Chapter 219 - The Golden Rule (3)

The hall fell silent. Viscountess Ja Sujeong’s remarks had unsettled many of the nobles.

“Lovely...?”

Count Fang-Tower Tiger looked nonplussed. Most of the nobles reacted much the same way.

Except for those whom Ja Sujeong had personally taken in. Only the lovers who loved the viscountess and were loved by her showed no change in expression. They remained impassive. They seemed to regard it as a matter of hearing what needed to be said, what they needed to hear.

“Yes.”

Amid the bewilderment, Viscountess Ja Sujeong spoke.

“Someone crumbling under the misery they themselves have caused. And a noble person, no less, groaning because they cannot bear their own weight. Such a sight never fails to touch my heart. If I had to compare Marchioness Snow Rabbit to something, I suppose it would be a honey-filled rice cake. One bite, and sweetness fills your mouth.”

“... What in the world are you talking about?”

Count Fang-Tower Tiger was dumbfounded.

“Haah.”

Ja Sujeong sighed, then shrugged. Her manner plainly dismissed the count and looked down on him.

“Never mind, if you don’t understand. Even when a treasure map falls right before their eyes, some adventurers set out in search of it, while some lowborn fools merely laugh at those adventurers. So, is that the end of your story?”

“What?”

“I am asking whether you have anything else to say, Count. [There is a pitiable subject.], [A noble killed their granddaughter.], [That noble belongs to me.]. That about sums up everything raised so far. If you have nothing further to add, please step aside. It is late enough already. We can hardly afford to delay the session any longer.”

“Y-you...! This elderly person lost their only granddaughter!”

Count Fang-Tower Tiger thundered.

“That day was her grandmother’s birthday. Did you know that? The granddaughter was running to give her grandmother a birthday present when Marchioness Snow Rabbit beat her to death!”

“...”

The elderly witness, who had pressed their forehead to the floor beneath the throne, remained meekly prostrate. Without sparing them a single glance, Count Fang-Tower Tiger pulled something from inside his clothes.

A hairpin. An ornament women of ordinary households wore in their hair.

“Look! This hairpin I hold is the very birthday present the granddaughter prepared. As she hurried to give it to her grandmother, she happened to collide with Lady Snow Rabbit!”

The count poured out his impassioned speech with desperate fervor.

I doubted whether that desperation truly came from understanding the elderly witness’s plight.

But whatever its cause, human desperation was persuasive. Before I knew it, the nobles had brushed aside Ja Sujeong’s remarks and were looking at the witness with pity in their eyes.

“The granddaughter fell into the snow. Then, with an innocent smile, she apologized to Lady Snow Rabbit: ["I’m sorry."], ["I should have watched where I was going."]. Had the lady accepted her apology and forgiven her, that would have been the end of it. It was an accident that could happen anywhere.”

Count Fang-Tower Tiger had now fully regained his confidence.

The elderly witness’s forlorn back, the sympathy raining down upon it, Ja Sujeong’s face, seemingly indifferent to everything.

Every element assured him of victory.

“But Lady Snow Rabbit seized the commoner child. And then...”

“How tedious.”

Ja Sujeong murmured. Her voice was audible for only an instant, like the flutter of a dragonfly’s wings. No one but me heard her talking to herself.

Count Fang-Tower Tiger was still delivering his speech with vigor. Every eye in the hall was on him. And so, when I turned to Ja Sujeong, I had her monologue entirely to myself.

“Ari wasn’t the only person who had prepared a birthday present that day.”

I tilted my head.

“Who... is Yari?”

“The granddaughter. The child Lady Snow Rabbit whipped to death.”

Ja Sujeong answered casually.

“It was also the lady’s grandfather’s birthday. As it happened, both girls had prepared birthday presents. Lady Snow Rabbit had made a brooch engraved with her house’s crest by hand, but she never managed to give it to her grandfather.”

“... Why not?”

