"..."
Bernadette froze.
Once the gray fog vanished, she sprang off the swing and ran, screaming in terror, "Aah!!! An evil god! Help!!!"
She ran toward Daddy's study without hesitation, but when she saw the tightly shut door and the two uncles guarding it, she sniffled miserably, then turned and ran toward her own room.
The moment she rushed inside, she shut and locked the door, leaped onto her bed, burrowed under the covers, and pulled them over her head-all in one smooth motion.
She crouched on her bed, the covers forming a mound over her visibly trembling body. Bernadette squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her hands over her ears. "There really is an evil god! That guy is an evil god!"
Although the little girl had inexplicable confidence in her father, she was not confident enough to believe he was strong enough to take on an evil god. Filled with fear, she did not know what to do-
If she kept her promise to the "evil god" and told no one, she had no idea what would happen.
But if she broke her promise and told Daddy, not only would her nose grow longer, that evil god would surely be angry, right?
"Huh?"
Bernadette suddenly poked her little head out from under the covers. "But... if he's really an evil god, why wasn't he scary at all? I wasn't in any danger, either!"
She scratched her head. "Besides, he told me ages ago that those three lines were an incantation to contact him. Isn't it perfectly normal for him to answer after I recited it?"
"And he clearly answered 'no' just now."
At that thought, Bernadette shot out from under the covers and clenched her little fists, as though trying to convince herself. "I must be overthinking it!"