"Is this the sun? It's really warm."

An ethereal shadow appeared; a little girl in a filthy dress tilted her head up at that blazing sun, a look of happiness on her face.

She turned her head and looked curiously at the girl beside her, and asked:

"Don't you think so?"

"I..."

Lea finally snapped out of her stupor. She looked at the sun, then at the blond man standing alone, her small face full of confusion.

"The dark god's favored? Moen? Why? I..."

So many unexpected things had happened that Lea couldn't help sinking into confusion and chaos; she didn't even notice when the little girl at her side had appeared.

"Huh? He seems to be in a lot of pain."

The rabbit, as if it had discovered something, suddenly murmured softly to itself.

"Pain?"

Lea lifted herself up, her delicate body trembling slightly.

She saw that blond man standing in the sun's shadow suddenly stagger, clutch his head in pain, and half-kneel on the ground.

Ribbons of pitch-black mist, from who knows where, rose up like a muddy sea that drowns those in agony, swallowing him bit by bit.

"Is that... resentment?"

Lea's heart gave a violent thump; the large amount of blood pumped back to her heart made her limbs a little cold.

She recognized the source of that black mist.

It was the power of hatred produced by a million people in pain and despair, catalyzed by some force.

In other words, it was sin itself.

It was the very thing a saintess, who ought to stand in endless light, should never be tainted by.

It can drag those in the light down from on high and make them fall forever into the Abyss.

"Aren't you going to do something?" the rabbit suddenly asked.

"I..."

Lea gripped the cold and brilliant crystal tightly, nodding and then shaking her head in confusion, and bit her lip as she said:

"I don't know what to do."

What should I do?

Should I, as a saintess candidate, go up and knock down that guy colluding with the dark god with one punch and stop this inhuman slaughter, so that all this sin will cease to exist?

Or, as the knight's saintess, turn around and walk onto the bright avenue he has paved for me, to the position I have dreamed of, yet let my own knight have the road behind me stained with blood?

Or...

In Lea's eyes was reflected that blond figure; with every throb of his pain she watched, she felt her own heart twinge along with it.

As if trapped deep in a maze, at a loss.

"Will he die?" the rabbit asked.

"He won't. Definitely not."

Lea said softly, "I believe in Moen. He's stronger than anyone. My knight would never fall in a place like this."

"So you plan to do nothing?"

The rabbit tilted its head again and asked.

"No... I'm not doing nothing, it's just that Moen, Moen said..."

"What does that have to do with him?"

The rabbit looked at Lea in confusion. "Isn't this your choice?"

"..."

Lea choked; her lips, already a little bloodless, paled and moved slightly.

Yes, this was a choice—her choice—and it had nothing to do with anyone else.

"But... a choice, how am I supposed to make this choice?"

Lea felt a little cold, so she huddled and hugged her own shoulders.

In a daze, she seemed to return to that equally cold evening ten years ago, when she had just set foot on this path.

Back then, facing the first major choice in her life, how did she answer?

Waves of memory surged up, and Lea saw her small self sitting again before the campfire, wiping her tears over and over.

"I... I'm sorry, saintess teacher."

The little girl hiccuped as she cried. "I... in the end, I still don't have the courage to make up my mind."

So... back then, I still didn't have the courage to choose?

Lea gave a self-mocking smile.

She had thought that after everything during this time, with Moen's help, she had already grown.

But in the end, at the critical moment, there was not the slightest change.

"No, Lea, you did very well."

In the instant Lea's mind drifted, the saintess teacher in her memory was already gently stroking little Lea's head.

"Haven't you already made a choice?"

"Made one, but I..."

"Hehe, do you really think so? Doesn't little Lea know that your so-called abstention is to let that man's punishment be carried out according to the Church's rules? And little Lea, who has already thoroughly read the canon, surely wouldn't be unaware of what the result is when it's done according to the Church's rules."

"..."

The watching Lea started, then suddenly saw the light.

How could I have forgotten—there is no such option as giving up in reality.

My abandonment is actually a bias toward a certain option.

