Chapter 1: The Eldritch Goddess is Adorable

──The Eldritch Goddess is adorable.

Before me stands a lovely young girl.

She appears to be about fifteen or sixteen years old—petite for her age, almost unhealthily slender. Yet her skin glows with an ethereal pallor, beautiful in its unnatural perfection.

Her waist-length hair flows like silk, but with the unsettling whiteness of an albino serpent. And her face—no, her too-perfect, inhumanly symmetrical features—while youthful at first glance, carry an inexplicable shadow of mystery.

"Cute," the girl murmurs through thin lips.

She smiles at her reflection in the mirror, indulging in unabashed self-admiration.

"Though really, I've become such a splendid young lady..."

Ahem. Allow me to reintroduce myself.

I am Iris zu Lauenstein, sole daughter of the Lauenstein Marquisate, a noble house of the Estasia Empire.

Now, it's not that I suddenly became cute today—my self-praise has a simpler explanation: today is when I became this body.

Yes, I am a reincarnated soul now inhabiting Iris zu Lauenstein.

This "Iris" is a character from a certain horror-themed otome game—specifically, the final boss. Let me reiterate: not your run-of-the-mill villainess, but the actual final boss.

The reason being...

"Whoa, tentacles."

A blasphemously hued tendril slithers out from the fingertip I'd been using to poke my soft cheek. It writhes in a grotesque little dance before slurping back into my index finger like nothing happened.

...Right. So that's the deal.

Earlier, I described my face as "inhumanly perfect"—allow me to correct that. I was never human to begin with.

This Iris is an Eldritch Supreme.

An ancient cosmic horror that has existed since time immemorial. A malevolent deity worshipped in secret by cults, older than any human mythology. And this abomination now wears the skin of a girl.

That is what "Iris" truly is.

"Though currently, my consciousness is entirely human."

The original Iris likely operated on incomprehensible eldritch morality, spreading calamity and plunging the world into terror.

But now? A girl's appearance, an Eldritch God's essence, and the heart of an utterly mundane person—that's the twisted being I've become.

"Hmm... If things stay like this, I'll just get sealed away in the end..."

I could keep playing the villain, but final bosses exist to be defeated. And I am undeniably the final boss now.

"Defeat" here doesn't mean death—just banishment to another dimension. Not that I'm on the level of that deity who just took a nap after eating a nuke.

Still, getting tossed into some random void sounds unpleasant.

"What ever shall I do~?"

I sing-song my complaint while twirling, making my skirt flutter—occasionally revealing tentacles that peek out as if to say "Hello there!"

"Even like this, I want ordinary happiness too~"

I shake my head side to side, pondering my options.

"Guess I'll quit. Quit being an Eldritch God."

I declare this with complete seriousness.

Quitting Supremacy = quitting my role as final boss.

If I refrain from any eldritch antics, there'll be no reason for the protagonists to defeat me. No conflict, no problem—just a happy ending, right?

"Nod nod. I'm so clever. The world should praise my brilliance and cuteness."

I murmur this smugly to myself while nodding. Oops—another tentacle's peeking from my skirt. No greetings right now.

But one thought lingers...

Wasn't I... a man in my past life?

...