Childhood / A Person Within the Play ...

Now that the children had set out on their own paths, it was time for her to leave the stage. That was how it should have been, until that boy found her.

"You were clearly angry because the cat caused trouble, but you'd been worrying about it all along."

Himeko liked drinking, but she did not like gambling. Still, sometimes she had no choice but to gamble. She gambled her life on Kiana being able to control herself, and gambled her freedom on Su Jue not being pure evil.

She had won that bet. Even when faced with Himeko under complete control, Su Jue had shown no malicious intent. Instead, he had acted like a tsundere child, hiding himself behind a forceful attitude.

What kind of experiences had shaped him into that kind of person? And why had a boy barely in his teens become a Herrscher?

She suddenly grew curious about it. If she could uncover the truth about him, then Kiana and the others... might gain another companion.

With that thought, she secretly glanced at the boy seriously washing dishes in the kitchen. The black cat named Tread Snow sat obediently by his feet, gently rubbing against him. The cramped kitchen was poorly lit; only a sliver of light streamed through the window and fell over the boy, while most of his body remained hidden in darkness.

Murata Himeko suddenly felt a powerful urge to reach out and pull him from the shadows back into the sunlight.

As if sensing her gaze, Su Jue turned around and glanced at her, his expression displeased.

"I'm already cleaning it up." Her fiery red hair bloomed around her waist as Himeko suddenly laughed, just as she had back at St. Freya Academy.

After sweeping the glass fragments into the trash, Himeko picked up the photo frame from the floor. Its glass had shattered completely, leaving only a slightly yellowed photograph behind.

She smoothed down the curled photograph and studied it carefully.

Sunlight, a garden, a lawn.

The holiday atmosphere carried by the kite soaring high in the background rushed into her mind. Vibrant spring flowers carpeted the entire flowerbed, while the boy's smile shone as brightly as the beautiful spring day.

His small body sat on a long bench, a black cat like dark clouds treading over white snow resting obediently in his arms. Its tail lifted unconsciously and happened to land across the boy's neck, making him burst into laughter.

His gentle mother sat beside him, tenderly steadying the straw hat that was about to fall from his head. A small flower was tucked behind her ear, seemingly picked for her by the boy.

She pressed her lips together as she watched the boy and cat interact. Yet Himeko keenly noticed that her movements seemed unnatural, as though she had not heard the sound of the camera shutter.

Moreover, apart from the mother and son, there was no sign of the father in the photograph. While it was possible that the father had taken the picture, it would not have been difficult to ask a passerby to take a holiday photo. And judging by the angle, it really did seem to have been taken by a stranger.

"So this was him when he was little? He was pretty cute." Looking at the boy laughing joyfully in the photo, then glancing at the silent teenager in the kitchen, Himeko found their styles completely different.

What exactly had caused his change...

After cleaning up the shattered glass, Himeko stood the photo frame upright. While Su Jue was not paying attention, she quietly searched through the cabinets in the living room.

To her surprise, after opening only two drawers, she found a stack of printed papers. She secretly pulled one out and discovered it was a photocopy of a disability certificate for congenital deaf-mutism. The name on it seemed to be Su Jue's mother's.

"So my guess was right. His mother really did have a physical disability." Having learned that, Himeko sighed. As expected, there had to be a trigger for someone to become a Herrscher. This world had never been beautiful, nor did it treat anyone gently.

With this new clue, Himeko grew increasingly curious about Su Jue's past. But he had already finished washing the dishes and emerged from the kitchen, so she could only hurriedly put everything back.

Tread Snow padded lightly before leaping onto the sofa. Himeko leaned back as well, pulling the cat, which had been about to settle down for a nap, into her arms. Remembering the boy's actions in the photograph, Himeko gently stroked Tread Snow's fur. It was soft beneath her fingers, but its tail did not wag like the cat in the photo.

"Little Jue, I put your photo back for you." Himeko teased the kitten as she spoke, but she had not expected Su Jue's emotions to suddenly flare up.

