Angel Monarch

Not long after Bran's death and Sera's departure, Damien and Agnes got married.

With the burden of Harold gone from Damien's shoulder, and with his past family avenged, he felt ready to finally move on.

The ceremony was small, only their close friends gathered to celebrate. The Angelic Order promoted marriage, but nobody deemed it necessary for any relationship.

Cass alone planned the entire venue, and she, of course, chose a very special place for Agnes.

Not far from The Broken City, at the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. They gathered atop a large cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Ocean.

This was the place where Cass called Agnes, her real mother, which was one of Agnes's most fond memories.

They withheld the wedding location from her, so upon stepping out of the portal, she instantly broke down, crying.

In the Angelic Order, the brides wore long golden dresses, while the groom wore a white suit. They adopted the clothing style from the past, but used the Angelic Order's colors.

This wasn't the only tradition the Angelic Order stole. They also had flower girls, for example, and Vicky stepped up to the job with grace and a bit too much enthusiasm.

She was supposed to throw handfuls of white rose petals along the rolled out carpet, but instead she teleported thousands of petals, making a road of flowers.

Cass wanted to give Vicky an earful for ruining her perfect wedding planning. But she chose not to spoil the girl's happiness. Other than her, nobody, including Agnes, cared.

The black-haired bride felt too emotional to notice the flowery road. Her eyes only focused on Damien standing near the cliff face under a beautiful crystal gazebo.

The sunlight fractured on the crystal perfectly, embracing anyone standing under the gazebo in a rainbowy shadow.

Agnes walked along the flower petals, already sobbing from joy. Her light make-up flowed away with the tears, landing on her beautiful golden dress.

Reaching the gazebo, she had to hold herself from kissing Damien. He looked especially dashing in his white suit. It perfectly matched his well-groomed hair and beard.

Below his chest, a golden-green glow marked his new heart. Its brightness lessened in the past few weeks, which worried them at first, but later Bea confirmed it to be fine.

She and Otto also attended the wedding. The dragon-man looked quite a bit uncomfortable, but since Bea seemed ecstatic, he stayed silent, and even tried enjoying himself.

For many attendees, this unexpectedly marked their last meeting with Bea. After the wedding, she rarely visited New Athens, neglecting her daughter for months.

Adam officiated the wedding and made the gazebo. Mary and James were responsible for taking photos and videos. Lucy and Will planned the after-party regrettably, making the day even more memorable.

The wedding marked a new chapter in everyone's life, a true sign of peace. It brought hope to the bleak, and joy to the depressed.

Life returned to its routine following the wedding. Neither Damien nor Agnes mentioned they were trying for a baby, and since they were both Evolved, their chances weren't high either.

This made the news even more surprising, and they decided to keep it a secret until their return to New Athens.

Now, everyone who wasn't with them in Antarctica looked bewildered at the pregnant lady chewing out her husband.

"Thanks for waiting for me! You useless husband! Why did I even marry you if you just going to leave me behind!"

Damien's usually pale face instantly turned red from shame, and he desperately tried hiding behind David. It looked quite comical since he was large, both in build and height.

Agnes just marched up to him without care for David and tried slapping sense into her husband. But Damien moved quickly, catching her hand, and with a deft move he turned Agnes, hugging her from behind.

"My love, you are a very capable Transcended! And you always ask me to give you space and don't baby you!"

His gentle, kind tone belied the exhaustion etched into his expression. He looked extremely tired and worn down.

"Yes, I am a Transcended! A PREGNANT Transcended! You can't imagine the experience of carrying a new life within you! The least you could do is help me walk!"

Damien just sighed and whispered, "Well, and you don't know what dying feels like, yet I don't complain…"

Agnes glanced behind into her husband's icy-blue eyes, with coldness and anger unknown to even Damien. She gritted her teeth, preparing another slap, when she felt a small finger poking her enormous belly.

They both glanced down in surprise. Kneeling before them was Vicky, who continued poking without care for everyone's gaze.

"Hmm… I don't want to be mean, but you gained a lot of weight in Antarctica…"

Suddenly, she stopped poking and turned towards the envoys sent by the Antarctican city-states.

"Is your food so good she couldn't stop eating? If so, I hope you brought some as a gesture of hospitality!" Said Vicky while licking her lips. Just imagining the dishes made her salivate.

