From the moment she saw the respect for the sanctuary of Shilang Bay in his eyes, from the moment he turned back and showed the fearlessness of someone who had made a firm decision,
From the moment he alone commanded two guards to burn their bridges, pushing through all opposition to change everything for the Princess and Shilang Bay—
Suo Liuxiang was convinced.
The Princess needed someone like Lin Nuo to take care of her.
Perhaps only with him by her side would the Princess’s clear eyes never have another chance to shed tears of weakness.
But later, Suo Liuxiang discovered that the memories of Lin Nuo, and even all the knights from that battle, had been suppressed.
It was just like… just like…
Just like her father, who was addicted to gambling and lost everything, even his memories, so much so that later… he completely forgot he even had a daughter.
After Suo Liuxiang left Shilang Bay, she had secretly observed the heavily injured Lin Nuo during that little-known Battle of the Abandoned Shield.
He was lazy on his sickbed in the Manor, under the care of his parents and Xī.
He no longer had any ambition to become stronger.
He was lazy and negligent.
Everything Suo Liuxiang saw of the most perfect person in her mind was vastly different from what she had imagined after he lost those memories…
‘He shouldn’t be like this, he is no longer himself.’ Suo Liuxiang reached a conclusion, ‘He has changed.’
People who lose their memories always change.
Just like her father, whose life seemed to have restarted after he lost his memories…
That father no longer placed ripe grain into the bag held open by his daughter during the harvest season.
He no longer carefully taught her how to read or magic incantations under the oil lamp at night.
He became a stranger and never returned to the poor little home where she lived.
Lin Nuo would eventually become a piece of trash who could no longer protect anyone.
Just like her father, who later insulted and beat her every day.
Suo Liuxiang didn’t want such an imperfect Lin Nuo.
When she saw the Princess smile in front of Lin Nuo, she could only think about the time when Granny Whale, the Progenitor of the Mist-Devouring, would eventually leave Shilang Bay.
At that moment, this incompetent man chosen by the Princess would surely make the helpless Princess cry once again.
But.
The Princess would not change her choice of the person she loved.
Her eyes seemed to only have room for Lin Nuo.
Suo Liuxiang understood.
It seemed that in that Battle of the Abandoned Shield, the bravery Lin Nuo displayed—the same bravery that fascinated her—had also fascinated the Princess.
Since she couldn’t make the Princess see through Lin Nuo or choose someone else…
Then she would find a way to…
Replace him!
The day after that thought occurred, Suo Liuxiang, who had already been eroded by the Evil God’s power for a long time, saw her skin and physique begin to change under that power.
She woke up to find that her pale face in the mirror was gradually starting to look like Lin Nuo’s.
In just a few days, her black hair turned gold, just like Lin Nuo’s…
To keep herself from losing her identity, she didn’t cut her hair.
So when she turned into “Blaineau” under the Evil God’s power, she would tie her medium-length gold hair into a low ponytail.
She began to write Lin Nuo’s experiences from the past ten years onto Imaging Paper, deducing how invincible and unrestrained a Lin Nuo who hadn’t lost his memories should be by now.
Suo Liuxiang didn’t just want to learn everything about Lin Nuo; her goal wasn’t limited to learning his dress, taste, or hobbies…
Her swordsmanship and magic were also advancing by leaps and bounds.
When she used her own strength and the Illusory Cycle Mirage to kill dozens of Sea Guardian knights, she thought only of the 10-year-old Lin Nuo who had ordered the fleet to turn around eight years ago.
She believed Lin Nuo ought to be exactly like her.
Powerful, brave, and fearless.
The constant learning of magic techniques caused a certain voice in Suo Liuxiang’s heart to grow louder and louder.
‘Kill him and replace him. Kill him and replace him. Kill him and replace him. Kill him and replace him. Kill him and replace him. Kill him and replace him…’
This thought was like a flame fed with endless fuel, burning ever more fiercely in her eyes, which were now the same color as Lin Nuo’s.
When she easily trapped him and the Princess in the Illusory Realm and saw that he couldn’t protect the Princess at all she discovered he was indeed a waste and Suo Liuxiang became even more convinced of her desire to replace Lin Nuo.
A certain desire was like a flood bursting through a dam, finally destroying what remained of Suo Liuxiang’s reason.
