Edward immediately put on an expression of being flattered.
Seeing this, the bishop chuckled, "Roselle Gustav is exactly such a man—although pride runs deep in his bones, he seldom shows it. To most who show him kindness, he responds with kindness."
"Sigh, if only I could actually get to know him."
"You will have the chance."
The bishop said faintly, then went back to fundraising.
"Tsk, I thought your next line would be offering to introduce me…guess I donated too little."
Edward muttered to himself.
———
As soon as Roselle returned to the villa, he locked himself in the study:
"Grimm, Edwards, from now on I need to focus entirely on something extremely important. Try not to let anyone disturb me."
"Understood!"
"William, Poli, keep watching the mascot situation. If there's any progress, contact me immediately."
"Understood!"
After giving instructions to his four subordinates, Roselle was just about to step into the study when his precious daughter Bernadette's voice called:
"Daddy, what are you doing?"
He walked over with a gentle smile, "Daddy needs to 'go into seclusion' to work on something very important. For the next few days, I might not be able to spend time with you."
"Oh, okay."
Bernadette nodded.
"Then Daddy, have you seen my Pinocchio doll?"
"…"
Roselle's smile froze. After a rapid brainstorm, he pointed decisively at Grimm, "It was Grimm! Uncle Grimm took it!"
Grimm: "…"
"Ah, yes—it was me."
Bernadette tilted her head in confusion, "Why would Uncle Grimm take away my Pinocchio doll?"
"Uh…yes, why did I take…"
"Because Uncle Grimm's daughter also wanted a doll, so he borrowed yours to give to a craftsman to replicate. It'll be returned to you in a few days."
"Really?"
Grimm could only nod helplessly, "Yes, that's right."
"Alright, just make sure you return it soon~"
Bernadette waved her hand.
"Bye-bye, Daddy."
"Whew—"
Roselle exhaled in relief, patted Grimm's shoulder, and entered the study.
But as soon as Bernadette turned the corner, she puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, "Hmph, Daddy always thinks I'm just a kid. Obviously, he took Pinocchio to that mysterious man, but he still blames poor Uncle Grimm."
She went to the swing in the garden, sat down, and swayed back and forth.
"Ugh, life's already boring enough every day. And now Daddy's going into seclusion—it's going to be even more boring."
She rested her fair chin on her hand, sighing.
"I already told Mommy to give me a little brother to play with, but she kept saying that's something she can't do alone…Daddy has to help.
"But it's Mommy who gets pregnant, Mommy who gives birth. What can Daddy even help with? Hmph, Mommy just doesn't want to have another baby. And if help is really necessary, can't she ask someone else?"
Bernadette rubbed her cheeks, then remembered her conversation with Edwards a few days earlier:
"Uncle Edwards said that normally, if you chant some sentences in Hermes, you might attract a terrifying evil god. But that person said those three lines are the incantation to contact him."
Uncle Edwards would never lie to me.
In that case—does that mean that person is an evil god?
Of course she had heard about evil gods. From her father's descriptions, they were extremely dangerous and terrifying beings.
But that man didn't seem dangerous at all.
At this moment, Bernadette cautiously glanced around, then whispered:
"The Eternal Sovereign Above Dimensions;
The Deconstructor of Endless Stories;
The Transcender of Past and Future."
She paused, widened her eyes, and softly asked, "Are you an evil god?"
——
Rose Street, No. 7 Villa.
Edward stood by the bay window on the second floor, watching two slaves busy in the garden below, while Dubois walked back and forth with his head down, tangled in his own thoughts.
Suddenly, a faint mosquito-like whisper reached his ears.
Someone is praying to me?
Hmm…the only one who knows my three-part incantation right now is Bernadette.
He immediately pulled the curtains shut, took four backwards steps, and entered the Sefirah Castle.
Sure enough, the star that represented Bernadette was faintly swelling and shrinking.
Extending his spirituality to touch that star, Bernadette's figure appeared deep within the grey fog. She sat on the swing, sneakily chanting the three-part prayer. After a few seconds of hesitation, she whispered:
"Are you really an evil god?"
Facing the sincere question from his very first "believer," Edward did not hold back his answer:
"Nope~"
——
After Bernadette asked her question, she stopped the swing and her little face turned serious, as if truly awaiting an answer.
But after a few minutes, nothing happened.
She immediately pouted and huffed, "Hmph! I knew it! Totally a lie! Lying Pinocchio!"
Just as she finished muttering, endless grey fog suddenly appeared before her eyes. At its distant end sat a hazy figure upon a towering chair, legs crossed, smiling down at her:
"Nope~"
"…"
Bernadette froze on the spot.
When the grey fog vanished, she shot up from the swing, screaming in terror as she bolted away:
"Waaah!!! Evil god! Help!!!"
Without hesitation, she ran straight toward her father's study. But upon seeing the tightly closed door and the two uncles guarding it, she sniffled pitifully, then turned and ran off to her own room.
