Oni

By the ridge between the fields, Aikawa's hands and body were covered in blood. He sat blankly beside Shikada's grotesque corpse, his face vacant as his lips trembled.

"I... I killed someone... I actually... killed... Lord Shikada...!!"

At that moment, a sweat-drenched young girl suddenly came running from the distant edge of the field ridge.

She wore ordinary hemp clothes with her sleeves rolled up, her black hair tied behind her head. She looked like the girl next door—clean and innocent, like a pure lily blooming beneath the sunlight, making one instinctively feel pity for her.

When she saw Aikawa sitting dazed on the ground and the grotesque corpse beside him, her large, clear eyes suddenly contracted, and she cried out anxiously.

"Father!"

Hearing the girl's cry, Aikawa froze. His blood-smeared face slowly lifted as he looked at her in the distance and murmured.

"Xiao Li..."

Ignoring the bloody scene, the girl immediately rushed to Aikawa's side and cried out through sobs.

"Father, what... what happened to you!?"

Hearing her words, Aikawa's lips trembled. He turned his head and stared blankly at his daughter, his heart filled with complicated emotions.

If I hadn't killed Shikada, he definitely wouldn't have spared Xiao Li!

What I did was right. This lord said so too—so long as I killed him, everything would be fine. Yes... killing him... was the best way to solve everything!

I did nothing wrong!

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the confusion and fear in Aikawa's eyes gradually faded, replaced by resolve.

Whenever people did something they regretted, they always sought out a reason to convince themselves, using it as an excuse to sink even deeper into the whirlpool of desire...

Aikawa glanced at Xiao Li. The confusion on his face, smeared with blood and dirt, was instantly