Chapter 31: A Mere Holy Knight, Easily Corrupted 

Aiya struggled faintly, the holy light in her pupils gradually fading.  

In a trance, a pair of pitch-black wings enveloped her from behind, soothing her mind, and the world fell silent.  

Her consciousness sank, fragments of past memories flickering like a slideshow.  

***

“Aiya, a big road or a small path—which do you think we should take?”  

At six years old, Aiya was out exploring with her village friends when they came to a fork in the road. 

Everyone looked to her for a decision.  

Excitedly, Aiya made her choice. “The small path! It’s more interesting!”  

***

“We took the small path and got attacked by wolves!”  

“Waaah… Mommy… my leg got bitten off by a wolf…”  

“It’s all Aiya’s fault! Why’d you pick the small path? If you’d kept quiet, no one would’ve gotten hurt!”  

Faced with their accusations, Aiya could only bow her head and apologize.

“I’m sorry…”  

She was overwhelmed with regret. If only she hadn’t made that decision.  

Since she couldn’t make good choices, maybe it was better to never decide anything again.  

***

“My little Aiya’s all grown up!”  

On her birthday, a blonde, beautiful woman sat in their cramped room, joyfully blowing out the candles on the cake with her daughter.  

“Come on, tell Mommy, what do you want to do when you grow up? Work with me in trade? Study at the Magic Academy? Or train at the city’s monastery?”  

Aiya shook her head blankly. “I… I don’t know…”  

Born in a village, she’d never had formal education and didn’t know what the Magic Academy or the church even were.  

“Hmm… Mommy thinks you’re strong and healthy, perfect for being a knight. What do you think, Aiya?”  

“Then a knight, I guess…”  

***

“From now on, you must abandon your own thoughts, your own personality, your entire self, and serve solely as executors of the Goddess of Judgment’s will.”  

The knight instructor, whip in hand, coldly surveyed the young women before him, Aiya among them.  

“The duty of a Judgment Knight is to judge evil. Anything dark or wicked is guilty! They are our enemies!”  

“Sir, how do we determine what’s guilty?”  

“You don’t need to know too much. The church has its own standards. Follow them, and you’ll be fine.”  

“Yes, sir!”  

***

“Waaah… Lady Knight, why did you kill them?”  

In a remote village, Aiya’s skirt armor was stained with blood, bodies of emaciated villagers lying at her feet.  

“I don’t know, but the Bishop said they were evildoers who deserved the harshest judgment.”  

“No! You don’t even know why! They were just defenseless civilians! They only took up arms because the greedy lord seized their property!”  

“But the Bishop told me…”  

“Get out, you lackey of the lord and the church! Get out!”  

***

Back at the Judgment Church, Aiya washed the blood from her body, her expression downcast.  

“Lord Bishop, did I do something wrong?”  

“No, you did well. Due to your consistently outstanding performance, the priests have unanimously decided to recommend you to the Pope to become a Chosen of the Goddess.”  

“A Chosen?”  

“Yes, it’s the highest honor!”  

***

“Did you hear? The new Chosen is that Aiya girl.”  

During a break from training, two knights whispered to each other.  

“Seems like it’s because she always completes her missions flawlessly. Heh, good thing she can kill so many people without batting an eye.”  

“Yeah, some of those mission details make my skin crawl, but she just keeps doing them one after another. She’s no different from a cold-blooded beast, right?”  

“Even a beast might hesitate after killing that many…”  

***

“You’re the new Chosen of the Goddess? You look kind of… dull.”  

In a lavish, ornate study, Aiya stood expressionless before a young girl. 

“My name is Aiya. From today, I am your personal guard.”  

“Hah, you’re so stiff. Can you really protect me? I’m the third princess of the Rose Kingdom. You may address me as Your Highness.”  

“Yes, Your Highness.”  

***

“Aiya, isn’t it boring following me around every day?”  

“Not at all. Protecting Your Highness is my duty.”  

“I heard next month a big group of otherworld travelers will arrive in this world. This princess is quite curious about them. Why don’t you go observe them on my behalf?”  

“Yes, Your Highness.”  

***

In a pitch-black void, Bai Yue Ling silently observed Aiya’s past life.  

“No wonder you’re so indecisive. You went through something like that as a child.”  

At this moment, Bai Yue Ling was like a sun dyed black with ink, her dark wings unfurling, radiating a corrupt and fallen light.  

Beside her, Aiya sat on the ground in a “duck-sitting” pose, her slender fingers clutching her golden curls, desperately resisting the mental assault.  

“Ugh… just kill me…” Her voice squeezed through gritted teeth. “I won’t fall. I carry the will of the Goddess…”  

Bai Yue Ling sighed softly, gazing down at her with pity. “No need to put up a front.”  

“No, my faith is steadfast…”  

“Following someone else’s will in everything, never having your own opinions—doesn’t that make life pretty meaningless?”  

Aiya fell silent for a moment. “…I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being indecisive.”  

“A caged bird wouldn’t know how beautiful the scenery of the wild is.”  

