Free Web NovelTo save mana, Vieya had already reduced her expenditure to the minimum.
A pity...
“The higher you fly, the smaller you appear to those who cannot.”
Vieya moved her foot off Anna’s chest, not bothering to look at her furious, humiliated expression.
Sorry, I didn’t know you’d suddenly counterattack.
If I had, I’d have kicked your ass instead.
“If this hurt your pride, then I’ll apologize,” Vieya said. “Really.”
“......”
Hearing that, Anna’s mindset instantly cracked apart.
That detached, lofty manner—as though humoring a child in play—and her own disgraceful pose, lying beaten in the muddy street... all of it filled her with humiliation.
Since when had her heart grown this fragile?
Yet that careless attitude made Anna unable to stop remembering those days in the Royal Capital, when the rulers dismissed her with the same indifference—
“Hero? That isn’t something you should think about. You just need to slay monsters.”
The same tone, the same apathy.
With a few words they dictated the actions of the second-ranked Hero, and she had no right to refuse.
But...
Was slaying monsters enough?
Would killing monsters stop humans from turning their swords on each other?
Would killing monsters stop despair from being born among humans?
Would killing monsters make the world better?
Was killing monsters all it took to be a good Hero, to be loved and welcomed?
Could it?
Couldn’t it?
—What a joke!
Humiliation and pain made Anna’s face flush red.
Her azure eyes glared at Vieya. Her neat black dress was dirtied, her carefully combed golden hair disheveled.
Why?
Why was the power she had gained by abandoning everything, by carrying infamy, so fragile? With what could she possibly change the world like this?
“Why...”
Anna lay on the rain-soaked street, dirty droplets splashing her pale face, wet golden hair clinging in strands.
But those sky-blue eyes still locked onto Vieya, as if demanding an answer.
“I lost. Why didn’t you kill me?”
When she chose the path of defection, Anna had long been prepared to die, prepared to give her life for her belief.
Yet when death truly came, her heart was still full of unwillingness.
Pathetic.
After receiving power from an evil god, her first mission ended in utter defeat. She gained nothing, and even lost everything she had brought.
It seemed failure would be the only companion in her short life.
“Kill me. Perhaps that’s fitting for a new Hero child...”
“You’re just going to give up like that?”
Vieya paused, then suddenly crouched down, using her clean white sleeve to gently wipe the mud off Anna’s cheek.
A dirty big dog would never be liked.
“I thought you’d give me more amusement—more resistance, more information. After all, I’m not the Hero you think I am. I’m just a wandering ghost drifting through the world.”
“Not a Hero?”
Anna froze for a second, then quickly smoothed her expression, closed her eyes, and said softly: “There’s no need to lie to me. Even if I’ve defected for years, I could never misjudge the power of a Hero.”
“My only mistake was assuming you were a fledgling Hero,” Anna murmured, still with eyes shut. “Perhaps to you, I’m the fledgling Hero. Or maybe you’re the same as me—not a pure Hero at all...”
Even after defecting, she still insisted she was a Hero?
Strange.
Living in one camp, yet heart tied to another? Not like this.
“......”
Vieya stood again, looking down at the battered Anna. She rummaged in her pocket, eyes suddenly lighting up at what she touched.
“?”
Confused, Anna cracked open one eye, sneaking a glance. What are you doing?
A pale-blue potion appeared in Vieya’s hand. Her cold little face showed a faint smile.
“Big doggy, be good. Drink this potion. Once you drink, I’ll surrender and help you with your evil ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ god master’s task.”
Calling her “big doggy” at their first meeting—blatant humiliation!
And such childish trickery—did she think Anna would fall for it?
Anna ground her teeth. If looks could kill, the white-haired brat before her would already be dead a thousand times.
“Enough! Don’t mock me with that! Have Heroes fallen so low?!”
Anna roared like a lion. “And you think victory gives you the right to insult my dignity? Then—kill me!”
Her resistance was absolute. She would rather die than bend.
Vieya frowned, pinched Anna’s nose with one hand, and forced the potion into her mouth with the other.
“Mmf... you! Gulp... gulp... wha—!”
“Swallow.”
“Mmm... you bastard, I’ll... kill... gulp!” freewёbnoνel.com
“Don’t spit it out!”
Vieya grabbed Anna’s jaw, tilting her head slightly back, forcing the liquid down her throat.
“Ugh... cough!”
Anna gagged and choked, golden hair plastered to her pale cheeks, looking like a frail young noblewoman.
“Ugh, what did you feed me... cough!”
Was this the rumored “Obedience Water” from the black market, said to make maidens docile to strangers’ commands?
Unthinkable—if that were true, what would become of Anna, defected Hero of years?
Instinctively, Anna tried to cast a purification spell.
Slap!
Vieya’s hand moved before the frame—cutting the cast short.
Slap!
“Big doggy, you must behave.”
“—Just kill me!”
Anna, cheek stinging from the pats, turned her face aside stubbornly. “Pray you never fall into my hands. If you do, you childish old hag, I’ll pound you nine times over...”
Vieya’s face darkened. She had intended to question her about the evil god, but her interest ebbed away.
Her expression went flat, her tone cold as ice:
“Then you might as well die.”
...
Tribunal, Infirmary.
Bright lights. White corridors filled with the smell of disinfectant.
Rania lay on a hospital bed, brow furrowed in pain, like a wilted eggplant.
“How is my junior’s condition?”
Hua Shiyu sat on a stool beside her, glancing at Rania, then at the white-clad medical staff.
Their expressions varied—some grave, some puzzled.
“The Hero’s energy is too active, like an awakened volcano. It’s good, but also bad.”
After much discussion, they reached one conclusion:
“The active power increases the burden on her body. Under such stress, her lifespan will shorten. But at the same time, it raises her advancement speed.
Now, she has a chance to break through Tier Nine before twenty. But only a chance—it all depends on the state of her heart.”
“Humans who seek great power must pay a corresponding price.”
Hua Shiyu sighed. Small and childish in stature, yet her presence was sharp, almost solemn—nothing like the timid girl who had once stammered before Vieya.
“In human history, none have remained ever-prosperous, no sun never setting, no glory never falling.
Even the greatest saints and sages could never alter that.”
To Hua Shiyu, the world was never complex. The cycles of history and humanity always revealed the answers.
What had been left to Rania was not merely failure, but also the chance for rebirth.
It was an opportunity.
With that thought, Hua Shiyu hopped off the bench, heading out of the infirmary. She tossed a final line to the medics:
“Take good care of the Hero, or don’t bother calling yourselves doctors.”
...
Deerhorn City Sewers. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Vieya walked with a chain in hand, leading Anna like a golden retriever on a leash.
“I will kill you!” Anna glared at the white-haired brat, seething. Not even her parents had humiliated her so badly—yet this damn child dared treat her like this!
Unforgivable!
“Kill me?”
Vieya arched a brow, amused. “The wise bow to circumstance. Clearly you’re not wise. Heh. Better think of your position. If your evil god doesn’t answer you, I’ll just hand you over to humans. To those very humans you despise.”
Anna instantly snapped back:
“Grk—then kill me!”
