Even though her university mentor had judged her overly rational, her friends had called her a diamond, and most of the company's employees had secretly rated her as Rhine Lab's least popular department head, Saria had never harbored the slightest doubt about her actions.
So when the collapse came, the self she had to face became all the more cruel.
[This is perfectly normal. You've worn the skin of civilization for far too long, Saria. After suppressing yourself for so long, isn't it time to shed that skin and enjoy a good meal?]
[Hardship exists so that the moment of indulgence can feel even better. That was why you restrained yourself in the first place, wasn't it?]
"..."
The voice in her blood patiently laid out an alluring proposal, only to vanish into ash within her mind the very next second.
Her shield and Enamel had not been raised for such meaningless things.
She had seen test subjects suffering beneath the experiments, scenes so disgusting they could challenge even a coroner's vomiting reflex, passersby and uninvolved people murdered for secrecy's sake, and Ifrit... reduced to that state by experiments after enduring pain again and again under the so-called chimera therapy.
Desire, longing, love?
Such things could not even be mentioned alongside her goal. Putting them together at all would be a sign of weakness, an inner demon she had to overcome.
Yet only a moment later, those voices rose from the ashes again.
[No one would think it was wrong for you to do something else in private. Don't you like putting on makeup? Even if no one else notices it, it still makes you happy.]
[*Then pursuing his existence in private and devouring him wouldn't affect anything either, would it? Why not think a little more about yourself? You've