Side Story 4: The Villain’s Circumstances

A newborn baby lay still in a cradle of pure white. The goddess’s fingertip touched the baby’s unmoving cheek. At once, the infant let out a loud wail, flailing its arms and legs.

“Waaah!”

Next, the goddess’s palm swept gently over the infant’s ever-moving back. Pristine wings bloomed on the soft skin, unmarked by a single blemish.

“Your name shall be Viola.”

From that moment on, under the goddess’s command, Viola would serve as an angel, assisting the mortal realm.

Perched atop the central temple’s rooftop, Viola let out a bored sigh. Today marked the 8,291st day since she’d been confined within the cramped temple.

Viola’s role was to receive the goddess’s revelations and deliver them to the clergy.

For the past half year, there hadn’t been so much as a minor disturbance, let alone a divine message. Viola was relishing a daily routine that was, frankly, boring in its peace.

“Boring.”

Viola pouted her lips and stared up at the vast sky. If she could, she would drop this whole angel business and run off to explore outside the temple.

“Should I just run away for real?”

Viola lightly fluttered down to the ground and stopped in front of the temple entrance. Then, she stretched her hand past the temple door.

Sizzle.

With a smell like burning meat, the tip of Viola’s finger turned black and crisped away. If an angel like Viola crossed the barrier sprinkled with holy water, her whole body would burn up and turn to ash.

“Mother’s just so harsh. She could at least give me a friend or something.”

Viola quietly walked back inside the temple. She heaved a sigh deep enough to collapse the earth, but the temple priests didn’t even spare her a glance.

An angel like Viola could only show herself to humans when receiving a revelation to deliver the divine message.

“Oh, God……”

Viola’s steps came to a sudden stop. In the empty sanctuary, she saw a lone worshipper bowing their head in prayer.

“From several days ago, he had been coming to the temple every single day. Viola, almost as if drawn in by a spell, stepped inside the sanctuary.

“Please, I beg you, grant me mercy just this once.”

It was a desperate voice. What story could make a man call out the name of God so fervently? Kneeling down, Viola looked into the man’s face.

He had brown hair that brushed the back of his neck and amber eyes. Beneath the dense fringe of his lashes, a single teardrop trembled, then traced a line down his cheek.

“Hey, do you want wealth and fame? Or is it love?”

Of course, there was no answer. Viola let out a soft chuckle and turned to leave the sanctuary.

“I do. I desperately want it.”

Startled, Viola quickly turned around. The man was still prostrate on the floor, pressing his lips to the feet of the goddess statue.

“What….”

It was just a coincidence. Viola pouted in disappointment and left with heavy steps.

***

The next day, and the day after that, without fail, the man came to the temple again. He was never seen during mass, but as soon as it ended, he would bow his head beneath the statue as if he’d been waiting.

“What’s his story?“

At first, it was nothing more than curiosity.

“Maybe I can help him?“

After that, it became concern. For Viola, an angel, such feelings were natural. From the very beginning, she had been made to feel infinite affection for her Creator’s children.

“I want to talk to him.”

Even after the man left, his desperate cries for God’s mercy lingered in Viola’s ears. Just once, even if only once, she wanted to speak with him.

But unfortunately, Viola could only show herself when delivering an oracle.

[On the night of the full moon, a landslide will strike and cause great destruction in the village.]

Less than a week later, the divine revelation came. Viola’s heart pounded wildly. Finally, the chance to meet him had arrived.

Only once, to only one human, could she reveal herself. By rule, she should have delivered the oracle to a priest after sundown, but Viola reached out her hand to the man bowing alone in the empty cathedral.

“Dear God…”

Silky platinum hair, blue eyes. Massive wings unfurled from the slender woman’s back. The man, utterly transfixed by the vision of a rapturous angel, collapsed to the ground, his mouth agape.

Viola gently cupped the man’s cheek. The vivid sensation beneath her fingertips sent a tremor through her chest.

“I want to hear your story.”

At Viola’s command, the man began to speak as if in a trance.

His name was Leo, and after his widowed mother fell ill, he had come to the temple to pray for her recovery.

It was a sorrowful tale, one that easily tugged at Viola’s empathy. Moved, she felt tears, clear as pearls, well up at the corners of her eyes.

“Lady Viola, with what little I earn, I can barely fill our stomachs, much less buy medicine. Please, have mercy.”

“…Is it medicine you need?”

She couldn’t leave the temple herself to help directly, but she did know how he might obtain medicine.

“I’ll share the oracle meant for the priests with you instead. If you save people and become a righteous man, I’m sure others will step forward to help you too.”

At the secretive word “oracle,” the man’s pupils trembled rapidly. Viola leaned in, pressing her breath close to his ear. Through the strands of long platinum hair drifting in the air, a furtive whisper continued.

