Chapter 78: The Demon and The Pure White Soul

Demon.

Not even the gods know why they exist or how they came to be.

Just as light casts a shadow, if there are beings of good, there must also be beings of evil. Everyone simply thought of it that way.

Even demons do not know the reason for their existence. Lacking any purpose, they wander only to find games to satisfy their desires.

Human misery is a sweet snack to them, and a corrupted soul is a bountiful feast.

Demons lure humans with sweet words and tempting whispers. They push them into the depths of despair, crush their flesh, and corrupt their souls, ultimately making them prey.

Wandering the world solely for their desires, they seek out their next meal.

But can you believe it? Even such demons have something they yearn for.

Ironically, what they long for, as symbols of corruption, is a pure soul.

A pure white soul, without a single stain. So beautiful and clear that even getting close feels like it would burn their skin.

Perhaps it is because they know they could never become such a being that they yearn even more for the light.

A demon never consumes a pure soul.

From the very moment a pure soul enters a demon’s body, the demon would dissolve and turn to ash.

Instead, a demon holds such a soul close to itself.

In hell, which they call a haven, they keep that soul in their nest forever.

Almost like a trophy.

But a pure soul cannot step into hell.

Thus, a demon cloaks that soul in darkness.

They color the soul’s life with misfortune, overlaying it with thick malice and false injustice, bringing it to hell.

“Hell…?”

[Yes, your mother will be there. Don’t you want to see her?]

A demon tempted a child.

A perfectly pure soul, discovered by chance as it followed the scent of misery.

In that instant of eye contact, the demon resolved to make the child its possession.

The demon covered the child’s soul in darkness.

It wasn’t difficult.

There was no need to lead the child into misfortune; the child’s life was already steeped in it.

Abandoned by his father at the age of five, his life torn by poverty, the only comfort he received from his mother was not affection but hatred.

The mother was grateful that the child would work in her stead, after all.

At first, the demon thought the soul would turn dark just by watching.

But expectations were wrong.

The child continued to live in pain each day. The mother would beat and curse at him almost every day.

She locked him away in a room, cutting him off from the world, not even providing the basic needs of a human life.

And yet…

Years passed, and still, the child’s soul remained pure and clean.

Unable to bear it any longer, the demon took action to corrupt the soul directly.

It tempted the child to cut his own wrists, and sent his mother to prison.

Then, in prison, it killed his mother in a wretched way.

Burdened by guilt for his mother’s death because of his actions, the child lost his sanity day by day.

Relying on hallucinations in the mirror, his heart grew weak and fractured.

The demon approached as a friendly figure, further darkening the child’s world.

It engraved in the child’s mind the vile nature of humanity, planting deeply the belief that one must harbor malice to avoid misfortune.

It indoctrinated him with the reality that only evil can lead to true happiness, and that those on the side of goodness are always the ones who suffer.

The Demon slowly, craftily, molded the child into a villain.

To make them commit sins by their own hands, to walk the path to hell of their own volition.

The child was taught the twisted joy of trampling on others’ lives, of toying with them as a game.

It revealed how to lure people in, use them, and treat them as if they were slaves.

But the demon hadn’t anticipated one thing.

That this vessel of a soul was far too bright to harbor such malice.

Unable to bear the darkness it held, the child ultimately made a tragic choice.

[Aaaagh! No!]

The demon’s wail filled the entire room.

It was still the same small room.

But there was one difference.

The floor was now covered in a thick layer of red blood.

And where the blood seeped out, there were wrists deeply sliced by a sharp blade.

Once before, the child had cut their wrists to send their mother to prison.

Back then, they were taught only to cut shallowly, just enough not to die.

How to avoid the artery, only slicing the veins, leaving a wound that wouldn’t lead to death.

But this time, the wounds were far deeper than before.

This wasn’t self-harm; it was a clear act in search of true peace.

The pure soul began to fade slowly before the demon’s eyes.

A soul still shining bright was surely destined for a place far from hell.

If it slipped away like this, the demon would never again hold that soul.

Braving the pain, the demon reached out.

Even as its touch seared like fire, it grasped the soul tightly.

The moment they made contact, the demon’s power began to weaken.

Yet, the demon’s desire to possess the soul was unyielding.

Once a soul loses its body, it cannot be anchored back to its original world.

That was a rule even the demon couldn’t break.

