Chapter 113 - Stabs

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WARNING: Another extreme violence is ahead but this is milder than the last time. This novel is rated 18+ in the first place so I suggest you don't skip this chapter since you will miss a part of the story.

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"Naive?"

Catherine frowned. She looked at Teren straight into his eyes as if she's fearless.

"Do you think that a person can only commit these kinds of acts because they are broken? Because they have no empathy? Because they have no guilt?"

"Are you saying you have no guilt?"

"... I don't, for them."

"Aren't you contradicting yourself?"

Catherine crossed her arms.

"But I'm a little bothered."

"About what?"

"Where did you get the guts to act like that?" Teren asked from pure curiosity. After all, before, Catherine even bowed her head to him, asking to follow him so that he won't do anything to her. To think that she has this personality was quite shocking.

"It's out of anger."

Catherine fiercely replied.

"Ah, so you're meek towards your friends and Mike because they are making you feel guilt?."

"Yes. I'm scared of you. But, after seeing what you did to my friends... I could kill you right now if I can! Even I'm surprised at myself but I'm just... argh! I'm just so angry!"

Catherin roared as she stomped the ground with her teary eyes. However, she was not just angry at Teren, she was mostly angry at herself. Her weakness and selfishness forced her friends into this state while she think that the others were unreliable.

Furthermore, they bowed their heads to Teren before, fearing he might do something - for him not to cross the line. Yet, he already did, their fears have happened. What they want to avoid occurred and they couldn't do anything about it. So what could acting submissive do?

All of these reasons piled up, pushing Catherine's attitude to turn a hundred and eigthy degrees towards Teren.

"Are you crazy?"

Teren raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?! Where did that come from!?"

"Why would you kill me if you can?"

"It's because if I can, I can fucking save my friends, are you dumb?!"

"See?" Teren just smiled, "You're not crazy but you're willing to kill me."

Catherine was about to reply when she realized what Teren was trying to say. But after thinking for a while, she understood it and asked.

"Then are you saying you're doing this all for a reason? An important reason that makes you have no choice but to do this?"

"I'm not a good guy. I have a lot of choices but this is one of them so I acted on it."

"You're confusing me."

"I'm just trying to rebuke what you said earlier but as for me, yeah... I do think I've gone mad. I even thought that I'm a psychopath."

"Yeah, no doubt about it."

"But I fell in love so I think I'm not crazy."

"That's what a crazy person would say."

"You're hard to talk to."

"You're hard to even look at."

Before Teren could reply, Catherine continued.

"As for another reason why I can act like this because I've just understood it just now. You need me, right? That's why you can't hurt me!"

"What?"

"..."

Seeing Teren's puzzled face, Catherine gulped. Am I wrong? Will he really hurt me?

"If y-you can... you would've done so when I slapped you, right?"

She tried to ask for confirmation as fear began swallowing her again. She gripped the contract in her hand.

Teren then nodded and stood straight away from her.

"Yes, that's true. I need you."

Catherine sighed in relief.

"But, what can you offer? Do you think you're special? You're expendable and just one of the choices, remember?"

"E-eh?"

"If I can't use you, I can just look for another person. Is that wrong?"

"Then will you leave me alone?" Catherine asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, I can leave you alone here. Do you want that?"

Catherine nodded.

"What about your friends?"

"I..."

I want to save them but I want to live too. At the very least, I can still avenge them.

Those words were etched in her mind. But for now, she wants to get out of here so she said.

"I want to live more..."

"Hm? Who said you're going to live?"

"Huh?"

Shick*

"Kah!"

Catherine felt a sharp stab in her stomach. Her vision darkened for a bit before she regained her senses. This lapse was probably from the immense pain she just received.

"AHHHH!!"

She cried out from the pain.

"I just said I'm going to leave you alone here, right? I didn't say whether you're dead or not."

Catherine tumbled forward and clutched onto Teren as she tried not to fall.

"Ah... ah..."

Teren took it out and stabbed it into her again.

"Ack!!! Stop!!"

Pulled out and stabbed again.

"No! Stop!"

And another one.

"Please!"

...

"... help..."

Catherine lied on the ground. A puddle of blood was being sipped onto the ground.

"What a waste. I can't believe I wasted a contract on you."

Teren said after stabbing her eight times in total. He looked at her and saw her eyes that were full of hatred, staring into him.

Not fear?

"But still... you're not special. I have killed a lot who look at me with hatred too, you're not the first. Compared to the first person who look at me with that kind of eye... you're basically nothing."

".. ah...!"

Teren stabbed her back.

"I guess you're going to die in a minute or so, I don't know."

He sighed and retrieved his knife, stood up, and walked away. After walking for a while, Teren frowned and felt a sharp pain in his stomach. 

Ga*

He vomited blood.

"Huh...?"

Seeing the blood on his hands, Teren realized what just happened and smiled...

Meanwhile, back to the campsite, Hanon and the others saw Iesa came back. She looked more ecstatic than before as if she's having the time of her life. When Catherine reluctantly went to Teren, Iesa sneakily followed, and just now, she came back before the two.

"Iesa! What was that shout just now!?"

Mike shouted in frantic.

Iesa returned to her seat and didn't answer as if it had nothing to do with her. She just hummed as if she has her own world.

"Tsk! Iesa! What was that shout!? What happened to Catherine!?"

But before Iesa could answer, Hanon shouted.

"Ah! I get it now! I get it! The reason why Teren set it all up this way! So this is it!"

Everyone looked at him and Mike asked.

"W-what is it, Sir Hanon?!"

"The contract, look at it! Don't you think there is something missing!?"

"Huh?" Mike looked at his own paper and failed to see what Hanon was talking about.

"It's the punishment, Mike! The punishment! The contract is not absolute. Nothing will force you to follow what it says. However, it should have at least a punishment. I know that because what Teren has is not the Great Spirit of Contract." Hanon frantically explained but realizing that the others have no idea what he was talking about, he paused before continuing, "The punishment should not be death. If that's how it works then not only would Teren tell it to us to scare us but also, it would quite useless."

"I don't understand, Sir Hanon."