Upon receiving the oracle, the man lowered himself flat and kissed Viola’s feet. As Viola looked down at the back of his round head, a faint smile spread across her lips.

Not long after, just as the god had foretold, a landslide occurred, but fortunately, no lives were lost and the incident was resolved. Viola waited for the man, her heart swelling with anticipation.

“Lady Viola, are you listening?”

The man, whom she’d been waiting for so desperately, came to the temple. He should’ve been smiling brightly after getting his mother’s medicine, but his face was clouded with worry.

“I evacuated the people just as you ordered. But instead of earning their trust, I was suspected of deliberately causing the landslide.”

Viola’s eyes widened in shock. He’d been met with suspicion? That wasn’t the result she’d hoped for.

“Leo…”

She wanted to offer him some comfort, but not even a short breath could reach him.

“Perhaps because of the blatant rumors, my mother’s condition has grown critical since last night. So, I won’t be able to visit the temple for a while.”

She reached out a hand toward the cheek of the man who had grown noticeably gaunt over the past few days. Viola’s fingertips stirred the empty air, never quite reaching him.

“I’m sorry, Leo……”

She gently wrapped her arms around his body. With his head bowed, the man passed straight through Viola’s body and walked out of the cathedral.

A dull ache pulsed deep within Viola’s heart. It was a sensation she had never felt before.

***

The man didn’t return to the shrine until the season changed and the air was thick with the scent of early autumn.

After he vanished, Viola lost her smile. She no longer cared to chat with the sparrows every morning, or gaze at the stars with the fireflies at night.

[There will be a great flood, the shore will be submerged, and homes will be swept away.]

Even when, after half a year, a revelation came down from the gods, Viola did not deliver the oracle to the priests of the central temple. She simply lay on the rooftop, waiting for the man who never came.

Suddenly, the reflection of soft brown hair flickered in Viola’s lifeless eyes. She hurriedly sat up and looked toward the entrance of the shrine.

“Leo?”

A man who had vanished for half a year finally returned to the temple. Viola ran straight to the sanctuary, and without a hint of hesitation, appeared and embraced him from behind.

“Leo, you’re finally back.”

“Lady Viola….”

“This time, I’ll be able to help you.”

A great flood, unlike a landslide, wasn’t a disaster that humans could cause intentionally, so there was no risk of raising suspicion. This was the perfect chance to turn him into a hero.

“Don’t worry about anything.”

A fire flared deep inside her chest. Had there ever been an emotion so blissful and desperate among all those the gods had instilled within her?

“…I’ll protect you.”

Just as planned, the great flood struck, throwing the Empire into chaos. It was the deadliest flood in the empire’s history, with nearly a thousand innocent lives lost to the arms of the gods. Not only homes but also nearby farms suffered immense damage.

Of all the people living by the coast, only eight survived. Seven were nobles, and the last was a nouveau riche.

Among so many people, only those of noble bl＊＊d survived. People flocked to temples and monasteries, cursing the injustice of the gods.

“Leo, what on earth happened….”

“For failing to deliver the oracle to a priest, Viola was summoned to the heavens. Bound tightly in chains, Viola knelt at the feet of the archangel.

“Angel Viola, answer.”

Archangel Gabriel recited with his chin held high. Viola’s lips were forcibly lifted, and, regardless of her will, everything that had happened began to spill out.

How Viola had met a kind and pitiable believer, and how she’d resolved to help him.

“There must have been a mistake. I’m sure I delivered the oracle…”

Archangel Gabriel forcefully lifted Viola’s chin.

“Viola.”

“…Yes.”

“Who is the only human capable of serving as an oracle’s medium?”

Viola’s eyes grew red and glassy. At last, her voice trembling, she answered.

“…A priest.”

“So you knowingly delivered an oracle to an ordinary believer.”

“But…”

Before Viola could say a word in her defense, a cold sensation sliced down her spine. With a strangled cry, the right wing clinging to her shoulder blade was mercilessly torn away.

“No, please…!”

Thousands of feathers scattered through the air. Agonizing pain seeped into her torn flesh.

Struggling to catch her breath, Viola crashed to the ground, while Gabriel issued his order with an utterly emotionless face.

“I will give you one last chance. Seize the heretic who has defiled the name of God, and place their head upon the altar with a silver blade.”

Gabriel flicked his finger and pushed Viola’s forehead, sending her tattered form plummeting to the mortal realm. With her right wing severed, she could barely keep her balance.

One step, then another.

Staggering from side to side, she approached the quarters of Father Johannn, the high priest of the central temple. When she reached the doorway, her shaky legs finally gave out beneath her.

“……I will deliver the oracle.”

