HPL 03

chapter 03

I widened my eyes at the sight of blood staining my palm.

“Oh, it’s blood. It really is blood.”

Gods don’t bleed because they have no physical form. Though they feel pain, blood never flows. In all the long years I’d lived, this was the first time I had ever bled.

As I stared at the blood in fascination, Tommy scolded me.

{There’s nothing to marvel at. You nearly died, you know?}

Only after hearing Tommy did I realize how dangerous the situation had been.

Come to think of it, humans die if a dagger pierces the neck.

If the dagger had flown just a little to the side and struck Diana’s neck, her body would have died. Then I would have returned to the divine realm.

I hadn’t volunteered to come here, but if I returned knowing the world would be destroyed without being able to do anything, my pride as a god would suffer.

And I didn’t particularly want the experience of dying. Who threw that dagger?

I wiped the blood off my palm on my clothes and quickly ran to the window.

Looking outside, all I could see around the annex were thick trees and bushes.

Tch, did they run away? An outsider? Or someone from the mansion?

From days of observation, I knew that people rarely visited the annex without a specific reason. So there would be no witnesses.

Even if there were, it was uncertain whether they would testify for Diana. From reading Diana’s diary, everyone in the mansion had ignored her.

At this rate, before I even find the possessor, I—more precisely, this body—might end up dead.

Clicking my tongue, I walked to the wall where the dagger was lodged. Then I noticed a piece of paper tied to the dagger’s handle.

I quickly pulled the dagger out and unfolded the note.

The writing was a deep red, like blood.

<Still alive? Wait.>

It was brief, but the note exuded a chilling malice.

Had Diana survived to the end if she had only fainted, without triggering a divine procedural error?

As I glared at the note, I heard a door opening from outside. Who was it?

After the recent incident, I tensed and stared at the door. Entering were the Tail Baron family and three priests.

“Why was the door locked? And why is the room like this… ah-choo! Sorry.”

A middle-aged priest I’d seen at the funeral coughed after speaking in a rush.

The two younger priests also scanned the room warily before sniffing and sneezing. All three seemed to have caught a cold.

Seeing the concern from the three, Ariel raised her eyebrows and shouted.

“Don’t be fooled! This child is not God’s! An evil spirit has possessed my cousin’s body!”

“Evil spirit?”

The priests simultaneously asked. The Baroness covered her mouth with a handkerchief and lowered her gaze, speaking as though recounting a tragic event.

“I raised Diana more carefully than my own daughter. She also loved us dearly. But yesterday, she threatened us with unheard-of curses.”

“That’s right. Her terrifying aura made it impossible to even move properly.”

The Tail Baron nodded in agreement, while the priest from the funeral furrowed his brow.

“That cannot be. That day, I clearly heard the Creator’s voice.”

“Couldn’t this be the act of a spirit pretending to be God? If the Creator truly saved Diana, the weather wouldn’t have been so gloomy that day.”

Ariel continued rambling, saying that if it were truly a divine miracle, light would have shone down and fairies would have sung.

Where did this notion come from that miracles require sunshine and singing fairies?

Tommy looked bewildered. Yet the Tail Baron nodded approvingly and pointed at the dagger I was holding.

“Breaking the glass with that vicious dagger must have been the evil spirit’s doing!”

Is the spirit really that petty? Does an evil spirit run around swinging a dagger alone?

The priests seemed skeptical of the Baron family and Ariel’s claims. Yet the middle-aged priest politely asked for confirmation.

“Miss Diana, my name is Lehman. I believe you are God’s child, but your family thinks otherwise. Can you explain what happened?”

The flying dagger breaking the window was unexpected. But I could manage that with a prepared story.

I put on a soft, sorrowful expression and spoke.

“The evil spirit that knew of my existence deceived my family’s senses. The dagger flying to break the glass was all the work of that spirit.”

“You’re the evil spirit! And yesterday, you didn’t say it like this!”

Ariel retorted sharply. I turned my head and looked at her with infinite pity and compassion—a look I often made when smiling kindly at Dean, a god I was friendly with.

“My revival and my regained sanity are thanks to the Creator. He also granted me a small power to illuminate this world. I will use that power to protect you from the evil spirit.”

Flattering the Creator was distasteful, but unavoidable.

As I exuded a calm, serene aura, the priests relaxed their expressions. The Baron family and Ariel quickly started talking again.

“Don’t believe her words! She said she’d stretch her tongue and jump rope with it!”

“That cunning thing is deceiving the priests.”

“Don’t be fooled. She said my intestines are like slime.”

Hearing this, I widened my eyes in mock shock.

“That’s harsh! Even as a spirit, it’s too extreme a hallucination.”

