Episode 107
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 107
The village was in utter chaos. The prayer room at the center of the shrine had completely collapsed. Since no one was using it at the time, there were no fatalities, but several people were injured.
As soon as he arrived on the scene, Evan began examining the patients without a moment to catch his breath. He had been worried because Evan had looked so unwell right before they left, but his pale complexion seemed to improve the more he treated people.
Elysia, who had been assisting him, walked to the well at Evan’s request to fetch some clean water.
In that moment, she was pulled aside by a force that, while not overwhelmingly strong, was stubbornly persistent. Elysia let out a string of curses, then recognized the person before her, her expression turning to one of confusion.
“Zenia?”
“Why, why are you here, my lady, why…”
Dropping everything she was holding, Zenia trembled and covered her mouth. A moment later, tears began to pour from her eyes.
Sobbing, she collapsed to the ground, clutching the hem of Elysia’s skirt and shaking. Startled, Elysia knelt down with her.
“What’s wrong? Did something—”
“You have to, you have to go home right now.”
“What? Why…”
The woman, tearing at her hair until her neat bun was a mess, whispered in a daze.
“He’s going to kill them…!”
“The date isn’t today.”
“Ah, ahhh…!!! I, I must have been crazy. Oh, my lady. What should I do, what should I do! Because of me, hic, because I was so foolish, because I was insane…”
Rambling incoherently, Zenia began to wail, biting her nails until they bled. Incomprehensible words tumbled out in a mumble. As Elysia strained to understand, she froze at the words that followed.
“Actually, th-there was something, I-I didn’t tell you, my lady.”
“What? What didn’t you tell me?”
A sense of foreboding tightened around her throat. A vein throbbed on Elysia’s neck as she gripped the woman’s shoulders without realizing it. Zenia, seemingly exhausted, hung her head limply, tears the only thing falling from her. Elysia shook her violently and shouted.
“Tell me, now! If you hesitate any longer, something worse could happen. If we miss the golden time, it’s over. Do you want to have another regret? Speak, now!!!”
“The evening of the day you went back to pack your things… a new letter arrived.”
Sobbing, the woman pulled a new letter from her clothes, where she had kept it hidden, and handed it to Elysia. Elysia snatched the paper and read it frantically.
「I wish to express my sincere gratitude for calling that woman. Now, I am about to make you an offer you cannot refuse.
I will eliminate your child, following your husband. It wasn't a child you truly wanted, was it? I know people like you very well. Which is to say, I also know what shackles bind your life.
All you have to do is forget this letter the moment you read it. You requested help to save your family and husband, but tragically, you lost them all because the culprit struck before the forewarned date. I hope you will take your husband’s inheritance, which is now yours, and start a new life.
Congratulations on your escape from that hellish home.」
The hand holding the letter trembled violently. Clutching her head, Elysia growled.
“…What the fuck is this…”
“…”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Are you insane?!”
Her voice shook with immense fury. Zenia clung to Elysia, who was pale with rage, and cried out.
“Because I wanted my husband to die!!!”
Leaving Elysia standing there, stunned into silence, Zenia tore at her hair and rambled. The tips of her gnawed fingernails were crusted with dried blood.
“I know it’s not right, but still, I thought it would be better if he just died rather than terrifying me for the rest of my life. Please, please just die and set me free. And that child, who carries his blood—”
“That’s enough. Don’t say something you’ll regret.”
Zenia swallowed a hiccup when she saw the look on Elysia’s face as she cut her off. The blazing anger in Elysia’s eyes was not directed at her.
“That bastard, playing his little games…”
Elysia shot to her feet and started running. Zenia, who had been sitting dazedly on the ground, scrambled up and staggered after her.
*
Will Morris awoke to an immense wave of pain. Horrified to find his head covered in blood, he pushed himself up. A delayed agony washed over him.
A fierce anger surged through him. He thought he’d broken her spirit by beating her every day, but it seemed his wife had finally done something. There was no way a woman that beautiful didn’t have a lover. That bitch was finally showing her true colors.
Just as he was about to scream his wife’s name and a curse, a sweet, melodious voice scoffed at him.
“Pathetic.”
Beyond his blood-soaked vision, a tall figure swayed. The man grabbed him by the collar with one hand, dragged him out of bed, and threw him onto the floor like a piece of trash.
Instinctive terror washed over him. Unable to even stand due to the excessive bleeding, he began to crawl, calling his wife’s name.
