Ceres let out a moan of pleasure as the sweet taste of the fruit exploded on her tongue.
Her eyes fluttered shut in pure bliss as she continued eating, practically shivering with delight. Aside from its shimmering golden color, the flavor of the apple was nothing particularly special. It tasted just like an ordinary apple from Earth. But gods, after two weeks of enduring food that tasted like cardboard, the sweetness that flooded her senses felt nothing short of heavenly.
There was no salt or sugar in Solmara.
Some foods had hints of sweetness, but none ever felt right to her. Something was always off, as if the flavors were mismatched or incomplete. Ceres wasn't a chef in her past life, she didn't even know how to cook, but she had always been picky about food. She knew what tasted good and what didn't.
Before she even realized it, she had already devoured the fruit.
But she was still hungry.
She immediately turned to Legion, her eyes expectant.
"Give me another," she demanded, stretching out her hand.
But instead of complying, Legion only stared at her, his expression frozen, his eyes unblinking as if he had just witnessed something impossible.
Ceres frowned.
"Legion!" she snapped, raising her voice. That seemed to finally snap him out of his daze, along with Delphine, who looked equally stunned.
They were both staring at her, wide-eyed as if she had grown horns.
Her frown deepened.
"I said, give me another."
Legion didn't move. His brows furrowed in confusion as if he didn't understand what she was asking for.
"Give me another apple," Ceres repeated, irritated.
"Apple?" Legion echoed, his confusion deepening.
"That Malvera fruit you're holding, " Ceres sighed in frustration. "I hate repeating myself."
When he still didn't move, she let out an exasperated huff, got on her knees, and walked across her bed toward him. Since Legion had apparently suffered a stroke and was now frozen in place, she decided to help herself.
She snatched another fruit from his hands and immediately took a bite.
"What's wrong with you two?" she asked between chews, raising an eyebrow. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Legion and Delphine remained silent, exchanging glances.
It was starting to piss her off.
"Your Highness… are you feeling okay?" Delphine finally asked, her voice hesitant.
Ceres sighed. "I'm still hungry, but I feel better than earlier. You two are the ones acting weird."
"You don't… feel anything different?" Delphine asked.
Ceres rolled her eyes. "I said I'm hungry and thirsty. That's it."
Another glance between the siblings.
Ceres's eyebrow twitched in irritation.
"What the hell is going on with you two?"
Legion cleared his throat, looking like he was struggling to find his voice. "Your Majesty… I think you should look at yourself in the mirror."
Ceres snorted.
Delphine swallowed hard before adding, "Look at your hands, Your Highness."
Something in her tone made Ceres pause.
With a skeptical look at the two, she lowered her gaze,
Her eyes widened.
Her fingers, her fat, stubby fingers, were gone.
In their place were slim, elegant fingers, just like the ones she had back on Earth.
Her breath hitched.
Slowly, she lifted her arms, feeling the contours of her limbs. Then, she ran her hands over her legs, and her waist, the excess fat was gone.
She could no longer feel it.
Her heart pounded as she lifted trembling fingers to her face, her cheeks, her jawline.
She gasped sharply.
Her chubby cheeks. Her triple chin.
All gone.
A sudden rush of lightness filled her body.
Without thinking, Ceres bolted off the bed, her movements effortless, light. She felt lighter. She no longer dragged her weight with every step.
Then, she turned, her eyes locked onto the large, gilded mirror in the corner of the room.
She rushed toward it.
And the moment she saw her reflection,
Her jaw dropped.
"Oh my god!"
The bloated, sluggish body she had endured for two weeks, was gone.
In its place was her old self, the body she knew, the one she had before she died on Earth.
And, if anything… she looked even taller.
She swallowed hard.
The original Host's body had been shorter than hers.
But now, standing in front of the mirror, she looked exactly the same as she did back on Earth.
To confirm what she saw, Ceres grabbed her loose nightgown and pulled it off, not that it mattered. It was already barely hanging onto her frame, oversized, and slipping off her shoulders due to the weight she had lost.
"Your Highness!?" Delphine shrieked as Ceres fully stripped until she was left wearing only her panties.
Legion's eyes widened in horror before freezing in place, his body going completely stiff.
"Legion!" Delphine hissed, jabbing her brother with her elbow. The impact shook him out of his daze, and he immediately turned around, his face burning red.
"Your Majesty, please put something on!" Delphine rushed toward her, frantically trying to wrap a robe around her, but Ceres didn't care. She was too busy examining herself in the mirror, completely oblivious to her near-nakedness.
"Are you seeing this, Delphine?!" Ceres asked, her voice thick with emotion. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, overwhelmed by what she was witnessing.
