CH 46

Chapter 46 – What Truth (5)

I woke up in the morning and saw the indelible bloodstains on the floor and took a deep breath. The blood stains were thick and red, indelible. I bled a lot more, I thought lightly. Then, I glanced at the bandage that Lepis had wrapped around.

My vision flickers as I try to get up.

“…Ha.”

My eyes were dark, and I couldn’t see anything. I took a slow, deep breath and groped for the bed. I blinked, waiting for my vision to be restored again.

—Creak, Step, Step.

The sound of the door opening and footsteps.

Who was it…?

“…They said you were going to die.”

Distria’s heavy sound was heard in my ears.

My vision was still dark with no light yet. Not knowing where he was, I sat down. I was so dizzy that I wanted to go back to sleep.

“Is it because of that bastard?”

I didn’t know who the bastard Distria was talking about. I was just a little afraid. Perhaps, the bastard that he mentioned was Rwan?

“…If you kill him, you won’t want to die anymore.”

As my head was dizzy, my body tilted.

I could feel Distria’s tight arms, which I had become accustomed to. He patted me on the back. It was difficult for me to breathe, so my breath was caught. I opened my lips that could not open well. A bastard…

Bastard… Maybe, it was not Rewan.

“Who…?”

Distria’s body hardened. Out of focus, the outline of his face was blurred in my vision. I couldn’t imagine how he would look at me. Distria didn’t seem to understand the meaning of my question.

“….I.”

What was he talking about?

I took a deep breath. The hand that touched my cheek trembled a little.

“…I don’t know who it is.”

“…No.”

He grabbed a handful of my hair and kissed my lips before stroking my hair with a soft hand.

“Before I get Rewan, I have to kill that bastard first.”

With my properly regained vision, I could see Distria smiling coldly. I confirmed that the bastard wasn’t Rewan as he ignored my dizzying protests.

The next moment, I lost consciousness.

* * *

I don’t understand this now.

The shiny, glossy blonde hair was dyed red, and the skin that had turned red was pale. My trembling hand grabbed the sword that Distria had given me.

I glanced up at him.

Now… What was going on with this? I stared at Raphael, who was sprawled on the floor, dripping with blood, without being able to sit comfortably on the floor or even stand. I did not understand the current situation at all.

Raphael looked half-dead, and I held the right to his life and death.

“Why, didn’t you want to die because of this bastard?”

Distria calmly patted me on my shoulder. He smoothed the bumpy floral tattoo on my shoulder. I didn’t want to die in the first place…

I looked at Distria. He nodded as if to urge me to act.

Originally, it was Rewan, not Raphael, who would die around this time. If I kill him right here and now, would Rewan escape death? As I lost my sense of reality, I had strange thoughts that didn’t fit the situation.

…Nonsense.

I heard Distria’s low voice waking me from my delusion for a moment.

“Why? Are you afraid of killing people?”

I was dumbfounded, unable to do anything. I never thought of Raphael’s death. And so simply, this simple… I never thought he would die. I loved Raphael’s pleasures. I simply enjoyed having s*x with him.

Distria’s voice hit my ear.

“You didn’t kill Alec either.”

His cold voice rang in my ears and his red eyes fluttered dangerously as if he would not leave me alone unless I killed Raphael. It was a sword that was light and pretty enough to not look like it was for killing people.

A pretty beaded decoration was hung from the tip of the sword’s hilt.

My face was reflected in the sharp blade of the sword. Unlike when I killed Alec, I had a personal feeling. I was hesitating to kill Raphael. It didn’t matter that he died. I would not mourn his death… but why do I hesitate to kill him so much?

Raphael’s lips, which appeared to have passed out, parted. I blankly waited for him to speak.

“…Haha.”

Starting with a low smirk, he began to laugh like a madman. Only the sound of his laughter filled the torture chamber, where only the sound of dripping blood was heard. He laughed for a while and then stopped laughing as he spat out the thick blood that had pooled in his throat.

“Kill me.”

Raphael sighed softly. I couldn’t imagine what kind of expression the eyes covered with the blindfold were making. Distria stood far away and looked at me.

He shouted again.

“Kill me!”

The hanging chains shook and made a loud noise.

Distria’s brow furrowed slightly, and he strode towards Raphael before lightly hitting him in the stomach.

