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In the cold, gray sky, thick white steam rose. Lowering their gaze, they saw a large pot placed in the square. A huge amount of food was being thrown into it.

The children crowding around the pot raised their voices in excitement. Not only the pot, but various colorful dishes were also lined up on tables set up in the square. The thin children stared greedily at the array of delicious-looking food. Yuichiro was leaning against a dead tree near the square, watching this scene. Next to him stood Temeraire. All the other squad leaders were scattered to investigate the village’s movements.

“That amount of food… It’s enough for a month in this village,” Temeraire muttered in a bitter voice.

 Listening to his voice, Yuichiro scanned the area. Around the square were what seemed to be vigilante group members on guard. However, Sasha was nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t see Sasha.”

“They may have deployed the vigilante group at the village entrance for caution, giving instructions there. Not only the vigilante group but they also seem to be urging the villagers to have weapons at hand, just in case of a bandit attack.”

“What a tough life,” Yuichiro muttered back with a bitter smile. He felt sorry for Sasha, who was constantly being dragged around by Nika’s reckless abandonment and Aoi’s whims.

As his attention idly returned to the scene, he observed one of the lingering children stealthily reaching for a ready dish. Immediately, a man, presumably a cook, barked, “Don’t touch that!”

The child recoiled at the abrupt outburst, tears gushing from their eyes.

As Temeraire made to advance towards the child, Yuuichiro halted him with an outstretched arm. Concurrently, a somewhat theatrical voice, akin to one reading from a script, echoed through the space.

“Oh, come on, there’s no need to get angry. If they’re hungry, we should let them eat.”

As Aoi approached the chef, she positioned her hands on her waist and gave the chef a stern look. The chef immediately recoiled and bowed deeply in submission. Aoi’s expression swiftly changed to a warm smile, she picked up a dish from the table and handed it to the child.

“Here you go, eat to your heart’s content.”

Aoi offered the child a skewer of bite-sized meat pieces. The child hesitated, eyes flickering with uncertainty, but their hunger eventually overruled, leading them to take a large bite of the meat. Their face immediately lit up with joy.

“Delicious!” 

As a child exclaimed this, the other children around also clamored, “Me too! And me!” one after the other. Aoi, with a benevolent smile on her face, continued to deliver dishes one by one to the children’s mouths, like feeding chicks.

Watching this scene, Rondo opened his mouth, wearing a suspicious grin. “Don’t forget Aoi-sama’s kindness. After all, she is the real goddess.”

Saying this, Rondo directed a mocking gaze at Yuichiro. Upon hearing the term ‘goddess’, the children with their hollow cheeks munching, began to shout in unison;

“A goddess!”

“Goddess-sama, we want to eat more!”

While watching the demanding children with narrowed eyes, Aoi replied in a soft voice, “Yes, yes. There’s plenty, so everyone eat a lot.”

With the food being served, the children let out a roar of joy. Yuichiro looked on without much emotion. Next to him, Temeraire, standing, furrowed his brow in displeasure.

“You’re glaring.”

At the pointed out remark, Temeraire retorted disdainfully, “It’s all farce.”

“People do like a gentle farce, after all.”

“Even if they’re temporarily full, they’re still heading towards starvation.”

“Still, compared to me, who’s trying to incite a rebellion, Aoi is doing much more goddess-like deeds, isn’t she?”

As Yuichiro muttered calmly, Temeraire shot him a side glare. “The only goddess is you.”

At Temeraire’s almost obsessive words, Yuichiro let out a loose sigh and muttered, “That’s not for you or me to decide. Not even Noah, the gods, or the people.”

“Then who decides?”

“History.”

Temeraire squinted suspiciously at Yuichiro’s short response. Without looking at that gaze, Yuichiro murmured as if talking to himself, “The victor will be remembered in history as the ‘real goddess,’ and the defeated one will bear the infamy of being the ‘fake goddess.’ A war criminal who pretended to be a goddess.”

The process doesn’t matter. The result is everything. It’s a cruel world divided drastically by victory and defeat.

Does Aoi realize the cruelty of this world? That she has been placed on a cliff where only victory is permitted?

He looked at Aoi, who was smiling at the children. Noticing his gaze, Aoi suddenly turned her face to Yuichiro and Temeraire. Recognizing Temeraire, Aoi’s expression brightened instantly.

“Temeraire-san, hello!”

The sight of a blushing girl running towards him was probably adorable from the outside. However, without flinching, Temeraire briefly responded, “Ah.”

