Chapter 2312

"Madeline and I were both powerful supernatural beings at the time, and the Church of Love always arranged for us to act together. During a routine mission, because we suspected that everyone in an orphanage located some distance from the settlement had been infected by terrible demons, we received orders to kill everyone there... For that era, this was a very common mission."

Xia De squinted at the orphanage on the distant hill:

"Let me guess, one person was let go by you?"

"Not me, it was Madeline."

Richard said calmly, as if he were not narrating his own story. The sound of the river water splashed, and this atmosphere was indeed suitable for listening to a story:

"That was a child of only seven years old. Madeline was very sure he hadn't been infected, but being sure was useless; for the safety of the entire settlement, he couldn't be let go either... but Madeline still let him go. She only told me about this afterward, so I reprimanded her."

"Madeline's judgment was wrong?"

"No, her judgment was correct; the child was indeed still normal at the time.

But after that, in order to take revenge on us 'bad people' who killed his entire family, he threw himself into the Sin of Wrath. About three years later, on the eve of the wedding between Madeline and me, he appeared again and killed most of the families of everyone who had participated in that operation. I was an orphan with no relatives to die, and Madeline only had her mother, who survived because she had come to visit her that night."

"This... alright, it's this kind of story again. Continue. Although it's a tragedy, you shouldn't have turned against each other because of such a thing, right? Besides, this wasn't your fault."

He asked, and Richard shook his head slightly, his body becoming even more transparent than before:

"No, our love was very deep. We tacitly agreed not to talk about this, but Madeline's faith wavered because of it, and she doubted whether benevolence was truly correct. I still can't say clearly what she encountered during that period, but it was definitely during that time that she came into contact with that mermaid."

Xia De sat up a little straighter; this was the part he wanted to hear:

"That mermaid seduced her?"

"Or perhaps Madeline, with her wavering faith, took the initiative to approach my Lord's enemy; her heart lacked a place to rest. I don't know, and it's not important. Perhaps she just wanted to find some comfort; during that period, no one, including me, discovered her abnormality. It wasn't until another mission two years later that we once again received an order to clear out an orphanage... In that era, children and the elderly were the groups most prone to trouble."

Xia De sat on a large rock, having no intention to evaluate things from an era he hadn't experienced:

"You continue."

"It was as if we had returned to many years ago, but this time the protagonist had become me. I encountered a child who begged me for mercy, and furthermore, I was also very sure that he was definitely normal."

The man wearing the robe paused for a moment:

"The story is temporarily interrupted; please allow me to ask a question: if it were you, would you choose to let him go, or kill him according to the regulations?"

Xia De said without much thought:

"I am very glad that I am only facing this question, rather than having truly encountered that situation. I would choose the latter; after all, rules are rules, and besides, Madeline made a mistake once, and you shouldn't make it again. Just thinking for yourself that the child is fine is not safe, after all."

After finishing, he added:

"Of course, if you had chosen the former at the time, I could also understand you. Sometimes, when people are faced with multiple-choice questions, they find that among the only options available, there isn't a single correct answer."

"I did indeed choose the latter; I didn't let him go, but Madeline blocked my sword."

In Richard's tone, a fluctuation with emotional color finally appeared:

"She questioned me at the time: if one gives up on upholding justice because they encountered a bad result after insisting on it once, then whether one is truly still trusting in the justice they uphold."

Under the moonlight, someone's sigh seemed to come from somewhere.

"This question is very interesting. Of course, whether letting that child go counts as justice, I can't say either. But just as I said, no matter what choice you made, I could understand it; this question simply doesn't have a completely correct option. We are only mortals, after all. So, what happened to that child in the end?"

Xia De asked, and Richard lowered his eyes slightly:

"He was still killed by me; this was our mission requirement... Afterward, Madeline and I had an extremely fierce argument, to the point that the scheduled wedding was postponed. Madeline believed that I had betrayed our vows and abandoned the benevolence and justice we had upheld. After that, we drifted further and further apart, and the others in the order finally discovered that she had turned to that mermaid."

Xia De raised an eyebrow and did not make a comment.

"Madeline then left us on a long, dark night and completely became the messenger of that mermaid. I had thought we would have no chance to meet again, but during a mission I was executing, which required clearing out a remote settlement for the elderly, I discovered Madeline's mother."

