Good Intentions Don’t Always Bring Good Results (8)

Yona stared blankly at Alec.

A stinging pain.

A pain as if her skin had been torn.

But more than these, what surprised Yona was the fact that Alec had struck her.

“Ah, Alec. You… you hit me…?”

“Yes, I hit you to make you come to your senses. Are you in your right mind now!?”

There wasn’t even a trace of a smile on Alec’s face.

The gentle look he always gave Yona was nowhere to be seen.

He was revealing undisguised anger towards Yona,

Fully showing that he had struck Yona sincerely, of his own will.

“Why… why?”

Alec had grabbed both of Yona’s shoulders.

He was shaking Yona, shouting at her to come to her senses.

The anger on his face seemed to stab and cut into Yona’s heart.

“They, they tried to kill you…! We should give them the punishment they deserve…!”

“That doesn’t mean you should massacre them all! Rather, rather…!”

Alec, who was about to say they should be brought to legal judgment, couldn’t continue his words.

Thinking about it, they were the imperial family and the pinnacle of this Katus Empire.

Who could bring such people to legal judgment?

Who could punish the emperor?

“Let go…!”

Yona’s hand struck away Alec’s hands.

Her bright red cheek would soon turn into a bruise, and more than that, anger was also seeping out from Yona.

“If you’re going to tell me to forgive them, don’t even open your mouth. I will never forgive them…!”

Yona, who had struck away Alec’s hands that were holding her shoulders, turned abruptly and glared at the Azrami.

The Azrami, bound by the mud that had flowed to their feet, had seen hope for a moment, just a very brief moment.

They had seen a moment of hope in Alec stopping Yona.

Having witnessed Arami die so painfully and horribly, they could easily guess.

Yona was a being they couldn’t oppose, a Saintess who truly commanded Berbaria, whom they had worshipped as their guardian deity, like a limb.

That was Yona, and they could finally realize what they had done to such a Yona.

“P-please spare us—! Please spare us, Saintess!”

“We, we were wrong!”

“We were wrong…! We were wrong, Saintess…!”

In the face of losing their lives, even pride was worthless.

The Azrami no longer had any thought in their minds about being the imperial family or anything like that.

The chorus of begging that rang out in succession filled the reception room and more, but Yona’s eyes glaring at them were still flashing ominously.

“Yona!”

Alec, who had rushed over belatedly, grabbed Yona’s hand.

Yona’s hand was very cold, cold enough that normally he might have flinched a little, but Alec didn’t even notice it. Even though he had grabbed her hand like that, Yona didn’t turn around. Her gaze was fixed on the Azrami who were begging her for their lives. The sticky killing intent flowing from that gaze remained unchanged.

“Alec. What you’re trying to do now is nothing but paltry mercy. You telling them not to kill is just sympathy. They tried to take your life, and behind our backs, they plotted schemes against me.”

A small sound of inhaling was heard.

Every time Yona exhaled, dark red demonic energy rose from her mouth. With her orange eyes still gleaming, Yona didn’t even turn to look at Alec.

“Do you think those bastards will be grateful to you for this? Do you think they’ll thank you?! Do you think they’ll say they were wrong and won’t do it again?! …Not at all. Absolutely not. They’re that kind of people. They’ll think there was a flaw in the plan, let’s try again with more reinforcement. Do you think such people will sincerely thank you for saving their lives because of you?!”

Yona, who had spilled out words without even breathing, took a moment to catch her breath.

Closing her eyes, Yona caught her breath while pressing her chest with her own hand.

At Yona’s words, Alec couldn’t refute and just stared at her with his mouth open.

“So, let go of this. Those bastards need to die here. We need to kill them to prevent future troubles. You, me. To live peacefully in the future, we need to step over their lives. Don’t try to stop me.”

“But, Yona. They…”

“Let go!”

Yona shouted and roughly struck away Alec’s hand.

Leaving Alec staring blankly at her, his hand left with nowhere to go, Yona turned unhesitatingly towards the Azrami.

“You are the kind of people who will only realize your mistakes when you die. If I let you live, where will I get compensation for my trampled good intentions? Who will compensate for my good intentions that were toyed with by the tricks you concocted as you pleased? I need compensation. For my trampled heart, my feelings, my good intentions. I need compensation for all of it. With your lives.”

