[Lien was not killed.]

[The Demon King of Carnage descends upon the world.]

[…Lien’s affinity has reached a certain threshold.]

[Hidden route discovered, Lien commits suicide to prevent you from being put in danger.]

[Lien commits suicide.]

[Li■ commits su■■■de.]

[■■■ ■■■■■,]

[…The Emperor’s Might absorbs the energy of slaughter.]

[The vessel’s bloom state has been reset.]

[A critical error has been detected.]

[Resetting the path of fate.]

*

Fortunately, the situation wrapped up faster than expected.

Just like last time, unknown message windows popped up and vanished at a speed that made my head spin—whoosh!

All while Lien hugged me with an intensity that could rival a bear trap, forcing me to suppress my healthy bodily traits by singing the national anthem in a panic—ahem, ahem!

I watched a tearful reunion between Lien and her father unfold as they exchanged apologies, both of them choked up—sniffle!

The priest cleverly shifted the blame for Lien’s rampage onto the imperial army, citing all the villagers being unconscious as a bonus—swoosh! Easy peasy!

Since both Lien and I were completely wiped out, we managed to convince the priest to let us stay in the only somewhat intact house nearby.

Despite all the chaos,

given the scale of the disaster, things had ended up rather nicely.

So, one question loomed large in my mind:

‘Why on earth?’

A cloud of discomfort hung in the air…

An unavoidable sense of discomfort that couldn’t be ignored.

It should have felt natural.

The villagers were just too normal.

Their claims that they persecuted Lien based on some dodgy fortune-telling didn’t quite add up.

Lien’s father had indeed intended to kill her over those dubious fortune results… but he just couldn’t bear to spill the beans out of pity.

It felt rather muddled.

Was I misremembering the spoiler post?

Was my memory getting a little foggy?

But that wasn’t the only concern.

‘In the end, however it all played out, that prophecy hit the nail on the head, didn’t it?’

Lien was on the verge of awakening as a Demon King.

Sure, I considered it a coincidence, a little butterfly effect gone wild.

Still, I couldn’t shake off the feeling—it was all a bit too precise.

‘…Looks like I have to check this out further.’

I urged Lien to kick back in bed and went out to get some fresh air.

Maybe because most of the houses had gone up in flames, the priest had handed us a room with a solitary bed.

Not that it made a difference—grumble, grumble—I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.

…I really needed to figure out this infuriatingly healthy body trait of mine!

I couldn’t lay down with anyone; I’d probably lose my mind—yep, that’s a no-go!

With that in mind, I sought out the priest again.

“Is that you? What brings you here during such a ‘busy’ time…?”

I couldn’t wrap my head around why he emphasized ‘busy,’ but I brushed it off and spoke up.

“Can you predict my future?”

This was my brilliant plan.

There’s no better way to test the validity of that spoiler post.

Think about it.

What if this guy actually gives a credible prophecy?

That would mean I’d need to consider the possibility that the spoiler post might contain some inaccuracies.

Plus, if I could peek into my own future, it would fill in those gaps in my original knowledge.

But what if the prophecy turned out to be a total flop?

Then I’d be confirming the spoiler post could be trusted. Nothing to lose!

Either way, there was no downside—seemed odd not to try.

“Lien, that girl. Even if she’s fond of some boy, talking about our tribe’s secret divination…”

The priest muttered about the futility of raising daughters as he prepared for the ritual—sigh, sigh!

…Now that I think about it, I did read something about astrology in that spoiler post.

I felt a tad guilty for Lien, who had passed out as soon as she hit the bed, probably too exhausted from crying—zzz!

But for now, let’s go with what Lien told me.

“What was your name again?”

“Ian.”

Upon hearing this, the priest circled his chalk and placed various symbols around it.

And then…

“This shouldn’t be happening.”

Nothing happened—crickets chirping!

I tried to hide my frosty expression, but I think I got caught red-handed.

The priest, not wanting to lose face, got annoyed and announced he would try predicting someone else’s fate.

Using a straightforward method that only required their name and appearance, I casually threw in a name.

“Please check Siel’s fate. She has black hair…”

As I wrapped up my description, the priest began uttering incomprehensible words, drawing another circle with ashes.

And then…

Suddenly, the priest’s face turned an alarming shade of horror—gasp!

“Hey, you! Whoever that person is, sever ties with them immediately!”

