〈6. Proof of Existence (38)〉
The appearances of the two men and women facing each other formed a stark contrast.
First of all, my body had no uninjured parts.
It was after I had forcibly torn at the blood-red threads and dashed forward. Scratches remained in various places on my skin, and my trampled ankle was a horrific sight with blood and flesh mixed together.
My broken right wrist dangled while gripping the sword. It was a grotesque appearance.
On the other hand, the girl in front of me didn’t have a single scratch.
Her snow-white and clean skin still gleamed with luster. Unlike me, who was panting and gasping for breath, her breathing was stable. However, there was one thing: a particularly passionate color smeared on the pure white canvas.
Blood was trickling down from the hand axe embedded in her shoulder. In time with the girl’s heartbeat, blood would spurt out with a whoosh every now and then.
That single wound created yet another decisive contrast.
While I was sweating profusely, I had a smiling face, but the girl’s face was stained with bewilderment and shame. Faint heat leaked out from between her teeth, clenched as if in frustration.
As if she never imagined she would be defeated by the likes of me.
But the spurting blood was testifying to an undeniable reality. Forcibly swallowing a groan, I asked the girl.
“……Who won?”
The girl’s body trembled slightly.
Her golden eyes glared at me with resentment, but the girl couldn’t bring herself to lay a hand on me.
Because that was the nature of the ‘contract.’
Perhaps the outcome would have been different if she had revealed her true intentions, but the victory and defeat had already been decided. Now it was time to pay the price.
In the end, the girl had no choice but to admit her defeat.
“Fine, I lost.”
At the same time, the flailing of the faceless monsters stopped.
The monsters that had been sent flying by Celine’s strike were sprawled on the ground, searching for their lost limbs. But since further combat had become meaningless, it seemed the monsters no longer felt the need to repair their bodies.
Or perhaps the girl had deliberately given them such an order.
Only then did the taut string of tension loosen. Celine and Senior Elsie let out sighs of relief, and I felt so drained that I wanted to collapse right there.
But I couldn’t fall now.
I retrieved the hand axe that had been lodged in the girl’s shoulder. Even though the pain must have been severe, there was no change in the girl’s expression. As if she had experienced this level of pain countless times before.
When a hazy pity flickered in my eyes, the girl showed a distorted smile.
“Don’t worry. Compared to what I’ve endured so far, this doesn’t even count as pain……”
As if to prove it, new flesh began to sprout immediately on the girl’s shoulder. Even the speed at which rainwater fills a dry well wouldn’t be faster than this.
And then silence.
After a moment of hesitation, a bitter voice leaked from my lips.
“……I’m sorry.”
It was something I should have said much earlier.
I didn’t even know what I was sorry for. Everything just felt sinful and pitiful.
I couldn’t even imagine what kind of pain the girl had to endure alone. Moreover, we had traveled too far apart from each other. It was impossible to ask for forgiveness now and return to the relationship we had before.
Because the girl’s sins were far too deep for that.
Of course, those sins weren’t solely the girl’s responsibility. This was also the responsibility of me and our family, who had abandoned a powerless little child. That’s why I couldn’t forgive the girl even more.
For the girl to no longer bear any more sins.
That was the minimum duty given to me. Probably, the girl also wouldn’t be able to forgive our family forever.
It was an apology containing various emotions like this. Or, it could be called a farewell greeting.
The girl’s lips remained firmly closed and didn’t open. It seemed she had no intention of responding to me right away.
The girl simply turned her back and walked lightly, standing once again under the blood-red sun. Before long, a blood-red throne had appeared in that spot.
Just before seating herself on the throne, the girl’s golden pupils followed me. It was an eerily fitting gaze with a bewitching smile.
“Don’t apologize already. Our meeting isn’t over yet, is it?”
“It will be over soon.”
“That’s for me to decide.”
With a thud, as she sat down and stared at me, not a trace of doubt could be seen on the girl’s face. It wasn’t the attitude of someone speaking lies or bluffs.
At this point, I sensed an unusual atmosphere.
As I furrowed my brows like that, just before I could ask the girl something.
“I am ‘Greed.’”
A clear sound rang out as she snapped her fingers.
“I must have whatever I desire. And right now, in front of my eyes, the existence I’ve longed for my entire life has appeared…….”
Then, the blood-red sun began to flicker and expand in size. The crimson orb emitting light alone in the darkness was overwhelming and eerie.
It was the omen of an anomaly.
Like a seizure, the woman’s hand slammed down on the armrest with a bang. The ecstasy coloring her face surged with a lascivious hue.
