A Child Who Toppled a Sandcastle

"Haha, I've heard of you, Odvar!"

The Red Star laughed as he pushed Valentine VIII off his lap. Then he grabbed Louise behind him and pulled her in front of him, making her lie prone on the table.

Amid the unrestrained cries of Queen Louise—now practically the Queen Mother—he said loudly, "I heard about your exploits when you were young. Honestly, even I was amazed by your courage!"

That wasn't an exploit. It couldn't even be called courage.

Professor Lasimi only thought this indifferently to himself.

"...Exploits?"

Valentine VIII pulled up his trousers and asked his foster father curiously.

He had long since grown accustomed to this depraved and sinful "love." His slight discomfort now was only because the stern-faced stranger, Professor Lasimi, was present and had ruined the atmosphere.

"Yes," the Red Star, Pengbo Naqi, said aloud with great interest. "This man—back then, he had sex with a corpse. It was his dead sister! The incident spread throughout his entire township at once... Even to the Beyonders of our Path of Love, this was an absurdly insane act!"

Professor Lasimi lowered his head even further.

The Red Star was right. It had indeed happened, without the slightest exaggeration.

This was the reason he had embarked upon the Path of Twilight and developed such a detached personality... It was also the original motivation behind his invention of "Noose," a potion specifically used to preserve corpses.

He had possessed this peculiar preference since childhood. Then his sister died of heart disease, and when he returned from the city to the countryside to keep vigil before her funeral, he could no longer restrain himself and chose to desecrate the corpse.

The incident happened to be witnessed by his second uncle, who had come outside to use the toilet at night.

The act