“Ufufu~ What game should we play today?”

Not long after Shina returned from the human city and met Eniel, it was Mystel’s turn to take care of Shina. Approaching her room, she noticed the room being abnormally quiet. Sitting on the large bed in her room, while tightly burrowing her head in her pillow, Shina hadn’t noticed Mystel approaching and her thoughts were stormily flying in her head.

Mystel’s eyes narrowed, filled with anxiety and worry, she put her hand on Shina’s forehead to check if she was feeling alright.

“Are you feeling bad? What should I do?! Should I bring a phoenix’s egg?! Get some water of the ancient spring?!”

Surprised by her mother’s frightened expression, Shina harbored a small smile and held Mystel’s hand with a reassuring warmth.

“Mom, calm down… I am alright.”

Despite Shina’s words, Mystel still felt worried about it being a problem coming from Shina’s unstable existence and used her powers to check her condition. But after not noticing anything abnormal, she slightly relaxed.

A trace of wariness still remained in her heart. Despite being physically healthy, some black under eyes bags had formed below her eyes showing that she hadn’t slept much. Her visage expressed how tired she was as if she hadn’t slept for days.

“Is something bothering you?”

Shina slightly nodded while remaining quiet.

Mystel’s eyes turned red and looked enraged while a blackish aura soared from her body as if seeking to exterminate anything near her.

“Who bothered you? I swear I am going to make them regret!”

Smiling at her mother’s overreaction, Shina shook her head while staring at the ceiling.

“That’s not it… It’s just that there’s something I can’t understand.”

Seeing Shina trying to confide to her, Mystel’s heart was filled with happiness and worry.

What bothered both Mystel and Arsal as much as the instability of Shina’s existence was her mental health. The years she had lived on Earth made Shina mature much faster than she should have and confronted her to the real world despite still being in her infancy period. It wouldn’t be surprising for her to keep some scars in her heart, moreover, she strictly refuses to show them to her parents which make them even more worried.

Even if they tried to erase her memories, the damages dealt to her soul were already present and it might even make things worse due to the incomprehension of her suffering. They could only hope that this experience would only help her grow up and benefit her in the future.

But now that Shina decided to talk about her worries, Mystel felt glad about her decision… Moreover, it wasn’t to Arsal but her, Mystel felt that she had somehow won against him.

Keeping her excitement hidden deep in her heart, Mystel made a motherly smile and sat next to Shina.

“What is bothering you? You can say it…”

Shina looked at her mother with a lot of hesitation before looking at her in the eyes. What she saw back in the human city, people stomping on Eniel because she was stealing to survive, people not only ignoring her suffering and need for assistance but instead giving her pain and torment... This scene made her recall some memories.

“I don’t understand… Why are people doing wrong things like it’s normal…”

“Why are they able to deceive people while not feeling any remorse?”

“Why do they enjoy beating others while smiling?”

“How can say do such evil things?”

Shina was looking very exhausted yet her voice was intense. Mystel kept a normal expression but her eyes were focused on Shina’s. Her questions were something that she had been thinking about ever since she had been living on Earth. Why was her family torturing her? Why was everyone ignoring her and her suffering? Why didn’t they feel any remorse?

The answer to Shina’s question came in the form of another question.

“You said that those are evil things… But what do you qualify as evil?”

This answer shocked Shina quite a bit, but after thinking a little about it, she tried to give an answer.

“Killing and… stealing are evil things?”

“Why are they evil?”

“They are bad because… they are bad…”

Feeling quite lost about Mystel questions, Shina tried to think more deeply about it but couldn’t come up with a real answer.

Mystel closed her eyes and laughed a little at her daughter’s answer. It looked that she had kept a glimpse of innocence in her heart. But this innocence wasn’t something Shina would be able to keep if she wished to live in this world, it was something she needed to lose.

“Let me ask you a few questions…”

“Is killing a someone that tries to kill you evil?”

Thinking about how she had maybe killed the guards in the city that were chasing after her, Shina shook her head. She wasn’t the one who started the fight and she had done nothing wrong.

“No… That’s self-defence.”

“But killing is still killing whatever situation you are in, right?”

Shina could only make a small nod.

“Didn’t you also steal a few fruits in the city?”

Hearing Mystel talks about her actions, Shina’s eyes widened.

“Mom… Did you follow us?”

Mystel coughed a few times before waving her hand as if to justify herself. Ignoring her mother’s reaction and this issue, Shina tried to think a little more about this situation but she couldn’t tell if she was wrong or not.

She had stolen them for fun, but also because Eniel needed something to eat… But it didn’t change the fact that they stole something that belonged to someone else.

At the same time, wasn’t Eniel a thief that lived by stealing others? Whether it was food or money, she stole what she could to make a living and try to change her life. Did this make her evil? Was her resolve evil?

What is evil in first place?

Mystel smiled as she felt that Shina's eyes started to open to the world.

“Does good and evil even exist in first place?”

“The act of saving an injured soldier from a battlefield can be deemed as good, right?”

“But what if he was missing his limbs? Can you imagine the eyes filled with pity and disgust of the people living with him? How powerless he will feel for the rest of his life while living under someone else’s care… Isn’t saving him in this case just pure evil? This is just torturing him…”

“Good and evil both exist yet are illusions.”

A strange feeling swept Shina’s heart, she wanted to rebut her mother yet couldn’t find any logic that she could use against her words.

“But… Doesn’t karma exist?”

“Karma just qualify the guilt hidden within one’s soul. When it is too big, the soul needs to be purged. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“For good and evil not to exist… “

Mystel strongly shook her head after realizing that Shina misunderstood her words.

“I didn’t say that they don’t exist, but that they are illusion. Good and evil do exist but differ depending on each person. I have my own vision of good and evil, your father also has his own vision… As you do.”

“You were too influenced by the human society and simply can’t see that their vision doesn't rule the world. A few people simply imposed their point of view on others. In some countries, some see fighting and killing as some type of glory and some others as something disgusting.”

“Everything depends on your vision of the world, whether you fight it can be because you seek to obtain something or to defend something. You can steal to save someone, to help someone, or even because you simply want to own something.”

“Don’t be influenced by the human's vision of the world, why is killing bad? Why is stealing bad? Even your father who is said to be righteous wouldn’t say such idiocy. When something displeases us, we hurt, we steal, we kill and we destroy… Why do you think we do this?”

Shina couldn’t provide an answer, she didn’t want to interrupt Mystel’s speech. It looked evil and gave the impression of someone who didn’t care about the world, someone who decided of its own future… But Shina felt inspired but Mystel and her vision of the world changed.

“We can do such because we are strong! The humans follow the society because they are weak and follow orders but the strong lay down the rules and bend they when they want to. Aren’t nobles and kings bending the rules when they want to for their own benefit?”

“In my eyes, strength rule the world. But that’s my vision. Your father’s vision is also different… As is yours.”

“Mine is… different.”

“I won’t tell you to see the world as we see it. You have to see the world with your own eyes and not ours. Don’t think about good and evil, don’t be restrained by the society, don’t try to be someone else… Just live as you wish to, be unrestrained and be yourself.”

Shina’s eyes were shining as if she had been enlightened… Now that she thought about it, her worries until now were meaningless, whether she had an answer or not, what would it change?

Leaving behind any inhibition or believe about good and evil, her unclouded eyes started to see the world as it truly was… Cruel, painful, colorful… and beautiful.

When Shina once again opened her eyes to the battlefield, blood flew up in the air and stained the ground with crimson flowers. Her hand point at the sky and harboring a devilish grin, the girl laughed...