Confession

"I'm sorry, Selena, I lied to you."

The room was eerily quiet, save for Garr's muffled groans and Selena's incredulous expression.

"...Have you been deceiving me about my name, my identity, even my appearance?"

"Yes...yes."

Selena was in a daze, from their first meeting to being deceived once again... her life was a constant series of betrayals.

Can I still trust you?

"..."

silence.

His long silence said it all.

Selena coldly looked at Garr's lowered eyes and raised her hand.

Snapped--!

-

"The Anahita sect only recognizes monogamy, Selena." Her mother's gentle voice echoed in Selena's ears.

"Then why, Father..."

"Shut up! Don't mention that beast who only thinks with his lower body!" The mother grabbed Selena by the collar. "Just remember, the Anahita sect only recognizes monogamy!"

Seeing her mother's distorted face, a mixture of anger and despair, Selena ultimately didn't ask the question.

From a young age, Selena knew many aunts who were her father's wives, but her mother never acknowledged them.

His father had long neglected his mother, and whenever he felt down, he would go to his mother's room.

Selena could hear her mother's heart-wrenching sobs, but she just sat silently outside the door.

My father was a noble knight who owned his own manor, as well as a field and serfs.

But for the mother, this was a shackle.

My mother was tricked into marrying my father. He said he only loved her, but he soon brought other women home.

The mother tried to escape, but everyone here was the father's informant, and she was caught and brought back, her body covered in bruises.

After Selena was born, she abandoned her plan to run away and began to do her best to raise Selena.

Her mother was not good with words, and the Anahita sect's system was the story she heard most often from her mother.

For example, if a person mates with a bunch of people of the opposite sex, then what's the difference between him and an animal?

Her mother's words were like a branding iron, trying to imprint the Anahita sect's ideology into her mind.

The mother's resistance successfully led to the father's neglect, and soon, the father would not see the mother for months at a time, and Selena herself was also neglected.

The mother was satisfied with this situation and simply talked to Selena. Selena could only look out the window at her half-siblings playing in the wheat field.

They could run freely in the fields, and when their father returned home, he would playfully surround them. Selena, however, could only stay cooped up in the library, alone, immersed in fairy tales.

"Selena, you are twelve years old now. You must go to the Temple of Wisdom and swear your faith in Pronoa, the god of wisdom."

When she was twelve, her father came to see her for the first time.

"No! Selena must worship the God of Life with me! She is a devout follower of Anahita!"

The mother grabbed the father's leg, but he kicked her away.

"What a jerk! I really don't know what I was thinking, falling for your stinky wife!"

Selena was pulled into a carriage and taken to the Temple of Wisdom.

But perhaps because she had already embraced the Anahita religion in her heart, even though her father had made arrangements beforehand, Selena did not receive the favor of the god of wisdom.

She watched her father silently. His face was flushed, and he shook his neck, making a crisp sound.

After leaving the Temple of Wisdom, Selena was attacked.

Although it was the first time she had been hit, Selena surprisingly did not cry. Instead, when she got home, her mother saw the bruises on her body and began to cry.

"Child, shall we leave here?"

That evening, her mother took Selena's hand and left her father's estate.

Head to the Temple of Life and worship Anahita, the god of life.

Soft green light blended into her body, and the surroundings seemed to bloom into a colorful garden for her at this moment.

"Congratulations! The God of Life has sensed your devout faith and bestowed blessings upon you, child. You are now a priest." The priest offered his heartfelt congratulations.

Her mother hugged her and wept with joy.

Selena stared blankly at her mother, who was smiling so happily for the first time.

But was it really a good thing that she gained Anahita's retinue?

The money that the mother had saved over the years was used up after bribing the priest. Penniless, they were soon caught by the father.

"You have faith in the God of Life! You traitor to faith!"

Her mother died without dignity in front of her, and her father lashed her back repeatedly. She could only wait for him to stop and then silently heal her wounds.

