Chapter 110
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Hypocrite
"Is this really okay?"
On the morning Celine escaped, Lenis asked while staring at the collapsed prison wall of the camp.
Not just Lenis—Ravi and Elfin looked a bit uneasy too.
They knew that letting Celine escape was part of my plan, but now that she'd actually gotten away and vanished from our sight, there was no guarantee she'd act the way we expected.
The three of them, worried that the escaped Celine might not bring her own unit but instead drag in the main force of the Goddess's Sword and even Brayden, still looked grim despite hearing my plan.
But I stayed calm.
"It's fine. I trust Celine. Or more precisely, I trust Brayden."
"Brayden? Why him? You haven't even seen him since graduation."
"After Linian spread the news of Celine's death everywhere, donations and support for the Lunia Church and Brayden poured in nonstop. Not just material aid—apparently, in every village Brayden visits for relief work, the prettiest girls flock to him voluntarily for 'entertainment.'"
"Entertainment?"
"This."
I curled my thumb and index finger into a circle with one hand and slid my other index finger through it back and forth.
The three of them instantly got it and flushed bright red.
"Villages where women threw themselves at Brayden weren't just one or two. But that wasn't enough. The guilt over Celine's death still outweighed the pleasure he got from holding other women. Until recently, things changed."
"Changed how?"
"He slept with two women at once."
As soon as I finished, Ravi, Elfin, and Lenis blushed even deeper and bowed their heads.
We'd rolled around with three at a time, after all.
Meanwhile, Linian was fuming.
"It's just infuriating. I never thought I'd see that spectacle somewhere other than here! Human males are all the same—give them half a chance, and their dicks won't let them sit still. I was so embarrassed in that village..."
"Yeah, yeah, you suffered. Anyway, after Brayden started sleeping with two women at once, things shifted. Once wasn't enough, so we let him rack up a few more experiences."
"What wasn't enough?"
In response to Ravi, I pointed at my head.
"This brain. Once the human brain tastes a certain level of pleasure, it can't go back. Brayden lived a life of abstinence as a holy warrior candidate, then as a full-fledged one. But now he's slept with a woman—hell, two at once in quick succession.
His brain's pretty pickled in pleasure right now. After tasting it that many times, even if Celine comes back, he won't settle for their old vanilla pure-love routine. No—he'll shove her aside just to keep things as they are."
The three of them tilted their heads.
"Brayden shoves Celine aside? No way..."
"Back in the academy, even when we all confessed to him, he couldn't give a straight answer because he was so obsessed with Celine. And now he'd just ditch her?"
"Isn't that just your wishful thinking, Alvis? If he could ditch her that easily, he would've done it back then."
Luna stepped in to back me up on their questions.
Chewing on a snack while seated, she answered calmly.
"No, Alvis is right. Brayden will abandon his lover."
"Goddess...?"
"I've seen countless paths to ruin, and Brayden was always at the center. Not that he directly caused the destruction, but his obsession with status, others' gazes and praise, his elitist arrogance that only he was special and fit to lead—it always doomed him.
To protect his position, to cling to what he has, to grab even more for himself, he kept making bad choices, and it always ended in catastrophe. That's why I chose Alvis."
Luna popped another snack into her mouth.
"Munch munch... Linian says citizens everywhere are sending massive support to the church and Brayden. Officially declaring Celine a fallen warrior skyrocketed sympathy for him. Now he's the saint who sets aside his grief over his lost love to save more people. He can't give up that treatment. Not in any future."
Coming from the creator goddess of this world—or former one—the weight of her words hit the other three on a whole different level.
"If that's true... Celine's so pitiful."
"That's why I'll take her in. If Brayden ditches her, she'll end up coming to us."
"What if she just vanishes instead?"
"That's why you kept gaslighting her not to, right? It's been plenty of time, and Brayden knows where you are—why hasn't he come? Alvis needs you. Alvis wants you as a true ally from the heart. He'll wait as long as it takes... right?"
At my words, Elfin stomped her feet in place.
"G-gaslighting?! Sure, I said what you told me to, but it was all because I care about Celine too..."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Anyway, Brayden's riding high on massive support and sympathy since Celine 'died,' plus he's tasted the thrill of multiple women multiple times—he can't let that go now. So when Celine shows up and meets him, she'll get dumped. Then what? She'll have nowhere to go but us."
"Tasting multiple women and can't let it go... like you?"
Elfin glared at me with narrowed eyes, so I approached and hugged her from behind, fondling her breasts.
"Exactly like me. But your tone needs work. Time for some education. 'I'll wait!'"
"Eek!? W-what are you doing?! Don't grope my tits in front of everyone... Huh? W-where are you taking me? This early in the morning? Hey, wait! Eeeeek...♡"
Clang!
Just as Alvis predicted, Brayden—unable to let go of what he had—gave a rough explanation of the situation. The moment Celine heard it, she let out a fury-filled scream and hurled a vase across the room.
Declaring her a fallen warrior had massively boosted donations to her and the church.
That funded the church's relief efforts everywhere. But if Celine suddenly turned out to be alive, the church's prestige would plummet, threatening its authority.
So her survival couldn't leak out—she had to remain "fallen" forever.
Celine couldn't believe her ears.
Brayden had weighed her against something else... and she came up light?
No— was it even right to weigh a lover against anything?
She could've devoted herself to Brayden alone, without comparing him to anything. But he wasn't like that?
Crash!
Unable to contain her rage, Celine smashed another vase and panted through hot tears.
"Celine, calm down for a second—"
"How can I calm down?! Yeah, I was missing for a month! I get announcing me as fallen. But what? The church's prestige might drop, so I have to stay 'dead'? Banned from all outside activity forever, never seeing other knights, stuck in a church building on a tight schedule? Not even allowed to look outside?!"
