Incomplete

Chapter 37: Incomplete

Upon arriving at the man's home, he asked Linton and the others to sit in the simple living room for a while, while he went to prepare rooms for them. Iris offered to help, but the man firmly refused her request, citing reasons like "guests should act like guests."

Thus, the two of them and the spirit sat in silence under the dim candlelight.

Linton was lost in thought and wasn't one for much conversation, while Bella looked somewhat haggard, her head drooping, naturally not inclined to talk. Finally, the doll lady broke the silence first.

To do so, Iris found a topic that wasn't too sensitive.

"Say... why couldn't that person see Bella?"

Linton looked up and chuckled, "He's just an ordinary person without magic. Naturally, he can't see a spirit formed by magic."

"Oh," Iris nodded and asked again, "Aren't we supposed to take Bella back to her home? Since we asked where her home is, why don't we just go there directly?"

This question made Linton fall silent for a moment.

Task one was to take Bella home, but he was more interested in exploring task two, which was full of question marks and offered no hints.

However, he couldn't explain this reason to Iris, so he reluctantly explained, "I think things aren't that simple. What that man said earlier contained a lot that's worth digging into."

"He's a bad person," Bella suddenly looked up and whispered, "I really like flowers."

The girl seemed very resistant to her preferences being denied and kept pestering him.

Linton ruffled her head and chuckled, "I know, I know. But Bella, do you know what good people and bad people mean?"

Bella thought for a moment and said, "Good people... are like big brother, they are good people."

"Thank you," Linton smiled gently, "but we've only just met. How can you think I'm a good person?"

"Because big brother smells nice, feels comfortable, and gives me candy!" the girl said, her eyes sparkling with tears, "Candy is sweet, so big brother is a good person."

"Then what kind of people are bad people?"

"Bad people are..." Bella gestured in the air for a long time, "This big sister is a bad person, and that adult is also a bad person. Everyone in the world is a bad person, except for big brother!"

Linton was taken aback by Bella's declaration.

Just as he was about to press further, the man emerged from the other side, forcing him to retract the words that were already on the tip of his tongue.

"It's done. You two should get some rest."

"Thank you."

"May the flowers bless you."

In the messy but clean room, Iris pondered the man's words, remaining silent for a long time.

Although Bella was a spirit and had existed for at least several years, her speech and behavior were still as childish as a child her age. However, after the man's description, which was almost the complete opposite, and her seemingly world-weary words, Iris found it hard to believe that the child still maintained her outward innocence.

She first glanced at the hastily assembled bed frame, where the girl was sleeping soundly.

Then, she turned to gaze at the Necromancer standing by the window looking at the moon and softly asked, "Do you still believe her? Believe she just wants to go home?"

Linton turned his head and vaguely answered the Miss Knight's question, "It's very difficult to completely believe someone, even a child."

"So..."

"But my not believing her doesn't mean she lied to us."

Iris tilted her head, indicating she didn't understand.

Linton smiled and slowly said, "Iris, when you were little, what kind of people did you think were bad?"

"...You failed to get Bella to talk, so now it's my turn, right?" Iris shot him a glance, then pondered for a moment before replying, "When I was little, I thought the 'guests' at home were bad people because they were very noisy and often kept me from sleeping."

Linton nodded, "You craved sleep, but these people disrupted your desire, so you thought they were bad people... That is indeed a child's way of thinking."

"Is there a problem with that?" The young girl was full of questions.

"Children's minds are actually very simple. Those who make them feel happy are good people, and those who bring them negative emotions are bad people," Linton said slowly. "You and Bella argued as soon as you met. Although you almost lost the argument, she still thought you were a bad person. The male owner of this house is the same; he brought her negative emotions, so he's a bad person. But why does she think everyone else is a bad person?"

"Who said I lost the argument! I just didn't want to argue with a child!" Iris retorted indignantly. "As for why she thinks everyone is a bad person, how would I know?"

Linton smiled and shrugged, "I don't know either."

The doll lady was almost choked by his 360-degree turn in response, and couldn't help but sarcastically say, "I thought you were going to spout some profound theory again. So, there are things in this world that you don't know."

"I'm not a god, how could I possibly know everything?" Linton didn't react to the girl's taunt, merely shrugging. "Perhaps she herself doesn't know why she thinks that way."

Iris really wanted to ask him why, but she was afraid he'd just say "I don't know" again.

But Linton seemed to read her mind, smiling, "Don't you want to know why? If that's the case, then I won't say anything."

"I do! I really want to know!" The doll lady's teeth were almost grinding, her voice completely forced out.

Linton's face showed a look of pleasure, then it turned peaceful, and he focused his gaze on the sleeping girl.

"She is incomplete."

Iris blinked, "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember the candy I gave her?"

"I remember," Iris nodded, "You extracted, transmitted, and all that..."

"You didn't remember anything at all, did you?" Linton glanced at her sideways but didn't mind, continuing, "I extracted my own feelings and then transmitted them to her. But this method of transmission isn't one-sided; it's a two-way flow."

"The moment she received my feelings, the conduit between us was constructed, and a portion of her emotions flowed back."

"That feeling contained joy, sorrow, good, and evil."

Iris tilted her head. "That sounds pretty normal? Where's the incompleteness?"

Linton was silent for a moment before saying, "That evil was countless times greater than all the other emotions combined."

"But that evil wasn't amplified; rather, almost all the other emotions were stripped away and suppressed, leading to the so-called malice dominating everything."

"Of course, precisely because this malice was the largest, it was also the first to suffer under the blade of time. The Bella we see now has little aggression, a rich spectrum of emotions, both joy and malice, because that immense malice has been damaged and is now almost equal to the other emotions."

"As for why her other emotions were suppressed, why the malice was amplified, and why she perceived everyone as a bad person..."

"Perhaps, this is the answer we need to find?"