2

Third floor, a certain cla.s.sroom in the Faculty of Medicine.

"Are you sure you want to give it to me, Lilith?"

Kanya was hesitant when her friend suddenly handed her a luxurious golden box, stuffed full with makeup. On the box was a logo of one luxurious makeup company in a foreign language she cannot read, but the ribbon wrapped around that box had Thai on it, and it said: First Prize.

"Take it. If I bring it home, my grandma would complain my ears off."

Lilith shrugged it off.

"Moreover, I got it without even trying."

After Kanya gave her the shocking news, the contest was cancelled.

"There"s only one contestant left, so you take the prize, Lilith."

…Was the staff"s hasty decision. She won easily without even doing anything.

"But, is it really okay…?"

Kanya stared at the golden box with worry in her eyes.

"Think of it as a thank-you present."

Kanya helped Lilith with many things during the contest, especially when Kanya trusted her and protected her from Praeva.

Win or lose, Lilith intended on returning the favor anyway.

"Then, thanks…"

Kanya said shyly before leaving to fetch something she forgot.

Lilith watched her friend leave, before gazing out the window. Outside, a police car was parked because something was not over yet.

Kachamas…the one who splashed acid on Praeva…disappeared without a trace.

From witness"s testimony, Praeva met Kachamas by accident behind the stage…it seemed she just left the room where the staff kept prizes.

They had a fight, and Praeva was going to attack Kachamas, but Kachamas took out a strange bottle of liquid.

At first everybody thought she used a bottle of plain water to scare Praeva, and Praeva also believed that was the case. She dared Kachamas to splash it on her without fear.

Until the liquid inside that bottle made its way to Praeva"s face.

She screamed.

It was painful, despairing, and filled with madness.

Then something happened…something more than terrifying happened to Praeva, so scary that those who watched fainted one after the other and were sent to the hospital.

Until now, Lilith had no idea what happened to Praeva.

Bang!

There was a sound of a door closing and locking.

"Kan, you"re closing the door too loud. Did you get a sore thumb or something?"

Lilith turned around to joke, but the woman standing there was not her friend.

"Kachamas…"

"Don"t move! Or you"ll lose your beauty just like Praeva!"

Lilith was frozen to the chair. In Kachamas hand was a clear, tall gla.s.s bottle, like a perfume. Half of the liquid was left. Looking carefully, there were some kind of flower petals inside.

"Don"t do anything stupid, Kachamas. Please turn yourself in…"

Lilith"s eyes scanned for an escape route, but it was hopeless. The only exit was blocked by Kachamas, and everybody else was busy outside, so the building was deserted.

"I will turn myself in, that is a given. But not until I get my revenge."

Kachamas said those furious words through gritted teeth, like they were from the darkest pit in her heart. Lilith was even more confused.

"Revenge? But…what do I have to do with this?"

"You"re asking that!?! You and that b.i.t.c.h Praeva were bullying me!!! You exposed my dark past on the internet and laughed behind my back! You b.i.t.c.hes!!!"

That"s…from the university news…

Lilith moved back and clenched the plastic chair next to her.

"At first I was going to wait until you two used that prize and laugh at you, then crush the one who"s left behind, but then my plan went wrong because I met Praeva first, so it all came to this. Serves her right…huh?"

Kachamas spat those words with a perfect smile, no guilt over what she had done.

This woman is mad…she"s gone mad…

"I"ll get caught by the police anyway, but before that, let me have my sweet revenge!!!"

Kachamas drew her hand backwards, ready to splash the liquid, but Lilith was faster. She lifted the plastic chair and threw it straight at Kachamas, the bottle sliding from the woman"s hand while the liquid inside spilled into the air…

Towards Kachamas"s head…

"No…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Kachamas screamed unreasonably. Her face distorted with panic and went pale as a boiled egg, her body convulsed.

Splat…

A sound of liquid dripping to the ground.

Lilith turned to look, and in that second she realized what had happened to Praeva.

On the ground…was a lump of meat with black hair sticking out from it.

She knew those black hair belonged to Kachamas.

Flesh on the woman"s face melted like wax candle. Pieces of meat, blood, and fat pooled in puddles, and her white uniform was dyed red. The once beautiful face was now reduced to something that couldn"t even be perceived as once human.

The image spread in front of Lilith"s eyes, and she could not even stand. She had an ounce of common sense left, thanks to her being a medical student. The young woman slowly inched towards the door and opened it, then shouted with her full voice.

"Help! Anyone! Somebody is injured! Call an ambulance!

"No…no…this face…I don"t want anyone to see…"

Kachamas cried painfully.

Lilith shouted, but no one answered.

"Gosh…hey, Kachamas, hold on. I"ll bring someone…to help…"

But Kachamas had gone out the window.

"No…"

Lilith sank to the ground. She heard screams from those below, hopelessness grappled her heart and she wanted to throw up. She cried and hiccuped, confusion swam in her mind.

Is beauty really a good thing?

Or is it…twisted…?

A twisted beauty that draws people to their death…

"Do not feel sad…"

A footstep came in. Lilith raised her head, but the image was blurry from tears, so she only saw a faint silhouette of someone gazing out the window.

"At least she chose the right path."

"So in the end, the flower on the execution ground is "Lilith"."

In a dark chemistry lab, silent as if it belonged to a different world, preserved animals in their jars appeared like death had stopped here. In a dark corner were shadows of two men conversing.

"I do not agree completely. The short-tempered Hera who chose death at the end was more beautiful."

