Ch.22Side Story: Their Aftermath

“Hmm…”

Charlotte stood in front of the full-length mirror, staring intently at her reflection.

In the mirror was a woman wearing a uniform mixed with black and white, with long silver hair that flowed down to her waist as if capturing moonlight, and crimson eyes.

Charlotte made fists with both hands, raised only her index fingers, and poked both her cheeks. Her white skin gave way under the pressure of her fingers before bouncing back, showing off its elasticity.

The woman in the mirror mimicked the action. The sight of her poking her cheeks repeatedly with a stoic expression was quite amusing.

With a smirk, she pulled up the corners of her mouth. Keeping her thumbs against her cheeks, she tilted her head slightly to the left.

Due to her upturned mouth corners, the flesh between her cheekbones and lips pushed up slightly. Her index finger sank deeper into her cheek.

This time, she tilted her head to the right. The woman in the mirror tilted hers to the left.

Her silver hair, flowing like a waterfall, swayed against her back.

She filled her mouth with air, puffing out her cheeks. As she did so, she examined the face of the woman in the mirror. With her face all puffed up, she looked as if she was saying, “I’m sulking.”

She raised her index fingers and poked both sides.

With a “phoo” sound, the air escaped through her slightly parted lips. Her cheeks returned to their slender shape.

Charlotte put her hands behind her back, leaned forward slightly, and crossed her legs. Then she smiled.

The brightly smiling faces of the woman outside and the woman in the mirror overlapped. It was a warm smile, like sunshine.

“But this isn’t the Charlotte de Gargantua you want, is it?”

Charlotte’s expression instantly returned to normal. She released her hands from behind her back, straightened her posture, and uncrossed her legs.

The woman in the mirror had also returned to being the emotionless Blood Queen.

Charlotte snapped her fingers using her middle finger and thumb. At that signal, the emotionless Blood Queen in the mirror vanished as if evaporating.

Nothing was reflected in the mirror anymore.

As Charlotte stared at the now opaque mirror surface, she heard three knocks on the door behind her.

“Enter.”

With Charlotte’s permission, the door opened carefully. Alesia was standing there.

After closing the door and entering the room, Alesia immediately knelt on one knee before Charlotte, placed her arm horizontally with her fist against her chest, and bowed her head.

“Royal 7th Knight Commander Alesia Beneviento, answering Your Majesty’s summons.”

“Do you know why I called for you?”

“My wisdom is lacking, and I dare not presume to understand Your Majesty’s intentions.”

“Yes. Of course. Of course you don’t.”

As Charlotte looked at Alesia kneeling on the floor with her head bowed, her eyes contained no emotion whatsoever, to a chilling degree.

Suddenly, Alesia’s body floated into the air and was slammed against the wall on the other side of the room. A loud crash echoed throughout.

“Guh?!”

Alesia let out a short groan at the unexpected situation. Her body fell to the floor, and cracks were visible where she had hit the wall.

“I saw what you did, Alesia Beneviento.”

“Cough… what I did, Your Majesty…?”

“You need not know.”

With another crash, Alesia’s body was slammed against the opposite wall. This time, no sound came from her.

Charlotte pointed her finger at Alesia. In response, the limp body floated in the air.

“Hng, aargh?!”

Alesia struggled with her limbs as she felt excruciating pain in her right eye. Or rather, she tried to struggle.

Her entire body was fixed in place as if restrained by something invisible. Her mouth was blocked by something, preventing her from speaking.

With a pop, Alesia’s right eye was pulled out.

Blood trickled from the now empty socket where her eye had been, flowing down her face. Alesia made choking sounds as she tried to scream through her blocked mouth.

Charlotte clenched her fist. The extracted eyeball helplessly shriveled in midair, spraying its fluid in all directions.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, they say.”

Charlotte slowly approached Alesia. The sound of her footsteps, thump, thump, was filled with intimidation.

“However, I do not agree with that saying.”

Tears welled up in the one remaining eye. It was an eye filled with terror.

“The crime of harming my future consort must be paid for with your life, wouldn’t you agree?”

With a sickening crack, Alesia’s neck twisted backward. Her body stopped moving.

Charlotte stared blankly at the back of Alesia’s head, then raised her right arm. At the end of it was her right hand, which had become semi-transparent.

The semi-transparent right hand was thrust into Alesia’s head. Despite the entire hand entering her head, there was no visible change to Alesia’s outward appearance.

Soon after, the sound of brain matter being stirred could be heard.

After rummaging through the head with an expressionless face for a while, Charlotte withdrew her hand. In her palm, marked with a magic circle, was something like mist.

Charlotte threw Alesia’s corpse away and approached the mirror that reflected nothing. Then, she inserted her right hand with the magic circle into it.

After confirming that the mirror’s surface vibrated slightly, Charlotte withdrew her hand. The magic circle had disappeared.

Charlotte took a step back.

Suddenly, a human figure appeared on the mirror’s surface. It was a woman with fiery red hair, dressed in the same attire as the one lying dead not far away.

The woman walked out of the mirror. As she did, life returned to her previously lifeless eyes.

