Angel Monarch

"Okay… I definitely deserved that, but to be fair, I was only joking!" said Otto. He wanted to make another joke, but when he saw Sarah giving him a deadly glare, he decided silence was the best course of action.

Inside the room, all the women stared at him with annoyance. Everyone except Bea. She just stared at her reflection in the turned off Holo-Screen.

The sight was quite sad, even for Otto's uncaring personality. Before disclosing yesterday's details, he planned to add a few more remarks; however, witnessing Bea's distress, he regretted withholding information.

With a deep sigh, he turned towards Sarah, who gave a pointed nod. No words needed to be exchanged. Otto walked towards the armchair next to the couch and sat down while staring at Bea.

"You know, we haven't been together during the morning."

As he spoke, Bea's eyes snapped to his. They were full of curiosity and hope, which caused a minor pain to appear in Otto's heart. A feeling came with the pain, but he suppressed it.

"What do you mean? What happened?" she asked with badly hidden desperation.

"Okay, let's start with the beginning. How much do you remember from the day?" he asked, and Bea immediately answered. "Not much. I remember standing up and pulling you towards the dance floor. Then the next thing I remember is waking up next to you."

Bea suppressed a shiver from moving along her body. Even saying these words felt wrong, but she kept a straight expression.

Otto stared at her for a moment, then chuckled. "You really drank a lot, didn't you? Goddamn, you don't remember most of the day…"

He saw Bea's and the others' annoyance grew, so he refrained from laughter, and instead began explaining everything that had happened earlier that day.

"After entering the crowd, we spent about 5 hours dancing. You spent most of that time with me, but you also danced with random strangers, and… You ground against and made out with a few of them…"

"Before you ask, no, we didn't make out on the dance floor. Afterward though… That's a different story…"

Bea's face burned with shame. Hearing Otto deny having sex gave her hope, making her forget intimacy wasn't the only way to cheat.

She felt significantly worse than before. At least back then she believed to be cheated by only one person, but now she knew how worse everything was.

"What happened after we left the dance floor?" she asked, her voice full of fear.

On the couch, Otto shifted uncomfortably. He knew how much pain his next words would cause, but he also knew they had to be said. Whatever happened next, it wouldn't be his fault.

"We kissed a lot on our way here. We found the nearest vacant room and continued to kiss for a short time. You began undressing, and so did I. Eventually, we were both naked on the bed, and you laid atop me as we continued to make out…"

"You then began kissing my body lower and lower until you reached… Uh… You know what…"

Ladies' facial expressions varied. Lucy and Cass looked flabbergasted and angry at both Bea and Otto.

He should've stopped her from going so far, but Bea also shouldn't have engaged with him before talking things out with Sera. With this move, Bea betrayed her, and this was something neither could overlook.

Sarah continued to be enraged towards her brother, while Agnes seemed the most sympathetic out of everyone. She placed no blames, and just felt awful about the situation.

Bea felt the worst. She didn't cry nor screamed. She didn't shout at Otto, accusing him of being a liar. Inside her heart, there was nothing but numbness… But he hadn't even gotten to the worst part.

"What happened then? Did I suck you off, then went to sleep?" Asked Bea while looking towards Otto. Her green eyes were unfocused, and the question seemed more like a reflex than a conscious action.

For a moment, Otto stayed silent, then he took a deep breath, and finished the story. His eyes were full of sadness and pity as he spoke.

"Kind of… You were close to finishing me off when the door to the room suddenly opened… Both our heads snapped towards the doorway, and just as our eyes met with her, she ran off…"

Before he could finish, Bea cut in. Her voice was full of pain, since she already knew the answer… "Who was it?"

The pity and sadness doubled in Otto's eyes, as he spoke the words that he knew would break Bea… "It was Victoria… Your daughter… She saw us… Saw you… You tried to run after her, but I reminded you of your lack of clothes..."

"Afterward, you broke down crying, while you shouted profanities at me. Eventually, I calmed you down, and you silently cried yourself to sleep in my arms…"

Bea stared at Otto for a few seconds. Her expression stayed emotionless, but slowly the cracks appeared. Her white face began taking on a red tint, and her green eyes welled with tears.

She sniffled only once, before the rivers of tears began flowing. The other four women went to support her. Lucy and Cass felt conflicted, but they would not leave their friend suffer alone, even if her mistakes caused so much trouble.

