"Now, it's time for you to sleep. If you sleep too late, you won't grow tall."
"I feel like I've almost finished growing though... I've never grown this much in my life."
"You have to sleep early if you want to grow as tall as Daddy."
Navia's eyes were heavy with sleep, but she felt reluctant to fall asleep just yet.
Actually, she might have been afraid.
'What if this is all just a dream?'
What if she was just having a happy dream because she wanted it so desperately?
Silently smiling, Navia held her father's hand without a word. Her face showed a calm expression, revealing no signs of unease.
But Lark, being a father, sensed Navia's worries.
He stroked her hair and said, "Don't worry. I'll still be here when you wake up."
"Yes."
Navia smiled awkwardly, realizing her thoughts had been read.
'Did I make it that obvious?'
She obediently lay down in bed.
Lark meticulously covered her with the blanket, arranged her hair, and then sat down beside the bed.
"You need to close your eyes to sleep."
He playfully spread his palm, covering the small face of Navia completely.
With half of her face hidden, revealing only her mouth, Navia whispered softly as if sharing a secret.
"I've always imagined what it would be like when Dad comes back."
Lark was momentarily unable to open his mouth. It was fortunate that he was covering his daughter's eyes. He couldn't guess what his expression might have been at that moment.
He spoke in a voice that he tried to make as gentle as possible.
"What kind of imagination?"
"Hmm... I think I imagined Dad smiling..."
Navia yawned softly and murmured in a muffled voice.
"Because I will be happy the moment I see Dad."
"......"
"So I thought it would be nice if Dad could smile happily too......"
She only hoped that he wouldn’t feel sorry and would just smile brightly like someone who had returned from a long journey, welcoming each other.
Because we had both been in pain.
"I wish Dad could be happy."
Lark said nothing.
He just slowly lowered his hand, and looked at the face of his daughter, who had already tightly closed her eyes.
Navia had grown significantly since her memories from before leaving for the divine realm, yet her youthful face remained unchanged. An undeniable aura of happiness flowed across her face.
Lark found himself inevitably happy.
"That's right. Just like you said, it's happiness."
How could he not be happy when his daughter tells him to be, because she is happy?
Unknowingly, he had already become happy and was smiling.
Navia wanted to be awake a little longer. Just a bit, just a tiny bit more.
But maybe because she felt so utterly safe in the scent of the world's coldest winter, sleepiness kept creeping in.
"Don't go anywhere now……."
Holding Lark's hand tightly, Navia soon fell into a deep sleep.
Lark whispered in a low voice to his infinitely pitiable and adorable daughter.
"I won't go anywhere now, so from today onwards, you can sleep peacefully."
Whether it's a god or a nightmare, I'll fend them off.
* * *
The world turned upside down overnight.
The Emperor was assassinated. It was the doing of his wife and son, who had joined hands with a demon for this.
It was as if a story written by a novelist who harbored a strong backlash against imperial authority had come to life.
"These must surely be the works of a devil!"
Even in these times, when the power of religion was not what it once was, the devil remained a fearful and dreadful entity.
Blasphemy was a grave sin, and the populace was enraged.
"Execute all those involved!"
"Thoroughly uncover everyone connected to this!"
Their voices grew as swiftly as a fire spreading through a dry mountain.
Even the nobles, who were politically divided, could not be split in opinion over this incident.
After all, they were the victims this time.
The person who was most affected by this crisis was none other than Nikan.
"Sigh..."
The office of the Agnes Ducal family was filled with a pungent smell, the aftermath of smoking one cigarette after another.
Nikan, who usually exercised restraint with alcohol and cigarettes and paid great attention to self-management, found it impossible not to seek some form of relief in the current crisis.
Patricide! A contract with the devil!
"To stab someone in the back is one thing, but these damned bastards!"
Nikan, slumped in his chair, had the look of someone who had not slept a wink.
I felt as if he had lost 20 years of my life overnight, erasing traces related to the Empress.
"How could such a thing happen to me!"
Vivian was Ares' fiancée and her family was deeply intertwined with the royal family, so it was natural for people to suspect that something was up with the House of Agnes too.
