Subaru sat stiffly in the chair, hands gripping the fabric of her gown, her nails digging into her palms beneath the long sleeves. Across from her, Pandora sat with that same too-perfect smile, golden curls framing her face like she had been sculpted from porcelain. She was speaking softly, patiently, her voice like silk draped over something sharp.
She was explaining how she could help Subaru with her hunger.
But Subaru wasn't really understanding it.
Her mind had snagged on one particular word.
Half-Elf.
She needed to eat a Half-Elf?
Subaru's stomach twisted violently, nausea curling up her throat like bile.
No. Absolutely not.
The Forest had been bad enough. The animals, the plants, the way her presence alone had rotted life away—that had already shattered something inside her. Even if she told herself it wasn't her fault, even if she had done it because the hunger had become unbearable, she couldn't forgive herself for it.
And now… now Pandora was telling her to eat a person?
Not just a person—a Half-Elf.
Subaru didn't even know why that was important, but the way Pandora said it, the way her icy blue eyes gleamed with something unreadable, it meant something.
But none of that mattered because the answer was still no.
She wasn't going to kill someone just to satisfy herself.
Not a Half-Elf. Not a Human. Not anyone.
But—
She couldn't say that.
If she refused, if she reacted the wrong way, if she even hesitated too much, Pandora might start to suspect the truth.
That she wasn't the real Satella.
That she was just an imposter, trapped in this body, trying desperately to play along before these cultists figured her out and tore her apart.
So she smiled.
Cold. Detached.
The way a villain would.
"…Interesting," she murmured, her voice smooth, unreadable. "And you believe this will be enough?"
Pandora's smile widened slightly, her fingers lacing together in her lap. "Oh, of course. After all, it was never a mere hunger to begin with, was it?"
Subaru resisted the urge to tense. She only tilted her head slightly, letting her long silver hair cascade over her shoulder. "Oh?"
Pandora chuckled. "Come now. You know as well as I do… it isn't about eating. It's about taking back what was yours."
Subaru's throat went dry. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
She had no idea what that meant.
But she nodded anyway.
Ē~Ē
Then came Sirius.
Subaru had been hoping—desperately—that the next Sin Archbishop wouldn't be as bad as Gluttony. Maybe a chill psycho instead of an unhinged one.
But the moment Sirius walked in, she knew she was screwed.
The woman was a lot.
A lot of everything.
Wild, tangled hair spilled over her shoulders, thick iron chains coiled around her arms like they were part of her body. Her outfit—if you could call it that—was somewhere between a ragged priestess robe and shackles. She moved like a woman permanently caught between a waltz and a convulsion, twitching, twirling, trembling with emotion.
Too much emotion.
Her head snapped up the second she laid eyes on Subaru, and for a moment, the room was dead silent.
Then Sirius screamed.
"AHHHHHHHHHH, MY HEART TREMBLES!"
Subaru didn't flinch.
She wanted to. Every fiber of her human survival instinct was screaming at her to run, but she had long since learned that showing weakness in front of these freaks was a death sentence.
So she just… nodded.
Calm. Unbothered. As if a woman screaming at full volume in a locked room was completely normal.
Sirius lurched forward, dropping to her knees in a single, dramatic motion. "To see you! To breathe the same air as you! Ahh, how my heart twists! How it weeps! To be blessed—no, no, no—to be cursed by the agony of your return! It is too much! It is not enough! Ahhh, how beautiful! How horrible!"
Subaru nodded again. Of course. Very normal. Totally makes sense.
Sirius twitched violently, her chains rattling against the floor. "Ahhh, but my heart does not beat alone! No, no, no, he feels it too! My love, my soul, my Betelgeuse! He knows it! He understands! The madness of love!"
Oh, great.
Of course she and Betelgeuse were a thing.
It made too much sense.
Same unhinged theatrics. Same delusional obsession with feelings.
Subaru briefly considered smashing her head against the nearest table. Instead, she smiled coldly, ominously, the way a final boss should.
"Love," she murmured, voice low, unreadable. "Yes. That is… important."
Sirius shuddered violently as if Subaru had just whispered the secrets of the universe.
"AHHHH!" she wailed. "Such wisdom! Such depth! You see it! You know it! Love is agony! Love is despair! Love is an endless abyss of suffering and joy!"
Subaru nodded.
Perhaps Regulus was the most normal Sin Archbishop so far.
Which, honestly? Wasn't saying much.
At least he didn't scream the moment he saw her. He didn't cry, didn't writhe on the floor, didn't try to kiss her feet like a deranged zealot. No, he simply walked in, calmly, confidently, his footsteps even and deliberate, his posture too relaxed—like a man who believed nothing in the world could ever touch him.
He was normal-looking, too.
No grotesque features, no chains rattling against his body, no flesh-warping nightmares like the last couple of freaks she had met. Just a well-dressed, sharp-faced man with an unbearable level of arrogance radiating off him.
And then there were the women.
A small horde of blank-faced, eerily silent women trailing behind him in a perfect, unnatural formation.
His wives, he called them.
The moment Subaru glanced at them, their knees buckled and they collapsed, fainting one after another in some bizarre domino effect.
Regulus sighed heavily, barely sparing them a glance. "Hah… I suppose that's to be expected. Your sheer aura is overwhelming to those who lack substance."
Subaru said nothing.
Because, frankly? She had no idea how to respond to that.
Regulus turned his full attention back to her, crossing his arms. His golden eyes were sharp, calculating, lacking the usual deranged, worship-crazed obsession that the others had. He still respected her, begrudgingly, but it wasn't the blind, mindless devotion the rest of the cult displayed.
No, this guy?
He didn't bow. He didn't kneel.
Because Regulus didn't bow to anyone.
But he did smile—a lazy, self-satisfied smirk. "I have no particular interest in theatrics," he said smoothly. "And I won't waste time throwing myself at your feet like some mindless fool. You already know your importance. You don't need me to scream it at you."
Oh, thank god.
Finally. Someone who didn't talk like they were writing poetry on their own straightjacket.
Regulus spread his arms. "That being said, I am a generous man. I value what is mine, but I also understand when it is time to give."
He gestured toward his collapsed horde of wives.
"I can sacrifice my precious wives for you," he said with an exaggerated sigh, as if this was some great burden he was magnanimously offering. "Though I would rather not."
Subaru stared.
Slowly. Carefully. She nodded.
Because what the hell else was she supposed to do?
TBC
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