"It seems little Lea even has a hidden attribute of being black-bellied." The saintess chuckled.

"Then like this... am I somewhat unworthy of my identity?"

Little Lea suddenly raised her head, her eyes red. "As the future saintess, isn't this behavior of mine..."

"No."

The saintess answered, "The purpose of this lesson of mine is not to teach you how to be a saintess."

"Eh? Then what is it?"

"What I want to teach you is how to be a good person."

"How... to be a good person?"

Little Lea tilted her head in distress. Her little brain seemed still unable to understand something so complicated.

"Yes, little Lea."

The saintess said seriously, "The good person you are to be is not to save everyone, but... to save the people you want to save. As for those you don't want to save, let them die."

"B-but doesn't this run counter to the saintess's dogma?"

Little Lea froze for a moment, her two eyebrows drawing together, as if her worldview had taken quite a hit. "A saintess needs to be selfless, needs to be devoted, but this... this is just selfishness."

"It is selfishness."

The saintess vigorously rubbed Lea's little head and let out a soft sigh:

"You always think too much. The higher you stand, the easier it is for some things to blind your eyes."

"So at times like this, you must cast aside those complicated things, such as identity, such as gains and losses, such as all the rules of this world."

"You must make your choice simply as Lea. For a kind person, selfishness is not necessarily a bad thing."

The saintess suddenly bent down and asked seriously:

"Then answer me, little Lea—will you always be kind?"

"Of course!"

Little Lea raised her brows high and answered without hesitation:

"I will always be that kind Lea!"

For ten years, day after day.

Every effort of Lea Angel did not spring from a desire for the saintess's authority and the reverence of others.

Rather... from her most simple kindness.

She wants to save more people; that has never changed.

"Then..."

The saintess's lips curved.

Suddenly, the world shifted.

All the afterimages of memory vanished, and things returned to their original state.

Only the saintess's image seemed to linger before her eyes.

But at this moment, the saintess was no longer the saintess.

She slowly raised her head and revealed a face... exactly the same as Lea's.

Lea looked at Lea and smiled:

"Then, the thing that the kindest Lea in this world wants to save at all costs must be the most precious treasure in this world, mustn't it."

...

The sun still burned the souls of sinners.

Seeing Lea suddenly go dazed and fall silent, the rabbit, holding the pickaxe in its hands, dug here and scraped there, then scratched its head in agitation.

In the end, it stomped its foot and blurted out that sentence:

"He said... he likes you!"

In the sudden brief silence, Lea finally moved.

She slowly turned her head, then nodded hard, tears streaming down her face.

"Mm, me too."

...

...

"Black Book, save me!!!"

After learning the tragic outcome of being eroded by these resentments, Moen immediately brought out his ultimate trump card.

"Black-raemon, you definitely have a way, right!"

[...]

[Sorry, I can help, but only a little.]

"A little?"

Moen was stunned. "What do you mean, only a little?"

[I can help stabilize your soul, so that when you turn into a monster... you can barely maintain a human form.]

"What good is barely being human-shaped?"

Moen erupted in anger. "Isn't that still a monster? A humanoid monster just makes it easier, when the Church catches me, to tie me better to the stake, right!"

[After all, it's resentment from a million people, and with the seed left by the dark god, right now you basically can only rely on your own will to pull through.]

[However, perhaps...]

"Perhaps?"

But the Black Book did not show anything more; with a slight shiver, it once again burrowed into the depths of Moen's consciousness.

"Damn it!"

Moen was aghast. "How are you this unreliable too?"

But at this moment he no longer had time to wonder whether the Black Book had been infected by that old loli, because the extreme pain had already arrived.

A chilling breath drilled into his body, as if he were in a nest of serpents.

Noisy whispers echoed by his ears, like a summons from hell.

Black mist surged; Moen felt as if the flesh beneath his skin had come alive, and his blood and meat began to wriggle on their own.

This was a deformity brought by corruption. Before long, Moen saw, on the back of his hand, a pitch-black eye abruptly open.

