‘Imbued with resentnt.’
Just those few words were enough to tell how Regina had t her end.
Leonia was struck by Ferio’s earlier words—that Regina had died after swallowing Remus’s necklace.
“A pitiful and wretched creature who realized her foolishness only monts before her death.”
Even the god expressed sympathy for Regina.
“...Still, I don’t get it.”
Lowering her guard slightly, Leonia sat on the edge of the bed.
“How does that justify interfering with us?”
“I told you—it wasn’t interference.”
The god corrected her once again. In fact, it claid to have helped.
“Regina is already dead. Resentnt alone harming the living? That’s nonsense.”
“Then what about us?”
“It’s true that we could’ve left things alone.”
But if they had, Regina’s grudge could never be released.
“We couldn’t let the Fangs remain like that forever.”
Once back in the god’s domain, the Fangs of the Beast were ant to run freely across the black plains before returning to a new Voreoti.
But with Regina’s lingering resentnt imbued in them, even the gods were troubled.
“And besides, those bastards needed a little punishnt.”
“Those bastards...?”
“The Red Swans and the Golden Eagle.”
Remus and the Bellius Imperial family.
Among them, the gods had set their sights on the imperial household.
“To think they had the gall to target the Northern Mountains.”
The god was still appalled. It had left them be, thinking them insignificant, but they had discovered the North’s secrets and co dangerously close.
“And then the swan tried to kill the eagle!”
And actually succeeded!
The god even clapped in surprise, much to Leonia’s irritation.
She really wished the god wouldn’t act so ridiculous while possessing Varia’s body.
“That’s why we brought your family to the Northern Mountains.”
“And that’s your reason for interfering?”
Leonia asked, annoyed.
“Our ability to interfere is limited.”
Even if they were beings who had created the world and life itself, the realm beyond the black plains belonged wholly to humans and other living creatures.
“And we failed twice already.”
“Twice?”
Leonia blinked in shock. The god pointed to Varia’s body instead of answering.
‘Ah.’
The Black Beast Varia.
The title of the original novel suddenly flashed through Leonia’s mind, sending a chill down her spine.
“This body was very easy to interfere with.”
“...Why?”
“The Voreotis’ partners have always been that way.”
Ironically, while Voreotis—who bore the god’s gift—were difficult to influence, their partners shared a strange vulnerability to divine interference.
“That knight who pretended to be a princess, for example.”
“Who?”
“Eh, soone.”
The god brushed it off and continued.
“But the first attempt failed.”
Because Varia had been killed by Remus. So the god sent her back into the past.
She had been easy to influence, which made it possible—but the downside was that she returned with the mories of her previous life.
“Because of those side effects, we avoid interfering when we can.”
Still, thanks to that, Varia had lived a second ti, t Ferio, and brought punishnt upon both Emperor Subiteo and Olor.
“But that, too, was a failure.”
“Why?”
“The real wrongdoing was never uncovered.”
Regina’s grudge could not be erased with re punishnt.
So the god contemplated.
And ca up with a third thod.
“You.”
Leonia Voreoti.
The god personally called the na of a being who hadn’t even existed in the previous tiline.
Fortunately, Varia had no mories of her second life, but even so, side effects remained.
“Aust and ridio began planning a rebellion.”
“...Hey!”
Leonia shouted in disbelief.
“You’re the ones who made things worse!”
“So should we have left the Fangs tainted by Regina’s grudge?”
Her resentnt had clung to the Fangs during her lifeti, and since it was born from a living being, the gods could not remove it at will.
“Regardless, you’ve changed a lot.”
Saying this, the god gently placed a hand on Varia’s stomach.
“Varia conceived the new Voreoti earlier than in the previous tiline.”
Because of that, the god had a stronger connection to Varia and was able to interfere more extensively than before.
“After that, you know how the rest goes.”
“You’re a total demon.”
Hearing the hidden truth, Leonia was speechless. Whatever faith she had left in the divine was now scorched to dust.
“Because of that, Mom and the baby were nearly killed!”
“But nothing actually happened to them, right?”
The god responded proudly, placing its hands on its hips as if to say it had done its part.
“...Why are you so annoyingly cheerful.”
Leonia was so stunned, she couldn’t even muster rage anymore.
She was now only planning to climb the peak during the upcoming winter monster hunt and spit and cough straight into the black plains.
She’d even wave her middle finger with gusto.
“So why did you interfere with us, really?”
“It wasn’t interference.”
“We had so many chances to kill or capture Remus! And you ruined them all!”
Especially when Remus, near death, suddenly sprang back to life—it was horrifying even to recall.
“I didn’t save him.”
The god clarified.
“As I said before, there are limits to interfering with the living.”
So far, it had only interfered with Varia.
But it failed twice—and only succeeded after creating a third opportunity through the existence of Leonia.
The god grumbled about how, in the past, they couldn’t even get as far as the Northern Mountains to try anything.
“And it wasn’t even that powerful of a force.”
