radicalducati Chapter 129 The Meeting to Judge Lilith
Chapter 129 The Meeting to Judge Lilith
Chapter 130 The Meeting to Judge Lilith
So this meeting was definitely going to be held, one of the purposes of which was to help the new member integrate into the group as soon as possible.
However, since Ivina is Cecilia's original self, it's actually quite easy for her to understand the emotions she has experienced.
And that was indeed the case. At this moment, Ivina was still in shock not because she was afraid of any god, after all, she had gained some courage after inheriting Cecilia's memories.
What still shocks her is the future status of everyone in front of her, or rather—their past status.
Now, telling her that the person who is taking away her lover in front of her is a god from her own divine lineage is just incredibly bizarre, isn't it?
What the hell is all this?
Her already fragile worldview collapsed instantly.
Okay, even though it wasn't a particularly powerful worldview to begin with, frankly, doesn't it seem incredibly overpowered?
And what's the funniest thing?
The funniest thing is that she herself seems to have a pretty high status now, at least not lower than Lilith.
Ivina remained silent, glancing down at the ring on her hand.
Then he quickly put his hands behind his back, trying to cover up the truth.
Why didn't you say so earlier?
Ivina took a deep breath and finally uttered those three words, barely accepting the truth.
"There's no need to feel pressured," Lilith replied calmly.
Lilith, who had been mostly silent during the meeting, surprisingly spoke up this time.
After all, Ivina was indeed very special in her eyes.
It's not that Ivina is a junior from the second playthrough, but rather that Ivina's words to her on the arched bridge touched her deeply.
"Ah, um." Ivina nodded awkwardly, then shoved her hand between the sofa and her bottom, sitting on it like that.
As a child, she thought that if she could see God, she would be shocked and respectful. But when she actually saw God as an adult, she was not excited, but embarrassed.
She shook her head, then said in a concise and clear voice, "Rhodes, continue."
"Hmm." Rhodes leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, and pondered for a moment.
"The current situation and the goals have all been explained clearly, so—" Rhodes paused slightly, "Next, we'll talk about internal issues."
Let's get back to the core of the topic.
In their eyes, there's not much need to think about what to do next or what to be busy with.
After all, when it comes to actually carrying out the tasks, it's basically Rhodes who assigns them the missions, so even if they understand them very well, it won't make much difference.
Therefore, once they knew that Rhodes was unharmed after the battle, they could focus their attention on the girl awaiting judgment.
Whether it's hatred, aversion, indifference, or hesitation.
These emotions were vividly reflected in each of the girls.
They are all beings who have experienced pain and loss.
Therefore, when the situation reversed, their spirits were naturally raised to the highest level.
Well, as I said before, except for Ivina.
She remains the person who least needs to care about these things, because she has never experienced Lilith's suffering, and therefore has no possibility of hating Lilith.
Although she now understands that Lilith did more than one wrong thing and needs everyone's forgiveness, the memories from Cecilia are ultimately Cecilia's, not hers.
So she simply curled up to one side and quietly picked up the pudding recipe to look at it, to avoid arguing.
When Rhode saw all the girls starting to make small movements, but all their eyes were fixed on Lilith, he understood that everyone knew what to do.
Regarding whether Lilith truly loves him, after the Deep Sea God's description, it is still necessary to address this question.
"Natalie." Rhodes' eyes were fixed on her. "Felicity, you've told me everything."
"Hmm." Natalie hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, Lilith wanted to find a way to lessen her guilt, so that's why she made that request, right?"
The essence of Lilith's philosophy can be clearly summarized in one sentence: "Mitigating guilt."
This incident was essentially caused by Lilith seeking Felicity's testimony in order to prove that she liked Rhodes and was not using him.
Meanwhile, with Felicity's testimony deemed invalid, the blame fell on Natalie.
Of course, Lilith wasn't trying to absolve herself of the terrible act of not confessing her feelings on the altar.
She simply wanted to prove to Rhodes that she didn't want to use him as a "monster" but loved him, thus mitigating her guilt.
Rhodes nodded: "Well, now that you understand, what do you think? What exactly did Lilith do in the three years after my death?"
""
Instead of asking Natalie whether she liked it or not, which would be awkward, she was asked to simply state what Lilith had done.
After all, Rod understood that it was very inappropriate for a girl to say whether another girl liked him or not.
He just wanted to lead them away naturally; he didn't want them to actually start a fight.
Ultimately, the right to interpret the topic fell to Natalie.
Natalie felt a heavy burden on her shoulders and her mouth was dry.
Perhaps it was because he didn't want to say those things—he could never truly forgive Lilith.
One thing at a time, it's true that I don't want Rhodes to wallow in frustration, and it's also true that I want to tell the truth.
But in the end, she was just like Felicity.
She has also experienced pain and loss.
He also experienced the pain of being overthrown and killed by the people because of Lilith's disappearance.
She didn't want Lilith to be forgiven so easily, nor did she want the story to continue so easily.
She remained silent.
Seemingly unable to figure it out, she looked at Felicity and received a nod of approval.
Then she looked at Lilith and saw that the other looked slightly nervous and uneasy.
She was slightly dazed.
This is a rare sight for Lilith—although her face hasn't changed much, her uneasy fingers are clearly visible.
Yes, she had already made her decision about whether to lie or not, so why hesitate any longer? It was enough to state what she believed to be the truth and deny the falsehoods.
"Rhodes!" Natalie called out Rhodes' name with all her might, her eyes tightly closed.
"Um.