She ignored Delphine's attempts to cover her, running her hands over every inch of her body, inspecting it over and over as if afraid this was just an illusion that would disappear any second.
"Your Highness, please!" Delphine pleaded as Ceres reached for the ribbon of her panties, clearly intending to strip even further.
With a horrified gasp, Delphine wrapped her arms around her, forcefully covering her with a robe before she could remove the only piece covering her now.
Ceres barely noticed.
"I can't believe this… I'm back!" she spun around in front of the mirror, her bare feet light against the cold floor, her movements effortless, graceful in a way she hadn't felt since arriving in this world.
She was back in her own body!
Delphine, resigned to her fate, reluctantly positioned herself in front of the Empress, shielding her from Legion's view, even though he had long since turned away and was probably praying to every god he knew to cleanse his mind.
"Is this magic?!" Ceres asked excitedly, her hands still running over her slim waist.
Delphine hesitated. "We… don't know, Your Majesty."
"Ori, is this magic?!" Ceres asked out loud, completely forgetting that no one else could hear Ori's voice except her.
Delphine's brows furrowed in confusion. "Your Majesty, there is no one named Ori here…"
A voice answered her, but only Ceres could hear it.
"You can consider it as magic, Your Highness," Ori's voice echoed in her mind.
"Do I have to maintain it with magic?" Ceres asked, too excited to notice Delphine's increasingly concerned expression at her seemingly talking to thin air.
"No. It is the result of eating the Malvera fruit," Ori answered.
"So this is permanent?!" Ceres demanded.
'Yes and no. The Malvera fruit is indeed a fruit of the Celestial Beings. When a Celestial Being eats it, its body returns to its true form. And since you can be considered a Celestial Being due to the Universe's Blessing, your body has reverted to its original state, the one from Earth," Ori explained.
"So my body is back for good?"
'Not exactly. You will still age, and your body can still gain or lose weight depending on how you live. But… if you eat another Malvera fruit, your body will always return to the form you have now, your twenty-two-year-old self. Even after seventy-nine years, until your soul returns to the Judgment Room.'
Ceres froze, absorbing that information.
Then, her eyes narrowed.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me about the Malvera fruit earlier?!" she demanded, crossing her arms. "Do you have any idea how much I struggled?! Do you know how heavy that body was?! Do you know how exhausting it was just to move?!"
'The Malvera Tree has not borne fruit in Solmara for a very long time,' Ori answered. 'Not since the Celestial Being Solmara left this world. For the tree to bear fruit, it requires Celestial Life Force. Without it, it is nothing more than an ordinary tree.'**
Ceres paused, her excitement slightly dampened by this new revelation.
'Also, you never told me you were going to bless the land of the Empress Palace, where the Malvera Tree was planted.'
She blinked.
'And, while I cannot lie to you, there are questions I cannot answer directly, and others I am completely forbidden from answering. Archangel Azrael has placed restrictions on me, Your Highness.'
"Your Majesty? Who are you talking to?" Delphine asked, concerned while trying once again to drape the robe over her shoulders.
This time, Ceres accepted it, much to Delphine's relief.
"My Guardian Angel," Ceres answered absentmindedly, her gaze drifting back to the mirror, still unable to believe what she was seeing.
'Ori, what other effects does the Malvera fruit have?' she asked, this time speaking to him in her mind.
'For you? That's all, Your Highness. But for mortals, a single fruit is enough to eliminate hunger and thirst. Also, the taste varies depending on the eater's preference, but it will always be the most delicious food they will ever taste. Aside from that, nothing more. It does not boost HP or MP, nor does it have any healing properties. It is simply a luxury enjoyed by Celestial Beings, and it functions the same for mortals.'
'How do I take care of the tree?' Ceres asked. 'Do I need to replenish it with my HP constantly?'
'No, Your Highness. That particular Malvera tree will continue to bear fruit as long as your Cherry Blossom Tree remains in the palace grounds. Since your blessing established an eternal spring within the palace, the tree will never die. However, it has a limit, only 379 fruits will grow per year. The tree will always maintain 30 fruits at a time, meaning every time a fruit is picked, a new one will appear the next day, until the 379 quota has been reached. After that, you'll need to wait for the next year for another 30 fruits to start appearing again.'
'Can it be replanted?' Ceres asked.
'It can. But only a Celestial Being can plant it. In this case, you can, but doing so will consume a significant portion of your HP. After all, it is a fruit of the Celestials.'
Ceres continued staring at her reflection, processing all the information.
'You said it can eliminate hunger and thirst. Then why am I still hungry and thirsty? I've already eaten two fruits.'
