Chapter 91:

Chapter 89: Redemption

Accursed: The Misfortunate Life of a Vexed Man

No no no no no no no no

That woman looks like her–the woman that I hate!...

And…

…and…

…that beast…

From my dreams…

…

“Hmm? Would there happen to be an issue here, perhaps?”

“N-no.”

“Is that so? Fantastic. Then on that note, you should be able to answer my question. Our entire discussion hinges upon your honesty; without it, there would be a lack of effectiveness.”

“...I don’t know the answer.”

“Lily, it is beyond obvious that the moment you looked at this photo that your heart was gripped by the hand of conviction. Your newfound reluctance to speak furthermore makes this fact apparent.”

How is he reading my mind?! I don’t want to say anything anymore!

Goddess, please tell Lily what she should do–please save me!

“I am waiting–patiently and eagerly. The floor is yours, Lily.”

Lily looks down in her lap, twiddling her thumbs as she waits for a voice in her head to bail her.

…

All the while, Zateon intertwined his fingers, not wavering his eyes from the girl sitting across from him.

…

Pure silence permeates the room–not even the sound of quiet breathing is audible.

“So, have you crafted your best response during your abrupt silence? I’ll be so kind as to make this much easier for you. Decades ago, when I was in my school-age years, I hated the abundance of multiple choice assessments. Why do you think that is?”

“...”

Lily, still looking downward and away from the photo, shrugs her shoulders.

“Well, you are quite on the younger side, so that’s to be expected–most school-age children couldn’t answer either, I reckon. However, my reasoning is rather simple to understand–I despise the lack of creativity. A genius cannot express his intellect to the fullest extent with such limited, preset options. It just gives the intellectually lazy a chance to appear to be on par with the others, when the gap couldn’t be any wider. One moment, please.”

Zateon pauses, holding one finger up as he uses his other hand to pick up his glass and take a sip.

“Despite my distaste for multiple-choice, I realize that they are not without merit. Even in real life, we are sometimes forced to choose from a binary of options. I said all of that to say, I am now making this portion of our conversation a multiple-choice assessment with an answer choice binary: yes or no. I’ll even accept nods and shrugs, but those are the only options. That should make things a lot easier for you. Do you understand?”

Lily nods, responding obediently.

Goddess, Vex, Jan…anyone–please save me from this. I can’t understand at all!

“Perfect, you are already passing spectacularly. Please return your eyes to the photo on the desk.”

I don’t want to look…I really don’t want to look again…but if I don’t…

This will go on forever.

“...okay, I’ll try.”

Lily clenches her eyes tightly as she lifts up her face. She reluctantly peels back the seal on her eyelids and peeks at the photo. Zateon points his black-gloved finger at one particular object within the photo–the woman.

For a brief second, her heart skips a beat.

“Yes or no, do you recognize this woman? To further clarify her identity, her name is Minda.”

“...”

Lily slowly nods in reluctance.

“You were enslaved and Minda was your handler, correct?”

“!”

For the first time since arriving, Lily’s face shot upwards, looking right into Zateon’s eyes.

“How do you–”

“Yes or no. Please answer accordingly.”

“...yes.”

“I found it odd that a slave handler would be at a fighting arena of all places, without any of the precious slaves they are in charge of caring for anywhere in sight. Therefore, am I right to assume that you were present in this scene?”

“Lily doesn’t remember! Honest–”

“Yes or no.”

“...”

Lily nods.

“However, I could not see your little face anywhere in this scene. Coincidentally, there just so happened to be a giant lynx with the same mint green fur as you have on the top of your head. Logically, this beast is…”

Protruding from her fingers, Lily’s claws grip her chair, squeezing the life out of it. Not just that, her entire body is clenching.

Don’t say it…whatever you do, please don’t say it!

That’s not Lily!

That’s not–

“...you, Lily. Am I wrong?”

“...”

Lily’s not that monster!

Lily’s heart rate accelerates increasingly to the point of making her breathing heavier, despite her best efforts to calm herself.

“And herein lies the flaw of such an assessment like this–a lack of nuance. I can tell that your answer to this question in particular cannot be conveyed with a simple “yes” or “no”. Perhaps it is plausible that you have no memory of this event, so there is no way you can truly answer. Unless…”

Zateon holds his fingers into the air, Emma once again takes her cue and places another photo between them.

In a smooth transition, Zateon places the photo alongside the current one on his desk. Lily’s eyes widened further upon inspection–a snapshot of Minda yanking Lily is clearly displayed in the upper corner.

“This scene happened just before the giant beast came to be. How could you be in the scene before the beast appeared, but completely vanish in the next scene? Even if you cannot adequately recall this event, the evidence points to an obvious conclusion that even a child like you could comprehend.”

“No, I-I…Lily’s–”

“Right now, your very heart is convicting you, despite your lack of memory. Let’s stop beating around the bush; Lily, you are this beast!”