"Don't call me that!" The boy's eyes were full of anger, and even the Herrscher's golden glow flickered in and out of sight.

After a moment of silence, Himeko softened her voice. "Sorry."

Himeko's apologetic tone slightly eased Su Jue's anger. He let out a long breath and shook his head irritably.

"This has nothing to do with you. You can call me by my name, or call me a Herrscher, but don't use that name." The tense atmosphere finally dissipated. Su Jue ignored her after that, grabbed the old photo from the table, and moved to throw it into the trash.

But he hesitated. In the end, he merely laid the frame face down on the table.

"Don't touch my things."

After coldly tossing out those words, Su Jue directly shut the door to his room.

With a bang, the entire apartment fell silent.

There was one more chapter. Please vote. Also, if you have questions about the plot, speak up loud and clear.

Chapter 41: Childhood

The boy's voice faded from the room. Only after the house had become completely silent did Himeko sigh and gently stroke Tread Snow's back.

"Little kitty, little kitty, what do you think he went through?"

"Meow~"

Unfortunately, the kitten could not speak and could not answer her question.

With her trail of clues interrupted, Himeko could not easily probe any further for the moment. She could only lean back on the sofa and play with the cat. Yet no matter how much she teased it, Tread Snow had no habit of wagging its tail.

"That's true. So much time has passed since that photo was taken. Even if it's also a black cat, it might not be the same one." She lifted the cat and carefully examined it in front of her. Unfortunately, aside from its mismatched gray and golden eyes, the black cat was no different from an ordinary black cat. Annoyed by her prodding, Tread Snow kicked her chest several times. Before it could lose its temper, she hurriedly set it back on her lap and smoothed its fur.

"Quite the temper on this little kitty." Completely unbothered, Himeko continued stroking Tread Snow's fur with a smile.

Somewhat dissatisfied, Tread Snow lightly swiped a paw at her as a warning. Then it curled up, nudged against her, found a comfortable nest, closed its eyes, and fell deeply asleep.

Himeko had originally planned to secretly look for more evidence while Su Jue was absent. Now, however, the cat had completely "sealed" her in place. Helplessly, she could only sit obediently on the sofa with it, staring blankly at the furniture in the apartment.

Su Jue's home was not large, not even sixty square meters in total. Yet Himeko, who was used to living in St. Freya's staff dormitory, did not find it cramped at all. Perhaps the furnishings gave her that impression. Instead, the compact space carried the warmth of a home, as though every member of the household had their own belongings and could find their own place. That was how a home ought to be.

Several old pairs of shoes rested on the shoe rack. Some were fairly clean, while others were covered in dust. Himeko did not know who they belonged to, or why they had been left there.

Time had left its marks across the mottled walls, and the occasional small doodle hid in inconspicuous corners. Perhaps a boy had once drawn his dreams there, preserving a fragment of time. But now, it had all become the past.

Most of the doodles had been painted over with white wall paint, as though blankness had been used to fill in the memories, yet no new stories had been written upon that emptiness.

Perhaps the boy had grown up. Perhaps he felt that those happy days no longer existed. Or perhaps it had simply been redecorated. Whatever the reason, he was no longer the child who loved to smile.

Too many stories were hidden in that tiny living room. Himeko could not uncover them all, but she could still glimpse traces of them through the smallest details.

Sunlight spilled over the solid wood coffee table. Its old, rough surface still gleamed after being cleaned. Yet at one corner was a patch of dark red that could not be wiped away, like an ugly scar ruining what should have been beautiful.

The instant she saw the bloodstains, Himeko's heart sank. She carefully inspected every corner, only to discover that such stains were everywhere.

"What happened here?" At this point, Himeko could no longer spare a thought for Tread Snow's feelings. She gently lifted it onto the sofa and smoothed its fur, lulling the cat, which had shown signs of waking, back into deep sleep.

Why were there so many bloodstains? In an instant, Himeko imagined a horrific slaughter, or perhaps a terrifying scene of family members turning on one another. But after lightly touching the stains with her fingertip and scraping beneath them with her nail, she discovered that they had not all been left at the same time.

