Sadly, I didn't feel anything at the sight of her or anyone else for that matter. They were strangers to me, and I was only here to do one thing.

"Are you Eunice?" I asked.

The woman weakly nodded, and even lifting her eyelids took much effort.

"Your mother sent me to give you this," I said and showed the letter to her.

But she was so weak to even lift a finger. She was chained too. She couldn't open it. Not without her fingers.

I gazed at Dementia and she knew what I wanted to do with just a look. She took a deep breath and gave me a slight nod.

I opened the cell and squatted in front of Eunice to level our faces. She tried to lift her head to look at my appearance, and when our eyes met, a weak gasp escaped from her chapped lips.

It didn't bother me. She was probably afraid of my appearance because of the mask.

"Here. Can you read it?" I asked after I opened the letter and showed its content to her.

Her trembling eyes went to the words on the letter. She was quiet for a moment before she burst into tears. Fat tears rolled on her cheeks, and she wailed while catching her breath.

I think if she could, she would hug the letter against her breasts and rolled on the dirty floor.

After a minute, I expected her to beg. Cry for my help. Grovel on her feet for me to rescue her.

So I was stunned when I heard the exact opposite from her lips.

She looked at me, eyes red and mouth trembling. "C-can you . . . can you tell her that I'm living the best of my life in town? I-if she knew my state . . . she'll never stop worrying."

Behind the sadness in her eyes, she forced a grin. "Bring back my earring. At least . . . at least that . . . so she'll know that it's me."

My eyes took a simple round silver on her ear. It twinkled despite the dirt.

"I-I'm . . . I'm a goner . . . ," she croaked. Her face accepted her doom. "At least . . . she won't have to die worrying about me . . ," she muttered before she groaned in pain.

Her clip fingers and toes must have hurt. It was infested, too, so I could only imagine the pain.

I looked at the letter. Curious at what the older woman had written to her daughter that she burst into tears. Maybe her mother wanted her back, or perhaps words of love and misses and what not.

But the letter only contained two words.

[Be Happy]

". . ."

The next thing I knew, I was standing on my feet and Lucy was in my hand. The floor was bathed in red while Eunice was almost cut in two. And before she turned into particles, she uttered with a relieved smile on her face.

"Thank you."

A tear dropped on the floor and the next thing happened, she burst into particles and a silver earring fell on the ground.

I put Lucy back in my inventory and picked the earring in a daze.

∥ E U N I C E 's

E A R R I N G S ‖

A simple earring that was gifted to Eunice by her mother for her eighteenth birthday.

∥ E N D ‖

"What did you do that for?" Dementia said, pouting. "Now, I couldn't harvest her innards."

[Your Relationship Level with Dementia decreases]

". . ." I couldn't answer her since I myself didn't know what had happened.

It looked like I blanked out for a moment, and my other self took control in that short amount of time. 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝑛𝘦𝑡

But that was impossible.

My other self was a coward. And [Evil Heart] couldn't be deactivated once activated.

He couldn't kill her because of pity . . . could he?

I sighed before facing Dementia. "Sorry. I intended to cut her ear to get the earring, but Lucy had a mind of its own and cut her in half instead."

I hope my lie was believable under my stoic face.

Dementia's brow raised before she huffed a laugh and chuckled. "Is that so? Fine then. I'll expect that you'll compensate me with more fresh meat . . . and . . ."

She looked at my crotch and licked her lips. "So much more."

I just shook my head and stifled a laugh. "We'll do. On my next visit, I'll have fresh ingredients for you and . . . a much thicker and longer meat." I winked at her.

Dementia laughed, eyes turning crescent, and it was like twinkling bells in my ears.

Eventually, she accompanied me towards the door. I said goodbye to her, but she pulled me towards her before I could turn around and go on my way. A good thing that I quickly recovered my footing, or else I would have slipped and fallen together with her on the ground.

She gave me a good smack on my mask and naughtily smiled.

"I'll wait for your return."

I smiled and tapped her nose. "We'll do."

I went out of Dementia's house and didn't turn back as I left. The three trolls were not in sight, but I wasn't concerned about them and resumed my way to Roselake.

I was halfway in the forest when I realized that the System was awfully quiet.

There are two reasons why I did that.