Destroying the Virgin-the Making of a Saint-

Her tongue, which had been bitten off, was attached cleanly, thanks to my prompt and proper treatment, and hardly any time had passed since it was severed. There would probably be no disability that would render communication difficult.

“Ugh…”

Akane cried throughout the procedure, perhaps from the lack of time to administer anesthesia or anything else given that it was an emergency situation.

Whether her tears were from the pain of attaching her tongue or from the fact that… she could not even die was not clear to me, but at least it was a certainty that she had betrayed me and had no right to shed tears.

“Your tongue has been attached anyway… but don’t move it too much or it will tear off.”

Having finished attaching her tongue, I remarked so to Akane. The one who wanted to grieve was me. Not only was I betrayed and denied by Akane… but I was forced to clean up the mess.

“…Ngh… uhh.”

Akane did not respond to that, nevertheless. She simply ignored me and continued to weep silently. Not even trying to look at me.

“Akane…”

Although she was the one who had betrayed me, I saw Akane shedding tears self-centeredly. At once, a wave of inexpressible anger began to bubble up within me.

“…What are you crying about? Why are you crying? You who betrayed me… how many times must I be deceived, betrayed, and denied? Just how many times do you have to humiliate me…!”

I was seriously facing Akane and loved her. But Akane was not the same. She deceived and trampled on my feelings. The fact that she had done so made me unbelievably outraged to the point that even I myself was surprised.

“I… am… sorry…”

With her newly attached tongue wriggling crookedly, Akane finally uttered a single line. Unable to articulate it well, Akane voiced her apology. It was blatantly plain that they were empty words without any essence.

“Over and over again… you have flippantly said things that you did not even mean!”

Grasping her by the hair, I lashed out at Akane. Akane’s betrayal and denial… were more than enough to fuel my wrath and numb my rational mind.

“…Sorry.”

In response, Akane uttered nothing but apologies. She had bitten off her own tongue in a desperate attempt and still failed to die.

Akane’s mind, deprived of even the freedom of death, was on the verge of collapse.

But… it was not enough. It could not be said that Akane’s heart has been completely shattered yet.

Akane herself had shown me by means of betrayal.

To completely crush a person’s heart, the pain and fear she had experienced up to this point were not adequate. Therefore, I must violate and devastate Akane’s heart with even more suffering and terror.

“Enough is enough. I understand the origin of what has led to this. The fault lies with me, too, for thinking that I have subdued and dominated you at this level. It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t enough…all of it.”

What I sought was not a hollow apology whatsoever. I only sought one thing: an obedient, untainted virgin mary, Akane. And all I had to do was contemplate reshaping Akane with all the methods to make that a reality.

“Because pain is not enough, because suffering is not enough… fear will diminish. Because fear diminishes… the concept of opposing me, denying me, betraying me, comes to your mind. You, foolish one, haven’t had enough of… everything.”

And whatever the means, I would employ them all for Akane’s sake. Because that was essential to create the ideal virgin mary by utilizing the material called Akane.

“Because, isn’t that so? It should have been easy to imagine what would happen if you betrayed me and denied me, given how you have treated me up until now. You could have imagined that. But… you still denied me. In short… Akane, you are condescending, mocking, and underestimating me, right? Even under such circumstances!”

Surely, neither my words nor my thoughts have reached Akane. As long as I left her alone, she would surely reproduce the same act again, disappointing me.

In contrast, though, Akane in front of me shook her head with tears streaming down her cheeks. Although she desperately pleaded with me with her eyes that she would never do that again, I could no longer trust her.

“…Save… me…”

“Yeah, I’ll save you. From this trivial reality that stains and deceives you. And let’s go. Just me and you… the two of us. So… for that very day, I have to reconstruct you into your proper form.”

Right, everything was to reconfigure Akane into the proper form and bring her to the ideal world in the ideal form.

“Hie…”

For that, I shall inflict… any measures… any pain, any fear… on Akane.

When Akane saw the iron pliers in my hand, her expression stiffened.

It was a huge, rugged, temperatureless hunk of iron that provoked Akane’s fear. 

It was a tool to ensure that Akane would never commit a mistake against me again.

“So this is a necessary process for that. I’ll remove everything… so that you don’t make the same mistake again. Those teeth… that bit your tongue off.”

Once it was deemed superfluous, all of it would be eliminated. And by making her body remember the pain and fear that accompanied the removal, Akane’s spirit would be destroyed.

Then, I would create a new Akane from nothing. The ideal Akane’s spirit that I desired.