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“Don’t worry, Delia, tomorrow I’m going to start removing the rest of the Solus Temple buildings from the capital. No one will be able to hurt you again,” I say as we eat dinner, after watching a shudder run through Delia for no apparent reason.

Surely what happened has left her much more affected than the young fox girl lets on at first glance.

Once again, I inwardly curse the Solus Temple for what they did to my Delia.

‘I’m tired of constantly reacting to other people’s attacks. It’s about time I started taking the initiative.’

“What?!!!! No, why would you do that?” asks Delia, suddenly dismayed by my words, dropping the cutlery she was holding on the table.

‘ – This… This is not something a good person would say… How can Emir speak so calmly about the idea of murdering so many innocent people?’

‘ – If he allows me, I intend to help Master in that task…what happened to Delia deserves revenge…and I want to be a part of that revenge.’

‘Huh? I thought she… shit, I hope this isn’t what I think it is. I don’t have the patience to deal with it right now.’

“Why would I do that? Don’t you think that, after what happened to you, we’re justified in eradicating all the Solus Temple people from the capital, at least to protect ourselves?” I ask, but I’m already starting to imagine her response.

“Don’t do it, Emir, please. Despite what happened, I think most of the people of the Solus Temple are good…” says the fox girl, watching me with a disgusted expression.

“…You know that, out of the 32 years of my life, in 17 of them I was part of the Solus temple, and I never saw anything like this. That’s why I’m convinced that what happened today was an isolated case of corruption.”

‘ – This is my fault … If it weren’t for me, Emir wouldn’t have had to kill those people, and he wouldn’t be raising something like this now either… I can understand… to a certain extent, that he killed all those people to rescue me, since he did it with the intention of protecting me… but this… this thing he is bringing up now is simple revenge’

At Delia’s words, Alessia stops eating and stares at her with her mouth slightly open.

‘ – What? 32 years old? Is Delia 32 years old?!… that … that makes her older than me… much older… I thought she wouldn’t be much older than 16 or 17… because of her trusting, caring, pure, and innocent personality… Lately I have tried to be a bit like her in that respect, as Master seems to be attracted to such things… I thought our very radical differences in personality were simply because of our age difference, but I see that’s not the case… I was very wrong… I find it admirable and curious that Delia is the way she is at that age she is’

“You can’t be serious, Delia. There’s a limit to how st-…” I start to say.

But before I make a mistake, moved by irritation and disbelief, I bite my tongue hard.

Delia is the victim in this situation, and the least she needs right now is for me to insult her.

“… trusting you can be.”

‘ – Emir’s revenge would turn him into a murderer… a person who indiscriminately kills guilty and innocent alike… and I… I don’t know if I am able to be in a couple with such a person… If Emir really takes that path… I won’t be able to follow him… God wouldn’t want me to be in a relationship with a person capable of committing such atrocities… Maybe I’ve been wrong all this time’

“That trust is what led me to believe in you in the first place. But if you do what you say, you’re going to lose my trust forever. I… I don’t think I can be in a relationship with a person who kills innocent people,” Delia says with moist eyes, holding back tears.

‘Huh?!…

Wait, wait, wait…

What is Delia talking about?…

If I kill those bastards for what they did to her…

Is she going to leave me?…

Haa… I…

I’m too worn out for this kind of conversation right now…

My head hurts too much…

Delia must also be exhausted…

I shouldn’t have brought up this topic of conversation at this time…

But it’s late now…

Delia doesn’t want me to do it, and I’ll have to listen to her…

It’s… frustrating, but it is what it is…

I should have guessed this would happen, considering her personality…

My plan was doomed to fail from the beginning’

‘ – What nonsense is Delia talking all of a sudden… with how much she gave me a hard time about the whole predestination thing… how can she be the one doubting Master… If only today, a few hours ago, I was humorously thinking that Master seems to be almost like a god to her! Hmm… Maybe she’s still in shock about what happened to her’

“Delia, are you feeling alright? Why are you saying those words to Master?…” says Alessia in a tense voice, while frowning at the fox girl.