Her throat tightened with every word.
Overwhelmed by surging fury and shortness of breath, Celine pounded her chest to force air in.
"Hahk... hahk... How... how could you, Brayden, treat me like this?! I endured thinking only of you! I couldn't sleep worrying how much you'd fret! I was overjoyed at the thought of seeing you again the moment I escaped! And now? You can't announce I'm alive because donations to you and the church would drop? How are you even human?!"
"Celine, it's not that I'm not happy you're back—"
"Shut up!!!"
Her rage was so intense her face twisted into a demonic snarl.
"The church's authority? Donations to you? That's why you're denying the living me right in front of you, turning me into a corpse, and abandoning 500 captured knights? How important is that?! How great?! More important than me being alive? If it were you, I'd throw everything away to save you! But you wouldn't? That's all I am to you?!"
"That's not it, Celine. Of course you're incredibly important to me—"
"Oh~ important? Me? To you? But not as important as two random women, huh?"
"......"
Celine had already pieced it all together, leaving Brayden speechless for a moment.
"Yeah, you can't give it up. Dump just me, and supplies, money, even women roll right in. Of course you can't quit. That's why you never came looking, right? It's been a month, you knew where I was, but you liked things better without me. You didn't fail to find me—you didn't want to!!!"
"Celine, you're too worked up right now. I couldn't move because of my position as holy warrior..."
"I bet you're pissed inside that I didn't really die and came back. Hopping village to village with no guilt, banging multiple women—felt good, huh? I... I went through hell for a month... no sunlight, eating raw wild animals... Uhhk... Waaaaaah!"
Unable to hold back her resentment, Celine collapsed and sobbed bitterly.
Brayden awkwardly approached to comfort her as she wailed loud enough to shake the room, but...
Slap!
Celine slapped his hand away roughly.
"Don't touch me!"
"Celine, I really did want you back. You know how vital the church's authority is. Sometimes the group matters more than individual feelings—you know that. As one person in it, I had no other choice—"
Brayden started making excuses, but they fell on deaf ears.
She couldn't hear anything over the shock and betrayal of Brayden sleeping around after thinking she was dead.
Instead, Ravi's words echoed in her mind.
'That day, I saw Brayden's true nature. He can't be wrong in his thoughts or words. He never reflects on his faults—instead, he thinks I'm the weirdo for not getting it. That arrogance and elitism. He pretends to care but sees Bunny tribe as idiots who can't protect their own country or bodies—pure racial prejudice.
He hides it all while acting like the nicest guy. Know what I thought when I saw him?'
"......A hypocrite."
Celine spat out Ravi's exact words.
Her voice held no affection—just pure rage, contempt, and hatred.
"No excuse will change it now. I see your true colors, you filthy hypocrite. Annoyed I showed up and ruined your fun with those girls? Fine, I'll leave. I'm already 'dead,' so it doesn't matter where I go now, right?"
"Celine...!"
"Keep playing the hypocrite and live however you want. Tour around for 'relief work,' rake in donations, get women offered up, bask in praise for enriching the church. But I won't hide my whole life pretending to be dead just to prop up your lies! I'm a person, not a doll existing for you!"
Tears flying, Celine grabbed the necklace around her neck.
It was the precious token Brayden gave her with the ring when they started dating.
Snap—
Yanking it off, beads scattered everywhere.
In a fit of fury, she slammed the necklace to the floor, yanked off her ring, and hurled it away.
"Celine? What are you—"
"Why would a corpse need this crap? I don't need it anymore. I'm not your girlfriend or anything—just a walking corpse. Unnecessary to you too, right? Throw away what I gave you, sell it, whatever!"
Sobbing, Celine shot Brayden a venomous glare, kicked the door open, and stormed out.
To the very end, she'd clung to a sliver of hope he'd follow.
But Brayden never did.
With that last hope gone, Celine wept as she pushed through the pouring rain, wandering aimlessly.
Splash!
She tripped in an alley and fell. Laughing like a madwoman, she cackled.
"Heh... puhahaha... ahahaha! You crazy bitch... Came all this way... to get treated like this... kek... ahahahahaha!!!"
Losing her mind, she laughed hysterically on the wet ground without getting up.
Brayden didn't need her.
To him, she wasn't a beloved lover—just a tool to exploit even in death.
Then what was her life for?
Three years at the academy—what were they for?
Everything after graduation? Her time? Her life—what was it all?
"Ahahahaha!!! Hahaha! Puhahaha! Ha... haha... ha... hah... heh... hng... ugh... whaaah... waaaaaah..."
Her heart utterly shattered, Celine laughed until she broke into despairing sobs.
She had nowhere to go.
She'd endured that hell solely to be by Brayden's side, even eating raw wild animals. But he didn't need her anymore.
Just a tool for a filthy hypocrite's cushy life.
As she wept mindlessly in the deserted alley, a voice echoed in her head.
- He truly hopes you'll join him as a sincere ally.
- Because he likes you.
- Even knowing you hate Alvis, he still keeps you in his heart.
- Staying with him will only make you miserable. You'll get hurt by his attitude eventually.
- He hopes you'll choose to truly stand with him.
- So come here.
The voices that had coaxed her to join them.
Come here. He's waiting for you to be a true ally. He waited and waited. Didn't kill a single one of your knights for you.
He needs you.
Suddenly, Celine stopped crying.
Still half-mad in the rain, she muttered to the empty air.
"He 'needs' me... Said he'd wait... A month... Forever... Even knows I hate him but still waits... Needs me... Because he needs me... He won't betray me... Won't abandon me... A place that needs me..."
Slowly rising, Celine staggered like a zombie through the pouring rain.
She'd just remembered where to go.