Clutching her bl＊＊d-soaked right shoulder, she shook the sleeping priest awake. Father Johannn’s eyelids slowly fluttered open.

The moment his eyes focused, he was struck speechless. The angel who had always appeared in his dreams in radiant glory was now sitting on the floor before him, covered in bl＊＊d.

“Priest Johannn, listen. Capture the heretic who has tarnished God’s name and bring me his head for the altar. The heretic’s name is…”

Viola held her breath, swallowing back tears, as she recited the man’s name. She was ordering the capture of the first person she had ever truly cared for, pitied, and loved.

“If you do this, the wrath of nature will subside.”

Finding the man wasn’t difficult. In less than three days after mobilizing her forces, he was dragged to the central temple.

While the temple priests purified a silver blade to prepare the offering, the man was locked up in a cramped cage for livestock.

“D＊mn it, open this right now!”

Viola stumbled over to the bars and silently gazed at the man’s face as he raged, spitting curses.

“…Why did you do it?”

It could have been his moment of glory. Not only would he have secured medicine for his mother, but the emperor of mankind might have even bestowed a title upon him for his deeds.

She couldn’t understand why he would throw away that chance, or why he saved only the nobles among so many lives.

“Leo, why?”

She sobbed so hard her throat trembled, but Viola’s voice never reached the man’s ears.

For a while, the man racked his brains, searching for a way to open the iron bars. Suddenly, he jerked his head up, and, like a madman, darted his gaze around the empty air as he shouted,

“Lady Viola, are you listening?”

When the man called her name, Viola bit her lips hard and glared at him. But the moment he spoke again, all her burning rage was instantly doused in cold water.

 “It’s all a conspiracy by the temple!“

“…A conspiracy? What are you talking about?”

“I tried to evacuate everyone just as you ordered, but the priests branded me a heretic and I couldn’t do a thing. Only a handful of nobles who don’t believe in the gods trusted me.”

Viola’s eyes began to tremble violently. Gripping the iron bars, the man screamed out his frustration until his voice nearly tore.

“It was Father Johannn, the bishop of the central temple, who called me a heretic!”

Viola’s heart plummeted. Was it Father Johannn who’d ruined the entire plan?

“He’s blinded by power! That shameless old man is using his position as bishop to sway the people for his own gain!”

Confusion washed over her. He was Father Johann, a man of few words, but always gentle with the parishioners. Viola couldn’t be sure if she should believe what he’d just said.

Unable to make sense of anything, Viola’s unfocused gaze settled on a single spot. She found herself staring blankly at the man’s face, tears streaming down.

Yes, even the first time they’d met, he’d wept so mournfully. She remembered the gentle man who visited the temple every day, desperate to cure his ailing mother.

“Leo…”

An endless love for His creations—this was the feeling God had instilled in Viola.

She gently pressed a hand to her left br*ast. The heart God had crafted with such care seemed to command her to protect this man.

“I’ll protect you.”

Viola, hands trembling, gripped the ragged end of her remaining wing with all her might. Then she began to tear it off with everything she had.

Bl＊＊d spattered in all directions, transforming into petals of brilliant crimson. Her once-radiant golden hair turned black from the roots down.

At last, her body began to grow opaque.

“Leo.”

Viola pressed her forehead to the rusty bars and softly called his name. Seeing the ruin she’d become, the man collapsed to the ground, screaming.

“Hi, hiik!”

The angelic figure that had once been so radiant had vanished without a trace. The blue eyes that used to shine so brightly were now as black as ink, all their brilliance washed away.

“You don’t have to be afraid anymore. I’ll protect you now.”

Viola reached her arm through the bars. At last, she could finally touch him freely, and yet the man only pressed himself against the far side of the cage, trembling.

But only for a moment—a sound approached from behind Viola’s shoulder. The priests of the central temple were coming closer, preparing the sacrifices.

“Leo, hurry, run.”

Viola flung open the cage lock, and the terrified man scrambled out on all fours like an animal.

Watching his back as he scurried away, Viola whispered quietly,

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you the medicine.”

With that brief regret, she turned away. Then, sharpening her claws, she lunged at the priests.

Human skin was so fragile—a single brush of her sharp nails was enough to split it open.

Viola gripped a priest’s heart. Staring blankly at the beating organ, she felt a hunger burning in her belly, something she’d never once experienced before in her life. And so, without hesitation, she sank her teeth into the pure heart, ready to devour it whole.

“Oh God…”

Viola jerked her head up at the sorrowful cry of an old man. Standing before her was Father Johann, the bishop of the Central Temple.

“How could this happen…”

Baring her teeth, Viola hurled herself at the true culprit behind it all—Father Johann. If only he hadn’t been there, she could’ve made Leo a hero just as she’d planned. A happy ending had been right within reach!

