Chapter 356 Volume V - 74: Beauty Itself

Chapter 356 Volume V - Chapter 74: Beauty Itself

A warmth I couldn't quite make sense of enveloped my body... and my eyes blinked with it.

As soon as my eyes opened slightly and my body started to regain sensation, an excruciating pain spread through all of me.

It was so intense that I couldn't even scream, I couldn't even let out a simple moan. I could only... wait. I couldn't even resist.

Seconds passed, then minutes.

The pain didn't lessen, on the contrary... it increased. As if in response to my silent screams, as if it wanted to hurt me even more... non-stop.

I fainted, but before I could even be sure if I had really fainted, the pain returned once more.

*******

Hours passed, maybe more... or less?

I started to get used to the pain, slowly... still feeling it all the time.

I kept fainting, I kept waking up. I wished to die, I wished to be saved... But no matter how much I suffered, my soul refused to leave my body. And... I kept getting used to the pain.

Finally, after some time, I'm not sure how long, I managed to get used to it enough to regain some of my senses.

And... the first thing I realized was that I was on a hard but cold floor. And... wet?

Ah, that's why it's cold...

I tried to lift my head, but an intense pain, incomparable to any I had experienced before, suddenly shot through my neck... and everything went black.

*******

I tried to lift my head again, more slowly this time.

My blurred eyes couldn't make out anything at first. I could only see... bright dots floating in the air, slowly falling to the ground, delicately... like a feather.

The pain intervened again. But, this time, I tried to resist, tearing my eyes away from the bright dots and looking elsewhere.

But... I couldn't see anything.

There was only darkness.

Soon... the bright spots disappeared too.

*******

Who... was I?

For some reason, I never asked that question, the pain was the only thing on my mind. As I got used to it, as I slowly regained my senses, things like... where was I was more important.

But this time, these were the questions on my mind.

What was my name? How old was I? Who was I? Why was I here?

I forced myself, I did my best to remember.

For a moment, my mind seemed to break free from the chains of pain. For a very brief moment, a name appeared in my mind. But... it fluctuated as if there was a wall between me and the name, it became something incomprehensible... and then, it was gone.

No matter how hard I tried, I could never get an answer to my questions. The wall of pain was an obstacle I could not overcome.

*******

My ears started to regain their ability to function. So... I started to hear something, like... the sound of water drops falling from above.

I remembered the ground, the wetness, and the cold.

The sounds I was hearing were indeed drops of water falling where I was. How else would the ground be wet?

Although... it wasn't a big deal. Why was I so focused on it?

This time, I closed my eyes before plunging into the darkness again. I gave myself to the darkness before it took me.

I was getting... tired.

*******

This time, I didn't try to do anything.

Too beautiful.

No... the word 'beautiful' was not enough for her.

How could there be such a person in the world?

Just looking at her made me lose my mind, just seeing what she looked like out of the corner of my eye made everything fall apart.

The existence of such a person... should not have been possible.

But it was.

After all, she was right in front of my eyes.

It was easy to see what she was like as all the marbles of light in the area were slowly drawn toward her. Although... did she need them? Her very existence was bright, she didn't need a light source to be seen.

But that was not all. She was also gigantic, really big. She was tens of meters long. A little longer and she would have reached into the infinite darkness above...

Both of her arms were lifted by the chains, just hanging in the air. But she was not simply 'chained'. The chains were cruelly embedded in some parts of her body, wrapped so tightly around some parts that I could see the marks. Most of her body was not even visible because of this.

She was kneeling, not in a comfortable position. But... what did comfort matter? After a certain point, the pain became insignificant, so it was nothing to worry about.

Her head was bowed. Part of her face was visible through the silver hair that fell in front of her, but even that was enough to blow my mind. She had no clothes on, so every part of her was exposed where the chains could not hide. Even places that would be inconvenient for most people were in plain sight.

But even these were unimportant.

All that mattered was her face, no... her very existence.

This woman... was the embodiment of beauty.

No, it was insufficient to think that she was simply the 'embodiment' of beauty.

She was beauty itself.

Just looking at her made me feel like I was committing a crime. I wanted to look away, to close my eyes, but... I didn't want to at the same time.

A deep silence enveloped my body, and for a while, I couldn't do anything or think. I just kept looking, kept being mesmerized. With every new detail I noticed, I was drawn to her even more, as if I was losing myself...

But that didn't last long either.

Because... after a short time, her motionless body finally moved.

The chains wrapped around her body jiggled. The sounds of clattering filled the whole space and echoed in my ears.

Her closed eyes, hidden by her hair, opened slowly, gradually. They revealed the rainbow-like jewels they hid.

Then her head lifted slightly, her eyes, which seemed to contain every possible color, slowly turned towards me. Her closed lips separated.

Just like the way she looked and felt, her voice was one of the most beautiful things I had ever encountered. It was delicate, elegant... a voice I shouldn't have heard, a voice that would have gotten me executed if I had.

And... I don't know why, but... it was strange.

It was as if it wasn't just her opening his mouth, but several people talking at the same time.

And... it was painful. It was like she could barely speak. So much so that I wanted to find the people who had done this to her and strangle them with my hands.

But that didn't matter either. Because... the words that came out of her mouth were stranger than anything I had ever experienced.

It was as if... she had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

"Finally..."

As my eyes widened slightly, I realized the mistake I had made.

No, not this moment...

"Did it really take you that long to get used to the pain?"

She was waiting especially for me.

"Don't make me wait any longer, human."

She waited for me to come here, to get used to the pain, to talk to her...

"Break these chains."