Chapter 254: A■■ne(2)[R-18]
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 254: A■■ne(2)[R-18]
It was a truly beautiful day.
The birds were chirping, the flowers were blooming...
The girl felt as though she was about to have a wonderful time.
“Hurry up! This way!”
The boy running ahead turned back and waved his hand.
He had golden hair that looked as if it were spun from the sun and black eyes that held the night sky.
And above all, a smile full of mischief.
It was as if the boy had been crafted from sugar, spice, and everything nice in the world.
Flutter— flutter—
Just looking at the boy’s face made the small wings on the girl’s back move of their own accord, unable to contain her joy.
She wanted to be by his side as quickly as possible.
“Wait for me! Let’s go togedder!!”
The girl’s yearning heart burst out in the form of a childish lisp.
“I am waiting. You have wings, so why are you so slow?”
“I’m not slow!! You’re just fast!”
Was it the stubbornness of a child who hated being called slow?
Or was it the desire to see the boy’s smile from just a little bit closer?
The girl, ‘Pure White’ and spotless from head to toe, ran toward the boy without even looking where she was stepping.
Thump—! Thump—!
Every time she got closer to him, her heart felt like it would swell and burst.
Since when had it been?
That this intruder, who had stepped into her nest without permission...
Had become such a dazzling and precious existence.
Her first meeting with the boy was on a day when she had been fallen into an immeasurably long slumber.
Poke, poke—
At the unfamiliar sensation poking her cheek, the girl rubbed her eyes and woke up.
‘Hello?’
When she opened her eyes, a boy holding a tree branch he’d picked up from somewhere was looking down at her.
The first human she had ever seen in her life.
The emotion the girl felt that day was something that the word ‘nervousness’ couldn't fully describe.
‘Go away!!’
The first words the girl, huddled in a defensive crouch, spat at the boy were a clumsy threat.
Trip—! Tumble—!
“Waaah!”
Running toward the boy without a care in the world, the girl tripped over a stone and fell flat on her face.
Thud—!
Despite the loud sound, it didn't hurt at all.
Because the world was always kind to the girl.
Even when she fell, sharp branches would move out of the way before they could touch her skin, and soft leaves would catch her body instead.
But...
“A-Are you okay?”
That kindness did not extend to the boy.
Startled, the boy ran over in a single bound and crouched in front of the girl.
His black eyes, filled with worry, were fixed on her.
Then, he carefully reached out his hand.
“Take it.”
Gulp—!
She barely managed to swallow the dry lump in her throat.
To the girl, holding the boy’s hand once was far more dangerous than falling a thousand times.
Her heart raced like this just by being near him...
She felt like if she actually took his hand, her heart would go pop! and explode.
But...
Flutter—! Flutter—!
While the girl hesitated, the wings on her back fluttered again as if urging her on.
It was an offer she couldn't refuse.
Even though she knew it was dangerous, there was no way she could reject the hand the boy held out.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Nuh-uh! I’m okay!”
The girl smiled brightly, pretending as hard as she could that nothing was wrong, as she took the boy’s hand and stood up.
Squeeze—
The warmth of the boy felt through her palm...
Was much warmer than the girl had imagined.
“Well, that’s a relief then.”
Only then did the boy smile softly as if relieved, and he plucked a leaf that was stuck to the girl’s small horn.
“Wait a second. Let me fix your hair.”
“...Okay.”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The boy would never know.
Just how dangerous these small acts of consideration were to the girl’s heart.
Every time the boy’s fingers brushed against her hair, the nervous girl found it hard to even breathe properly.
“There, all done! This time, let’s go together so you don’t fall.”
The boy, having tidied her messy hair, spoke as he tightly gripped the girl’s hand again.
“A■■ne.”
“...Gasp!.. Ugh..! Haa!... Haa!”
‘Pure White’ woke up from her dream, gasping for breath.
Her heart was still beating wildly just like in the dream...
But the scenery spread out before her eyes was the exact opposite of the beautiful forest in her dream.
A grey sky, a stinging stench, and withered, twisted trees.
The warmth that had enveloped her entire body was nowhere to be found, replaced only by a bone-chilling cold.
Slowly—
‘Pure White’ slowly looked around.
She was sad.
Everywhere she stayed became a ruin.
The ground she stepped on scorched black, the air she breathed filled with toxicity, and everything her touch reached rotted from the inside out.
That curse was no exception for herself.
Slowly—
‘Pure White’ felt her back with her skeletal, withered fingers.
The tongue that had called the boy’s name had torn from the tip and split into two, and the small wings that used to flutter of their own accord had been torn off long ago, leaving not even a trace.