The envoys studied the Princess, questioning her sincerity. They weren't certain if bringing food was a European tradition, and they didn't want to deemed rude by coming empty-handed.

Agnes's and Cass's laughter soon broke their thought process. They all seemed to simultaneously remember that Agnes wasn't fat, just pregnant.

This meant the little girl's request wasn't tradition, she just simply didn't know what pregnancy was.

Soon the joyous laughter spread across the room. Only Vicky didn't understand the origin of their amusement.

In confusion, Vicky's hand stayed only Agnes's belly, and it seemed the baby had a sense of humor as well. When she wasn't paying attention, the baby decided to kick the exact spot where Vicky's hand was.

She yelped in surprise and jumped away, instantly on high alert to whatever attacked her. Instead of a potential opponent, Vicky only saw Agnes about to collapse from laughter.

"Oh, my Goddess!… I can't breathe!…" Said Agnes while taking deep breaths.

While a few people continued to laugh, Cass walked up to Vicky and tried explaining Agnes's situation as gently as she could.

But she soon remembered how lacking Vicky's understanding of human reproduction was. Instead of a lengthy, awkward explanation, she addressed the matter directly.

"Agnes didn't put on weight. She is pregnant, like your mother was! She's going to have a baby soon!… I won't go into detail about how child making happens, but be sure to ask Thea in the next session!… As punishment!"

She whispered the last two words to herself, not like Vicky cared. The little Princess focused solely on Agnes's protruding belly as she understood the new information.

Vicky spent a lot of time with her mother during her pregnancy with Nick, and she knew pregnant women grew out their belly. Still, somehow this information evaded her in that moment, but Cass's words made her remember.

Understanding her lack of knowledge about human reproduction, a newfound curiosity ignited in Vicky's mind.

Far away, Thea felt a shiver run down her spine and a sense of foreboding washed over her. As if something horrible had just happened and she would suffer soon.

When the laughing died, Vicky closed all the portals, which fascinated the envoys. They all began introducing themselves, but Vicky wasn't paying much attention.

She was quite rubbish when it came to entertaining guests, but luckily, she had a nice boyfriend who was the exact opposite.

Vicky opened another portal, this one leading into a lavish building in New Constantinople.

"We will attend the Peacemaking Celebrations in the Cathedral of Light, but it won't start for another few hours. We prepared a room for you to wait inside. Prince Henry and High Priest Adam are already waiting to entertain you!"

As Vicky spoke, she pointed towards the portal, and the envoys made their way through. Cass and David also followed them, same as Astrid.

They all previously discussed everything. Since there were about two dozen envoys, two people couldn't entertain them easily… And Astrid was there for protection. Her sole job for today was keeping all the envoys alive, which shouldn't be too difficult!

Following the closing of the portal, everyone else made their way to the mansion, except Yvonne and Yannick. They both went home to inform their family about the invitation to the Celebrations…

After careful consideration and giving a proper apology to Vicky, Yvonne was also reinvited!

While they walked towards the mansion, Vicky continued prodding Agnes's belly just like she did with Sera's.

The baby must've felt Vicky's enthusiasm, and kicked a lot more times than usual. Each time, both Vicky and Agnes giggled with joy, which brought smiles to everyone's faces.

"It's great to have another baby at home! Nick will finally have someone close to his age to cause mischief with! I already fear how much trouble they will get into!"

Vicky's words brought the entire procession to a halt. Everyone stared down at her, confused and curious.

She didn't understand why they gave her those looks. Only after Agnes's question did she realize her mistake.

"Uh… Who's Nick? Did a parent have another child?"

In that moment, Vicky froze while cursing herself. She wanted to inform them about Nick, but not without preparations!

She opened her mouth to explain the situation as clearly as possible, but it was already too late.

Behind her, heavy footsteps approached, as Brian came rampaging, knocking Vicky to the ground. Even worse, flying near him, Nick chuckled as Vicky tried to evade the massive spider-dog's tongue.

All of her friends stared towards the flying child with pure shock as they all recognized her feathered, pristine white wings.

Vicky struggled back to her feet and felt Nick's arms hug her head, while pressing his face into her white hair.

Nick also had a great sense for comedic timing, because at that moment, with nothing but confused friends around them, he decided to shout his first word…

"SISTER!"