Wasn’t This a Night Game

Not a Bad First Encounter

One thing needed to be made clear first.

My goal is to get hit by the curse extracted from the princess’s body and only *I* die, not to kill the princess, who grew up tragically abused.

To protect the princess while extracting the fragment of the evil god, it was obvious that I needed to know more about the fragment of the evil god.

I went to the White Order.

“Saint! Dulanear’s servant greets the Saint of Healing.”

The priests bowed their heads low enough to be burdensome, but for me now, it was a good thing.

“I wish to access information pertaining to the fragment of an evil god.”

“A fragment of an evil god, you say?”

“Bring me all information. Conceal nothing from me.”

“Of course!”

Even if I am a false saint, having the title of ‘saint’ is certainly convenient.

I can freely access the White Order’s highest-grade secret archives, a place even high priests struggle to enter.

There, I began to scour everything, from moldering old texts on parchment to the latest material printed on crisp paper.

Information on the fragment of an evil god.

A method to safely extract it without further tormenting the already mentally and spiritually unstable host.

And a way to apply its destructive power solely to myself and make it vanish, without harming those around me.

Is there nothing?

I sat on the floor, unmoving, and for more than half a day, I devoured and re-devoured every piece of information.

The White Order’s priests seemed to marvel at my dedication.

“To agonize so over the eradication of evil!……”

“Behold! Even a saint from another order is so zealous for evil’s destruction! Will you, chosen by Dullahanir, stand idly by?! You must strive even harder!”

They even brought young acolytes, as if on a field trip, to show me off.

I don’t mind.

In exchange for unrestricted access to these confidential documents, I can be a temporary zoo monkey.

And after nearly half a day, frantically searching and examining all manner of texts…

I finally found a way to protect the princess while safely extracting the source of the curse.

[If the connection with the host’s soul has weakened due to endless divine magic, the fragment of the evil god will seek out and move toward another soul nearby. At this time, if someone the host relies on mentally is nearby, the fragment will prioritize targeting them and attempting to transfer to their soul.]

[Therefore, if the connection between the soul and the fragment is weakened, no one – family, lovers, children – should ever be near the host. It will immediately transfer and settle within the new host’s soul. The original host will be saved, but the long and arduous task of weakening the connection between the newly created host’s soul and the fragment must be done again.]

So, if I become someone Princess Iomene relies on, the fragment will jump out and burrow into my soul!

And let’s see.

I think this is what I read in this parchment, roughly?

Ah.

Here it is!

After Princess Iomene’s fragment of the evil god transfers to me.

[If you are not concerned about the host’s soul, at least three or more priests can simultaneously use the miracle of Evil-Breaking (破惡) to eliminate the fragment of the evil god within the soul. The fragment will emit a powerful curse at the moment of destruction, destroying the host’s soul, but immediately after. The fragment will be forever extinguished.]

I can go to the priests and ask them to cast the miracle of exorcism on me, sacrificing my soul to eliminate the fragment of the evil god!

They’ll want to stop the end of the world, so they’ll have no choice but to listen!

Soul shattered!

Korea reborn!

Perfect.

The problem is, how do I make the princess rely on me?

The first thought that popped into my head was, can’t I just put her under absolute hypnosis and make her think, “I can’t live without Amael!”

But after 16 years of horrific abuse that I don’t even want to imagine, is the kid’s mental state even intact?

She’s attempted suicide several times, and I’m worried that if I use absolute hypnosis on someone with that kind of mental state and mess with their mind, their mental state will crumble like a cookie before she even falls in love with me.

It was a possibility, but if that happens, Princess Almen, whose soul is connected, will die too, and then the Emperor will, of course, not leave me alone.

If my soul is destroyed by a curse and not executed in the usual way, and I die with my soul intact and go to the afterlife, then of course.

Hellbound train.

Shit.

I don’t want to take that risk.

Got any other choice?

Gotta meet Princess Iomene, soothe her, coax her, make her rely on me so she’ll bring the Fragment of the Evil God into my soul.