Otto stood up and walked closer… "I'm sorry… I never intended to cause so many issues, and I hope one day you can forgive me…"

After saying that, he stared at Bea for a moment longer, then walked out of the room. He felt her sister staring daggers into his back, but he didn't care. He understood where her anger came from, and he fully agreed with her… He fucked up hard…

For the next hour, the room stayed silent. Only Bea's silent sobs echoed between the walls.

The other four women stayed silent. Bea didn't need comforting words or kind lies right now. She just needed someone to share her pain with, and the four of them helped carry this burden. Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire

Sadly, the self-pity couldn't last forever. Her crying subsided a bit when the news about the morning's events reached Sera.

She spent the day with Bran, going out, having fun, cuddling, nothing that normal friends couldn't do. Sera was firm on keeping boundaries until she had a chance to speak with Bea about their future.

During this time, she kept her watch and its notifications off. Bran still had his on, so if anything truly important happened, they wouldn't be in the dark.

Since nobody wrote anything to Bran, Sera hadn't checked on a single message sent by anybody. Only after Bran went to sleep in her bed, did she decide to open the messages.

The first person who caught her eye was Bea. In the morning, she sent hundreds of drunken texts and voice messages. Sera only read the last one, which ominously read: 'I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!'

Confused, Sera turned to look at the other people who messaged her. She didn't open any of the texts, just read the names. Lucy and Cass sent the most, but there were a few from Agnes, Sarah, Will, Leslie, and even Otto.

Her concern rose when she saw a singular voice message from Vicky. The message wasn't long, and Vicky sent it in the morning. Reading no other text, Sera played the message.

"M-mommy… Can… Could we talk?… Please…" her daughter's voice sounded sad and broken. She kept choking on the words, and made sniffling sounds, like she was crying.

Sera didn't waste even a second. She quickly wrote back to Vicky. She asked her to open a portal, and a few minutes later, she was already holding onto Vicky as she cried in her lap.

Between sobs, she told the entire story to Sera, which later got confirmed by Lucy, Adam, and Faith.

After Vicky cried herself to sleep, Sera went to Agnes's room and knocked. She heard shuffling inside, but before anyone could open the door, she barged inside.

An inexplicable anger took hold of her. It was a rare moment of emotion on her part, and she could barely control herself.

Stepping inside the room, Cass stood a few meters away with a shocked expression. The other women turned towards her too, but before any of them could've said something, Sera shouted.

"All of you! Get the fuck out!"

Nobody moved a muscle… They were simply too stunned… They all known Sera for years. Either before losing part of her soul or after, she never gotten so angry to actually raise her voice, at least not with friends.

Only after seeing her like this did everyone begin to realize how bad the situation was. Sera opened her mouth to shout again, but another voice spoke before she could.

"Thank you everyone, but it's time for me to face the consequences of my actions… Please, leave…"

They all looked at each other, uncertain of leaving the two alone or not. This indecision caused Sera's anger and annoyance to grow, and as she prepared to shout again, the four women left the room.

They didn't go far, and stayed by the door if anything unpredictable happened.

Inside the room, Bea stood up and walked towards Sera. She stopped about a meter away and continued to stare at the floor.

She felt so many conflicting emotions, she couldn't possibly address all of them. The main ones were shame at her actions, anger towards herself, sadness because of her new reality, and hope that the woman she loves can forgive her.

Bea took a deep breath, looked up into Sera's golden-green eyes, and as she opened her mouth, something hit her. Before she could react, Sera's hand slapped her so hard in the face she staggered back into the couch.

The left side of her face turned red, and even her skin broke under Sera's powerful slap. The wound healed in less than a second, but a blood drop escaped her face before that.

With a trembling hand, Bea reached up and touched the blood. She stared at it in disbelief. Not a single time did she see Sera actively spill a friend's blood, even just a drop.

In that moment, Bea finally realized… There was no solution… It was over…

"From now on, your aren't part of the Angelic Order, or my army. You can live in any of my cities as a citizen, or a normal soldier, but you shall never receive my people's respect! You can talk with the others, and if they want to, they can go with you…"

"I don't care what happens to you. You're dead to me from this moment forward! Neither me nor Vicky ever want to see you again…"

Bea fell to her knees, and she wanted to beg, but her words came out incomprehensible from how hard she sobbed. She crawled towards Sera's legs, but she just moved away.

As Bea looked up at her face, there was no pity or sadness there, only contempt and disgust. Seeing the woman she loved staring at her like that broke the remnants of her heart.

Sera stared at her for a moment longer, then she turned away without a word, and walked out, leaving Bea on the floor, wailing…

[End of Part 2 – Embers of Love]