Desperately, the demon, clutching the radiant soul, looked around the room.

What caught its eye was a small game icon on a computer screen.

[Princess Raising Simulation.]

There were rare instances.

In countless dimensions, real events occasionally left their marks, recorded as artifacts in other realms.

The demon distorted the soul’s memory.

It implanted the idea that the soul was a vile human from the beginning.

A delusion that it had lived as an irredeemable sinner.

Only enough guilt to prevent it from attempting suicide again, making it believe in its inherent wickedness.

This time, the demon would taint that soul black, no matter what.

***

“A demon, falling in love?”

Atop her black steed clad in silver armor, Viviana smirked with a mocking smile.

In contrast, Lillian, who sat on a white horse in golden armor reading a book, responded with a gentle smile.

“Yes, demons are always drawn to beings they can never become. That’s why they enjoy teasing those with pure divinity.”

“You’ve become quite the demon expert over the years.”

“Indeed, I’ve studied that hard.”

Viviana, who knew better than anyone the truth in Lillian’s words, nodded absentmindedly.

Her hands were always filled with records about demons. Lillian’s image, engrossed in reading about demons whenever she could, had become an almost tiresome familiarity.

When they had toppled the enemy’s fortress and claimed victory, it was even more astounding.

While everyone else collected spoils from the treasure chamber, Lillian went alone to the study to find books on demons.

‘That was truly nauseating.’

Her obsession with demons was like a desperate madness.

“Is it really right for a saintess to believe so fervently in the existence of demons?”

“It’s precisely because I’m a saintess, my lady.”

“You’re not wrong.”

Lillian chuckled lightly.

“Lady Viviana, you can instinctively sense when you’re facing a strong opponent, right?”

“Well, yes.”

It was easy to tell from the aura or the disciplined energy emanating from the other person.

“I, too, can instinctively recognize evil beings.”

“That’s fascinating. Is that related to divine power?”

“Hmm… It’s closer to intuition as a saintess rather than divine power.”

Viviana looked at Lillian for a moment.

Their once-distant relationship had now grown quite close.

After all, it had been three years since they’d fought side by side on the battlefield.

The battlefield is a place where even enemies are bound tightly by camaraderie.

If there was something Viviana had come to realize about Lillian over time, it was that she was a woman who truly possessed the qualities and compassion worthy of a saintess.

Quite the opposite of the rumors circulating in high society.

‘Well, that’s just how high society is.’

A place teeming with all sorts of fabrications and slander.

Someone who resented this pure saintess must have spread vile lies to defame her.

Though curious about who the liar might be, she decided not to pay much attention.

After all, no one would dare insult the saintess now.

Viviana, seated atop her slowly moving horse, took out a cigarette.

She gazed at the faintly visible imperial fortress in the distance, taking a deep inhale of smoke.

“So, what will you do now?”

“Sorry?”

Lillian looked at her, puzzled.

“Now that you’ve solidified your powers as a saintess and achieved a full awakening, haven’t you accomplished your purpose?”

“Haha, it was just luck.”

“So, will you seek revenge now?”

The saintess gently tucked her pink hair behind her ear, casting a distant gaze with a smile void of warmth.

“Revenge? How could I do something like that? I don’t even have that kind of power.”

“Humility. You will now be regarded as a god-like being.”

At seventeen, she had been burdened with the destiny of a saintess.

Many doubted her abilities and qualifications, yet she took to the battlefield of her own volition.

She even concealed her noble expedition in secret.

Standing at the forefront, the saintess saved countless soldiers’ lives, securing victory in the war against the enemy nation and restoring peace to the empire.

A tale worthy of bards singing it like a myth. They would sing of it as the blessing of a goddess descending from the heavens.

The treatment Lillian would receive from now on would be incomparable to before.

The entire empire would praise her, and her status as a saintess would rise so high that even royalty could not dare to surpass it.

“There’s just one person I’d like to treat with a bit of mischief.”

Her gaze was enigmatic, impossible even for herself to read.

With eyes like that, the word ‘a bit’ seemed truly mischievous.

“Is this about that absurd thing you call salvation again?”

“Haha, you know me well. Salvation, yes, salvation.”

To call it salvation when it was so evidently filled with malice was almost laughable.

Whoever the target was.

‘I guess I should extend my condolences.’