“Tearing you to pieces wouldn’t even come close to quenching this rage.”

It was a feeling she’d never experienced before. Uncontrollable, hellish fury wrapped itself around her entire body.

“…How could you do this?”

Father Johann clutched the cross hanging from his neck and muttered a prayer. Viola screamed, her voice shaking with anger.

“You ruined everything! If you’d only kept your mouth shut, Leo could have become a hero! All I wanted was to get the medicine for Leo’s mother!”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Johann’s face, hiding behind ignorance, disgusted her.

“Playing dumb won’t work! You were the one who branded Leo as a heretic and stirred up the people!”

“I don’t know what you’ve heard from him, but I have nothing to do with any of this. And his mother passed away six months ago.”

“…What?”

Viola stared down at Father Johann, at a loss for words. Was he just making excuses to cling to life a little longer? Her heart pounded.

“…What are you talking about.”

“She’s someone who paraded around as a prophet after the landslide, enjoying the empire’s luxuries. Even before the flood, she was securing shelters only for nobles who could pay enormous sums. I just came from confirming it.”

“No, that can’t be. Don’t lie. Leo…”

He was the first person she ever opened her heart to.

Viola, shaking her head in denial, looked down at her palms. They were drenched in bl＊＊d. Priests’ bodies were strewn across the floor of the temple in a grotesque mess.

“No, no, no! It’s not true!”

Clutching a handful of her own hair, Viola let out a wail and bolted from the temple. The fresh air she’d longed for so desperately tasted of nothing sweet.

Then, like a madwoman, she ran through the streets searching for the man. The empire was in total chaos from the great flood, with looting and violence rampant everywhere.

“There’s no way….”

The outside world Viola had dreamed of all her life was no different from the h＊ll described in the scriptures. Humans, said to be born with fundamentally good hearts since the beginning of time, were too busy tearing each other down.

“It’s not supposed to be like this.”

After frantically scouring the empire, Viola finally found the man. He was hurriedly stuffing gold coins into a large travel bag. To his left, a woman—presumably his wife—was anxiously wringing her hands, her face drawn with worry.

With the sound of shattering glass, Viola burst through their fortress window. No sooner had the woman shrieked than Viola seized the man by the throat.

“Leo….”

“P-please! S-spare me! A—a monster!”

“Why did you lie to me?”

Terrified, the man stammered out an apology, his face ashen.

“I—I’m sorry!”

As the man pleaded, Viola let out a deranged laugh and tore out his heart in one swift motion. She bit into the still-warm heart and devoured it, savoring the brutal reality.

Gulp.

As her hunger was sated, jet-black crow’s wings sprouted from Viola’s shoulder blades. She felt no more sorrow, no more pain. All that filled her mind was the desire to feast on something even more delicious.

***

Two people, wearing not a single thread of clothing, were falling asleep in each other’s arms. Alicia, held in Edwin’s embrace, let out a groan soaked in pain.

“Sua…”

After burning Viola at the stake, the Empire regained its stability, but in Alicia’s unconscious mind, the horrific memories of the past were deeply etched.

“No…”

Trapped in a dreadful nightmare, Alicia’s eyes welled with tears. Then, the freckled girl sitting on the windowsill approached Alicia.

When the girl lightly pressed her lips against Alicia’s cheek, the eyelids twisted in pain slowly relaxed.

The girl, watching Alicia with a satisfied gaze, then picked up a single lily from the vase and walked over to Edwin.

When she tapped Edwin’s shoulder with the flower, his tightly closed eyelids slowly lifted.

“…Licia?”

Edwin softly murmured his lover’s name in a low, drowsy voice.

Perhaps he was having a pleasant dream; her eyelids curled into a delicate arc. She looked so lovely it made his heart flutter.

Edwin gently reached out and caressed her cheek. At that, she blinked her sleepy eyes and woke up.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Alicia lifted the corners of her lips in a faint smile.”

“I had a dream.”

“What kind of dream makes you smile so happily? If it wasn’t a dream about me, I might feel a little disappointed.”

Edwin stretched out his arms and pulled her into his embrace. Alicia buried her face against his broad chest, letting out a soft laugh.

“A dream about Sister Sara.”

“…Just for today, I’ll let that slide.”

The girl sitting on the windowsill watching them smiled brightly and rose into the sky.

The wedding was just around the corner. In a few days, the two would officially become husband and wife. It couldn’t be said with certainty that every moment of the life ahead of them would be filled only with happiness.

Perhaps they would face trials even harsher than all the hardship and adversity they had endured so far. Even so, they would not collapse—they would rise again. They would lean on the warmth of each other pressed together without a single gap and stand up once more.

Thousands of times, tens of thousands of times.