At most, it could delay instant death by three seconds.
Leonia’s eyes widened.
“...The black diamond?”
“That’s what you humans call it.”
“You’ve got to be kidding...”
Leonia let out a hollow laugh. She hadn’t realized just how many things in the North and in House Voreoti were linked to the gods.
“Anyway, thanks to that power, the Red Swan got caught in the trap.”
The power the god had planted made Remus fall into a grand delusion.
A delusion that he had received so great divine power, that he had been chosen by the gods.
“And when he got too arrogant for his station...”
The god made a downward gesture with its index finger, like a falling arc, and then poked the bed.
“He fell beneath the black plains.”
“...”
“That’s our domain.”
The god’s smile as it said this was hauntingly serene.
“So... Remus is dead?”
“He’s not dead.”
But he was suffering so horribly that death might have been preferable.
“Right inside our bodies.”
“Gods’ bodies?”
“You know it well.”
“Why would I know your bodies?!”
“Because you’ve experienced it too.”
You know how hard it is.
“But thanks to that, the tree grew big, didn’t it?”
Leonia tilted her head, not understanding what the god ant.
But then her expression twisted in shock.
Urgh!
When Ferio had just adopted her, Leonia had suffered terrible motion sickness.
‘The tree that sprouted where I vomited—that thing got huge.’
And a year later, she had proudly boasted to the adults about how big the tree had grown from her sickness.
‘Distortion, suspension, denial of existence.’
One of the three side effects Paavo had once explained.
“Distortion...”
It had been motion sickness born from distortion.
“Remus is trapped inside the Gate.”
The god explained.
“The side effects of a Gate are terrifying.”
His body and mind were grotesquely distorted, and then frozen in that state.
But the Gate would reject the existence itself and force him back to his original form.
Then the distortion would begin again.
It would hold for a while, then be denied again.
And the cycle would repeat endlessly.
“Because he so desperately desired power from the gods.”
The god propped its chin on its hand with a troubled expression, voice and tone eerily reminiscent of a cunning little beast.
“If he has to suffer that pain forever, I’m sure he’ll be happy.”
With a gentle tone, as though bestowing rcy, the god foretold Remus’s future.
***
Upon arriving at the Empress’s palace, Ferio reviewed the items Leonia had handled during the noble council.
‘There’s no need to revise anything.’
Leonia had done remarkably well.
Even if the council had been rigged from the start, she had managed to steer things in a direction that benefited House Voreoti and the North.
For example, demanding a private eting before Crown Prince Chrisetos’s official investiture.
Or ensuring «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» that the punishnt of the Olor family would be carried out under Voreoti’s lead.
“My smile’s about to tear my face in half.”
The Empress, Tigria, chuckled as she watched Ferio in silence.
“She did well.”
Ferio’s tone was indifferent as he flipped through the completed agenda, but a pleased smile tugged at his lips.
The Empress thought it would’ve been better if he didn’t complint her at all.
But Leonia had clearly done well.
“...Still,”
The Empress voiced a slight complaint.
“Her aggressiveness is a bit...”
“A bit?”
“More than you.”
The Empress still couldn’t forget how Leonia had been set on beating Viscount Olor to death in the eting room.
And the way she had laughed with joy every ti blood splattered—so much so that even the Empress, a swordmaster, had felt a chill down her spine.
“Thank you for the complint.”
Ferio nodded proudly, clearly pleased with his daughter’s growth.
“But despite appearances, she has a very soft heart, which worries .”
“A soft heart?”
The Empress thought she had misheard.
But Ferio seed sincerely concerned.
“She’s just so affectionate.”
“Affectionate...”
“She’s kind to everyone. As her father, it worries .”
“Worry...”
The Empress now understood how Ferio saw Leonia.
It seed the Duke considered his daughter to be a small, fluffy dog or kitten in need of constant protection.
‘The Duchess is the sa.’
Varia, whom she had t at a previous tea gathering, was no different—perhaps even worse.
She would feed Leonia sweets with her own hands, wipe crumbs from her mouth, and hug and soothe her over the smallest fuss.
In Varia’s eyes too, Leonia was a helpless baby animal in need of care.
‘When in fact, she’s a blood-soaked beast.’
A feral creature that would charge if even slightly irritated.
“...Soone like her,”
Yet even the Empress agreed on one point.
“Will surely attract many suitors.”
Regardless of her personality or tastes, just judging by her appearance, Leonia would undoubtedly grow into a woman who could captivate every man in the Empire.
‘And with the na of the next Voreoti heir behind her...’
It was almost a certainty she would beco the Empire’s most sought-after match.
“I wonder which man will earn the honor of being the consort to the next Voreoti heir.”
“A glory far beyond their worth.”
Ferio looked sharply at the Empress, clearly unamused by her hopeful tone.
“There won’t be such a man.”
Already on edge thanks to Princess Scandia, his voice was laced with open displeasure.
“The heir just needs to be seeded, that’s all.”
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