The moment she burst inside, she locked the door, leapt onto the bed, dove under the covers, and pulled them over her head—all in one motion.
Underneath the quilt, her trembling little figure bulged out. Eyes squeezed shut, hands covering her ears, she muttered in fright, "It's real! There really is an evil god! That guy is an evil god!"
Though she had mysterious confidence in her father, she wasn't confident enough to think he could actually fight an evil god. Fear overwhelmed her, and for a while she didn't know what to do—
If she obeyed her "agreement" with the evil god and told no one, who knew what might happen.
But if she broke the agreement and told Daddy, not only would her nose grow long, that evil god would definitely be angry!
"Huh?"
Bernadette poked her small head out from the quilt.
"But…if he really is an evil god, why wasn't he scary at all? I didn't feel in danger either."
She scratched her head.
"Besides, he already told me—those three lines were the incantation to contact him. I recited the incantation, he answered. Isn't that perfectly normal?"
"And anyway, just now he clearly said 'No'!"
At that thought, Bernadette shot out of bed, clenched her little fists, and tried to convince herself, "I must be overthinking it!"
"But then again…evil gods lying is totally normal."
Her brows furrowed as she propped her chin in worry. After a long while, her eyes grew firm. "Alright! For Mommy and Daddy's safety, I'll pretend to believe him for now…then slowly figure out his true intentions. This time, I'll protect Mommy and Daddy!!"
Carefully, she reached under her bed and pulled out the Little Mermaid doll. The moment she touched it, she was transported again to that beautiful island of soft sands and coconut trees, where the little mermaid sang sweetly.
Still, the gift from that man really was quite wonderful.
Resting her chin in her hands, she watched for a while, then suddenly thought:
"Sigh, no matter how pretty it looks, it's still fake. If only I could see a real mermaid!"
But Daddy said mermaids lived deep in the sea, and she was far too young to go there.
"So boring!"
She lowered her head to look again at the doll in her hand. Ripples shimmered faintly in her sapphire eyes, her thoughts wandering.
———
Above the Grey Fog.
Watching Bernadette scream and flee in terror after hearing his reply, Edward was speechless.
"You asked me a question, I answered it, and suddenly I'm an evil god? Really?"
Sure enough, just a child—scared at the drop of a hat.
Suddenly, his spirituality stirred. Among the countless deep-red stars floating quietly in the endless grey fog, one suddenly lit up, radiating light like flowing water!
It expanded and contracted, over and over—abnormally eye-catching. And it wasn't Bernadette's star.
At present, the only one who knew his three-segmented honorific name was Bernadette. With his [Secret Keeping] trait, she couldn't possibly have told anyone else. That meant this new star had to be someone who, like Audrey or Alger at the beginning, had formed a connection to the Sefirah Castle through some special item.
As Edward's spirituality touched it, the expanding and contracting crimson "star" revealed its scene and sound:
A golden-haired woman in a gloomy, intricate black dress writhed in agony on the ground, curling up in torment. Patches of her smooth skin sprouted bark-like growths, while thin branches pushed out between her fingers.
Clutched tightly in her hands was a small puppet carved in the likeness of a bound man, faint light radiating from it.
It seemed that puppet both connected her to the Sefirah Castle and shielded her from further harm.
Another puppet.
Since coming to this era, Edward had encountered quite a lot of them.
But then his expression shifted as realisation struck.
"This woman…looks really familiar."
He smacked his forehead lightly, "Ah! Miss Exeggutor!"
Tsk, still had her head on her shoulders, almost didn't recognise her.
She was being corroded or polluted by the Mother Tree of Desire?
As the Blessed of the Chained God, Reinette Tinekerr had once helped her father establish the Highland Kingdom and became the leader of the Rose School of Thought's Temperance Faction.
But later, the Chained God was captured and corrupted by the Mother Tree of Desire, forced to split off a Sequence 1 to give birth to the "Son of God" Suah. From then on, the Rose School changed: the Indulgence Faction grew ever stronger, while the Temperance Faction was harshly suppressed, surviving only through Reinette Tinekerr's accumulated prestige.
Until not long before the original story began, when Suah launched a purge of the Temperance Faction, leaving only Reinette, Sharron, Maric, and a handful of others to escape alive. Reinette 'perished' in the process, becoming a spirit world creature.
Edward hadn't expected that as far back as two hundred years ago, the Mother Tree had already made its move against Reinette. Then again, it made sense—ever since capturing the Chained God, the Mother Tree had aimed to fully control the Rose School, and the Temperance Faction was undeniably a stumbling block.
"Since the original story shows Reinette still surviving 'just fine' two hundred years later, that means even if I don't intervene now, she should still be able to resist the Mother Tree's corrosion."
"But still, since I've seen it with my own eyes…"
Edward's spirituality surged forth, pouring into that flowing crimson glow. He easily established a mysterious and solid connection with Reinette.
Then, leveraging the authority of the Sefirah Castle upon himself, he extended a hand toward Reinette—
Steal.
———
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