‘Tell the Princess that Lin Nuo is no longer the one she wants!’
‘Just like when I was young, when the Princess traveling through various countries kicked away my father who was swinging a knife at me in the street and told me that he couldn’t protect me!’
Suo Liuxiang muttered in her heart.
‘I need the Princess to see reality!’
‘To see that what she needs is the forever brave and fearless Lin Nuo! I want her to see who is truly able to protect her in the face of disaster!’
This was Suo Liuxiang’s obsession.
The Yuyü and whispers of the Evil God that always arrived at night ate away at her consciousness bit by bit…
Until now, those whispers that had filled her mind for over eight years were still constantly inciting her to rush out and tear that man apart with the dagger hidden in her hand!
“But…” Suo Liuxiang spoke, her voice overriding the whispers in her mind, “He is brave and fearless. He was never cowardly, never childish, and he didn’t surrender… He is always himself.”
“The only one worthy of the Princess, and the only one with the ability to protect her well.”
A few low murmurs caused Suo Liuxiang’s chaotic gaze to gradually clear.
Suo Liuxiang realized that Lin Nuo hadn’t actually left without saying anything before closing the door.
He seemed to have said one sentence to her—
“Perhaps there were things you once had, but you accidentally lost them. You can clearly find them again.”
“I am the same.”
“As long as you want it, nothing is unchangeable.”
“Clang!”
Suo Liuxiang pulled out a dagger from her sleeve, one she had hidden there when her consciousness was replaced by the pollution of those whispers.
Suddenly, she remembered many things she had done before being blinded by the Evil God’s whispers.
‘Yes!’
A person like Suo Liuxiang—someone so incredibly weak that even when her father swung a sickle at her, she could only sob and kowtow, begging him not to hit her anymore…
How could such a person be easily chosen by the shrewd Evil God to be His agent?
It was simply that after the Battle of the Abandoned Shield was resolved by Granny Whale eight years ago, she had learned from Granny that since she had killed 50,000 cultists, the Evil God would surely cast a curse here.
There would be only one person cursed.
The Princess was the most likely candidate, and she had even prepared herself.
But, Suo Liuxiang didn’t want the Princess—who had saved her life, brought her here, and guarded the peace here every day—to cruelly bear those things.
So, she had left Shilang Bay of her own accord and found a dark dwelling.
Bearing the godhood of the Evil God, she chose to…
Believe in the Evil God.
She used the most devout prayers to bless the Evil God and the humblest words to plead for the Evil God’s descent.
She used the hottest blood to draw the runes to summon the Evil God and with the most trembling fingertips to light the sacrificial candles for Him.
She begged the Evil God to grant her the curse that was supposed to be borne by the Princess, so that she could take the place of the Princess for everything that might happen.
Finally, Suo Liuxiang—who could no longer tell if she was truly devout to Him—was successfully chosen by the Evil God.
That was the only time in her life of weakness.
The one time she learned from Lin Nuo’s bravery to burn her bridges.
And now.
The voice of the Evil God appeared again.
As if unwilling to give up such an excellent believer, those whispers were telling her to abandon her soul and hand everything over to the Evil God.
They were teaching her a way to escape even though her identity as the Bloodpact Servant had been discovered…
The Evil God seemed to be telling her that as long as she wished, she could still receive the blessing of a second, more powerful agent title!
As long as she wished, the Evil God would join forces with her to make Shilang Bay cease to exist!
It reached the point where Suo Liuxiang had to use the blade to slash her wrist, using the pain to maintain her last shred of sanity.
Just as she, who should have been beguiled by the Evil God within three months, had used such pain to desperately fight against the Evil God’s will for eight years.
Lin Nuo’s words just now.
They had allowed Suo Liuxiang to clearly remember that piece of her own fearlessness.
She too had been brave for someone important.
Even if no one knew now, and perhaps no one would ever care, the truth was: She had silently borne the tragic fate that the one she cared for was destined to face.
-Pssh
A single tear fell.
The girl whose face was pale, who had been weak her whole life, and whose life had been a series of hardships.
Smiled as she gripped the hilt and plunged the blade into her own heart.
Just as she had smiled when she offered herself to the Evil God in hopes of bearing everything for the Princess.