“Ugh, ah! Aaargh!!! Zenia, Zeniaaa!!!”
“That woman isn’t home.”
Thwack. The man’s head snapped to the side. The assailant, who had struck Will’s jaw with a cane as he groveled in a pathetic heap, ground his heel into his calf.
Will lifted his head to scream but froze when he saw the expression on his unknown attacker’s face. The man’s eyes glinted as he smiled, grabbing Will by the collar and meeting his gaze.
“To think you were such a nobody.”
“S-spare… me— Uwaaaargh!!!”
Instead of an answer, the man snapped his arm. Will gasped for breath, unable to even scream from the overwhelming pain. The man smiled.
He dragged the completely limp body toward the stairs. A faint grip on his ankle made him grimace in annoyance. A panting breath begged for mercy.
“Please, please… Why are you doing this, what…”
Vivid red eyes, glinting with madness, looked down at Will’s face as he begged pathetically.
“Why, you ask?”
An indescribably intense emotion flickered across the man’s twisted face as he smiled.
“Does judgment need a reason?”
The man’s body tumbled down the stairs. Thump, thump, thud.
Will, his limbs bent at unnatural angles on the floor, twitched and looked up in terror at the murderer who called himself a judge.
The man casually rolled his neck, loosening his stiff muscles. As he pulled a dagger from the inner pocket of his jacket, his eyelids trembled with excitement.
The sound of tearing flesh and breaking bone, a few screams, a sob begging for mercy. The end for the man who had reigned as a tyrant in his own home was miserable and cruel.
Before long, a hellish silence fell. The murderer smiled, satisfied, and closed his eyes, murmuring.
“It’s nice and quiet.”
He ran a blood-soaked hand through his white hair, staining it without a second thought. Staggering to his feet, Cain looked up at the second floor with a blank expression.
But this isn’t the end. To truly finish it, another murder is necessary. Something I know from bitter experience.
He sensed the boy moving on the second floor and muttered coldly.
“What should I do…”
That boy, who craved salvation, resembled a being he both pitied and loved, yet also loathed. And so, he hesitated.
But his actions were swift, belying his long deliberation.
He kicked over a container of waste oil that sat in a corner of the kitchen. After opening the back door to secure an escape route, he knocked a burning incense candle from a table onto the spilled oil.
The flames spread with an eerie smoothness and speed.
*
“N-no… No…!!!”
By the time the two women arrived, the house was engulfed in flames. Zenia’s legs gave out from the shock, and she collapsed, burying her face in her hands and sobbing.
Elysia raised a hand to the air, roughly gauging the humidity. It hadn’t been long since the rain had stopped. She almost felt relieved, then smiled bitterly. Damn it, to think I have to be grateful for something like this.
<sys> Congratulations! You have arrived at the scene of a <Murder>!
<sys> Congratulations! You have arrived at the scene of an <Arson>!
“You son of a bitch, this is nothing to celebrate…”
Gritting her teeth, Elysia stood tall and scanned the yard. That’s when she saw a basin of water that had been set out for laundry.
Without hesitation, she lifted it and poured it over her head. Now soaked, she grabbed a wet towel and took a step forward. Zenia grabbed her, pleading.
“Are you crazy?! You’re going in there?”
“Let go. There’s no time.”
“But you could—”
“Is that what matters right now?! There’s a child in there!”
Elysia angrily shook off her hand and ran headfirst into the house, where red tongues of flame licked at the air.
Hot wind gusted through the open windows, making the flames dance wildly. Holding the wet towel over her nose and mouth, Elysia soon found the corpse of an adult male.
“That bastard…!”
The heat from the surrounding fire, combined with the heat of her own rage, made her feel like she would collapse at any moment. She fiercely wiped away the tears welling up from the acrid smoke and knew it instinctively.
‘Murder, then arson.’
Although the fire had badly damaged the body, the wounds were still visible.
Five stab wounds to the chest and abdomen, a broken nose and jaw from a severe beating, and a leg twisted from a fall from a high place. The state of the corpse was horrific. Gritting her teeth, Elysia looked away.
It would be best if she could drag the body out for an autopsy, but first, she had to find the child, who might still be alive.
The flames hadn’t even touched her, yet her skin felt like it was burning. But she couldn’t stop. If she had only planned to peek inside the entrance, she wouldn’t have come in at all.