Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Marigold's Confession
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Surrounded by countless men, thoroughly trampled and violated. Used as a pathetic plaything, then discarded like a ragged rag. Every night, that's what I prayed for.
Now that I think about it, maybe I should have refused.
Because I know exactly what "let's bathe together" means to her.
Exposing my unguarded back.
Something I only allow for people I truly trust.
And yet, there was one reason I followed her.
Marigold's eyes looked strange today.
Not playful or teasing. Like she was swallowing back words.
In the end, I followed Marigold into the bathroom.
"...Sis?"
The moment I crossed the threshold, Marigold's eyes widened round.
"Why are you still fully dressed?"
"...Not taking them off."
"Didn't you come to wash up? Who bathes with all their clothes on?"
"Shut up."
Ah, she really talks too much.
She's the one washing me, so why do I have to undress?
Marigold pouted her lips.
"Tch, so you really don't trust me."
"If you're unhappy, leave. Go wash at your own place."
"Eek. I'm sad."
"That act doesn't work on me."
"Liar."
Marigold took a step closer.
The smile on her lips was pure childlike innocence. Bright and harmless.
"You talk tough, but you still ended up doing what I wanted."
"Don't get the wrong idea. I just figured I couldn't win against your stubbornness, so I came to minimize the damage."
I turned on the shower.
Warm steam slowly filled the bathroom.
"Sit."
Marigold obediently sat on the small stool.
As the water sprayed over her, her shoulders relaxed with a soft slump. Tension easing away.
I rubbed soap into the net sponge.
Lathered it up and started washing her back. Small, snow-white skin.
"That tickles~"
"Hold still."
I traced down her arms to her fingertips.
Her mind's an adult, so why am I even doing this?
Marigold entrusted her body to me, wiggling her toes like she was splashing in puddles.
"Thanks."
The moment I reached for the showerhead to rinse, Marigold spoke up abruptly.
"For keeping my identity secret..."
Instead of answering, I lifted the showerhead and washed away the suds.
Cloudy soapy water swirled down the drain.
"No need to blab about it."
"Hmm. Really?"
Marigold turned her head slightly to look up at me.
Her eyes, peeking through damp hair, had sunk into an eerie calm.
"Grakors. You killed him, didn't you, Sis?"
"Grakors."
Grakors. One of the Axioms.
#31, as far as I knew. Right after Marigold's #30.
No memory of it, but surely one of the countless I'd cut down in this body's past.
I said nothing.
"I asked him to."
"You? Asking for something?"
"Don't say it like that."
Marigold giggled.
"I told Grakors, 'Make me young again.'"
I hadn't known about that setup.
"You know it too, Sis. Grakors loved kids. The younger, the better, he'd say."
Marigold tilted her head.
Hmm, the younger the better.
Yeah. Grakors was a pedo.
"He could make a person's body young, even if just temporarily."
"That's possible?"
"More like rewinding the body. Briefly."
I wrung water from her damp hair.
"It wouldn't last forever, though."
Magic to rejuvenate the body requires immense mana. Defying time is physically impossible to begin with.
Only possible because he was an Axiom.
"Right. After a while, I'd wrinkle back into an adult."
Marigold grinned.
"But there was one condition."
"Condition?"
"If the caster dies, the magic locks in."
For a split second, my grip nearly tightened.
"Meaning..."
"Grakors had to die for me to stay a child forever."
I let out an incredulous chuckle.
Magic to rejuvenate the body requires immense mana.
Grakors must have been strong. A pedo, but strong enough to join the Axioms.
And I...
"Hah..."
Marigold gazed at her reflection in the mirror.
She smiled slowly, enraptured.
"So when you sliced Grakors' throat that day, Sis... You have no idea how grateful I was."
Her eyes met mine through the mirror.
"Thanks to you, I can live in this form forever."
I squeezed out more foam into my hand.
"No regrets?"
She was the third to join the Axioms, practically throwing away all her honors herself.
"Now? No way back anyway."
"No way back doesn't mean no regrets."
Marigold shrugged.
"From the start, that's why I clawed my way into the Axioms."
"Because of Blood Cell."
"Yeah. I thought it could turn me back into a child. Forever."
Marigold hummed a little tune.
"I believed if I had Blood Cell, I could live as a child eternally. It got messy and failed in the end, so I hid for a while."
"I see."
"Then I met Grakors. He had the power to grant my wish, even if temporarily."
"Just like that?"
Grakors, starved for honor and power, for free?
As if. Especially with Calendula—he'd try to skin her alive.
Marigold turned to stare straight at me.
"No way. It was a deal."
"What'd you give him?"
"One piece of info."
Marigold said it without a hint of playfulness.
"About Blood Cell."
"You..."
"Yep, that."
Marigold narrowed her eyes.
"Blood Cell looks natural, but there's evidence someone created it."
Blood Cell is made from human blood to begin with.
I'd never heard it was artificial in the original story.
Did the early Axioms already know?
A thought flashed through my mind.
"Grakors acted on that, huh."
"Yeah. He was insanely curious."
Marigold continued slowly.
"And not long after, he died by your hand, Sis."
Grakors' death.
Blood Cell info.
Asrania, who cuts down anyone approaching Blood Cell.
Putting it together...
I set down the towel and looked down at Marigold.
"...You planned it."
"Huh?"
Marigold tilted her head innocently, like she had no clue.
"You led me to kill Grakors."
"..."
"Anyone getting close to Blood Cell's secrets, I'd cut them down without fail."
