Ch.45Imprisonment (1)

*Clank, clank!*

“Irefi! You’re not in your right mind. Untie this right now!”

“Nepy, I’m perfectly sane.”

Irefi sat casually beside me as I was restrained against the wall. She was close enough that I could feel her warmth through my shoulder.

She leaned against me, resting her head on my shoulder. The way she depended on me for balance, like an affectionate lover, created a stark contrast with our surroundings.

“Well, you won’t be disappointed, will you? When I push forward, you always understand. Besides, what if I’m not normal? You’d treat me the same way, wouldn’t you?”

“Are you seriously saying this?”

“I’m always sincere with you, Nepy. You’ve noticed my sincerity all along, yet you pretend not to…”

“You think I’d recognize this kind of sincerity?”

“You’re lying again. You must know. That I love you.”

“Normal people don’t treat someone they love like this.”

“True. Maybe that’s it. Perhaps I have the blood of an abnormal person flowing through me. Or maybe it’s because all the feelings I’ve been suppressing are rushing out at once!”

‘She’s insane…’

Irefi has lost her mind. I have no way of knowing when she first developed these twisted feelings.

I don’t know how Malice came to surround her, but it’s clearly had a profound effect on her mind.

The fact that she can’t even detect the presence of Malice suggests she can’t control it, let alone contain it.

Considering that Malice was the cause of the madness Nepy induced, it’s reasonable to assume that Malice is the root cause of the current situation.

“Ah! Don’t misunderstand. I’m different from those abnormal people connected by blood.”

“Abnormal people… You’re not talking about Miren, are you?”

“Of course not! Miren is truly an innocent child who knows nothing. Hmm, where should I begin?”

She continued speaking while still leaning her weight on my shoulder.

“When I told you my relatives were murdered, you apologized for bringing up bad memories. But that was a misunderstanding. I wasn’t sorry at all.”

“Irefi, you…?”

“Nepy, don’t you find it strange? That there’s a space like this in the manor? It looks quite old, doesn’t it?”

“That’s…”

My eyes darted around at the question Irefi posed. This was a space where dust had accumulated and rust had formed, clearly showing the passage of time.

After confirming that I had clearly recognized the question, Irefi continued her story.

“The Justitia family is truly a filthy place. They secretly committed various injustices to accumulate this much wealth. This space is part of that. My parents… grandparents… and generations before them, all the same.”

Irefi calmly revealed her family’s shameful secrets without hesitation.

“But if the tail is too long, it gets stepped on. After accumulating such terrible grudges for generations, it was bound to explode. That happened during my parents’ generation. That’s why I became a knight. I wanted to wash away my family’s shame, even a little. If it weren’t for Miren, I would have disposed of the family fortune and title.”

“…”

I was overwhelmed by the flood of information coming from her lips. I could only remain silent in shock, at a loss for words.

“You said it yourself, Nepy. That you’ve never seen me lie. I was deeply touched, but also sad. Because I did tell you one big lie.”

“A lie…?”

I parroted her words like a parrot. All sorts of anxious predictions collided and amplified like echoes growing in volume.

Irefi’s hand touched near my heart. She had the demeanor of a pitiful girl who couldn’t bear to bring up painful realities.

“When you were talking about Nepy at the fountain, my heart ached. It seemed like you had formed another special bond besides me… I wanted to monopolize your specialness. Knowing I couldn’t… I took out my anger.”

“Took out your anger? On whom…?”

“Do you remember those two pickpockets who caused a commotion then?”

“You said you handed them over to a passing guard.”

“Yes. That was the first lie I ever told because I didn’t want you to hate me.”

*Thump.*

An unpleasant premonition shot through my temple.

Irefi, surely not, it couldn’t be.

I didn’t want to hear the harsh truth that was about to pour out. It felt like if I knew, we could never return to our normal relationship…

“The truth is, there were no guards there.”