“Liar!”

Lily would never be a monster!

Lily…I would never be a monster!

As Lily covers her ears in an attempt to defend herself from Zateon’s bold assertion, Zateon walks around his desk and kneels next to her chair–witnessing her mind spiraling out of control in close proximity.

“I am the one who is merely showing you reality, you are the one refuting it without any local reasoning whatsoever. Who is the true liar in this situation?”

“But I…I didn’t-”

“There’s no use in denying the truth your own consciousness is confessing to. Stop this futile behavior and accept your sins; your murdered Minda in cold blood, you went on a wild rampage and injured several innocent bystanders, not only that–”

“You don’t know Minda! You don’t know Minda at all! She hurt me so much! She touched me all over even when I screamed for her to stop! She made me do things I didn’t want to do no matter how much I refused! She became the woman I hate the most! She hurt me so so so so so much, it’s only fair for me to want to hurt her back! I did not sin!”

Lily abandons her defensive position and gazes directly into Zateon’s eyes with her own teary eyes. Zateon, in turn, returns a serious expression–one that is neither a smile, nor a frown, but is difficult to read. He gets up to his feet and adjusts his wardrobe.

“There are two things you are mistaken on: for starters, I know Minda very well–she worked for me after all.”

“!!! No way, so you made that woman treat me so badly?! Everything she did to me was because of you?! How could you?!”

Lily attempts to pounce from her seat, but before she could even lift her tail, Emma pushes her back down with minimal effort.

“?!”

“It is improper manners to leave in the middle of a conversation; please listen to Apostle Zateon thoroughly.”

“Thank you, Emma. Lily, you are making assumption after assumption, only getting further from the truth. I may be one of the higher-ups in the demi-human trafficking business, but I have no control over how any of my underlings behave. Any mistreatment Minda did to you was by her own twisted volition and I would never condone such behavior. Contrary to your assumptions of me, I have a sense of righteousness. Though make no mistake–we’re all sinners.”

“But…why–”

“Listen carefully and you will come to understand. Your sin is not that you killed Minda–she deserved it for incompetently over relying on her curse to do the work and unnecessary cruelty.”

“?”

Zateon suddenly closes the gap between him and Lily. He extends his finger at her chest.

“Here is the source of the issue–your heart. You let your beastly nature take over your mind and hurt people who had nothing to do with your tragedy. Would it be wrong if one of those people took vengeance against you, just as you did to Minda?”

Lily’s lips tremble, her throat feeling scratchy and tight.

“Why…why didn’t Vex tell me this? This can’t be real–he wouldn’t keep something like this…a secret…”

“And that leads me to the second misconception. This Vex person, he clearly means a lot to you. However…”

Receiving a gentle nod from her master, Emma points a remote device towards a large monitor that is suspended in the west side of the office. The moment it turns on, a video immediately plays. It doesn’t take more than three seconds for Lily’s face to become paralyzed.

Paralyzed at the sight of a gigantic lynx preparing to pounce on a masked man.

“!!!”

That’s not Lily, it’s a monster!

That’s not…

That’s…not…

“Hmm? Is there something you are trying to communicate, Lily? Your lips are moving, but no words are coming out of your mouth.”

“...”

“Very well, then I will continue. As you can see for yourself, you almost harmed Vex. With that killing intent in your eyes, you would have no doubt killed him if it weren’t for security interference. The heart to not only hurt those around you, but even your dearest savior is a grave sin!”

“...sob…”

Lily hangs her head down, not a single word or sound can escape her lips. Only the sound of silent tears.

“But fret not, I did not bring you here to berate you–rather, I want to redeem you.”

“Redeem?”

“Yes, redemption. All demi-humans have this vile, beastly nature deep within their hearts, ready to lash out at any moment. It’s like a curse from the goddess herself. Fortunately, she blessed me with the power to tame such a beastly spirit; with my authority, I can free your mind from this heavysome burden of guilt. Not only that, but you will never have to worry about this monster within you lashing out again.”

I never want to become a monster and hurt anyone ever again! Lily must do whatever it takes!

“What does Lily need to do?”

“Do you confess to your sin?”

“Confess?...”

“In your heart, do you fully acknowledge your wrongdoing?”

Vex is always keeping secrets from me…sneaking away to places without me…refusing to let me get close to him…! This is the reason–Vex is afraid of Lily! The monster inside Lily terrifies Vex! I…I must be redeemed!

“Yes. Please redeem Lily!”

“With pleasure. Close your eyes for a brief moment, if you’d please.”

With her eyes obediently closing, Zateon moves his hand towards Lily’s exposed forehead. The touch of his fingers feel neither cold nor warm–rather, a feeling that can only be described as “special”.

“I hereby declare you to be redeemed!”

“Yay…?!”

What is this feeling? Lily’s heart feels much lighter! And the darkness…it feels…it feels…

Completely gone!