This time, she brought her hand to the horn where the boy had plucked the leaf.
Crumble—
As if even the horn was rotting from the inside, everywhere her fingertips touched crumbled into a white powder and fell away.
Before she even had time to grieve over her miserable appearance, an unbearable hunger struck her.
‘...I’m hungry.’
After wandering through the forest for a long time, ‘Pure White’ was able to find a fruit that was rotten just enough to still recognize its shape.
Even that began to accelerate in decay and lose its form the moment it touched ‘Pure White’’s hand, but she ignored it and took a bite.
“....Ugh.”
Nausea surged up.
Even if it was spoiled, it should have been a fruit...
But in ‘Pure White’’s mouth, it tasted and smelled like chewing on a corpse covered in blood and pus.
“Hic... ugh... blegh...”
Gulp—
Nevertheless, she forced herself to swallow it to appease her hunger...
But the subsiding of her hunger was only momentary.
This was what it meant to be hated by the world.
No matter how much she ate, the hunger never vanished, and no matter how much she drank, her thirst was never quenched.
A repetition of meaningless actions.
The very fact that she was alive was a punishment.
‘...Why did it turn out like this?’
Before her body had broken down this much, she had tried to ask for help.
However, the more intelligent a being was, the more intense their hostility toward ‘Pure White’ became.
No matter how desperately ‘Pure White’ cried out, it seemed that to people’s ears, it only sounded like the howling of a monster filled with malice and curses.
‘...What... did I... do... wrong?’
She couldn't know anything.
However, because she realized that her very existence caused harm...
She kept moving her feet, looking for a place where no one would go, so as not to be seen by anyone.
And then...
One day, something strange began to appear before her eyes.
[■■ Gallery]
The first emotion ‘Pure White’ felt upon seeing the Gallery was that she had finally gone mad.
The possibility was high enough.
For years, she had lived in fear and hunger without meeting anyone.
However, before long, she realized it wasn't an illusion.
[Can a normal person win if they s■■ke an orc's testicles with their bare h■■ds?][8]
[A heroine whose selling p■■nt is 'if a virgin becomes a■■, her charm d■■appears'][5]
[The maid group-pl royal f■■ily is crazy lol][5]
[Orc's daught■■.jpg][0]
[F■■k, this b■stard childhood friend is d■■d if I see him today][3]
To dismiss all of this as an illusion, the numerous posts uploaded to the Gallery were filled with stories that ‘Pure White’ knew nothing about.
“Ah...!”
The moment she realized that, ‘Pure White’ felt as if warmth briefly returned to her rotting heart.
Perhaps she was hated even in the Gallery, as most of the characters were broken and couldn't be seen properly.
Even so, the Gallery was the only channel through which ‘Pure White’ could communicate with the world.
Of course, just by writing a single post saying [Please help me], unknown insults would pour in and the post would be deleted in an instant...
But even that was good.
She was so happy just by the fact that she could converse with someone like this.
But...
That, too, had now reached its limit.
“Cough...! Cough...!”
A cough erupted.
When she covered her mouth with her hand, she felt a sticky, fishy sensation.
It was dark red blood.
She could know instinctively.
That death was now near.
She had barely managed to cling to life, but the decay of her body had now reached an irreversible state.
‘...Not... here...’
‘Pure White’ began to dig the ground with her bare hands.
Even if she wanted to use a tool, the World's Malevolence did not allow even that.
Even a stone would rot the moment she gripped it in her hand to use it as a tool.
Scrape— scrape—
The parched earth was hard.
Her fingernails broke and shattered, and blood flowed from her fingertips.
Still, she didn't stop.
She kept digging the ground.
It wasn't for ‘Pure White’ herself.
It was for the world the boy would live in.
She didn't want her self, hated by the world, to spread ‘poison’ even in death.
So she dug a pit.
To dig a gap in the ground with her broken body and bury herself inside.
Hoping that even if she died like this, she could disappear quietly without anyone noticing.
After digging for a long time, until her hands were completely covered in blood, a space just large enough to fit one body was finally made.
‘Pure White’ crawled into the pit and curled up.
The cold soil enveloped her wound-covered body.
‘I’m sleepy...’
Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
The fear that if she closed her eyes now, she might never open them again surged up, but...
Even her tears had dried up and would no longer flow.
“....”
Within her fading consciousness, ‘Pure White’ made a wish.
She knew it was a dream that couldn't come true.
However, if a miracle existed in the world, just one last time.
The boy whom the girl, once beloved by the world, had loved for the first and last time.
“...I...an.”
A■■ne wanted to see Ian.