Richard paused again; even though the notebook was about to collapse completely, he was still lost in memories of the past and was in no hurry to finish the end of the story:

"It was still that kind of mission, and I still chose to stick to my principles. Thus, I killed Madeline's mother with my own hands."

The night wind blew across Xia De's back; the wind of this summer night was still somewhat cold.

"Not long after, Madeline's corpse drifted in from the sea. After an autopsy, it was discovered that she had died of a broken heart. I don't know if, after hearing that I had executed her mother, she was heartbroken because I killed her mother, or because I still insisted on those principles... In any case, she died because of this, and her soul was not summoned."

Xia De and Richard looked together at the pink crystal that now completely enveloped the notebook. "Desire" had said that before Madeline died, she offered her soul to her, and she then used that soul to forge this infinitely powerful dagger.

"Although most things don't have completely correct answers, the story of you two is really... what happened after that? You are still alive; this story hasn't ended yet."

"I... I think I probably went mad when I saw her corpse."

Richard's voice already showed signs of blurring:

"I wanted to prove to her that my ideas were correct; I wanted to prove to her that all justice must be upheld through death. Even if she was no longer there, I had to prove this point. Yes, even if she was no longer there... I left the order and ran wildly through the dangerous dark night as a loner, walking through that dark era. I held my sword and killed countless villains, countless monsters, until one day I could no longer swing my sword, and so I died too."

The last few sentences were trembling, but not because of emotional fluctuations, but because the power of the relic was also about to be exhausted.

"And then, because of your obsession, your soul couldn't reach the end, but was trapped in your own notebook and later turned into a relic?"

Xia De finished listening to the story and frowned as he looked at the notebook pierced by the sword:

"I cannot evaluate who was right and who was wrong between you and her. Although I want to comfort you by saying 'this is a tragedy of the era,' you probably don't want to hear such words, right?"

Richard did not answer this question:

"I have no intention of evaluating my own past; who is right and who is wrong is no longer important. I have done many things in my long life, and I don't need others to evaluate me... Most people in the order believed that that mermaid was related to my Lord, and her power was the flip side of my Lord's power."

This also matched the information Xia De found when he was investigating "Desire" at Green Lake, that "Desire" and the "God of Love - Heart Lock" might be two sides of the same coin.

"I specifically told you this story here, not because I wanted to arouse your sympathy, but because I wanted to pass on the information I possess. Some information cannot disappear because of my departure. Over so many years, I myself became a monster, and because of this, I discovered some... truths even more terrifying than history and mythology."

Xia De looked past him at the river behind him; there was no sign of a hand or a head suddenly popping out of it. He used his spiritual power to perceive the surroundings again, and also didn't feel the possibility of "a beam of light shooting through the air to pierce Richard."

"Some kind of power has covered up the truth of history; that mermaid and my Lord may not be two sides of the same coin... Before my Lord ascended to godhood, perhaps she was just one of the many faces of that mermaid."

Xia De's expression finally became serious:

"Do you know what you are saying?"

"Of course. Desire originated from the moment the first mortal in this world opened their eyes. Love, isn't it also the 'desire' to love and to be loved?"

The man whose body was nearly completely transparent asked again:

"How much do you know about her? Do you only think she represents the desire of the flesh?"

Indeed, that mermaid herself had said that she represented all desires, and not simply "lust." Otherwise, what Xia De should have obtained after eating that bite of meat would have been the "Chain of Lust" and not the "Chain of Sins."

"So it is such an ancient existence. That's right, otherwise she wouldn't have displayed such a level of power."

After he sighed softly, he looked up and thanked him:

"Thank you for telling me these things. Although you said you don't need others to evaluate you, I still do not agree with your justice."

"Then do you know? After I died, I possessed the notebook, and later became a relic, thus possessing powerful strength. Because of the obsession of my soul, the Whispering Elements granted me a special damage effect against that mermaid... I am one of the few relics that can directly cause damage to her true body."

Richard asked again, but Xia De only raised an eyebrow:

"Saying these things is already useless. You have killed so many people over so many years; it is time to leave. I don't know if your soul will be completely destroyed or reach the end after this notebook is destroyed. But at least your soul is with Madeline's soul. Hmm... could Madeline's love mean this?"