Ch.101Change

# 1.

Ria.

The free nun who had taken in and saved Pedro, who had been abandoned even in the sewers.

A young woman who always ran the orphanage with a faint smile.

The woman, who was so benevolent that she was called a saint, had one secret:

“Why the maggots…!?”

“Ugh…!! Bleeegh!!”

“G-get away from me, you monster…!!”

She too was an evil spirit.

Do evil spirits share the same fate even among themselves?

Ria, like Pedro, had been abandoned and barely managed to sustain her miserable life.

However, one difference from Pedro was that the person who took her in from the back alleys was not an evil spirit but an ordinary human.

During their first meeting.

“Child. Would you like to live with this old woman from today?”

At that time, Ria asked the elderly woman who kindly reached out her hand:

“Why?”

“Hmm? Why, you ask?”

“I’m… strange, aren’t I?”

The rumor that spread through the village:

-A young demon who feeds on rotting animal carcasses lives somewhere in the back alleys.

There was even a rumor that heresy inquisitors, who kill evil spirits indiscriminately, were heading to this village.

“Taking me in is dangerous. It’ll cost twice as much money and make life harder.”

Because she was an evil spirit whose reason had been sharpened by her lack of emotions, despite her young age, Ria knew everything.

She looked at the old woman and asked again with curiosity:

“So why did you reach out your hand?”

“Do we really need a reason?”

The old woman answered promptly and embraced Ria without the slightest hesitation, stroking her head.

“You made me stop in my tracks, and I reached out to you.”

“And then?”

“There is no ‘and then,’ child. This is just… simply what it is.”

Though she couldn’t understand, Ria followed the old woman because it was more advantageous for survival, even if she might be abandoned again soon.

In a corner of a small village.

Making a living by sewing and cultivating a small field to supplement what was lacking.

Even though the old woman lived slightly below average, she devoted everything to raising young Ria with all her heart.

Fearing abandonment, Ria initially maintained silence, but once she realized that wouldn’t happen, she began asking countless questions.

“Why do you give me some of your food and tell me to eat more when you’re hungry too?”

“Why do you tell me I’m pretty even when I look messy after waking up?”

“Why do you get angry on my behalf when people call me a monster?”

To such questions, the old woman always answered the same way with a faint smile:

“Why don’t you think about it yourself?”

During the decade or so that followed with the old woman, Ria came up with numerous answers.

“You weren’t feeling well?”

“I must be quite beautiful?”

“You thought they were insulting you?”

Her answers, which took anywhere from a few seconds to several years to formulate, were unfortunately all wrong.

“All wrong except that our Ria is the prettiest in the world.”

Whenever she saw the old woman’s faint smile, Ria always felt a tightness in her chest.

‘I feel like I almost know.’

It seemed like she could reach the correct answer if she just extended her hand a little further.

‘Why can’t I reach it?’

If only the old woman had told her the answer, this curiosity would have been completely resolved.

‘Should I just ask? She’d tell me right away if I said I’d die without knowing.’

But that thought was fleeting.

‘No. I’ll figure it out myself.’

Due to the stubbornness built up over more than a decade, Ria was determined to find the answer on her own.

And the next day.

Ria began to imitate the old woman’s actions.

“You should eat more, child.”

“No, I’m full. You eat, Grandmother.”

She gave up her share of the meager meals,

“Ugh… I wonder if it will rain today…?”

“Rest at home. I’ll do it.”

She took on all kinds of difficult tasks, and,

“Tsk. She doesn’t have enough to eat herself, yet she picked up a monster… That old woman isn’t in her right mind.”

“Shut up. I’ll kill you if you insult my grandmother.”

“Eek?! M-monster!!”

“Not monster. Ria.”

“Huh…?”

“Whatever. Get lost.”

“Y-you’ll see!”

She chased away those who came to the corner of the village to insult the old woman.

It was just those simple actions, but…

“Is that monster doing well?”

“…It’s Ria.”

“What?”

“Not monster. Ria.”

The rumors deeply rooted in the village gradually began to change.

“She takes good care of the old woman, doesn’t she?”

“I thought evil spirits had no emotions…?”

“I don’t know either, you idiot. Last time I peeked into their house, she was giving up her food saying she was full… Just like a real person.”

Rumors about Ria, who stood out uniquely in the dull and ordinary village:

“Maybe she wasn’t an evil spirit after all?”

“Yeah! She’s pretty too!”

“That has nothing to do with it, you idiot!”

All her actions spread faster than any other news, and finally, after a year:

“I’m going to work, Grandmother.”

“Work?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, my sewing skills have improved. They’ll pay me for working.”

Ria began to blend into the village where rumors had disappeared, living an ordinary life.

