Chapter Fifty: Farewell

"Yes, Mother."
The girl met their eyes without hesitation, her posture as straight and proud as a pine or cypress. Upon her nearly flawless face appeared a smile as transparent as air itself. Witnessing that smile, the woman felt a wave of dizziness.

“…Mio…but…why…”
While the woman was still too shaken by the sudden turn of events to speak clearly, the young man beside her, startled by their conversation, looked back and forth between the woman and Mio Ito.

“Mother? This is your daughter?”
“Yes, but…”
The woman stammered, and disbelief surfaced on the young man's face.
“Didn’t everyone say your daughter was that ‘cursed girl’ with a face covered in birthmarks? What’s going on—”
He abruptly stopped, as if he’d remembered to consider Mio Ito’s feelings. The arrogance he’d just shown the woman vanished; now he seemed the picture of polite restraint. Only after turning again to Mio Ito’s impossibly serene face did he risk an uneasy breath.

The girl’s beauty was so extraordinary, so otherworldly, that he found himself growing nervous and unsteady.

“…Whew…”
Whatever the reason, the facts were undeniable: the rumors of a “cursed girl with a face full of birthmarks” were utterly shattered. From this broken, filthy household had emerged a girl of such extraordinary beauty.

Suddenly a thought occurred to the young man, and his eyes began to gleam.
“Madam Nami…with a daughter this beautiful, why haven’t you ever brought her to attend the King’s worship ceremonies?”
The woman let out a dazed “Ah” and stared at him, clearly still lost in the shock of the moment.

“The worship ceremonies…but my offering money—”
“No matter. With a daughter blessed like this, the offering is a trivial matter.”
The woman’s eyes began to move, a faint glimmer of hope lighting up her face.
“You mean…”
“Exactly. This—her name is Miss Mio, yes? For a child as lovely as Miss Mio, it’s far too cruel for her to remain in a place like this. I’m a member of the Elders’ Council in the Blissful King’s Society, you know, and I even have a private residence in the Law Compound. If you’d let Miss Mio stay with me, not only would the offering be no issue, but I would even bring you a dowry.”

He flashed the woman a bright, ingratiating smile. But now, as she came back to herself, her brow furrowed.

“A member of the Elders’ Council… Aren’t you just some nobody who only joined this year? And you think you have the right to take little Mio with you?”

“You—”
The young man was stunned; it had never occurred to him that the woman, who had been clinging to his leg and begging moments before, would suddenly turn arrogant. She looked at him, grinning shamelessly to reveal her yellowed teeth.

“Hey now, did you really think I was that naïve? Little Mio’s even lovelier than those idol actresses now—you, a penniless wretch, could never deserve her. Unless… the High Priest… Yes, the High Priest! The High Priest would surely want little Mio now, she could even become his bride! Then I’d finally receive the King’s salvation and true happiness!”

She kept calling “little Mio” over and over, her eyes shining. Her mind, completely sunk into the doctrines of the Blissful King’s Society, was fixated on the King’s blessing; the young man had become utterly insignificant in her eyes.

“You wretch!”
The young man’s face flushed with humiliation and anger; he shoved her aside, wheeled around, and stomped toward Mio Ito, intent on seizing her and dragging her away.

Realizing his intent, the woman’s eyes widened and she tried to rise and intervene. But years of heavy drinking had ruined her body; she couldn’t even stand upright at first, only stretch a trembling hand toward his retreating back.

“Don’t—”
The scream had barely left her lips when it froze in the air.

In that instant, both the young man and the woman stared wide-eyed in terror.

For, at that very moment, the young man’s body suddenly rose into the air.

“Why is it, Mother, and you as well—when discussing such things, neither of you ever thought to ask my opinion?”
Mio Ito sighed softly.

From her body surged forth streams of blood, taking the shape of countless tendrils, lifting the young man’s body from the floor and suspending him in the air. The crimson strands burrowed into his flesh, strand after strand, permeating his very being.

The sight was so overwhelming that neither the young man nor the woman could utter a word.

He was immobilized, his skin, muscle, veins, nerves, and bones slowly dissolving into Mio Ito’s blood.

The woman, mouth agape, was so stunned by the horror before her that her voice cords could not even produce a sound.

“But it’s all the same, whether you ask my opinion or not. Every wish you have—I can grant them. Every desire—I can fulfill. Because soon, you’ll live in a perfect world without a single desire left.”

As Mio Ito spoke these calm words, the young man’s body vanished completely into thin air—leaving not a single particle behind.

With his dissolution, his memories were slowly reconstructed within Mio Ito’s mind. His soul sighed contentedly in the paradise of her heart, while every scrap of information from his memories was laid bare before her.

“So that’s it—the Blissful King’s Society is located there…”

Murmuring to herself, Mio Ito turned her gaze to the surviving woman. The woman stared back, body shuddering as if in the grip of a seizure, her throat producing guttural, broken sounds until, at last, her scream burst forth:

“Ah—”

But the girl only watched her quietly, making no move to silence her; she let the scream echo.

For blood had already seeped from Mio Ito’s feet, enveloping the entire house, ensuring no sound could escape.

After a long while, when the woman was left gasping for breath, too exhausted to scream anymore, the girl finally acted.

She walked slowly, step by step, to where the woman cowered. She knelt, gazing at her in silence.

The woman’s breath caught, and she dared not inhale, squeezing her eyes shut.

But the expected sensation—the slow dissolution of her body, wrapped in blood—never came.

Instead, she felt a cool, gentle caress upon her cheek.

Cautiously, the woman opened her eyes.

And she saw what the girl was doing.

Saw the girl’s hand.

Her right hand was gently stroking the woman’s cheek, as if with cool, clear water, wiping away the heavy makeup from her face.

Seeing the woman’s eyes open, the girl smiled softly, ceased her movements, and stood.

“Goodbye, Mother.”

Mio Ito smiled, and then turned and walked away.

The woman stared blankly after her as her figure vanished through the doorway. For reasons she could not understand, tears welled in her eyes and fell, and a surge of emotion rose in her heart, unfamiliar and overwhelming.

“…Mio.”

She reached toward the door, as if hoping someone might return, as if hoping someone might change their mind.

But, as always, nothing happened.

Only the cold sunlight greeted her.