Chapter 47: Fate’s Mockery

“Latifah sent me to take your life!”

Dounia deliberately controlled the dagger, its tip veering slightly to the left, aiming for a non-fatal spot.
A penetrating wound in the back, which would cause rapid blood loss, was enough to achieve her goal of critically injuring Alicia.

Yet, as if Alicia sensed something, she dodged and evaded with all her might to the left.
One wanted to shift the blade to avoid hitting a vital spot, while the other instinctively dodged to move away from it, bringing the blade and her back closer and closer…

Wait… no!

Dounia’s eyes widened slightly.

Thwack—!

The sharp blade unexpectedly plunged straight into Alicia’s back, piercing through her heart.
Splattered blood landed on Dounia’s face, warm and viscous.

“No!!!” Dounia cried out instinctively.

She was completely panicked!

This was completely outside her plan, entirely different from what she had anticipated.
Alicia weakly coughed up a mouthful of blood, her body falling forward, her head tilting to one side, presenting a beautiful yet chilling profile; her dark red vertical pupils were fixed on Dounia, gradually losing focus…

“No no no no no no no no!!!!!” Dounia wailed instinctively.

Her mind a blank, she frantically covered her mouth, completely oblivious to Alicia’s blood still on her hands, trembling all over.

What now?

What should she do?

‘Pull out the knife and give her CPR?

I must’ve sliced her heart in two with that!

What’s the point of CPR then?!’

‘How could this happen… it shouldn’t be like this!’

‘Even if this accidental coincidence had led her to deal a fatal blow, how could fate let her die so easily!
With just a little loli like herself who’d be panting after running a few kilometers?
This was simply a joke!’

“Is anyone there to save her, anyone at all… quick, save us…” She frantically peered through the window, but saw no one.

‘If Alicia died, this world would be beyond saving.’
‘Without her SSR-level potential combat power, they could just fast-forward to the Bad Ending!’

“You… don’t die…” Dounia gripped Alicia’s shoulder, her hands trembling.
“Please, don’t die…” She clumsily tried to press down on the wound with Alicia’s crude cloak, but blood kept seeping out.
“If you die, what will I do, what will I do…”

‘The energy tower’s explosion would become an unchangeable outcome, not to mention the kingdom wars and the evil god’s descent that would follow.’‘Without the Dragon Saintess, they were doomed…’
‘Violet, Ms. Adelle, herself, every single one of them was doomed.’
‘Just when everything was about to get better!?’
“Uwahahaha…” Dounia miserably wiped away tears overflowing from her eyes.
“Why must you torment me like this… it’s always been this way…”

She had once possessed much, and had also been forced to give up much.
Family, loved ones, a decent life, but then bad news came one after another.
Forced to avoid her gambling father, to escape that home filled with endless quarrels, screams, and roars like the clamor of war, she left and lived in a small, old rental room, supporting her university life by taking game commissions.

The best sunshine was at ten in the morning, when a few rays would faintly filter in, only to quietly slip away in less than half an hour.

After Dounia lived alone for several months in a house that barely saw any sunlight, she woke up one day feeling like the “rat” that people self-deprecatingly claimed lived in the sewers.
So she mocked herself, and others too.

A bizarre fate brought her to this world, revealing malice from the very beginning, intending to put her to death, but she had endured.
But now, fate had played another joke on her.

“What kind of joke is this?!” Dounia forcefully slammed the ground, the intense pain pulling her back to her senses somewhat.
“You are not allowed to die, you absolutely, positively are not allowed to die!”
The golden Chalice of Malice appeared in Dounia’s hand, and she immediately made a wish.
“I wish to mend Alicia Alvarez’s physical wounds and restore her to life!”

Buzzing—
A siren-like sound rang out in Dounia’s mind.
‘The holy fluid, reduced to only about a third after her previous wish, was insufficient to grant such a wish.’
‘If she forced the wish, not only would she suffer a fatal backlash, but even Alicia, if restored to life, would not be exempt!’
‘At least two-thirds of the holy fluid was needed to even partially fulfill her wish.’
“Hahaha…”

Dounia threw her head back and laughed, tears streaming down her face.
‘Fate had never ceased to mock her, and she would never give up her small, powerless, slim resistance!’
Dounia reached for her waist, brushing past her grey uniform skirt, her blood-red eyes filled with self-mockery.
‘Yes, there was only one answer for her.’
“Offer up pleasure—!”

The silver-haired girl grinned widely, one hand holding the Chalice high, the other actively delving into the muddy Eden like a venomous snake.
‘She was the serpent that tempted humanity to fall, the Lucifer who incited rebellion.’
Guju guju, the bright pink liquid in the Chalice sloshed and churned.
‘Self-destruction, tormented by fate yet still needing to please the gods, intertwined with instinctive pleasure, a strong and transcendent sensation surged through her, like uncontrollably effervescing sparkling water.’
Clear liquid continuously flowed from Dounia’s eyes; she cried and laughed, the bitterness, sourness, sweetness, and pleasure in her heart all intertwined, concocting a deadly yet endlessly flavorful cocktail.
Dounia glanced at the liquid in the Chalice from the corner of her eye; the holy fluid was rapidly recovering, and she had tasted pleasure, but the rapidly rising bright pink tide gradually slowed, unable to break the two-thirds barrier.
Churururu.

She sucked a drop of the lingering fresh blood from her finger, like a blood kin savoring a delicacy.
“Alicia.” Dounia also lay down, softly calling her name like a lover.
Dounia’s hand, like a gentle feather, stroked Alicia’s elegant jawline, the tears in her ruby-like eyes shimmering brightly under the pale crescent moon.

“If you survive, I’ll let you have a special taste of me, how about that~?” Infected by pleasure, Dounia smiled flirtatiously and cunningly, grasping one of Alicia’s hands like a seductive mentor.
Dounia, focused entirely on pleasure, completely failed to notice that Alicia’s vertical pupils trembled imperceptibly, a sliver of extremely well-hidden surprise lurking deep within her dim, unfocused dark red eyes.
The holy fluid rapidly overflowed, submerging past the two-thirds threshold.
Her left hand was clear pink, her right hand stained dark red with blood.

Dounia clasped her hands together, her expression as devout as a saintess praying in a church.
‘I wish to mend Alicia Alvarez’s physical wounds and restore her to life.’

Swoosh swoosh swoosh—

The bright pink holy fluid shot out from the Chalice, flowing into the wound at Alicia’s back.
Within the terrifying, long, red-black gash, wisps of pinkish-white liquid clung together like glue, mending her wound.

Dounia turned Alicia’s body onto her back, leaned down, and pressed her ear to her chest, listening carefully for her heartbeat.

An extremely slow and faint heartbeat sounded, but Alicia still did not awaken.
She needed artificial respiration and CPR.
Gazing at Alicia’s slightly parted, tender pink lips, Dounia hesitated, swallowing hard.

“I’m sorry, but when you wake up, you shouldn’t remember anything.”
“Although we are both cursed individuals, powerless against our fate… please, have a good dream in this filthy world.”

Dounia closed her eyes, her long eyelashes reflecting a faint sheen under the brilliant moonlight.

She slowly pressed her lips against hers.