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Chapter 1
The Kiss of Betrayal
“I can’t believe it. Lady Ariella has fallen!”
“Hmph. She’s been locked up as a prisoner for ages. There’s no need to call her ‘Lady’ anymore.”
“Still, it’s impressive. Most people can’t last even a month in there. It’s already been two months.”
“Well, the wicked ones tend to be stubborn for no reason.”
The Fourth Tower of Heaven.
A prison that held those deemed unjust and dangerous.
Ariella was imprisoned there as a prisoner of the highest danger level.
It was a solitary cell.
The sun never shone there, and not a single breeze could enter. It was the only abyss that existed within the radiant Heavenly Realm.
Her entire body was wrapped in black chains, tied against a damp wall like a corpse.
Her weakened body was pitiful to look at.
Once praised as a golden flower, her beauty had lost all vitality, as though it would crumble at the slightest touch. Her brilliant blonde hair had become dry and brittle like cheap parchment.
Her rare violet eyes, considered noble even in Heaven, moved sluggishly as if they were about to fade away.
No. I can’t disappear like this.
The chains that absorbed holy power were a divine punishment.
Most prisoners dried up like wrung-out cloth, lost their sanity, screamed in agony, and eventually had their souls destroyed completely.
As the guards said, even lasting one month was rare.
But Ariella was different.
“It’s unfair.”
Even though her throat felt as if she had swallowed sand and her voice barely worked anymore, she repeated those words over and over.
— We know. But there’s no way to help you.
Only the mice living inside the tower understood her.
Sometimes, this ability of hers had been annoying. Sometimes she had wanted to tear her ears off because of it.
Yet now, in her final moments, it was strangely comforting to be consoled by such a useless ability.
Ariella’s crime was attempted murder of a noble of the sacred Heavenly Realm.
“Kanna, please! I didn’t do it!”
Although status existed in Heaven, talent and ability were valued more highly.
Ariella’s immense holy power was the source of the barrier that protected Heaven itself.
Though she was not born a noble, she possessed the greatest holy power of anyone alive.
She was a warrior admired by all and the pride of both the Heavenly King and the Archangels.
Kanna had always praised her and loved her as her closest friend.
Holy Ariella.
Ariella, symbol of justice.
Kind and generous Ariella.
Those were the words Kanna always used to describe her.
So why…
— Ariella must have had her reasons! Why else would she try to poison me?
When Kanna cried while giving false testimony during Heaven’s trial, Ariella could only stare at her in disbelief.
The eyes she met then had been filled with a primitive kind of delight.
At times, Ariella wanted to simply die.
Yet even now, the only person she worried about was Dave.
The one she had loved most in her life.
The one she had promised to marry and build a future with.
She had done something terrible to him.
But at least he would know she was innocent.
Ariella weakly tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling.
There she saw an ancient divine beast carved into the stone above.
The moment her eyes met its strange gaze, she squeezed out a faint voice.
“What did I do that was so wrong?”
— You did nothing wrong.
“Then free me from this suffering.”
Though she knew it was only a hallucination, she pleaded anyway.
As she blinked, tears rolled down her dry cheeks.
— Do you truly wish for it?
Just then—
The heavy iron door opened.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Ariella trembled and shut her eyes against the sudden flood of light.
When she opened them again, Kanna was standing before her.
The slightly upturned eyes.
The cute nose.
The bright red lips.
The small pointed chin.
Everything was exactly the same.
Kanna lacked some of the typical angelic features, such as innocent and peaceful eyes, but she was undeniably beautiful.
Her large, striking features contrasted sharply with Ariella’s.
Her smiling eyes and overly innocent expression, so pure it almost felt violent, remained unchanged.
Only then did Ariella notice that Kanna’s hair had turned golden.
It had originally been a deep blood-red color.
A painful mixture of anger and sorrow rose within her chest.
“Did you do something to your hair?”
“Ariella! What do you think? It’s much livelier than your blonde hair, isn’t it?”
“Copying me won’t make you become me.”
For a brief moment, something vicious flashed through Kanna’s eyes.
But she quickly smiled again.
“Of course not. But Dave says he likes blonde hair. Apparently, that was the only thing worth looking at on you. Well, he’s blonde too.”
“What?”
A name she never expected to hear came from Kanna’s mouth.
Kanna casually reached toward the frozen Ariella and gently stroked her lifeless hair.
