Chapter 18: Peddler got a pet, Part 2

To possess divinity was proof of being loved by the stars.

Since the demon invasion, all gods had chosen to remain in the heavens.

Just as the demons instilled fear and madness in humans, the gods inspired excessive adoration and fanaticism.

However, their favor towards humanity remained, evidenced by the divinity bestowed upon some at birth.

Those born with divinity, a mark of a god’s love, could wield the power of that god’s myths.

For instance, those favored by a god of fire could cast fire magic with little to no mana cost.

The most sacred land, the most blessed land, the land where the stars shone brightest.

The Solarite Kingdom, also known as the Holy Kingdom.

The royal family, the noblest bloodline in this land, were prime candidates for the gods’ favor.

However, Lena Solarite, the Third Princess, was born without divinity.

She bore no holy stigmata, the mark of divine favor, nor the faintest starlight in her eyes.

Andrea Solarite, preoccupied with consolidating his power, had little time to concern himself with her situation. He didn’t care about divinity.

To him, she was just his beloved daughter.

Lena herself didn’t feel inadequate.

The problem was her family.

As the Third Princess, Lena wasn’t involved in the succession struggle, nor did she pose a threat to other contenders. She was simply seen as a cute child.

Her siblings, despite their busy schedules, always made time to play with her.

And it was during one such playtime with Carmel, the Second Princess, that Lena noticed something.

A faint glow emanating from a mark on Carmel’s hand. A holy stigmata.

The back of the hand was said to be the location of the first god’s scar and where most stigmata appeared.

“Sister, what’s this?”

“Ah… this is—”

Carmel shouldn’t have told her about the stigmata, about divinity.

The Second Princess possessed one of the most powerful divinities ever seen.

Second only to the first god. The god who had been the first god’s loyal servant.

“Why… don’t I have one…?”

“Lena, you’ll get one soon.”

Carmel stroked Lena’s hair, reassuring her.

But it was a lie.

Divinity was innate, and even if stigmata appeared later, they manifested by the age of five at the latest.

Lena, well past five, had no chance of developing a stigmata.

Lena wasn’t particularly disheartened. Born the youngest, she’d learned to read people to maximize the affection she received. She knew Carmel was lying.

She was simply curious. Why didn’t she have divinity? What kind of divinity did her siblings possess? What exactly was divinity?

Her curiosity extended to the First Prince, the First Princess, and even the Second Prince, who was deeply interested in the gods’ will.

Lucius, the Second Prince, told her,

“Divinity is a blessing from the gods, granted to us to oppose demons and monsters.”

He’d likely said it to impress her with his knowledge of the gods, but Lena’s imagination took a different turn.

If there was a blessing from the gods, shouldn’t there also be a blessing from the demons?

Wouldn’t it be unfair if there wasn’t an opposing force?

That was her thought process.

Using her cuteness to her advantage, Lena frequented the royal library.

She eagerly learned difficult languages to satisfy her curiosity. Born without divinity, her advantage was her exceptional intellect.

She discovered a ritual.

The ingredients were surprisingly easy to acquire. Soon, she had everything she needed and performed the ritual.

However, the ritual required someone of noble blood, and she wasn’t noble enough.

Lena, who believed her royal bloodline met the requirement, was mistaken.

Unbeknownst to her, Lena was an illegitimate child, born from Andrea Solarite’s indiscretion.

The ritual was only half-successful. Instead of connecting with a demon, as intended, it only granted her a glimpse.

But as the saying goes, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

She saw something stirring in the darkness.

Her eyes turned crimson as she absorbed knowledge she shouldn’t have, knowledge she couldn’t comprehend. Her head throbbed with the strain.

And just as she had observed something, she too was observed.

She felt a searing pain and a dizzying sensation as her consciousness faded. Yet, she felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

And a strange flutter in her chest. A strange excitement.

Perhaps because she had discovered something unknown to others, or perhaps because she’d satisfied her curiosity.

It wasn’t a perfect connection, only a glimpse, but it was a connection nonetheless.

And though it wasn’t a complete emotion, she felt a sense of adoration, not for a god, but for their sworn enemy.

And divinity did not miss this.

A burning sensation spread across her lower abdomen as a mark appeared.

Not a holy stigmata, not a mark of divine favor.

A curse of divinity. A brand of divinity.

But to Lena, it was proof of her connection to that something. A stigmata bestowed not by a god, but by the entity she’d glimpsed.

