Chapter 3
(Eve)
With a soft flutter, I opened my eyes.
I was standing in front of Lily’s room. Just moments ago, I was reading a strange red book to her… or so I thought.
I glanced down at the unfamiliar feeling in my hands. What I held appeared to be a typical gift box, neatly tied with a ribbon. A card was tucked between the tightly tied ribbon and the box.
The card read, “Happy 13th birthday to my beloved Lily!”
I distinctly remembered that Lily was only ten years old. There was no way I could have mixed up my cherished little sister’s age, leaving me puzzled and confused.
Holding the gift that I apparently had prepared, I was just about to knock on Lily’s door when a young maid, who seemed to have been cleaning the mansion’s hallway, spoke to me.
-“Master, Lady Aira mentioned that you had secretly planned something outdoors to celebrate Lady Lily’s 13th birthday and that you would be taking her there. Is that not right?”
Aira.
The Demon King’s fourth child and daughter, chosen by Wrath among the Seven Deadly Sins, and blessed with immense power. However, due to her incredibly arrogant and prideful nature, Aira had always been hostile toward both me and Lily.
With her pure white hair, reminiscent of the demon race, and eyes as red as blood, Aira always looked at Lily with disdain. Lily, with her jet-black hair and eyes as dark as a starless void, had little magical power, and she possessed none of the abilities linked to the Seven Deadly Sins. To Aira, she was weak and unworthy.
For Aira to go out of her way to lure Lily under the pretense of a birthday celebration didn’t make sense.
Whether this was three years into the future or not, that no longer mattered to me.
Feeling a surge of unease, I asked the young maid who had spoken to me earlier where Lily had gone.
-“Hmm… I didn’t hear exactly where, but I overheard Lady Aira saying something about heading toward the eastern forest with Lady Lily.”
“Understood…”
Without another word, I threw aside the gift box that had been meant for Lily’s supposed 13th birthday and started running toward the eastern forest.
-“Master? What about… and she’s gone.”
The maid, left behind, had wanted to ask what to do with the discarded gift, but as expected from one chosen by the Seven Deadly Sins, I had already vanished at lightning speed.
-“Hmm… what should I do with this?”
The ribbon came undone, and the contents of the gift box spilled out.
-“It seems this was meant to be a birthday gift for Lady Lily. I’ll repack it and place it in her room.”
The maid carefully placed the red-covered book, the same one I had read to Lily earlier, back into the gift box, retied the ribbon, and left it on the table inside Lily’s room.
***
“Lily! Where are you? Answer me if you can hear me!”
I was frantically searching through the vast eastern forest near the mansion, determined to find Lily, who was with Aira.
“Lily!”
But the only sounds in the forest were birds chirping and the rustling of the wind, accompanied by my desperate calls, which attracted nothing but monsters drawn by my cries.
“Grrr…”
“Growl! Growl!”
“Squawk!”
The monsters were gathering, wary of an intruder in their territory, yet at the same time, they began to see me as fresh prey, baring their sharp fangs.
“I’m in a hurry, and now this nuisance…”
I muttered under my breath and reached into a pocket dimension, pulling out a small dagger. Seeing its size, the monsters snorted as if mocking the fact that I intended to fight them with such a tiny weapon. They closed in, tightening their encirclement.
What the monsters didn’t know was that the dagger wasn’t meant to fight them off. Nor did they realize that standing before them was none other than the Demon King’s daughter, chosen by Jealousy among the Seven Deadly Sins—me, Eve.
I took the dagger and brought it to my own frail-looking arm. Although faint, the many scars from previous cuts were visible there. They had all healed by now, so there was no pain, but if anyone unfamiliar with my true nature saw the state of my arm, they might have called a mental institution. That is, if such a place even existed in this world.
With a swift motion, I sliced my arm in a straight line. A considerable amount of blood poured from the wound. The monsters, seeing their prey voluntarily bleed, lunged at me all at once.
Their enormous fangs and razor-sharp claws far outmatched the small dagger in my hand, but none of those monstrous weapons even grazed a hair on my body.
Clang.
Shhk
“Kehh…”
The blood that had been flowing like a waterfall from her arm suddenly gathered into the shape of a sharp longsword.
Eve gripped the sword and, with swift, precise movements, delivered a perfect strike that sliced through the wolf-like monster charging at her.
With her flawless swordsmanship, the beast’s legs gave way, and it collapsed, powerless.
The other monsters that had been watching hesitated for a moment, but…
“We don’t have time for this. Come at me, all at once.”
At her taunt, they all rushed at her in unison.
Shhk, shhk, shhk…
The sound of her blade cutting through flesh and the beasts’ agonized cries polluted the once peaceful forest, which had been filled only with birdsong.
Eve stood atop a tiger-shaped beast, plunging her sword deep into its heart.
Thud
At that moment, one last monster, which had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike while she was busy with the others, lunged at her as she pierced the tiger’s chest.
Shhhk. Thud.
A spear made of blood swiftly formed in Eve’s free hand, and she threw it, skewering the final beast, which had abandoned its comrades to selfishly make its move.
“Huff… this took too long.”
She needed to find Lily quickly… but where could she possibly be?
-“Aaahh!!”
Suddenly, a scream echoed through the forest, replacing the silence that had returned after the beasts’ cries had faded.
That voice—no doubt about it!
“Lily!”
Eve was certain the desperate and pained scream belonged to Lily and sprinted toward the direction of the sound.
*****
Shhhk
Thud
-“Aaahhh!”
“Hahaha!”
-“Hic… ah… Aira, why… it hurts.”
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
After hearing the scream, I ran at full speed toward Lily, focusing all my senses on my hearing to grasp the situation even indirectly.
Please, legs, move faster. I don’t care if I can’t walk anymore after this.
As I worried about Lily’s safety while realizing for the first time in my life how fast I could run, the sounds grew louder.
And so, I reached the source of the noise.
Lily, I’m here.
“Lily, are you all—”
I’m here now, everything’s going to be okay. I’ll save you. That’s what I was thinking, but what greeted me instead was…
Lily, standing at the edge of a cliff, staring at me. Her abdomen was pierced by a massive needle held by Aira.
“A-Ah, Eve… sister…”
Lily, as if she had no strength left to stand, called out my name before stepping backward and falling off the cliff.
“A-Ah… ah… AAAAH!! No, no, no!!”
I couldn’t think.
Why, Lily? Why weren’t you in your room?
Why, Lily? Why did you follow Aira?
Why, Lily? Why did you make me witness your death?
Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why… Lily… why…?
“Why… why…?”
Aira, interpreting my muttering as a question directed at her, approached me with a smirk.
-“Why, you ask? I simply did what was necessary. That worthless insect who only caused trouble—I’ve done you the favor of eliminating her for you, dear sister.”
Aira raised the large needle that had pierced Lily and pointed the sharp end toward my head.
-“Don’t be too sad. I’ll send you to that precious sister of yours soon enough, with my own hands. You should be grateful.”
With those words, Aira thrust the needle at me.
***
Crash!!
“Kyah! What… what is this? Where’s Lily?”
-“Sister, what’s wrong? I’m right here.”
“Lily!”
Ah, it was a dream. Thank goodness. Really… truly…
After bathing with Lily, I returned to the bedroom, and before falling asleep, I made sure that the book for Lily was placed on the table beside her bed.
“Who in the world put such a book in Lily’s room? I’ll have to severely punish the culprit once I find them.”
“Reading this book made me have such a terrible dream.”
I was about to throw the book away when I absentmindedly flipped its cover.
“Wait? Why is the text that should be here… missing?”
What greeted me instead was a blank page, devoid of the contents I had read to Lily.
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