Chapter – 08
“Feyten is a country that does not mistreat animals, Goddess. If you want to torment something, you might as well kill it.”
Roxand flinched at the word “kill.” Dee-ah clicked her tongue impatiently as if it didn’t matter.
“It’s not just an animal! He’s Roxand, I’m telling you!”
“I didn’t take you for a swindler so low you’d tell such a transparent lie.”
‘Ugh, I know this story. The boy who cried wolf. The one time I tell the truth, no one believes me….’
Feeling wronged, Dee-ah took the fox and left. Then she ran up to Lita-der, who was passing by, and thrust the fox forward.
“Lita-der. You’re a priest, so you’ll recognize him, right? This fox.”
“Ah! Goddess! Where did you find such a cute fox!”
“No, it’s not a fox…”
“Isn’t it? Then is it a cat with big ears? Oh, are you going to keep it, Goddess?”
Lita-der failed completely to recognize the god he served.
Frustrated, Dee-ah squeezed the fox’s cheeks firmly.
“Hey. Fox. Say something!”
-
Even if I talk, people can’t hear me. You can only talk to me because you’re the Goddess, remember?
The fox pretended to be pitiful, slumping down and only moving its mouth. Seeing this, Lita-der, who always adored Diana, snatched the fox away.
“Even if you are the Goddess, you shouldn’t torment animals.”
‘Why are these people suddenly turning into animal activists for no reason?’
She was so frustrated she could scream.
A short while later, the prayers dedicated to the God Roxand began.
The two Goddesses stood on either side of the altar. Dee-ah, the Western Goddess, on the west, and Amira, the Eastern Goddess, on the east.
Dee-ah looked around, feeling out of place. From the start, she felt almost non-existent in this scene. Amira, wearing a gorgeous red dress, was far too eye-catching. Her black hair and menacing red eyes were also sexy.
While Dee-ah was seriously considering if she could slip away and rest, a fox sauntered up to the center of the altar, wagging its tail. Dee-ah, who had been half-heartedly mimicking Amira, shouted.
“Hey! That little—!”
At her voice, everyone looked at Dee-ah, then at the fox crouched on the altar. Dee-ah addressed the people.
“An animal shouldn’t be up there, right?”
She spoke angrily, but the people were already mesmerized by the fox’s cuteness. The people of Feyten, living in the continent’s north, were notably large even by continental standards.
Perhaps because of that, whenever they saw something cute, they couldn’t help but fawn over it. Moreover, Roxand was a desert fox, a mystical creature absolutely never seen in chilly Feyten.
One of the priests, Vinden, whispered to Dee-ah.
“Goddess. Since ancient times, the people of Feyten have believed the legend that the God Roxand sometimes inhabits the body of a beast. You can consider that fox to be the God Roxand.”
‘They didn’t believe me when I said it!?’
While Dee-ah was agonizing, Roxand pranced around the altar, clearly trying to taunt her. Roxand shamelessly exposed its belly, lay down, then rolled around cutely.
‘How dare you swing a broom at a god? I hope you choke on your frustration, Diana.’
While captivating everyone with cuteness and teasing Dee-ah, Roxand spotted it.
Alcohol.
The fox’s turquoise eyes sparkled. How long had it been since it last saw alcohol? For Roxand, an alcoholic, the recent abstinence had been terrible torment. Roxand swiftly dashed towards the alcohol. Just as it was about to drink, Dee-ah smiled sweetly and covered the bowl with her hand.
“My, my, little fox. Animals shouldn’t drink alcohol.”
At her words, the people nodded in agreement. The eyes of the alcoholic fox, deprived of alcohol right before its eyes, wavered.
‘People of Feyten? Don’t you feel any resentment from her calling me “little fox” instead of “baby fox”?’
Roxand tried to communicate with its eyes, but no one paid attention. Dee-ah spoke with an adorable smile.
“I’ll give you water, clean and clear water.”