I sensed something strange in her eyes. As though she were describing not a story someone else had told her, but a scene she had witnessed herself.

“She hadn’t solved the mathematics homework her grandfather gave her properly. He scolded her. She couldn’t bring herself to hand him the brooch. What child could possibly give a present to an adult wearing such a deep scowl?”

“...”

“When the commoner girl and the noble girl collided in the street, the brooch fell into the snow. And it didn’t merely fall. As luck would have it, the commoner girl stepped on it. It broke.”

Ja Sujeong spoke with all warmth gone from her face.

“It wasn’t a particularly expensive-looking brooch. You could hardly call the craftsmanship good. A trinket whose destruction would ordinarily have mattered little. But the lady picked up the broken brooch and thrust it at the commoner child.”

“...”

“And she said...”

["You broke it."]

“The commoner child was startled and bowed her head.”

["I’m sorry, my lady."]

["I’m truly sorry."]

“But while young children know how to apologize, they don’t know how to accept an apology. And at the time, Lady Snow Rabbit was such a rotten little brute that people called her the [Brainless Lady]. Her response was hardly going to be gracious.”

["It wasn’t supposed to break, and you broke it!"]

“The lady had a guard with her. Well, she was effectively the marquess’s sole heir. The guard following her was deeply loyal, too. She held out her hand to him.”

["Guard!"]

["The whip!"]

“Without a moment’s hesitation, the guard handed his young mistress the whip. She took it. Grunting with effort, she swung a whip far too thick for her little hand.”

A child’s whip struck a child’s back.

“One child mustered all the strength in her body to lash the whip. The other took the blows as her whole body convulsed.”

["I might as well break everything! What! What! Like this, what!"]

“It hurts, my lady.”

“...”

“It hurts. My lady, I’m sorry, it hurts.”

["Stupid."]

["Everyone’s an idiot."]

["Grandfather, Grandfather is stupid!"]

“No one stopped her.”

They said blood drenched the snow.

Lady Snow Rabbit’s guard took back the whip. A servant attending her retrieved a keepsake from the mangled corpse, something its owner could no longer keep safe. Not out of pity for the commoner child. It had merely occurred to the servant that someone ought to receive it.

“Look!”

Now that keepsake lay in Count Fang-Tower Tiger’s grasp.

“Can you not see the sorrow steeped in this keepsake, Viscountess?”

In the intervening six years, the hairpin had deteriorated. Once, it had probably been polished until it gleamed, ready to be given to her grandmother. Now it had lost its luster and let dust settle upon its skin. Worn and worn out, it was a trinket of the sort one might see anywhere.

“Does cold blood run in your veins, Viscountess?”

“...”

With a strange smile, Ja Sujeong merely listened to his shouting.

“Is your head filled with nothing but the wisdom of sages and passages from the classics? If not, how can you sit there so calmly, even after seeing this keepsake, this trace of blood, this remnant of death?”

No.

“You truly have no human blood in your veins!”

That wasn’t it.

Count Fang-Tower Tiger... and everyone else were mistaken about something.

The viscountess could [see everything].

She knew far more than the count did. She had witnessed the granddaughter’s death from far closer than even the elderly witness lying prostrate over there.

And that wasn’t all.

What the granddaughter had thought as she lay dying. What she had said last. What Lady Snow Rabbit had screamed as she swung the whip.

Ja Sujeong knew far more than anyone else.

'Because.'

With my head spinning, I barely managed to put my deduction into words.

“Viscountess, you... possess the [Golden Dragon’s Eyes].”

“Hmm?”

Ja Sujeong turned toward me.

“What do you mean, Adviser?”

I swallowed.

In the distance, Count Fang-Tower Tiger was shouting at the top of his lungs. He called her a lowborn wretch who knew nothing of putting humanity first, and even a bastard with no roots. He denounced her as a tyrant who did not know how to cherish her subjects, declaring that recommending such a person for a ducal title was preposterous.

