Chapter 174
“…”
Aiden suddenly forgot to cry and stared blankly at Novnie. Novnie’s laughter was so loud, and her vibrant green eyes were now filled with tears. But strangely enough, the look on Novnie’s face, as she struggled to hold back laughter, seemed no different from the stoic expression Aiden had.
The sound of laughter, like spring itself, contrasted sharply with the face in front of him, and suddenly the hairs on Aiden’s arms stood on end. A cold chill ran down his spine. The inhuman look was so unsettling that Aiden instinctively recoiled slightly.
Novnie’s tears continued to spill from her eyes, but she didn’t bother to wipe them away. She spoke.
“No.”
You’re not dead. Novnie’s voice trembled, sounding like someone trying to speak through their sobs.
“Haha, ha…”
After a sigh, as though the one laughing had just finished crying, Novnie spoke in a tired voice.
“You wished for me, didn’t you?”
But what was this supposed to mean? His tears continued to fall. Aiden, unable to even think of wiping them away, just stared. Novnie laughed again, this time cheerfully.
As though Aiden’s tears and Novnie’s laughter were somehow one and the same.
But, in a way, this was a blessing. In the absurdity of it all, his feelings toward Herix had somewhat subsided, thanks to Novnie. How could anyone laugh so brightly in front of a crying child? Aiden thought absentmindedly.
‘God maybe doesn’t understand human emotions.’
God has never lived as a human, after all. Perhaps God knows humans only theoretically. Tears come when one is happy or sad.
Ironically, only now did Aiden understand. After witnessing such an inhuman display, he felt goosebumps run up his spine, realizing that—
‘The being before me is truly… truly the God from the myth, Novnie…’
Aiden wiped his face and brushed away the tears. Mimicking him, Novnie also wiped her eyes, then spoke again.
“You wished for me, to save you.”
“…Ah.”
The voice, heavy with sorrow, felt unfamiliar, as if it wasn’t his own. It was completely different from Novnie’s cheerful tone.
“So, I saved you. And I granted your wish.”
“My… wish?”
“You said you wanted to escape, didn’t you?”
Aiden, helplessly, asked the god before him.
“Huh?”
“You begged to be saved, to escape, to not die. You wanted anyone to come save you. To disappear with you. And that’s why we’re here.”
“Here…?”
“The abode of spring. That’s what I call it. But right now, you probably call it… ‘paradise’.”
Paradise. The paradise from the founding myth where Novnie lived with the animals. Aiden was now in that legendary place. The grass he had been clutching, now withered, immediately regained its vibrant green once he released his grip.
‘So, is this truly a place without death…?’
The fox was punished, and the animals that followed it out of the paradise also experienced death, but it seemed that the ‘abode of spring’, the so-called paradise, was free from death.
‘So, am I alive, or have I lost my body and exist only as a soul?’
If the God appeared to grant his wish, why am I here? When that essential question arose, Novnie spoke as if to resolve it.
“But you were not the only one who made a wish. That’s why your doll is taking the death instead of you. The you now is still ‘you.’ Your body is not dead.”
“Wait, wait a minute. I don’t… understand. You’re saying I wasn’t the only one who made a wish? And that my doll took my death…?”
“Hmm, well, what can be done? That child is also one of my descendants.”
Novnie spoke with a completely neutral expression. The face, devoid of any emotion, was as pale as a blank slate, confirming to Aiden the grim reality that felt like a death sentence. God is fair. The opportunity they give is equal to all.
Novnie’s other descendants.
Therefore, Aiden thought he didn’t want to know more about it and wasn’t curious, but his true feelings seemed to be otherwise.
“Who… what wish was made?”
‘Why did I have to die?’ Aiden’s lips moved involuntarily.
His voice, as low and sharp as frost, sounded strange, considering he hadn’t even gone through puberty yet. Startled, Aiden quickly covered his mouth, but it was already too late.
Novnie, unaware of emotions, wouldn’t have noticed Aiden’s desperate expression. As proof, look—when did Novnie ever show a neutral expression? Even now, wasn’t Novnie smiling widely?
“One of my other descendants wished to kill you.”
Novnie’s lively voice, with its bright tone, pierced Aiden’s chest like a nail.
Ah, his heart shattered.
“They said you had to die.”
Aiden opened his mouth in shock. His lower lip, which had been bitten to hold back tears, tore a bit more.
From deep within, his heart, emotions, and soul turned black and crumbled into ashes.
“That child, wanted to kill me… that child… said I had to die… he wished for something like that…”
“Yes.”
At that assertion, white and fragile ash scattered, leaving no trace.
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