Defiance in the Dark
Aria’s complexion darkened rapidly. Even that grim expression, Ronin thought, possessed an exquisite charm.
“What occupies your thoughts so deeply, Saintess? Even now, countless devotees await the confessional you preside over. Surely our compassionate Saintess would not turn her back on these poor souls?”
“……”
She bit her lip. The sight was pitiful. Blood trickled down from how hard she had clenched it. Ronin felt a surge of ecstasy. Yes, that face. That face, slowly crumbling into ruin. Pleasure coursed through his entire body.
To Ronin, Aria was like a lone flower blooming on the edge of a cliff. Because it grew in such a precarious place, it drew the eye all the more. Some say a flower is beautiful because it will eventually wither. Well, Ronin’s view was slightly different. A flower is beautiful because it endures countless hardships just to bloom for a single season. It pushes its sprout through cold, hard soil. It withstands fierce rain and wind. After long, patient years, it forms a bud, and from that bud unfurls a vivid, radiant blossom. Such a flower is beautiful precisely because it has overcome trials, because it has endured harsh storms—its very existence is a hymn to triumph over adversity, a defiant, sublime beauty that refuses to bow to outside oppression.
Yes. It was beautiful because it had passed through suffering, because it had weathered cruel waves. A being both noble and pure, yet covered in wounds. What a contradictory beauty.
To Ronin, Aria was exactly that kind of special existence. The only difference was that while ordinary people might admire such a flower for blooming through hardship, Ronin felt an intense desire to tear its head off.
Imagine it. Aria, who had endured such harsh conditions, suddenly breaking as if something inside her had snapped. Wailing, unable to accept the pain and despair. Was there anything more exquisite?
Bishop Ronin trembled with delight at his own thoughts. Just imagining it was enough. The sheer depravity of personally destroying the child he had so carefully raised thrilled him beyond measure.
“Do not dawdle. Let us go.”
Ronin placed a hand on Aria’s shoulder. Instead of resisting, she let out a sigh. Endure. Just endure until Ashtain returns. Wasn’t that why she had come? Besides, wasn’t she used to this by now? This sort of thing.
“It has been a while, has it not?”
Aria ignored him and kept walking. Ronin smiled and raised his hand, striking her without warning. Crack. Her head snapped to the side. Her legs gave out and she sank to the floor, staring up at him in a daze.
“Saintess. You must answer when spoken to.”
“……Yes. I’m sorry.”
For a moment, she had forgotten. Forgotten just how sadistic this man truly was.
* * *
They arrived at the dark chamber hidden underground. Many familiar faces were already there. Cardinal Mavlof, along with the bishops she had been forced to mingle with. It seemed they intended to gang-rape her while Ashtain was undergoing the Holy Sword trial.
Ronin whispered beside her. “Well then, shall we show these lowly men the Saintess’s noble body?”
His voice crawled up her spine like a snake. Fine. Just do as they say. It will hurt less that way. She lifted her saintess robes up to her navel. Pale thighs and the white undergarment covering her most intimate place were revealed. Several men let out admiring murmurs.
“She’s grown even more alluring!”
“As expected of the Saintess. I’m already aroused!”
“This must be the blessing of the Goddess of Love!”
Aria thought, Is this really something to admire? I look like merchandise on an auction block. The absurdity of her own situation felt utterly miserable. The thought of what these men would do to her next made nausea rise in her throat. Her chest, her heart, churned violently.
All I have to do is endure this one time. Why does it feel like this? She had endured so well until now. Even when she thought she would die, she had endured. So why was it so painful this time?
Regardless of Aria’s state, the bishops began chattering among themselves—discussing who would go first, how they would torment her this time—with the lowest, vilest remarks. When Cardinal Mavlof cleared his throat several times, the murmuring died down. He put on an ingratiating expression and spoke softly.
“I have truly missed you, Saintess.”
Aria remained silent. She had no strength left to answer. Her chest felt as though a heavy stone had been placed upon it—stifling, painful. Finding her silence strange, Mavlof glanced at Ronin. Ronin acted immediately.
Crack. Aria was slapped again. Still, she did not open her mouth. Her hands, clutching the robes pulled up to her navel, trembled violently. Then, with a soft sound, she let go of the fabric. Pale thighs and white undergarments were once more hidden beneath the saintess robes.
