"This is the first time in my life I've heard such words, the first time I've felt so valued, so embraced, like I truly exist."
"Don't be so self-deprecating anymore. You possess the most brilliant talent in the world."
"I'm the one who should truly be worried about being abandoned."
"—My Great Inventor."
..."Just like that, I was forgiven..."
"—Why?!"
Not far away, a pink camera precisely recorded everything, including the young man's sincere and earnest demeanor, and Vil-V's face, as if she had been saved by a god, without even a hint of unusual emotion.
The self-deprecating girl found salvation for life here, promising a future for life.
But... why?
Why could she be forgiven?
She did wrong, yet she received a reward, with no deserved punishment.
Aili Xiya's eyes flickered with unease, her pearly teeth gently biting her lip, her slender fingers unconsciously cracking the camera's casing. A strangely uncomfortable emotion filled the girl's entire heart.
After the first greed that arose from losing the young man, the dominoes were pushed over.
The girl, who should have been pure and flawless, blooming into the perfect flower of humanity, was at this moment tainted by a new desire, a sin belonging only to humans.
—Jealousy...[For the freedom the girl gave you, your gift in return was a sincere promise.]
[If you cannot face pain, you cannot achieve improvement and true growth, but if you face pain, that pain might completely break a person.]
[So, you will help the girl, and together with her, face the mistakes she made. Wouldn't that allow both to achieve growth and progress?]
[The final result was also as you expected.]
[Simply reiterating what was already understood made the girl, who was completely unable to face her own actions, re-examine herself.]
[You don't dislike Vil-V.]
[You absolutely don't dislike such a girl.]
[Talented, beautiful, with a good figure, and a reclusive but gentle personality—no one in the entire world would dislike such a girl.]
[So loyal, so fawning, that you couldn't even offer assistance.]
[The girl is truly countless times more loyal than a so-called loyal dog.]
[Love is also mutual. You are not so cold-blooded as to watch others sacrifice for you while standing idly by in the highest audience seat.]
[Your fondness for Vil-V is hard to describe with ordinary words.]
[If this were a game with a favorability system that displayed numerical values, even if it wasn't maxed out, it would definitely be on the verge of maxing out.]
[Making such a simple promise of your future will not make you regret it; this was an inevitable event from the very beginning.]
[From the moment you accepted this invitation, there was no turning back.]
[—Isn't that right?]
[Why bother with all those nonsensical, wild thoughts about things you don't need and that are essentially meaningless to you?]
[As the supervisor of the Spiral Workshop, isn't mediating employees part of your responsibility?]
[As a friend, isn't it also proper to help the girl?]
[Somewhat unexpectedly.]
[After the tearful girl finished her cake, it was already bedtime, but Vil-V had no intention of leaving the Room to sleep. She stayed by your side, silently watching you.]
[You originally wanted to advise the girl to take care of her health, as staying up late would impair her thinking and inspiration.]
[But Vil-V placed the golden pocket watch, which had appeared in your sight several times but you had never paid attention to, into her pocket.]
[Gently, carefully, as if burdened by a heavy mountain, she slowly raised her head.]
[The girl's unique silver-pink eyes were filled with an accumulation of indescribable emotions—shy, bashful, yet unusually firm, as if she had made a decision during her silent gaze.]
[You've only seen this look once.]
[Even after living with the girl for so many years, you've only seen it once.]
[At that birthday banquet a few years ago, when you were still traveling with Aili Xiya, the girl presented you with an invitation symbolizing freedom.]
[—What is Vil-V going to do?]
56. Aili Xiya: Failed... completely failed.
[The girl, who was originally reclusive in her loneliness, took her first proactive step for you, not caring if the enemy she encountered would be that flawless girl, and even if she knew it would only be an abyss ahead, she was willing to jump for you.]
[You vaguely felt something, and your memory, far exceeding that of ordinary people, began to revive.]
[Your thoughts began to involuntarily churn.]
[The scene of that past banquet seemed to reappear before your eyes.]
[It seemed that a few years ago, the girl suddenly burst into your life, illuminating that dull, lonely existence with new colors.]
[And at this very moment, that gentle, shy, yet firm voice once again entered your ears.]
["I..."]
["—I am in love with you."]
[Vil-V could no longer suppress anything within her.]
"From that birthday banquet, when you first initiated a conversation with me, I fell in love with you. That was the first time in my life I felt someone wanted to approach me."
"Not to exploit, not out of fear, and certainly not from a burst of greed, but simply to help, to save my incapable self."
