Chapter 610: Wisp Of The Goddess

It was already well past midnight by the time the mansion finally quieted down.

The music had faded, the lanterns dimmed one by one, and the laughter that had filled the garden only a few hours ago now lingered as a warm memory.

The fashion show was officially over.

The sisters and maids who had spent the evening screaming their lungs out were now fast asleep, sprawled across guest rooms and couches, still half-dressed in glittering gowns.

Some of them were even clutching snacks or ribbons they’d taken as ’souvenirs,’ smiling in their sleep like children after a festival.

Aqua, on the other hand, was not sleeping in her room tonight.

She had decided that, for tonight, she wanted to sleep with Isabelle and the other wives.

"It’s time for a girls’ night." She’d declared proudly before dragging her pillows along the corridor.

And now, tucked in between Isabelle and Vivi, she and the others were whispering and giggling under the covers, telling spooky stories and teasing each other like mischievous schoolgirls instead of noble ladies.

"Oh, and then..." Aqua said, her voice hushed yet dramatic. "...the spirit looked right into her eyes and whispered...’Your hair looks awful tonight.’"

A shriek of laughter filled the room, followed by Nala swatting her playfully with a pillow.

"Aqua, that’s not scary, that’s petty!"

"Petty ghosts are the worst kind!" Aqua countered, giggling.

Meanwhile, in a quieter part of the mansion, another scene was unfolding.

Carmela and Joy, bound by their flow of mana, had no choice but to remain close.

The magic that connected them—the channel of healing energy established earlier—required constant proximity to remain active.

If either of them separated for too long, the flow would break, forcing them to rebuild it from scratch, which would severely delay their recovery.

Even during the fashion show, when Joy had walked the platform in that cursed wedding gown, Carmela had followed quietly through the crowd, keeping within arm’s reach, while Joy did the same as well.

So now, when it came time for sleep, there was no question: they would share the same room.

Maria had been thrilled by the idea.

"Oh, this will be so much fun!" She had said brightly, clapping her hands. "To sleep beside both of my daughters—what more could a mother ask for?"

Carmela had only blushed in response, though deep inside, she was secretly moved.

It had been so long since she had slept beside anyone, much less someone who held her with affection.

Her nights had always been spent alone—cold, silent, haunted by memories of the past.

But tonight felt different. Warm. Familiar. Almost like the nights she used to fall asleep beside her real mother, long ago.

Now, Maria was in the bathroom preparing for bed, humming a soft tune, while Joy was busily fixing up the pillows and straightening the sheets.

Carmela watched her quietly from the bedside, unsure of how to start a conversation. Finally, she cleared her throat softly.

"Hey." She began quietly. "I...apologize if I’ll be a disturbance tonight."

Joy glanced up.

"I mean." Carmela continued hesitantly, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "it must feel strange, the three of us sharing a bed. If it’s uncomfortable, I can sleep on the floor instead."

Joy didn’t even pause what she was doing as she said,

"Don’t worry about it."

Carmela blinked. "Huh?"

Joy fluffed a pillow and placed it down before speaking, her tone perfectly casual.

"I’m already used to sleeping with three people in a bed. Aqua always comes sneaking in at night to sleep beside us. It’s really no big deal."

She glanced over her shoulder with a small sigh.

"And besides, my mother has this habit of hugging whoever’s next to her when she sleeps. Once she grabs you, she doesn’t let go until morning. Think of it as...protection."

Carmela couldn’t help a soft chuckle at that.

"So I’m her replacement shield, then?"

Joy tilted her head and corrected.

"Not exactly a shield. More like...a pillow."

"A...pillow?" Carmela repeated, deadpan.

"Yeah." Joy said, pointing at the center of the bed. "I sometimes puts a pillow between us when she sleeps to stop her from hugging me. But tonight..." She gestured to Carmela. "You’re the pillow."

Carmela sighed, shaking her head with a helpless smile.

"I’ve faced monsters and assassins...but being used as a vampire pillow might be my greatest challenge yet."

