"What Is It You Desire?" / "Trashy Women and Bad Women"

The chilly room was no place to stay, so the girl simply sat outside the door and waited for her sister to return.

Her sister had only given her the food before leaving, seemingly in a hurry again.

The other half of the meal, clearly meant for two, was already nearly cold.

What should she do?

Even hugging the dinner in the paper bag to her chest couldn't stop the heat from escaping.

Then this strange auntie appeared.

"Strange... strange auntie?!?!?!"

Though children spoke without restraint, that critical hit still wounded the young woman before her.

"Wah... who are you?"

"I'm not a strange auntie. I'm a pretty big sister—a noblewoman from the royal family of Kazdel. I have a little bit of business..."

She adjusted her posture, wearing a seventy-percent smile that was restrained and friendly.

Her slightly curled, pale-golden hair shimmered faintly pink beneath the lights. Her fair, tender skin looked soft enough to break at a touch, and even her slender fingers showed no trace of labor. She was the sort who had never lifted a finger for household work, a member of the royal family who lived off state finances and taxpayers' money.

A small lock of pale-red hair adorned her pale-golden tresses. Even the horns of the Sarkaz had been carefully styled, giving the girl a distinctive nobility and uniqueness. Her ruby-like eyes were clear and bright, while her fair neck was proud and slender. Compared with little Yelena, who was beautiful but still brimming with the childishness of features not yet fully grown, the girl before her was practically a princess from a fairy tale—elegant, noble, and wearing a faint, graceful smile.

Perfect beyond compare.

Yes, the visitor was indeed a noblewoman. After all, on Terra, the difference between nobles and ordinary people was enormous.

Her unusual bearing and the arrogance hidden so well beneath her seemingly approachable eyes...

It all showed through the girl's presence.

Because of her dark past, Yelena's judgment of people was far more mature than that of her peers. At least in her eyes, the face of the person before her looked more like a mask.

A false mask meant for outsiders to see, rather than her true appearance.

"You're looking for... my sister?"

"Yes. Your sister is quite a famous doctor, after all. Of course I'm here to see her. Could you tell me where she is?

"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself.

"I'm Pianna. You can call me Pianna~"

What She Desired

In a gloomy alley, a silver figure flashed past, stepping from the isolated pool of light beneath a streetlamp into darkness, then passing through the next island of light.

Back and forth, endlessly.

"I came this time to tell you the rules of this mission."

So said the Administrator, that mysterious woman who always seemed caught between a comedic character and a final boss.

"The reason the protagonist's halo you see is gray isn't that it hasn't lit up. It's gray because it was gray to begin with.

"It lit up long ago, and her fate was decided long ago as well. The reason it's gray instead of shining as brilliantly as what you saw before is because...

"She never belonged to you."

As if delivering some dark joke she had prepared for a long time, the woman's face split into a malicious grin, anticipating Chlorine Sodium's reaction.

"The person you need to deal with has a black protagonist's halo. Not that gray little girl, and of course, not the future heir of this port city either.

"How about that? Isn't it fantastic news? I've given you a reason to throw off your burden, you know."

"Then... what will happen to her?"

It was a calm question, though tinged with hesitation.

A villain did not hesitate.

Because hesitation belonged only to the indecisive. Villains never wavered.

It shouldn't have been like this, yet Chlorine Sodium still felt a strange...

Anxiety.

As if something was about to happen, or perhaps...

Something was missing.

"She?" Elafia wore an expression that seemed to say, Why are you still treating useless things like treasures? Her tone was matter-of-fact. "Her fate has already been decided. Naturally, there'll be a villain of the same color to target her, just as you've always done to the protagonists of various worlds. What's there to ask?

"So hurry up and find the protagonist you're supposed to deal with. Once it's gone, it's gone... Hey, hey, where are you going?"

Elafia hadn't expected Chlorine Sodium to turn and leave at once. She tried to stop her, but the girl had already vanished into the darkness of the alley...

I love a peaceful life...

My only wish is to live slowly, like a plant...

But she could never have such a life.

To stay alive, she had to kill again and again, deceive again and again, and constantly...

Create death.

She couldn't even maintain a mechanical daily routine.

She believed she could solve every problem.

Because she was a perfect idealist.

The feeling of standing above everyone else and ruling over all was wonderful.

The desire to dominate and the urge to kill were like uncontrollable fingernails. People couldn't stop their fingernails from growing, and likewise, they couldn't abandon their desires.

