Chap 115-Absurd Thoughts

 

The honest words that you were just a hindrance to me.

Naturally, it didn’t feel so good.

Nevertheless, Lea felt a sense of relief at those words.

Yeon Bennet is competent.

She was a hopeless pushover, but this much she couldn’t deny.

A person who had deceived people for so long, acting as a villainess with the sole intention of sealing the Evil God.

The countless insults and terrible tortures she had to endure in the process.

Even amidst all that, she had to fight alone against the magical beasts and Contamination Worshippers targeting her.

Despite all that, an unyielding good heart that still sought to save people.

Who in Terra could accomplish such a thing?

Because she was that kind of person, she would have her own plans this time as well.

Also, considering her abilities, she wouldn’t die easily.

It was a little disappointing… but it couldn’t be helped.

In the end, the only thing they could do now was one thing.

To grow stronger, to develop to the point where they could be of help to her someday.

Lea wanted to say that they just needed to work hard.

However.

Camilla’s thoughts seemed to be a little different.

“Lady… there’s blood on your hand…”

At Lea’s words, Camilla indifferently looked down at her hand.

Because she had clenched her fist too tightly, her nails had dug into her palm, and red blood was flowing down.

“Ah. Sorry.”

Camilla muttered with a soulless expression and slowly opened her palm.

Then, with that blood-stained hand, she began to tear at her hair again.

She was the very person who had tormented Yeon Bennet for a long time.

Manipulating her faction, she had driven Yeon, who was already isolated, even further, and later even dragged her away and brutally tortured her.

And then there was the midterm exam situation.

Frankly, it couldn’t be said that she wasn’t responsible for Yeon being driven into such a miserable situation.

So at first, when Camilla took her out of prison and suggested going to save Yeon Bennet.

Lea had found that appearance loathsome.

So honestly, she didn’t like her very much…

But seeing her broken appearance before her eyes, Lea’s heart became a little complicated.

Eventually, Camilla collapsed to the floor, burying her face in her hands.

Her small shoulders began to tremble uncontrollably.

“What… sniff… what should I do…”

A cracked voice leaked out, mixed with sobs.

“Do you know? What Yeon Bennet, said to me…”

Without even raising her head, her voice continued.

“She told me… that I, didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Isn’t it funny? To the person who tormented and tortured her, she says I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But… I… sniff… I can’t forgive myself…”

Camilla’s blood-stained hands were trembling.

At the sight of her suffering so terribly and blaming herself, Lea finally closed her eyes tightly.

Camilla was still sitting on the floor, staring at her blood-stained hands with empty eyes.

“Useless… I’m like a bug…”

Her muttering flowed out weakly.

“What should I do… to atone…”

…

Lea, having arrived at her single dorm room, collapsed as soon as she closed the door.

“Haa…”

She let out a deep sigh and buried her tired body in the chair.

In the end, she couldn’t exchange a single word with Camilla until she arrived at the dorm.

The sight of her last moments, crushed by guilt and despair, did not disappear from her eyes.

Of course, no matter how much Camilla cried, when she thought of Yeon suffering in prison right now.

She only felt a little sorry, but she didn’t particularly think she was pitiful.

‘Still… if… I had tormented her like that…’

Just imagining it sent shivers down her spine.

Of course, she felt a little guilty because she remembered the sexual harassment she had subtly thrown at her, knowing she was listening.

‘B, but that much can be overlooked cutely, right?’

She desperately excused herself in that way and lowered her head.

Anyway, Camilla kept making her head complicated.

The last image of her that Lea saw was…

Like looking at a time bomb about to explode.

“Sigh, I don’t know. She’ll figure it out.”

Lea muttered and shook her head to clear her thoughts.

It was because she still had some lingering resentment towards Camilla somewhere in her heart to keep worrying about her.

Lea, not wanting to worry about any more troublesome problems, opened her most cherished book, ‘The Villainess Does Not Need Salvation,’ after a long time.

It was a book she had already read more than five times, and was now re-reading for the sixth time, but it was still fun every time she read it.

The story of a villainess who does not hesitate to do anything for her own purposes.

Not a predictable and boring heroic epic or rewarding good and punishing evil, but a new and fresh story that shows the dark and twisted desires of humans.

But, perhaps because she had read it too many times.

The hand turning the page slowly slowed down.

For the first time, Lea felt that reading this novel was a little… boring.

‘Am I crazy…?’

Slap- Slap-

At that blasphemous thought, Lea lightly tapped her cheeks to try to come to her senses.

But still, she couldn’t concentrate on the contents of the book.

She didn’t want to admit it…

Somehow, the story of the villainess she had liked so much felt a little predictable.

Desire, greed, corruption, revenge. Such trite motives that anyone could predict.

These were thoughts she would never have had originally.

