Chapter 1
The damp underground prayer room of the temple.
A place that could only be entered with the Pope’s permission, and thus, a place some called holy.
In other words, a chamber of penance.
"My first daughter."
Lephonia was accustomed to everything that happened in this place.
She was used to the sight of Pope Pretes, known as the holiest and most sacred of all time, holding a horsewhip, and even the sight of a priest curled up in a ball, desperately enduring the agony.
"Yes, Your Holiness."
The musty smell of mold stung her nose. Nausea surged within her, but just as she had for years, she quickly suppressed it along with her emotions.
She was so used to this horror that she could hardly tell if she was a human or a doll.
Pope Pretes, who had tossed the horsewhip into the corner with a twitch of irritation, issued his command.
"Steal the heirloom of the Kreitan Duchy and bring it to me."
His word was absolute here, and Lephonia had no choice.
"The means and methods do not matter."
The Pope muttered indifferently, healing the wound on his own hand caused by wielding the whip. He did not care in the slightest about the priest who had been struck by it.
"My daughter."
Whenever he gave a mission, he always mimicked a benevolent voice, as if he were a god himself.
"If you happen to get caught, die cleanly on the spot."
He issued secret orders solely for his own gain, and even while committing acts that defied the will of God, he still possessed Divine Power, which was called the strength of the gods.
God is truly.
So indifferent.
"Yes. Your Holiness."
Lephonia slowly lowered her eyes.
The Pope, having washed his blood-stained hands with holy water, glanced at the expressionless Lephonia and said, "My daughter. You are an adult now, so it is time for you to become independent."
"Pardon?"
"Hmm, yes. If you complete this mission, I will grant you your independence."
Lephonia’s pupils wavered.
"You are all grown up, so you can live well on your own, can’t you? If you just finish this mission properly, I will provide you with all sorts of support so you can live as you wish."
At the words "live as you wish," her heart, which had felt as if it had stopped for years, began to race.
"Oh my. You have a look of disbelief."
"Ah. I am just... surprised. Independence... I have never even thought of it."
"Is that so? Hmm, then what would make you believe me? Very well. Would you believe me if I swore in the name of God?"
The greatest trust one who serves God could show.
A contract made in the name of God was a terrifying oath; the moment it was broken, all Divine Power would vanish.
"Here."
A bright light flowed from the Pope’s hand. It was proof that he was swearing in the name of God.
"In return, you must stake your life as well."
The Pope smiled.
"If you fail the mission, you die. That is only fair, is it not?"
She could stop this. She could stop doing what the Pope ordered and end it all.
Lephonia bowed her head deeply.
"I will stake my life."
There was no God in this chamber of penance, where not a single ray of sunlight reached.
* * *
Five years old.
Lephonia’s first memory was of the orphanage. It was the day the girl next to her was sold off because of the orphanage director and cried her heart out.
Thinking that if she stayed still, she might be sold off just the same by the director, Lephonia ran away to a poorhouse established as an imperial relief facility.
But the situation there was no different. Habitual violence continued in the poorhouse, a place where children were supposed to be protected.
They were such horrific days that, at only five years old, she was already steeped in the thought that perhaps it would be better to die, but young Lephonia had nowhere to run.
And in the autumn of her fifth year, during the harvest festival.
Lephonia met Pope Pretes for the first time after he had ascended to the papacy. She clung to the Pope, who was visiting to inspect the poorhouse facilities, and begged him to save her.
'Can you do anything for me? If you promise, I will let you live like a human being.'
She should have run away then.
It was naive of her to think that it didn't matter if she went from one hell to another, as long as she was leaving.
Pope Pretes took several children, including Lephonia, out of the poorhouse.
And he provided a small mansion on the outskirts as their residence.
She wore nice clothes, washed warmly, and filled her stomach so she wouldn't go hungry.
When she turned six, Lephonia learned many things from teachers hired by the Pope under the guise of education.
Aristocratic etiquette, human pressure points, how to use a sword—things that were far from ordinary.
Of course, the process was not smooth. Children who could not keep up with the pace of education were sent back to the poorhouse, and Lephonia followed the training desperately to avoid going back to hell.
If she cried because she didn't want to learn, she was forcibly expelled and either died or was cast back into hell.
By this point, the children perceived each other not as family or colleagues, but as enemies to be surpassed.
And the year Lephonia turned fifteen, she was given her first mission.
'My first daughter. I have kept my promise to you and helped you live like a human, so now it is time for you to fulfill your promise. Just leave this letter in the cardinal’s quarters.'
Five years ago.
That was the beginning.
The Pope’s spy. The dog raised by the Pope.
That was the price Lephonia paid to live like a human.
The siblings who failed the Pope’s missions three times or could not endure and ran away were all found as cold corpses.
In this empire, there was nowhere to hide from the eyes of the Pope, who held as much power as the Emperor.