No. Don’t say it. Please, Irefi. Even now, if you laugh it off playfully and brush it aside…

I’ll understand. It can surely remain as a dream of the cold season. You can return to being the Irefi Justitia I know.

Tease me like those nights when you toyed with me without hesitation. Please…

“I did it.”

Irefi!!!

*Clank! Clank!*

I desperately wanted to cover her mouth. But the blue, translucent protective ability had no intention of releasing my bound limbs.

Even as Irefi’s mouth revealed the truth, I remained like an insect tightly wrapped in a spider’s web.

Her seductive lips finally delivered the cruel truth.

“I killed them. And it felt refreshing, you know?”

“Irefi! You… you…! Why did you do it? Why!!!”

“Because I was told to. It whispered that everything would work out well.”

“Told? By whom!”

“Yes! It sounded so pleasant… ugh. Urgh…! That… ordered… uh… no, no. What ordered me was my… ah…!”

“Irefi, snap out of it!”

Irefi trembled with convulsions throughout her body. I could tell without being told that she was suffering from a terrible headache.

“Irefi!”

“Argh! Nepy, it hurts. It’s painful. I’m sorry. I know it’s not the right way… no, I have to be right because there’s no other choice. For Nepy’s sake. I, I, Nepy…”

Her incoherent speech became organized in an instant.

“I like you.”

And she added one more thing.

“Because Nepy is my savior. Because you’re the dream I’ve been waiting for all this time.”

“Please, Irefi, come to your senses! You’re under the influence of Malice!”

*Clank! Clank!*

“Malice? Nepy, your jokes are cruel. We’ve spent so much time together, how could I not know about something like that?”

‘Damn it, she’s not listening! She’s completely under the influence of Malice!’

“I want to stay like this with Nepy forever… but I can’t. I need to think of a way to deal with Nepy, and I need to clean up so I don’t arouse suspicion.”

She turned to face me directly and leaned against my chest, which was bound and wide open. At the same time, the contained Malice stirred chaotically within my body.

Meanwhile, Irefi was as comfortable as if listening to the heartbeat of a fetus.

“Ugh… Aaagh…!”

“Ah, why is being by Nepy’s side so comfortable? I don’t want to leave. But I have no choice.”

She exercised patience to suppress her desire and stood up.

She looked down at me with those deep blue eyes, gazing at me like a beloved.

“I’ll be back as soon as possible. Nepy must be lonely alone too.”

“Damn it, wait… wait, Irefi!”

“Ugh… you’ll have to bear with feeling neglected. You’ll stay put until I come back, won’t you? Nepy.”

“…”

“Thank you!”

Irefi seemed to trust the non-verbal convention that silence equals consent.

She walked away with steps tinged with regret and disappeared from my sight.

A moment later, with the loud sound of the iron door closing, I faced terrible solitude.

The chill of the cold iron floor seemed to insist that this unbelievable reality was true.

“Irefi… where did it all go wrong? The memories of this afternoon feel like a fantasy…”

As I hung my head in despair, a quiet thought echoed in my mind.

[This is quite a predicament.]

“Old man!”

Damn, I’m glad to hear you! I’d completely forgotten about you since you hadn’t said anything for a while, but in this situation, you’re like an angel.

“Listen, old man. I think Irefi is under the influence of Malice. Simply put, she’s gone mad. What should I do?”

[I don’t know.]

“What?”

[There’s not enough information. But unless it’s a very special case, there’s no solution.]

“What are you saying? It’s your power. If you don’t know, who would!”

[There seems to be a misunderstanding. Malice isn’t exactly a unique power like Chester’s Battle Aura. It’s just a curse that becomes imprinted under specific conditions.]

Nepy calmly revealed the details about the energy known as Malice.

[What is Malice in the first place? It’s literally malicious energy. Many humans harbor evil thoughts, but not all of them manifest Malice. So another condition is needed.]

“Condition?”