Then Lita-der said with an innocent face.
“I’ll bring clean water as the Goddess said!”
As Lita-der ran off, Roxand whimpered.
-
I was wrong, Goddess Diana…… please give me some alcohol.
“I have a question.”
-
What is it!
“That time you were pushing that bead. It felt like you were trying to hypnotize me into thinking I absolutely had to buy it.”
-
Psh. People under hypnosis don’t know they’re hypnotized. It was just a feeling, so it was a coincidence, a coincidence.
“…… That’s suspicious.”
-
What’s so suspicious? Just give me the alcohol already. I’ll be good.
Roxand spoke while wagging its tail, winking, and pouring on all sorts of aegyo.
When Lita-der brought water, Dee-ah took a sip, then with a quick sleight-of-hand learned from Teacher Kim Seon-nyeo, she swapped the water for alcohol in the cup and placed it before Roxand.
It was pitiful to see it putting on so much aegyo just for a single cup of alcohol.
As the fox began gulping down the alcohol, Dee-ah grinned. She stood up and looked to the side.
The Eastern Goddess, Amira, continued praying, gazing straight ahead. Her attitude as if there was no commotion at all.
And the priests following Bernadoc stood conspicuously behind Amira, having clearly chosen their Goddess.
Dee-ah felt relieved. It was now clear that she was the real one and that Amira beside her was a fake.
The only problem was, having lived a life of trickery, she had only ever told situational lies to get by and had never had to prove she was the real one.
It was unfair. The real god was right in front of her, wagging its tail without any pride just to get alcohol.
‘Who knew telling the truth would be this difficult!’
The next morning, waking up, Dee-ah clicked her tongue at the fox passed out drunk under her bed.
“What a dog.”
-
I’m a fox!
The fox lying on its back on the floor shouted groggily. Still, for a desert fox, it was disgustingly cute. Dee-ah picked up Roxand, laid it on her own bed, tucked it in properly, and left the tent.
By the way, she now completely understood Kyle’s heart when he called the priests tax thieves. Those who couldn’t even recognize the god they served were just wasting tax money.
Looking down on the priests, she looked outside and saw the hunting competition had already begun, with the smell of animal blood coming from all directions.
Looking around, Dee-ah spotted Telden, whom she had given a fortune for his daughter a few days prior, and happily asked.
“Telden. How’s your daughter these days?”
“Ah! Goddess! Actually, I recently got a good sapling. I planted it in a small pot. Do you think the God Roxand will be pleased with that?”
“The sincerity is a bit lacking, but if you wish earnestly, the god won’t turn away.”
‘I used to be someone who never gave consultations for free like this….’
Feeling a bit sorry for herself, Dee-ah continued.
“And Telden, stop trying to introduce men who aren’t your daughter’s type. That will only make her more rebellious.”
“B-but! He really seems like a good man to me!”
“Originally, that child was born under a star sign where she must meet a man who suits her taste to be happy.”
“I-is that so……”
Telden nodded dejectedly.
Dee-ah patted his back to console him and asked.
“By the way, were you hunting all night?”
“Yes. Feyten’s hunting festival lasts three days. The person who catches the most animals over the three days wins.”
“Usually, about how many does one person need to catch to win?”
“Actually…… originally, Feyten’s traditional hunting competition was called a competition, but everyone just treated it as a day to barbecue and have fun. The winner would catch maybe three? But after His Highness Kyle came to Feyten, that changed……”
The event itself was not modern at all, yet the people’s expressions were strangely modern. Dee-ah concentrated to read their expressions, which she felt she’d seen somewhere before.
‘Where have I seen that look before….’
‘W-will it rain this week? Please say it will!’
Ah, she remembered.
Dee-ah’s eyes sparkled as she asked Telden.
“By any chance, Telden, did you hope it would rain so the hunting competition would be canceled?”