“How could I let this go?! How could I give it up?!”
To me, it was absurd nonsense.
I was the one who had won the bet. Naturally, I had the right to demand the fulfillment of the contract.
My voice immediately rose.
“What are you trying to do! Don’t tell me you’re planning to break the ‘contract’……!”
“You don’t have to worry too much. The ‘contract’ must be upheld.”
Along with a languid voice, a blood-red wave continued from the sky.
The torrent of blood riding the ripples was dyeing the girl’s snow-white dress. At first blood-red, then dark red, and finally transforming into pitch black clothing.
The priestly robe made of thick fabric rather reminded one of a prisoner’s uniform. In the center of that attire, with black background decorated by white lines along the edges, a blood-red demon wriggled and revealed itself.
Delphrem, the symbol representing humanity’s first sinner.
The girl bit into a refreshing smile. It was hard to believe she was the same person who had shown madness just seconds ago.
“As per the contract, ‘I’ won’t touch ‘Oppa’ ‘today.’”
What is she saying? It was the moment I was about to retort in frustration.
The girl clicked her tongue and wagged her index finger. As if she had anticipated this. In those golden eyes, a sticky swamp of love and hate rippled.
“So you should have listened carefully to the contract terms? If you inflict even a small wound on me, ‘today’ I won’t touch ‘Oppa,’ I said.”
“The subject is missing?”
“Obviously it’s ‘I’!”
Giggling, the girl smiled while making a particularly forced claim.
“Since it’s what I said, that’s the natural way, right?”
“What nonsense is that…….”
“Do you think I came here without any plan?!”
Once again, bloodshot veins appeared in the girl’s eyes.
The woman’s emotions were dancing between excitement and calm every second. It seemed it was now the turn for ‘excitement.’
A feverish voice shot at me.
“I’ve been watching for a very long time. Continuously, continuously… I’ve imagined it for over a decade? The day I take Oppa back from that fake… But, don’t you think you’re underestimating me too much?!”
A faint groan escaped my lips.
A decade is not a short time. It was around the time when Ria first arrived at the Percus mansion, so it was hard to take the girl’s statement at face value.
That would mean the girl had been watching me from a very long time ago.
It was an exceedingly cruel story.
Watching the family’s happy moments excluding herself. Moreover, no one pays attention to the spot where she originally should have been.
It must be an agonizingly heart-wrenching experience.
In the gap where my lips couldn’t part, the girl’s declaration continued.
“There are no deals without a price… Everyone, stand up!”
Pak, pak, pak.
Blood-red rays pierced through the bodies of the sprawled monsters. In response, the faceless monsters began to let out long howls.
Uuuuuuu!
Stagger, stagger.
The monsters that rose up began to attack and bite at each other’s flesh. Crunch, crunch. As the unpleasant noise continued, I instinctively shouted.
“Stop those monsters right now!”
The ones who immediately responded were Celine and Senior Elsie.
Long combat experience often forges humans into weapons. The prime examples of that were precisely those two.
Celine and Senior Elsie had already finished preparing to intercept at any moment with just one word of my command.
The storm of blood and electricity vibrated the air.
The blood-red sun remained intact, but the blood-red threads that had been suppressing us had vanished long ago. It was difficult for the girl to exercise dominion over this area like before.
At least until then.
As I urgently tried to kick off the ground, my eyes met the girl’s.
A twisted smile rose in my retina. The girl showed not a shred of doubt.
She will win.
It was the face of someone who had castrated any other possibilities. My gaze naturally followed those pupils.
Celine came into view.
In the midst of thinking ‘huh,’ Celine’s axe began to chop down on Senior Elsie’s shoulder.
“Uh, uh?”
Senior Elsie couldn’t even let out a proper scream.
She just stared at Celine with wide-open eyes. But Celine was equally clueless about what was happening.
Only the blood-red mana subtly climbing up Celine’s arm provided a clue.
It was the ‘contract.’
When on earth?
Just before such a question could be voiced.
“……Partner, you have to fulfill the ‘contract,’ right?”
With a squelch, a silver blade appeared, piercing through my abdomen.
Blood surged up my throat in gulps. I couldn’t understand this situation at all, so I had to send my wide-eyed gaze to the one behind me.
I hadn’t even sensed any presence.
No, strictly speaking, I had sensed it but ignored it.
The man with jade-colored hair and androgynous appearance chanted with a face that couldn’t be more wretched.
Mixing in a sigh.
“I told you we should run away, Ian…….”
It was the moment the betrayer was revealed.
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