Monster - Chapter 95
Chapter 95: Argument
Lin Sandie stayed in Aztec for a whole night before she found a chance to get close to Little Fool. She naturally wouldn't miss it. While holding Little Fool and running outside, she discreetly placed a rabbit sticker on her back.
"I didn't even know you and Miss Tudor had gotten so close. You even spent the night at her place?"
"Why do you care?" Held tightly in Lin Sandie's arms as they ran, Little Fool saw that Lin Sandie was also holding a small white rabbit in her other hand and retorted resentfully.
"Of course I care." Suppressing all her questions about Pie, Lin Sandie curiously probed into Little Fool's emotional life. After all, it was perfectly normal for someone her age to experience the first stirrings of love. "I didn't think much of Miss Tudor before, but she's grown into a graceful young woman now."
"She's a very good older sister, which is why I'm going to kill Protector Seymour for hurting her. Why are you telling me to calm down?" Lin Sandie moved quickly. Once they were out of the manor where Miss Tudor lived, the two arrived on a snow-covered lawn outside. Little Fool immediately struggled out of Lin Sandie's arms, her bare feet landing on the snow as she questioned Lin Sandie.
"They're hunting witches everywhere right now. Many innocent women have died horribly because of it. If the Protector suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances, have you ever thought about how many women in the area will suffer because of it?" Lin Sandie patiently reasoned with Little Fool.
"Then I won't kill him in my Spirit Separation state. I'll just go to his room right now and stab him to death. Then his death won't be mysterious." Little Fool knew what she was saying was unreasonable, but she still vented these willful words and childish emotions at Lin Sandie.
"As long as no one knows who the killer is, his death will be mysterious, and many innocent people will be put on trial for it," Lin Sandie continued to persuade her gently.
"Then I'll just let people know I'm the killer."
"...And then you'll have to kill everyone who wants to try you and burn you at the stake? Do you want to get Tai and Le burned to death too?" If she didn't know Little Fool was just throwing a tantrum and didn't actually have self-destructive tendencies, Lin Sandie would have really liked to knock her on the head.
"Hmph," Little Fool lifted her small, red-from-the-cold foot and kicked viciously at the snow, sending a cloud of white powder into the air. She asked angrily, "This is no good, and that's no good. Do you want me to just watch Miss Tudor get bullied by that disgusting Protector every day?"
"You could discreetly let Mrs. Seymour know that he has been harassing Miss Tudor. She's Miss Tudor's adoptive mother; she'll handle it properly." Lin Sandie also loathed Seymour. If she were a few years younger, she might have recklessly gone and chopped him to pieces. But she was an adult now, and being an adult meant considering the consequences of one's actions within the scope of one's abilities. She could only try to strike a balance that took all sides into account as much as possible.
"And then she'll send Miss Tudor away, right?!" Little Fool was extremely clever and immediately thought of this possibility. She paced around in the snow, agitated. "That's not fair! Why should the victim have to be the one to back down, while the perpetrator goes unpunished?!"
"He will receive the punishment he deserves, but not now!" Lin Sandie couldn't help but get angry too. She was one hundred percent certain that Little Fool could understand what she was saying and her good intentions, but this rebellious child was now dead set on picking a fight with her.
"I want him to be punished now! If the abuser doesn't know why he's being judged, then what's the point of justice?" As Lin Sandie raised her voice, Little Fool's voice immediately rose higher than hers. Her childish southern Leviathan accent sounded anything but cute to Lin Sandie's ears.
"He should know that I'm hurting him because he bullied Miss Tudor!" Little Fool shouted even louder.
"He will be punished, but not now, not when he's at the height of his power. Do you really not understand that killing him now will implicate many innocent people, or do you just want to argue with me?" Lin Sandie took a deep breath, trying hard to control her temper.
"I can't consider so many other people's feelings every time I judge someone. I can only stand on the side of myself and my friends."
"You're not the law, and you're certainly not a god. What gives you the right to judge others?" Since Little Fool wanted to be deliberately difficult, Lin Sandie threw the same attitude right back at her.
"That's not what I'm trying to say!" Little Fool grew even more agitated, leaving a long trail of footprints in the snow. "Some bad people, they'll always die by my hand! I'll only consider whether to kill them from my own perspective. I can't consider so much, weigh so many factors!"
"You…"
"You just don't get it! Miss Tudor is so upset, that disgusting old man raped her!"
"I know! I know she's innocent! That's why I want Mrs. Seymour to send her away, not for you to kill Seymour now!" Lin Sandie completely lost it. She wasn't an emotionless person; she also wished she could go chop up that disgusting Protector and throw him into a furnace right now. But doing so would certainly lead to a large number of innocent peasant women from the manor's vicinity being burned to death. "In my eyes, Miss Tudor's life is no more noble than those of the innocent women! You saw them burn those so-called witches. You remember their screams, don't you?! I won't let you push others into a pit of fire just to save Miss Tudor!"
