what we elves can do.”
Selene folded her arms, but her voice was low, quiet — reverent. “This is why I no longer bother with surprise.”
The sight was mystical. Unbelievable. Sacred.
And all of it… from a boy who was still small enough to sit in his mother’s lap.