""
Natalie's pale fingers clenched her knees as she raised her head, her crimson eyes filled with unwavering determination: "I'd like to know what you're thinking right now, Rhodes."
In my past life, Lilith and I were always arguing.
So, you want me to talk about what Lilith did? Isn't that just a way to get me to smear her? How could I possibly say anything good about her?
Rhodes' eyes widened in surprise, then he nodded: "That's right."
"Then—then I'm going to start badmouthing Lilith all I want, saying she's a bad person who abandoned our hard work and disappeared without a trace, and we don't even know what she's doing now."
"Natalie." Lilith's unease finally reached its peak, and she couldn't help but call out this.
At this moment, Lilith's heart was pounding violently, and her breathing became rapid.
Although she had expected Natalie to say that, she didn't expect Natalie to be so blatant in saying that she would speak ill of her.
Lilith glanced at Rhodes with her almond-shaped eyes, wanting him to stop Natalie from lying, but Rhodes just seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "Whatever, of course I understand the conflict between you, so say whatever you want, vent your anger if you want."
Ultimately, I will judge based on what you say.
In an instant, as if her brain had been disconnected, it appeared in Lilith's mind with a snap.
And what follows is a momentary freeze in breathing.
Wait.
This is wrong—
Why?
How could we let Natalie lie so easily?
She herself admitted that what she said next was said with hatred in her heart.
In that instant, she thought of the most terrifying possibility for her: that Rhodes never intended to forgive her in the first place, and that he was just playing her like he had made a thousand demands back then.
Even what he said before was a lie to deceive her, just to stabilize her emotions.
Otherwise, how can we explain why Rhodes would allow Natalie to spout such nonsense?
Instantly, a suffocating feeling spread through Lilith's brain, her blood turned as cold as if it had lost its temperature, and her whole body stiffened.
Her pupils trembled violently, but Rod did not continue to explain.
Suspicion or pain, these are all temporary.
He certainly couldn't have been deliberately playing a trick on Lilith.
On the contrary, he was only thinking about the future of the team and how Lilith could integrate into it normally.
This is true.
Strictly speaking, most people don't feel resentment or hatred towards Lilith.
Let's start from the very beginning.
If Lilith can openly confess to him at the end and confirm all the facts, then no one will really say anything.
After all, the girls had finally let go and moved on after the final battle.
They understand that the result is due to their own lack of competitiveness, and they can certainly accept this fact calmly.
What they truly couldn't accept was that Lilith ultimately ruined everything they cherished and erased it all with the utmost arrogance.
So, in essence, they are just rejecting Lilith.
By using rejection as a method to protect Rhodes, he can prevent him from being hurt by Lilith's actions and resist the possibility of Lilith gaining Rhodes's love again.
This is why girls, even when they know other girls are rivals, don't feel the same wariness and disgust they have towards Lilith.
Firstly, Lilith is indeed the biggest threat, and secondly, it would be better for any one of them to receive Rhodes' attention than for Lilith to take it away from them.
The reason Rhodes was determined to crush Lilith's feelings for him back in the Duke's mansion was because he understood this.
Lilith is too special among this group of girls. As the most successful winner in the past, and now the most unsuccessful loser, as long as she is there, the hostility of the team will never be eliminated.
But since he is now giving the repentant Lilith a chance to start over, he certainly can't just suppress her words with his big hand.
Whether you want to curse or argue, you should at least say what you need to say first.
Most importantly, he understood what kind of person Natalie was.
Unlike Felicity, even if she insults or smears someone, she will eventually tell the truth.
She is that kind of person, a girl who knows how to win with justice.
Of course, Natalie might not actually know what Lilith did in the three years after his death, so the conclusion would probably be "I don't know".
now.
Even Natalie was somewhat bewildered and lost in thought.
"What do you mean? I'm going to badmouth her—and you'll let me say whatever I want? And you believe what I'm saying is true?"
Natalie stammered these words, her tone filled with disbelief.
Because she originally thought that Rod was just bullying her because of her "righteousness" and "sensibleness", she used these words to force her to tell the truth.
But now it seems that's not the case at all—Rhodes, what is he thinking?
In matters of the heart, Natalie's impulsiveness is characterized by a lack of critical thinking.
She wasn't much better than Ivina in essence, so she instantly fell into a state of confusion.
"Yes, say whatever you want, as long as you're happy." Rod nodded gently.
A moment of silence fell over the room.
Lilith thought she was in dire straits, Felicity saw the situation as a golden opportunity, but Natalie—
When the order was actually given, Natalie found herself unable to speak.
Because Rhodes trusted her too much, and this excessive trust meant that if he were to lie, the consequences would be incredibly heavy.
She simply lowered her head and placed her hands on her forehead.
"Lilith, she disappeared after your death."
As soon as she uttered the first word, Lilith lost all her strength.
Despair washed over her, and she, who was not good at speaking, was completely unable to utter a word at this moment.
"After she disappeared, the empire was thrown into turmoil, and a rebellion broke out."
"The explanation in the world is very simple: there's something wrong with Lilith's divine position, so she's preoccupied with repairing it and no longer cares about the people."
"No one suspects that she disappeared because of you, Rhodes—after all, in the eyes of the public, Rhodes, and we are just subordinates who helped God appear."
As Natalie said this, she raised her head and secretly glanced at Rhodes.
As expected, Rhodes' expression was indeed not good.
This directly reveals the pain of being on the altar.
But that's the truth—because Lilith never revealed the reason, most of the people had no idea about the relationship between Rhodes and Lilith.
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