“…You even know how to smile now.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Nothing, dear. Be careful out there.”

The evil spirit who had once lived in back alleys, feeding on rotting animal carcasses, was now known as a beautiful girl who took care of the old woman who had taken her in.

But Ria remained unchanged.

“Ria. Could I ask you for something different tomorrow? I’d like you to pick some berries from the forest outside the village to use as dye.”

“Ask me anything.”

Always rational.

“Hey! About what I said before… I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind. Just don’t say anything about my grandmother.”

Always wearing that emotionless faint smile.

“Oh my, Ria, why don’t you take these potatoes home for dinner with your grandmother?”

“Potatoes? She likes those.”

Although her essence remained that of an evil spirit, and the only thing that had changed was her mask-like smile, people accepted her.

“So, have you found the answer, child?”

“No. But I’ve realized a few things.”

Having no emotions is strange.

It’s easier to blend in by pretending to have them.

And,

“If I imitate Grandmother’s words and actions, everyone likes me.”

After finishing her words, Ria gave a faint smile and proudly held up her thumb.

“Wait. I’ll soon find the answer to Grandmother’s question.”

In that sense,

“Let’s go on an outing tomorrow.”

“An outing?”

“That’s the only thing I haven’t been able to imitate from what you’ve done.”

“Haha. Do you think you’ll figure it out if you imitate that too, child?”

“Yes. So accept this and wait.”

Ria took the old woman’s hand as she had done and gave her a few silver coins, which the old woman accepted preciously before embracing Ria.

“…I love you, Ria.”

Another phrase whose meaning she couldn’t understand.

“I love you too, Grandmother.”

Nevertheless, Ria imitated her just as she had done until now.

In the village where rumors had disappeared.

The taken-in child and the old woman embraced for a long time before drifting off to sleep.

‘Since both the actions I couldn’t imitate and the interfering rumors are gone, tomorrow…’

She would be able to completely shake off this curiosity that had clung to her for over a decade.

But Ria didn’t know.

Unlike false rumors created through lies and speculation, rumors derived from truth don’t easily disappear.

And,

-There was even a rumor that heresy inquisitors, who kill evil spirits indiscriminately, were heading to this village.

Such rumors are sometimes true.

“One basket is enough, so don’t overdo it!”

“I’ll be back soon.”

When she went outside the village to gather materials for dye as discussed the day before.

BOOM…!!

An explosion erupted from the direction of the village.

A powerful blast that caused vibrations even at a distance.

“…An explosion?”

Thud.

Unconsciously dropping her basket, Ria immediately ran to the village, but it was difficult to find any living beings.

Only a dying man who had once called her pretty managed to convey the situation.

“We… told them… there wasn’t…”

“What?”

“Said there was none, hah, just a rumor… but… for achievements… false accusations…”

“Achievements?”

“Ah, mother……”

Thud.

What happened?

Was it magic that she had only heard about?

But why our village?

Ria pushed aside the flood of questions and ran to the old woman, managing to meet her just before her last breath.

The old woman, in a terribly miserable state, gasped for breath and muttered:

“Yes… you bastards… I, I am… I am the evil spirit…!!”

Ria immediately understood the situation.

‘Heresy inquisitors.’

They came after hearing rumors about an evil spirit and tried to punish it.

Grandmother claimed to be the evil spirit in my place, and the villagers were killed for hiding an evil spirit.

Ria held the flailing hand of the old woman, carefully embraced her, and asked:

“Why did you do that?”

“I am… the evil… spirit……”

“It’s me. It’s Ria, Grandmother. I’m fine, so please come to your senses.”

An emotionless voice.

“Ri…a?”

“Yes.”

“…Child… safe… thank goodness…”

Finally regaining some consciousness, the old woman reached out with her crushed hand to caress Ria’s cheek, and Ria asked:

“What should I do in this situation?”

She had a rough idea.

Like the mother who died holding her dead child, like the young man whose head was cut off while kneeling and begging, like the old woman before her eyes now.

“Should I cry? Should I cry for you, Grandmother?”

To this calm question, the old woman used her last strength to grasp Ria’s hand and smiled.

“Smile, child. Be happy for the rest of your life.”

Those were the old woman’s final words.

“I… love… you… child…”

The old woman’s last whisper.

-Why do you give me some of your food and tell me to eat more when you’re hungry too?

-Why do you tell me I’m pretty even when I look messy after waking up?

-Why do you get angry on my behalf when people call me a monster?

Ria finally realized the answer to the question that had followed her.

“…It was love.”

That precious thing that a twisted being like me could never give or receive in a lifetime,

“Grandmother gave it to me every single day without fail…”

For the first time in her life, Ria shed tears.