Chapter 150: The Two Pink-Haired Women (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 150: The Two Pink-Haired Women (3)
Christina and Isabelle.
Under Cloud’s direction, the two women were to have one-on-one meetings with Mars.
Christina’s turn was first.
She had barely entered the tent and hadn't even managed to get a proper word out.
Mars lowered his head.
“Christina, I’m sorry. But I can’t accept your feelings.”
“M-Mars…?”
Christina was momentarily stunned but forced herself to regain her composure. Hadn’t she expected this much? She began the speech she had prepared to persuade him.
“I understand how you must feel. It must be complicated, having your ex-lover return like this. I know. I know I was very wrong, and that I hurt you deeply.”
“...”
“I thought about it a lot before coming here. Whether I should even be doing this. Whether this would just hurt you more. But you know…”
Christina’s hand covered the back of Mars’s.
“No matter how much I thought about it, I realized I can’t be without you. I can’t live without you. I’ve felt it to my very bones these past few months.”
“...”
“I swear. It will never happen again. I’ll spend the rest of my life looking only at you. I’ll do everything right. So please, can’t you forgive me just once…?”
A pitiful plea.
One might have expected him to waver, just once, but Mars did not.
He shook his head.
“The look on your face, the sound of your voice when you were with Hyou and Bomuro… it’s all still so vivid. I’m sure I’ll never be able to forget it. Every time I see you, I’ll be reminded of that scene, and I’ll doubt you whenever something happens. I don’t think that’s a healthy relationship.”
“I’ll do better so that never happens. I’ll act in a way that won’t make you think of the past, and I’ll work to earn back your trust…”
“I’m sorry.”
No matter how much Christina pleaded, he wouldn’t yield, drawing a firm line.
The hope and expectation she had harbored since hearing news of Mars.
It crumbled, leaving her heart heavy and tight.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Th-Then why did you do that back then?”
“Back then?”
“You… you told me to choose. Whether I’d go with them or stay with you… D-Didn’t that mean we could go back to how we were?”
Looking at the tearful Christina, Mars gave a bitter smile.
“You’re right, I did. If you had chosen me, I would have tried to go back to how things were.”
“Th-Then…!”
“But you chose Hyou and Bomuro.”
“...Th-That… that was a mistake… I was so flustered that I made the wrong choice…”
“Christina.”
Mars cut her off.
“I’m human, too. I get hurt, and it’s painful. To be honest, I haven’t shown it, but it’s been very hard for me. I don’t want to be in pain anymore. So please.”
Forget me.
Mars slowly pulled his hand out from under Christina’s.
Her eyes trembled violently.
“N-No. Mars. I-I think I was too hasty. I shouldn’t have expected you to forgive me right away… H-How about we travel together for a while, just as ordinary companions? We can slowly work on our relationship—”
“Time’s up. Get out.”
Cloud entered the tent and grabbed Christina’s wrist.
“What are you doing?!”
“Your meeting time is over. Come on out.”
“Please, just a little more time. I’m not finished talking with Mars!”
“I’d love to, but the person waiting outside is complaining up a storm.”
“L-Let go of me! Mars! Mars!!”
“Ugh, what a pain.”
As Christina resisted with all her might, Cloud sighed and grabbed both her wrists and ankles. He then lifted her, slung her over his shoulder, and walked out of the tent.
“That guy is really something else…”
While Mars let out a hollow laugh, Isabelle entered the tent.
His laughter died, and Mars swallowed hard.
Here it comes.
Mars was more concerned about Isabelle than Christina.
He had thought she was doing well back in the village, so for her to suddenly appear and immediately try to kill someone was, to say the least, unsettling.
Mars took a deep breath to calm his nerves.
Meanwhile, Isabelle offered him a bright smile.
“It’s been a while. I missed you, Mars.”
*
A dark night, bathed in moonlight.
Two beautiful women with pink hair faced each other, a set distance between them.
“Why did you call me out here in the middle of the night?”
Isabelle had arranged the meeting.
She had summoned Christina, who was agonizing over how to win back Mars’s heart, and dragged her to a secluded corner of the city.
There was no reason to drag it out, so Isabelle got straight to the point.
“I hear you came back because you want to get back together with Mars.”
“...That’s right. Why? Is there a problem?”
“A problem, you ask?”
Isabelle chuckled.
Then, her smile vanished, replaced by a cold expression.
