Chapter 1166: Nameless Girl

The meeting with Solaris wasn’t hard to organise. Not with Griselda’s specialty.

Controlling a puppet, she navigated it through a route that only Lumiria knew about as the Gods had their own way of communicating.

Naturally, this was known by the Apostles as well as they are essentially the God’s arms and legs.

Response came quickly with a location and time.

There was no additional pleasantries in the response. Just straight to the business.

“. . .” Griselda stared at the response for a long time.

-Look at the slothful God. He’s getting desperate. He used to be so full of theatrics that everything he sent would be decorative and would beat around the bush. But now… Straight to the point. Lumiria has essentially dropped him a lifeline that he can’t help but grab.-

Griselda creased her brows.

Her thoughts diverging more than usual.

It’s been happening as of late… Another voice inside her head. Her own thoughts perhaps.

But something about this felt… different.

She had already given herself a check up. Her soul wasn’t corrupted nor was there anything attached to her that would cause this… voice to appear.

And yet here she was, hearing it once more.

‘Solaris isn’t the only one getting desperate. Lumiria is the same though her desperation comes from a different source. She hasn’t paid attention to the situation inside the Moon church for a long time.’ Griselda closed her eyes, exhaling softly.

There’s been… a couple of people who have been making trades with the Zenia family. More who thought about deserting as Lumiria showed herself less and less.

Concerns about the Goddess was at an all time high yet it these worries fall on deaf ears.

The only thing on Lumiria’s mind was how she should be getting her hands on Tristan.

Nothing more, nothing less.

With so many rumours around regarding the true cause of her absence… if the truth was to be revealed, there’s no doubt that Lumiria’s reputation would plummet.

Though Tristan’s reputation was great, ever since his sister has recovered, he’s spent less time forming connections and more time going to see her whenever he had opportunity away from work.

Most thought he was being too arrogant, ignoring their invitations after they offered it out of goodwill.

Not that it affected Tristan.

-You want to warn him. Warn the good lad about what’s happening. But oh dear… That jealous goddess doesn’t want any women inside the church to approach him. Who was it now? Ah right… that poor poor sister. All she did was carry out her duty as instructed. But little did she know she would stumble onto Tristan changing in his own room. Keke…

-And Lumiria’s response was to have her violated so that she could never think about approaching him, her skin peeled back while her soul felt everything with pure clarity.

-Her torture lasted a full three days and three nights. And when she finally reached her breaking point, Lumiria reverted her mental stability just to carry everything out again.

-Her life is broken beyond repair now isn’t it? I’m sure if you look around the back alleys, you’ll be able to find her. Both her body and mind broken, selling herself for drugs so that she could forget everything that happened. Even for a moment.

-She had a family. A dear mother and father who worries about their daughter even now. They don’t reach out to her in fear of affecting her duties inside the church. But when people ask, they speak about how lovely she is. Ah~ Such sorrow. The parent living in ignorance while the daughter lives in despair.

-She can’t even end it all. A part of her begs for her parent’s forgiveness and love but dare not find them. So all she can do is drown herself in drugs all day long. All for the… pft. ‘Sin’ of seeing Tristan.

-Vile goddess with a heart darker than sinners, how is it that you continue to serve her?-

Griselda tightened her jaw, offering no response.

Whatever this voice was, it’s clearly trying to manipulate her thoughts. To nudge it towards a certain direction.

While some of their words hold merit, they were ultimately things that Griselda already knew about.

Things that she chose to ignore in the end.

If she was to denounce her goddess, she would need to first understand her own sins.

However… Though she may have turned a blind eye in the past. Now that it’s been brought to her attention again maybe-

###

“. . .”

Griselda stood before a woman with a neutral expression.

There was a gloom in her eyes that couldn’t be hidden as she stared at the corpse.

Glass shards had been stabbed into her own arm, tears have long dried up.

The soul no longer in the body as warmth has departed.

Hesitating for a moment, Griselda reached out with her hand and traced back to the last moment of the girl’s death.