They both chuckled quietly—a rare, peaceful sound between two people who had once stood on opposite sides.

After a few moments of silence, Carmela’s expression softened again.

"Hey." She said quietly, her voice sincere. "I also wanted to thank you, Joy."

Joy blinked. "Thank me? For what?"

"For...letting me be close to your mother."

Carmela said, looking down at her hands.

"I know our first meeting wasn’t exactly friendly. We were practically out for each other’s throats. And knowing how much you treasure your mother—how protective you are of her—it must’ve been hard for you to accept someone else calling her ’mother’ too..."

"...Yet you did."

She looked up, meeting Joy’s eyes earnestly.

"So, thank you. For not pushing me away."

Joy was quiet for a moment, then she sighed softly.

"Don’t mention it. After hearing your story, I’d be the real villain if I tried to keep you apart."

"And besides." Joy continued dryly, climbing onto the bed. "If you think I could stop my mother once she makes up her mind, you’re dreaming. She’s even more stubborn than I am. When she decides something, that’s it. It’s fate."

She lay down down on the bed.

"You might as well accept it."

Carmela smiled faintly and sat at the edge of the bed, watching her for a moment before murmuring.

"Fate, huh..." She tilted her gaze up to the ceiling. "I wonder what plans fate has for people like us."

But before Joy could answer, Carmela noticed something—Joy had suddenly shifted position and she was kneeling quietly on the bed.

Her hands were clasped together, her head bowed slightly, her pink hair falling gently over her shoulders.

"...What are you doing?" Carmela asked, hesitant to interrupt. "Some kind of nightly prayer? Should I stay silent?"

"No. It’s fine." Joy shook her head without opening her eyes. "I’m not saying a prayer to the Goddess tonight..."

"...I’m speaking to her. Directly."

Carmela tilted her head, intrigued. "You can...do that?"

"I can try." Joy murmured. "Whether she listens is another matter."

Then, in a whisper that was both reverent and weary, Joy began to pray.

"Goddess." She breathed, her eyes closed. "I’m confused. More than I’ve ever been. You were the one who guided me toward Cassius. The one who told me his existence was sinful. That his actions would bring ruin. And yet..."

She hesitated, her fingers tightening slightly.

"Yet everything I’ve seen, everything I’ve felt—it doesn’t match what you told me."

Carmela remained silent, listening.

Joy’s voice trembled faintly as she went on.

"So please...give me a sign. Anything. Tell me whether I’ve misunderstood you. Tell me whether I should keep believing what I’ve been taught, or whether I should start questioning everything I thought was divine truth."

Her head bowed even lower.

"If he truly is a devil." She whispered. "Show me the sin in his eyes. If he’s not, then show me why you led me to him."

"Give me something...anything...so I can stop feeling lost."

Even though Carmela listened to Joy’s quiet prayer with patience, she couldn’t help but remain skeptical.

She had never been much of a believer—not in divine will, not in prophecies, and certainly not in the notion that a goddess would descend merely to answer questions about a man.

In her mind, deities were distant, aloof beings.

They did not meddle in mortal matters of affection or doubt.

So even as Joy finished whispering her plea, Carmela thought silently to herself, ’This won’t work. The Goddess won’t answer for something like this.’

But to her utter shock, the moment Joy’s final word left her lips, every single light in the room flickered and went out.

Whoosh!

In an instant, the room was swallowed by pitch-black darkness.

The glow of the lamps, the gentle shimmer of moonlight seeping through the curtains—all gone.

Carmela immediately stiffened, her hand going to the dagger at her belt as her instincts screamed danger.

"What—?!" She started, ready to stand.

"Calm down." Joy’s composed voice came from the darkness. "It’s fine. This is the Goddess’s answer."

Her tone was calm, as if this was nothing unusual.

And then, as if on cue, a faint spark of light appeared right in front of Joy’s face.

Small at first—like a single glowing firefly hovering in the air—then growing brighter, blooming wider until the entire room shimmered with pale, heavenly light.