Some of the blood had blackened and completely seeped into the wooden furniture, while other stains still retained faint traces. The clearest stain of all had been left only a few days ago.

"Was someone sick?" Having ruled out murder, Himeko quickly considered another possibility.

After secretly glancing at the motionless bedroom door, Himeko began searching through the cabinets in the living room. She immediately thought of the drawer containing the disability certificate and carefully pulled it open.

Sure enough, aside from the copied certificate, there was also a diagnosis report that had been printed not long ago. The signature on it was not Su Jue's mother's, but his own.

Rare. Hematemesis. No cure...

The moment Himeko saw those words, her heart skipped a beat.

At the current level of technology, most illnesses had long since become treatable. Even some rare diseases could at least be detected if they could not be cured. The sole exception was Honkai disease.

Honkai disease did not refer to a single illness, but rather a general term for pathological conditions caused by the influence of Honkai Energy. Such conditions were often difficult to detect, and even when they could be identified, modern medicine was unable to treat them. Unless one belonged to a major organization like Schicksal, an ordinary person contracting such an illness was almost equivalent to receiving a death sentence.

And the date on this examination seemed to be recent.

She continued searching through all the medical records and found that the first examination had been four months ago. At the time, the doctor's estimate had been that he had less than one month to live.

The second examination had taken place three months ago. It was the same diagnosis record, but this time the estimate was that he had less than three months to live.

"So he only became a Herrscher three months ago? And that was when the incident happened—the awakening of the Herrscher of Void!"

Himeko felt that she was closing in on the truth. Just as she wanted to press onward in one push, the bedroom door suddenly opened.

"What are you doing?" His face seemed covered in frost as Su Jue stared at her coldly, as though she were a rat stealing food from his home.

"..."

Himeko sighed. She calmly put the medical report back, looked at Su Jue, and hesitated to speak.

If you truly are an irredeemably evil person, then I will do everything in my power to stop you.

If you only chose to become a Herrscher because you had no other choice, then let me bring you back from the abyss.

That was what she decided in her heart.

Chapter 42: A Person Within the Play

"Kindness is humanity's purest beauty, and the strength that supports them as they continue onward. They have always believed that only selfless love is the greatest weapon against the Honkai."

"Do you think so too, Tread Snow?" The magnificent Theater of Domination stood empty and silent. The boy stood at its highest point, looking down over the entire theater as a faint golden light continued burning in his eyes.

The black puppet cat lay motionless at his feet, serene as it should have been.

"Looks like I forgot. Without my control, you won't move."

No one could answer him, and Su Jue needed no one's answer.

With a gentle lift of his finger, the lifeless black cat Tread Snow immediately became lively. Its gray and golden mismatched eyes glimmered with intelligent light.

"Meow~" It let out a soft cry, then shook its neck as though uncomfortable. "Holding it in and not talking was suffocating. That stupid woman probably still thinks I'm just a puppet cat that can't talk."

"Shh!" Su Jue raised a finger to his lips. "Tread Snow, you can't say that. She is the warrior we admire most, the teacher we respect most, and a wise pioneer."

"Do not underestimate her sharpness, and do not underestimate her resolve."

The Imaginary Space was dominated by darkness and emptiness, the heaviest possible blow to a person's will. Once one lost their sense of time, endless fear would creep into their consciousness and continually devour their desire to live. Yet Murata Himeko had endured for three whole months in that despairing environment without breaking down.

This was a dead end, and it was also an abyss. When Su Jue appeared before her, when that unknown existence seized her limbs and kept dragging her into the abyss, she had still found the courage to resist.

Facing the energy erosion of the Herrscher of a Thousand, facing Su Jue's relentless verbal attacks, facing the darkness within herself devouring her heart, at the final step before falling into the abyss, she stopped. With a will burning fiercely like flame, and memories stained with blood and tears, she launched her final resistance.

This was something ordinary people could never accomplish. Even Su Jue was astonished by such unwavering determination.