Alesia immediately knelt on one knee before Charlotte, placed her arm horizontally with her fist against her chest, and bowed her head.

“Royal 7th Knight Commander Alesia Beneviento, answering Your Majesty’s summons.”

“I’ve heard the news. There was a dispute with the 1st Knight Commander in the training grounds.”

Charlotte’s expression remained unchanged.

Christine sat on a rock with her eyes closed, hands folded in front of her lower abdomen, quietly offering prayers.

Her voluptuous chest, contrasting with her slender limbs, caught the eye.

Her nun’s habit, cut low to reveal her sides up to her pelvis, and the garter belt visible against her slender thighs, were on display.

The habit she wore was plain black with no decorations to be found, but that simple composition only added to its lewdness.

At a glance, she might have appeared to be dozing off while sitting on the rock. However, her lips, muttering in a very small voice, proved what she was doing.

Christine was praying while recalling the sensation of bursting a god’s heart that she had experienced yesterday.

The feeling of fingers tearing through skin, crushing bones, digging into the body, and grasping the vigorously beating heart was still vivid in her fingers.

Every time she recalled that feeling, her lower abdomen throbbed and tingled. It was a pleasant tingling.

Next, she recalled the sensation of biting off fingers. The sensation of placing a finger joint gently on her tongue inside her mouth, pressing down with her front teeth, and snapping it off with force.

With a crunch, skin tears and bones break as the tangy taste of blood fills her mouth. The smell of blood flows down her throat and back up into her nasal cavity, circulating through her sinuses and adding to her ecstasy.

Crushing bones with molars, swallowing them along with flesh, accepting the divine body into her own.

Not long after, the divine body returns to its original state, surging back up through the esophagus and restoring itself. Christine loved even that sensation.

If she could, she would like to taste other parts too. She wanted to chew every part of that divine body, savoring the blood and muscle.

Compared to the divine, she was far too inadequate to dare voice such desires out loud, so it remained a modest wish she kept to herself.

Perhaps someday, when Christine fulfilled the divine’s wish and that immortal disappeared from the world, she might be able to taste the remaining divine body before following after.

The wind blew through the trees. Her long straight hair and the hem of her habit fluttered in the direction of the wind.

Suddenly, Christine opened her eyes. Her bright yellow eyes faced forward.

“Why have you come so deep into this forest?”

There was no answer. Christine continued speaking without turning her head.

“If you intend to disturb me, please leave.”

“Hey, miss. Don’t you know it’s dangerous for a woman to be alone in a place like this?”

“…”

At the male voice filled with lust, Christine maintained a brief silence.

“I don’t know what you’re doing, but we could protect you if you want. How about it? As for the price… we can figure that out later.”

“I do not have much patience. I need to offer prayers to the divine now, so I’ll ask once more. Please leave.”

This was already showing extraordinary restraint for Christine. If it had been her usual self, she would have already attacked without attempting conversation after hearing such words.

And if it had been her even further in the past, she would have attacked without even hearing such words. From the moment they caught her eye, they would have been nothing more than sacrificial offerings.

Because of yesterday’s events, Christine was in an exceptionally good mood and had shown mercy twice beyond what was deserved, but they had kicked that opportunity away.

“We’ve each got a god hanging between our legs that drives women crazy. Want to see?”

Moreover, they had committed blasphemy.

As Christine rose to her feet, her voluptuous chest briefly bounced in response.

The sight was powerful enough to instantly silence the snickering men, even though they were seeing her from behind.

She turned around. Her pitch-black eyes, containing an abyss, were now facing the source of the voices. Four men. The metal guards on their forearms and thighs were stained with grime.

Seeing four pairs of eyes scanning her body, Christine unfolded her hands from in front of her lower abdomen.

She clenched her fist and kicked off the ground. Before the men could even register what was happening, Christine extended her hand.

She drove her fist into the stomach of the man in front. Just enough not to pierce through to his back.

His stomach was pierced, and Christine’s hand grabbed the soft internal organs. She spread her fingers wide to grasp as many of them as possible.

Then she pulled out.

Blood burst in all directions. The sequence of actions happened so quickly that the surrounding men still had dazed expressions.

Next. After carelessly tossing aside the intestines in her hand, she approached the next man and pierced his stomach again. Similarly, she spread her hand as wide as possible, made a fist, and pulled out her hand.

By then, the remaining two seemed to have finally grasped the situation. With curses, they raised their weapons.

As soon as they did so, before the weapons could be swung, another man’s stomach was pierced. The grass beneath their feet was soaked with dark red blood and pieces of intestines.

The fate of the remaining man was similar to those who had died before him. The only difference was that he had almost managed to swing his weapon.

Among the four men’s corpses that had suddenly died and were sprawled out, Christine offered a brief prayer. It was an apology to the divine who had been blasphemed due to her lack of virtue.

After finishing her short prayer, Christine gathered the scattered pieces of intestines and corpses, piling them up like a tower. Thick blood flowed down from beneath it.

She should have left one alive to scream, so she could have prayed longer. Christine reproached herself in her heart.

Now 996 remained.