LotM: Surviving as a Marionette

'Are you pleased with your work?'

"Of course."

Lilianna sat in the empty room, gazing at the row of glass jars on the shelves, her eyes filled with unconcealed satisfaction.

She seemed to be talking to herself, her voice becoming increasingly low and gentle, "They are my most satisfying works. I have spent a very long time collecting them."

'These should all be human organs. You killed many people? Why did you kill them?'

"At the very beginning, it was Willibald," Lilianna didn't directly answer the question that arose from within her heart.

She cupped her face with both hands, as if falling into reminiscence.

Circles of dark light enveloped her figure, and twisted sun symbols floated above the candleflame, causing Lilianna to unconsciously sink into self-emotion, growing deeper and deeper, as if being hypnotized.

"He was a very tall man, not particularly handsome, but his speaking style was quite interesting."

"He lived in Conston, but his family wasn't very wealthy... He had a wife and two children. Part of his monthly military pay would be sent back home, but among those two children, the smaller one died of starvation at home after he went missing and there was no income."

"Before long, I think, without the main source of income, and with him being classified as a deserter with no compensation money, his wife and his child will also die one after another... They should all be dead by now, buried in some cemetery, or perhaps thrown directly into the river? After all, there's no money for burial."

'Did you meet his wife and child?'

"No, I haven't. The earlier things were told to me by him when we were in bed, and the later things were investigated by me after I killed him."

Lilianna seemed to think of something amusing and laughed, "He was very capable and earned Father's appreciation, then..."

Her smile gradually widened, as if it could split to her ears, "Then I killed him."

"I did it with my own hands. That was my first time killing someone. Hmm, let me think, it should have been a year ago? I don't remember too clearly, but that feeling was very wonderful. The fresh organs could still jump around lively for a while after leaving the body, appearing vivid and full of spirituality."

"Before removing the heart, he was still alive, looking at me with terror in his eyes. Yes, that's right, I didn't use any anesthesia. After all, anesthesia is also a popular commodity here, and I don't think he deserved to use such things."

She pointed to the heart at the leftmost end of the storage shelf, which was considerably larger than the other organs and seemed somewhat swollen from soaking.

"Look, that's it."

Within the Euclidean space, Don held the Sun Scepter, using 'Dimensional Descent' to manipulate the Sun Scepter's hypnotic beyonder powers to influence Lilianna, while simultaneously using Euclidean space abilities similar to 'Heaven's Gate' to browse through her personal history.

This kind of browsing required consuming large amounts of spirituality. Don could only assist with hypnosis while searching for the information he wanted to know.

Unexpectedly, yet reasonably, this seemingly naive girl with pure appearance was formerly male.

Beyonder individuals of the Demoness Pathway, after undergoing the gender transformation caused by the Sequence 7 potion of this pathway, if they don't receive proper psychological guidance, will suffer mental distortion and become abnormal. This situation is very common among Sequence 7 of the Demoness Pathway.

Moreover, with that great pervert Cheek constantly influencing lower-sequence Assassins, affected by the influence of the higher-level evil goddess, the Primordial Demoness, beyonder individuals of this pathway who change from male to female, even those who are wild Demonesses, live exceptionally difficult lives.

Don found that segment of personal experience that Lilianna had mentioned. The words Lilianna had just spoken, almost like talking to herself, weren't complete. The hypnotic influence of the Sun Scepter wasn't that deep—he wasn't an Beyonder of the Spectator Pathway after all, and using the Sun Scepter to influence from a distance was still somewhat strenuous.

Moreover, the other party harbored deep hostility and disgust toward this memory. If he easily made her speak it out, the hypnosis would very likely be broken the next moment.

This Miss Lilianna had not begun her relationship with that Conston man named Willibald only after advancing to Sequence 7 and becoming a Demoness.

Before this, before she advanced to Sequence 7 and became female, there had been many such relationships and such people.

Even Don, with his rich life experience and having lived through the information explosion era, couldn't help but be shocked, developing intense disgust and psychological discomfort toward that father who constantly appeared in Lilianna's words—that Colonel Bernstein.

"Next, hmm, let me think, there was also a merchant named Anis," her finger pointed to the glass bottle in the corner, "He was an excellent merchant, selling armor, weapons, and spears at good prices and excellent quality..."

"Marco was a blond man, he seemed a bit short, but very generous..."

"Aloysius, I don't want to mention him. He was always so rough. At that time, my ears felt like they were being torn off, about to separate from my body..."

Chattering on and on, Lilianna spoke faster and faster, looking at the display shelf before her with intoxication, almost obsessed.

"Ah, of course, Father wanted me to take good care of them, and I indeed took very good care of them."

Don rarely fell silent.

Damn it, he now felt like killing someone now.

The beginning of all these things was the story of a war orphan being adopted by Hewesley Bernstein, who was only a captain at the time.

If the story had ended there, it would have been nothing more than a children's story about a kindhearted soldier saving a war orphan.

But after the boy grew to eight years old, still tender but clearly showing his promising future 'development,' everything changed.

Using certain relationships to maintain connections between both parties was a common method among nobles to bind their mutual interests.

Moreover, compared to using one's own children, orphans with no blood relation who could only depend on oneself were easy to control and required no useless compassion.

If the potion had been taken when gender recognition wasn't strong, advancing to Witch might not have caused loss of control, and might have even better digested the potion and mastered the power. But for an orphan whose body and mind had already been devastated by various torments...

Don felt that his marionette could be decided.

His original intention was that if this Demoness Pathway Beyonder had any ill intentions, he would make her into a marionette in advance.

But now, good, the target had changed, and he couldn't wait a moment longer.

[Host...]

The system's voice made Don suppress the anger in his heart.

He took a deep breath, then exhaled it again.

"Don't get angry, don't get angry. For scum like this, just slaughter them."

This wasn't some civilized society. Even if he was a colonel, if he died on the battlefield, who could he blame?

(End of Chapter)