Chapter 219: The Golden Rule (3)

The assembly chamber became quiet. Many nobles were shaken by Viscountess Amethyst’s remark.

“Lovely?” Countess Towerfang Tiger murmured, clearly displeased with the answer.

Most of the nobles reacted similarly. However, those Amethyst had taken in—the women who loved her and were loved by her—were calm. Her lovers seemed to think it was a good thing this story was now public.

Amethyst replied, “Yes. A person, a noble one at that, will crumble and agonize under the weight of the misfortune they have caused. Something about this will always touch people’s hearts. Marchioness Snowhite is like a honey-filled cake. When you take a bite of her, sweetness fills your mouth.”

Towerfang Tiger was dumbfounded. “What in the world are you talking about?”

Amethyst sighed and shrugged, not bothering to hide her scorn. “Forget it. You don’t get it. When a treasure map falls right in an adventurer’s lap, they set out to find it, but lowlives always laugh at them. So... are you done?”

“What?”

“I’m asking if you have anything more to say, Countess. This poor man lost his granddaughter to a noble, and that noble happens to be my subordinate. That’s the summary of this incident. If you have nothing left to add, please sit back down. It’s already late into the night, and it would be unpleasant if the meeting stretches well past midnight.”

“Y-You... This old man lost his only granddaughter!” Towerfang Tiger shouted. “Did you know it happened on the day of his wife’s birthday? The girl was on her way to give her grandmother a birthday present, but Marchioness Snowhite beat her to death!”

The old man still had his forehead glued to the floor. Without sparing him a single glance, Towerfang Tiger pulled out a hairpin, an accessory that women from commoner households often wore.

“Look! This hairpin is the birthday present the granddaughter prepared. She was rushing to give this gift to her grandmother, but she bumped into Marchioness Snowhite on the way!” Towerfang Tiger yelled, her voice getting desperate.

I wondered if she was so desperate because she understood how the old man felt. Whatever her reason was, human desperation was persuasive. The nobles gradually paid less attention to Amethyst and looked at the old man with pity.

“His granddaughter fell in the snow but still smiled innocently, apologizing to the marchioness over and over again, saying she should have been more careful. It was just an accident. If the marchioness had forgiven her, that would have been the end of it.”

Towerfang Tiger regained her conviction. The nobles continued glancing at the old man with sympathy, while Amethyst seemed indifferent to everything. All these factors convinced Towerfang Tiger she was going to win.

“But the marchioness didn’t let the granddaughter go. And...”

“Boring,” Amethyst mumbled as quietly as a dragonfly’s wings. Towerfang Tiger was still energetically giving her speech. With the audience’s focus still on her, only I managed to hear Amethyst.

“Ari wasn’t the only one who prepared a birthday present that day.”

I tilted my head. “Who is Ari?”

“The girl the marchioness whipped to death,” Amethyst answered bluntly. “That day was also the birthday of the marchioness’ grandfather. Coincidentally, both girls had prepared birthday presents. The marchioness had prepared a brooch with the family crest on it, but she couldn’t give it to her grandfather.”

“Why?”

A strange emotion filled Amethyst’s eyes. She didn't seem to have heard this story from someone else. Rather, this was something that she had seen with her own eyes.

“She got scolded because she couldn’t finish the math homework her grandfather gave her, so she couldn’t bring herself to give the brooch. What child would give a gift to their caretaker while angry at them? When the commoner girl bumped into the marchioness on the street, the brooch fell in the snow. The commoner girl also happened to step on it, breaking it.”

The heat in her tone was gone.

“It wasn’t a particularly expensive-looking or masterfully crafted brooch. It wasn’t a big deal if it broke, but the marchioness picked up the pieces, shoved them in the commoner girl’s face, and told her, ‘It’s broken because of you.’

"The commoner girl lowered her head in surprise and apologized.

However, while children know how to apologize, they don’t know how to accept an apology. Moreover, the marchioness, Lady Snowhite Rabbit at the time, was such a scoundrel that people called her Lady Brainless. She did not react kindly. ‘It shouldn’t have been broken, but you broke it!’

“Lady Snowhite Rabbit had a guard. Well, she was the marquis’ only heir. Her guard was also very loyal, so the lady ordered the guard to give her a whip. Without hesitation, he did as he was told, and the marchioness took it. The whip was too thick for her grip, but the lady swung it despite whimpering at the weight. She swung the whip with all the strength she had, and the commoner shook hard with every hit.”

“You destroyed everything! Why? Why? What am I supposed to do with this?”