“…Kuhk!”

Raphael seemed to have lost consciousness from the great pain, and the room got quiet again. As he had lost consciousness, he looked like a corpse lying around.

Distria came to me again. His gaze shifted from the knife in my hand to the bandage.

“…Even so, now that you have slept with him. You don’t want to kill him?”

His voice lowered uncomfortably. I didn’t mean to think like that… It was confusing. Even though I should move, I didn’t.

I had to say something, but my lips didn’t open.

“No… It’s not like that… Is he going to die so easily?”

There was an unrestrained sincerity mixed with the barely spoken words. Who had suffered from someone who died so easily…?

Distria looked at me, and the corners of his eyebrows curled in an arc.

“Then, how do you want me to kill him?”

I dropped the sword I was holding. A sharp rustling scratched my ears. In the room filled with silence, only the sound of blood dripping was heard again.

“This… this is not it. I didn’t want him to die like this now.”

“Then?”

“I…I want him to suffer more.”

Distria’s eyes were fixed on me. He directly bowed his back and grabbed the sword I had dropped. The next moment, he whispered as he held the sword back firmly in my hand.

“Kill him when I give you a chance.”

“…No.”

He grabbed my hand with a firm grip. Bright red blood seeped through the bandage along with the excruciating pain.

“You still forget your situation…”

He kissed my hand as my blood dripped down. Because of that, the bright red blood ran down his red lips.

Distria pulled his lips away and didn’t even think to wipe them.

“…It annoys me.”

“….”

“I didn’t give you a chance.”

My eyes met with his intense eyes. As he encouraged the death of his beloved servant, he smiled brightly.

“I want to see you. Your face filled with joy as you kill others.”

I stared at Distria’s face, gleaming with madness. For a moment, I completely forgot that he was just as crazy as Raphael. I grabbed the sword and slowly approached Raphael.

The fleeting moment of walking those three steps passed as slowly as eons of time.

“Go on. Kill him.”

Reaching out to Raphael, I raised his head. I saw Raphael, limp, already looking like a corpse. I chewed my tongue, thinking it was a dream. It was a reality when I saw his agonizing pain. With a light clenched fist, I struck Raphael’s stomach.

His stretched body moved.

“…Ku-ohk.”

He was in pain as he spat out a final groan of death, even with a low-strength attack. Gasping heavily, he has already shed so much blood that he would die without me stabbing him here and now. Still, what does it mean for me to mark his end…?

“I will kill you.”

Standing in front of Raphael, I murmured. His frantic movements stopped.

I was curious about Raphael’s expression, which was covered with a red blindfold. Did he suffer? Or, would he have eyes filled with despair? Or, would he be angry…?

It was the death of the villain.

Taking other people’s bodies recklessly, doing your own thing… I didn’t hate it, but it bothered me. That was how I drove others to the end of death. It was the death of such a person. However, it was funny that the ending was so shabby. So, who had been suffering all this time?

I, too, enjoyed the pain of others. Would my end be so unappealing…?

A sudden thought superimposed my death on him. Even if I got rid of him, the fact that I enjoyed the pain of others would not change. Others may sympathize and pity me, but I knew… How ugly and selfish I am.

I had no sympathy for him at all. I was just a little surprised by his unexpected death.

Surprised at the thought of my death in his death… That was it.

“…Therefore. Now, do you sympathize with me? A trivial death… Do you take pity on me?”

“No. Not at all.”

I stabbed Raphael in the stomach with the sword that Distria had given me.

The ornament on the handle clashed and made a sound, and I gave strength to my hand and turned it around. The blade was soaked in blood. He was in pain even with a small hit, yet he did not even scream in front of death.

He shook his head in a soft, low voice.

“…If that’s the case, that’s enough.”

“…What?”

“…You… don’t.”

His blood gushed out as I pulled the knife out of his stomach. My hand holding the sword was also stained with blood. I glanced down at my hands, which became even redder with Raphael’s blood and mine.

I looked at the blood stains on my clothes. I couldn’t tell which one was my blood and which was Raphael’s.

“…sympathize… with… me…”

“….”

“I… feel…. like… I… can die… when you… sympathize…with… me.”

Raphael’s voice faded.

Blood soaked the floor. Even at the last moment of his death, he was conscious of my gaze.