“His Highness is not the type to cancel the hunting competition just because it rains…… It’s better if it’s clear……”
Back in Cheongdam-dong, when telling fortunes, Dee-ah always checked the weather forecast from the meteorological agency.
That’s because there were often office workers who would tearfully ask if it would rain on the day of their company hiking event, or if not, to make it rain(!).
The expressions of the people dragged into this hunting competition now were similar to those office workers back then. The sight of them pretending to hunt, sniffling for fear of being scolded by Kyle, was pitiful.
In other words, this is…
A boss dragging subordinates on a hike under the guise of “getting fresh air,” and the subordinates reluctantly following…
Moreover, it’s exactly the situation where that boss thinks he’s doing it for the subordinates’ benefit.
Dee-ah clenched her fists and said.
“Got it! I’ll try to do something about it.”
“Eh, eh? Goddess! You don’t need to risk your life for us!”
The timid Telden trembled and tried to stop her, but Dee-ah was already running off to tell Kyle about this.
Kyle was drawing his bowstring, and right in front of him was what looked like a bear cub.
From behind, thumping sounds and earthquake-like vibrations were felt, and then a bear much larger than the one in front came charging.
An arrow flew from Kyle’s bow as he looked at the charging bear. The arrow struck the large bear’s eye, and as it roared in agony, another arrow flew into its other eye, felling the bear.
Kyle stabbed his sword into the neck of the crying cub, felling it, and looked around, but no one was there.
“Damn it.”
Again, he couldn’t show anyone his hunting skills!
This year, Kyle had planned to use this hunting competition to show off his impressive hunting skills and gain some popularity. That’s why he deliberately brought out a bow he didn’t usually use.
But of all things, everyone’s interest was completely focused on the competition between the two Goddesses.
Kyle turned around and saw Dee-ah in the distance, covering her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide.
She claimed to be a forest fairy or something, but there was nothing fairy-like about her.
‘Ah, she does sparkle a bit. But why is that?’
Dee-ah ran up to Kyle and stood with her back to the dead bears.
“Kyle! Listen, I’m your right-hand man, right?”
He’d rather not have a right-hand man who couldn’t even look straight at a dead bear, let alone a still-dripping sword.
“Since when are you my right-hand?”
“From now on, since I need to be recognized as the Goddess.”
“Anyway, I plan to eventually deal with all the priests associated with the God Roxand. Whether you’re the real Goddess or not doesn’t matter.”
A morning murder threat.
He talked about killing so casually it was like a greeting; now, not getting a daily murder threat made life feel incomplete.
Dee-ah spoke without even looking scared anymore.
“Listen, this is important. Turns out, people in this country don’t really like macho types like you?”
“What are you talking about. The Vintensian Empire originally values physically strong men the most……”
Kyle suddenly stopped speaking. The face of his younger brother, who was forgiven even for stealing, popped into his head.
He groaned unconsciously.
“No wonder my scrawny younger brother was so popular……”
“Huh? So your brother is a pretty boy?”
“I said he’s scrawny.”
“Pretty.”
Dee-ah nodded and continued.
“Anyway, so they don’t really like sports either, so they probably didn’t want to participate in the hunting competition. They all followed along because they were afraid of you.”
“……So, I’ve been holding a hunting competition that people don’t even like for three years now.”
“Hmm. To be precise, without you it’s a festival, but with you, it was more like mandatory overtime?”
Worried that Kyle might be hurt, Dee-ah said it lightly.
Kyle sighed at the truth he learned after three years.
The conclusion was that if he, the uncomfortable boss, just didn’t participate, it would be fine. Should he be glad he found out now…?
Kyle called his subordinates and had them drag the two bears away. Dee-ah muttered.
“Poor thing. The cub.”
“Without its parents, a bear cub will wander and die anyway. Killing it is better.”
“Why? I grew up just fine.”
At Dee-ah’s optimistic voice, Kyle looked at her. Dee-ah looked up at Kyle and said cheerfully.
