The reason Iris never brought it up herself—could it be that her remains are already gone?
Hearing the question, Iris casually twirled a strand of her hair, though her fingers couldn’t touch it at all.
“As for that, sure, it’s possible. Compared to taking over little Yuli’s body, my own would obviously be the most suitable.”
This was undeniably the best news. As long as Iris’s remains could be found, she wouldn’t keep fixating on taking over her body.
“But,” Iris suddenly shifted her tone, spreading her hands, “I can’t find it.”
Huh?
“After all, it’s been so long, my soul and body have been separated, and who knows where my body ended up buried.”
Iris’s tone was calm, as if she were discussing the weather rather than her own body.
Could it be that she’d taken over someone else’s body before, so she was so nonchalant about her own remains?
Yuli’s doubts remained unresolved when Iris continued speaking.
“Now I can’t sense my remains at all. Rather than wasting effort searching for a needle in a haystack, wouldn’t it be better to just take over a ready-made body?”
As she said this, Iris’s gaze landed on Yuli herself, her small face puffed up in an aggrieved expression.
“Too bad you’re such a stubborn, uncooperative thing. Honestly, if you’d just give me your body, you’d be free from pain already.
Tsk… Stubborn girl, what’s so good about your body anyway, that you can’t bear to let go?”
Compared to searching for her remains, her own body really was preferable.
It was the answer Yuli had expected.
“But after so much time, my original body is probably nothing but bones now, and who knows what dark corner they’re scattered in. Compared to that pile of bones, I much prefer your body, Yuli-chan.”
A chill crept up inside Yuli. Was this girl really expecting her to feel honored, just because Iris liked her body better?
“So you’re just going to leave your original body alone?”
No matter what, it was still her body, but Iris seemed way too indifferent, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.
“If it can be found, great; if not, it doesn’t matter.”
It seemed Iris was set on taking Yuli’s body rather than looking for her own remains.
“Yuli-chan, you suddenly brought this up. Are you thinking of helping me find my body?”
“No, and after hearing a certain someone’s words, I’m even less interested.”
“Eh… How could you~”
Iris drew out her words, putting on a deeply disappointed face, but then her eyes sparkled as if she had a good idea. “Then how about you just give me your body, Yuli-chan? Once I’m successfully revived, maybe I’ll be able to sense where my body is.”
A sweet, tempting smile bloomed on her small face. “When I find my own body, I’ll return yours to you, how about it?”
“Don’t even think about it.”
Yuli rejected her cleanly and firmly. That route was a dead end. The world was so vast—how could she possibly find Iris’s remains, when even Iris herself couldn’t sense them, let alone Yuli who was completely in the dark?
“Yuli-chan, you really show no mercy, huh? Boohoo~ But…”
Iris abruptly changed her tone. “My remains are probably impossible to find, so you might as well give up.”
“After all, to prevent me from fully reviving, the best option would definitely be to destroy my remains completely, leaving me no chance at all.
But those people overlooked one thing: I’m not so easy to get rid of.”
Yuli chose not to respond. There was no point in pursuing this topic any further. She shifted her gaze away from Iris, looking up at the vast, endless starry sky above.
Iris had once said she came from beyond this world, a goddess belonging to the stars.
She didn’t belong to this world, so why had she come here?
Among those endless stars, how many other gods like her existed?
And those dim, extinguished stars—did they represent fallen gods?
Unable to hold back, Yuli changed the subject. Her voice sounded especially clear in the quiet of night.
“Iris, I’m really curious what happened, what led to the gods’ fall, to the end of the era when gods coexisted?”
The moment she blurted it out, she saw the smile on Iris’s face vanish like mist blown away by the wind.
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she slowly stood up, her tiny figure rendered hazy in the moonlight. Looking down from above at the still-seated Yuli, Iris’s scarlet eyes swirled with complicated emotions.
“Hey, Yuli-chan~”
Though she still used that familiar term, her voice now carried a biting chill.
“Don’t blame me for not warning you.”
Her voice dropped low, laced with a hint of warning.
“Sometimes, knowing too much is not a good thing.
That history buried by time is far older, deeper, and… darker than you can imagine.”
“Trying to force your way into understanding the truth behind it all with your current awareness might just shatter your mind entirely.”
As she finished, Iris paused, then the chill in her smile faded and was replaced by a playful glint.
“Hey~ Yuli-chan, aren’t you pretty concerned about that curse on you?”
At that moment, Iris’s gaze seemed to deepen, as though she could see right through Yuli, directly into the soul entangled and struggling in agony beneath the curse.
“What’s up with the curse?”
“The source of your curse is intimately tied to that history.”
What?
The curse’s origin was directly connected to the gods’ fall?
But the rumors said her curse originated from the Abyss.
In reality, those cursed really did attract the Abyss’s attention more easily. Yuli’s own experiences had proven that her curse and the Abyss were connected.
If Iris wasn’t lying, then the curse’s origin… the fall of the gods, and the mysterious Abyss—all three were somehow linked?
Her mind instantly spun into chaos.
She tried to make sense of the relationship, but her head throbbed in pain, as if some forbidden switch had been triggered, blocking her thoughts.
The more she tried to seek out the truth behind the scenes, the more her thoughts hurtled toward collapse like moths to a flame.
Even a few scattered hints from Iris were more than she could bear right now.
“Alright, that’s enough for now.”
With that, Iris snapped her fingers. Yuli’s chaotic, crumbling thoughts steadied once again.
She looked up, dazed, into Iris’s scarlet eyes.
In the little Evil God’s gaze was a knowing smile, as if to say: See? Just as expected.
“Hey~ Yuli-chan, you can’t even handle this little bit of information. If you really learned the truth of the source, do you think your little head would go boom—just like that?”
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