Yona spread both her palms.

At that moment, the mud spread under the Azrami’s feet all turned red at once and began to bubble with bloody foam as if boiling.

“P-please spare us—! Saintess!”

“Saintess! We were wrong—! We’ll, we’ll repent!”

“Please spare usssss—————!!!!!”

But there was no change in Yona’s expression.

More than fifty members of the Azrami tribe, except for one—Amira, all had their feet caught in the red mud boiling up from beneath their feet.

They were slowly being sucked into the bubbling mud.

Rather than being sucked in, their bodies were slowly melting into the mud from their toes up and being sucked in.

“Saintess, Sainteeeessss—! Aaah, uwaaaaaa——!”

“Spare us, please spare us——!”

“We were wro… uwaaaaa————!!!!”

Amira screamed, looking around.

Not only her father but also her mother, all those who had loved and cherished her were gradually melting away into bloody foam. There was mud under Amira’s feet too, but only at her feet the mud remained unchanged.

But she couldn’t go anywhere. The mud was unchanged, but it firmly held her ankles in place, preventing her from moving, so she had to just watch as all her family members melted into the bloody foam.

“—Amira, Amira Al Azrami. Watch this scene carefully.”

At Yona’s voice, Amira turned to look at her.

The cold and calm voice gave her chills, but Amira had to look at Yona.

“This is the price for disregarding me and your guardian deity. Watch this scene carefully.”

Yona slowly approached Amira.

The terrifying demonic energy felt with each of her steps seemed to press down on her, making it feel as if just standing there was draining all the energy from her body.

“Don’t think I’ll leave you alone. What I’ve learned from you all is that those who scheme behind backs shouldn’t be left alone.”

Yona raised her hand.

With her fingers stretched out straight, it looked like a knife hand, and dark red demonic energy was billowing from the tips of her fingers.

“Amira, I won’t say I’m sorry.”

• • Squish—!

A sound of flesh being pierced.

Along with a sharp sound as if meat had been stabbed, blood gushed from the corners of Amira’s mouth.

“S-Saintess…?”

Red blood flowed continuously every time Amira moved her lips.

Yona’s knife hand had simply pierced through the center of her chest, where her heart was.

“You don’t need to resent me. It’s only natural to resent your father who deceived even you and tried to deceive me too. So, accept it.”

Yona’s voice rang in Amira’s ears.

Whether she was listening to those words or not, Yona didn’t care at all.

The demonic energy that flowed from the tips of Yona’s fingers, which had pierced Amira’s heart, eventually filled Amira’s split and torn heart again.

Dark red demonic energy intertwined like blood vessels over the filled heart, and as Yona’s hand slipped out smoothly, even the blood turned black and the heart began to beat again.

“Now your life belongs to me. I can know everything you do and wherever you are. If you do anything even slightly strange…”

Yona clenched her hand and showed it in front of Amira’s face.

Looking at that hand stained with bright red blood—undoubtedly her own blood—Amira couldn’t speak.

It was something that wouldn’t have been strange if she had died right away, but Amira didn’t die and rather, now that the wound had completely disappeared.

Yona’s words were likely the truth without even a bit of exaggeration.

“If you do anything, even a little bit, even the slightest foolish thing, at that moment—”

Bang.

Saying this, Yona made a gesture of exploding with her clenched hand.

The moment she opened her hand, red blood splattered over Amira’s face.

“You understand what I mean, right? So, don’t try any strange tricks from now on. If you don’t want to die without anyone knowing.”

Saying this, Yona stepped back from Amira.

Then she looked around the reception room.

Now that everything had already melted away and disappeared, and the bloody foam had finished boiling with no more bubbles rising.

Yona looked around the reception room where not even corpses remained.

“Yes, I should have done this from the beginning. Good intentions should only be given to those who know how to receive them. This is what it means to be the Saintess of the demon realm. It wasn’t about spreading faith, but about making them believe.”

At least the object of that faith should be me— Yona muttered.

A bright smile was blooming on her face.

“—Even if by force.”