Chapter 54 If There Were No Torch in This World

Evening had fallen. Stars were sparse in the quiet night, broken only by the occasional harsh cry of a crow.

Black Wolf Keep, library.

Xia Mingyu was sprawled across the wooden floor in the shape of a giant "X," his expression gloomy and despondent.

Meanwhile, Elise knelt upright beside him with a solemn expression, though inwardly...

"Ah, ah, ah, how much longer is Your Highness going to lie on the floor?! If this keeps up, I won't dare go use the hammock, and my legs are going to feel like they're breaking."

The young girl wailed in her heart.

Ever since entering the library, His Highness hadn't even read two books before collapsing onto the floor. To avoid appearing impolite, she had no choice but to obediently kneel beside him.

"Sigh..." Xia Mingyu sighed softly from the floor.

He had originally wanted to come to the library to read for a while and relax his mind, but the densely packed words on the pages eventually seemed to transform into two words in his eyes—"Murder."

Whenever he recalled the sensation of swinging his sword to cleave Hawk's head right down the middle with blood splashing everywhere, Xia Mingyu's hands would tremble slightly.

Having witnessed such a hellish scene at the time, he, in a state of unbridled fury, had unhesitatingly chosen to let every single thug in the brothel die.

Yet now, having calmed down, a wave of negative emotions—guilt, nausea, self-reproach, and more—flooded back into his heart.

"Human beings really are contradictory creatures," Xia Mingyu heaved another heavy sigh.

When weak, one hates oneself for not being extreme enough; when extreme, one loests oneself for being too self-centered. In the end, it seemed inner peace was impossible to attain no matter what.

However, Xia Mingyu knew very well that, according to Berg, if the Black Wolf Territory could genuinely be considered a good place within the Sosia Kingdom—and indeed the entire world—then that meant tragedies akin to the Red Rose Brothel were, if not everywhere, at least not far off.

If he were to act like he did today every time he encountered a Red Rose Brothel across the continent in the future... then what awaited him would inevitably be an endless sea of corpses and blood, enough to drown the entire Black Wolf Territory several times over.

Was he really going to do this? Should he really do this? Did he even have the ability to do this?

Tap, tap.

Just as Xia Mingyu's gaze grew vacant and sweat beaded on his forehead from deep thought, the heavy oak doors of the library were softly knocked upon.

"Elise, go open the door," Xia Mingyu said listlessly, guessing who had arrived without even looking.

"Yes, Your Highness."

As if granted a pardon, the girl quickly scrambled to her feet, her heart filled with gratitude toward whoever was at the door.

A moment later, Elise led in Anliya, who was carrying a meal basket.

"Your Highness, I've already heard about what happened from Berg. Are you alright?" Anliya asked, looking with deep concern at Xia Mingyu, who was languishing dejectedly on the floor.

Today, the young girl was no longer wearing her light blue long dress; instead, she had changed into a pure white dress that accentuated her white-porcelain, delicate skin.

Her soft, smooth blonde hair draped over her exquisite collarbones, making one instinctively yearn to gently taste them.

This dress was actually a gift Karen had sent him, seemingly having noticed that Anliya only had a single dress to wear... What a considerate fellow!

"It's nothing, I just don't have much of an appetite," Xia Mingyu said, turning his head to glance at the lunchbox on the floor.

Although it might spurn the young girl's kindness, he truly had no appetite right now. The mere sight of meat brought back images from that moment, accompanied by a rising wave of nausea.

"Your Highness, I didn't prepare a heavy meal. I only boiled a bowl of fruit and honey porridge. Would you like to try some?"

The girl opened the lunchbox, revealing a bowl of porridge mixed with various fruit chunks, including red berries, and a sweet aroma began to drift into the air.

"...Just a little."

Catching the sweet fragrance, Xia Mingyu inexplicably felt a flicker of appetite, his stomach instantly growling as if waking from a deep slumber.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Anliya smiled faintly, then knelt down beside Xia Mingyu. Reaching out with slender fingers, she gently lifted his head to rest upon her lap, and proceeded to spoon the fruit porridge into his mouth one bite at a time.

