Chapter 39: You Only Ever Think About Yourself

“What are you talking about?” 

Aiko frowned. 

“Young Master Abel didn’t use me. I chose to follow him of my own free will.”

“Free will?” 

Ingrid’s voice rose sharply. 

“You’ve been brainwashed! First he stole my championship, stole the Hero title that should have been mine, then he used sweet words to lure you away. That man destroyed everything I had!”

“Ingrid!” Aiko’s tone turned stern. 

“Snap out of it! Young Master Abel didn’t steal anything! The championship was never guaranteed to be yours, and the Hero title is something he earned. He saved so many people—including your life!”

“He saved me?” 

Ingrid’s eyes grew even wilder. 

“He could have arrived earlier! He could have stopped all of it! But he didn’t! He deliberately waited until after the disaster to show up—just so he could play the hero and reap both fame and fortune!”

Aiko felt a deep wave of exhaustion.

“Ingrid, you’re very ill,” she said softly. 

“You need treatment. You need rest. Not to run after me like this.”

“I’m not ill!” Ingrid roared. 

“I’m perfectly clear-headed! Clear-headed enough to know that man is a liar!”

She took a step forward, reaching out, her voice turning pitiful and pleading.

“Aiko, come back with me. Didn’t we promise each other? To stay together forever, to be best friends for life. Have you forgotten? All those days we spent in the church, all the missions we carried out together, all the times we sneaked out to play, all the nights we lay on the roof watching the stars…”

“So, so, Aiko, please don’t betray me, okay?”

Aiko’s eyes grew slightly moist.

She hadn’t forgotten.

How could she forget those memories?

But…

“Ingrid,” she took a deep breath, forcing her voice to stay steady, “those really were beautiful memories. But… we were only ordinary friends. Where does this talk of betrayal even come from?”

Ingrid froze.

“Ordinary friends?” 

She repeated the four words as if she had never heard them before. 

“You’re saying… we were only ordinary friends?”

“Yes.” Aiko lowered her gaze. 

“Church companions, childhood playmates. Nothing more.”

“Enough, Aiko!” 

Ingrid’s voice turned piercing. 

“You know in your heart whether we were ordinary friends or not! Have you forgotten all those… those feelings between us? Just for the position of Saintess, you’re throwing away years of affection like it’s nothing?!”

Aiko’s heart was stabbed hard.

She remembered those late-night whispers, those secret moments of holding hands, those hidden heart-flutters that only the two of them knew.

But she also remembered the cold, ungrateful words Ingrid had thrown at Young Master Abel.

Her heart hardened.

“The position of Saintess—yes, the position of Saintess…” 

Aiko lifted her eyes and stared straight at Ingrid. “Can you give me that?”

Ingrid froze again.

“You…” She opened her mouth but could not speak.

A cold smile curved Aiko’s lips.

“You can’t,” she said, each word distinct. 

“You’re just an ordinary holy knight with no power or influence. You can’t even control your own emotions. What can you possibly give me?”

Ingrid’s face turned even paler.

It hadn’t been like this before! She had a bright future and a happy, complete family. 

But now…

“And Young Master Abel,” Aiko continued, “he saved me. He remembered me. He gave me the right to follow him. By his side, I can do more, I can help more people. That is what a truly meaningful life looks like.”

She turned, ready to leave.

“Wait!”

Ingrid lunged forward, dropping to her knees and seizing Aiko’s hand.

Her grip was strong; it hurt Aiko’s wrist.

But what shocked Aiko more was the look on Ingrid’s face.

It was no longer madness or rage—it was a desperate, almost broken plea.

“Aiko, I beg you…” 

Ingrid clutched her hand tightly, tears pouring down. 

“Don’t go… please don’t go… I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said those things… but, but I really can’t lose you…”

Aiko looked down at her.

Under the moonlight, the silver-haired female knight knelt on the ground, tears streaming across her face like an abandoned, wounded cub.

Aiko’s heart trembled.

But she did not crouch down, did not help her up, and did not offer a single word of comfort.

“Ingrid,” her voice was soft yet cold, “after so many years together, of course there is affection. But that affection… cannot outweigh your ungrateful treatment of the person who saved your life.”

Ingrid shuddered violently.

“As long as you come back to me,” she looked up, eyes filled with a despairing hope, “I’ll do anything! I swear! I can apologize, I can admit I was wrong, I can—”

“Anything?”

Aiko cut her off, a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

“You’re just an ordinary holy knight,” she said, each word measured, “yet you claim you can shoulder my entire life?”

Ingrid opened her mouth but could not speak.

She could not.

She could give nothing.

“If you can’t do it, don’t say it so lightly.” 

Aiko gently pulled her hand free and took a step back. 

“Words like ‘I’ll do anything’ carry far too much weight.”

“You only ever think about yourself.”

Ingrid remained kneeling in place, staring blankly after her.

Moonlight flowed over her silver hair, illuminating the tear-streaked face.

All the light in those honey-gold eyes was slowly extinguishing.

Aiko gave her one last glance.

That glance contained far too much—past affection, present resolve.

“Don’t come looking for me again. I’m afraid Young Master Abel would misunderstand. You and I are not the same.”

Then she turned and walked away without looking back.

Her footsteps gradually faded.

Only Ingrid remained in the woods.

She knelt on the ground, tears falling silently.

After a long time, she lowered her head, hands braced against the earth, shoulders shaking violently.

“Aiko… Aiko…”

She murmured the name, her voice shattered beyond recognition.

The night wind swept through the treetops with a sobbing sound.

The moonlight shone coldly, illuminating the silver-haired knight kneeling in the darkness and the broken shards of her heart.

“Oh dear, oh dear, how did a heartbroken little kitten end up here?”

Hm?

The voice that suddenly sounded right beside her ear jolted Ingrid out of her grief. 

She spun around sharply and met a pair of demonic eyes whose pupils were shaped like stars.

“You—who are you?!”

“Who am I?” 

The other girl shook her head and grinned. 

“I’m not a person anymore. Or rather, I used to be?”

Ingrid’s breathing quickened. 

There was something wrong with this girl! Just standing there gave Ingrid an extremely ominous feeling!

Starry eyes, a purple-red ponytail, and an expression that made no attempt to hide its malice.

This appearance…

Ingrid felt a faint sense of recognition.

“You… you’re the second…”

She could not finish the sentence. The girl’s fingertip had already pressed against her forehead, a malicious curve on her lips. 

“Shh, keep it down. It wouldn’t be any fun if people found out I’m still alive!”

“Oh, right, right—you’re very sad right now, very hurt, aren’t you? Ahhh, crying all alone like this is just too pitiful, don’t you think?”

“Mhm, mhm, mhm—you want to take back everything that’s yours? How about I help you?”

“Let’s destroy this world together!”