The Whisper of the God of Love (Part 15)

“And so, it was over.”

Ewan held Elka’s head, now utterly devoid of any divine or unholy power. He stared down at it, his own eyes vacant as he muttered to himself. He felt like a salted fish, left out in the sun for too long, completely drained, as if all hope for life had been mercilessly and permanently extinguished.

After gaining a sliver of power from one ridiculously overpowered Evil God, he was now being personally targeted by another, even more insidious one.

It had even remembered his name. His full name. The kind of remembering that made you grit your teeth and fantasize about grabbing the nearest sharp object and going on a city-wide, frothing-at-the-mouth rampage, just to vent a tiny fraction of the rage.

So, is there any path to survival from here? Asking for a friend. Online now. Super, super urgent.

“Young Master!”

Just as Ewan was in the throes of a full-blown existential crisis, Anne rushed over and, without a second thought, threw her arms around him in a tight, desperate embrace. A soft, gentle warmth enveloped him, and he could feel her slender body still trembling slightly against his.

Her heart was still pounding with the lingering terror of the battle. She had come so close, so terrifyingly close, to never seeing her Young Master again. Even if she was determined to always maintain the flawless elegance of a perfect maid, at a time like this… it was okay to be a little weak, just for a moment, right?

“Alright, alright. Now’s not the time for this,” Ewan said, gently patting Anne’s shoulder. “You have something more important to do.”

“More important?” Anne looked up, her face a mask of utter confusion. At this moment, in the entire vast and uncaring universe, was there anything more important than holding her Young Master?

“Look at this…” Ewan gestured for Anne to compose herself, then showed her what he was holding.

Elka’s head.

On that lovely, cute face, all the previous contortions of madness and agony had vanished. She looked as if she were merely sleeping peacefully.

But just then, Elka’s fine, delicate eyelashes twitched.

“Don’t tell me…” Anne’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“That’s right. Elka is still alive,” Ewan confirmed with a solemn nod. The will of an Evil God could not descend upon a dead object. So, even though she was just a head, the Evil God’s power had, by a bizarre and cruel twist of fate, kept her tethered to life.

But this unexpected, horrifying gift from the heavens would not last long.

And so.

“We need to hurry,” Ewan said softly.

…

“Ah… Master.”

Elka’s eyes fluttered open, her hazy gaze falling upon Anne.

“Is it… all over?”

“Yes. It’s all over,” Anne replied, her voice gentle.

But after that brief answer, looking at Elka, Anne found herself at a complete loss for words. It occurred to her then that they had never really had a proper conversation.

And so, after a moment of heavy, aching silence, Anne asked, a little awkwardly, “So… um, Elka, are you okay? How are you feeling?”

“I feel… a little sore,” Elka whispered, her gaze fixed on some unseen point in the void. “Especially… my chest. It hurts. It hurts so much.”

“…” Looking at the disembodied head, Anne was once again rendered speechless. The silence stretched on, thick with unspoken tragedy. Just as Ewan was about to lose his patience and remind Anne that they were on a clock, Elka spoke again.

“I’m sorry, Master. I lied to you.”

“Lied to me? What do you mean?”

“The truth is… my corruption by the Evil God had nothing to do with you. I lied about that because… I didn’t want you to leave me.”

“…” Anne’s breath hitched. Then, a sad, knowing smile touched her lips. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. That wasn’t the only reason I saved you, anyway.”

“Master…”

A single, crystalline tear rolled down from the corner of Elka’s eye. A flicker of life, of her old self, finally returned to her gaze.

“The truth is, I’ve been in contact with that… that god for a long time. Trading the flesh of magical beasts for small favors, things like that.”

“After all, Rod was so amazing. If I didn’t use some tricks, I could never keep up with him.”

“And during all that time, the god never showed any signs of being… unusual.”

“Until that day, after I talked to you. I finally worked up the courage to confess to Rod.”

“You confessed…” Anne said softly. “Come to think of it, I never asked you how it went. It… didn’t go well, did it?” After all, she had ended up like this.

“No, it was a success.” A sweet, gentle smile, full of a heartbreaking memory of joy, graced Elka’s lips. “I succeeded, Master.”

“You succeeded? Then why?”

“Because… that night, Rod told me that he loved me too.”

“But… he said he couldn’t be with me.”

“Why?” Anne asked, completely bewildered. “If you both loved each other, why couldn’t you be together?”

“Because…” Elka’s voice was barely a whisper. “Tia was pregnant with his child.”

“…” Anne’s breath caught in her throat.

“Rod told me he had always loved me, from the very beginning, but he was always too afraid to confess. Then one night, while he was drinking to drown his sorrows, Tia came to comfort him, and… one thing led to another. And then, she became pregnant. It’s a cliché story, isn’t it? But it happened. Rod is a good, responsible man, so he couldn’t abandon Tia. And naturally, he couldn’t accept my confession either.”

Elka’s expression was one of profound, soul-deep sadness. To have something you could have so easily obtained slip through your fingers was a regret far more potent than simply wanting something you could never have. A regret that could easily fester into a deep, consuming, and monstrous darkness.

“…You didn’t suspect anything?” Anne couldn’t help but ask. The chances of getting pregnant on the first try were slim. It was hard not to imagine it was a deliberate act.

“I did,” Elka replied. “That’s why I made a wish to the Evil God. I wanted to know if Tia was really pregnant.”

“And when I came to my senses… I was covered in blood, and I had cut open Tia’s stomach.”

“…Is that what happened?” Anne remembered the disemboweled girl on the iron bed, her own stomach churning. “And the result was…”

“It was a lie.” Elka began to sob, a low, wretched, and broken sound. “The pregnancy… it was all a lie. It was just a trick Tia used to keep Rod for herself. She used a simple illusion spell to fool him. But no matter how good an illusion is, it can’t fake the truth. There was no baby in her womb.”

“Master, love is so fragile. So fragile that a single lie can tear apart two people who were meant to be together.”

“I exposed the lie, but it was too late. There was no turning back.”

“Because… Rod saw me.”

“He saw me… with my own hands… cut open Tia’s stomach.”

“How could Rod possibly be with a cruel, monstrous woman like me? He thought I had been possessed by the Evil God and tried to subdue me.”

…

“And so… I made a second wish.”

“I wished for Rod… to accept my love.”

And from that moment on, everything was truly, irrevocably lost.

…

“Master, I have so many regrets.”

At the end of her one-sided confession, Elka looked into Anne’s eyes and, for the first time, gave a sad, beautiful, and utterly heartbreaking smile.

“If only I had met you sooner.”

“If only I had found the courage to confess to Rod sooner.”

“Maybe… maybe then, this tragic ending could have been avoided.”

“But alas, there are no ‘if onlys’ in this world.”

…

“So, you have to be happy, Master.”

“Prove to me… that love can be something beautiful.”