Chapter 2: The Eldritch Goddess's Family

──The Eldritch Goddess's Family

Now, while I may be an eldritch deity, I didn't just pop out of a magic circle or a tree hollow. I have a proper family.

My dependable father, Karl. My homemaker mother, Anneliese.

Allow me to introduce my lovely family!

"Is Father in his study?"

I knock on the door to Father's private library.

"Father~? Are you there~?"

No response. I crack the door open to peek inside—

"...Ah. Ah. AH. Iris, or rather, Yililith. You who commands abhorrent hounds across time, who traverses spaces even the Great Ones cannot breach, who emerged from the profane silver-gated portal of decadence—our one true Lord. Now the stars align, and You who slept shall sit upon the throne of blood and void. Then shall the blasphemers' walls of iron and fire crumble beneath Your hand. You and Your kin shall spill forth from the gate with chaos, shrouding the world as flesh and darkness reign anew. Ah, AH! Praise the Lord! The true Lord! The one and only Lord of chaos and madness! AH—"

...Yikes.

My father—eyes bloodshot like he hasn't slept in a month—is chanting prayers to a grotesque statue that looks like a tangle of a thousand worms (or maybe a hundred sea anemone tentacles). His sunken cheeks border on skeletal. Though dressed impeccably as a noble, his hollow gaze and deranged muttering would make any outsider mistake him for a drug addict.

Everything about this is a red flag. Even I'm scared, and I'm his daughter.

"F-Father~? Good morning...?"

I call out timidly.

His head swivels toward me with unnatural smoothness.

"AH! AH! Iris, or rather, Yililith! Even bathed in this accursed morning light, You remain profanely beautiful!"

"Y-Yes. Thank you..."

He crawls toward me from his kneeling position, staring up with those bloodshot eyes. I nod stiffly. Help. This is terrifying.

"Fufu... Fufufu... Let us prepare the morning offering, O Lord of Chaos..."

"You mean breakfast, right? Right?"

"Ihihihihihi—"

SO SCARY!

That said, Father plays the part of the ideal Estasian noble flawlessly in public. No one outside the manor suspects our... eldritch worship. At least, I'd like to believe that.

Breakfast is normal—soft-boiled eggs, croissants, ham, sausages, and fruit. It looks delicious.

"Let's eat."

I pick up my fork and knife—only for a tentacle to slither from my palm and lunge at the ham. The meat dissolves into acidic sludge before being absorbed into the tendril.

"Bad."

I smack the tentacle, and it retreats sulkily.

Neither Father nor the servants react. Of course—every staff member here is part of the cult.

Any "normal" servant would probably end up as my dinner ingredient.

"Good morning, darling. And to you, Iris."

My mother arrives mid-meal.

She's a stunning woman.

Though she bore me at sixteen and is now thirty-two, she looks ageless—long, lustrous blonde hair cascading in waves, skin flawless without a single blemish or wrinkle. Her sapphire eyes gleam with... something unsettling.

"Otherworldly beauty" suits her too—except she's also not human.

Mother is a witch. Not the pointy-hat, cheerful-spellcasting kind.

She's the feasts-on-human-flesh, reads-cursed-tomes, consorts-with-eldritch-horrors kind of witch.

"Good morning, Mother."

"Fufufu."

Her laugh sends chills down my spine.

"Anneliese. I dreamed today. A dream of this foolish world's collapse! A world where these blasphemers perish, and Iris—no, Yililith—reigns supreme! A world of flesh and darkness!"

"Indeed. How many mortals lost their sanity to that same dream today, Karl? Hihihihihi..."

As my parents descend into creepy banter, I discreetly glance at the newspaper on the table.

『Cult Mass Suicide? Wave of Deaths Sweeps Empire』

Wow.

I swear I haven't done anything eldritch yet, but the world's already going mad.

(For context, this isn't your typical medieval fantasy world—it's more early 20th-century, with constitutional monarchies and declining noble influence. The Estasian Empire is already transitioning to parliamentary rule.)

"Oh yes, Iris starts at the academy tomorrow..."

Mother's reminder makes Father cackle. "How exciting, Iris... Ihihihihi!"

Right. I'm attending school.

Arkham Academy—an institution for nobles and bourgeoisie.

In the game's story, I'd cause incidents there, prompting the heroines to "solve" them by defeating me.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Anything's better than being stuck here with my deranged parents. Maybe school will offer some normalcy.

If I avoid eldritch shenanigans, the protagonists shouldn't come after me. Probably.

My eyes drift back to the newspaper:

『204 confirmed deaths nationwide. Victims stabbed their own eyes, chests, and abdomens with sharp objects...』

...If this is my passive influence, then merely existing might be causing havoc.

Meh! It'll be fine! Let's stay optimistic!

School should be fun~.

...