NOVEL WEB Chapter 53
The gaze trembles dizzily.
On the screen, Anne retains her ever-soft smile, while workers in protective gear bustle around preparing something.
From the background, it was inferred that they were somewhere on the HA floor in the same underground level, but despite the physical distance, the sight of a friend who had always felt close was very unfamiliar.
No, it’s not like she had initially stopped with the police work like herself. Why is she sitting there so calmly, without even wearing a visor?
The on-site manager, Miss Grisha. And the whistleblower she had desperately been searching for.
Scattered fragments that appeared to have no connection begin to merge and take shape.
“Anne…?”
“!!”
As she cautiously spoke her friend’s name, Anne’s face bloomed like a flower.
It wasn’t just a smile; her flushed expression left Helena speechless.
Bad jokes, mean tricks. One could easily dismiss them as such, but they did not provide a solution to the situation.
However, if one were to gather their composure and ascertain the facts step by step, there would undoubtedly be a reasonable explanation. Perhaps… there were unavoidable circumstances, or if not…
“…I understand.”
“…?”
Seeing Helena recover from shock much faster than expected, Anne expressed doubt.
Although she hadn’t shown everything she had prepared, one would expect to see at least some pain from being stabbed by a concealed blade and the despair that came with it. How did it come to this?
“…You could no longer endure such things, right…? With your testimony or evidence alone, it would be difficult to publicize these atrocities… so you needed to escalate it. To prevent it from becoming an accident that never happened. …Am I right?”
As she listened to the sweet voice of someone she loved dearly, Anne had to lower her head to hide the corners of her mouth that felt like they would tear.
Because… at the end of those anxious words lay an abundance of unease that had yet to be dispelled.
Helena herself, who had said she understood, did not fully trust that hypothesis.
Clinging to a fraying lifeline, harboring impossible wishes and hopes, the hand of unity sent forth tremors through her brain as it traveled through her eardrums, causing Anne to feel the discomfort between her legs.
“…There was a way to think of it that way. Yeah, Lena is incredible. You never fail to surprise me.”
Originally, she had planned to show the same demeanor as usual to build up a sense of alienation, but… having seen the pleading Helena, Anne could no longer contain herself.
“Lena… Your head is really full of flowers, isn’t it…? Even after coming this far, you’re still clinging to such dreamlike futures?! That was just a hint. It was enough fun watching you feel fulfilled every day without knowing anything… but if you keep dragging this out, it’ll lose its flavor…!”
“…I just want to correct what is wrong, even now.”
“Is the police who captured you personally freeing you… Everyone must be so moved they wouldn’t know what to do…?”
…While she blabbered on, Anne couldn’t tell what expression was on her own face.
However, she could definitely gauge the emotion from Helena’s wide-open eyes filled with glistening tears.
Even combined, all the days they had lived were no match for being the peak of anguish.
One doesn’t need to bleed on the outside to be wounded. If the heart within becomes sick, and the mind is hacked apart, a human becomes nothing more than a soulless corpse.
Yes… just like her old self, who knew nothing of joy.
“When will you notice…? The anxiety was nice, but my patience isn’t infinite… Besides, you brought along the best audience for the stage… Lena is at fault too. Got it…?”
“…What are you talking about?”
In an instant, the relationship they had built over time crumbled into a feeling of irreparability.
The sensual thrill of dragging a heavenly being she couldn’t bear to touch down to where she stood.
Each word…
Each word.
With every piercing truth that struck unfiltered, she felt a shiver of pain, and the shadows cast on her face grew larger.
‘Ah… the foolish Anne Grisha occupies such a large space in Helena Valentine’s life.’
Even without a proper answer… perhaps receiving the most desired revelation, Anne resolved to unwrap the carefully arranged gift package.
“…Huh?”
The viewpoint reflected on the screen widened, revealing a concrete room’s layout.
It seemed to be one of the operation rooms on this floor, filled with equipment that invoked only horrible imaginations, and the surgical table upon which a familiar silhouette lay…
“Anne… what are you doing right now…? …Stop.”
“I told you, didn’t I? There’s a good audience now. …And a good stage needs fierce conflict.”
Like a sacrifice offered to an evil deity, her sister, Anastasia, lay still without movement. Helena’s voice cracked horrifically as she saw her.
…Not knowing how to address a superior in a state that could never be testified as normal, the worker hesitated as he waited for orders and powered on the surgical machine.
The machine, equipped with various blades and lasers, was aimed at the youngest member of the Valentine family by the staff’s operation.
“Alright… Lena? Choose for me. If you ask me to free those over a hundred poor souls over there, I’ll use all my power to safely send them back. …But Asha will be entirely dismantled.”