Unbothered by his terse response, Aoi presented a plate she was holding in both hands to Temeraire. “Temeraire, won’t you eat too? This is really delicious!”

Aoi, with her eyes sparkling, seemed oblivious to Yuichiro’s presence. No, she was probably aware, but chose to ignore him.

Temeraire sighed and shook his head slightly. “No, I’m fine.”

When refused by Temeraire, Aoi visibly drooped her shoulders. But soon she wore a bright smile again. “Um, we’re having a band tonight! We’ve loaned dresses to the women of the village, and we’re thinking of dancing together……”

As Aoi nervously looked up at Temeraire, he looked down at her with an indescribable expression.

“I thought it might be a bother… but I’ve prepared a dress for you too, Temeraire. It’s made of good fabric, so it’s comfortable, and it’ll surely suit you—”

“I don’t need it.”

Overlapping with Aoi’s excited words, Temeraire muttered in a definitive tone, “Aoi-san. No matter what you give me, I won’t become your servant.” Temeraire’s gaze as he declared this seemed to be tinged with pity. Shifting his gaze from Aoi, he glared at Rondo, who was staring at them intently. “You already have another servant, don’t you?”

As Temeraire muttered this, Aoi’s cheek twitched unexpectedly. Her lips distorted into an ugly expression, completely transforming her pretty face. “I didn’t choose it,” Aoi spat out shortly, and then immediately murmured, “I want to be chosen by everyone, I want to be needed.”

Her words sounded profoundly empty to Yuichiro. Being chosen by everyone. Being needed by the entire world. Such things were absolutely impossible.

“You’re wishing for something that doesn’t exist.”

At Yuichiro’s blunt remark, Aoi turned sharply to stare at him. Her eyes had lost their luster, looking dark like a muddy swamp. The demonic expression on Aoi’s face resembled that of an evil spirit in a horror movie, making Yuichiro grimace for a moment.

“I don’t need to be told that by you.”

At Aoi’s cold remark, Yuichiro raised an eyebrow slightly. With her gaze fixed on Yuichiro, Aoi’s lips curled into a sneer. “If you like dead people so much, why don’t you die too?”

At that moment, Yuichiro felt a shudder run through his body, a cold sensation crawling up his spine and his clenched fist trembling slightly. Did Aoi know? That he had lost his wife and child in his previous world? The question of why didn’t even cross his mind at that moment. He forgot even to breathe, staring straight at Aoi.

With a scornful laugh on her face, Aoi was looking up at Yuichiro. “Don’t look so pitiful. It’s all your fault, isn’t it? Your wife and child died because of you—”

“Aoi-san.”

Temeraire raised his voice as if to interject. Before he knew it, Temeraire’s left hand was pressing against Yuichiro’s right chest. “There are things that are appropriate to say, and things that are not.”

Aoi, scolded by Temeraire, snorted lightly as if her spirits had been dampened. However, she immediately directed an innocent smile towards Temeraire. “Temeraire-san, you’re really kind. Haven’t you been subjected to worse things from Yuichiro-ojisan?” In response to Aoi’s inquiry, Temeraire merely stayed silent.

Smiling, Aoi continued. “You know, whatever you do to others will eventually comes back to you. It’s karma. That’s why, I wonder if all the terrible things ojisan did have fallen upon his wife and child. How pitiful. Truly pitiful.”

Her words, sharp as arrows, pierced his heart. Why couldn’t he retaliate against Aoi? As usual, he should have returned her sarcastic words with ridicule. Yet, Yuichiro found himself unable to retort, perhaps because somewhere in his mind, he thought that Aoi’s words weren’t wrong.

“Aoi-san!” Temeraire called out with a strong tone, and Aoi tilted her head slowly with a pasted-on smile. “If you keep defending a man like him, you might end up suffering next.”

Upon hearing her words, Yuichiro suddenly couldn’t bear it any longer. His body seemed to drain of all its energy, threatening to start trembling. For a moment, he looked at Temeraire.

Noticing his gaze, Temeraire stared back at Yuichiro.

The moment he saw his beautiful face, a distinct fear welled up. Driven by terror, his body moved on its own. When he noticed, Yuichiro had turned his back to Temeraire and started walking. Despite knowing how pathetic it was to flee from the words of a girl less than half his age, he could not remain there with a calm face.

“Yuichiro-sama!”

He heard Temeraire ‘s voice calling out to stop him. But without looking back, Yuichiro continued walking with long strides. “It’s not good to go, Temeraire-san. If you’re with an old man like him, everyone will end up dead eventually.”

