Beautiful melodies filled the enormous room for an entire month.
Even Yan had been dragged into Karl's antics and forced to sing an Angel's "hymns."
Fortunately, the various "symphonies" inside the room never reached the rest of the warship.
Ganata had come looking for Karl several times, but each time, Karl sent her away with the excuse that they were "practicing their singing."
At the moment, Karl was accompanying Ganata elsewhere, while Yan, Black Phoenix, Hela, and the others had finally recovered.
"I didn't expect our esteemed principal wife to be so lacking in skill."
Hera approached Yan, Black Phoenix, and Hela in an elegant white-and-gold gauze gown.
"If you can't satisfy the God-King, perhaps you should consider giving that position to one of us."
Her mocking tone immediately caused several Olympian goddesses nearby to laugh.
Hera smiled confidently at the three women.
Yan merely glanced at her.
"Heh."
"If that's the only advantage you have, then enjoy it while it lasts."
Yan's voice was indifferent.
"What else do you possess?"
"Status?"
"Strength?"
"The title of an Olympian goddess?"
"Your former identities may keep Karl interested for a while. They may even add some novelty."
Her expression remained calm.
"But once that novelty fades, what will you have left?"
Hera's expression immediately changed.
"You—!"
"Sister Yan is right."
Before Hera could continue, Gaea reached out and stopped her.
She then looked toward Yan.
"We were disrespectful."
"Please don't take it to heart, Sister."
Hera stared at her grandmother in disbelief.
They were supposed to be competing with Yan.
Why was Gaea suddenly yielding?
Yan merely gave Gaea a brief glance.
Then she turned and walked away.
Black Phoenix and Hela followed.
The Olympian goddesses were left standing in silence.
Everyone looked toward Gaea in confusion.
Why had the proud Earth Mother lowered herself like that?
Gaea remained quiet for several seconds.
Then she sighed.
"Perhaps we've been approaching this completely wrong."
The others listened.
"We've been thinking that if we tried hard enough to please the God-King, we could eventually become his principal wives."
"But we've overlooked the most important thing."
"Strength."
Gaea's expression became serious.
"There are multiple Skyfather-level women aboard this warship."
"There are also several at the Sub-Skyfather level."
"And there are women whose strength I can't perceive at all."
She glanced toward the direction Yan and the others had left.
"Although we've all received the God-King's favor during this past month, I've never been able to see through those three."
"I stand at the peak of the Skyfather level."
"If even I cannot judge their strength, then there is only one reasonable possibility."
"They have reached the Single-Universe level."
The surrounding goddesses fell silent.
Gaea continued.
"That may be the true threshold."
"Perhaps only women strong enough to reach the Single-Universe level can genuinely stand beside the God-King as his principal wives."
"Our former status within Olympus won't keep him interested forever."
"Our beauty won't either."
"Once the novelty disappears, if we have nothing else to offer..."
Gaea's gaze darkened slightly.
"Then one day, we may simply be left behind."
The Olympian goddesses became increasingly solemn.
The gap between the Skyfather level and the Single-Universe level was enormous.
Even Gaea herself had no confidence that she could cross it easily.
Hera also fell silent.
Until now, she had never seriously considered this problem.
She had believed that her beauty, status, and ability to please Karl would eventually secure her position beside him.
But perhaps that had never been enough.
...
Elsewhere, inside Yan's private garden, Yan smiled faintly.
Black Phoenix and Hela both noticed.
They had naturally heard Gaea's words.
At their level, distance meant little if they deliberately listened.
"Sister Yan..."
Hela hesitated slightly before continuing.
"I still don't understand why you did that."
Calling Yan "Sister" still felt somewhat unnatural.
Hela had always been proud.
Aside from Karl, there were very few people she willingly acknowledged.
But among the three of them, she and Black Phoenix occupied roughly equal positions.
Yan, however, had always held a special place in Karl's heart.
Black Phoenix turned toward Hela in surprise.
She hadn't expected Hela to acknowledge Yan so openly.
But after thinking about their current situation, she understood.
Those Olympian goddesses were terrifyingly persistent.
They competed shamelessly for Karl's attention and seemed to possess an endless number of tricks.
No wonder Karl had spent so much time visiting them.
If this continued indefinitely, even Black Phoenix couldn't guarantee that her own position would remain completely unaffected.
Yan calmly poured herself some tea.
"Because we don't need to compete with them."
She looked toward Hela and Black Phoenix.
"The fact that Karl allowed them onto this warship already proves that they have some place in his heart."
"But if all they have is beauty and the ability to please him, then eventually that's all they'll ever be."
"Beautiful ornaments."
Yan smiled faintly.
"Have either of you considered how long Karl is going to live?"
"Or how long we'll live?"
Neither woman answered.
"If Gaea understood what I was telling her, then she isn't stupid."
"That means they still have a chance to become people who can genuinely remain beside Karl."
Yan's expression became colder.
"If I truly wanted to compete with them for his attention, I wouldn't need to waste time arguing."
"I could simply kill them."
"Karl might be unhappy with me for a while, but he wouldn't truly turn against me over it."
"What we actually need is to make them useful."
"To turn them into people who can help Karl."
Yan looked toward the distant rooms.
"Only women capable of helping him can remain close to him indefinitely."
"May, Raven, Helen Cho, Yelena, and Natasha have all gradually fallen behind in strength."
"Their places in Karl's heart haven't disappeared, but they aren't what they once were either."
"May is different. She was Karl's first woman."
"Raven and Helen Cho may still have opportunities."
"As for Yelena and Natasha..."
Yan paused.
"That depends on whether they encounter an opportunity capable of changing their futures."
"Otherwise, they'll only be able to follow Karl from behind and receive his attention whenever circumstances allow."
"If they want to remain beside him forever..."
"They'll eventually need enough strength to keep up."
Yan glanced at Hela in mild surprise.
Then, as if understanding why Hela had begun calling her "Sister," she calmly continued explaining everything to the two women.
...
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