To the Love Born in the Lowest Place

“Mm.”

That one committed a foolish mistake. If you had been born outside, you would have received love from only a single god. But now, being born here, you receive the love of them all.

“What is the ‘mistake’?”

A mistake refers to acting incorrectly. For instance, trying to catch rainwater in your hands on a rainy day, but spilling it by accident.

“Ahh, I see.”

As she nodded, the god spoke in an voice more immense than ever before:

But remember, child. Although you are in the lowest place now, the day will come when you reclaim your rightful position.

“My position?”

The highest place in the world. The place where you, the last descendant of the Gracia family, should have remained.

“That’s my position? Will I really get there?”

Indeed.

Simultaneously, the voices of the other gods rang out together.

[For you receive our love.]

Even after hearing the gods’ words, she seemed indifferent. No matter how much they spoke of the highest place in the world, her position had always been on this hard, cold stone floor, so it was only natural she couldn’t feel anything.

Child, when you leave this place, come to the sacred grounds.

Yes, there you will gain the power to take revenge on that evil one.

While we can’t directly kill the aberrant one, we can lend you our power.

“I’m not really interested in that…”

She gazed at the tightly sealed door in one corner of the prison. That door was locked from the outside and hadn’t opened even once since she entered this place. In fact, she couldn’t even properly comprehend the concept of ‘opening’ in the first place.

“Will that door ever open in my lifetime?”

Their intention was likely to kill you by imprisoning you here, or even if you didn’t die, to make you live out your entire life in this place.

“So there’s no way for me to get out?”

A chance will come eventually, my child.

“I don’t need a chance like that…”

She let her body flop back as she spoke. Her eyes, devoid of any light, seemed to have lost interest in conversing with the gods.

“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just live my whole life here.”

Of course, the child was extremely curious about the outside world. But living in this place wasn’t particularly torturous for her. From the very beginning, living like this had been so natural that she couldn’t even imagine a different life.

“If I do get out, wouldn’t that mean the Emperor is trying to kill me?”

That one cannot kill you.

For we are exerting our power to protect you.

After the gods competed to emphasize just how devoted they were to her, they abruptly changed the subject.

We are protecting you from death. But what if we employed a different method instead of keeping you in this prison?

Which is?

To allow you to die, but have that world be destroyed and time rewound whenever you die. And in exchange, inflict divine punishment upon those who caused your death.

Excellent.

Truly destructive.

It seems better to utilize our power in that way.

The gods seemed satisfied, but unable to comprehend their words, she simply continued rolling around on the floor.

‘What should I do today…?’

Seeing the darkness beyond the hole give way to light, it was clearly the start of a new morning. She didn’t sleep at set times or maintain a regular daily routine. Still, contemplating how to pass each day was a chore.

‘Today, I should ask the god of the Lufahidism faith to read me their scripture.’

The moment she had that thought, an intense, burning pain spread through her entire body.

“Ah, ah…”

Unable to even scream, she collapsed and writhed on the floor. Her vocal cords felt scorched, preventing any sound from coming out. With bloodshot eyes, she conveyed her thoughts to the gods through the empty space.

‘Another mark.’

How helpless and powerless I feel, unable to do anything.

Once we regain our power, we will kill that one.

She had heard from the gods that the Emperor was using ancient sorcery.

It is necessary to know that in the past, while fighting against demons to protect humans, the Supreme God of the Holy Church cut off a part of his divine body and scattered it across the land. Those severed portions became sacred artifacts imbued with holy power, allowing humans who possessed them to wield transcendental abilities.

However, it was only natural that using the Supreme God’s portions for impure purposes would incur a price. Those who dared use the sacred artifacts for evil would have an invisible mark branded upon them after death, to show their sinful nature. And this branding process inflicted excruciating pain upon the human recipient.

The Emperor was using evil methods to transfer those marks onto others. And the one receiving those marks, unable to die no matter what, was her – the last descendant of the Gracia family. Though she received the gods’ love and need not worry about the afterlife, the marks still brought immediate torment.

Unable to endure the agony, she clawed at the floor until her nails tore off. Thinking it would be easier to just lose consciousness under the mark’s weight, Liv sobbed tearlessly.

* * *

At that moment, Emmett was kneeling before Liv. He tried to move his lips to speak to her, but not only could she not hear his voice, he couldn’t even find the words to say.

He had heard Liv conversing with the gods. Since he couldn’t hear the gods’ voices, it appeared Liv was simply muttering to herself. Still, he could vaguely discern her situation.

‘She has lived her entire life imprisoned here?’

Since birth until now?

Liv seemed to know nothing of the outside world. To live one’s whole life confined to this dark space would be a horrific torture, one Emmett could hardly imagine. Yet Liv had endured that time.

Liv was once a woman Emmett had taken a liking to. Though he disliked admitting it, the truth was he had been drawn to her from the first time he saw her at that banquet – with her white hair and deep pink eyes, she had reminded him of an adorable little rabbit. After that, he had become entangled in conversations with the eccentric Liv and grew sympathetic towards her circumstances.

While he pitied her, the feelings he developed for Liv didn’t end at mere sympathy. At the same time, behind her bright and lively demeanor, there was a melancholic side that piqued his interest. Slowly, as they spent more time together, Emmett found himself gradually growing fond of her, without even realizing it.

However, due to their clashing values and her willingness to throw away her life, Emmett ultimately distanced himself from her. It seemed he wasn’t someone capable of accepting Liv. Even after that, her unchanged attitude of constantly pursuing him only caused Emmett to become more exasperated with Liv.

Yet despite growing apart from Liv, the fact remained that he had once held affection for her. Seeing her suffering such torment, he too felt pained by extension. Even witnessing a complete stranger living their whole life imprisoned would be distressing, so it was only natural to feel more discomfited when the person had a prior connection.

He had thought Liv came from an ordinary slum background before being admitted to the Hamelsvoort family, like Hildegard. But who could have imagined she had lived such a wretched existence in Abgrund?

“Is there no way to let Miss Hamelsvoort out of this place?”

He even tried addressing the gods, but received no response.

In the end, he spent his time watching as Liv muttered to herself and aimlessly moved about. At the same time, he reflected on his past interactions with Liv.

-Actually, I quite enjoyed dancing with Miss Hamelsvoort…

As he reminisced about the past, some realization seemed to dawn on him as he covered his face with his hand.

“Ah!”

-Why do we have to be polite in front of His Majesty the Emperor?

-It’s only natural since he is like the sun looking down upon the imperial citizens.

There had been a reason behind Liv’s strange questioning about the Emperor. The one who had imprisoned her in this place was the Emperor himself. Yet before Liv, Emmett had defended him.

-Miss Liv, that question is challenging the authority of His Majesty the Emperor. You must never ask such a question in front of others.”

-…I’m sorry.

-It’s not a matter to apologize to me. But if you speak like that in front of others, you could be imprisoned. Perhaps you could even be imprisoned in Abgrund.

He had threatened Liv that defying the Emperor could lead to imprisonment in Abgrund. When she had already been imprisoned there once before.

-Miss Liv, death is not close to you, and above all, death is not that scary. It’s a process that everyone inevitably goes through.

If Liv died, this world would crumble. At that time, Liv had likely known that fact.

The obvious statements Emmett had made to Liv held somewhat different meanings from her perspective. Realizing how she must have perceived his words, he sighed heavily.

“Ahh…”