The days in the dungeon were dark and bleak; she waited listlessly and alone for her death.

Later, she was sold to slave traders and went hungry for a long time, being displayed to buyers like an exhibit.

"Would you like to come with me?" a voice asked, as gentle as a spring breeze.

Baron Cato extended his hand, his demeanor calm and humble, respecting Selena's choice.

Even Selena herself didn't know why she agreed.

Arriving at Cato's manor, it is located in a remote town, almost near the border of the Kingdom of Minos.

The maids rushed over and took Selena to bathe, dressed her in maid's clothes, and gave her a hearty meal.

"Welcome here, Selena. Lord Cato is very respectable. Please consider this your new home from now on," the head maid said encouragingly, clenching her fists.

"Welcome, Selena," the other maids and butlers said gently.

Everyone here treated her with kindness, making Selena feel as if she had entered a beautiful world from a fairy tale.

Selena spent these three years peacefully. Although she had to get up every morning to prepare breakfast for Lord Cato, clean the rooms on the second floor of the manor, and so on, she still had time to quietly read books in her spare time and chat happily with the other maids.

Cato also made an exception and handed the key to the study to Selena: "It seems you enjoy reading. From now on, the study will be yours."

He gently stroked Selena's head, and Selena's cheeks turned red to her ears.

The gloomy, oppressive prison seemed to be receding into the distance from her.

However, Baron Cato was a follower of the god of life, and he eventually married the daughter of the local count, thus climbing the social ladder and starting to develop his career rapidly.

This also means that Selena's feelings for him are just wishful thinking.

Yes, she was just a maid, a slave who had been bought. What right did she have to possess Baron Cato?

Everything changed after the lady arrived.

She had a bad temper and would often smash bottles and jars and bully the maids, including Selena.

She confiscated the key to Selena's study and pointed her finger at Selena, hurling insults at her for being shameless.

Baron Cato, for the sake of his career, only tried to appease his wife.

Selena could only swallow her humiliation silently; she was just a maid, just a slave, and all she had to do was do what she was supposed to do.

The count arrived. He was a stout middle-aged man with half-white hair. Despite being a count, he had no gentlemanly manners and acted like a country landowner.

He was indeed a landowner, with several young women on his left and right, and even during meals, his gaze would always wander over the maids.

The count looked at Selena.

A sense of dread arose from nowhere.

"This maid is nice... no, no, this maid is too alluring! Cato, I'm worried that she'll influence you and ruin your life with my daughter! It's not good to keep this maid! How about giving her to me?" The count began licking the fried dough from the corner of his mouth, laughing loudly, his cheek fat jiggling, making Selena look at Baron Cato in fear.

"This... Your Excellency..." Cato's face was tense, and he hadn't expected the count to say that, so he was a little flustered.

"Oh! Is there some difficulty you're facing? Or is this maid very important to you? It seems the ownership of that territory..." The count paid no heed to Cato's polite refusal, his narrow eyes calmly fixed on Cato.

Cato's tense face immediately broke into an awkward smile; if he refused, the opportunity he had worked so hard for would vanish.

He made what he believed to be the right decision, placing his hand on Selena's waist and pushing her toward the Count.

In an instant, Selena stared in disbelief at Baron Cato, with whom she had spent three years. Fear? Disbelief? Sadness? Tens of thousands of emotions surged into her heart, leading her to the Earl's side amidst the chaos.

"What's wrong, little girl? Why are your legs shaking? Have you been eating poorly and are you hungry?" The count bent down and touched Selena's legs.

Selena looked at Baron Cato, who was simply looking down, cutting the food on his plate.

I've been abandoned again... again.

Selena walked the streets of Black Twilight City, just as she had on the day she killed the Duke, wandering aimlessly along the border of the Kingdom of Amino.

The winter rain stung her cheeks like icicles, and her whole body began to tremble as her body temperature rapidly dropped.

Deception and betrayal seemed to have become an inescapable nightmare for her.

