“Lal-la, la-la.”
On the roof of Mila Mansion, which carried a rather shabby atmosphere, the woman with brown hair crouched down with her knees pulled close to her chest, gazing up at the night sky.
As if someone had sprinkled sugar on her, she twitched slightly, counting the stars that embroidered the sky one by one.
Cecil, humming a meaningless tune in the strange silence devoid of even the sound of a grasshopper, was lost in thought.
Julius was gradually realizing that his wife had returned alive, trying to accept the reality of it. If things continued like this, the bet would sway back in her favor.
“…Is it boring? What does such a trivial bet have to do with the return of eternal love?”
Shocked by her own thoughts, she quickly looked around.
Julius was busy preparing for his trip and wouldn’t return until late at night.
Did she feel strange being alone?
She tilted her head, pondering the reason behind her unease, but no answer came to her.
Maybe it was the eerie atmosphere of being surrounded by a forest. Convincing herself of this, she resumed counting the stars in the night sky.
“…7, 8. Now that I think about it, how old was Leira?”
She needed to appear as the perfect wife in front of Julius. She almost made a big mistake.
Uh… So she was 8, right?
But did she really need to know this? Julius didn’t seem particularly interested in Leira at the moment.
“As expected, I might not need it yet,” she muttered.
Wouldn’t it be better to focus on being a wife capable of experiencing sweet love?
She shook her head, chastising herself, “What am I thinking? Leira is my precious daughter.”
If Leira hadn’t been her child, she wouldn’t have died.
Julius wouldn’t have suffered such sadness.
“No, no. Someone keeps saying this in my head.”
Her blue eyes, which had barely maintained their color, turned completely black.
“Leira is my beloved daughter… Yes, she is. I just need to go see her now.”
As she vigorously waved her trembling hands, a small crack appeared in the air. Cecil stood up, barely controlling herself, and walked slowly while strange thoughts continued to fill her mind.
– Is there any need to meet her now?
– It’s hard to understand.
– I’m busy spending time with him now.
– Krail, that foolish child of Rom, is taking care of Leira, so there’s nothing to worry about.
Her steps faltered, then suddenly stopped.
Standing still with her eyes closed, she seemed to gather her thoughts for a moment before snapping her fingers lightly.
“I have to go on a trip tomorrow. Yes, I should refrain from going too far. Leira will be taken good care of by Mr. Krail. I need to nurture my love—yes, my love—rather than focus on that now.”
The crack in the air vanished, and Cecil wrapped her arms around herself, trembling uncontrollably.
“Julius, I have to go to Julius.”
Leira would only be happy once her love with him was complete.
She stamped her feet on the roof, leapt down to the path below, and began muttering incessantly while shaking her body.
Birds perched in the trees along the path stared intently at her. Initially, there was only one, but now black birds filled the road. In the dreary night, these silent creatures bowed their heads in eerie unison.
***
“Julius, now that I think about it, I’ve barely heard anything about your daughter,” Priestess Emily said casually.
Preparing for her trip to a church in Aran, she used the pretext of promoting fellowship between local churches to initiate the conversation.
Watching Julius struggle with the broken Telmere mirror, she continued, “You mean Leira?”
“Right. Technically, isn’t she like my granddaughter? Having a granddaughter at this age feels strange, but I’m curious.”
While organizing his belongings, Julius paused, combing his hair with a small wooden comb. After glancing at her jokingly for a moment, he sighed and admitted, “I’ve been a terrible father. I was so blinded by sadness that I failed to care for my only daughter properly.”
“Yeah, you’ve definitely been an idiot,” Emily quipped bluntly.
Julius pondered her words before letting out a small laugh. “Yes, I think I’ve been an idiot.”
“Good, as long as you know. So, what kind of child is your daughter?”
He touched his chin thoughtfully, then said, “She’s kind, just like Cecil. Her hair is blonde like mine, but her eyes are a very pretty blue, just like her mother.”
“She sounds like a princess from a fairy tale.”
Though his expression remained bitter, Julius couldn’t help but brag about Leira, unable to stop once he began.
Emily, who had been listening attentively, suddenly sensed something strange.
“…I was so surprised to see Leira bre*astfeeding from Cecil when she was just a newborn,” Julius added.
“Julius, I have a question. Can I ask?”
“Ah… Yes, go ahead.”
“From what I gather, Cecil seems to care deeply for your daughter.”
“That’s right. She found Leira adorable.”
“But why hasn’t she gone to see her yet?”
Julius remained silent, unable to answer.
Cecil could traverse space freely and even locate powerful devils with ease. Yet, she hadn’t gone to see Leira.
As Julius stared at his reflection in the window, the puzzled expression of a blonde man stared back at him.
Squeak!
Thump!
The heavy church door opened, and the sound of approaching footsteps echoed through the suffocating air.
Julius felt a chilling presence behind him.
As he turned, he was met with black eyes clouded by something ominous.
What stood before him was neither his wife who loved him nor a mother with tender devotion. Instead, there was only a beast consumed by sweet obsession, driven by immoral desires.
In the darkness of the deep night, where even the starlight faded, the devil had opened her eyes.
Get More Chapters on Patreon: From now on, FSM Level 2 will become the CN WN Bundle. The price will remain the same which is $10. Also, the price for the KR WN Bundle will also be decreased to $10 to match this bundle.
With this I have gotten rid of the level system. The reason I am doing this, is because I plan to add more chapters to the $5 Patron tiers. Previously the readers got 2 advance chapters when they became a $5 Patron, but now I’ve increased the chapters they will get to at least 5 chapters and more. So the current updated tier system will work like this:
The Individual Tiers ($5) will give you access to 5 chapters or more.
The Bundle Tiers ($10) will give you access to all the chapters of CN or KR webnovels.
The Supreme Patron ($30) will give you access to all the webnovel chapters on Goblinslate.