Chapter 38: I Got A Diary!

Empire Calendar —. May 4th.

Mom gave me a diary today!

She told me to write down what I did during the day. But I always play the same things, so there’s not much to write…

Mom is out somewhere now, so I’m home alone. It’s morning, so being alone isn’t scary! But at night, the owl hoots scare me…

Mom comes home late, so I have to play alone again today. What I play is always the same.

It’s rolling around with the big cat!

I told Mom I wanted to keep it, but she said no and wouldn’t let me.

So sometimes I go to meet it. And I’m going to meet it today too!

I want to see the meow-meow waiting for me quickly. I named it too!

The cat’s name is Chouchou! Pretty, right?

I named it that because the cat’s fur is white. Somehow… somehow. It felt like a name that would go well with white!

I can’t wait. I want to go meet it now! I’m going to touch its fluffy, soft fur a lot and play!

I should stop writing for today and go out.

-Page is torn.-

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Pretty Un— met-! Just like m– ali- -ia!

“What…?”

Mother, hugging me from behind, asked back, her voice trembling as if flustered.

I was also flustered and answered quite foolishly.

“My daughter’s body… is what?”

“Uh, um…”

Did Diana also hear the news and know about Mother? Lilac’s master and the woman currently known as the Sword Empress.

That’s my mother.

Pressured by the imposing figure bearing such a title, Diana fumbled for words, her lips trembling.

She probably thought Mother might harm her, though that was unlikely.

Mother, from my brief observation, didn’t seem like that kind of person, so I first reassured Diana.

Then, at Mother’s repeated question, I opened my mouth and explained.

“Um… it’s not serious. Since I’m a Saintess, if I use Heal, she’ll recover within a day. And Lady Sia is also a Saintess. Besides, even more gruesome th- Mmhp?!”

Smack.

Diana, whose mouth was sealed by both my hands, protested with muffled sounds but couldn’t recklessly push away, as Mother was right behind me.

‘So please don’t say any more than that. First Saintess.’

I quickly slapped my hands over Diana’s mouth just as she was about to add more, thus averting disaster.

More dangerous than a natural disaster that humans cannot create.

If a transcendent’s mood is upset, natural disasters wouldn’t even get a chance; it would be world destruction.

“Ahahaha…”

Laughing awkwardly, I kept Diana’s mouth covered and pushed her out the door.

Diana looked at me with a puzzled face. There’s a limit to how foolish a person can be. Why provoke disaster by touching something untouchable?

Conversely, Mother was looking at me with eyes full of suspicion.

Feeling awkward, I avoided her gaze, but Mother came closer, held my chin firmly, and made me meet her eyes.

Seen up close, Mother looked like an older sister with a large age gap. She was that young and didn’t look like a woman with a child.

Objectively, as someone who was male in a past life, nine out of ten men passing by would have asked for her number.

Why are the looks of people around me so far removed from ordinary?

Am I satisfying my craving for idols I couldn’t see in my past life here?

[What a dizzying thought.]

‘Don’t butt in uninvited, just go away.’

[…You might be the only one who treats a Goddess so poorly.]

Ah, yes.

Anyway, Mother up close definitely felt like an older sister with an age gap.

“It would be best to speak truthfully.”

Mother might be slightly like Lilac. Jahy too.

She was someone more worried about my health than anyone else.

Of course, rather than feeling bad, receiving worries day after day that I never received in my past life felt good.

To the point where I wondered if I was that precious to them.

A lonely taste lingered.

What if I hadn’t possessed Sia Yggdrasil’s body?

The person here now wouldn’t be me, but that child.

Having taken that child’s body and lived on, am I truly worthy of receiving such worries and joys?

I still didn’t understand why Sia Yggdrasil’s soul disappeared.

Since the Goddess said she didn’t know either. It was something unavoidable.

Barely suppressing the bitter taste in my mouth, I complied with Mother’s request.

“W-well… where should I start~ Ahaha…”

And so began the interrogation(?) time.

Returning to the rocking chair, I recounted the events I experienced from beginning to end.

Mother, listening to my adventure story with various expressions intermittently, suddenly hardened her face and asked.

“In that case, that child named Jahy, could she be.”

“My daughter, right?”

“To have a granddaughter at this age… I wished she would remain my daughter forever…”

Mother whispered with a somewhat heavy face.

Naturally, being whispered quietly, I couldn’t hear it.

Returning to the story, I recounted the events up to now.

“Your body is in very poor condition…”

I don’t know why she fixates so strongly on that part.

Even if I said I live like a normal person, Mother’s expression didn’t brighten.

