Chapter 34
First, there was one thing I needed to make clear.
My goal was to get hit by the curse extracted from the Princess' body and die alone, not to kill the Princess who had grown up being unhappily abused.
To protect the Princess while extracting the fragment of the evil god, I naturally needed to know more details about the fragment of the evil god.
I went to the White Order.
"Saint! The servant of Dullaneer greets the Saint of Healing."
The priests bowed their heads to an uncomfortable degree, but this was rather good for me now.
"I'd like to access information about the fragment of the evil god."
"The fragment of the evil god, you say?"
"Bring all the information. Don't hide anything from me."
"Of course!"
Even though I was a fake saint, having the title of saint was good for this.
I could freely access even the highest-level secret archives of the White Order that only the High Priest could enter.
I started to scan through everything from old data written on parchment to recent data printed on clean paper.
Information about the fragment of the evil god.
A way to safely extract it without further tormenting the host whose mind and sense of self are already unstable.
And a way to apply its destructive power only to me without affecting the surroundings, making it disappear.
Is there anything?
I sat on the floor and immersed myself in reading all kinds of materials for more than half a day without moving an inch.
The priests of the White Order seemed to admire my appearance.
"To see him pondering so deeply for the destruction of evil...!"
"Look! Even a saint from another order is so diligent in destroying evil! How can you, who have been chosen by Dullaneer, act like that!! You must strive even harder!"
They even brought little novice priests to show me off as if I were some kind of exhibit.
Well, it didn't matter.
In exchange for freely viewing these confidential materials, I could be a zoo monkey for a while.
And after frantically examining all kinds of materials for nearly half a day.
I finally found a way to safely extract the source of the curse while protecting the Princess.
[If the connection with the host's soul is loosened by endless holy magic, the fragment of the evil god will move to find another nearby soul. At this time, if someone the host mentally depends on is nearby, the fragment of the evil god will primarily target them and try to move to their soul.]
[Therefore, if the connection between the soul and the fragment is weakened, no family, lover, child, or anyone should be close to the host. It will immediately move and settle in the new host's soul. The original host will be saved, but the long and troublesome work of weakening the connection between the soul and the fragment of the new host will have to be done again.]
So if I become the person Princess Iomene depends on, the fragment will jump out and burrow into my soul!
And let's see.
I think I read something like this in this parchment?
Ah.
Here it is!
After Princess Iomene's fragment of the evil god moved to me.
[If you don't care about the host's soul, at least three priests can simultaneously use the miracle of Destruction to eliminate the fragment of the evil god in the soul. The fragment will emit an intense curse that will destroy the host's soul at the moment of destruction, but immediately after. The fragment will be eternally annihilated.]
I just needed to go to the priests and ask them to shoot the miracle of Destruction at me to sacrifice my soul and eliminate the fragment of the evil god!
They'd have to agree because they'd want to prevent the world's destruction!
Soul shattered!
Rebirth in Korea!
Perfect.
The problem was how to make the Princess depend on me.
The first thought that came to mind was, couldn't I just use Absolute Hypnosis to make her think "I can't live without Mr. Amael"?
But would the mental state of a child who had grown up suffering unimaginable abuse for 16 years be normal?
They say she had attempted suicide several times, so I was worried that if I used Absolute Hypnosis to mess with the mind of someone in such a mental state, her mentality might shatter like a cookie before she came to love me.
It was a possibility, but if that happened, Princess Almene, whose soul was connected, would die too, and of course, the Emperor wouldn't leave me alone.
If I was executed in a normal way instead of having my soul destroyed by a curse and died with my soul intact to go to the afterlife, of course.
It's hell.
Damn.
I don't want to take that risk.
What else can I do?
I needed to meet Princess Iomene and make her depend on me by coaxing and soothing her as much as possible to bring the fragment of the evil god into my soul.
Then I'd get hit by the miracle of Destruction and destroy the fragment of the evil god, and with the curse that spewed out then, my soul would be destroyed and I'd go to Korea.
The Princess would be saved.
I stood up from my seat.
"Thank you for your great kindness."
"Anytime! You can come back anytime!"
"Thank you."
I greeted them and left the White Order.
***
That evening.
Imperial Palace.
I arrived in front of the separate palace where Princess Iomene was said to be confined.
The separate palace, which must have once been beautiful, now had an incredibly eerie appearance.
All kinds of large magic circles and sacred objects were installed around the separate palace, and things that looked like talismans were painted all over the walls and doors.
Is this suddenly changing genres from fantasy to occult?
"Saint. The curse is dangerous. You must wear this protective suit to enter."
One of the mages among the several mages and priests waiting outside the separate palace handed me a thick protective suit.
It looked just like some kind of radiation protection suit.
If I went in wearing something like this, it would obviously give off the feeling that I was blatantly wary of her!!
"I won't wear it."
"What? Saint! It's a curse! It's a high-purity, high-level curse directly cast by none other than a fragment of an evil god!!"
I'm not scared at all.
How could I be scared when I'm trying to die by being hit by that curse?
If I got hit, I should rather say, “Thank you.” I wouldn't even need to go through the trouble of extracting the fragment of the evil god, my soul would be destroyed right away.
Moreover, I needed to make the Princess depend on me, but if I went in wearing something like that, what would she think of me?
"If I go in wearing such a thing, wouldn't it hurt Princess Iomene?"
"..."
The mage looked at me with a moved expression.
What’s there to be moved about?
I'm just desperately trying to die by getting hit by the curse to go to Korea.
"It's more important that she's not hurt than that I get hurt."
After saying that, I refused the protective suit and slowly entered the separate palace.
As I slowly entered, opening the door of the separate palace covered in talismans and magic circles, the first thing I felt was coldness.
For a very long time.