If it weren't for... if it weren't for you standing in front of me back then.

Selena gritted her teeth, each step feeling incredibly long. She recalled the day Gar stood in her way at the Oaks Guild meeting and began to daydream.

If Cato had stood in front of her like Garna did, perhaps she wouldn't have killed the Count, come to the Kingdom of Slo, or encountered Garna at all.

Does this world not function without deception and betrayal?

Garr, gripping his cane, followed behind Selena, the two about ten meters apart.

He eventually admitted to being a necromancer, told Selena his real name, and also admitted that he was not from the East.

He confessed completely to all the lies he had fabricated.

Because he knew that the sermon ceremony prepared by the Black Gold Society tomorrow was a trap, and his identity would inevitably be exposed.

He must reveal his true identity to Selena beforehand, otherwise Selena will surely leave because of his deception.

This was a predictable outcome; at worst, he could leave and start over. But Selena was his most important asset, and he didn't want to give up on her easily.

He only came to his senses after Selena slapped him.

He now fully understands what he's doing; he's using Selena as a tool.

From using Selena's identity to ride a dragon, to using Selena's blessing to expand the church, to using Selena's money to stabilize the situation.

Even before they met, he had already begun planning to exploit her, to use her to create value, and to use her to help him escape the threat of death's countdown.

Even his earlier confession was only because his lies were about to become undeniable.

He never truly considered Selena a friend.

He was wrong, terribly wrong, utterly wrong.

Selena is a person, not a cog in an assembly line, patched up wherever she's needed. She has thoughts, emotions, a past, and a future.

Looking at his desolate and lonely figure in the rain, he took a deep breath.

-

Claude and Smithson walked slowly down the street, holding umbrellas, just like Gar Hawke in the distance.

Smithson shrank back. "This weather is awful. It suddenly started raining. We can't do any work now. Tomorrow is that kid's death day, and the boss still makes us follow along."

Claude stared intently, his face drooping, and did not answer.

"What? You feel sorry for them? Every time you see scenes like this where families are torn apart, you react like this. What's so good about that..."

"Wait, he seems to have said something!" Claude turned to the side and covered Smithson's mouth.

"Ugh—ugh—!" Smithson struggled for a moment, but the conversation on Gar's end had already ended.

So much so that Claude didn't hear what they were saying.

However, Selena, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped and turned around.

Then he started walking towards Gar, then quickly, then running.

Gar opened his arms, seemingly to welcome Selena.

But he was met with a punch from Selena.

Gal took the punch squarely to the face, and like a wild dog that had been kicked hard, he fell sprawled out in the pouring rain.

Without pausing, Selena sat on Gar's stomach and punched him in the face again and again.

Smithson shrank back. "Too brutal!"

"I didn't hear what he said." Claude glared at Smithson. "It's all your fault!"

"Hey, it's just a few words, whether you listen or not doesn't matter, right?" Smithson shrugged. "Besides, that's a stage set up by Boss Melison, that kid is destined to finish his performance before he can leave."

"You always look down on others with your self-righteousness, and you'll suffer because of him sooner or later."

Claude spoke coldly, wiping the drool from his palm, and approached Gal while holding up his umbrella.

Selena, however, seemed to have exhausted all her breath, panting heavily as she looked up at the overcast sky.

Gar was also panting heavily, as cold rain mixed with blood poured into his mouth and nose, making it difficult for him to breathe.

Their hair was disheveled by the rain, and their clothes were soaked, making them look extremely disheveled.

Finally, Selena stood up, grabbed Gal's wrist, and pulled him to sit up.

Her face remained cold, her icy gaze fixed on the bloodshot eyes nestled among her disheveled hair.

"If there's a next time, I'll definitely kill you." I'll kill you the same way I killed the Earl.

Gar chuckled, a trickle of blood appearing from his nose, and feigned nonchalance: "So you forgive me?"

Selena didn't answer; she simply used healing magic to treat the wounds on his face.