“… I think Master is right. They attacked first. We’re just protecting ourselves.”

‘Oh?… Hmm, maybe Alessia can convince her.’

‘ – You too?… Have I really been wrong all this time with the idea of our predestination?’

“Slaughtering an indeterminate number of people is not ‘protecting ourselves’, Alessia. Besides, it doesn’t matter here who ‘attacked’ first. This is not a battlefield; this is life. You can’t go through life killing innocent people,” says Delia, who seems to be on the verge of tears.

‘ – Please, God, help me convince them. I don’t want to have to leave them’

“Those people are not innocent!” exclaims Alessia with irritation.

‘ – The whole stupid Solus Temple is full of corrupt people. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be a fucking slave.’

“I disagree. Anyway, innocent or not, that doesn’t give us the right to take their lives. The people who attacked me have already received their punishment…”

‘ – Along with who knows how many other people… but I can’t blame Emir for that.’

‘This discussion will get us nowhere… or, at least, not to any good. I have to stop it now, before it continues to escalate in intensity.’

“…And even that punishment may have been a bit extreme. But that d-doesn’t matter. What matters is that the rest of the people in the Solus temple have done nothing wrong to us. We can’t live murdering people for fear that those people might attack us. That’s a pitiful way to live,” says Delia, as she gives Alessia a look that is equal parts pleading and stubborn.

‘ – Please, God, make them understand the sense in what I’m saying!’

“The pitiful thing is having to live in constant fear, not knowing when they will try to hurt us again. The pitiful thing is knowing what has been done to you and not being able to do anything about it. The pitiful thing is that I… I…” says Alessia, as her eyes water with frustration.

‘ – I’m to blame for this… I should have been there for her when she needed me… But I’m going to make sure those people regret crossing that line… I’m sure, and I know Master thinks so too, that the people he eliminated are not the only ones involved in this. That’s why I know we can’t do what she wants.’

“… I don’t intend to forgive them in life for what they did to you.”

“I don’t think this is the best time to have a conversation about this. It’s been a long day, and all three of us are exhausted,” I say, sighing at the impact of my unfortunate statement.

“This has nothing to do with how worn out we are, Emir. This has to do with what is right and what is wrong…” says Delia, looking at me with a shadow of fear and despair in her eyes as tears begin to run down her cheeks.

“…Please tell me you won’t do what you said you would do?”

‘ – I don’t want to lose Emir. GOD, HELP ME!’

“I won’t. For you, I won’t…” I say, standing up and going to Delia’s side to hug her.

‘I hate to see them cry… and even more so if it’s my fault’

“… Sorry. Maybe…maybe I was too hasty in deciding what we should do.”

‘ – Thank you, God’

Delia hugs me back and once again clings to me as if her life depended on the proximity of our bodies, as she begins to cry inconsolably on my shoulder.

“Master, I think-” Alessia begins to say, as if she can’t believe my words.

‘ – How can he say that to Delia? This isn’t right; I have to convince Delia that our dec-‘

“We’ll talk about it later, Alessia…” I say, and, seeing the annoyed look the blonde is giving me, I add.

“… I think Delia has been through enough today, and now she needs to rest.”

My words leave Alessia dumbfounded, as a flash of emotions goes through her face.

‘ – Shit… Master is right… we shouldn’t be pressuring Delia like this…why is it so hard for me to realize what I need to do or say?! Sometimes I’m so socially awkward… Right now revenge isn’t important. The only important thing here is taking care of Delia’

“It’s true…” says Alessia, after taking a big breath of air and sighing.

“… Forgive me, Delia.”

Delia takes a few seconds to calm down enough to answer Alessia.

When she does, she manages to look at her with a hesitant smile, while some tears are still running down her face, and say, “There’s nothing to forgive… I… I love you both so much. Please don’t leave me. Don’t go down a path I can’t follow.”

After those words she loses what little composure she had regained and cries disconsolately on my shoulder again.

‘ – Poor thing… I’m such a fool. Good thing Master stopped me before I went on arguing with her.’

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