Then I get blessed by the Miracle of Parma, destroy the Evil God’s fragment, and with the curse that erupts, my soul gets wrecked, and then, it’s back to Korea for me.

The Princess gets saved.

I rose from my seat.

“I am grateful for your great kindness.”

“Anytime! You can come back anytime!”

“Thank you.”

I bowed and left the White Order.

*

That evening.

The Imperial Palace.

I arrived before the detached palace where Princess Iomene was being held.

The detached palace, once likely beautiful, now wore a grotesque, unsettling face.

All sorts of grand magic circles and holy relics were installed around the detached palace, and what looked like charms were plastered all over the walls and door.

Suddenly, did the genre shift from fantasy to occult?

“Saint. The curse is dangerous. You must enter wearing this protective suit.”

From amongst the mages and priests waiting outside the detached palace, one mage extends a thick suit of armor towards me.

Just looking at it, it’s like some kind of radiation suit.

Going in wearing something like that, it’s so obvious, screams “I’m wary of you!”

“I won’t wear it.”

“Eh? Saint! It’s a curse! Not just any curse, but a high-level, pure curse directly inflicted by a shard of an Evil God!!”

I ain’t scared at all.

I’m trying my damn hardest to get killed by that curse, why would I be scared?

Getting hit would be a thank you, more like. No need to go to all the trouble of extracting the Evil God’s shard, my soul would just be destroyed outright.

Plus, I need to make the Princess Iomene rely on me, what would she think of me if I went in wearing that?

“Wouldn’t Princess Iomene be hurt if I went in wearing something like that?”

“……”

The mage looks at me, his face filled with emotion.

Emotion my ass.

I’m just fighting tooth and nail to get cursed and die so I can go back to Korea.

“Her not being hurt is more important than me getting hurt.”

I say that, then refuse the protective suit and slowly.

Carefully enter the detached palace.

Opening the detached palace door, covered haphazardly with talismans and magic circles, and slowly stepping inside, the first thing I feel is a bone-chilling coldness.

As if for a very long time.

A feeling like there hasn’t been a single trace of human warmth.

Of course, the physical temperature of the detached palace was normal, but still.

That kind of feeling.

After the sound of the detached palace doors closing, I took a shallow breath.

It’s important to make the Princess dependent on me.

She’s a child who’s lived through 16 years of abuse.

Carefully.

It’s important to get to know her slowly, without rushing.

“Princess Iomene?”

I wandered around here and there in the detached palace.

But nowhere, nowhere at all, was Princess Iomene to be seen.

Only the scenery of the detached palace, excessively clean and excessively empty, greeted me.

This atmosphere… It’s like something out of a Tsukuru horror game.

-The detached palace seems empty.

-Where could Princess Iomene be?

-Ah!

Isn’t this the kind of atmosphere where an explanation window pops up, and then the Princess is right behind you, a total jump scare?

…..Ugh, shit!!

She really was behind me!!

Startled to my core by the sudden rustling, I spun around to see a girl who looked exactly like Princess Almene, whom I’d met not long ago, just staring at me silently.

The difference, of course, was the wings.

A pair of colossal black wings, sprouted from her back, flapped as if to consume almost the entirety of the detached palace’s hallway.

Unlike the Almene Princess, Princess Iomene kept her right eye closed.

Probably that’s the magic, sealing the connection ‘tween souls, right?

Ragged clothes.

Empty, a vacant feeling impossible to decipher in those dead eyes.

A blank face.

The trifecta of creepiness complete.

Princess Iomene, not saying a word, just stared at me, her gaze shining with the light of a broken thing.

I swallowed, a dry click in my throat, and offered her a smile.

My smile seemed to startle her.

A flinch, a step back, and I spoke cautiously,

“Greetings. Princess. Jericho Amael, at your service. It’s… good to meet you.”

Princess Iomene offered no reply, not even to my words.

Could she be mute?

Entirely possible.

“You needn’t be wary. I’m not here to harm you.”

Coming in without a hazmat suit… maybe that was the right call, after all.

