Pandora remained sprawled over Roy's chest, lifting her head to look at him. Her voice was slightly hoarse, like someone drowning in a desert.
Her slender fingers traced slow circles over Roy's heart, cool to the touch. Despite being a goddess who had lived for thousands of years, she acted like a little girl—perhaps this habit of drawing circles was an innate trait of all women.
"Actually… the knowledge Athena gave me was more than enough. It already allowed me to complete the ritual I wanted. To put it bluntly, Pandora, your knowledge was… optional."
After a brief hesitation, Roy decided to be honest.
"Hehe~ So, little Roy didn't come to me for my knowledge, but for me instead?"
Pandora's crystal-like eyes shimmered with mischief as she covered her mouth and giggled.
"Yeah. Because you're beautiful, I fell for you. Using knowledge as an excuse to have you—doesn't that make me despicable?"
Roy tightened his embrace around Pandora, gazing at her gentle, affectionate, and stunning face.
"Despicable? Not at all. Little Roy wanted to be with me because he likes me, not because he had some ulterior motive to gain knowledge. As your 'mother,' I should be happy! It means I'm still charming, after all~ Though, it also proves you're a pervert, getting excited over a little girl's body like this. Kukuku~"
Pandora burst into laughter, wrapping her arms around Roy's neck.
After a long while, she finally calmed down, her gaze slightly dazed as she looked at him. "…Consider this an early celebration for you, little Roy. As long as you break the Last Steel and put an end to this fate that has persisted for millennia… I'll do anything for you~"
Pandora's hand gently caressed Roy's cheek, her delicate body trembling slightly with a faint trace of fear and anticipation.
Roy caught her cold little hand, gazing into her slightly flustered yet expectant eyes as he smiled and said, "...Pandora, for thousands of years, you've been trapped in this empty divine realm, unable to communicate with anyone, unable to go anywhere. Only when a Campione succeeds in slaying a god can you exchange a few words with them. You must have been lonely."
Pandora didn't correct Roy's way of addressing her. Instead, she lightly bit him.
This was Pandora's life—as a knot at both ends of fate, she was a goddess without freedom, imprisoned in this divine realm as if under house arrest. She could neither go to the mortal world nor to any other part of the Netherworld. Only when a Campione successfully slew a god could she bring their will into her divine realm and speak with them for a brief moment.
And once the Campione returned to the mortal world, these demon kings who could be called Pandora's children would lose all memory of her divine realm. In truth, though Pandora was the creator of the Campiones, no one in this world could remember her.
"Yes, for thousands of years, I've had to sit alone in this gray world where nothing exists. Whether I cry or laugh, no one knows, no one remembers. Because of the gods' curse, I can't even end my own life. I don't know how much longer this life must continue. I've endured for far too long, waiting for this day to come."
Pandora bit her lip, her voice trembling with emotion. "...Even for the Last King, he too yearns for a Campione who can truly defeat him, allowing his weary body and soul to finally rest."
Though she should have been the Last King's greatest enemy—since all of Pandora's 'children' had died by his hand—Pandora was also the one who understood him the most. Because both Veeraj and Pandora were 'machines' without freedom, trapped in the web woven by the God of Fate, unable to escape like butterflies.
Both Veeraj and Pandora were waiting—waiting for someone to tear apart this spiderweb of fate and bring an end to their destiny. And now, Pandora had finally waited for that moment.
Roy gently stroked Pandora's lustrous violet hair and said softly, "...I will unravel this thread of fate for you, so you can be free—no longer confined to this gray space, but able to go wherever you wish, to cry or laugh in front of others."
"Ah, you make me sound like a child! I can't just cry or laugh in front of anyone. It's already embarrassing enough to shed tears in front of little Roy!"
Pandora wiped the corners of her eyes, her gaze growing even more alluring as she cooed, "...Have you rested enough?"
"I've rested plenty, but we need to make a slight change."
Roy lightly tapped Pandora's lips.
The witch who bore both calamity and hope immediately shot him a playful glare.
...
"Why do I have to go all the way to Italy alone to return something? I don't even speak Italian. We could've just sent it by courier. Grandpa's really something else."
On a mid-March day, aboard a flight from Japan to Italy, a young man named Kusanagi Godou voiced his complaints.
He glanced around at the flight attendants and passengers—almost all of them were foreigners with sharp features, blonde hair, and blue eyes. The in-flight announcements were in a language he couldn't understand at all. Kusanagi Godou could only sigh in resignation.
"I should have flown with Japan Airlines instead. Why did I have to choose Alitalia just to experience Italian airlines and end up in this unfamiliar place?"
Surrounded by Europeans on all sides, the high school student from Japan felt an oppressive sense of isolation, as though he were stranded on a deserted island despite being in a crowd.
To stop himself from overthinking, Kusanagi Godou draped a blanket over himself, closed his eyes, and leaned back in his seat to sleep.
After an uncomfortable nap, the plane landed at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
He was originally supposed to head straight to Sardinia, but since this was a rare opportunity to travel, he decided to take in the sights of a foreign country first and made his way to Italy's capital.
Using his broken English and following the signs, Kusanagi Godou retrieved his luggage in the terminal and followed the crowd out of the airport.
Just as he was hesitating over whether Italian taxis were as expensive as Japanese ones—should he take a taxi or public transport?—a haughty yet elegant woman's voice spoke up behind him:
"...How bold of you to bring contraband into Italy without declaring it!"
Before he could even marvel at the beauty of her voice, Kusanagi Godou instinctively assumed she was with Italian customs. His heart skipped a beat—had someone secretly slipped something illegal into his luggage?
In that moment, panic set in.
***
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