Before long, the attendant delivered the ritual garments.
It was a set of hunting robes as scarlet as blood, with golden tassels sewn along the edges and gilded cloud patterns embroidered across the front. They reflected a brilliant sheen under the sunlight—grand, lavish, and magnificent.
With the attendant's help, Qi Si changed into the splendid attire. He felt like a desiccated corpse sealed inside layers of clothing, burdened so heavily that even his soul could feel the weight.
"You truly look like a real god in these ritual robes," the attendant praised sincerely as he tied a red silk ribbon around Qi Si's shoulder-length hair.
There were no mirrors here. Qi Si could not see what he looked like, nor did he care much. He simply let the attendant arrange him in silence.
After the attendant left, he dragged his elaborate robes over to the cushion, knelt upon it, and softly recited the Rabbit God's prayer once.
This time, he did not play Reiko's recording. Instead, he smiled and spoke in a conversational tone. "Kannagi Shichiro, I imagine you must hate that meddlesome shaman, don't you?
"It was that being who stirred the desires of the earliest three family heads, making them imprison the Rabbit God of that time and dragging all of Rabbit God Town into the mire of fate. It also condemned generation after generation to live beneath the shadow of a curse.
"If not for that being, the children of Rabbit God Town would merely be their parents' children. You could have desires, freely choose your own life, and would not have to be trapped here, caught in a seven-day cycle.
"Coincidentally, I too am opposed to that shaman. I need to kill it and seize the complete authority of the contract. As the saying goes—'the enemy