Silence settled in the bathroom.
Only the drip... drip... of water.
"Honestly, I was hoping for it."
"..."
"I was scared too, you know. What if you cut me down as well?"
Marigold giggled.
"Back then, you were like a rabid dog, Sis."
"Watch your mouth."
"But it was worth the gamble. I'd become a child, and with this face, you wouldn't know who I was."
Marigold sighed.
"...But you figured it out quick."
Through the steam, she looked up at me.
"But you know, Sis. At some point, you changed too. Became nicer, like a different person."
I don't think I'm nice.
Back in my Asrania days, I slashed anything in my path like a monster—classic villain material.
At least now, I'm not crazy enough to kill without reason.
"That's why you brought up naked dogeza at our first meeting?"
"Yep!"
Our first encounter came back to me.
Marigold suddenly grabbed the hem of her skirt.
"Then, should I strip?"
"...What?"
"In our culture, going naked is the ultimate apology. How humiliating! Ahh, the shame."
"What for stripping?"
"I'll show you naked dogeza."
Early Axiom vibes—pure madness. Gave me chills, like a total psycho.
"That apology wasn't just for a slip of the tongue, was it."
"Right."
Marigold nodded readily.
"Now that we're facing each other like this, I'll admit—I exaggerated a bit back then."
Yeah.
No way it'd go that far over a mere slip-up.
Calendula wouldn't toss her pride so easily.
And unless she's a perv, it didn't fit her real personality at all.
Kneeling stark naked?
She'd offer her life first before stripping like that.
Marigold took a deep breath.
Avoiding my gaze, she stared down at her soapy toes.
"...I resented you."
"..."
"Couldn't understand it. You're in the Axioms, but you cut down everyone approaching Blood Cell. It's contradictory."
Her tone shifted.
Not Marigold now—like Calendula speaking.
"So I cursed you. Hated the idea of a clean death. Wanted you broken."
Marigold spoke cruelly.
"Crushed, your lofty pride dragged through the dirt. Surrounded by countless men, thoroughly trampled and violated. Used as a pathetic plaything, then discarded like a ragged rag. Every night, that's what I prayed for."
Brutal.
That much grudge, huh.
I stayed silent.
Not mad. Sounded like game character dialogue.
"Planning to rile me with that useless tongue? Remember—your life is in my hands."
"You won't kill me."
She'd figured out the new Asrania by now.
"Still wishing for my downfall?"
"...Who knows."
Marigold shook her head with a wry smile.
"Honestly, if I didn't have this face, I might still hate you."
Honest kid.
"So you've changed."
"When I saw you again after so long, back with that kid."
She glanced toward the living room where Esira was, then met my eyes again.
"That's when I thought, Asrania's just an ordinary woman after all."
Ordinary woman, huh.
"Living close like this, talking... I feel myself warming up to you bit by bit."
Maybe I'm two-faced too.
Esira had muttered something like that.
"Now I get why Dancing Butterfly's jealous of the Commander."
"Why bring her up out of nowhere?"
"Knowing he changed you, it irks me. Guess I'm jealous too."
I sighed.
"The Commander's nothing to me."
"Nuh-uh. Liar."
Marigold narrowed her eyes.
"I overheard you talking to that Arachnoid Type α. Pretty clear how you feel about him."
How did I put it?
He's a type I've never seen among the humans I know. That's why he intrigues me.
Didn't want to snap him in half right away—felt like it'd be a waste.
Like driftwood washed up by unfamiliar waves, out of place in this muddy pond.
No matter how you slice it, not exactly flattering.
"Dripping with honey, from what I heard."
Think what you want.
No point explaining to that face—she wouldn't believe me.
Marigold suddenly beamed.
"Makes me wanna be a mom too."
A mom like that?
Disaster waiting to happen.
Sorry, but you can't be a mom. You'd have people calling you mommy.
Her future husband? Jail at minimum, socially buried alive.
Marigold pouted, then asked cautiously.
"So? Hearing my true feelings—do you resent me now?"
"The day Grakors died."
I wrung out the water calmly.
"Calendula died with him."
"...Huh?"
"What's the point in raging at a ghost that's already dead."
Marigold looked stunned, like she'd never considered it, then burst into laughter.
"Seriously..."
She leaned forward.
"Good thing I'm a girl."
"...What?"
"If I were a guy, I'd totally fall for you."
What kinda weird talk is this?
"My heart's even pounding a bit now. Good thing you're dressed, Sis."
"Shut your mouth."
"Hehehe."
Better pretend I didn't hear that.
I rinsed the foam from her shoulders.
And changed the subject.
"I granted your request, so here's one of mine."
"Huh? What? Anything."
"Not that it’ll happen, but if I can't be by Esira's side anymore."
I organized my thoughts briefly.
In the original, Asrania goes missing. Reason unknown. Just a name-drop.
"Be Esira's friend."
Marigold tilted her head.
"What’s that mean? You going somewhere, Sis?"
Back to "Sis." Her tone innocent as a child again.
"Life's unpredictable. I could die."
"Pfft, no way. Can't imagine you dying, Sis."
Marigold snorted dismissively.
"Fine. If that's what you want, I promise."
"Thanks."
"I'll even get her a perfect birthday gift."
Gonna give her a doll or something?
"A doll made just like you, Sis. Perfect down to every strand of hair and the feel of your skin. So Esira can hug it every night."
That's kinda creepy.
"Of course, with the heart inside too!"