Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power

Chapter 469: Chapter 469: Please!!!

Chapter 469 – Please!!!

DING!

Kaden blinked at the loud, chiming sound of The Will. A black panel — different from the usual ones — flickered into existence in front of him.

He narrowed his eyes. A seed of bad feeling sprouted in the pit of his stomach — a seed that grew instantly into a full tree when he read the notifications.

[You have been made aware of the First Rule of the Malan Village: Never Touch the Tower.]

[Follow the rules if you wish to maintain a good relationship with the Malan tribesmen.]

[Failure to respect the rules will be punished severely by the Shaman of the Malan tribesmen.]

The notifications ended. Kaden was left staring blankly ahead, eyes dazed but mostly confused by what had just happened.

His thoughts were spiraling in dizzying circles, and his patience — the thing that had been letting him shoulder everything lately — was running dangerously thin.

’Is The Will playing with me?’ He snapped inwardly.

Because truly, there was no other logical explanation. The Will was the one who gave him the task to finish the Tower. And now, like a mockery, there was a rule forbidding him from so much as touching it.

Two contradictory things. Making it impossible to succeed in this Quest.

’Only if you choose to be selfish.’ Reditha said inside his mind, bringing his wrathful thoughts to a sudden halt.

Kaden frowned. ’Now I am selfish?’

’You know the answer to that. That’s not who you are.’

’That’s exactly why I have the right to be.’ He grated, already exhausted by this. ’I have been willing to give — to be a fleshy wall for some, to take the burn of other people’s actions — for so long. For once, Reditha. For bloody once. Can I not be selfish? Can I not choose myself first?’

’I would have been the first to encourage you if that were possible, Kaden, don’t you know that?’ She whispered. ’Feel me inside you. Feel my feelings. Am I laughing? Am I happy? No. No, Kaden. I suffer too. But again, for the love of everything you hold dear...’

Kaden clenched his fists.

’...don’t choose yourself.’ She said with great anguish, fully aware of the atrocity she was asking of him. ’Set aside your feelings and choose what your lover would want for herself.’

’A lover who will no longer be my lover if I do that.’ He countered.

Oh, Kaden... can’t you see? Either way, she will no longer be yours.

Reditha wished to say it. She kept it inside her.

’That’s... that’s not who you are.’ She said finally. ’Don’t forget the nature of your Myth. Don’t forget how you obtained it.’

Kaden fell silent, no longer wishing to speak about this. Yet he knew he would have to, sooner or later, he needed to know which option to walk toward.

But Prometheus was lost. The Harvester was lost. Asclepius was lost.

None of those attributes, none of those faces, were of any use right now. Because at this moment, Kaden was none of those names.

At this moment, he was simply Kaden Warborn, a fiancé on the verge of losing his fiancée to power, to the freedom of choice people held over their own fate, not outsiders over theirs.

Maybe that was what made it so hard.

’I... I truly—!’

"Traveler!"

Kaden’s eyes snapped into focus. Pandora was staring up at him, her ruby-red eyes filled with concern and guilt.

"Did I upset you?" She asked nervously, then bowed far past ninety degrees. "I’m sorry! I am truly sorry, Traveler! Don’t be upset with me! You are the only one willing to talk to Pandora!"

Her voice had gone heavy with grief. It wasn’t in abundance, yet the sorrow was pure enough for Kaden to catch a faint trace of Rea in it...or perhaps of Woeful. Hard to tell.

He frowned subtly.

"But these are the rules of the village. I had no choice but to tell you. However...." she stopped abruptly, glanced left and right, then leaned toward his ear with a mischievous whisper,

"I think it’s a stupid rule, Traveler! I want to enter the Tower and I can’t! Stupid people! Stupid Shaman!"

"What?" Kaden exclaimed, genuinely surprised. "Why do you want to enter the Tower?"

He couldn’t help but ask, remembering the name of the girl with the eerie resemblance to the Saintess. Yet sometimes, at certain angles, with certain turns of phrase...

’She feels like Rea.’ Kaden concluded, more confused than before. ’Pandora, she said. Right?’

And he was meant to obtain the Ring of Pandora inside the Tower in order to keep Rea as she was.

’Are they linked? Obviously yes. But how? And why?’

And now that he thought about it...

’Wasn’t Pandora one of the Wonders?’

The same Pandora that had made Anthropologist look at him suspiciously the first time they met, asking why he wasn’t surprised hearing the name, to which Kaden had answered that he had once met a girl named Dora, a diminutive of Pandora, in a village...

A girl. Pandora. In... a village?

Kaden looked around slowly, eyes widening.

His heart began to beat like vicious drumbeats. Something, some deep understanding, was trying to surface and light up his mind.

He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling like he was right at the edge of it. Something calling out to him, inviting him to grasp a concept just out of reach.

Then Pandora spoke again in her bright, chirping tone, slicing clean through his focus.

"I don’t know!" She said, visibly relieved the Traveler wasn’t angry. "I just want to enter the Tower. Pandora has always wanted to since she was little."

"...you are still little." Kaden muttered, the annoyance of being cut off from that near-comprehension bleeding through his tone.

Pandora didn’t mind at all. She smiled and laughed, quietly thrilled to be teased. That was a novel feeling.

"You are so funny, Traveler!" She barked, tightening her grip around his arm. "Come, please! I’ll show you where I always play!"

"I don’t have time to play. Bring me to—!"

"Please! You just need to look! You’ll like it!"

"I said no—!"

"Please!!!!"

"Are you d—!"

"I beg you!!!!!"

"Blood and ashes, let me finish a sentence, damn it!!"

"Will you say yes?" Pandora asked, tilting her head cutely as she dragged him forward with her unnatural strength.

"No—!"

"Then forgive me, Traveler! I’ll listen when you’re ready to say yes!"

’Girl... you are already dragging me there.’ Kaden thought, baffled, briefly wondering if this was the daily life of the weak.

’You speak as if you have always been strong.’ Reditha couldn’t help but jab.

’Reditha.’ Kaden said inwardly.

’I stay quiet?’

’Yes. Please. Shut up.’

’How rude...’

"Let’s go, Traveler!!" Pandora yelled with full enthusiasm.

"Argh... my head. My bloody head."

—End of Chapter 469—