episode_0276

match-!

“Huh?!”

“How could you just disappear like that without telling your mom!! Do you know how worried I was?!”

Crack-!

“Hiyaugh!?!”

“Mom read the letter too. If you had such worries inside, you should have told Mom right away! Do you know how frustrated I was?!”

Shhh!

“Ugh..! Huh..! Oh..Mom..!”

“You killed Hera?! Where did you hear such nonsense!”

Shhh!

“Aghhh!!”

“Mom, I’m going to explode..! I’m going to explode!”

“Ugh…I’m…sorry, Mom…I wrote it wrong…Please look at it just once…”

“……”

“Please…it hurts too much…stop it now…”

Taaak-!

“Huh?!!?!?!”

“…sigh♥.”

*

“Uuuu..”

My butt still felt like it was burning from how hard I was hit, and the corners of my eyes were stinging with tear stains.

While I was burying my face in the goddess’s wings, unable to overcome my shame, the goddess returned gently and slowly caressed my butt.

“I think you’ve been disciplined enough, daughter. You won’t run away like that again, right?”

“Extreme..yes”

Is this what they call the carrot and the whip?

While I briefly held back tears at the stinging pain of love that was much more painful than I had expected, the goddess let out a short sigh and placed her hand gently on my butt.

Then, for a moment, pure white light radiated around me, and a warm energy entered my body.

“…Huh?”

The pain disappeared in an instant after a while. While I was still unfamiliar with the pain that had completely disappeared, the goddess lifted my body with her eight wings and sat me down next to her.

“Now let’s talk, daughter. Why on earth did you run away without saying anything?”

I hesitated for a moment, looking at the goddess’s sad face as she looked at me, and then spoke to her cautiously.

“..You read the letter, right? I have a child named Hera..”

“Yeah. That. Why on earth do you think that?”

The goddess cut me off with a frustrated look on her face and then continued speaking.

“I was the one who put your soul in there. Do you really think that I, the goddess of life, would kill a living child and put you in there?”

Now that I think about it, Athena said that the goddess put me into a dead body. But that didn’t make any sense at all.

“But…I heard that I chased Hera away..?”

“Who the hell! Who said such nonsense?”

I blinked blankly at the goddess’s urging.

Who are you…?

The one who told me the cruel truth. The one who made me choose to erase my memories.

“Did…the heavenly god say that?”

“What?”

It was definitely the celestial gods at that time.

Without an ounce of doubt about my memory, I clearly remembered what the Celestial God had said at that time.

It was because of me that Hera couldn’t return to her body. It was because I possessed her. There was no way I could forget that cruel truth.

The goddess stared at me for a long time with her eyes wide open, then grabbed the back of her neck and crumpled her face.

“..That author is doing this kind of prank again..!”

For some reason, the goddess appeared to be angry and stamped her feet on the floor, showing an unnatural side to her.

How much time has passed like that?

The goddess, who had been expressing all her anger on her own, let out a deep sigh and looked at me again with her normal face.

“Daughter. That child’s death has nothing to do with you.”

“..Huh?”

“As you heard, I have already placed you in a body with an empty soul. A body that is already dead.”

My heart began to pound greatly at the goddess’s words.

Then…then really.

Didn’t I kill Hera as Athena said?

I know it’s very selfish to think like this in the sad situation of someone’s death. But even so, when the guilt that had been building up inside me for killing Hera disappeared, I couldn’t help but collapse on the floor.

I looked up at the goddess who was slowly stroking my head and asked.

“Then why did Hera die?”

With a snap of her fingers, the goddess created a sofa made of clouds, and she lifted me up and laid me down comfortably on the sofa.

“Do you remember Anima?”

“Ah..you..?”

A term I vaguely remember.

However, it was not easy to recall because it was buried in countless memories.

“The world describes Anima as a disease that causes death by losing the soul for an unknown reason.”

“Ah.”

I remembered.

