“A.. woman you.. Loved?!” I doubted my ears.
God fell in love with a human?!
Seeing my disbelief, Grauzer gave a bitter smile.
— “Are you having a hard time believing? Or do you find me pathetic? Well.. every god who found out that I loved her laughed at me.”
Grauzer scoffed at himself.
“N- No! Not at all!”
I shook my head and hands vigorously.
Grauzer abruptly changed the subject.
— “If my senses as a god aren’t dead, it seems you’re the only one left in Koch.”
“……”
— “It looks like my avatar failed to fulfill his duty.”
Grauzer smiled bitterly.
As I gazed blankly at him, a surprising thought occurred to me.
“Th- Then, is my dad your avatar?”
— “What?” Grauzer asked, slightly frowning.
“You said your avatar is always by Koch’s side. So wasn’t the avatar protecting my mom actually my dad?”
— “Your father wasn’t always by Koch’s side. He isn’t my avatar.”
“But… my dad loved my mom…”
Grauzer shook his head.
— “You might think because I loved Koch, my avatar must have loved her too, but that’s not true. The avatar merely protects Koch as if by fate. There’s no love involved.
“Then…”
— “The avatar who was by your mother’s side was someone else. Judging by the fact you don’t remember, it seems he failed in his duty and died.”
A mixture of bitterness and relief swirled inside me.
It was sad that the avatar couldn’t protect my mom, but I was relieved that my dad wasn’t her avatar.
‘If he were the avatar of a sealed god, he might be endangered by Prache.’
Being an avatar meant that if the gods were revived, they could be absorbed or disappear at any time.
I nervously asked, “So, is the newly born avatar by my side now?”
— “Yes. Since you’re the last Koch, they’ll be near you.”
“Can you tell me who it is?” Grauzer shook his head.
— “I can’t sense their presence. Maybe, like the one near your mother, they failed their duty and died.”
A cold silence enveloped the temple.
— “It’s unfortunate. I couldn’t give you the answer you wanted.”
“No, it’s okay. Even if the sealed gods gain freedom, there must be a way to punish Prache.”
— “You’re optimistic.”
Grauzer chuckled dryly.
I deliberately responded cheerfully, “There’s no reason not to be. After all, there’s no proof that your avatar is dead. Even if they don’t know anything now, I can find them and help them assist us.”
— “You’re unyielding, even in harsh conditions”
“Hurdles are meant to be passed.”
A soft smile spread across his lips.
— “I’d love to keep talking with you, but I can’t. You have somewhere to return to.”
I was about to ask more, but before the words left my mouth, my vision blurred.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the dizziness, and when I opened them again—
“Ha..nelope…”
Brantley’s face was right in front of me.
His slightly squinted eyes from groaning looked as sculpted as ever. I unconsciously reached out to touch the corner of his eye, only to realize a moment later that I was lying on top of him!
We fell on top of each other while I tried to take the book back from Brantley.
“B- Brantley, I’m so sorry!”
I tried to move away from him. But Brantley grabbed my arm and shook his head. His face was flushed, probably caused by the hassle of helping me stand.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t realize it was that hard for you…”
“It was exhausting in many ways.”
“?!”
Brantley spoke frankly. Usually, when I apologized, he would always kindly reply, “It’s fine.” But not this time.
I could feel my face heating up all the way to my ears.
“Did you manage to go to Grauzer’s temple?”
“Y- Yeah…”
He then held my shoulders and made me look at him.
“I’m fine.”
“It seems so. I’m glad you came back safely.”
“Of course. There was nothing for you to worry about.”
“Did you find out what you wanted?”
“Well…”
Just then, a frantic voice was heard from outside the priest’s room.
“Your Highness! Are you inside?”
I could feel the urgency in his voice. Outside stood a knight from the Eisen Duchy, who had once served as Brantley’s subordinate when he was a mercenary.
“What’s going on?”
“It seems Her Highness needs to return home immediately.”
“Is my father looking for me?”
“No. His Highness Prince Hart has collapsed!”
***
We rushed back home. As soon as I entered, a heavy atmosphere weighed down on my shoulders.