{Wow, can a god be this despicable?}

Tommy frowned, and I responded internally.

Despicable? I am merely acting according to the human image of a god. To the priests, I am God’s chosen, but that’s it.

As the Baron family and Ariel kept insisting they were right, I summoned divine energy.

A warm, gentle light radiated from my body. The priests’ eyes widened.

“Divine power?!”

“Even though she isn’t a priest, she uses divine energy.”

“She truly is God’s child.”

It wasn’t divine energy but spiritual power—but close enough.

Using my power, the scattered glass floated in midair and reassembled as if alive, returning to the window’s frame.

The wound on my cheek also vanished. The Baron family and Ariel gawked silently.

This was enough, but why not put on a little more show?

I raised my right hand, and a swarm of luminous butterflies appeared. Each flap scattered particles of light into the air.

The butterflies flew around the priests, surrounding them. As the glowing swarm vanished, their eyes widened.

“The cold is gone.”

“No more runny noses.”

“Ohhh!”

Seeing their own restored bodies, I smiled softly.

“The Creator saved me for a great purpose, but He asked me to tell you that you are His most beloved children.”

The priests’ expressions completely relaxed.

{The Creator never actually said that. Isn’t this fraud?}

Tommy looked incredulous. I smirked slightly.

Fraud exploits others for gain. My words harm no one—they even uplift them. So it’s not fraud.

Tommy seemed speechless, as if realizing he couldn’t argue.

The priests, convinced that I truly was God’s child, left after giving gifts.

Even after their departure, the Baron family and Ariel stood dumbfounded.

I brushed my hair back and plopped onto the bed.

“Ah, it’s been a while since I acted like that.”

“Yes… acting… huh? So it really was acting!”

The Tail Baron echoed my words in a daze before regaining composure.

The Baroness and Ariel opened their eyes wide.

“So it was the spirit.”

“It was all lies.”

“I never lied. How could a spirit use divine energy? The priests confirmed it—it was divine energy.”

“Then you’re Diana? If you’re human, you should appreciate the care we gave you. Do you know how much money it cost to raise you?”

The Tail Baron tried to appear strong, perhaps due to his wife and daughter, but seeing my display of power earlier, he instinctively leaned back.

The Baroness and Ariel also shouted about ingratitude, though less forcefully than yesterday.

When they started talking about the cost of raising Diana, I pointed at the pile of items on the table.

“If you’re going to talk about the cost of raising me, take the things from the temple.”

“Don’t think you’ve fully repaid us by this.”

The Baron approached the table cautiously, while the Baroness and Ariel stuck close to him. Once at the table, they snatched up the items and bolted for the door, warning me to behave.

{They ran away.}

Tommy muttered, staring at the wide-open door.

“Seems like they forgot to lock it this time.”

I shrugged, and Tommy responded worriedly.

{Didn’t you push them too far? They’re trash, but if you coax them a bit, they might keep quiet.}

“If you leave trash nearby, it only leaves a stench and no help. Besides, there might be someone inside who ordered or assisted the attack on Diana.”

Tommy gasped.

Since I stirred things up, anyone involved in the attack might make a move. It’d be good to expose them.

A blatantly rampaging spirit is easy to handle, but one pretending to be normal while waiting for an opening is annoying.

The same applies to enemies. A direct enemy is easier to confront than a hidden one.

If I could use my full power, it wouldn’t matter if the enemy was hidden. But for now, I could only manage the strength of a high-ranking priest.

“I need Diana’s body to synchronize with my mind soon, so I can use more power.”

I lay back on the bed, muttering.

At creation, the Creator had built basic systems even to restrain Himself. One rule was not to tamper recklessly with human bodies.

A system meant to prevent divine rampages was helpful sometimes, but now it was an obstacle.

Tommy hovered in the air, looking down at me, and muttered quietly.

{Hmm, I thought you acted recklessly, but Lady Naida seems to actually think things through.}

The Creator could have at least made a considerate, caring helper.

Both humans and gods have instincts. I had a bad feeling the person who targeted Diana wouldn’t wait patiently until I could use full power.

Diana’s diary also contained secret routes to sneak out into the streets.

Rummaging through the room, I found outing clothes and a wig hidden under the bed.

I couldn’t just let them go to waste.

I wore the wig and outing clothes, following the route in the diary. Miraculously, I avoided encountering anyone.

The only person I saw was outside near the main building, between the bushes.

In a pavilion outside the building sat the Tail Baroness, Ariel, and a woman I had never seen before.

The once-sharp-tongued Baroness and Ariel behaved like meek lambs in front of this stranger.

Who was she, that the Baroness and Ariel were fawning like that?