Many missions were given to young Lephonia as well. Lephonia would cling to the Pope’s legs, crying that she couldn't do it, and was always punished.
The only fortunate thing was that Lephonia was an excellent model student who never missed the top spot during her training, so she did not die despite her three failures.
Though she wasn't sure if that could be called fortunate.
But eventually, to survive, Lephonia had no choice but to kill all her emotions and move as the Pope’s hands and feet.
And now.
Lephonia let out a sigh mixed with lamentation in her private hideout, a small hut.
"Hah."
Lephonia, who had leaned back in her chair with her head tilted back, had a thick stack of documents resting on her face.
They were documents containing information about the Kreitan Duchy.
"Wouldn't it be faster for me to be reincarnated as the Kreitan Lady and just walk out with the heirloom than to steal it?"
The Kreitan Duchy. The guardian family that protected the safety and peace of the empire.
The Duke and his two sons could all wield Aura, making them the undisputed strongest family in the empire.
Those who wielded Aura had physical ages that flowed significantly slower than others, so they lived long enough that they could hardly be called human. Naturally, their reputation was bound to be high.
Thus, their wealth, power, and strength were all perfect.
The only opening was the information that they had lost their youngest daughter, who was not even a year old, and were still searching for her.
Twenty years ago, the carriage the Duchess was riding in was attacked; the Duchess’s body was found, but the young youngest daughter had vanished without a trace.
It seemed they were still searching for her twenty years later, in the hope that she might be alive.
"Tsk, there have already been too many scammers who approached them claiming to be the daughter, so it would be difficult to disguise myself as the Lady."
Since it was said that the Duke of Kreitan was suspicious of anyone who claimed to be his daughter, it was better to avoid that method.
"Still, I have to succeed somehow."
It wasn't a mission to harm anyone, and if she just stole one heirloom, she could live without ever seeing the Pope’s face again, so she absolutely had to do it.
She had survived until now; she couldn't die right before the end.
Lephonia slapped both her cheeks with her palms. Her instantly swollen cheeks stung.
"First, let’s confirm what the heirloom is."
Only then could she decide on a plan, whether to stuff it in a sack or hide it in her pocket.
The Kreitan mansion was heavily guarded, so she couldn't get inside unless her identity was certain, even if she disguised herself.
Creating a fake identity was easy, but for now, she intended only to confirm the heirloom, not infiltrate.
"I have something prepared."
Lephonia opened a drawer and grabbed a small medicine bottle that had been rolling around.
It was a Shrinking Potion that made one’s body as small as a fingernail when consumed.
She had used it in a past mission to steal an object, and she had spent a large sum to buy one more bottle and hidden it away.
'I saved this not for a mission, but in case I ever needed to run away.'
But if she successfully finished this mission, she wouldn't need to run away; she would be free from the Pope and live as she pleased.
'After I drink the Shrinking Potion and become small, I’ll sneak into the Kreitan mansion and confirm the heirloom first.'
Lephonia, having opened the lid of the Shrinking Potion, looked at the documents and drank it all in one go.
Gulp.
The tasteless liquid slid down her throat.
"……!!"
At the same time, she felt a burning pain as if her body were being set on fire.
"Haa!"
Huh? Why is this happening?
Something was wrong.
She had definitely taken it during her last mission, and there hadn't been any pain like this back then.
It was agonizing, as if her whole body had been thrown into a pit of fire.
"Kuh-ack!"
Lephonia, clutching her chest, collapsed ungracefully. The sound of her heart beating rang loudly in her ears.
Thump, thump, thump!
The world spun dizzily, and her vision flipped. Breathing was difficult, and she couldn't even stand properly on her two feet.
Someone.
Someone help me.
Lephonia reached out with all her might.
She clenched her eyes shut in agony and wailed, but as always, there was no one to help Lephonia.
And when Lephonia, who had fainted, opened her eyes again.
"……Uh?"
Her eye level had changed, and the clothes she had been wearing were absurdly large. Not only that, but her hands and feet had shrunk.
Furthermore, on the back of her hand, there was the same scar she had gotten while running away from the orphanage when she was five.
It was a scar that had been etched into the shape of a fence when the back of her hand was gouged while she was secretly climbing over the orphanage fence.
It had disappeared without leaving a trace after that, but now, the scar had reappeared on the back of her hand in that exact shape.
"W-what? My, my hands, why are they so small? Ahem, ah! Ah! My voice! Why is it like this! Ah! Ahhh!"
It wasn't a shrinking effect.
"Huh? Uh? Me, why is my height like this! Why am I so small!! What’s with my voice and pronunciation!! A mirror! Where is the mirror!"
Lephonia had become a child.
And she was in the exact form of her five-year-old self, back when she was running away from the orphanage to the poorhouse.
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