“No, if my decisions only mess things up, it’s better to follow others’ orders…”  

Aiya’s voice was weak, her consciousness growing murkier, while the surrounding darkness and corruption became ever clearer.  

Suddenly, her vision was filled with a pair of snowy, voluptuous thighs. 

Bai Yue Ling slowly bent down, her delicate fingers lifting Aiya’s chin, staring at her with mocking amusement.  

“So your choice is to willingly be the church’s executioner?”  

“Executioner?!” Aiya glared angrily at Bai Yue Ling. “I won’t allow you to blaspheme my faith!”  

“Faith?” Bai Yue Ling raised an eyebrow. 

“Didn’t we just see it? You’ve aided the wicked, killed unarmed civilians. Is that your faith too?”  

Aiya’s voice grew heavy. “That was the Bishop’s orders…”  

“But you knew exactly what you were doing, didn’t you?”  

Bai Yue Ling gently pushed Aiya to the ground, standing with her feet by Aiya’s shoulders, looking down with disdain.  

“With your skirt and hands stained with the blood of the innocent, how are you any different from the darkness and evil you despise?”  

“No, that’s not true, I…”  

Aiya opened her mouth but couldn’t find words to refute.  

She was a person with a conscience and knew she was helping the church commit atrocities, yet she didn’t know how to refuse their commands.  

From childhood, she had always followed others’ words, long forgetting what it felt like to decide for herself.  

Now, with Bai Yue Ling’s prompting, she finally faced her actions objectively.  

“So that’s it… All this time, I’ve been doing dark and evil things…”  

Aiya’s pupils shrank as she recalled how she had repeatedly followed the Bishop’s orders, allowing them to send her across the world to judge so-called “sinners.”  

“What Judgment Court? What Chosen of the Goddess? Just a bunch of murderers who abandon their principles for profit…”  

Her chest heaved violently, her once-pristine hands now seemingly drenched in blood. 

Gradually, she found the surrounding dark aura less repulsive.  

“What’s the difference between our church and darkness? Shouldn’t we be the ones judged?”  

Aiya murmured softly, her golden hair, symbolizing purity, slowly taking on a dark hue, her white dress turning inky as if stained by spilled ink.  

Suddenly, she clung tightly to Bai Yue Ling’s thigh, pleading desperately, “Little White, what should I do?”  

She kept denying herself, denying her faith, her mental pillar crumbling, her consciousness teetering on collapse.  

For someone as indecisive as her, finding a new pillar of belief on her own was impossible.  

Letting Aiya knead her voluptuous, snowy thighs, Bai Yue Ling gave a charming smile.  

“If you don’t know what to do, then accept my power.”  

“But you’re dark and evil…”  

“I’ll accept ‘dark,’ but ‘evil’ is a bit much.” Bai Yue Ling shook her head. 

“I won’t claim to be noble or kind, but at least I’m not a hypocrite like those bishops. I won’t send you to slaughter defenseless civilians.”  

“But darkness is the embodiment of evil, it’s sinful.”  

“That’s just the ideology the bishops forced on you. Are you still going to believe their nonsense?” Bai Yue Ling pointed at herself. 

“Come on, Aiya, judge for yourself. Am I an irredeemable demon, or just a slightly naughty busty girl?”  

Aiya carefully studied the cute girl before her. 

She couldn’t tell how “naughty” she was, but one thing was certain—she was a silver-haired, busty girl.  

Though she had killed many otherworld travelers, they could resurrect, so it didn’t count.  

Aiya asked hesitantly, “Can you tell me… what’s the purpose behind your actions?”  

“Purpose?”  

Bai Yue Ling chuckled, then spread her arms and shouted to the heavens:  

“My purpose is to corrupt more beautiful, alluring big sisters, just like I’m doing to you now!”  

Beautiful, alluring… big sisters?  

Is she talking about me?  

Aiya froze, the temporary mental link from the corruption letting her sense that Bai Yue Ling was speaking the truth.  

That purpose… was kind of adorably simple.  

Bai Yue Ling placed her hands on her hips, looking down at her. 

“So, Miss Aiya, are you willing to accept my power of corruption, abandon your identity as a Judgment Knight, and join my dark faction?”  

Aiya asked again, puzzled, “What’s ‘corruption’?”  

“It’s a darkness darker than darkness, a fall deeper than the abyss…” 

Bai Yue Ling paused. “It’s the power I use to protect myself.”  

Aiya fell silent for a long time.  

She was weighing her radiant faith against the darkness she had always despised, making her final choice.  

At last, her dazzling eyes were gradually overtaken by black mist.  

Aiya felt something she had clung to shatter, but it made her feel freer than ever.  

“I accept.”  

“Good.”  

Bai Yue Ling spread her arms, dark wings unfurling behind her, a surge of corrupt power bursting forth.  

Aiya chose to embrace the power of corruption, stepping onto the path of Fallen Heaven.  

It wasn’t that she had betrayed her faith.  

Her faith had betrayed her.  

At the same time, a system.prompt rang in Bai Yue Ling’s ears.  

[You have successfully applied the “Corruption” status to the target “Aiya.”]  

[Aiya’s current corruption value: 50%.]