Bleak future

After getting rid of Daisy, one of Auriel's worries disappeared, only to be replaced by the concern of Celeste, and her reaction after she learns that her spy was killed by him.

The information he got from Daisy wasn't much. All he knew was that Celeste had become slightly warmer towards him and she knew that something was wrong with current Auriel. But strangely, she was rather okay with Auriel's change of behavior after losing his 'memories'.

One of her thoughts about his change was that someone with a strange ability was possessing Auriel's body.

Only if she knew how close her guess was and how this simple guess made Auriel sweat bullets with dread.

Auriel was living in the Weaver mansion, which was heavily guarded by hundreds of Masters, tens of Grandmasters, and maybe a few Transcendents. If these people discovered his transmigration, they would mistake him for an enemy, a Fiend, or a church spy and kill him on the spot.

So, all he wanted right now was to escape from here quickly before his fat ass was handed to his former god by the loyal soldiers of the Weaver family.

With frustration, he rubbed his face and headed toward his bed. He was thinking about his problems for some time right now and this caused him headaches. He decided to rest for now before thinking about it more. It's not like they would kill him right now when they hadn't done so for over a month.

At least Auriel thought like that before letting himself to his bed and preparing to sleep. But not before giving Elise a strict order not to leave the room.

He knew that Elise wouldn't go out of this room because of her fear and trauma of people, but he decided to assert his dominance to make her obedient in the future.

Then he closed his eyes and let himself into the dark corner of his mind.

***

In the same room that Auriep was sleeping in, a certain blonde-haired girl was sitting on the couch with her knees drawn to herself while her cheek lay on them.

She was brooding over her bleak and uncertain future.

She knew that Auriel was considered to be slightly evil, almost neutral, but still evil. However, she didn't expect that Auriel would kill someone in cold blood like that and sleep afterward, even if the said person was a spy.

Now that she saw how Auriel could be remorseless, she didn't know what to expect from the future.

Living with someone as unstable as Auriel was already challenging and nerve-wracking. Still, she thought that he wasn't that bad either, just a broken human being.

So, Daisy's death was eye-opening for Elise to know more about Auriel and think about her future.

She never even considered killing Auriel in his sleep as she knew that she was too weak to kill him, not physically but mentally. And even if she was able to kill him, there were many powerhouses around the house that could kill her without even lifting their hands.

With a helpless sigh, she turned to Auriel and her eyes shined for a few seconds. Blood trickled down from her nose and a few tears of blood came under her eyes.

She sighed once more, wiping the blood from her face, and curled up on the couch in a fetal position.

'Did Goddess really abandon me?' She thought as powerlessness enveloped her being.

Her belief had been strong when she lived with her father, but now that she was away from home and received no help, it couldn't help but weaken further.

With a single sob, she pulled Loki into her embrace and closed her eyes, only to be opened because of the knocking sound.

Knock! knock!

She immediately stood straight with Loki in her arms and turned to the direction where the sound came from.

Then the same knocking sound came again with more strength.

"Open the door Auriel. We need to talk."

The voice, soft and melodious yet serious, indicated that the owner was a woman. Elise realized that the woman must be Auriel's equal or superior, given that she addressed him by his name alone.

So, she decided to wake Auriel up.

The blackish-brown staff materialized in her hands as she began poking Auriel from a distance.

"Auriel, wake up, someone has come…" She whispered quickly as the knocking sound began to be like punches to the door.

Fortunately for poor Elise, Auriel woke up pretty quickly and turned to the door. "Wait a damn minute, Celeste. I need to dress up." He shouted while rubbing his eyes, eventually getting up and throwing a glance at Elise.

Then he took Loki from her arms and whispered too quietly. "Go above the door and be invisible. If the person who came here is hostile, pierce her neck like how you are piercing my forehead every morning. Or else I will break your neck before I get beaten by her."

Loki nodded his head as Auriel's tone was too serious for him to act arrogantly, and did what Auriel ordered.

Auriel took a deep breath and pinched his thighs enough for him to recover himself. Then, with steady steps, he approached the door and opened it

There in front of him was Celeste, who was looking at him intently. Her blood-red eyes filled with curiosity and slight anger.

'I hope she won't walk up to me too much. Light interrogation is okay… I think.' Auriel hoped silently.