ch53

Her gaze wavers erratically.

On the screen, Ann remains with her unchanging, gentle smile, surrounded by workers in protective suits busily preparing something.

Judging by the background, it was assumed to be somewhere on the same underground floor, HA Floor… but apart from the physical distance, the friend she always felt close to seemed incredibly unfamiliar.

No, from the start, she wouldn’t have quit being a cop like herself, so why is she sitting there so calmly without even wearing a visor?

The on-site supervisor, Miss Grisha. And the whistleblower she had been desperately searching for.

Fragmentary pieces that seemed to have no connection come together to form a shape.

“Ann…?”

“!!”

As she cautiously uttered her friend’s name, her face bloomed like a flower.

Helena was speechless at her expression, which went beyond simply smiling and was flushed red.

She could dismiss it as a bad joke, a nasty prank, but that wouldn’t be the answer to this situation.

But if she remained as calm as possible and grasped the facts one by one, there would definitely be a reasonable explanation. For example… there was an unavoidable reason, or if not that….

“…I understand.”

“…?”

Ann looked questioning at Helena, who had recovered from the shock much faster than expected.

She hadn’t even shown her everything she had prepared yet. She had expected to see her agonizing and despairing after being stabbed in the back… what was going on?

“…You couldn’t tolerate this anymore, right…? It would be difficult to publicize this atrocity with just your testimony or evidence alone… so you made it bigger. To prevent it from becoming a non-existent accident. …Right?”

Ann, who had been listening intently to the sweet voice of the one she loved, had to lower her head to hide the corners of her mouth, which were about to tear.

Because… that uneasy end of her words was filled with anxiety that she hadn’t been able to shake off.

Even Helena herself, who had uttered the words of understanding, didn’t fully believe that hypothesis.

Clinging to a rope that seemed about to break at any moment, she sent out a hand of reconciliation filled with impossible wishes and hopes. As it vibrated through her eardrums and shook her brain, Ann felt a throbbing between her legs.

“…So there was a way to think like that. Yeah, Lena is amazing as always. She never disappoints.”

According to the original plan, she was going to maintain the same attitude as usual to increase the sense of incongruity, but… seeing Helena already pleading, Ann couldn’t hold back in the end.

“Lena… is your head really full of flowers…? You’re still clinging to such a dreamy future even after coming all this way?! That was just a hint. It was fun enough to see you feeling fulfilled every day without knowing anything… but if I let it simmer for too long, it loses its flavor…!”

“…I just want to fix what’s wrong, even now.”

“The police officer who put them in jail is personally liberating them… everyone must be so moved that they don’t know what to do…?”

…Even as she spouted all that, Ann couldn’t tell what kind of face she was making.

But she could definitely tell the emotion she saw in Helena’s wide eyes, which were brimming with tears.

It was the greatest euphoria she had ever felt in her entire life, beyond comparison.

You don’t necessarily have to bleed on the outside to be hurt. If you sicken the heart inside and shred the mind, a human becomes nothing more than an empty shell.

Yes… just like her old self, who didn’t know what joy was.

“I was wondering when you’d notice… I liked being on edge, but. It’s not like I have infinite patience… and you brought such a great audience to the stage… it’s Lena’s fault too. Got it…?”

“…What are you talking about.”

The pleasure of seeing the relationship she had built up over time collapse in an instant, beyond repair.

The sensuality of dragging the celestial being she had only been able to watch over to where she was.

One word… one word.

Each time unfiltered sincerity pierced her, she writhed in pain, and the shadow cast on her face grew larger.

‘Ah…. The ignorant Ann Grisha occupied such a large space in the life and heart of that Helena Valentine.’

Even though there wasn’t even a proper answer… Ann, who had perhaps received the most desired revelation, decided to unwrap the carefully prepared gift package.

“…Ah?”

The viewing angle of the screen gradually widened, revealing a detailed view of the room.

It seemed to be one of the operating rooms on this floor, with equipment and a surgical table that only conjured up terrible imaginations. And on top of it, a somewhat familiar silhouette….

“Ann… what are you doing right now…? …Stop.”

“I told you? I have a good audience now. …And a good stage needs a desperate conflict.”

Helena’s voice cracked horribly as she saw her younger sister, Anastasia, lying motionless like a sacrifice offered to an evil god.

…Not knowing how to treat a superior who was in a state that could never be certified as normal, the worker, who had been waiting hesitantly, turned on the surgical machine as ordered.

The machine, covered with various blades and lasers, was aimed at the youngest of the Valentine family according to the employee’s operation.

“Now… Lena? Make a choice. If you tell me to release those over a hundred poor people there, I’ll use all my authority to safely send them outside. …But Asha will be completely dismantled.”