Aoi’s cheerful voice could be heard. To escape her light laughter, Yuichiro kept walking with his head bowed. Without paying attention to his surroundings, he found himself outside the village before he knew it. There were sporadic dead trees, and large rocks covered in snow lay scattered around them. Looking up, a grey sky stretched on endlessly.

The cold air pricked his bare ears. When he exhaled a deep breath, a white haze gently rose into the air. As he stared blankly at it, he saw snow beginning to fall from the sky. Blinking at the snowflakes that landed on his eyelashes, the snow melted from his body heat and trickled down his cheek.

As he wiped the droplet rolling down his cheek with the back of his hand, Yuichiro unconsciously glanced back. There was no sign of Temeraire . He didn’t know if the man had chosen not to follow him or if he had been restrained by Aoi. Looking at the empty space, he suddenly felt a tight pain in his chest.

If you stay with Yuichiro, you’ll meet a terrible fate. Everyone will die.

Such words were sophistry. He understood in his head that it was merely Aoi’s harassment. Yet, for a moment, he was terrified. His wife and daughter were good people. But they met such a terrible end. Was it the result of the wrongs he himself had accumulated? His inhumane actions caused misfortune to befall his loved ones. It was a terrifying illusion.

“How ridiculous.”

To dispel the doubts, he spat the words out tersely. Leaning against a rough rock nearby, he tried to calm himself down with slow, steady breaths. He was sure he thought, when he came to this world, that he didn’t care who died. The crying, cowardly children and the men who served Yuichiro while degrading themselves were unbearably annoying. All Yuichiro wanted was to return to his original world. The world where his beloved family was waiting. Even if he knew that nobody was waiting, he still wanted to go back. For that, he was obligated to sleep with a man. He wanted to give birth to a child quickly and renounce his unsettling nickname of “goddess.” He wasn’t supposed to have any lingering affection for this world, or anyone in it.

And yet, what was he now? He was afraid of Noah and Temeraire dying. If those two were to die because of him… Just imagining it made his heart ache as if it were festering. When did he become so weak? At the age of thirty-seven, he’s not some emotionally unstable teenage girl, and his self-loathing for his instability won’t stop. Noah wanted to make him stay in this world. Temeraire wished to go back with him if he returned to his original world. He couldn’t understand why those two men were so attached to a middle-aged man like him.

When did he start to feel confused along with a sense of mockery every time he heard them whisper that they loved him and that they liked him? And that confusion was paper-thin with fear. He didn’t want to love. He didn’t want to feel any affection. He didn’t want to have his heart taken away by anyone anymore. He couldn’t bear to lose his loved ones again. So, he closed off his heart. He reminded himself over and over. 

“I won’t love anyone. I will never love anyone.”

He quietly breathed onto his freezing fingertips. Even with the warmth of his breath, his fingers trembled slightly. As he gazed at his red fingertips, a sense of unbearable misery welled up within him.

What on earth was he doing? What he should be thinking about now was nothing but victory. Defeat the rebels, make Noah king, bear a child — and then what?

Would he return to his original world and continue to hop from one battlefield to another as a mercenary? 

In that process, he would kill countless people, and eventually, he himself would die a miserable death, becoming just another corpse. That would be the most suitable end for him. He understood this, yet why was he hesitating?

Holding his head in both hands due to his scattered thoughts, he took slow, shallow breaths. Suddenly, he heard small footsteps. While still hidden behind the rock wall, he quietly looked towards the direction of the footsteps. What he glimpsed through the gaps in the distant dead trees was a figure completely covered in a gray cloak. He couldn’t discern the face because of the cloak, but from the small stature, he could guess it was probably a woman. The small figure advanced quickly on the snowy path, nervously glancing around.

Is she a villager? If so, he couldn’t understand why she was in such a place. If she left the village, there’s a danger of being attacked by bandits… The figure disappeared beyond the rock wall. Just as Yuichiro was about to chase after her, he suddenly saw a shadow rushing towards him like a gust of wind.

A grey shadow surged forward, kicking up snow. The moment Yuichiro saw that it was gripping something shining silver, he reflexively drew his knife from his waistband. He blocked the downward swing of the silver blade with his knife. In an instant, a sharp metallic sound had rung out.

Unable to kill the momentum, he fell backward. As soon as he did, white powder snow danced in the air. In front of his eyes, the clashing blades had emitted a grating sound. While gripping the handle of his knife with all his might, he glared at the one looming over him.

“What the hell…!”

“Get lost, plague!”