In fact, that entity had infused its own power into her curse during that brief connection.

The curse of the stars made her life increasingly difficult.

Sudden misfortune. Mishaps befalling those around her. Threats to her safety.

The constant trials made Lena timid and withdrawn.

Yet, her curiosity remained, as did her fascination with the entity she’d seen as a child.

A renowned theologian from the Holy See was summoned to examine her.

Seeing the faint madness in her eyes, where starlight should have resided, the theologian declared,

“For reasons unknown, Your Highness has been cursed by the stars, by the gods.”

A curse upon the noblest bloodline. It was incomprehensible.

The theologian offered a plausible explanation, citing the alignment of the stars at her birth. Lacking any other explanation, Andrea Solarite accepted the theologian’s words.

Perhaps that was why she wasn’t granted divinity. That’s what he thought. Unaware that she had come to adore what she shouldn’t have.

Time passed without any significant changes.

Then…

Around the time the Second Princess was due to enter the academy, a change occurred.

Someone bearing the divinity of the first god, the most radiant of all, appeared.

And Lucia, the bearer of this divinity, began residing in the royal palace.

However, Lena and Lucia never met. Or rather, Lena avoided meeting her.

Whenever her curiosity got the better of her and she tried to approach Lucia, to see the divinity of the first god firsthand, a throbbing pain would wrack her lower abdomen.

Was it a warning?

She didn’t know, but she had a strong premonition that something bad would happen if she met Lucia, if she got too close to her divinity.

When she refused to meet Lucia, citing stomach pains, the other royals rejoiced, misinterpreting it as a sign of her maturing into a proper lady.

About a week later, Lucia suddenly disappeared from the palace. And then came news.

“Are you saying… demons have infiltrated the kingdom?”

“Yes. Since even the Magic Tower has issued a wanted poster, it seems credible…”

Demons?

It was enough to pique her curiosity.

The entity she’d seen as a child was undoubtedly related to demons.

From that day on, Lena, accompanied by her guards, ventured outside the palace, gathering information about the demon.

Wanted posters plastered throughout the capital described a woman suspected of being a demon.

A woman calling herself “Kayleen.” With red, narrow eyes and a bag at her waist.

Based on the crude sketch and accompanying information, Lena began her own search.

For two years, she made little progress.

Then one day, she noticed some of the shadows residing in the palace disappearing.

Their secretive movements suggested they were Moonshadow agents, operating covertly.

Could it be related to this “Kayleen”?

Ignoring her guards’ protests, Lena ventured outside.

Suddenly, her guards vanished, and she found herself in an unfamiliar location. Large men, obscuring her vision, took her somewhere.

It was perhaps the second day of her confinement in a dimly lit cell.

A loud boom shook the entire building.

Ah, the Moonshadow had come to rescue her.

She felt a pang of disappointment.

Huddled on the floor, face buried in her knees, she felt… regret.

And then she saw her.

A figure beyond the bars, looking at her.

Faint red eyes gleaming behind a mask.

A strange sensation, as if being seen through.

A throbbing in her lower abdomen, but unlike with Lucia, it wasn’t painful.

The woman faced the Moonshadow agent who had come to rescue her.

As the agent swung her sword, the woman pulled something from her bag.

Lena felt a connection. A strong connection.

She sensed that the something on that paper was connected to her, to her curse.

The paper tore, and something spilled out.

And she saw it. A small yet immense figure in the darkness.

The same unknown entity she’d seen as a child, now clearer, closer.

Her eyes turned crimson, and her head throbbed, but she could endure it.

She had felt this pain before. She had encountered this entity before.

She was connected to it.

“Envy,” “Leviathan,” “contract.” The woman spoke to the entity as an equal.

Despite her human appearance, she showed no fear, no hesitation, as if conversing with a peer.

“Ahh…!”

Lena was filled with admiration.

This woman… this was the one blessed by demons, the one she’d been searching for.

Unlike herself, still struggling to comprehend and accept the entity’s existence, this woman was complete.

“Oh my god…!”

She felt a surge of joy. Adoration. Elation.

She wanted to be like her.

A thought impossible for a sane mind.

But Lena was already broken. Broken the moment she gazed into the abyss and was cursed by the gods.

She adored the demons.

And that was the reason, unknown to Kayleen, why Lena never became a playable character in Part 9 of the story.