Feeling the soft sensation at the back of his head and the exquisite taste of the fruit porridge, Xia Mingyu unconsciously finished the entire bowl.

"Thank you, Anliya. I feel much better."

Enjoying the warm sensation in his stomach, Xia Mingyu found that despite doing nothing at all, his mood had improved considerably.

Indeed, mood was, in a sense, a physical reaction; people found happiness simply through eating... provided the food was delicious, of course, and preferably accompanied by a beautiful girl offering her lap as a pillow while feeding you bite by bite.

"Being able to help Your Highness is the very meaning of my existence."

Looking down at the dark-haired young man resting on her lap—his sharp, defined facial features, his obsidian-like eyes, his straight bridge of a nose... everything about him intoxicated her—Anliya stated the fact in a tone as gentle as water.

"Your Highness, may I kiss you?"

"Huh?"

"You saved so many miserable women from suffering today. I think you are kind, brave, merciful, and righteous... That's why I want to kiss you. Can you grant me this tiny wish?"

Anliya's sky-blue eyes stared fixedly at the man, reflecting deep affection and anticipation.

"Alright..."

Before Xia Mingyu could finish, the girl leaned down and pressed a deep kiss to his lips.

"Eek, how lewd." Elise, standing nearby, blushed and covered her eyes with her hands, though the gap between her fingers seemed far too wide to block anything.

After a long while, the two finally parted.

Looking at the blushing girl hovering above him, Xia Mingyu inexplicably felt all his pent-up gloom vanish, replaced even by a hint of exhilaration.

Truly, wasn't a beautiful, young maiden a man's best cure?

"Your Highness, do you need me to fulfill my duty as a maid and warm your bed tonight?"

".....Not yet."

"Oh."

......

Late at night, when all was still, the moon was hidden and the wind howled.

At the top of the clock tower.

Without telling a soul, Xia Mingyu had come here entirely alone.

"This really is a wonderful time for meditation!" he muttered, gazing up at the bright, flawless, jade-plate-like full moon in the night sky.

Pity he hadn't come here tonight to meditate, but rather to test the abilities brought by the advancement of his divine protection.

"A single spark can start a prairie fire!"

Mimicking the master from a certain cup-warring anime from his homeworld, Xia Mingyu struck a dashing pose and shouted.

The next instant, a faint spark ignited before him, rapidly expanding and swelling until, in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a raging, burning torch.

"State your will."

Though silent, a surge of information flowed directly from the torch into his mind.

Xia Mingyu fell silent, temporarily unsure of what his true will even was.

Was it to send every wicked person on the continent to the guillotine, leaving rivers of blood in his wake?

Or was it to rescue every suffering soul, ensuring they lived lives of abundance and prosperity?

Lost in deep thought, Xia Mingyu watched scenes from his past flash across his mind:

Robert, who had groveled and tried to kiss the tips of his shoes out of desperate gratitude for saving his villagers.

Simpson, who had gifted him red berries and blushed furiously with excitement from a single word of praise.

The woman in the washroom begging him for death.

The weeping, homeless prostitute.

.....

Xia Mingyu's gaze gradually grew firm, flames reflecting within his dark eyes.

"I simply want people to live like human beings," Xia Mingyu said softly to the torch before him.

It was neither terribly noble nor filled with burning hatred; he merely wanted people to live a bit more like actual human beings.

Yes, even in this utterly unequal world where the gap between people was so vast they hardly seemed of the same species, where the light of humanism had never once dawned and everyone lived in eternal pitch-black night, he would still choose to bring the light.

Because hadn't the words floating above his head ever since his transmigration already foreshadowed his mission?

"If there is no torch in this world, then I shall become the only light." His expression was calm.

In the next moment, the torch soared into the sky, piercing the profound night.