“Asha has nothing to do with this?! I don’t know what bad feelings you have, but stop…!!”

Ann cut off Helena’s scream, expressing fierce displeasure at the inappropriate word ‘bad feelings’.

“Conversely…! If you tell me to save Asha, you’ll leave them behind and get out of here. …Bearing only the guilt of turning a blind eye to the people you could have saved.”

“That’s…….”

Suddenly faced with a multiple choice question, she, who was always full of confidence, trailed off.

‘…That way, you’ll become a flawed product just like me.’

For love to be achieved, you must first stand at the same level.

If she couldn’t go up, she would drag the other person down. That way, a truly equal relationship would begin.

Self-loathing from a flawed belief, betrayal from a trusted friend, and finally, an indelible wound from a dilemma with no right answer. Ann’s underlying thought was that she had to do this much for Helena to despair.

Ann, who had presented the finale of a lifetime, silently looked at the communication screen and the terminal connected to the security network so that she could watch Helena from various angles.

Her hesitating lips opened… and closed.

A drop of cold sweat trickled down her cheek.

Her eyes, which always looked straight ahead and into the future, lost their way and wandered.

“…Don’t do this.”

“…It’s okay. I’m delaying the deployment of the punitive force and the police, so you can think it over carefully and decide for yourself.”

Crack—!!

Unable to suppress her rage at the words that were given like warm comfort, her fist crushed a corner of the control room keyboard.

On the other hand, on the opposite side, she was busy engraving each and every action into her memory.

Helena’s outburst… every moment was thrilling, and it was the same as stepping into an unexplored territory.

“…Please. If someone has to die, then rather me….”

“Lena’s self-sacrifice has no meaning here. So… please choose honestly. Or… should I wake Asha up and open the voice channel to the prison side? Are you curious about the screams of the side that was abandoned after much deliberation?”

…An ancient philosopher advised that one should be silent about what one cannot speak of, but what should one do when that cannot be the answer to the problem?

Helena’s perceived time, each minute and second, stretched out like eternity, and logic devoured logic, growing into self-doubt.

One hundred strangers and one family member, for whom she had no reason to be responsible.

It might have been an easy question for someone else, but her scales creaked erratically. No, that’s what she believed.

Beep beep beep…!

“…Heh heh.”

……No. She finally noticed the contradiction in this agony.

From the moment she hesitated even a little, from the moment she tried to compare the importance, she had already admitted that her secretive and mysterious little sister was as precious as a hundred innocent people, perhaps even more so.

Who was it that put a value on them, just like the company had evaluated them?

…In any case, it was time that solved the difficult problem that neither silence nor contemplation could solve. She barely found her way even in the pitch-black darkness. But she doesn’t know the destination that path leads to.

It could be a bottomless cliff where only hell awaits, or it could be the promised land.

“…Save .”

A friend is a deceiver and she herself is a hypocrite. She sneered as she muttered that they were a perfect match.

“Properly. Say it loudly.”

In fact, even while forcing the choice, Ann thought it was a foregone conclusion. She was just expecting the things that would change with this.

…But Helena Valentine was always beyond Ann Grisha’s understanding.

“…Kill Asha. Save the people safely, securely.”

“…….”

Corruption? Or pretense? There was no need to bother looking at the various screens.

Because in Helena’s eyes, which had turned to face forward and look directly at the screen again, there was a trust that she could never hide.

“…Welcome to being human, Lena. But… I’m a little disappointed. You’re looking at me with those eyes, do you think I’m just talking and will save Asha because I like her?”

“…Hurry.”

Perhaps she was having a hard time accepting reality because her desperation had run wild due to being pushed too hard.

Or perhaps she had resolved to cut off the remaining ties with this opportunity.

-…Attention all workers, researchers, and security personnel on HA Floor. I am declaring a state of emergency with the authority of the on-site supervisor. Immediately and permanently exile all reserve products currently in custody to nearby settlements, …lethal force is not permitted. –

The surrounding area becomes noisy as the emergency broadcast ends.

A promise is a promise. She has fulfilled the first part, so now it is time to fulfill the second part.

Ann was about to zoom in on the operating table so that she could clearly watch the results of the choice and engrave it in her heart… but Helena’s figure, who suddenly left the control room as soon as she heard the broadcast, was displayed on the terminal.

Could it be that she wouldn’t even watch her sister’s last moments? Or could it be that she couldn’t bear to watch quietly?

“…Even the heartless Lena is beautiful.”

She muttered, her excited mood not fading.

“…Enough with the bullshit? Ann Grisha?”

“…?!”

While both the worker and Ann were flustered by the unexpected answer.

Zhiiiiiing—!!

The laser for incision, which had somehow escaped control, began to wield a dazzling light.