“Oh, Ariella. You know it too, don’t you? He said you were like a piece of wood. Thin and dried up, not enjoyable to hold at all. He got tired of hearing you say you loved him all the time. No surprises. Nothing exciting.”
Ariella’s face flushed with humiliation.
She could hardly understand what Kanna was saying.
Just moments ago, she had been desperately worrying about Dave and longing for him.
For her beautiful and perfect lover.
“No matter how much you provoke me, I won’t fall for it, Kanna.”
“Oh, right! That overflowing holy power of yours! He’s very grateful for that. You named Dave as the inheritor of your holy power in case of an emergency, didn’t you?”
A suffocating pain struck her.
That was something only the two of them knew.
Even now, she could feel the power of God draining from her body.
Agonizing heat spread through her veins as if her blood were drying up.
“Anyway, I thought I should thank you. After all, we’re friends, aren’t we? I should at least send you off happily.”
Kanna smirked as Ariella’s eyes shook.
Then she suddenly pulled open the iron door.
Light flooded the room once more.
As Ariella’s blurred vision cleared, she saw the man she loved more than anyone.
Dave.
His golden eyes shone like a ray of salvation in the ugly darkness around her.
“Dave! I-I didn’t do it! I would never do something like that to Kanna! You believe me, don’t you—”
“Ariella. Of course I believe you.”
A chill ran down her spine.
Something about him felt different.
His expression was gentle and calm as always.
But his smile was horrifying.
The moment their eyes met, Ariella felt something inside her heart shatter completely.
“You were simply unlucky.”
Right before her eyes, Dave wrapped an arm around Kanna’s waist.
The final thread Ariella had been desperately holding onto snapped.
Completely.
“Ah…”
It had already rotted away.
“Ariella. You’re so pure and passionate. I think that foolish mindset of yours is the reason you’ve managed to survive this long.”
“You… how could you…!”
Ariella gasped for breath.
Even now, Dave’s hand casually wandered over Kanna’s exposed waist.
Rage spread through Ariella like wildfire across dry grass.
Yet she could barely speak.
“All those qualities are innocent and cute. But they don’t help you understand reality. I always told you, didn’t I? You’re too idealistic.”
It’s unfair.
This is so unfair.
“Long-lasting suffering is punishment. When you killed demons, you always finished them with a single strike because you knew that, right? That’s why I’m helping you too.”
“Stay back! Aah! Don’t come near me!”
Every time she struggled, the chains dug deeper into her flesh.
Dave reached out and grabbed her chin.
She shook her head violently, but his grip was too strong.
Ariella could feel her own holy power raging inside his body.
Despair swallowed her whole.
“Why… why me…?”
His fingers brushed across her cheek.
The familiar touch only made everything worse.
“This face is such a waste.”
She could barely see anymore.
Everything was blurred by tears.
Just like the end of the fate she had walked toward all her life.
“Thank you, Ariella. I’ll remember you forever. Thanks to you, my holy power is overflowing. Now I’ll become God’s representative. In your place.”
Then she felt something hot against her lips.
“Mm—!”
Something burning like lava flowed into her mouth.
Dave kissed her as if he intended to steal even her final breath.
It was nothing like the soft and gentle kisses he once gave her.
Each forceful kiss made the thick chains rattle loudly.
“Dave… what happened to your sense of justice…?”
“Ah, justice? Who knows. Maybe it’s just another form of brainwashing imposed on angels.”
His lips descended again.
And again.
“Or maybe I’m simply different.”
Because of the endless tears, his kind eyes no longer looked golden to her.
The chains finally stopped moving.
“You remember that demon poison you told me about? I stole a bottle. Thought it might come in handy. Tastes awful, though.”
He had developed resistance to it.
Ariella never could.
As Dave licked his lips and smiled, Ariella’s consciousness began fading away.
She weakly tilted her head back.
The eyes of the ancient divine beast carved into the ceiling seemed to shimmer.
“Dave, is it over now?”
“I think so.”
The voices of the lover she loved most and the friend she trusted most gradually faded from her ears.
Then—
The mysterious voice returned.
— Do you truly wish for it?
It came at the exact moment the last trace of holy power disappeared from her body.
Before her final breath left her—
Ariella’s lips moved one last time.
“I do.”
The burning agony of her final moments passed.
And Ariella’s eyes never moved again.