"@!#¥@&*…" Little Fool screamed, pacing frantically in the snow, a torrent of words pouring from her mouth. There were European languages Lin Sandie could understand, but also a great deal of Greek and Latin that she couldn't. It seemed she was using the philosophy she had learned to dialectically refute Lin Sandie's words, arguing something like how every individual has a different value, and to her, Miss Tudor was more noble and more worthy of protection than those innocent peasant women.
Lin Sandie watched, dumbfounded. She tried to interject several times, but was immediately cut off by Little Fool after just a few words. The girl's intelligence and diligence were no sham; she was actually using what she had learned to argue Lin Sandie into silence.
"Shut up! No matter what, you are not to lay a hand on Seymour now!" Two hands extended from the dissipating black fog and grabbed Little Fool's shoulders with an unprecedented sense of pressure. "Or I will make you understand the consequences of your actions!"
Lin Sandie ignored Little Fool's long, citation-filled debate and gave her an ultimatum. The latter gritted her teeth and stared up at the black fog, her eyes filled with tears, grievance, and hatred…
"…" Looking at her like this, seeing Little Fool's face so clearly, that sense of Lou's presence washed over Lin Sandie again.
Seeing two streams of tears fall from Little Fool's reddened eyes, Lin Sandie's heart softened. She reached out to wipe them away. "Sorry, I haven't been able to come and see you on time lately. Are you under a lot of stress too?"
"None of your business," Little Fool choked out, her lips trembling as the tears fell even faster.
"I have many things I have to do in the other world. I'm also trying my best to get stronger. I hope you can understand, I…" At this, Lin Sandie heaved a deep sigh and pulled Little Fool into a tight hug.
"Little Fool, I've fallen in love with a woman."
"What woman?" Little Fool pushed away the black fog hugging her and asked strangely. This was the first time she had heard Little Rabbit talk about love, especially her own, and with a woman at that.
Little Fool was filled with doubt. In her view, Little Rabbit was also female. Could a woman love another woman?
"She's the cutest woman I've ever met. Being with her is often infuriating, but I also can't help but laugh."
Little Fool nodded, tears still on her face, but her attention was clearly captivated by what Little Rabbit was saying. She thought for a moment, then asked seriously, "Does she love you too?"
"I'm not quite sure yet."
"…That's lame." Little Fool was disdainful. She didn't understand love, but she felt that the one who fell in love first was lame, especially if they didn't even know if the other person loved them back.
Lin Sandie burst out laughing and gently pinched Little Fool's cheek, her gaze shifting to the distance. There, mountains rose in layers, their silver snow glittering under the moonlight.
"Are we good now? Little Fool."
"Hmph, we are not!"
"I got you a birthday present. I left it in your room. You'll definitely like it when you go back," Lin Sandie said with a light laugh.
"What is it?"
"That would be…" Just as Lin Sandie was about to answer, she suddenly felt as if she'd been pushed into an abyss. Her vision plummeted endlessly. She looked at Little Fool, who was still waiting for her answer, but she couldn't make a sound.
Little Rabbit was gone again.
After waiting quietly for a moment, the only sounds were the wind and the faint creaking of snow-laden branches. There was no trace of Little Rabbit's presence.
Little Fool looked at the distant mountains, and the tears that had just stopped immediately welled up in her eyes again. She bit her lip and fiercely wiped the tears from her face. Her obedience and thoughtfulness had only ever led to one outcome. She wanted a Guide who could stay with her. At that moment, she made up her mind: next time, she would ask Little Rabbit to dissolve their partnership!
She had thought it through. She couldn't spend her whole life in this kind of relationship with a rabbit doll whose form she couldn't even see.
But even though she had made her decision, she still felt her heart was stuffed full of grievance. It made her throw herself onto the snow in a fit of self-abandonment and begin to wail.
Leviathan, the Tower World.
In her sleep, Lin Sandie felt as if her feet had suddenly stepped on empty air. Her whole body trembled, and she woke up to find that the moving car had stopped.
She saw a dozen ragged people with long, filthy hair rushing toward them, letting out strange cries. One of them had clearly charged onto the road and slammed into their car, which was why Lou had braked suddenly, and the jolt had woken her up.
"It's the Jackals! They're a bunch of crazy wanderers who'll plunder any traveler at any cost," Carlo cried out in terror from the back seat, clearly frightened of the madmen blocking their path.
As she heard his words, Lin Sandie noticed that a spiderweb crack had appeared on the front windshield, which was stained with a lot of blood.
"Are they out of their minds?" Lou took her pistol from its holster and checked the magazine. Other than them being insane, she couldn't think of any reason someone would suddenly run onto the road and into a moving car.
"Yes, they were all refugees. After starving for too long, they somehow became like this. They eat anything… even human corpses." As he said this, Carlo was on the verge of tears.
"I get it." Lou loaded the magazine, then abruptly threw open the car door with such force that it knocked two "Jackals" who were clinging to it to the ground. She followed up with two clean shots.
At this moment, as Lou began her slaughter, Lin Sandie clutched her head, her face deathly pale. She felt like she had forgotten something important, something very important to her.
"I shouldn't have left at that time," Lin Sandie murmured, though even she didn't understand why she had suddenly said such a thing.
"I shouldn't have left at that time," she repeated, her expression growing even worse.
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