But this time, because she had met a person with incomprehensible principles of action, the stories of the villainesses in the book now felt rather bland.

Yeon Bennet, who throws herself into saving the world and people.

How could she sacrifice herself so much for others?

Just because she’s a good person?

No matter how good she is, is it possible to forgive, let alone try to save, the people who inflicted such terrible torture on her?

Isn’t she resentful?

Even though she is being hated by the whole world for things she didn’t even do, she can still try to save them.

‘What is she, some kind of Masochist who enjoys pain?’

Lea burst out laughing at her own absurd thought.

What kind of story does she have?

What made her that way?

Lea’s head was now filled not with the story in the book, but with one person, Yeon Bennet.

Of course, that didn’t mean that the story of the villainess in the novel had become completely uninteresting.

The world where human greed, corruption, and revenge unfold was still fascinating.

But right now, at this moment, she was more curious about the existence of Yeon Bennet in reality than the villainess in the book.

Her appearance, repeatedly performing incomprehensible acts of kindness and yet unable to be broken, was much more intense and stimulating than any protagonist in any story she had ever read.

Lea closed the book and turned her gaze out the window.

The academy landscape, darkened by the night, felt strangely unfamiliar and distant.

‘Please…’

Lea prayed quietly without realizing it.

‘May you have a happy ending.’

…

The result of Yeon Bennet’s trial became a hot topic in an instant and spread throughout Terra.

This time again, the Mirage Times played a significant role.

They once again made Yeon Bennet’s verdict spread throughout the continent, even at the cost of losses.

As expected, as articles poured out, people were seething with anger.

Public execution after terrible torture wouldn’t be enough, yet she only gets penal unit service.

The anger of the commoners could be ignored, but when even high-ranking nobles who had participated in the war joined the public opinion, the council could not help but be aware of it.

But what could they do?

They couldn’t openly protest against the headmaster’s judgment, who was a transcendent.

In the end, the council made an unprecedented decision to divert people’s anger.

Instead of sending Yeon Bennet directly to the Holy Theocracy through the warp gate, they decided to escort her directly.

To appease the boiling public opinion by showing people her miserable appearance directly.

…

“Hmph. How awful.”

Serena, who became the person in charge of transportation, looked down at Yeon, who was trapped in the carriage prison, and sneered.

Her appearance, visible through the iron bars, was covered in blood and filth, making it embarrassing to even call her a person.

Every time the carriage passed through the city streets, the angry crowds threw rotten vegetables, stones, and even broken glass shards.

Serena had taken minimal measures to ensure she didn’t die, so she could watch all the scenes without getting bored.

They were angry at the decision not to execute Yeon, but she actually liked this verdict very much.

Death was too easy a path.

To make every moment of breathing feel like hell, to make her survive endlessly.

That, she thought, was the punishment befitting the crime Yeon Bennet had committed.

Anyone else would have been annoyed at being assigned such a troublesome task, but Serena was different.

The fact that she could directly see Yeon’s appearance, chained and crawling miserably on the floor, made her feel satisfied.

“Wash her roughly. We’ll be at the Holy Theocracy soon.”

Serena ordered her subordinates.

Then the surrounding soldiers, as if they didn’t even want to go near Yeon, started pouring cold water from a bucket on her from a distance.

Of course, there was no consideration for Yeon, who was trembling in the chilly autumn dawn, wearing only a thin prisoner’s uniform.

Beyond the pouring cold water, dawn was slowly beginning to break.

As the twilight that rose from the end of the horizon cleared the fog, its magnificent appearance finally came into view.

A huge fortress wall built of pure white marble.

The countless spires rising above it were shining golden in the dawn light.

Serena, who was briefly overwhelmed by its majesty, soon regained her composure.

‘Is this the place? The place where I will live from now on.’

She recalled the contract she had made with the Saintess Candidate, Lina, and began to scan the huge city before her.

Author’s words (Author’s afterword)

The protagonist’s bust size has been nerfed from 87 to 84!

After looking into it a bit more, it seemed too big for the protagonist, who has a slender figure.

It’s sad, but I think it’s right to nerf it…

And to talk a little about this episode…

Today’s story of Lea is a slightly adapted story of the reason I started writing this novel.

There was a ts dark fiction that I really liked… but it’s been discontinued now…

To briefly explain the contents of that novel.

The protagonist was a spy, but everyone who knew that fact died or fell into a coma…

In the end, it was a story about being misunderstood and harassed by the people around her.

So while watching that novel, I thought, ‘Wow, wouldn’t the protagonist be happy if she was a Masochist?’ and that’s how I started writing this novel!

I believe that the author will definitely come back someday. Please…

I think we’ll be entering the last episode after the story in the Holy Theocracy is over!

Of course, nothing is set in stone, so it can change at any time.

I’ll do my best until the end!