Covai whipped his head around and met Iris's star-bright eyes.
"You're supposed to be dead!!" Covai's voice rose to a shriek. "Why are you here!!!"
Iris tilted her head, her face utterly devoid of emotion. "This is my home, sir. A stranger like you appearing here at this hour is what is truly abnormal."
"..."
Covai gulped repeatedly, sweat and blood once again mingling across his face.
"Then... can I leave?"
"No." Iris's voice barely fluctuated. "You killed my father, and you killed me along with my mother. But that is no longer a problem. My hatred for you vanished long ago, when my head was smashed open."
"Then why won't you let me go!!" Covai's expression had begun to twist, a sign that his mind was on the verge of collapse.
"Because my master is angered by what you did," Iris said softly. "He originally asked me to punish you, but I am neither a judge nor a priest, so I lack the authority. I can only send you to meet a more authoritative being—the Lord of Prosperity."
"You... you are true Evil Spirits. Demons from the depths of the abyss!!"
At last, Covai felt Death's scythe resting against his throat.
He snatched up the books piled on the table and hurled them at Iris with all his strength.
Unfortunately, he could not even touch the hem of the girl's clothes. He lunged straight through empty air, crashed to the floor, and smeared blood all over his face.
"How ugly."
Iris gave his performance a zero.
Then she opened her hand, revealing a dark red dining knife that could not reflect even the faintest gleam beneath the dim candlelight. She slowly walked toward the man.
"No, don't come any closer!!"
Snot and tears streamed down Covai's face as he crawled backward on all fours. Yet the moment his back touched the cold wall, his mind suddenly steadied.
"The God Lord will bring divine punishment upon you," he said. "Your souls will be crushed beneath the abyss and scorched by eternal flames, never to be redeemed."
"Never to be redeemed!!!"
The dining knife plunged into Covai's left rib, yet it inflicted no physical damage. Still, the man's howl abruptly stopped. The light rapidly faded from his eyes, leaving them utterly lifeless.
"Perfect."
For killing her father's murderer in a single strike, Iris gave herself a perfect score. As for the man's final ravings, she ignored them completely.
There was nothing more painful than having one's biological mother help someone else murder her own child—even if she had now forgotten what that pain felt like.
Iris lightly carried the bundle containing nearly all of the Lizer family's wealth downstairs. Just as she reached Linton and prepared to report her results, a hand reaching out from nowhere grabbed her and yanked her away, then violently shoved her forward into something soft.
The next moment, she felt as though the ceiling had become a vortex. Many familiar things gradually filled her, slowly fleshing out her thin soul and making it ever more complete.
Until, at some point, those inexplicable things had filled her entirely, Iris felt as though her very existence had vanished.
She forgot what she was supposed to do, why she was here, and... Who am I?
Linton watched Iris lying flat on the floor with some nervousness.
The black runes on her body were gradually dimming, but they were not disappearing. Instead, they were sinking deeper into her body. Light also began to return to her beautiful eyes, until at last, like a flower bud blooming with the arrival of spring, they revealed their rightful beauty.
[Job Quest: Perfect Doll] Complete Reward issued
Linton let out a long breath.
Finally... wait!
What was going on?
He had watched with his own eyes as Puppet Iris, who had already reached Legendary rank, suddenly dropped back down to Epic rank.
What was going on?
His confusion lasted only an instant before he understood the reason.
When Iris rose to her feet, every inch of her beautiful features was filled with fury.
She sprang from the ground and charged toward the stairs.
Linton hurried after her, afraid that the life-sized figure he had just created would run off on her own.
Iris's target was clear: the study on the top floor.
She accurately found the silent, motionless man slumped against the wall, then began kicking every inch of his body.
"Never to be redeemed, huh!"
Smack—
"Crushed beneath the abyss, burned forever, huh!!"
Crack—
"You even called me weak, huh!!!"
Snap, crackle, pop—
Only when the man's body no longer looked remotely human did Iris stop her outburst, breathing heavily as she looked at Linton.
Linton's eyelid twitched.
Whether it was because his connection with Iris was bound at the soul, or because he was filled with dislike for Covai, Linton felt no dissatisfaction at all over Iris's destruction of the corpse. Instead, he felt a strange joy, as if his own child had scored a perfect hundred on an exam.
Wait, I've never been a father. How would I know what it feels like when your child scores a hundred?
In any case, no matter what emotion he was feeling, anyone's heart would stir when a person using violence on a corpse stared at him, even if she possessed flawless beauty.
"Do you feel better?"
Linton asked first.
He had already realized why Iris's rank had fallen.
After regaining her emotions, the perfect creation had been tainted by impurities. Naturally, she could no longer bear the name "perfect."
Yet from Linton's perspective, he still preferred someone with rich emotions over "a doll capable of emotional interaction."
Iris looked at Linton and softly said, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me. I turned you into a doll, separating you from the rest of the world. It would already be generous enough if you did not hate me."
Iris shook her head. "Without you, I would never have had the chance to take revenge. I can still distinguish what comes first and what comes second."
"Then what are your plans from now on?"
The moment the words left Linton's mouth, he realized something was wrong with them.
His conversation with Iris had been too natural, causing his mind to short-circuit. One moment ago, he had said he had turned her into a doll; the next, he had forgotten it entirely.
"Uh, what I mean is—"
Smack—
Linton tried to explain, but before he could say anything, he stopped. His gaze gradually softened as he looked at Iris, who had dropped to one knee. Cool moonlight streamed through the glass window and fell across the girl's back, draping her in armor of silver—though she could never again wear the knight's medal that had long since been engraved with her name.
"Iris Lizer pledges her loyalty to you. Here, I swear an oath upon the stars: from this day onward, you shall wear the splendid crown bestowed by the gods, while I shall bear the sinful flames surging from the abyss!"
Linton fell silent.
The candlelight in the study flickered, casting two human-shaped shadows.
One belonged to Linton. The other also belonged to Linton.
I hope this week's chapter can get a recommendation. Please support me, dear readers, and help boost the follow-up reads. Please, orz!!
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