“What happened?” I asked Maxim, who was guarding Dad.
His face was grim as he replied, “His Highness suddenly collapsed without any warning. We don’t know the cause.”
“Let’s see His Highness first,” Brantley, who had come with me, suggested.
I nodded, and we entered the room where my father was lying. He looked as if he was in a deep sleep. His complexion didn’t seem bad either.
“Dad?”
I gently nudged him. But there was no response.
Dad, who was always so sensitive to the presence of others, especially me— no matter how deeply he was sleeping, he would always open his crimson eyes and look at me right away.
“……”
But now, his eyes remained tightly shut, without the slightest movement.
My heart sank. It felt like I was falling off a steep cliff. As I stood frozen, Brantley gently put his hand on my shoulder.
Then he asked Maxim, “What was His Highness doing when he collapsed?”
“He was doing nothing unusual. After finishing a meeting, he was resting. And then, suddenly…” Maxim trailed off.
Brantley looked sharply at Dad and muttered quietly.
“There’s something inside His Highness that shouldn’t be there.”
Something that shouldn’t be there?
I looked at Dad again, with teary eyes. But he looked healthy. He didn’t seem like someone who had eaten something dangerous.
I looked at Brantley in confusion.
Maxime, also perplexed, asked.
“Something that shouldn’t be there? Do you mean poison?”
“No. Something far more sinister. What did His Highness consume while he was resting?”
“He had cold water, some fruit, and chocolate. The usual things.”
As I listened to Maxim, a strong sense of unease hit me.
“Chocolate? Are you talking about the chocolates that His Highness Prince Patrick gave him as a gift?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Hearing Maxim’s response, Brantley’s lips twisted into a smirk.
“As I thought. I sensed a foul energy from His Highness. It must be Prince Patrick— or rather, Yenna’s doing,” Brantley spoke with certainty.
Then he made a request to Maxim.
“Please bring the chocolates His Highness consumed.”
Brantley examined the retrieved chocolates closely.
“Hanelope, the chocolates His Highness ate are laced with a spell that can control the mind of a person. The caster must be Prache and the blood must be from Yenna.”
“W- What do you mean by blood and spell?” I shivered at the horrific thought.
Maxim was equally shocked.
“His Highness often ate those cursed chocolates. Prince Patrick sent them regularly, and even though His Highness didn’t like them, he ate them out of respect for his brother’s gift!”
“That’s strange. If he ate them so often, he should have been under mind control by now. The fact that he collapsed now is a side effect from the early stages of consuming the enchanted potion. It causes headaches so severe that they can knock you unconscious.”
Brantley seemed perplexed.
“I made a headache remedy for Dad. It was tailored to his constitution and had detoxifying properties.”
Upon hearing that, Brantley’s expression brightened, as if he had figured something out.
“That’s why he hasn’t been controlled yet. But this time, Yenna’s side must have used a more powerful tactic. They sent an incredibly potent chocolate with a strong spell.”
Brantley placed the filthy chocolates back onto the tray.
I urgently asked, “So, do you know how to save Dad?”
Brantley responded as if it was a simple matter, “Just strengthen the effects of the medicine you’ve been giving, His Highness. It would be even better if you infused it with your divine power.”
I rushed to the lab. There were already many medicines prepared for my father. Using those, I quickly crafted a more potent version of the remedy and infused it with my divine power.
‘This should work!’
When I returned with the completed medicine, Brantley helped lift Dad up.
I carefully spoon-fed the medicine to my father.
“He’ll wake up soon. The evil energy is being purified.”
Brantley reassured me, soothing my worries. As I sighed in relief, a detail I had overlooked in my anxiousness suddenly came to mind.
“Brantley, how did you know all of this?”
“What?”
Brantley asked like he didn’t understand my question.
I looked at him with concern and repeated myself, “How did you know there was something strange inside my Dad? And he had a mind-controlling spell on him? Or about it containing Yenna’s blood?”
“……”
“How did you know all of that?”
As soon as I finished asking, Brantley’s face had turned pale.
He frowned deeply, and after a long silence, he finally replied in a trembling voice.
“I don’t… know. It just… came to me.”