The orb pulsed gently, humming faintly like a living thing.

Then it began to move—slowly, gracefully toward the door.

Joy immediately got off the bed, her expression alight with dignified grace.

"Come." She said, throwing on her cloak. "Follow me."

Carmela hesitated for only a second before doing the same, her curiosity overriding her doubts.

The two slipped out of the room quietly and hurried after the moving light.

It floated through the corridors of the mansion, then out into the night, moving steadily toward the back gardens.

As they ran, Joy spoke quickly, her tone firm but amazed.

"The Goddess...she’s manifested herself like this before. Only once, when she protected me from the guardian spirit that shielded Cassius’s soul. Since then, nothing. And this—" She gestured at the glowing orb ahead. "—this is only the second time she’s appeared in such a physical form."

Carmela frowned, running beside her.

"And both times...it was about Cassius?"

Joy nodded. "Yes. You can say whatever you want but the Goddess most definitely has an interest in Cassius. For reasons I still can’t comprehend."

Carmela wanted to argue, to say it was all coincidence, or a fabrication born of belief—but the chilling aura she felt surrounding that orb silenced her tongue.

It wasn’t human. It wasn’t magic she recognized either.

It was something higher—a calm, commanding presence that made her instincts scream.

She exhaled slowly. "Alright...fine. You have my attention. But tell me—did she ever say why she’s so interested in Cassius?"

Joy’s gaze was still fixed on the glowing orb ahead as they ran deeper into the estate’s forested outskirts.

"Her words were...vague." She admitted. "She said something about conversion. About how Cassius was walking the wrong path and it was my duty to guide him back to the light."

Carmela narrowed her eyes. "Conversion...?"

"Yes." Joy continued, voice solemn. "She said he was a soul that didn’t belong in this world, that he’d been tainted by something he brought from beyond. That it was my divine responsibility to judge him, to...’redeem’ him."

"I don’t if that sounds like you’re supposed to bring him ’punishment’ or ’salvation’." Carmela muttered.

"I don’t know either." Joy admitted. "Maybe judgment, maybe redemption. But whatever it is...we’ll know soon."

The light suddenly sped up, weaving through the overgrown trees. The two women quickened their pace until the forest cleared—revealing an old, half-buried well at the edge of the property.

The orb hovered above it for a moment, glowing brighter—then descended slowly into the darkness below and vanished.

Carmela blinked. "...A well?"

She walked closer and peered into it. It was impossibly dark; she couldn’t see the bottom at all.

"Maybe the Goddess wants us to...hydrate?"

She said dryly, half-joking to ease her nerves as even someone like her was on edge when it came to Cassius’s secrets.

Joy, however, was already climbing onto the edge.

Carmela blinked. "Wait. Don’t tell me you’re actually—"

Before she could finish, Joy jumped.

Carmela clicked her tongue and ran to the edge, bracing for the sound of a splash—but none came.

The silence was eerie.

"Joy?!" She called down.

"I’m fine." Came Joy’s voice from below, echoing faintly up the shaft. "There’s no water. There’s...a path down here!"

"A path?"

"Yes. Come down."

Muttering something under her breath, she jumped too.

She landed beside Joy—and indeed, there was no water at the bottom.

Instead, there was a narrow stone passage leading deeper underground, faintly illuminated by strange, bluish moss that clung to the walls.

They exchanged glances, neither of them speaking for a moment. Then Joy summoned a small orb of holy light in her hand, its glow cutting through the darkness.

"Let’s go." She said quietly.

As they began walking, Carmela couldn’t help but ask,

"Do you have any idea what’s down here?"

Joy shook her head, her tone grim.

"No. But whatever it is, it’s been sealed for a reason. Something this well-hidden is never good."

Carmela’s eyes flicked ahead into the dark tunnel.

"No." She murmured, her voice steady but cold. "It never really is."

And with that, the two women disappeared into the shadows—their footsteps fading as the light from Joy’s hand illuminated the unknown path below that was supposedly going to lead them to Cassius’s true self.