The Goddess' Champion

"Waaaa!!!"

"Babe calm down..."

It has been a year already, a difficult one. A year of decisions, thankfully Nova could say that although she didn't like him leaving his post and responsibilities, Constantine had been there every step of the way.

Katherine, Gerald and Casper... those were the names they put to their children with Casper being the one that was born with a rather big head, as it turns out apparently it could have been worse since most malfunctions of babies birthed from incest couples have permanent degenerative diseases, however, at least this one could be fixed even if it was risky.

Only after being convinced by Constantine did she decide to put her child's life in the line for the sake of him having a better future, her beloved said that having such an incapacity in a cruel world like this one would be the same as dying early and he refused to see his child suffer for it.

Hence the procedure was done, they had to open his skull and access his brain where they'd need to release some of the overflowing liquid inside the brain's ventricles... the procedure was extremely difficult and it could go wrong in so many ways since the current time's knowledge about this sort of disease was scarce and less than ten of these procedures were done, with more than half being failures.

More than ten doctors were involved in the process that took hours and the payment for all of it dwarfed any amount of money that she could have ever seen, it was safe to say that her son's savings halved, yet all he did was to look at their child with concern and panic while the thing was happening, even she had to get optimistic so that he could calm down.

She was sure that if anything went wrong, he'd blame himself.

Nova thanked the gods as if forgetting she was one of the strongest ones when her baby, Casper, cried after the process ended, it meant that he was alive.

The procedure was a success and the doctors were all sweating bullets, whether it was for the taxation of this delicate procedure or the future king's pressure, they didn't know.

All she did was hold her child that soon fell asleep, in her arms, his head was still a little bit since his skull wouldn't decrease in size, he had several stitches as well. it could be said that his skull was now too big for his now normal brain but it didn't matter, so long as he didn't have any problems beyond the aesthetic.

After this procedure she stayed in the capital for a few months with her children, they were all so alike and they looked like a combination of her and Constantine.

It was safe to say that Katherine would be a devastating beauty when she grew older, the same could be said for Gerald and Casper.

Their silver hair shone in brilliance and they were quite lively. It didn't take long for everyone to take turns in playing with them and the queen together with the concubines was awed that even the King cut off some of his time hunting to spend time with the child as if they were Caroline's, after pointing a sword at his son-in-law and threatening him to make one with Caroline, he departed yet again.

Stella was one of the most ravenous followed by Swan and Penelope who already wanted to teach them about the sword.

Caroline too played with the children but she was quickly getting fatigued due to her responsibilities and Constantine, her soon to be husband had to attend her.

Her father was already beginning to introduce her to the responsibilities of a Queen Regent even before she finished the Academy. The conversation the following month was a difficult one.

...

The family had already moved to a mansion of sorts not too far from the academy, the children could be heard playing in the distance with the maids and butlers.

Constantine and Isabella sat to one side. Caroline, Penelope, Stella and Swan sat on the other side

"You know everyone is suspicious." They said, solemnly.

"..." The couple of mother and son remained silent, stubborn as Isabella struggled to get her mind together, she needed to do this. Yes... those lively kids, looked so much like them that everyone was beginning to grow weary, there were rumours; those that knew the truth were not many but those that guessed it were plenty.

"You can't be calling her mother in front of them, Constantine." Penelope sat with crossed arms, it was difficult to get rid of bad habits, Constantine was the father, he had decided to be the father instead of the 'brother' yet he kept addressing Isabella as 'mother' this was not going to work.

"I'm going to give them in adoption." Isabella said suddenly and that was enough for Constantine to nearly explode on the spot.

"NO!" He couldn't allow this, he loved those children, he was patiently waiting for them to grow just so he could show them how to hunt!

"Constantine!" Isabella held his shoulders with tears in her eyes.

"M-Mother, no..."

"I don't want my children to feel ashamed of themselves when they grow up, or us."

"But-"

"I don't want my children to think that lusting after their parents is normal!" This time she said with even more seriousness.

"..."

"I don't want Katherine to harbour feelings for you... look at how clingy she is, she likes you more than the rest!" She had noticed already, that was merely a year-old kid but if she was allowed to grow rampant... she had already put Gerald and Casper in their place, trying to teach them limitations, but Constantine treated Katherine as if she was some teddy bear!

"Isn't it normal for a daughter to cling to her father!? Gerald and Casper are always clinging to you as well." He retorted, brushing her hands away from his shoulder in a gesture that was so foreign to her... he didn't like it, he didn't like it at all.

"That's the problem... I don't want them to begin thinking... t-that... going after their mother... grandma... is okay... son, please understand... I don't want this either, but it has to be done."

"..." He remained stubbornly silent.

"Son, what we did was wrong... but it can't be taken back, I love my children, we love our children... but if they want to live normal lives, it can't be with us." Nova sat down beside him, crying and holding his hands.

Meanwhile, inside... Isabella twisted selfishly, desiring to take care of her children regardless... to her, it didn't matter if they grew up that way... twisted, she just didn't want her children to be taken away.

Sadly for her, for a long while, Nova was in control.

"Is this really what you want to do?"

"I want us to find the best place for them... the best family... two parents that love them just as much as we do... I want all their expenses to be covered... I want them to... don't struggle through their childhood until they're adults like you did. Son, please."

"..." He bit his lips until they bled, stunning the entire room before nodding.