[When a human who harbors excessive evil and sin becomes the target of seething resentment from an unspecified number of people and is covered in corrupt malice. That’s the first step in manifesting Malice.]

“That’s the condition furthest from Irefi!”

[That’s why I said there’s not enough information. Moreover, the white girl’s condition is too normal, which is strange.]

“You call that normal?”

[The side effects of Malice aren’t just madness. Its essence lies in transforming the person harboring Malice into the worst possible form, opposite to their wishes.]

“The worst form… Honestly, your body is quite useful. Is this really the worst?”

In response to my question, Nepy asked one in return.

[Haven’t you ever questioned that body? For example, why it maintains the appearance of a young man in his mid-twenties?]

I answered without much thought.

“Because you’re immortal, of course.”

[If I had become immortal at that age, that might have been possible.]

“Ah!”

I finally understood Nepy’s question.

If it were simply regeneration-based immortality, it wouldn’t matter whether one appeared as an old man or a newborn. And Nepy probably became immortal in his old age…

“You mean Malice made your body that of a twenty-something?”

[Not only that, it also gave me an immortal body to live forever.]

“…Honestly, I don’t see how that’s the worst. There are plenty of people who would do anything to get that.”

[Ha… haha.]

Nepy responded with self-mockery to my dubious rebuttal. The self-mockery gradually turned into seething excitement, and eventually led to a cry filled with anger.

[Kuk, if I could discard this body, I would have done so long ago. A young body? Immortal lifespan? Hah, I didn’t have even a speck of desire for such things!!!]

“…”

It was clearly a wail of lamentation and anger. A torrent of emotions flowed from Nepy and resonated with me.

Sadness, anger, longing, affection. Elements dissolved in the torrent.

My chest expanded with discomfort from the emotions swelling like a flooded stream.

[The mental world where Astelnerca and Lorian exist, this body that reminds me of those times, the eternal life that binds my soul—these are the terrible prices I paid as retribution for committing unbearable sins. Child, let me now reveal my only wish.]

The torrent of emotions Nepy had caused subsided. During a brief pause, he had composed his scattered mind.

He said:

[I want to die. If I could find eternal rest, I would endure any vulgar act. If I could end this cursed life of being forever trapped in the past, I would gladly give everything.]

At that point, I realized a contradiction.

“Hey, then shouldn’t you welcome Irefi trying to get rid of you with open arms?”

[I say this because I know it’s impossible. And nothing drives a person mad like clinging to the impossible. The situation is more serious than you realize.]

“You’re serious. You… no, no. So what you’re saying is that it’s strange there’s no change in Irefi’s appearance?”

[To put it simply, yes. Especially if she takes pride in her appearance, there should definitely be changes.]

“If what you’re saying is right, that is strange.”

For someone with a terminal case of princess syndrome like Irefi, it wouldn’t be strange if she turned into a hideous old woman.

Not only that, but there are no signs of change in invisible aspects either.

“…Unless she’s possessed like me.”

[That would certainly resolve the current questions. Since Malice is imprinted on the soul, there’s no contradiction. The flaw is that it’s an implausible possibility…]

“Let me ask this first: if I hand over my body to you, could you defeat Irefi?”

[The white girl is a monster born from the condensed irrationality of the world. Even if I matched up with the first Bartlant, I couldn’t guarantee victory.]

“Then for now, it’s back to life in the Great Cavern… damn it.”

I stared at the rectangular passage with iron bars. The dark corridor where Irefi’s lingering presence had blurred…

It felt like Irefi might jump out at any moment from the narrow passage, saying her prank had gone too far.

I wished she would tell me that the black energy resembling Malice was actually a trick that even a fool could see through.

“Irefi…”

Her name, which I muttered bitterly, echoed like an afterimage. It was soon absorbed by the dark, cold walls and became quiet.

Reflecting on where my relationship with her went wrong, I slowly closed my eyes.