“Asha has nothing to do with this?! I don’t know what grudge you’ve formed, but stop…!!”
The inappropriate term ‘grudge’ drew Anne’s fierce displeasure, cutting Helena’s scream short.
“On the contrary…! If you ask me to spare Asha, they will be left behind, and you’ll leave here. …Only carrying the guilt of having turned your back on those you could have saved.”
“That’s…”
Confronted with the sudden ultimatum, the one who had always been full of confidence stumbled over her words.
‘…Then you too become a defective product, no different from me.’
For love to flourish, one must stand on the same level first.
If one cannot rise, they must pull the other down. That is how a truly equal relationship begins.
From the wounded belief comes self-loathing, from the friend she trusted comes betrayal, and finally, unbearable scars arise from a dilemma with no answer. Anne held onto the belief that this would be enough to drive Helena to despair.
Presenting the finale of her life, Anne quietly stared at the terminal connected to a security network, ensuring Helena could watch from various angles.
Her hesitant lips opened… then closed.
A drop of cold sweat trickled down her cheek.
The two eyes that always looked forward and toward tomorrow were now wandering, lost.
“…Don’t do this.”
“…It’s okay. I’m delaying the deployment of the tax collection unit and police, so you have plenty of time to think and decide for yourself.”
Crackle—!!
Words offered like warm comfort could not contain the anger as a fist shattered a corner of the control room’s console.
On the other side, however, they were too busy memorizing each action.
Helena’s rage was exhilarating, and each moment was thrilling, akin to stepping into uncharted territory.
“…Please. If someone must die, it may as well be me…”
“Lena’s self-sacrifice means nothing in this place. So… please, choose honestly. Or should I awaken Asha too, and open communication channels for the prison? Are you curious about the cries of the ones who were discarded after much deliberation?”
…Philosophers of a bygone era advised that one must remain silent about the unspeakable, but what should one do when silence and contemplation cannot solve the problem?
One minute, one second of Helena’s perceived time stretched forever, and logic began to devour itself, growing into doubts about herself.
One hundred strangers and one family member she had no reason to be accountable for.
It might be an easy question for someone, but her scale swayed unsteadily. No, she believed it did.
Beep-beep…!
“…Haha.”
…No, she finally noticed the contradiction of this anguish.
From the moment she hesitated even a little, from the moment she tried to compare the weight of these lives. She had already acknowledged that her mysterious little sister, whom she concealed many things from, was as precious as—if not more than—the hundred innocent people.
Who exactly was the one who placed a value upon them, as the corporation had assessed?
…In any case, it was time that unraveled the unresolved dilemma that neither silence nor contemplation could resolve. Ultimately, she could barely find a path in the pitch-black darkness. But she did not know where that path led.
It could be the abyss waiting for her, or it could be the promised land.
“…Save her.”
A friend was the deceiver, and she herself was the hypocrite. What an apt partnership, she muttered with a sneer.
“Say it right. Loudly.”
In truth, while forcing a choice upon her, Anne thought of it as a foregone conclusion. She only awaited the changes that would follow this.
…But Helena Valentine had always been an existence beyond Anne Grisha’s understanding.
“…Kill Asha. Save the people safely, securely.”
“…”
Corruption? Or hypocrisy? There was no need to busily inspect various screens.
In Helena’s eyes, staring at the screen once more, there was an unhidden resolve that could not be concealed.
“…Welcome to being human, Lena. But… I’m a little disappointed. Looking at me with those eyes, did you think that I would spare Asha just because I liked her and talk about it?”
“…Hurry.”
Perhaps because she pushed too hard, her desperation might have overwhelmed her, making it hard to accept reality.
Maybe she had resolved to sever the remaining ties during this moment.
– …All workers, researchers, and security personnel on the HA floor, I declare a state of emergency under the authority of the on-site manager. Immediately expel all the unprocessed products being contained toward the nearest settlement… killing them will not be permitted. –
As the emergency broadcast ended, the vicinity became chaotic.
A promise is a promise. The first part was fulfilled, and now it was time to fulfill the second part.
Intending to ensure she would witness the result of the choice, Anne tried to zoom in on the surgical table, but just then, Helena’s figure abruptly exited the control room.
Could it be… she wouldn’t even watch her sister’s end? Or was it something she couldn’t bear to confront?
“…The merciless Lena is beautiful too.”
Still buzzing with excitement, she murmured.
“…Let’s stop the nonsense, shall we? Anne Grisha?”
“”…?!””
Amid the utterly unexpected response emerging from somewhere, both the worker and Anne became flustered.
Zzzzzzing—!!
An incision laser, now freed from control, began to wield dazzling light.