Seeing this uncharacteristic behavior, Mavlof asked, “……Is something the matter?”
Aria’s body shook faintly. I have to endure. I have to endure, but… I can’t. Ashtain. I’m sorry. I don’t think I can face you anymore. I don’t want to accept this situation. I don’t want to submit to it.
Aria drew in a deep breath and let it out in a sorrowful sigh. She had thought she could endure. She had believed she could bear it. But because of the warmth she had come to know through Ashtain, the cold reality now felt even colder. If only she had never known. She had tasted hope, cruel as it was. Thanks to Ashtain’s care and consideration, her wounds had begun to heal. Was that why? Ironically, her tolerance had lowered. The girl who could endure because she had no hope now found herself unable to endure precisely because she had found it.
“I don’t want this anymore. I don’t want to be subjected to such things.”
She clearly expressed her refusal. A feeble resistance spoken in a trembling voice. Ronin felt the hairs on his body stand on end at her words. Ah, sending Aria outside had been the right decision after all. The girl who had grown lively thanks to the Hero had finally reclaimed the resistance that had once been crushed. How historic! Breaking that feeble resistance, crushing it—that was something Ronin could not resist.
In the silence that fell over the dark chamber, Ronin spoke. “Do you truly mean that?”
“……It’s not too late, even now.”
Yes. It wasn’t too late. Reassuring herself, she glared at everyone gathered there. “I will no longer become your plaything.”
The once-docile Saintess bared her teeth. Naturally, the reaction was not favorable. Only an uncomfortable silence filled the dark chamber. Ronin spoke again.
“It is fine if that is what you think. But I am curious what led you to such a resolve. Was it the Hero who encouraged you?”
At the mention of the Hero, Aria’s shoulders trembled slightly. Seeing her reaction, Ronin continued. “It seems I am correct. But does the Hero know? That the Saintess has received the seed of countless men?”
“……Shut up.”
“If the Hero were to learn of it…… Yes, I imagine he would feel a fundamental revulsion. No one uses an ashtray as a side dish, after all. Even if it has been thoroughly cleaned, the knowledge that it once held filth remains deeply ingrained.”
You are nothing but a lump of filth. His words carried that implication, and the light in Aria’s eyes began to die. “Shut your mouth.”
Like a parrot, Aria could only repeat the words “shut up.” Toying with her crumbling reason through words was far too easy for Ronin.
“From now on, you will only offer your body to one man—that is admirable. It would not be an exaggeration to call you a virtuous woman. Your resolve is commendable, Saintess, but that does not erase the fact that you have spread your legs for countless men, does it?”
Each word was a sharp blade. It was the very same thought Aria herself had always harbored, so it was all too easy to accept. No matter how much she tried to pretend to be clean, no matter how much she tried to dress herself up—you are no Saintess. You are just a loose woman.
“……Ugh.”
Aria’s body trembled with humiliation. Even that sight seemed lovely to Ronin. “And your refusal is meaningless. We will simply do what must be done.”
“Do you think the Hero will stay still once he learns of this?”
It was the strongest threat she could muster. “Let me ask you the opposite. Do you truly believe he would move for a woman like you?”
“He will.”
“Then let us make a wager. Whether he will still help you after seeing you drowning in pleasure.”
Aria could not speak. How could she ever show him such a sight? “………That’s……”
“You lack confidence, don’t you?”
She did. Who would love her when she was lost in pleasure, moaning obscenely? Even she could not love herself like that. Ronin turned his cold gaze to Cardinal Mavlof. Mavlof swallowed nervously at that inorganic stare.
“Your Eminence, though things nearly went awry, let us proceed with the original plan.”
“Ahem, indeed.”
The original plan? Aria looked at Bishop Ronin with anxious eyes. He only smiled faintly. Mavlof raised his voice.
“Come in.”
“Ah, Father. It is rather dark in here.”
Aria swallowed her breath. Why was she hearing this voice in this place? Ronin stroked Aria’s cheek and whispered, “Did you not wish to reveal the truth? To the believer Makarof.”
Why would you do this? The person who entered the dark chamber was Makarof—the one she had least wanted to learn of this reality, after Ashtain.