It was also an excellent way to relieve stress. That was why Chlorine Sodium could perform so well as the strongest villain.

She didn't like smoking, and she only drank in moderation. It wasn't merely because of her attitude toward life or her slight cleanliness obsession. More importantly, cigarettes represented expelling stress, while alcohol represented loneliness.

But she disliked both, because as an idealist, she disdained such low-level methods of relieving stress.

The doctors all said she was perfectly normal. She was even a "doctor" herself.

Even if that identity was fake.

In fact, she had already obtained the life she had dreamed of...

Even if only briefly.

A life disguised as that of a normal person.

So...

"What is it that you truly want...?"

She asked herself, but her self gave no answer.

The shadows concealed the girl's expression, making her eyes impossible to read.

No one knew what she was thinking...

What was a noble? Good question.

"Nobles are a group of superior people who can hang commoners whenever they please—stupid yet clever, without a conscience yet always boasting of etiquette, like bandits who love praising their own achievements."

"That's what nobles are. Well, you're still too young to understand. It's perfectly normal that you can't comprehend class conflict yet. You'll understand when you grow up."

Late at night, the warm light from the lamp outside the door fell upon the girl, while the Sarkaz girl sat in the darkness.

Yelena had naturally heard of demons.

The "devils" despised by everyone.

They were like the monsters from stories that had truly risen from the pages, the kind that could frighten children into silence at night.

But now... it seemed those were all rumors.

The demon girl before her instead possessed the opposite of every one of those descriptions.

Beautiful, intelligent, modest, and even extremely friendly.

She had stayed and chatted with Yelena while waiting for her sister to return.

It seemed that ever since she had met her sister, the entire world had become friendlier.

Everything from before had seemingly become dust-covered memories buried deep within her mind.

Even her earlier suspicion—that the person before her was merely pretending—now seemed like an utterly baseless delusion.

Because the person before her was incredibly approachable.

"By the way, is your sister really coming back? It's already very late..."

The girl glanced at the nonexistent watch on her wrist, seemingly using her body language to show that she had been waiting for a long time.

"Wah, I don't know either... My sister said she'd be back soon..."

"That's strange..."

Suddenly, at one corner of the street, a figure appeared in the darkness.

Though she couldn't make out the figure clearly, little Yelena knew it was her sister.

That familiar feeling had already surpassed the need for visual recognition.

"Looks like she's finally back... She certainly kept me waiting~"

"Let me introduce myself again..."

Though she still maintained her elegant posture, little Yelena failed to notice that the woman named Pianna seemed to be charging headlong toward a "nonhuman" state.

The beautiful ruby-like eyes were instantly flooded with scarlet patterns!

Yet if anyone had been able to observe them from up close, they would have discovered that those were not blood vessels at all, but crystalline structures resembling electronic circuits. At the center of her pupils, one could even see a slightly darker circular structure, shaped like a camera lens.

Those were not eyes a living creature could possess. The electronic eyes brought by mechanical mechanisms kept focusing, transmitting the image into the girl's mind.

Energy surged through the energy conduits toward every part of her body, bringing with it a sharper field of vision. As her consciousness moved through time, everything in the world seemed to slow. She shrugged off her black long sleeves, fully exposing the mechanical, rod-like metal right arm hidden beneath them. With its dark-red color scheme, the joints turning and power surging through it, the grotesque five fingers slowly spread open. The once-gentle girl now resembled a crouching cheetah, every part of her poised to strike.

That was why Miss Pianna now possessed such mobility and incredible agility.

"My name is Pianna. Of course...

"I'm also here to kill you."

The Sarkaz girl smiled elegantly.

P.S. I'm lacking inspiration and have a bit of a headache.

I have to go to the dentist today too. It's a little depressing. Sob, sob.

The Despicable Woman and the Bad Woman

Her fate had already been decided. Naturally, there would be a villain of the same color to target her, just as you had always done to the protagonists of various worlds. What was there to ask?

A villain of the same color?

Watching the clearly hostile newcomer, Chlorine Sodium didn't move.

Nor did the other party mind releasing her hostility right in front of her.

The nonhuman internal construction, that demonic metal right hand, had been painted dark red, and even the Sarkaz horns had been specially decorated.

There were even slightly mutated structural patterns on both arms. Once they unfolded, mantis blades sprang out.

She looked like someone of the same kind as herself.