“It hurts, my lady. I’m sorry. It hurts.”

“I feel stupid. You’re all just idiots. And Grandpa is the dumbest of you all!”

“No one stopped the lady.”

The snow became bloody. Lady Snowhite Rabbit’s guard received his whip back. Her attendant picked up one of the mangled girl’s keepsake scattered on the ground, but not because he sympathized with her. It simply occurred to him that he should pass them on to someone.

That keepsake was now in Towerfang Tiger’s hand.

“Look! Don’t you feel any resentment, Viscountess?!”

The hairpin had withered away over the past six years. It had probably been polished as shiny as it could be to be given to the grandmother, but now it had lost its luster and was dusty all over. It was old and worn out, looking like a very common hairpin.

“Just how heartless are you?”

Strangely, Amethyst simply smiled as she listened to Towerfang Tiger’s rant.

“Do the teachings of the old sages and classics mean nothing to you? How can you sit there so calmly even after seeing this? This keepsake is the bloody scar of death! You aren’t human, are you?”

No, that wasn’t it. Towerfang Tiger and everyone else had misunderstood something. Amethyst knew way, way more than Towerfang Tiger. She had even witnessed the granddaughter’s death from much closer than the old man lying face down in the room.

That wasn’t all. Amethyst knew everything, including the granddaughter’s last thoughts and words. She even knew the words that Snowhite Rabbit had screamed while brandishing her whip.

Because...

I barely managed to reach a conclusion because of how dizzy I was. “Viscountess, you have the

Gold Dragon’s Gaze

.”

Amethyst turned to me. “

Hmm

? What are you talking about, Advisor?”

I swallowed. Towerfang Tiger continued shouting, criticizing Amethyst for being an inhumane lowlife. She even called Amethyst an illegitimate bastard and a tyrant who didn’t know how to care for her people. Towerfang Tiger affirmed it was absurd to appoint such a person to a dukedom. The entire chamber was in an uproar, creating the perfect environment for the two of us to exchange secret whispers.

“That’s the

Gold Dragon’s Gaze.

”

“Yes, is there something wrong with it?”

“With it, you can see everything from an omniscient perspective. I now understand how you can watch the entire Tower despite being just one person. Viscountess, you have been given the ability to watch all the worldly affairs at the same time.”

“You’re not wrong. So?”

My heart pounded hard. “In addition, you also have the

Icewater Dragon’s Breath

, which allows you to travel to any period in the timeline you want. You have the eyes that can peer at anything and the means to travel anywhere you want. If you wish...”

“If I wish...?”

“It’s possible for you to witness the moment when the granddaughter was whipped to death,” I said. “That’s why you’re omniscient.”

This was how the Tower master had become omniscient.

“By using the

Golden Dragon’s Gaze

and

Icewater Dragon’s Breath,

you can watch all the death and despair happening in this world. The two abilities enable you to observe everything going on in the Tower.”

[Correct.]

[You have passed the second threshold.]

[The

Golden Dragon’s Gaze

and the

Icewater Dragon’s Breath

form the Tower’s observation chamber.]

Amethyst savored my face with her purple eyes during this brief silence.

“That’s right,” she responded. A smile hung at the corners of her peach-colored lips. “Not bad. You didn’t have a lot of information, but you managed to piece everything together and figure out my future project.”

“You...”

Amethyst gently grabbed my wrist. “You should be rewarded for getting the answers right. I’ll show you how the granddaughter died.”

Something soft and as cool as a snake’s skin crawled up my ankle. When I looked down in surprise, I saw what could only be described as a watery tendril of darkness creeping along my skin from the surface of the Amniotic Fluid.

“Follow me.”

The darkness engulfed me.

***

The whip scattered snowflakes all around. Heavy with blood, they only flew upward a little before falling into the puddle of blood around a small, curled-up figure.

“It’s your fault!”

“Please... spare... me...”

“I-It’s all because of you! You! It’s your fault! If only it weren’t for you!”

“

Ah...

”

The whip struck the air as the snowflakes melted on the surface of the blood pool. The little girl trembled as the last bit of her body heat seeped into the snow, melting it.

“There,” Amethyst announced, pointing her finger at the marchioness.

We were submerged in the darkness of the alley. Passersby were walking up and down the street, but they were all frightened by the marchioness’s guard enough to walk down different streets just to avoid him.

“Marchioness Snowhite was known as Lady Snowhite Rabbit when this happened. That’s the child she whipped to death when she was ten years old.”