'I said it works like that for mortals.' Ori's voice was calm. 'Technically, you are not mortal. And have you already forgotten Archangel Azrael's explanation about your body's condition? Any pain or discomfort you feel will be multiplied if your HP drops below 50. Right now, your HP is at 44.5.'
"Son of a…!" Ceres cursed loudly.
Delphine flinched at the sheer vulgarity of it, and even Legion, still standing with his back turned, stiffened at the unexpected outburst.
Ceres gritted her teeth. She had completely forgotten about that stupid condition. She only remembered the pain, not the discomfort.
'So, do I really have to have sex just to get rid of this damn hunger I'm feeling?!' she groaned in frustration. 'And if I refill my HP to 100 now, will I level up then?'
'No.' Ori's voice remained steady. 'To fix your discomfort, if your hunger is five times stronger, then you just need to eat five times more to feel full again. Same as when you are thirsty or tired.'
Ceres sighed in exasperation.
'And about leveling up, if you sleep with a compatible partner to replenish your HP, but your HP was not at 30 or below, even if it was 30.01, you will not level up by refilling it to 100.'
Ceres froze, narrowing her eyes. 'Wait… what?'
'The condition for leveling up is simple, your HP must be at 30 or below, then replenished directly to 100.'
Ori continued, 'If your HP was 30 or below, but you replenished it partially and then used it before refilling it to 100, you will not level up either. The process has to be continuous, from 30 HP straight to 100 HP, without any HP usage in between.'
Ceres did the mental math.
Then she froze again.
'Hold on.' Her expression darkened as realization hit her like a truck.
'If I level up, my Max HP will also increase, right?' she asked slowly.
Ori remained silent.
'So that means if my Max HP reaches 200, to level up, I'll have to go from 30 HP to 200 HP in one go?! That means I'd have to sleep with Legion TWELVE TIMES just to level up?!'
'Did you not pay attention to Legion's compatibility with you, Your Highness? His compatibility is measured in percentage. No matter how high your Max HP becomes, he will always replenish 15% of it in one go. It is not a fixed 15 HP, just in case you were misunderstanding.'
Ceres sighed deeply. At least that damn Lucifer had some mercy on her.
She turned her gaze toward Delphine, whose face was still filled with concern, then to Legion, who still had his back to her.
"You can face me now, Legion. I'm covered," she said, adjusting the robe around her shoulders.
Legion hesitated for a moment before slowly turning around. Although he stood straight and alert, his ears were red, and he seemed to avoid making direct eye contact with her.
Ceres smirked but decided not to comment.
"I assume there are still plenty of Malvera fruits left?" she asked.
Legion nodded.
"Leave the two you're holding on the side table and pluck three more. Give me one of them, and the two of you can each have one."
Legion's head snapped up, his expression shifting into one of surprise.
"Are you sure, Your Majesty?" This time, he actually looked directly at her, though his face flushed redder as he spoke. "This fruit is extremely precious. There is still some bread in the kitchen, Delphine and I can manage with that until the next budget allocation for the Empress Palace arrives."
Ceres crossed her arms, raising an unimpressed brow as she looked at the two of them.
"Let me tell you something," she said. "I don't like repeating myself. If you want to stay in my service, do as I say. Otherwise, you're free to leave."
Silence.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Besides, now that the Emperor is being buried, do you really think his children will bother giving me any budget?" she scoffed. "If they were already starving me out while their father was alive, what makes you think they'll suddenly be generous now that he's gone?"
Another heavy silence settled in the room.
"And I can tell just how badly you want to take a bite of that fruit. So stop being stubborn and take it. I'll find a way for us to live comfortably without having to beg from those shameless royal bastards."
Then, she turned to Delphine.
"Also, you might have to start working overtime, I need new outfits," she said matter-of-factly. "Bring me pen and paper, and I'll draw the dresses I want you to make. And since I don't have money right now, take the Malvera fruit as your salary for the time being."
She waved a hand dismissively.
"Now, both of you, go. And take that tasteless cake with you."
Legion and Delphine exchanged glances before nodding and bowing.
Legion placed the two Malvera fruits he was holding onto the table before the two left the chamber, carefully closing the door behind them.
The moment the door clicked shut, Ceres let out a deep breath and collapsed onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Her thoughts drifted to Legion, more specifically, to how she was going to approach him about sleeping with her.
She wasn't the type to sleep around.
Back on Earth, Zeus was the only man she had ever given her body to. She had never once entertained the idea of being with anyone else.
But here in Solmara…
She had no choice.
The hunger was already unbearable, and this was just from discomfort.
What would happen when she started feeling actual pain?