Chapter 55
“Still, I’m fine. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m satisfied with this life. If I’d been a little more ordinary, my child would have been born without any problems. They would’ve grown up beautifully, loved in an ordinary family. They would’ve met a good person, spent good times together, and lived like that. But by meeting me, my child’s life became unhappy.”
“Ah….”
“And I, too, couldn’t die and had to live for more than a hundred years. With nothing going the way I wanted… That’s why I’m saying this, Aisha. In truth, no matter how nicely it’s dressed up in words, becoming a substitute priestess is mortgaging your future. So I want to ask you one last time.”
I know all too well what she’s worried about. That’s why I nodded firmly.
“Yes. I’m fine. I might regret it later. But for now, I’m fine.”
Her hand began to tremble little by little. But I have no choice.
I said I was fine, but there’s no way out. If what I saw really is our future.
‘It’s probably… the future.’
Even if I want to think it isn’t, it seems certain that it’s my future—the future of Aisha, the original owner of this body.
If that’s the truth, if that’s right, then everything strange that’s happened to me can be explained. From the very first dream I had, to the odd things I experienced every time after coming here.
‘Right now, I could think that the substitute priestess plotted something. Since after her hand touched me, I suddenly began seeing strange future events I didn’t even know about. But the dreams I had before meeting her weren’t like that.’
If that’s the truth, if that’s our future, and if changing the future is as difficult as it was for the substitute priestess… then wouldn’t it be okay to take an easier path, at least a little?
“I’ll do it. I will. So please help me. So that the things I dreamed of don’t actually happen. So that I—at least I—can change the future.”
Only then did she slowly nod her head.
“Alright. I’ll help you with anything. First, starting with restoring the grand duchess’s body… let’s go out and do it right away.”
I shook my head toward her, who looked ready to do anything.
“Substitute Priestess.”
“Yes.”
“Couldn’t we do it later, not right now?”
At my sudden words, the substitute priestess’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Does it really have to be done immediately? Is it… urgent?”
“If Aisha succeeds me, then even one day sooner, I can escape this life.”
“Ah….”
“Only when the next substitute priestess appears, only when that person is ready to receive the will of the god, can I die.”
I know how hard this must be for her. So I tightly held her hand.
“I’m sorry. But… if we move right now, they’ll find out on the other side.”
“Would it be a problem if they did?”
“For now… I can’t tell you everything, but….”
What would change if it were revealed now? In any case, I can’t reveal everything immediately. Even if Lari is cured, we won’t be able to find the cause. To bring down the grand duchess faster and more thoroughly, we need to uncover how much she’s tormented the twins.
That’s why we need just a little more time. We have to find evidence.
“I’m sorry….”
“No, it’s fine. Will you tell me the reason later? That way, I can help with whatever I can.”
“Yes! And I’m sorry, but… please keep this matter a secret just among us for the time being.”
“We can’t keep it a secret forever. But since this would also be sudden for Aisha to accept, let’s keep it secret for now.”
“It won’t take long.”
It has to be that way. The evidence will soon be created. We have to drive out the grand duchess before the children grow up.
‘First, I need to find evidence. What the grand duchess has been doing to Lari… And I’ll find that person. Before that person goes mad, I’ll make sure they testify properly and give the child proper love.’
They mustn’t know that the substitute priestess is on my side, so they’ll act as they always do.
“Alright, Aisha. But I have a feeling the grand duchess’s condition isn’t very good. I think you’ll need to return soon.”
“Is it very serious?”
I stared at her intently. One strange thing had come up. I know that the story that came to my mind is a real one, and I also clearly know that I obtained the power of the god and returned to the past…
But I don’t know why the story from the novel keeps disappearing.
‘The beginning was definitely a story from a novel. And the fact that I, the twins, and everyone who exists here are characters from a novel hasn’t changed.’
If that’s the case, the novel’s story should keep coming to mind.
‘It’s like someone made me remember the novel as a warning, and now they’ve taken that memory away.’
Now the boundary of whether I really lived in Korea is becoming vague. So what happened to Lari… In the last memory I clearly recall, Lari… was very sick, but…
While I was thinking that, the substitute priestess spoke.