If that had been all, Su Jue would merely have needed to put in a little more effort. Once that faint flame burned out, he could retrieve her. To him, the outcome would have been the same either way.

The only surprise had probably been that message. Su Jue had indeed never heard that recording, nor did he know what Kiana had said to make Himeko trust her judgment without question.

So she had made a desperate gamble, using her freedom and her own will as stakes in a game against the Herrscher of Domination—a game she was destined to lose.

She fed herself to the tiger just to fight for that sliver of hope for her student. Even if the sky had grown utterly dark, she was willing to burn away her final spark to illuminate the last night for them.

"Foolish? Ignorant? No, that is her true wisdom."

The Theater of Domination was empty and silent, but in Su Jue's eyes, it was already filled with countless puppet strings. It was an arrangement only he could see, and a trap he had personally set.

Murata Himeko wanted to pry into his secrets, so he would let her see them clearly.

His past. His history. How much was real, and how much was false? No one knew.

While Himeko had been constantly probing Su Jue, was he not also crossing swords with her?

From the first sentence he had spoken to her, Su Jue had been misleading her. The most fundamental point of all was that Tread Snow was his avatar, not a puppet. Without his conscious control, it would never move.

And that had been the first step in Himeko's misjudgment of Su Jue. The Herrscher of a Thousand was controlled through domination, but that did not mean its puppets could not retain their own consciousness. A conscious puppet completely outclassed a mere wooden doll in combat ability, intelligence, and other aspects. Like Griseo, whose faint trace of consciousness alone could make the play Su Jue arranged vivid and flexible.

That was why Su Jue was willing to risk exposing himself just to preserve Murata Himeko's consciousness. The difference between an A-Rank Valkyrie with a consciousness and a puppet body was simply too great.

Thus, controlling a puppet and controlling an avatar were two entirely different methods. Since Himeko herself was a puppet, she would naturally judge based on her own perceptions. That was the second trap Su Jue had set for her.

"Strings of Domination"

The Herrscher of Domination could only control others through puppet strings. This was the information Su Jue had continuously revealed to her through his words. To make his claim convincing, he had even demonstrated it for her himself. The sensation of one's bodily awareness being stripped away bit by bit was certainly not pleasant, and it would unconsciously deepen her impression.

As long as I can break free from the puppet strings, I can regain my freedom. Even if it is only for a short time, I can still stop myself before doing something irreversible.

"She was probably thinking that." Tread Snow stood beside Su Jue, looking down at the Theater of Domination with him. "But she has no idea that you don't need strings to control her, nor can she break free from strings. And when she exhausts herself trying to sever them, if you voluntarily cut the strings and release your control over her, how will she feel?"

"Joy? Relief? Or an even deeper conviction that her judgment was correct?" The black cat grinned and laughed loudly, looking terrifying and savage. But there was no smile on Su Jue's face, because he thought of his final trap.

The weapon called "kindness."

She was a warrior, and she was also a teacher. She had ignited herself to carve out a more perfect future for Kiana. She was willing to spend her entire life saving those lost children. And this was the first trap Su Jue had laid using her kindness, as well as the final trap.

Once someone became too immersed in the play, they became a person within it.

The boundary between truth and falsehood had become difficult to distinguish. After luring Kiana away for the first time, Su Jue had already lost any path of retreat. He could only continue following his plan. And the farther he went, the more dangerous he realized that path was.

Kindness was the foundation of humanity. If he always kept himself outside the play, then one day he would completely lose his humanity and become a pure Herrscher. But if he immersed himself too deeply, then he might drown within it and lose the courage of a Herrscher. And that would be the day he died.

If Murata Himeko truly fell into his trap, he would likely gain another puppet willing to help him voluntarily. Even knowing Su Jue's goal was wrong, her kind nature might lead her to devote herself solely to pull Su Jue back from the brink of corruption.

Being deceived did not feel good. Every lie was an interrogation of his own soul.

Su Jue stood above the vast theater and closed his eyes.

Chapter 43: Easing and Betrayal

By evening, the sun had already set, and patches of gold flickered throughout the apartment.