It felt like an atmosphere where not a single point of human warmth had ever existed.
Of course, the physical temperature of the separate palace was normal, but just…
It felt like that.
After hearing the sound of the separate palace door closing, I took a short deep breath.
It was important to make the Princess depend on me.
She was a child who had grown up suffering unimaginable abuse for 16 years.
Carefully.
It was important to become friends slowly, without rushing.
"Princess Iomene?"
I walked around various places in the separate palace.
But Princess Iomene was nowhere to be seen.
Only the scenery of the separate palace, excessively clean and excessively empty, greeted me.
This atmosphere is like something out of a Tsukuru horror game.
-The inside of the separate palace seems empty.
-Where could Princess Iomene be?
-Ah!
It was the kind of atmosphere where such an explanation window would appear and then the next moment the Princess would be behind me, suddenly popping up?
,..Oh shit!!
She really was behind me!!
When I turned around, startled by the sudden presence, a woman who looked exactly like Princess Almene whom I had met recently was quietly looking at me.
The difference, of course, was the wings.
A pair of huge black wings that had grown on her back were fluttering as if they would almost cover the entire corridor of the separate palace.
Unlike Princess Almene, Princess Iomene had her right eye closed.
I guess that must be the magic that blocked the connection between souls?
Shabby clothes.
Empty and hollow eyes that were hard to read emotions from.
Expressionless.
The eerie trio was complete.
Princess Iomene was looking at me with eyes like those of a broken person, without saying anything.
I swallowed my dry saliva silently and smiled at her.
She seemed surprised at my smile.
I carefully spoke to her as she flinched and stepped back, "Hello, Princess. My name is Jericho Amael. Nice to meet you."
Princess Iomene didn't give any answer to my words either.
Can't she speak?
There was a good possibility of that.
"You don't need to be wary. I'm not here to harm you."
It seemsednot wearing the protective suit was indeed the right choice.
She was looking at me with an expression that was hard to read emotions from, but at least she didn't show aggression towards me or scream.
That could be considered fortunate.
"I came to heal you..."
But the next moment.
More precisely, the moment I uttered the word "heal".
Princess Iomene suddenly changed.
"Ahhh!!!"
She had a seizure, screaming like a beast.
A long wound was left on my forearm from her hand that was swung randomly.
A deep and profound cut that could hardly be imagined to be from a fingernail scratch was made, and of course, blood started to gush out.
Ow!
Damn, it fucking hurts!
But still!...
It's bearable.
A wound?
I'm not afraid at all.
Because I have body modification.
[Using body modification on yourself!]
The split skin closed and the flowing blood disappeared.
I showed that scene to Princess Iomene as it was.
As the wound healed and disappeared in an instant, the Princess who had been screaming and raging like a beast stopped shouting and looked at me.
For the first time, something that could be called emotion appeared in her eyes.
Surprise.
Or wonder.
"It's amazing, isn't it? I don't understand the principle well either, but I have the ability to heal people," I said in a cheerful voice, but the Princess didn't answer.
It was questionable whether she even understood words.
The Princess who just looked at me expressionlessly seemed to have a mental state closer to a beast than a person.
Suddenly.
The young Princess in front of me looked pitiful.
19 years old, not long after her coming-of-age ceremony.
At a time when she should be happily hanging out with friends, buying cosmetics, and eating tteokbokki, she was staying alone in this separate palace that looked like it could come out of an occult story, with a gloomy black wing on her back.
Moreover, she seemed unable to speak.
It wasn’t strange.
She was a woman who had lived through 16 years of torture.
It would be stranger to think she'd be normal.
I was trying to make her depend on me, but if her mental state was closer to that of a beast, wouldn't it be better to go through the process of building trust as if dealing with a real beast? I thought.
Alright.
Then I'll do that.
First, I slowly approached the Princess.
And carefully.
Like reaching out a hand to a wary cat.
I placed my hand on her head.
She didn't move.
She just looked at me expressionlessly.
She quietly let me pat her head.
While patting her, I checked her body condition with my skill, and as expected.
There were an enormous number of self-harm marks on her body that weren't visible under her shabby clothes.
Moreover, her body was so emaciated that it was doubtful whether this was really the body of a 19-year-old young lady.
It's miserable.
Can't I somehow extract and remove the fragment of the evil god with my skill?
[Skill activation is only possible if the target is a living creature!]
As if reading my thoughts, the skill window displayed a guide in front of my eyes.
Well, would a fragment of an evil god be a living creature?
How annoying.
If I could just cast a skill, it would be done in one go.
There was no choice.
First, I neatly erased the self-harm marks left on her body.
I also changed her emaciated body, which seemed to have come from not eating or sleeping properly, to be exactly the same as Princess Almene's body shape that I saw yesterday.
[Body modification impossible!]
The only part I couldn't change was the wings, and when I tried to remove that part, I felt like someone outside was deliberately interfering with the modification, and the skill bounced off.
It was obvious.
The wings that grew because of the fragment of the evil god, so it must be the fragment of the evil god that was interfering with their removal.
For now, it seemed I had to stop here.
When the treatment was over, the Princess, who seemed itchy, purred and then stepped back to look at her body.
Realizing that her wounds had disappeared and that fat and muscle had nicely attached to her emaciated body, the Princess broke her expressionless face and showed an openly surprised expression.
I couldn't help but smile seeing her hurriedly looking at her body.
It looked good.
Her reaction was unexpectedly cute too.
That's it for today.
If I push too much progress at once, she might be surprised.
"Tomorrow. I'll come again. Let's meet again tomorrow for sure. So don't get sick, don't get hurt, and wait for me," I said to her with a smile, but Princess Iomene just stood frozen, unable to answer.
I left the separate palace.
Fortunately, it seemed like a not-bad first meeting.