“Of course there’s a problem. You shameless bitch.”
“Wh-What?”
“I heard you cheated on him.”
“...!”
Christina’s eyes widened. She bit her lip and asked, “Did Mars tell you?”
“Mars and I have known each other since we were very young. There are no secrets between us.”
It was a lie.
Mars hadn’t told her anything about Christina. Her words were nothing more than a guess, pieced together from eavesdropping on their conversation in the tent. She only knew her guess was correct after seeing Christina’s reaction just now.
“What were you thinking, coming back here? Did you really think Mars would take you back?”
“...”
“Your silence tells me you were serious. You’re an even bigger fool than I thought. Why would Mars settle for a cheating bitch like you?”
“A-And what makes you so high and mighty?”
“What?”
“You messed around with other men besides Mars, didn’t you?”
“Me? Other men? When?”
Christina found Isabelle’s wide-eyed, genuinely puzzled expression absurd.
“Don’t play dumb, I heard everything from Mars! The baron’s son, was it? You had secret meetings with him every night, didn’t you?”
“Oh, that? I was wondering what you were on about. If it’s that, I already cleared up the misunderstanding with him earlier today.”
“Do you really think Mars would believe you? The words of a bitch who met secretly with another man every night? Wouldn’t he be more likely to think you only came to him because that guy dumped you? Doesn’t that sound more logical?”
“You were dumped by the men you were with? Tsk, tsk. You should have chosen better.”
“I wasn’t dumped! I dumped them! And don’t change the subject!!!”
“If it’s not true, it’s not true. Why are you getting so angry? Did I hit a nerve?”
“Shut up!”
Rumble!
The ground began to shake around Christina.
Crack.
Watching the ground fracture, Isabelle sighed.
“Getting worked up over something like this… You’re still so childish.”
Isabelle flicked her hand.
In that instant, a heavy pressure slammed down on the ground.
“Ugh?!”
Startled, Christina momentarily lost her control over the earth.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
She tried to reclaim her control and retaliate in kind, but…
“Huh…?”
The earth did not move as she willed.
“Wh-Why isn’t it…?”
This had never happened before…
Christina was seized by bewilderment.
She struggled to command the earth, but her efforts were meaningless.
Control of the earth had passed to Isabelle.
Isabelle beckoned with her index finger.
Sand and dirt crept up Christina’s legs, enveloped her body, and then hardened, restraining her completely.
Christina gritted her teeth and struggled to break free, but she couldn’t escape.
Isabelle walked toward her.
“You don’t need to worry about what’s between Mars and me. Our bond is deeper than you think.”
Christina glared at Isabelle, her eyes full of venom.
Nothing was going her way.
At the very least, she wanted to ruin this damn bitch’s mood.
“A deep bond? Ha! You’re nothing more than childhood friends. What more could you have done than hold hands? I was Mars’s lover. Holding hands was just the start. We kissed, we French kissed, and we even had sex! My bond with him is deeper and more intense than anything someone like you could compare to!”
“Liar.”
Isabelle was now standing right in front of Christina.
Her expression, devoid of any humor, was chilling.
Coming to her senses too late, Christina felt a flicker of fear.
“Wh-What do you mean, liar?”
“Mars isn’t some cheap, easy man. There’s no way he would have slept with someone like you.”
Isabelle grabbed Christina’s chin and forced her mouth open. Then she grabbed her tongue and pulled it out.
“Still, the part about kissing seems to be true…”
She drew a dagger.
Christina’s eyes flew open at the sight of the blade.
A sense of foreboding washed over her, and she thrashed her limbs, but of course, the restraints held fast.
The sharp blade touched her tongue.
Just as Christina tried to scream for her to stop, her words slurring—
Slice.
A piece of pink flesh was severed.
Aaaargh—
“Be quiet. Mars must be tired. What if you wake him?”
Isabelle immediately clamped a hand over her mouth, and Christina couldn’t even let out a proper scream.
Gagging on the endless flood of blood pouring down her throat, Christina looked at Isabelle, her eyes now trembling with terror.
I’m sorry.
Please spare me.
Receiving that desperate gaze, Isabelle asked,
“Right hand, or left hand. Which one did you hold Mars’s with the most?”
It was a very simple question.
Unable to answer the simple question, Christina shook her head frantically.
Isabelle tilted her head.
“Both about the same?”