Chapter 66 : Chapter 66
Volume 1
Chapter 66 : The Love God’s Whisper (6)
“An evil god.”
Faced with Muen’s questioning, Ann slowly uttered those two words.
“Heh, so it really is.”
Muen looked exactly as if he had expected this all along.
He was not particularly surprised.
Resting his head against a rock, he gazed out at the monster in the distance.
Although this was his first time seeing one, Muen had at least read the original novel.
So after the brief shock, he quickly understood.
An evil god.
The source of corruption, the black hand behind destruction.
The greatest source of calamity in the original story.
In a sense, the threat posed by an evil god was even greater than that of the demons currently fighting the Empire on the border.
After all, what drove the demons to invade humanity was territory and hatred.
What they brought was war.
But evil gods were chaos, disorder, and death itself.
They slipped into every crack, corroded everything, held supreme authority in their grasp, and cast greedy eyes upon the mortal world.
In history, all three great catastrophes that had nearly driven humanity to extinction bore the shadow of evil gods.
And the Demon God prophesied to destroy the world was also one of them.
Because of that, and because they were involved in every wicked thing imaginable to some extent, evil gods had practically become the original novel’s greatest scapegoat.
If something incomprehensible happened, then it was definitely an evil god’s doing.jpg.
“I didn’t think the corruption had already reached this level. What exactly is going on? Everything was obviously normal before this.” Muen frowned in confusion.
Hmm...
Training her husband into obedience was perfectly normal for a yandere, was it not?
“But this isn’t the time to think about that.”
Muen let out a soft sigh, then got to his feet.
“We can’t let that thing keep developing like this. Fortunately, this is out in the wilderness. If it reaches another village, then everything will be over.”
“Ann, let’s hurry back to Belland. There are organizations there that specialize in dealing with corruption by an evil god. The Church of Life will not stand by and do nothing either. They’re more professional than we are. Come on, let’s go find them.”
Muen casually grabbed Ann by the arm, intending to take her away with him.
...She did not budge in the slightest.
Ann sat there with her arms wrapped around herself, her eyes lowered so that her expression could not be seen.
But no matter how hard Muen pulled, she would not move.
“Ann?”
“I can’t leave.”
“Why not?”
“Because... I have to take responsibility.”
“Responsibility? For what? This is corruption by an evil god. What does it have to do with you? You’re not an evil god.”
“But it does have something to do with me.”
Ann lifted her head.
In her eyes, as she looked at Muen, was the same dazed helplessness as a child who had done something wrong.
“It was because of the things I said. Because I said those things to Eluka, she ended up being corrupted by an evil god.”
“Huh? Those things... what do you mean?” Muen asked in astonishment.
“Two days ago, when I went to catch fish for you, Young Master, I ran into Eluka...”
Ann clenched the hand gripping her own arm.
Her knuckles turned faintly white, enough to show how much force she was using.
Yet she did not feel it at all.
Because the torment and guilt in her heart had long since numbed her to the pain of the flesh.
In a trembling voice, Ann quietly told Muen everything.
Their first meeting two days ago.
The things she had said to Eluka.
Then their reunion not long ago.
How she had watched helplessly as Eluka gradually and completely turned into a monster, with no way back.
And the final words Eluka had said to her.
“Master, you were the one who taught me... what love is.”
...
“I see.”
After hearing Ann’s account, even Muen found it difficult to remain calm.
“So in other words... After hearing what you said, Eluka had a great revelation, turned into a yandere, and then wished to an evil god for the power to completely control the one she loved, which led to her corruption and fall?”
“I don’t know what she did after we parted, but... that is probably what happened.”
“So you think this is your responsibility?”
“Yes.”
Biting her lip, Ann nodded.
This had indeed been her fault.
If she had not said those things, none of this would have happened.
So...
“Ann, wake up!”
Muen suddenly shouted sharply, cutting off her thoughts.
Then he pointed at the grotesque monster, huge as a hill, and snapped:
“Take a good look at that thing and tell me, do you really think something can turn into that in just two days? Even if evil gods are terrifying, their corruption can’t happen overnight. Before it erupts, there must have been a long period of accumulation!
“In other words, there is no way she only came into contact with an evil god because of what you said to her. She must have been entangled with one long before that!”
“But... wasn’t I at least the trigger that caused the corruption to erupt?”
“It was going to erupt sooner or later! No one undergoes some fundamental change just because of a sentence or two from someone else. Eluka became a yandere because that tendency was already inside her. Even without your words, she would have ended up like this eventually!
“And besides, she’s already beyond saving. Haven’t you realized that yet? Eluka doesn’t even have her own body anymore!
“What exactly do you think you can do?”
Muen roared at Ann.
He was panting heavily.
All of a sudden, he was angry.
Why did she have to be so stubborn?
Why did she insist on forcing responsibility onto herself when it was never hers to bear?
If someone destroyed the world a trillionth of a trillionth of a second earlier because you happened to breathe one extra mouthful of air, did that mean you were responsible for the end of the world?
Did she not understand how horrifying something corrupted by an evil god was?
Did she not value her own life?
Why did she have to obsess over something so meaningless?
Someone else would deal with it. This was not her responsibility!
“She called me Master.”
“Hm?”
“That girl... she called me Master.”
Ann raised her face and looked at Muen.
Her voice trembled as she suddenly spoke.
“How could a master possibly abandon her own disciple?”
Crystal tears fell ceaselessly from her delicate face like beads from a broken string.
Muen froze.
This was the first time he had ever seen Ann like this.
In his memory, Ann had always been dignified and elegant.
She handled all her duties as his personal maid flawlessly.
She could perform a perfect ninety-degree bow.
Even every step she took while walking seemed almost exactly the same length.
She was practically the very incarnation of the perfect maid.
At least in Muen’s memory, she had never made a single mistake.
A woman like that would naturally never allow herself to reveal even the slightest weakness.
And yet...
Now...
The girl before Muen’s eyes was curled up tightly, hugging herself.
Her disheveled hair clung to her forehead.
The delicate makeup on her face had long since been washed away.
The sharp light that usually shone in her eyes was gone as well, replaced by the panic and helpless confusion of a child who had done something wrong.
She looked so miserable.
So heartbreakingly pitiable.
And yet deep in her eyes, there was still a stubborn resolve that would not yield an inch, like a sulking little girl staring fixedly at Muen.
“I’m going, Young Master.”
...
“Damn it.”
Looking at Ann like this, it felt as though some hidden string inside Muen’s heart had been lightly plucked.
And so, his anger suddenly subsided.
Then, as if possessed, he said:
“Fine. I’ll go with you.”