VIP Chapter 295: Whatever (3k)
Iaar reached out and wiped the blood from his cracked lips. Just then, she seemed to notice the blood in his mouth and cupped his face. She raised her finger, holding a small tooth between her index finger and thumb. It seemed that having just been pulled from the gum, the small tooth was coated in viscous blood. Instead of dripping, the blood clung to the white tooth.
She turned and placed it between their eyes, as if imbuing the tooth with some extraordinary significance. “Iaar understands. Since there were no measures taken to stop the bleeding or alleviate the pain, Young Master’s mouth must be full of the blood left by this tooth…” With a slightly rough movement, she pinched Will’s jaw. Her fingers, through his cheek, touched the wound from the tooth extraction, which still ached. “Young Master’s blood is also so sweet. I will savor it well.”
“…Wait, are you going to…” By the time Will realized it, her lips were already on his. He felt the blood flowing faster from his empty tooth socket with the suction. The gushing blood passed over his tongue, and he could taste the faint metallic tang of his own blood. This blood then flowed past his soft lips, slowly trickling into the other person’s mouth. It was like spring water bursting from its source and flowing towards a river at a lower elevation.
…Yes.
A smile crept onto Will’s lips. After the unexpected and sensitive pain from being blindfolded, after experiencing Iaar’s “damage control” care, after understanding her mindset of expressing love through “giving pain”… he could feel that the emotion welling up in his heart wasn’t powerlessness. It was… joy. He understood why such a faint feeling of… “anticipation” had arisen in his heart before.
“Gulp… Ah, this doesn’t seem to be the first time Iaar has tasted Young Master’s blood.” As she swallowed, Iaar tilted her head. Her beast ears, which had been perked up due to “vigilance,” now seemed softer, wiggling elastically on her head. “But compared to when I licked it with my tongue a few years ago, this time it seems… it seems to have become sweeter. The rust-like taste has decreased a lot.”
“No matter what, blood probably… isn’t sweet. Because blood contains iron ions, you taste rust…” Will sighed and, as he had done before, explained this to Iaar. Then, he realized that even though he was tied to a chair and a bloody tooth was still in her hand, he could speak so normally to her now. The recent emotions had been as if canceled out by Iaar’s rough physical harm…
“…Young Master? Speaking of which, a Young Master who talks like this seems more normal. The Young Master before was very dejected, even his expression was very dejected.”
—Something’s wrong.
—Iaar smiled even as she hurt me.
—But I seem to be changing…
—Will it be… because I received Iaar’s love…
—It’s… completely okay for her to do this?
“Speaking of which, it’s been a long, long time since lunch. Does Young Master need to eat? Iaar has prepared porridge.” She stood up. The bowl of porridge on the ground seemed to have cooled completely—but for someone who just had a tooth pulled, this temperature might have been just right. “Come on? Shall we eat now? Or after the blood flows a bit? No matter when, Iaar will be here.”
…Compared to being confined alone, he did feel warmth.
“No… I don’t need it. Later.”
“Okay, no problem.” Iaar put the bowl aside and stood up, wagging her tail. Since her tail was wagging so happily, she had not only calmed down but also truly felt the love she had long sought.
“It’s… it’s so good…” Will let out an involuntary sigh. He looked up, watching Iaar’s retreating figure as she prepared to leave again, carrying the bowl, her tail wagging. He didn’t want her to go. He couldn’t let her go. Stay, stay, stay. If Iaar, who had always accompanied him, left, he would be alone in the darkness again. He, who was useless and could do nothing, whose fate, whether before or after his change, could only follow the currents… He, who was like this in both past and present lives… It seemed only when Iaar brought him the “love” she craved through pain did he feel the warmth of “being alive”… How… strange, what am I thinking? It seems, it seems because of emptiness, despair, and powerlessness… so I’ve come to crave love, crave pain, crave her appearing… It’s me?!
“Iaar… don’t… don’t go, okay?”
“Young… Young Master? But Iaar needs to put the bowl down…”
“Stay with me a little longer… Please.”
“Young Master? What… what’s wrong? You… you seem to be showing this expression for the first time, speaking like this for the first time. Is it really… okay?”
He seemed to understand. Was this a form of Stockholm Syndrome after being imprisoned? Perhaps it didn’t start with Iaar; when Liya tied him up, when Treya pulled him into the dreamscape… He was under their control. Yet, he couldn’t escape their love. It was precisely because of this that he hadn’t chosen to escape time and again, that he had faced them squarely again and again, regretting his own “weakness” over and over. That’s why he would ask himself… Why can’t I see through their hearts completely? Why can’t I bear all their love? Why can’t I feel the reality of their change? Why… can’t I be like a true “Protagonist”?
