An finally arrived at the door.
Though the man was so terrified of this place, there must be something sinister inside.
But it was as if the button marked “do not press” was all the more tempting, driven by human curiosity and a rebellious spirit that compelled her to stand here.
No, it wasn’t just these reasons.
There were other, subtle and hard-to-explain reasons.
For example…
Her intuition.
From the moment she stepped into this village, An felt something was off.
In the shadows, she sensed that something existed, yet whenever she looked, there was nothing there.
After encountering Eluka, this feeling intensified.
It was as if beneath Eluka’s lively and adorable smiling face, something was hidden.
Something far more terrifying than what she showed.
But that very thing made her yearn to peek.
Like the serpent that tempted the firstborn to eat the apple.
“I’ll just… take a look.”
An placed her hand on the door handle.
The cold touch helped her calm down a bit.
She held her breath for a moment, confirming that Eluka was still busy in the kitchen.
Then, she pushed with force.
With a slight creaking sound, the door opened.
An cast her gaze into the room.
Then, her pupils abruptly constricted.
…
From the moment she entered this room, a faint floral scent filled the air.
An recognized it as a scent from a kind of perfume she occasionally used.
And after opening this door, the floral aroma became even more intense.
No, it should be said that it was nauseating.
As if several perfume bottles had shattered simultaneously in the room, the overwhelming floral scent nearly left her gasping for breath.
Yet even so, An could not help but catch a whiff of the odor hidden behind the floral fragrance.
The smell of blood.
A thick, congealed smell of blood.
An saw it.
In the not-so-spacious room, dim light flickered, several moths fluttered around the light, poised to dive into the flames, yet were obstructed by the cold lampshade.
Under the light, on the iron bed lay a girl quietly.
Completely naked.
And on her body, from her rounded breasts downward to just above a certain private area, there was a grotesque and massive wound, with disordered entrails spilling out from it, blood seemingly having drained away, revealing the darkened fascia of the innards.
The girl had been eviscerated.
“Ugh—”
The intense shock made An almost lose her stomach.
She covered her mouth and instinctively took a few steps back, but stepped into some liquid, splattering it all over her.
It was blood.
The floor of the entire room was flowing with large amounts of fresh blood.
The blood smell so intense that even the rich fragrance could not mask it came from here.
It was simply impossible for this to be the amount of blood from one person.
But where did all this blood come from?
“Ah… gegege…”
Just as An’s brain was in chaos, she suddenly heard a hoarse voice seemingly squeezed out from deep within the throat.
Like that of a malevolent spirit.
An’s stiff neck lifted her head.
To her horror, she found that the eviscerated girl was not dead yet.
But why wasn’t she dead, even with her entrails scattered around?
As if disturbed by the noise An made, she slowly turned her head and looked at the maid at the door.
“Brother…”
The girl’s face was pale as paper, her eyes lifeless.
An didn’t know if she still had the ability to see at this moment, but facing An, her lips weakly moved, as if a dying person was trying with all their might to cry for help.
But what she uttered was not a cry for help.
But rather.
—“I, love you…”
The girl issued this seemingly affectionate confession through her twisted expression from her parched throat.
“I love you…”
“I love you…”
“I’m sorry, I love you…”
“Wuwuwu… I love you…”
The girl’s voice, like a chilling wind, echoed in the room.
It was bone-chilling.
But just when An felt she might run away without looking back—a familiar voice rang out.
“Ah, caught by Master.”
The cries abruptly ceased.
Like a night-wailing infant that had truly encountered a man-eating monster.
It immediately closed its mouth.
“Eluka…”
An slowly turned her head.
The process of turning felt too long, she seemed to hear the sound of her neck bones grinding against each other.
“Why did Master open this room?”
Eluka was holding a teacup, sighing helplessly like a little girl caught with a secret:
“According to my plan, Master should have arrived much later.”
“Much later? What… does that mean?”
“It means… everyone is supposed to… come and accept my boundless love.
Just like them.”
Eluka casually threw away the teacup in her hand and smiled as she lifted her shirt in front of An, revealing her abdomen.
—On Eluka’s pale little belly, beneath her cute pink lingerie, was embedded a dark human face.
Without much thought, An recognized the identity of the face.
Because she had seen this face not long ago.
—It was Eluka’s mother, identical to the one in the painting.
“I love you…”
“I love you…”
The human face wailed in agony, but the words escaping its mouth remained those three love-filled words.
As if it could no longer utter anything else.
“And here’s this too.”
Eluka turned around again.
On her back was another dark face.
—Her father’s face.
“I love you…”
“I love you…”
This face, which looked somewhat aged, was now streaming with tears, seemingly enduring unimaginable pain, yet its mouth curled up, and as it repeated those three words, a smile spread across its face.
Twisted to the point of terror.
“What is going on…”
An instinctively took a step back, wanting to distance herself from Eluka.
At this moment, she finally sensed that compared to the horrifying eviscerated girl behind her, the smiling Eluka in front was the true source of terror.
“First my beloved father and mother, then dear Rod, and next… it’s your turn, Master.”
Eluka turned back, counting the loved ones like a child counting her favorite candies, her eyes revealing pure joy.
“You see, Master, I have so many people I love, I’m truly happy.”
“Eluka, please wake up, this is…”
“I’m very awake.”
Eluka interrupted An with a smile.
“In fact, I’m so grateful to Master.”
“Grateful… to me?”
“That’s right, it was Master who taught me what true love is.”
“What—” An’s mind went blank for a moment.
“I taught it?”
“Yes, that day by the lakeside, was it not you who taught me?”
Eluka raised her hands, overjoyed.
“What true love is, transcends everything! It knows no taboos! It permits one to naturally possess those they love! Isn’t that exactly what you told me?”
“After I returned, I shared your teachings with the divine spirits, and they appreciated your ideas as well.”
“Divine spirits?”
“Yes, the great, benevolent, and all-encompassing Love God who grants me the power of a lover.”
Eluka extended her hand to An, smiling: “So, will you accept my love too, Master?”
“Love… divine spirits…”
An’s mind was in chaos.
So many things, so many unexpected developments, struck her reason like a storm.
Yet, with her long-cultivated demeanor and insight, she managed to discern a line of reasoning through the confusion.
One that led to… the worst possible conclusion.
“Eluka, you…”
An raised her face, looking bewilderedly at Eluka, and with a voice trembling unbeknownst to her, whispered:
“You… have you been tainted by the Evil God?”