She was looking at me with a face impossible to read, but at least she wasn’t displaying any aggression, wasn’t screaming.

That, at least, was a small mercy.

“I’ve come to heal you…”

But then, the very next instant.

Or, to be more precise, the moment I utter that word, “treatment,” aloud.

Princess Iomene snaps.

“aaagh!!!”

She erupts with a sound like a beast, seized by a fit.

Her hand, flailing wildly, leaves a long gash on my forearm.

A self-inflicted wound so deep, so profoundly deep, that it’s unthinkable it could be just a scratch, and of course, blood begins to gush.

Aow!

Fuck, that hurts like hell!

Still!…….

Manageable.

The wound?

Not scary in the slightest.

‘Cause I got Body Modification, see?

[Using Body Modification on self!]

The split skin knits back together, the blood vanishes.

I show the Princess Iomene the whole damn spectacle.

The wound heals in a flash, disappears, and the Princess, who’d been screaming and roaring like a beast, falls silent, stares at me.

For the first time, something that could be called an emotion flickers in her eyes.

Astonishment.

Or perhaps, wonderment.

“Strange, isn’t it? The principle, I don’t quite grasp myself, but I have the ability to heal people.”

I spoke the words with a cheerful lilt, but the Princess didn’t reply.

I even doubted if she understood what I said.

Staring at me, expressionless, she seemed closer to a beast than a person.

Suddenly.

The young Princess before my eyes seemed pitiable.

Only nineteen, barely past her coming-of-age ceremony.

A time when she should be out having fun with friends, buying cosmetics, and eating *tteokbokki*, yet instead, saddled with a gloomy black wing, she lives alone in this detached palace, fit for an occult ritual.

And she can’t even speak, it seems.

It’s not strange.

A woman who has lived through sixteen years of torture.

To expect her to be normal would be even stranger.

I intended to make her dependent on me, but if her mental state is almost that of a beast, wouldn’t it be better to build trust as one would with a real animal?

Alright.

Then, I shall do just that.

Slowly, I approached the Princess.

And cautiously.

As one might extend a hand to a wary cat.

I placed my hand on her head.

She didn’t move.

Just stared at me, blank-faced.

She quietly endured my head pats.

While I was at it, gave her condition a quick scan with my skill, and just as I suspected.

Hidden beneath her ragged clothes were a staggering number of self-inflicted wounds.

And her body… you’d doubt it belonged to a nineteen-year-old girl, so terribly thin.

Wretched.

If only I could just extract and eliminate that shard of the Evil God with my skill…

[Skill can only be cast on living creatures!]

As if reading my mind, the skill window flashed a notification before my eyes.

Right, the shard of an Evil God wouldn’t exactly be a living thing.

Damn it.

If I could just use my skill, one shot would do it.

No choice, then.

First, I neatly erased the self-inflicted marks from her body.

Her skeletal frame, likely from lack of food and sleep, I altered to match Princess Almene’s figure from yesterday.

[Body Modification Unavailable!]

The only thing I couldn’t change were her wings; the moment I tried to remove them, I felt someone outside deliberately interfering, and the skill bounced back.

Predictable.

Those wings sprouted because of the shard of the Evil God, so it was bound to interfere with their removal.

Right, I reckon that’s enough for now.

Once the healing was done, the princess, like a cat feeling a tickle, let out a throaty purr, then backed away, gazing at herself.

The wounds were gone, and she noticed how her scrawny frame had filled out nicely with flesh and muscle. The princess broke her blank face, replaced with a blatant look of surprise.

Seeing her flustered, inspecting her own body, made me chuckle.

Looks good, doesn’t it.

Her reaction is cuter than I expected, too.

That’s all for today.

Can’t go too fast, not all at once, she might get startled.

“Tomorrow. I’ll come again. Please, meet me again tomorrow. So don’t get hurt, don’t get sick, and wait for me.”

I said that to her with a smile, but Princess Iomene just stood there, frozen, unable to answer.

I left the detached palace.

Seemed like not a bad first meeting, thankfully.