It was precisely these questions that allowed him, who had once merely stepped into this “story” from a high narrative level, to live here again as “Will Systom.” It was because he was alive that he needed the support of love and emotion; it was because he was alive that he needed goals he wanted to achieve; it was because he was alive that he, who felt pain, could not leave the sweet emotions.
Iaar returned once more. She came back with the light from outside the door. Will could see clearly that on her face, backlit, her smile was still mixed with a touch of sickness amidst its gentleness.
“It… it should be okay. Compared to before, I… I should be much better now.” He swallowed his blood and spoke, touching his heart.
Iaar tilted her head. She found Will’s complex emotions difficult to understand, much like how pets often can’t comprehend why their owners cry while reading, why they get agitated during arguments, or why they weep when they lose a loved one… But what a “pet” would know is… Iaar slowly embraced Will, letting him rest his head on her chest. As Will’s hands were bound and he couldn’t move forward, she leaned slightly closer, their knees brushing. He was unhappy. So, a nuzzle, a hug, a few whimpers. Then he wouldn’t be sad.
“…”
Will took a deep breath. He understood. He had truly taught the best, the most excellent, the most perfect blackening yandere student. Only with them like this could he, who only stood outside the story watching the fun, be controlled by them layer by layer, time after time, step by step, finally acknowledging his powerlessness with the mindset of “being alive.”
“Young Master, you’ve done very well. It’s something Iaar had to do. Only… only like this can Iaar feel at ease. Young Master… can you forgive me?”
Whatever. Let it all be whatever. As long as she loved him, whatever she wanted to do, whatever she wanted to do was fine. He had completely surrendered, like a tug-of-war in love, he had truly been moved, had fallen for her. He also completely believed that he… had no room for resistance left.
“…Yes, it’s okay. It’s just a little painful, and… Iaar’s lips are warm, Iaar’s chest is soft, yes… everything is good.”
“Young Master’s voice sounds so… so gentle? This is the first time Iaar has heard such a gentle Young Master.”
“…You can completely treat this as the tone of voice I use when speaking to someone I love.”
“Young… Young Master?!”
“I won’t leave. Don’t worry.” He sighed and spoke slowly. “Whether it’s the matter of the Dungeon, or any game items that appear, or my own planned ridiculous and laughable death… it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Young Master, are you really okay?”
“I’m fine. Now… now is probably when I’m in the best state… So, since I won’t run away, can you… can you untie me, and let me hug you too, okay?”
Iaar felt an unprecedented attachment to her from Will. This was… this was something she had never experienced before. As expected, what Young Master taught was correct. Although “Blackening 300 Questions” didn’t mention such a method, she had successfully adapted the words by following her inner feelings, and it had worked.
“But… I can’t, Young Master. Because only when I see Young Master tied up here, unable to go anywhere, will Iaar…” Her words were cut off by Will in her embrace.
“Okay, I understand. Then you shouldn’t be limited to just pulling my teeth to make me feel this pain, right?” He looked up, his eyes still unfocused as before, deep blue like the deep sea, with an irresistible gravity that held Iaar’s gaze.
—Whatever they want to do, let them do it, as long as they think it’s a way to show their love.
—Anyway, this is also his way to “survive.”
—Anyway, in this game of fate, in this world that feels real and over which he has no control, he can only satisfy their love.
—Anyway, besides these things, he has nothing else that makes him feel more alive.
—As for the rest, he already…
—Whatever.
“Left hand, right hand, left foot, right foot, left eye, right eye, left ear, right ear, kidneys, liver, stomach, vocal cords, tongue…” He mercilessly recited the organs that popped into his mind—relying on the little bodily knowledge he possessed. “These things you want, that after I lose them, you’ll have to take care of me for life, need me for life…”
“Whatever you want to cut off, just use your knife.” As Will spoke, he caught a fleeting look of surprise on Iaar’s face, followed by a lingering happiness, and a smile that curved her lips upwards. It seemed he guessed correctly; Iaar was indeed the darkest now, black to the bone, and he should have praised her as the best student.
“As long as you can still smile happily. I won’t cry.”
Author’s Note: After writing this chapter, I feel like Young Master Will is even more terrifying.
