Chapter 55: If This World Has No Torch

At dusk, the night sky was clear with sparse stars, utterly silent except for the occasional shrill cry of a crow.

Black Wolf Castle, library.

Xia Mingyu lay sprawled on the wooden floor in a “big” shape, his expression gloomy.

Elise sat upright beside him, solemn in demeanor, though inside she

“Aaaah, how much longer is His Highness going to lie on the floor?! I can’t even sleep on the hammock now—my legs are going to break!”

the girl wailed inwardly.

Since entering the library, His Highness hadn’t read two books before collapsing on the floor, forcing her to remain respectfully kneeling beside him to avoid rudeness.

“Ah,” Xia Mingyu sighed softly from the floor.

He had come to the library hoping to relax with some reading, but the dense text on the pages had eventually blurred in his eyes into just two words—“cannibal.”

Whenever he recalled the sensation of slicing Hawk’s head clean in two, blood spraying everywhere, his hands trembled slightly.

At the time, witnessing that hellish scene in his rage, he had unhesitatingly chosen to kill every thug inside the brothel.

But now, calm again, guilt, revulsion, self-reproach—every negative emotion surged back into his heart.

“Humans truly are contradictory creatures,” Xia Mingyu sighed heavily again.

Weakness makes him hate himself for being insufficiently extreme; extremism makes him despise himself for being too self-centered. In the end, it seemed no path brought inner peace.

Yet Xia Mingyu knew well: if Black Wolf Domain truly was considered a good place in the Sosia Kingdom, and indeed across the entire world, then tragedies like the Red Rose Brothel were not scattered everywhere—but they weren’t far from it.

If every time he encountered a Red Rose Brothel on the continent he acted as he had today, what awaited him would be endless corpses and seas of blood—enough to drown Black Wolf Domain many times over.

Should he really do this? Should he? Could he even do it?

Thump. Thump.

As Xia Mingyu’s thoughts grew hollow, sweat beading on his forehead, the library’s oak door was gently knocked.

“Elise, open the door,” Xia Mingyu said weakly; he didn’t need to look to know who it was.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The girl rose swiftly, as if granted pardon, her heart overflowing with gratitude toward the visitor.

Moments later, Elise led Anelia in, carrying a food basket.

“Your Highness, I’ve heard everything from Boge. Are you alright?” Anelia gazed at the listless Xia Mingyu on the floor, her face filled with worry.

Today, the girl had discarded her pale blue gown and worn a pure white dress, accentuating her porcelain-smooth skin.

Silken golden hair spilled over her delicate collarbones, tempting one to gently kiss them.

This dress had been a gift from Kallen—he’d noticed Anelia wore only one dress. What a thoughtful fellow!

“Nothing. I just have no appetite,” Xia Mingyu muttered, glancing at the food box.

Though it might offend the girl’s kindness, he truly had no desire to eat—seeing meat brought back the scene, triggering nausea.

“Your Highness, I didn’t prepare a meal—only a bowl of fruit and honey porridge. Would you like to try some?”

The girl opened the box, revealing a porridge of mixed fruit chunks—red berries and others—its sweet fragrance beginning to spread.

“...A little.”

Inhaling the sweet aroma, Xia Mingyu suddenly felt hunger rise—his stomach, as if awakening, growled with hunger.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Anelia smiled gently, then knelt beside Xia Mingyu, gently lifting his head onto her lap, and with a spoon, fed him the fruit porridge, one bite at a time.

Feeling the soft pressure against the back of his skull and the exquisite texture of the porridge, Xia Mingyu unconsciously finished the entire bowl.

“Thank you, Anelia. I feel much better.”

Xia Mingyu savored the warm glow in his stomach; though he’d done nothing, his mood had lifted considerably.

Indeed, mood was, in some sense, a bodily response—eating brought joy. Of course, only if the food was delicious, and preferably accompanied by a beautiful young girl giving you a lap pillow and feeding you bite by bite.

“Being able to help Your Highness is the very meaning of my existence.”

Anelia gazed down at the black-haired youth resting on her lap—his sharp features, eyes like polished obsidian, straight nose—everything enchanted her, and so she stated the truth in a voice as gentle as water.

“Your Highness, may I kiss you?”

“Huh?”

“You saved so many wretched women from suffering today. I think you’re kind, brave, merciful, just—so I want to kiss you. Could you fulfill this small wish of mine?”

Anelia’s sky-blue eyes fixed on the man, reflecting adoration and longing.

“Yes.”

Before Xia Mingyu finished speaking, the girl bent down and kissed his lips deeply.

“Eeey, so sticky,” Elise blushed, covering her eyes with her hands—but her fingers were too far apart to block anything.

Long moments passed before they parted.

Gazing up at the blushing girl, Xia Mingyu suddenly felt all his inner turmoil vanish, replaced by a faint sense of joy.

Indeed, a beautiful, young girl was the best cure for a man?

“Your Highness, shall I fulfill my duty as a maid tonight and serve you in bed?”

“...Not yet.”

“Oh.”

Deep night, silent and still, moon dark, wind high.

Top of the Bell Tower.

Xia Mingyu came here alone, without informing anyone.

“Now is truly the perfect time for meditation!” he sighed, gazing at the bright, moonlike full moon in the night sky.

But he hadn’t come here to meditate—he’d come to test the new ability granted by his Blessing Ascension.

“A single spark can start a prairie fire!”

Xia Mingyu mimicked the pose of a master from a blue-star anime about cup battles, shouting dramatically.

The next instant, a faint flame sparked before him, then rapidly swelled and expanded—within a blink, it became a blazing torch of fire.

“State your will.”

Though silent, a message flowed from the torch into his mind.

Xia Mingyu fell silent, unsure what his will truly was.

To send every evil person on the continent to the guillotine, drowning the land in blood?

Or to rescue every suffering soul and grant them a life of abundance?

Xia Mingyu sank into thought, scenes from the past flashing through his mind.

Luo Bote, bowing to kiss his shoe tip, begging to save his village.

Xin Ping, blushing with joy after he praised a red berry.

The woman in the washroom begging him to kill her.

The prostitute weeping because she had nowhere to return.

Xia Mingyu’s gaze grew resolute, his dark eyes reflecting the flames.

“I only want people to live like human beings,” Xia Mingyu whispered to the torch before him.

Nothing noble, nothing hateful—he simply wanted people to live a little more like humans.

Yes, even if this world, utterly unequal, where the gap between people was so vast they seemed not of the same kind, had never known the light of humanity, even if all remained trapped in endless darkness, he would choose to illuminate it.

After all, hadn’t the words above his head since his transmigration already foretold his mission?

“If this world has no torch, then I shall be the only light,” he said calmly.

The next instant, the torch surged skyward, piercing the deep night.

Thank you for reading, everyone—please give more moon tickets! We’re about to enter the top five of the new book rankings—thank you all, Thanks(ω)





(End of Chapter)