The uproar all around us made the perfect cover for the two of us to exchange secret whispers.

“The Golden Dragon’s Eyes.”

“Yes. Is there some problem with... the Golden Dragon’s Eyes?”

“The Golden Dragon’s Eyes can see everything. From an omniscient perspective. I understand how you can encompass the entire Tower despite having only one body, Viscountess. You have been given the ability to perceive all creation at once.”

“That isn’t wrong. And?”

“... On top of that, you also possess [Glacier Dragon’s Breath].”

My heart pounded.

“[Glacier Dragon’s Breath] lets you travel to the time you choose. [Eyes that can see anything]. [Breath that can go anywhere]. You possess both. If you wished...”

“If I wished?”

“You could watch from right before her, at the very moment that granddaughter was whipped to death,” I said.

“That is your omniscience.”

That was how the Tower Master had acquired her omniscient power.

“Using the [Golden Dragon’s Eyes] and the [Glacier Dragon’s Breath], you can watch every death and every despair in this world from closer than anyone.”

“...”

“Those two authorities allow you to observe every event that takes place within the Tower.”

It happened then.

[Correct.]

[Your passage through the second gate is acknowledged.]

[The Golden Dragon’s Eyes and Glacier Dragon’s Breath form the Tower’s observation apparatus.]

A brief silence passed.

Violet eyes savored my face.

“That’s right.”

Ja Sujeong slowly parted her lips. A smile lingered at the corners of those soft lips.

“Not bad. The information you were given could hardly have amounted to much, Adviser. Yet you managed to piece it together and deduce the project I have planned.”

“You...”

“A hero who gives the right answer deserves a reward.”

Ja Sujeong gently grasped my wrist.

“I will show you that granddaughter’s death.”

Something soft pressed against me.

Something crawled up from my ankles. It was cool, like a snake’s skin. Startled, I looked down. A watery shadow—a darkness I could only describe as a shadow—was crawling from the surface of the water up my skin.

“Follow me.”

The next instant, the shadow devoured me.

4

CRAAACK

Snow clinging to the whip flew off with the lash.

The grains of snow were heavy with blood. They sprang into the air but could not rise far. Bluntly, with their blunt little bodies, they fell straight down toward the pool of blood already stained bright red.

“It’s your fault!”

“Please... spare... me...”

“It’s be-because of you! You! It’s your fault! If it weren’t for you!”

The whip lashed through the air.

On the surface of the blood pool, the grains of snow slowly melted.

“Ah...”

A tiny child convulsed.

The last trace of warmth in her body drained into the snow. A minute trickle of water, melted by that warmth, spread around her.

“...”

“That is the child.”

Ja Sujeong raised a finger. The two of us were submerged in the darkness of an alley. There were passersby in the street, but frightened by the menacing guard from the marquess’s house, they all detoured through the side alleys.

“Marchioness Snow Rabbit. Though right now, she is Lady Snow Rabbit. And over there lies the child she whipped to death when she was ten.”

Instinctively, I tried to run out.

But I couldn’t.

A hand with a grip incomparably stronger than mine held my wrist.

“No.”

“Wh-why not? We have to go right now. If we take her to a physician, perhaps...!”

“Perhaps we could save her. Yes. Perhaps she would suffer through one winter in pain so terrible she might think she was dying, but as the seasons passed, her body would heal, and she could resume an ordinary, happy life. The marquess’s house would pay generous compensation, too. She might even live more comfortably than before.”

“Then why are you holding my wrist...!”

“Adviser.”

Ja Sujeong smiled.

“Mr. Kim Gongja.”

Over there, the sound of the whip rang through the winter sky.

“How many times do you think I have witnessed a scene like this?”

The young lady viciously lashed the body of a child who was already as good as dead. Someone’s winter was dying there.

“I am eighteen. But I have lived countless, infinite lives that the number eighteen could never encompass. I have watched one child die, as I am doing now. Hundreds of children, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, trillions—as many deaths as the grains of sand in the Ganges, all right before my eyes.”