"Damn!!"

Gritting his teeth, Moen tore off the eye along with the flesh in one go:

"I sure as hell won't become a monster—not even a human-shaped one!!"

At this moment his own eyes were already blood-red; he was relying on his will to resist the erosion of the corruption.

But this was, after all, the resentment of a million people. Even if Elizabeth could help him block part of it, even if the coolness emanating from the Black Book did leave his consciousness much clearer,

Moen still felt himself teetering. If not for his mind and will, trained day and night in the Black Book and made incomparably tough, he would already have been crushed into dregs and completely turned into a twisted monster.

Darkness still enshrouded him; he could only support everything alone. It was clearly a sun he had kindled himself, yet he could not share the slightest warmth from it.

At this moment Moen seemed to be walking along the edge of the Abyss—one step, then another—sliding deeper... deeper...

Until...

"Moen."

Suddenly, the darkness of the Abyss was torn open by a beam of light.

He heard a familiar voice.

And... a familiar warmth.

Even the cold and the pain seemed to diminish, the pressure easing sharply.

Moen's muddied, blood-red gaze gradually regained clarity. He lowered his head and saw the girl who had thrown herself into his arms.

"Lea, you..."

Moen froze for a moment, then snapped:

"Y-You, how are you here? Go, go! Do you know what you're doing?!"

"Mm, of course I do."

Lea nodded lightly. The crystal in her palm floated up; the once-lustrous gem was now tainted with filth.

"I came... to save you," she whispered.

"Save me? Do you know what you're saying?"

Mustering what little strength he had, Moen grabbed Lea by the shoulders:

"You're about to fulfill your wish and become a saintess. Why would you do this... I don't need your salvation!"

"But..."

Lea gazed at the face that was now etched into the deepest part of her soul and said:

"I've already found what I treasure most. Protecting what is precious—that's what you've always been doing too, right, Moen?"

"But you..."

"I know. I'll be stained with these sins as well."

Lea hugged Moen tighter and said without a trace of doubt:

"But I came to bear them with you. The holy light within me is already exhausted, so this is all I can do."

"And besides..."

Lea pointed. "I'm not the only one who came."

Moen, startled, lifted his head and found that, at some point, ethereal figures had gathered around him.

They were remnants of souls—those whom Moen and Lea had saved from endless torment.

"Hey."

The little girl in a dirty dress tilted her head and said with a smile:

"You were right. The sun really is very, very warm."

"Rabbit..."

"Don't be sad. Now isn't the time to be sad."

Rabbit rose on tiptoe, patted Moen's shoulder, and said:

"For you, even I, a straight shooter, took the long way around for a long time. Hang in there."

Rabbit stepped forward and brushed past Moen.

More soul remnants brushed past him.

In that instant, Moen heard their words.

"Thank you."

"You... are not a sinner."

The darkness was torn apart, and beams of light descended.

The brightest of them shone upon the man and woman in their embrace.

Moen watched those remnants smile and fade one by one. At last he drew a deep breath, turned, and bent down to look at that familiar, cute face.

In the bright sunlight, Moen could clearly see the feelings contained in those beautiful eyes.

After a brief silence, Moen spoke in a hoarse voice:

"I... am a scumbag."

"Mm."

Lea let out a snort of laughter. "I knew from the very beginning."

"I'm not a good person either."

"Mm, you're a bad guy."

"I have ties to the dark god. Did you see? Those flames come from the King of Wither."

"Mm, I know."

"I'm killing a million people."

"Mm, I saw."

"I'm not worth saving."

"Mm, in other people's eyes, perhaps."

Lea caressed Moen's face:

"But even if everyone else in the world thinks you aren't worth saving, I'll still come to save you."

"Because I'm your saintess—yours alone, one of a kind."

"Just as you are my knight."

Lea threw her arms around Moen's neck, rose on tiptoe, and pressed her soft, rosy lips to his:

"I like you, Moen."

.........

.........

【Lust Progress: 100%】

.........

End of this volume.

P.S., Happy New Year.