Information that the chairman of the academy had previously conveyed to me. At the time, I was bewildered by the story that was clearly not mentioned in the novel.

Tyros had clearly said that his parents had died from the Anima.

But the fact that the story of Anima is coming up now…

“Could it be… Hera died as an anima?”

“That’s right. I can’t say he died, but the cause was definitely Anima.”

I swallowed hard and looked up at the goddess.

“Anima…what the heck is it?”

A disease of unknown cause that is not even mentioned in the novel.

I used to just ignore it, but now I felt like I had to hear it.

“Do you know that this world has already been returned to the heavenly god?”

“Yes.”

The goddess nodded and continued speaking with a sad expression on her face for some reason.

“Animaran. This is a phenomenon that happens to those who refuse to return.”

“…Huh?”

I blinked blankly at the words I couldn’t understand. As if understanding my reaction, the goddess slowly began to explain to me.

“It is said that dead souls lose all their memories and are reincarnated into new bodies. However, in this world where they are returned to by force, they find their past bodies.”

“Is that so?”

“But sometimes. There are souls that don’t go back to their own bodies.”

The goddess continued speaking, raising one finger.

“Souls whose previous lives were more painful than death. Souls who would rather not live.”

“That..that means..”

Was the life that Hera lived such a miserable life that it would have been better to just die?

Why is such a beautiful child…?

“Think about it. Where did you first open your eyes?”

“That’s Drak…ah..”

While answering the goddess’ question, I was able to vaguely guess.

When I opened my eyes and possessed this body, I was in a back alley in Drax. And Drax was a lawless city teeming with criminals.

“..You were a descendant of the nine-tailed fox, so you had the power to fight evil..but unfortunately, the child named Hera was just an ordinary girl.”

“….”

When I thought about the life of a child named Hera, my heart began to ache.

A beautiful child. A lawless city. A seething criminal. Without having to think too deeply about it, I knew something terrible had happened.

“..That child suffered only abuse and humiliation throughout his life, and was eventually sold into slavery, ending his miserable life.”

Even the goddess seemed to have a hard time speaking, so she closed her eyes tightly and told me the truth.

“That can’t be… That’s… too harsh… Couldn’t the goddess have helped?”

“Our gods cannot directly interfere with the world.. but they can make sure that the child is born in a better environment when he or she is reincarnated next time.”

However, because the celestial god turned back time, Hera’s soul had to return to her original body. In the end, the soul, not wanting to experience that hellish time again, refused to return.

“Then where is Hera’s soul now..? If she could come back to my body now, I would be happy..!”

There is nothing more threatening to Hera’s body.

Rather, the strongest people in the world can protect you..!

But the goddess held out her hand and shook her head, indicating her denial.

“..Unfortunately, it is impossible. Since you are already in that body, there is no way to enter.”

“That..that..”

I’m here and can’t come back.

So, in the end, was the Celestial God’s words half right?

“Don’t think useless thoughts. The child would have rejected it anyway. He was a child who hated his own body so much.”

“….”

Perhaps wanting to ease my guilt, the goddess stroked my head and offered words of comfort.

“…I’m upset.”

I frowned deeply and expressed my frustration.

I have never seen this person before. But why am I so angry at the fact that the child had to leave like that? Is it because I am in possession of the child’s body, or is it because I cannot accept the fact that I had to leave so cruelly?

“It’s more frustrating that I can’t do anything.”

He expressed his anger in a tearful voice.

I wanted to offer some comfort, but what could I do for a soul that had already left?

I felt a deep sense of helplessness in the face of the harsh reality.

The goddess tilted her head as she looked at me like that, then placed one finger on her chin and spoke to me.

“Then shall we meet?”

“..If only it were possible….”

huh?

….Oh.

“Huh?”

I stared blankly at the goddess, and she looked at me with a pure and noble face and spoke again.

“If you really want to comfort that child… why don’t you try talking to that child?”

“……Huh?!”

no….

Were we able to meet?

…Really?