Ultimately, circling back, we arrived at my current body condition.

“How is your body now? That child earlier said your insides were all twisted…”

“Well. I feel fine now…”

It was inexplicable. Who would have known my body condition would be half-crippled upon waking up?

If there was a god, this couldn’t happen.

[Stop using me as an excuse. Aren’t you tired of it?]

‘Ah, sorry. Got too used to it lately.’

[How far will the my authority fall…]

Leaving behind the sighing Goddess, I looked out the window and saw that evening time was approaching.

The knights seemed to have finished training and gone inside, leaving only Edwyn and a stern-faced man with wheat-colored hair in the training ground. The two were talking about something.

Judging by the atmosphere, he was probably being scolded. Look there, holding a well-sharpened sword to the man’s neck…

“Aaaaaah! What are you doing!!”

Quickly getting off Mother’s lap, I raised the window and shouted loudly towards the training ground.

No matter how much a subordinate erred, murder is unacceptable!

“Sia? Don’t lean out dangerously like that. What if you fall?”

At Mother’s words filled with worry, I carefully stepped back from the window and looked out at the training ground again.

Fortunately, my voice seemed to have reached him, as Edwyn sheathed his sword, bowed politely to me, and entered the mansion.

And before entering, Edwyn’s expression was extremely angry.

As if he had overheard something he shouldn’t have.

‘What’s this situation…?’

Uneasy.

Closing the window, I was about to return to Mother.

Suddenly, my eyes met the stern-faced man in the training ground.

A chilling sensation ran through me at that moment, making me quickly avert my gaze and slip into the rocking chair where Mother sat.

For reference, my rocking chair was too small for Mother, so I was using the one Lilac used.

When my eyes met the man’s, something truly unpleasant seemed to attach itself to my body. Though it feels fine again now.

Is it just my imagination? But Edwyn’s expression wasn’t good either, and the man’s gaze was utterly unpleasant.

Edwyn probably went to meet Lilac. About that man.

I don’t know what wrong he committed against his superior, Edwyn, but I didn’t feel like praying for his repose.

Because of the unsettling feeling.

An aura fundamentally different from Miasma… perhaps. Ah, or maybe it’s a unique aura a person possesses?

Just as each person harbors a different aura, wouldn’t knights be the same?

Concluding thus, I waited until Lilac called. Naturally, chatting idly with Mother passed the time until just before dinner.

Just then.

“Young lady, Sword Empress. Her Grace the Duchess summons you for the banquet.”

Butler quietly relayed the message from outside the door, and Mother and I immediately went down to the dining hall.

I missed the mansion’s food after a long time, and with more people, eating would surely be more enjoyable.

Feeling good with anticipation, Mother’s expression, walking beside me, also brightened.

“Perhaps, is there any food you desire? If so, Mom can make it.”

At Mother’s words, I stopped briefly and pondered.

If she raised Sia Yggdrasil alone, her cooking skills must be considerable.

Suddenly, one dish came to mind.

Pork fried rice.

A simple yet filling and delicious dish.

“I want to eat that.”

At those words, Mother momentarily halted her steps.

Wondering why, I approached closer to check and saw Mother’s eyes were slightly moist.

“…? What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere…”

Asking that, Mother shook her head instead, smiled, and spoke.

“No. It’s just, hearing you mention the food you ate often. Feels strange.”

It was surprising that Sia Yggdrasil also ate pork fried rice often.

Well, with that personality, it would be strange if she didn’t eat meat.

Arriving at the dining hall, people who had already arrived were seated.

Everyone greeted us with bright smiles, and Mother and I also took the remaining seats and picked up our utensils.

The fried rice Mother would make was postponed for later.

Since food was already prepared today.

It was a satisfying meal.

After sunset, the at training ground.

There stood a man, holding a sword in a reverse grip, continuously staring at one place.

He was looking at Sia’s room.

The eyes of the woman he encountered earlier.

Felt truly desirable and thrilling.

Perhaps if he offered those utterly hollow eyes to ‘Him’. He would surely be pleased.

“If Grandpa finds out, it’s a direct trip to the afterlife.”

‘Just don’t get caught.’

Because he, too, like his grandfather, was an assassin.

Old and frail grandfather.

However, a figure even the Knight Commander Edwyn couldn’t touch.

Though a butler here, his real power lay in behind-the-scenes maneuvering and expertise in assassination.

“Kik. Grandpa, didn’t grandchild say he wasn’t interested in that stuff?”

The man who laughed thus.

Vanished from the training ground with the sound of the blowing wind.

Leaving behind only a faint trace of ‘distorted Miasma’.