…What’s going on here?

I stared at the priest, baffled as he continued, all worked up.

“This person is destined to bring calamity. A hidden spark of vengeance deep in their heart will ignite, threatening to consume everyone around them… no, the entire world will be set ablaze!”

…Vengeance?

Her?

That naive little kid is supposed to be a harbinger of revenge?

I mean, come on—facepalm!

Sure, I knew Siel lost her mother. I even asked if she was okay out of concern.

–I’m fine.

–…Really?

–I know she loved me. That’s enough for me.

She claimed she’d say she loved her mother at her grave, and that was her closure.

And now this kid is supposed to destroy the world because of revenge?

“…You have to take this seriously! Fate is impossible to escape!”

The priest shouted, losing it.

But if that’s their stance, then I had something to slot back at him too—wink wink!

“Lien is doing just fine now, isn’t she? Is fate really that absolute?”

Whether Lien was on the brink of turning into a demon king or not, she was simply snoozing away, peaceful as ever.

Is this all just some harmless cult nonsense?

Feeling a little reckless at this point, I was about to take a step back…

But then I second-guessed myself.

A strange intuition held me in place.

It felt like I simply shouldn’t back down at this crucial moment.

“I’d like you to take a gander at one more person’s fate…”

I said, describing Yuli’s name and appearance.

The reason for my curiosity about Yuli was straightforward.

While gathering allies played a role, the bigger picture was that I had seen Yuli directly in the previous story.

From birth to her growth, I knew everything about her like the back of my hand.

After all, Yuli was the daughter of the protagonist from the original story—bingo!

A saint born with divine powers.

The sole glimmer of hope in that dark Bone and Blood world, the adorable little one who healed the player’s troubled heart with her heartfelt innocence.

This would definitely give me more clarity.

Once again, the priest started prepping for the ritual.

And then…

“How foreboding! Truly foreboding. I sense an evil and dreadfully malignant aura… Why do you only find yourself entangled with such people?”

In the end, there was no twist at all.

What?

An evil aura from a saint? Seriously?

That doesn’t even register as logical.

I started to see why this man had been yapping about Lien’s slaughtering aspect being destined to kill countless people.

He was merely throwing out ominous statements with zero substance.

“…Am I losing my touch with age? It seems I’m out of energy. I’m sorry, but that’s my limit.”

The priest shamelessly expressed his exhaustion, as if saying any more would unmask his charade.

Though I wasn’t rude enough to say it straight to his face, I politely thanked the priest and made my exit.

‘…This is all strange.’

My intuition usually hits the mark.

This was the first time it felt so wildly off.

But with such clear evidence pointed to the contrary, I couldn’t stick with mere gut feelings.

‘Well, intuition can be wrong sometimes, I suppose.’

I trudged off, a bit dispirited, my thoughts lingering.

*

The priest ended up alone, deep in thought.

The reason was simple.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that the young man earlier truly didn’t believe in his fortune-telling.

Normally, he wouldn’t have fretted that much.

But…

‘After all, we’re about to be family… I can’t start displaying incompetence to my future son-in-law.’

This thought kept pestering the priest.

When that man named Ian visited with his daughter, the priest instantly caught the look of affection in Lien’s eyes for him.

Of course, the priest hadn’t asked Ian how he felt about his daughter.

Having witnessed the tender embrace, what more was there to question? Honestly, who’d pass up a girl like his daughter unless they were a blind fool?

“Hmm…”

With all that whirling in his mind, the priest paused a moment before spotting a strand of Ian’s white hair on the floor.

Then he realized why Ian’s fate had been eluding him earlier.

It was because ‘Ian’ wasn’t the man’s real name.

…Well, considering the number of orphans in the Empire, that wasn’t truly surprising.

Many lived under a second name they crafted for themselves rather than the one their parents gave at birth.

‘But if that’s the case…’

A part of the body could be used for another fortune-telling.

With this, the priest confidently prepared for the ritual once more.

And then…

Silence reigned.

The heavens felt eerily quiet.

“Guess I really am getting old.”

In the end, the priest muttered that to himself with a lonesome smile.

It seemed almost inevitable.

The thought that a single soul carried more weight than this world could bear, that it was more precious than the heavens they revered—so sacred it was too much for fate to be read.

Who could have noticed such an absurd truth?