Ariya did not seem content with Vakin"s opinion.

They watched the University Star contest quietly for a while, but their purpose were beyond a regular human"s comprehension.

One man watched humans" struggles, waiting to see who will make it out alive.

One man watched the omens of death, as if waiting for a shooting star.

"At least both of us got satisfying results, right?"

He asked, but Vakin knew something was bugging Ariya and the other party was not entirely satisfied with the contest, for whatever reason Ariya did not tell him.

And of course, Vakin did not ask.

"Well, that is that. So what do you want me to see?" Ariya changed the subject.

Vakin handed him a plastic box. Ariya opened it. Inside was a gla.s.s bottle that appeared like a bottle of perfume. Some kind of flower petals floated inside.

"That"s angel"s trumpet." Vakin said.

Ariya furrowed his brows. He knew this flower, not because it was the faculty"s symbol, but for the various poisonous effects it had. Even poisons would call this flower "boss".

"It"s an experimental preservative. Very special." Vakin explained curtly. "If success, a corpse could remain intact for years, and it could restore growth of hair and nails. But because it"s incomplete, there is a prohibition…"

His mouth said "prohibition", but his face said "do it".

"Do not let it come in contact with human skin, especially don"t splash it on someone."

Vakin smiled and raised the bottle, then turned it to the side where a label with all its effects was pasted so Ariya could see.

"Very dangerous…so dangerous I had to write a warning on the bottle."

"So this is the acid that Kachamas used?"

"Hey, hey, I"m the victim here. That woman came here to find acid and stumbled upon me testing this drug out. The next day it was stolen…"

"Stolen…? You intended to let her take it." Ariya caught up to Vakin"s cunning. "Someone like you will never keep an important drug in a place that is easy to find. Moreover, you wrote it all too boldly: "Do not let this come into contact with skin, can be lethal". Are you worried she will not know? What a spoiled boy you are."

Vakin had a smug look, then turned to the man who reprimanded him.

"Hoh, and which president allowed the newspapers to publish those baseless rumors so that the whole event goes out of hand? How different are you from me? And you pretended to be a staff to get a front row seat on her "death"."

Ariya chuckled but did not reply, giving off an aura of a demon satisfied with his masterpiece called "human"s death". Moreover, beside him was another demon enjoying his time watching humans struggle to their doom.

"…I"m still curious about something." Vakin spoke as if he just thought of it.

"Hera stole two bottles. One was used to destroy Aphrodite and Athena, but the second, I couldn"t find it on the corpse or anywhere. In the end I have no clue where it went…"

"Then where did it go…?"

Ariya pondered. "Kachamas and Praeva met backstage…but why was Kachamas there when she withdrew…?"

Then, Ariya burst into a hearty laugh.

"So in the end, Grumpy Hera and Astonishing Aphrodite were led around by Wise Athena…I had no clue it would turn out this good."

His voice seemed to indicate he came across something as interesting as when he met Vakin.

"Athena? Are you talking about Lilith? I don"t think the girl is that smart."

Vakin raised a question, but Ariya shook his head.

"The characters in this myth is not limited to "three" as you think. Lilith is not Athena, but Helen who survived the war. The funny thing is that she survived because she did not get involved in the three G.o.ddesses" struggle for the golden apple."

"If Lilith isn"t Athena, then who…?" Vakin asked.

"You will find out soon, because Helen returned the golden apple to Athena."

Upon hearing Ariya"s words, Vakin"s lips spread into a twisted smile.

…That girl really is interesting…

Epilogue

"Here it is! Prize for a friend with good intentions!"

Kanya spoke to herself and unwrapped the golden present box she got from Lilith, her best friend…

…Or more accurately, her puppet.

When she thought of that, the woman tore the golden wrapping to pieces.

"All went according to plan. Push those girls who brag on their fake beauty against each other, and in the end they fall one after the other. Then, wait for my saint friend who does not care for material values to win and give me the prize as an expression of grat.i.tude. Hmph…these days if you want to be beautiful…your intelligence needs to shine."

Kanya smiled at her victory.

"Well, it"s worth digging for their embarra.s.sing stories and giving them to the journalism club. As I thought, when faced with such a scandal, the Hysterical Kachamas would seek revenge on the Plastic-face Praeva."

Pieces of wrapping were everywhere. Kanya took out the makeup inside the box and lined them outside deliberately.

"Too bad…I left that letter for Praeva and planned for Lilith to get injured, then this friend with the best of intentions would step in to help. In the end I missed…"

The woman"s eyes filled with jealousy, but after a moment she let out a cold smile.

"Whatever. Anyway, Lilith is a fool. I can get rid of her any time."

Of all the makeup, one caught Kanya"s eyes. It was a tall gla.s.s bottle, similar to that of a perfume. In the clear liquid were some flower petals.

"Eh? What kind of flower is this? A rose?"

Kanya was allured by the liquid and poured it onto her palms, spreading it across her face, on her cheeks, on her nose…

"Someday I will be the most beautiful, both body and mind."

The woman repeated in front of a mirror, as if casting a spell.

She didn"t notice a change on her laptop screen.

****n.o.body is using the university chatroom****

****21.30 [Rabbit Hole] has just logged in****

****21.30 [APPLE] has just logged in****

[APPLE]…:

I want to know…what fate lies ahead for our wise Athena…?

[Rabbit Hole]…:

I do not know…

[Rabbit Hole]…:

This story…is just about women"s jealousy…

****21.35 [Rabbit Hole] has just logged out****