The moment she saw her own reflection in the glass, begging for drugs.

The moment she saw her current self overlap with her old self briefly.

She saw how much she had changed.

She saw how much she had been defiled.

She saw how much she had ruined the gift of life that her parent’s had given her.

The sudden comparison broke her already broken heart further.

It tipped her past the point of no return.

Why didn’t she go back to them before things reached this point? Why didn’t she ask for their help?

Why didn’t she return to their side? She knew deep down that her parents would never blame her. In fact, they would welcome their darling daughter back with open hands.

But… She couldn’t. She couldn’t burden her parents like this.

It would break their heart to see her in this state…

With a hollow smile, she allowed her tears to fall as her eyes became empty.

Using the same glass shard, she chose to end it all.

Her final words were simply “Sorry”.

Griselda reached out and closed her eyes.

She wasn’t going to reprimand the girl’s choice. She had held out for as long as she could despite falling down a spiral. It was simply a case of no one lending out their hand for her to pull herself free.

If she had made a move…

If she had sought out the girl who’s suffering she knew about but turned a blind eye…

*Drip…

Lifting her hand, Griselda touched the corner of her eye and saw a teardrop.

Strange… this current head shouldn’t be capable of tears.

Lifting her head towards the sky, Griselda watched as dark clouds loomed overhead as rain started to fall.

Even the heavens were weeping for this girl.

Closing her eyes, Griselda kneeled in silence.

-The question now… is what will you do? You’ve seen the consequences. Turning a blind eye…-

‘I won’t.’ Griselda slowly opened her eyes.

Cracks had long formed in the foundation of her loyalty. Of her devotion.

These cracks only widened when… someone dear disappeared for good in the Abyss.

She tried to carry on, to continue her duty and protect people from the shadows.

But that is no longer possible.

Not when Lumiria couldn’t listen to reason anymore.

There is no longer any hope for the Moon.

Griselda realised it the moment Lumiria refused to change her perspective.

To see the world as humans do.

The arrogance of the Moon could not be allowed to continue.

This world… was far too fragile for Gods to live amongst man.

Exhaling deeply, Griselda cleaned up the girl’s body so that she looked as youthful as the first day she appeared in the Moon Church.

She styled her hair, fixed her clothes and carried the girl with her arms.

She searched through her memories… of where the girl used to live.

Where her parents still live to this day…

To tell the truth would be far too cruel.

But to leave them in the dark…

Navigating human emotions were still difficult for Griselda.

However, she felt like she owed her parents some closure.

Even if it was mired in deceit.

A brave sacrifice.

That is the story she’ll craft. Of a girl who was timid and shy yet loved the world. She who, using her own life, saved countless others during an Abyssal outbreak.

With so many outbreaks happening right now, not hearing about her wouldn’t be shocking. But at least it’ll give the story some… ‘truth’ to use as its foundation.

-Not telling the parent’s about what actually happened?-

‘No.’

The sight of the parents breaking down at the sight of their daughter’s body inside a coffin that she personally prepared was heartbreaking enough.

In the first place…

This wasn’t done to protect Lumiria.

This was done to protect the girl’s parents.

This was the last thing she could do as someone who could’ve helped but didn’t.

To make the girl a hero.

Even if the truth may be different.

‘Sorry.’ Griselda apologised inwardly. The same words the girl spoke in her last moment.

Turning around, Griselda kept walking until the parent’s cries could no longer be heard.

-So what will you do now? What is it that must be- ara? She’s not even listening anymore keke.-

*CRACK

Though she could not cry tears using her current replacement head, a crack formed in her mask.

A crack that stretched from the corner of her eyes.

Tears that permanently engraved themselves onto her mask, onto her heart.

Thought the girl died, her death became the final push that Griselda needed.

Or rather… the final push that the voice wanted.

Oh wilful Goddess of the Moon, do you hear that?

Tick tock. The clock hands stop.

The Reaper is calling your name.