I tried to run toward the child but couldn’t. Amethyst gripped my wrist with tremendous force, stopping me in place.

She shook her head. “No.”

“W-Why not? We have to go now. If we go and take her to the doctor, maybe...”

“Maybe the girl will live. Yes. Maybe she’ll agonize during the winter but will get better as the season goes by. She may be able to lead a normal, happy life again someday. The marquisate will also give her family a generous amount of compensation, making them richer than ever before.”

“So why are you stopping me?”

The sound of a whip echoed across the winter sky. Amethyst smiled. “Advisor—I mean, Mr. Kim Gong-Ja. How many times do you think I’ve seen something like this?”

The young lady fiercely whipped the child, who was basically a corpse now. This would be her last winter.

“I’m eighteen years old. However, I cannot even begin to describe the countless lives I’ve lived. I’ve seen the death of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions, billions, trillions of children. The number of times I have witnessed death right in front of me is as high as the number of sand particles in the world’s longest river[1].

“From the winter that took place 2001 years before the kingdom was founded to the present— December 24th 2001 according to the kingdom’s calendar—I witnessed all the infanticides, robberies, murders, victories, defeats, and massacres that took place. So far, I’ve only seen the ones in the kingdom’s history. One day, I’ll watch all the deaths in this world—no, in all of the worlds. And I won’t do anything about them.”

“What?” I croaked.

Amethyst smiled brightly. “I can prevent that child’s death and reverse as many unjust deaths as I want. I’m able to regress over and over until all the unreasonable deaths disappear and I establish a righteous timeline. But I will never, ever do that. I’ll never interfere.”

“Why?”

“Only then will all the misfortunes that occur in this world be solely my fault.”

The child died. Unable to contain her anger, Lady Snowhite Rabbit huffed and puffed, kicking the corpse before walking away. The snowstorm concealed her from my line of sight.

“Why did that child die, Advisor? What went wrong that caused her death?” Amethyst asked, her voice as cold as the snowflakes falling around us. “Was it her encounter with Lady Snowhite Rabbit? Well, what did Lady Snowhite Rabbit’s do wrong? Growing up under her arrogant grandfather’s care? Not being born smart enough to satisfy her grandfather? Was she born wrong?”

Amethyst let go of my wrist. “No. These are all coincidences, which you cannot blame. She wasn’t born wrong—not a single person in this world was. There is only one person who is at fault.”

She brought her hands to her chest. “I could have gone up to the commoner girl and told her that the road ahead is dangerous, so she should go another way. Then the girl would have easily avoided the misfortune that would come to her. I could have become Lady Snowhite Rabbit’s mysterious friend and tutored her. Then, she would have become smarter by the day and won her grandfather’s approval someday.”

Amethyst clasped her hands together as if praying, her eyes locked on mine. “I have the ability to do that. But I won’t do anything. Never, ever. No matter what happens.”

Suddenly, the world around us changed. The blood-soaked snow field disappeared, replaced by the assembly chamber with Amniotic Fluid.

Towerfang Tiger was still pointing her finger at Amethyst, criticizing her. “I see it now! The courtesan of the capital lacks humanity. Why else would a human not be saddened by a child’s death? Why else wouldn’t she try to help?”

Amethyst whispered, “Advisor, there is no such thing as accidental death or accidental misfortune in this world. All deaths and misfortunes are what I turned a blind eye to even though I was fully aware of them. The misfortunes you have experienced so far are all my fault. Because I didn’t take action or care for you, a myriad of misfortunes and despair bloomed. That is what happened in this kingdom and what will happen in all other worlds eventually.”

Amethyst gave me a saintly smile. “Do you understand what I’m trying to say, my advisor?”

The world around us changed once again. This time, I saw Viscountess Pure Sacrednoir eating human flesh. My heart raced.

Amethyst stroked the back of my hand. “Now, blame me. Ask me why I didn’t help you. It won’t be meaningless. I had the power to help you because I was there for your every misfortune. Ask me why I didn’t save you. That isn’t meaningless either in any way. I could have solved everything.”

She squeezed my hand. I felt suffocated.

“Because I exist, you have a sinner to point your finger at without doubting who’s at fault. You wouldn’t be lying if you said I’m at fault for everything that went wrong in your life. I’m a goddess who never regresses for anyone and only watches others’ misfortune. That is why you can condemn and tear me apart.”

The name of that goddess was Amethyst.

1. The raw is 항하사(恒河沙). She’s talking about the Ganges River. In Buddhism, it's used to describe a very high number. ☜