It was a bolt from the blue.
"Sigh..."
Nikan knew that he had to stay calm in such a situation.
As long as the sky wasn't falling, there had to be a way out. No, there simply had to be.
He thought back to last night.
The scene where Navia, like a goddess descended to earth, was purifying the evil aura, wouldn't leave his mind.
'She used to be my daughter.'
If Navia had remained in his grasp, he was sure she could have swallowed not just the empire, but the entire continent! Nikan couldn't stop wondering what it would have been like if she had continued to be his daughter.
'Maybe I can persuade her since I've brainwashed Navia? If only it weren't for Lark...'
There was no doubt that the reason he hadn't had a chance to talk to Navia was because Lark and Erkin had been meddling.
Nikan desperately constructed scenario after scenario to his advantage.
Knock knock.
"Sir, it's Linden."
"Come in."
The butler entered and reported with a troubled look.
"We've failed to make contact with Count Edward Wayne. It seems he has sought refuge with Eseled..."
Bang!
"That bat-like bastard!"
Edward had slowly distanced himself from Agnes and then, after attending the academy a few years ago, had almost completely cut off contact.
Nikan had also lost interest in Edward, who wasn't as helpful as he had thought, until Eseled suddenly rose to power, at which point he had called Edward back.
That's when Edward had said,
"I'm sorry, but I'm withdrawing from this matter."
"You're already in the same boat as me. If you expose the brainwashing to Eseled, you'll be the only one to die."
At that, Edward had laughed as if he had heard an interesting story.
"Not a bad story."
'I'll find him and tear him limb from limb...!'
Nikan was grinding his teeth when this happened.
A servant knocked on the office door and entered.
"Sir, some people who wish to meet you have arrived, including Count Nate."
"Count Nate? Wasn't that once a vassal family of Eseled? I thought they had completely withdrawn from politics."
"The group led by him claims to have a solution to this situation."
A solution?
Nikan was enveloped in a strange feeling.
Somehow, he had the intuition that they weren't just here to spout nonsense.
"Let's meet them."
He ordered the guests to be brought to the reception room and then, after straightening his disheveled appearance, headed there.
When the reception room door opened, five men rose from their seats and greeted him.
"We meet the Duke of Agnes."
One of the elderly men among them must be Count Nate. The others appeared to be intellectuals of the gentry class.
Noticing Nikan's puzzled look, a neatly dressed man with a monocle introduced himself.
"We are people who have studied theology for many years. Well, to be precise, we have studied Eseled."
What did Eseled have to do with theology?
Nikan motioned everyone to take their seats.
"So how does that solve this situation?"
This time, a lean scholar with round, gold-framed glasses answered.
"We believe that Lady Eseled is the incarnation of Nyx. The power she displayed at the banquet must have been the authority of an incarnation."
"Incarnation...?"
"And that's not all. The condition of Prince Ares, whom you described as a demon, was actually an external deity."
He then took out a book from his coat and placed it on the table. It was a book titled 'Pantheon.'
Nikan looked at the book with revulsion.
'How can such an aura emanate from a book?'
He felt a coldness from the book that seemed to slice through flesh. It also reminded him of the evil aura he had felt at the banquet.
But this felt more refined.
The scholar gently pushed the book towards Nikan and said,
"This is a book that was directly handed down from Her Majesty the Empress. It was used to implant a deity in Prince Ares."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Count Nate answered his question.
"We're going to create a new deity."
'He's mad. Completely mad.'
A chilling sensation, as if facing a fanatical cultist, swept over him.
Yet his heart was pounding.
'After all, I have nothing left but to hide away for a generation, torn to shreds by the forces supporting Princess Monica. So then….'
Read ahead by supporting me on Ko-fi. Access 5 advance chapters with the Agnes of Water Tier ($8) or 10 advance chapters with Duffman of Dominion Tier ($15) For every $25 collected on Ko-fi, I will release an extra chapter. Choose your tier by clicking the 'Support me' button! Join our discord server for latest release updates and novel discussions. Rate and review this novel on NU to help people find this novel. Bonus chapters on reaching milestones. Happy reading!