Chapter 142
“Nicoletta.”
Before the point of no return, divinity grants a single moment of mercy.
“Think carefully.”
It was the one love bestowed equally upon all humans.
Just once, before she truly plummeted into the depths. A grace extended at the very last moment.
What choice would she make?
Would she remain human, or would she forsake her humanity?
If it was the former, she could still offer forgiveness and mercy. But if it was the latter… how could she save someone who had given up on saving themselves?
Even a god could not undo it.
Corruption was a pit one walked into of their own accord.
“Have you made up your mind?”
The silence, devoid even of the sound of insects, was as cold as a corpse.
Within it, Siren posed her quiet question.
She had no intention of pressing her. She was simply curious.
“…….”
“If you’ve decided, then go ahead.”
Right ahead stood a well.
Before the moss-covered pile of stones, long untended, Nicoletta leaned precariously, poised to fall with the slightest push.
“T-There… there’s a strange fish in there!”
“Where?”
“Inside! Right there!”
“I see. Shall we take a look?”
Siren responded indifferently. It was bound to be a lie anyway.
The sound of a creaking trial echoed in the air. Nicoletta, who had been desperately feigning madness, bit her lips hard, the corners trembling uncontrollably.
The distance between them was no more than a single step.
If she wished, she could have pushed her easily. And if she did, Siren had no intention of resisting the fall.
“Ah… ah…….”
A dry hand twitched—rising, then clenching, then opening again.
Nicoletta, unable to decide either way, trembled pitifully before suddenly screaming, “Aaaah!” and clawing at her own face.
“Aaaaah! Aaah! Aaaaaaaah!!!”
In a frantic fit, she lunged, grasping Siren’s throat in an instant.
“Die, please, just die. Only then can I live. Please… please…….”
“For someone saying that, there’s not a hint of strength in your grip.”
“I…….”
Now that she was up close, it was clear.
Her face was in a terrible state.
In those cloudy eyes, a shattered heart lay in fragments.
A trampled soul curled in on itself, dim and gray.
But even gray was still a color of light.
“I… I mean…….”
Ah, a soul flickers.
A light that wavers on the verge of going out is mesmerizing in itself.
Siren stared unabashedly, watching until Nicoletta finally let go of her throat and stumbled back. Even as she turned and bolted past her.
Siren was not looking at Nicoletta’s form—she was looking at what lay within.
Splash!
Siren snapped back to her senses at the sound of a body plunging into the well.
At the very moment that gray soul had cleared, Nicoletta had thrown herself in.
In the end, she had chosen not to harm another.
‘Though that doesn’t mean harming oneself is acceptable either.’
Despair must have caught her ankle, making her stumble.
“Your Grace, are you unharmed?”
“I’m fine. Handle it.”
“Understood.”
The laundry well was large enough to fit three people inside.
As the guards rushed to retrieve Nicoletta, Siren sifted through her mind, recalling passages from advanced spellbooks.
Healing spells for reattaching severed limbs, mending broken arms, neutralizing poison—visions of them passed through her thoughts.
She had known them all once. If she could just recall them one more time, surely…
“Your Grace, she isn’t breathing! No, the blood… the blood…!”
“Move aside.”
The retrieved Nicoletta was bleeding profusely from her eyes, nose, and ears, but her soul had yet to leave her body.
She was not dead.
There was no need for panic.
Siren immediately placed her hand on Nicoletta’s chest and began chanting.
Her face was pallid, white foam clinging to her lips, carrying a faint scent of almonds.
The water in the well must have accumulated poison over time, leading to instant intoxication…
“Dying for your father’s sins—what an unfair fate.”
In the end, she had repented.
From beneath Siren’s closed eyelids, a light radiated from her hands.
A divine brilliance, so sacred that no one could bear to look upon it directly.
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