“I can’t say for sure since I haven’t examined her closely, but still, I have that feeling.”
“Ah.”
“Aisha, to a child to whom the god has shared their power—to the one destined to serve as the substitute priestess—the god sometimes gives strange intuitions rather than oracles or revelations. A feeling that can’t be explained in words. You’ve felt it too, haven’t you?”
Come to think of it, the fact that I felt unusually calm when I saw the substitute priestess, the discomfort I felt when I saw the grand duchess or the twins’ maids—was that what she meant?
“Ah….”
“Those things will help Aisha live. The god wants us to return safely into their embrace.”
I tightly held her hand.
“Yes. I will. So please wait just a little longer.”
“Alright. When the time comes, we’ll talk. I’ll become your godmother.”
“Yes.”
I slowly stood up from my seat. Maybe because I’d been leaning against the substitute priestess the whole time, my leg cramped slightly. Just as I was about to limp, strangely, I felt blood rush through my leg and the pain disappeared.
“Huh…?”
“Did the pain go away?”
“It’s amazing!”
“That kind of thing will probably keep happening. Even if you’re injured, even if you eat something dangerous. That’s… even if it’s not obvious, proof that Aisha has been chosen by the god.”
Then is that why I didn’t suffer much even after ingesting and absorbing the same poison as Lari?
“Um… Substitute Priestess. If I have something I want to ask, what should I do?”
“Normally, it’s best to come to the temple, but I’ll assign someone trustworthy to stay by your side. In a few days, they’ll enter the grand duke’s household.”
“Ah… yes!”
It was then.
“What are you doing in there, not coming out! Nothing wrong happened, did it?!”
Someone burst through the door and rushed inside. I didn’t need to be told who it was to know their identity.
“Rohen! You can’t just barge in like this!”
“The timing is perfect, Grand Duke. I’ve just finished talking with Aisha.”
“Is that so.”
The grand duke, who had rushed in after Rohen—who had run in holding the sleeping Lari in his arms—quickly relaxed his expression.
“My apologies, Substitute Priestess. Even if everything was finished, to behave so rudely like this…”
“It’s nice to see. He looks just like you did when you were young, Grand Duke.”
“When I was young? Th-that’s…!”
The grand duke’s face flushed red as he looked at Rohen, who was puffing and stomping his way toward me.
“They say blood doesn’t lie.”
“When did I ever act so recklessly….”
“At times like this, the Grand Duke seems human. Before, no matter what was said, you never responded, but now you finally seem like a person.”
“You’re still teasing me as always, Substitute Priestess.”
Then Rohen came up to me and suddenly grabbed my hand.
“I really don’t like this!”
“Huh?”
Rohen, who seemed partly like an adult and partly like a child, puffed out his cheeks.
“I was worried. Dad kept telling me not to go in, and you didn’t seem like you were coming out either. Do you know how worried I was that something might’ve happened?”
At his clear use of the word “dad,” I smiled slightly.
“You were worried?”
“Yeah. No, it’s not like I was worried about you. Lari—Lari was worried about you, so I was worried.”
“But Lari’s sleeping.”
I pointed at Lari.
“No, she isn’t! She woke up earlier!”
“Alright. More importantly, it seems like you’ve gotten close to the Grand Duke.”
“Close? Not at all. Anyway, there’s nothing about him I like. He just keeps stopping me.”
He said that, but Rohen had changed a little. I don’t really know what the grand duke was like before, so I can’t say for sure. Still, maybe he liked being called “dad,” because he was smiling faintly.
Of course, his ears were still bright red because of what the substitute priestess had said earlier.
“It seems the grand duchess has been sleeping for a while now, Grand Duke.”
“Well… she seems to be a child who sleeps a lot.”
At that, I shook my head. Substitute Priestess, please say that’s not true. No matter how much someone sleeps, no child sleeps like that continuously.
And perhaps sensing my thoughts, the substitute priestess shook her head from side to side.
“No. There is no child who sleeps like that.”
“I-is that… so?”
The foolish grand duke finally seemed to come to his senses.