"I should have made some progress by now, yet I still make mistakes... Even though I am so clumsy, you are still willing to be tolerant and forgive."
"Great Inventor—no one ever called me that before, and they never spoke to others normally with a kind tone."
"Even if it's selfish, even if it's just one person's baseness, I no longer want to suppress the feelings in my heart."
"So..."
The girl's right hand pressed against her full bosom, letting the somewhat pale, soft flesh ripple.
With a shy, gentle, yet resolute voice, she expressed the feelings that had long been suppressed in her heart, unspoken, to the young man before her.
"—Please don't reject me."
...Even though she had indeed hidden some things to avoid worrying the young man, and even though she had found some relatively unimportant crises from the Honkai.
Even though this feeling was not so pure from the beginning, her reaction to the young man's clothes being stolen was more out of possessive jealousy.
The girl was still so shameless, so despicable as to ignore everything, and articulate that emotion filled with deep baseness.
Despicable, so be it.
Scheming, so be it.
Shameless, so be it.
As long as it leaves a mark in the young man's heart.
As long as it successfully advances their relationship, becoming people who can never be separated, never parted by anything other than death.
Even becoming a complete villain is acceptable.
After all... those were just backup plans.
Such similar backup plans, if not a hundred or eighty, at least thousands related to the young man already exist, with countless more in reserve.
If she had to report every single one, the time consumed would be truly too long, and she probably wouldn't even have time to do other things with the young man.
No matter how high the Honkai's potential seems, it's impossible for it to cause damage in a place like the Moth Chasing Fire headquarters...[The girl has opened her heart.]
[From the beginning, you saved her, you helped her. After all this time, she still needs your tolerance, your thoughtfulness, to help her correct her mistakes.]
[The gifts accumulated little by little have left the girl with nothing to repay.]
[Only...]
[—To give herself to you.]
[Option one: Accept the girl's most sincere confession. After such a long time, such long-lasting companionship, why choose anything else? Isn't the person before you the most worthy of a lifetime promise?]
[Option two: It's too fast. You are still young, far from the age of defining emotions. Even if the favorability is still maxed out, to surrender your entire life so simply would be too crude.]
[Option three: Reject the girl's confession. You don't dislike the girl in front of you, but there is still an lingering shadow in your heart—a wind, an elusive wind that has left its mark in your heart.]
So fast?
Although he had long known that this life was 100% tied to Vil-V, completely bound and imprisoned, with no possibility of escape.
As long as he showed even a tiny bit of doubt, the girl would be incredibly sad, even truly fall into an abyss, and die beyond salvation.
He had already made this realization when he chose to hold the girl's hand in previous choices.
No hesitation, no regret.
That Vil-V brought it up first was unexpected.
He never thought that the girl, who was extremely self-loathing, had almost no subjective motivation, and preferred to endure and bear everything, would take the initiative.
He originally thought he would have to wait a bit longer, until their feelings naturally matured, before he would speak, telling the girl his sole promise, forging a covenant for this life and this world, until death do them part.
He didn't expect that due to this accident, and choosing a time when her mood was relatively good, it would be broken.
Instead, it made the self-loathing girl unbearable.
Unwilling to endure any longer, unwilling to wait any longer, just like that time before, she proactively invited him to accept her entire life as the inviter.
Even the right to choose, even everything, even her body and all she possessed, were to be packaged and given to him.
—Not bad.
Why refuse now?
Their feelings had already matured. To now be evasive and pretend to be psychologically healthy would be less courageous than the girl in front of him.
After all, having the initiative at least requires a healthy psyche as support. The girl doesn't even have a sense of security, so how can one expect a complete psyche?
The wind and flowers named Aili Xiya have little to do with him anymore. At most, he can offer some help when she later joins the Moth Chasing Fire, extending their path as relatives a bit further.
She doesn't care about him.
She's just another passerby.
When they traveled before, he was never paid attention to, and after choosing to leave with Vil-V, he couldn't even get any information, couldn't even make a call.
She's probably still traveling elsewhere now.
Still pursuing that perfect Elysium.
She will only take action against the Herrscher of the Void after its birth.
As a great hero who saves the world, a true Flame-Chaser, using her beauty and flawlessness, and even sacrificing her life to unite humanity.
Such a broad perspective, such rich divinity, almost like the savior in Catholicism. How could a god like others?
He, who picked her up from the woods, probably wouldn't even linger in her heart for a second.