“...”

“From the winter when the kingdom was founded 2,001 years ago to the present, December 24 in the year 2001 of the Kingdom Calendar, I have witnessed every infanticide and robbery-murder, every victory and defeat, every rout and massacre. So far, only within the kingdom’s history. But one day I will witness all the deaths in this world. No, in every world.”

“...”

“And I will do nothing.”

My voice came out hoarse.

“What...?”

“I could easily prevent that child’s death. I could have undone any number of unjust deaths. I could have regressed, and regressed again, until every senseless death was gone, establishing a single righteous worldline.”

But.

“I won’t.”

Ja Sujeong smiled brightly.

“Ever.”

“...”

“I will never interfere.”

“Why...?”

“Because only then will all the misery in this world come down solely to [my fault].”

The child died.

Panting with rage, the marquess’s young daughter kicked the corpse, unable to contain her anger. Then she turned and walked away. The falling snow obscured the little lady’s back.

“Why did that child die, Adviser? What went wrong that caused her death?”

Soft, powdery snow clung to Ja Sujeong’s voice.

“Was it happening to encounter Lady Snow Rabbit? Was that what went wrong? I wonder. What was Lady Snow Rabbit’s fault? Happening to grow up under an overbearing grandfather? Not being born with an intellect that could satisfy him? In that case, was Lady Snow Rabbit’s very birth a mistake?”

Ja Sujeong released my wrist.

“No. Those things are all chance. You cannot blame chance. None of you were born wrong. There is not a single life in this world whose birth was a mistake.”

“...”

“The only person at fault is me.”

She brought both hands together at her chest.

“I could have approached that granddaughter and told her, ‘The road ahead is dangerous. Take another way.’ Then the child would easily have avoided the misfortune awaiting her. I could also have become a nameless friend to Lady Snow Rabbit and tutored her in every lesson. Then she would have grown cleverer day by day and eventually earned her grandfather’s approval.”

With her hands clasped as though praying to somewhere, Ja Sujeong looked up at me.

“I have the ability to do those things.”

“...”

“But I won’t.”

“...”

“Never. No matter what happens.”

At some point, our surroundings had changed.

The blood-soaked snow vanished, and the Grand Assembly Hall unfolded around us, its amniotic water flowing.

Count Fang-Tower Tiger was still pointing our way and denouncing Ja Sujeong. They said the capital’s courtesan lacked humanity, and it was true. How could a human being not mourn a child’s death? Why would she not try to help...?

“Adviser.”

In the heart of the assembly, where the uproar ran rampant, tinged with blood, Ja Sujeong whispered to me.

“There is not a single accidental death in this world. Not even an accidental misfortune. Every death and every misfortune is something I deliberately stood by and watched.”

“...”

“All the misery you have endured until now is my fault. Because I did not act, because I did not care for you, because I ignored you, there has been immeasurable misery and despair as countless as the sands of the Ganges. At least within this kingdom. And in time, throughout every world as well.”

“...”

“Do you understand what I am saying, my adviser?”

Ja Sujeong smiled like a saint.

Then our surroundings changed once more.

This time, it was a scene of Viscountess Pure Black God eating human flesh.

“Now.”

Ja Sujeong stroked the back of my hand.

“Blame me.”

My heart throbbed.

“Cry out, asking why I did not help you. That cry is not meaningless. I had the power to help, and I truly was there, in the very place where you suffered. Ask why I did not save you. That question is by no means meaningless. I could have put things right.”

She squeezed my hand.

“Because I exist...”

I could not breathe.

“You now possess a [sinner] whom you can point to, plainly and unmistakably, without a trace of falsehood or doubt.”

A god spoke.

“I am [the god who never regresses]. A god who will not regress for anyone, who only watches your suffering.”

The god quietly declared:

“And therefore, a god whom you can condemn and tear apart.”

The god’s name was Ja Sujeong.