The Whisper of the God of Love (Part 6)

“An Evil God.”

Faced with Ewan’s questioning, Anne slowly, reluctantly breathed out the two words, as if they were poison on her tongue.

“Hehe. As I thought.”

Ewan’s expression was one of grim, world-weary confirmation. He wasn’t particularly surprised. He leaned his head back against the cold, damp rock and stared at the distant, pulsating monster. Although this was the first time he had seen such a grotesque abomination in person, he had, after all, read the original novel. After the initial, mind-breaking shock, his brain had quickly connected the dots.

An Evil God.

The eternal cause of depravity, the hidden hand of destruction. The ultimate source of the greatest calamities in the original story. In a way, the threat of the Evil Gods was even greater than that of the demons currently waging war on the empire’s border. The demons were driven by tangible things like territory and hatred; their actions led to war. But the Evil Gods were chaos, disorder, and death itself. They were insidious, corrupting everything they touched, their greedy, insatiable gaze forever fixed upon the mortal world from their lofty, untouchable perches.

Therefore, with their penchant for being involved in every wicked, depraved, and generally unpleasant deed imaginable, the Evil Gods had become the ultimate, convenient scapegoats in the original novel.

If something incomprehensible and horrifying happens, it must be the work of an Evil God.

“I can’t believe she’s been corrupted to this extent. How did this happen? She seemed so normal before,” Ewan frowned, a deep, troubled confusion in his eyes.

Well…

“Training” her husband to be a dog… for a crazy yandere, that’s probably the very definition of normal.

“But now is not the time to think about that.”

Ewan sighed softly and pushed himself to his feet.

“We can’t just let this thing continue to grow. It’s a good thing we’re in the middle of nowhere. If it reaches another village, it’ll be a catastrophe.”

“Anne, we need to get back to Belland immediately. There are organizations there that specialize in dealing with Evil God corruption. The Church of Life won’t just stand by and watch. They’re the professionals. Let’s go, we need to find them.”

Ewan reached out and took Anne’s arm, intending to pull her away from this nightmare.

…She didn’t move.

Anne sat there, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, her gaze fixed on the ground, her expression unreadable. But no matter how hard he pulled, she wouldn’t budge, as if she were rooted to the very earth.

“Anne?”

“I can’t. I can’t leave.”

“Why not?”

“Because… I have to take responsibility.”

“Responsibility? What responsibility? This is an Evil God corruption! What does it have to do with you? You’re not an Evil God.”

“But it does have something to do with me.”

Anne looked up, her eyes meeting his. They were filled with the lost, helpless, and utterly terrified look of a child who has done something terribly, unforgivably wrong.

“It was because of my words. Because of what I said to Elka. That’s why she was corrupted by the Evil God.”

“Eh? Your words… what do you mean?” Ewan was stunned.

“Two days ago, when I went to catch a fish for you, my Young Master, I met Elka…”

Anne’s hands, wrapped around her arms, tightened, her knuckles turning a stark, bloodless white from the force. But she seemed not to feel it. The torment and self-blame raging in her heart had long since numbed her to any physical pain.

In a trembling, broken voice, she told him everything.

Her first meeting with Elka two days ago, and the twisted, poisonous words she had said to her.

And then, her reunion with Elka just a short while ago.

How she had watched, helplessly, as Elka had been completely, and irrevocably, transformed into a monster, with no hope of ever turning back.

And the last, horrifying words Elka had said to her.

“Master, it was you who taught me… what love is.”

…

“I see.”

After hearing her story, Ewan also found it hard to remain calm.

“So… Elka heard what you said, had a great, life-altering epiphany, turned into a full-blown yandere, and then, in order to gain the power to completely control the one she loved, she made a wish to an Evil God, which led to her corruption?”

“I don’t know what she did after we parted, but… that is likely what happened.”

“So you think this is your responsibility?”

“Yes.”

Anne bit her lip and nodded, a single tear tracing a path through the grime on her cheek. It was her fault. If she hadn’t said those things, none of this would have happened.

And so…

“Anne, snap out of it!”

Ewan’s sharp, angry roar cut through her brooding. He pointed a trembling finger at the massive, grotesque monster in the distance. “Take a good, long look at that thing! Do you really think that’s something that can happen in just two days?! Even if the Evil Gods are terrifying, their corruption is not instantaneous! Before an outbreak of this magnitude, there must have been a long, slow period of accumulation!”

“In other words, it’s impossible that she only came into contact with an Evil God because of what you said! She must have been involved with one long, long before that!”

“But… I was at least the trigger for the outbreak, wasn’t I?”

“The outbreak was bound to happen sooner or later! No one’s fundamental nature is changed by just a few words from a stranger! Elka became a yandere because she already had the tendency to become one! Even without your words, she would have ended up like this eventually!”

“And besides, she’s beyond saving now! Can’t you see that?! Elka doesn’t even have her own body anymore! What can you possibly do?!” Ewan roared at her, his chest heaving with a desperate frustration.

He was suddenly, inexplicably, and incandescently angry.

Why is she so damn stubborn?

Why is she taking responsibility for something that isn’t her fault?

If the world ended a trillionth of a second earlier because you took an extra breath, would you take responsibility for the end of the world?

Don’t you know how terrifying these corrupted things are?

Don’t you value your own life?

Why are you so fixated on this pointless, self-destructive detail?

Someone else will handle it! This is not your responsibility!

“She called me Master.”

“Hm?”

“That girl… she called me Master.”

Anne looked up at Ewan, her voice trembling as she spoke, each word a shard of glass.

“As a master, how could I possibly abandon my own disciple?”

Crystal-clear tears, like a broken string of pearls, began to stream down her exquisite, tear-stained face.

Ewan froze.

This was the first time he had ever seen her like this.

In his memory, Anne was always prim and proper, her posture always perfect, her expression always serene. She would handle her duties as a personal maid with a flawless, almost robotic perfection. She was the very embodiment of the perfect maid. In his memory, she had never made a single mistake.

A person like that would never, ever allow herself to show a single trace of weakness.

But now.

The young woman before him was curled up, hugging her arms tightly, her body trembling. Her messy hair was stuck to her forehead, her delicate makeup long since washed away by water and tears. The usual sharp, intelligent light in her eyes was gone, replaced by the panicked, helpless, and utterly lost look of a small child.

So wretched.

And so… heartbreaking.

But deep within her eyes, there was still an unyielding, unbreakable stubbornness, like a pouting little girl, as she stared at him, her gaze a silent, desperate plea.

“I have to go, Young Master.”

…

“Damn it.”

Looking at her like this, a string in Ewan’s heart that he didn’t even know existed was gently, and painfully, plucked.

And then, his anger suddenly, inexplicably, subsided, and, as if possessed by some foreign, noble spirit, he heard himself say, “Alright. I’ll go with you.”