Chapter 41 I Can't Forgive.
Chapter 41: {Unforgivable.}
{Unforgivable.}
Before Yu Ha-rin's wrath, Mine, Scarlet, Iris, and Yenia knelt in unison, bowing their heads without hesitation.
Having abandoned all thought of battle, they offered their apologies in complete vulnerability.
"We're truly sorry. We didn't realize you were Ji-hu's sister... We acted disgracefully."
At Iris's apology, Ha-rin let out a derisive snort.
"Oh? How does it feel, then? Like you tried to stab me the same way you stabbed Ji-hu?"
Her words were as sharp as a blade. Iris knew this wasn't just a metaphor—Ha-rin meant every word.
The image of Yu Ji-hu coughing up blood from her sword flashed through her mind, vivid as if she were seeing it again. Iris's face paled.
"Ji-hu thought he'd spend his whole life with you. So tell me—how did it feel to betray him and run him through?"
"I... I... Hic! Ji-hu, I—"
Iris had no answer to Ha-rin's interrogation.
Nothing she could say would be anything more than an excuse.
In the end, she clutched her head, tears streaming down her face, muttering like a madwoman.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Hic! Forgive me... Ji-hu..."
Iris repeated her apologies like a broken record, her sobs uncontrollable.
"You're Mine, right?"
Ha-rin's gaze shifted to the silver-haired Saintess.
"Y-yes."
"Hmm. Pretty, aren't you? Innocent-looking, demure—the kind of face that easily wins people over."
Coming from Ha-rin—a woman whose beauty surpassed even the four peerless women before her—it should have been a compliment.
And since she was Ji-hu's own sister, Mine answered politely.
"Th-thank you..."
"Right. Ji-hu trusted you completely. Said you were kind, that he'd entrust his life to you. That you were... as precious to him as his own sister."
As she spoke, Ha-rin's beautiful face twisted with cold fury.
"So why? Why couldn't you trust him? Why did you hurt him like that?"
Hic!
Tears burst from Mine's eyes.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Like a broken machine, she repeated the words between sobs.
Being confronted by Ji-hu's own sister—the family he had always spoken of with love—about her betrayal was unbearable. Guilt and sorrow crashed over her in waves.
"You're Scarlet, right?"
Ha-rin's eyes turned to the red-haired mage.
"...Yes."
"Ji-hu thought highly of you. Said you volunteered at orphanages together, that seeing you be kind to the children always made him smile."
Of course, Ji-hu had never actually told Ha-rin this.
He had only given her the bare facts—that he had loved and trusted them, and they had betrayed him.
But Ha-rin had already read all four of their memories. She knew every shared moment between them and Ji-hu.
"And yet, Scarlet... you tried to burn him alive."
"A-ah..."
The light drained from Scarlet's eyes, replaced by utter despair.
Ha-rin turned her gaze away, this time landing on Yenia.
"Elf Yenia. Before coming to Earth, you suggested a group wedding with Ji-hu, didn't you? And yet, after deceiving him like that, you still tried to kill him. Just like you tried to shoot me dead earlier."
At Ha-rin's words, Yenia sank deeper into despair, reliving her sins.
"Ji-hu..."
She called his name blankly, her eyes filled with nothing but hopelessness.
Having cornered all four of them with their crimes, Ha-rin raised her sword, pointing it at each in turn.
I won't just kill them.
She would make them taste hellish suffering before granting them a slow, agonizing death.
They didn't deserve mercy.
They need to feel the pain Ji-hu felt. The despair I felt.
First, she would deepen that despair with one final declaration.
"Ji-hu doesn't even know you're here on Earth. And before he ever finds out... I'll erase every last one of you."
All four of their heads snapped up.
"W-what...?"
"W-wait... You're going to... erase us?"
Mine and Yenia stared at her in shock, while Iris spoke in a desperate rush.
"N-no! Please! Just let me see Ji-hu, even for a moment! There's something... I have to tell him!"
"Me too! No—all of us! We need to tell him how we truly feel! Please, let us speak to him!"
Scarlet joined the plea, just as frantic.
Their tearful begging was enough to stir anyone's sympathy.
But Ha-rin didn't waver.
"No."
Even faced with her icy refusal, they didn't give up.
Mine crawled forward on her knees, silver hair spilling around her as she clasped her hands together, weeping.
Hic! "Please... Just ten minutes... Let me see Ji-hu... There's something I have to say... After that... I'll accept any punishment. Kill me, enslave me—anything! Just... please..."
The sight of the Saintess—normally pure and dignified—reduced to begging at Ha-rin's feet was pitiful beyond belief. Anyone else would have been moved.
But Ha-rin's cold eyes didn't flicker.
Next, Iris abandoned all pride as a princess, crawling forward with a tear-streaked face.
"I'm begging you! I know... what I did to Ji-hu can never be undone—"
"Exactly. Never."
Ha-rin cut her off, emphasizing the word.
"Aah..."
Iris looked up at her with despair-filled eyes.
Ha-rin's cold black gaze bore into Iris's tearful blue ones—then flashed crimson for an instant.
"You dare think of seeing Ji-hu? Your very existence is nothing but agony to him."
At her words, all four faces twisted in anguish.
The more they remembered the wounds their betrayal had inflicted on him, the worse it hurt.
"I beg you. Please, just let me see Ji-hu, even for a second."
Yenia bowed her head, pleading.
"Me too. Hic... I'll die if I have to, just give me one chance to see him!"
Scarlet begged with the same desperation, ready to abandon everything.
To an outsider, their pleas might have seemed worthy of sympathy.
But Ha-rin felt none.
"I understand your circumstances."
At her quiet words, the four former Hero Party members looked up, faint hope flickering in their eyes.
Maybe—just maybe—she would let them see Ji-hu.
That hope alone disgusted Ha-rin.
"But I don't care about your circumstances. The only thing that matters is that you hurt—that you tried to kill—my beloved little brother, Yu Ji-hu!"
CRACK—
An overwhelming pressure erupted from Ha-rin.
"Kyaaah!"
"Agh!"
Mine and Scarlet screamed under the crushing force.
Yenia and Iris, being an Elf and a swordsman respectively, didn't cry out—but they bit their lips, enduring the pain.
"You chose the world over Ji-hu. No—wait. You didn't even need to weigh the choice. You betrayed him over a fake Oracle."
Ha-rin smirked coldly at the four, still pinned under her pressure.
She swept her long hair back, her beautiful face now a mask of icy rage.
"I will never forget how I felt when Ji-hu appeared before me, dying because of you. The despair, the fury... I can't forgive it."
She didn't care about their reasons.
Their justifications meant nothing.
Only one thing mattered.
These four traitors had betrayed and wounded the little brother she loved.
"You will never see Ji-hu. He will never know you came here. And you will all die forgotten in this place."
She shattered their spirits without mercy.
Now, it was time for their punishment.
"Scream. Wail. Cry like the traitors who tore my brother's heart to shreds."
It was time to break them completely.