“An Evil God.”

Faced with Muen’s question, Anne slowly let out those two words.

“Heh... I figured.”

Muen let out a dry laugh, utterly unsurprised. He leaned his head back against the rock and gazed at the monstrosity.

It was his first time seeing something like this in person—but he’d read the original novel, after all.

So the shock only lasted a moment before his mind settled into clarity.

Evil God.

The root of all corruption. The black hand behind destruction.

The greatest source of calamity in the original book.

In some ways, Evil Gods were even worse than the demons currently fighting the Empire on the border.

Because the demons were driven by territory and hatred. What they brought was just war.

But the Evil Gods—they were chaos, disorder, and death incarnate. Pervasive and insidious, they corrupted everything, wielding divine authority from on high while casting greedy eyes upon the mortal world.

In recorded history, every one of the three apocalyptic disasters that nearly wiped out humanity had traces of an Evil God behind it.

And the prophesied Demon God who was said to one day end the world? He was also one of them.

So with their omnipresent evil and tendency to be involved in everything bad...

Evil Gods had practically become the ultimate scapegoat of the original story.

If something incomprehensible happened? It must’ve been an Evil God.jpg.

“I didn’t think it had already gotten this bad. What the hell happened? Everything seemed normal before...” Muen frowned in confusion.

Hmm...

“Training” one’s future husband—pretty normal behavior for a yandere, wasn’t it?

“But this isn’t the time to be thinking about that.”

Muen let out a soft sigh, then stood up.

“We can’t let that thing keep developing. Thank God we’re in the middle of nowhere. If it makes it to another village, we’re screwed.”

“Anne, we need to get back to Belrand right now. They’ve got institutions specifically for Evil God pollution, and the Church of Life won’t ignore this. They’re more qualified than we are. Come on—we’ll let them deal with it.”

He reached out and grabbed Anne’s arm, trying to pull her with him.

...She didn’t move an inch.

Anne just sat there, arms wrapped tightly around herself, gaze downcast. Her expression was unreadable.

No matter how much Muen tugged at her, she stayed still.

“Anne?”

“I can’t go.”

“Why not?”

“Because... I have to take responsibility.”

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

“But it’s still connected to me.”

Anne lifted her head, and in her eyes—those eyes that looked straight into Muen’s—was the same bewildered guilt of a child who knew they’d done something wrong.

“It’s because of the things I said... because of what I said to Ailuka. That’s why she got tainted by the Evil God.”

“...Huh? What things? What are you talking about?” Muen blinked, stunned.

“Two days ago... when I went to catch fish for you, Young Master... I ran into Ailuka.”

Anne’s hands tightened where they hugged her arms.

Her knuckles turned white from the pressure. It wasn’t hard to imagine how much force she was using.

But she didn’t even notice.

The torment and guilt burning inside her had long since drowned out any pain in the flesh.

Her voice trembled as she spoke—softly, brokenly—to Muen.

She told him about how she first met Ailuka two days ago, and the words she’d said to her.

Then, about their reunion not long after.

How she’d watched, helplessly, as Ailuka transformed—completely and irreversibly—into a monster. A path from which there was no return.

And Ailuka’s final words to her—

“Master... you’re the one who taught me... what love is.”

...

“...I see.”

After hearing everything, Muen found it hard to stay calm.

“So you’re saying... Ailuka heard your words, suddenly reached full yandere enlightenment, and then made a wish to the Evil God to gain the power to completely control the person she loved—thereby triggering her own fall into corruption?”

“I don’t know what she did after we parted ways... but... that’s probably it.”

“And you think that’s your fault?”

“...Yes.”

Anne bit her lip and nodded.

Of course it was her fault. If she hadn’t said those things, none of this would’ve happened.

So—

“Anne, wake the hell up!”

Muen suddenly shouted, cutting her off.

Then he jabbed a finger toward the mountainous, grotesque mass of flesh in the distance.

“Take a good fucking look at that thing. You’re telling me something like that just popped up in two days? Evil Gods might be terrifying, but even they don’t corrupt people instantly! Pollution builds up over time—there’s always a long accumulation before it explodes!”

“In other words—this can’t have happened just because of what you said to Ailuka. She must’ve been entangled with an Evil God long before that!”

“But... I still was the trigger for the outbreak, wasn’t I?”

“Anne, that outbreak was inevitable! No one just flips their whole personality from a couple of sentences! Ailuka turned into a yandere because she was already headed that way! Even without your words, she was bound to end up like this sooner or later!”

“And look at her! She doesn’t even have a body anymore! Can’t you see it’s already too late?! What the hell do you think you can even do?!”

Muen roared at her, breath ragged.

He was getting angry.

Why did she have to be so goddamn stubborn?

Why force blame onto herself when it clearly wasn’t hers?

What, just because you took one extra breath of oxygen that sped up the world’s destruction by a quadrillionth of a second, you think you’re responsible for the end of the world?

Do you really not understand how terrifying Evil God pollution is?

Do you seriously not care about your own life?

Why are you chasing after some meaningless guilt spiral?!

There are people for this! This is not your job!

“She called me Master.”

“...What?”

“That girl. She called me Master.”

Anne raised her face, looking directly at Muen.

Her voice wavered.

“As her Master... how could I possibly abandon my own disciple?”

Crystal-clear tears fell from her eyes like broken pearls, streaming down her delicate face.

Muen froze.

This was the first time he’d ever seen Anne like this.

In his memory, Anne had always been the picture of grace—serene and composed.

She executed her duties as a personal maid to perfection. She bowed a flawless ninety degrees, not a fraction off.

Even the space between her footsteps when walking was practically identical every time.

She was the embodiment of the perfect maid. At least in Muen’s memories, she had never once made a mistake.

Someone like her would never show weakness.

But now—

The girl before his eyes—

She was curled in on herself, arms wrapped tightly around her body.

Her /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ hair clung messily to her forehead, and her carefully applied makeup had long since been washed away.

The cold gleam that usually filled her eyes was gone—replaced with the flustered, helpless panic of a child who had done something terribly wrong.

She looked... pathetic.

And heart-wrenching.

But deep in her eyes, there was still something hard and unyielding. A quiet, childish stubbornness that wouldn’t be moved, staring back at Muen like a little girl digging in her heels.

“...I’m going, Young Master.”

...

“Goddamn it.”

Looking at her like this, something inside Muen twanged—like a string being plucked.

And just like that, his fury vanished.

Then—

Before he could even stop himself, the words slipped out:

“...Fine. I’ll go with you.”