How To Survive A Cute Ghost Yandere
Chapter 35: Forgive me, darling

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Forgive me, darling

It all started with Erness killing him — so consumed by her obsession with wanting to kill Eiros.

Then came the moment Erness revealed that he carried an extremely dangerous illness — one born from combined stigmata that wouldn’t kill him, only make him suffer.

Then, the man himself. He said everything there was to know, and it made Eiros’s expression — along with every hope he’d been holding onto — crumble just like that.

A seed of corruption?

Inside his body?

His breathing turned heavy and ragged as he forced a smile onto his shattered expression.

’That’s impossible.....!’

He refused to accept the reality written so clearly across it. It made him wonder — what did this world actually want from him...?

Giving him something that seemed so powerful, a system that gave him hope that everything might turn out for the better, that he could finally rest and be happy.

But what was this...?

An illness with no known cure?

His thoughts stopped on the image of Cray, so vivid in his mind. A memory so clear, showing an ordinary Awakened student whose level had surged all the way to Radiant.

That power was truly dangerous, and yet at the same time — what even was that form?

Cray was no longer human. He’d become something else entirely, and he’d lost his sanity along with it.

Didn’t that mean Eiros would end up the same way, in the end?

Thud-thud!

His heart pounded hard in his chest.

With his combined stigmata — wouldn’t he become an anomaly with no sanity left, one that couldn’t be defeated under any circumstance?

"Hehehe... Keheheh..! Yes, that’s it! Despair! Give me more! Kahahahaha!!"

Eiros looked up, his expression utterly wrecked, his red pupils showing nothing but emptiness. He stared at the man, who was laughing at him hysterically.

"Ah, isn’t it such a shame? If only you hadn’t saved them. You actually still had at least seventy more years before that seed would have sprouted. But now, with your emotions falling apart more and more... little by little, you’re getting closer to it. The time for it to sprout... Keheheh...!!"

Eiros bit down hard on his lip. He watched the man slowly bring the goblet in his hand closer to his face, the emptiness in his eyes slowly returning to life.

It was still too soon to give up.

That’s right.

He just had to do whatever it took to avoid it.

So he immediately tried to manifest.

Crackle—!

Thunder rumbled as lightning flickered around his hands. But it dimmed just as quickly, and Eiros tensed.

He tried to manifest, again and again.

But his Soul Essence seemed to have run completely dry. His breath caught in his throat, and his face turned pale with fear.

"You’ve reached your limit. Accept your fate."

The man grabbed his hair roughly and forced his head up, exposing just how wretched his despairing expression had become.

"Stop... that...!"

Eiros spoke in a weak, trembling voice, though he knew it was pointless. At this point, he honestly no longer understood what he was supposed to do.

"When you want to eat or drink something, that’s not how you’re supposed to say it."

Finally, the man forced Eiros’s mouth open. He released his grip on his head and grabbed both his cheeks instead, prying his mouth open by force.

"Say it: enjoy your meal~ that’s just basic manners."

Drip—!!

The contents of the goblet spilled out, seeping down his throat. The bitter, thick taste melded into one, making Eiros want to retch. But the man didn’t let up at all — he forced his mouth shut.

Cough!

Eiros coughed, the sound muffled and smothered. The liquid had now fully entered his body — at first, nothing happened. But soon, his entire vision throbbed violently.

His hearing and vision blurred and grew hazy. He touched his own throat, his voice catching as he let out a sound thick with despair.

The man finally let go and threw his body aside.

Thud!

That was the only sound left as Eiros felt his vision shift entirely.

"That liquid will show you what you fear most and let it all play out. I’m certain that with this, your negative emotions will feed that seed more than enough."

The man laughed uproariously, watching Eiros writhe on the cold stone floor. His face looked wrecked, his eyes staring at somewhere far away, unfocused.

Then came the screaming.

Eiros screamed at the top of his lungs. His shriek pierced through the silence, shattering it wide open.

Slowly but surely, dark, repulsive black veins crept across his entire body.

The man watched it all calmly. Then, as if remembering something, he blinked. The smile on his face deepened as he bowed his head, touched a hand to his chest, and said:

"I remember now. I believe I used to be called Crimson. So remember that name well — the next time we meet... I hope by then, I’ll get to see you in a form that’s both better and more grim."

Then, glancing briefly at Eiros, who was still screaming, he finished his sentence:

"Pleasure to meet you."

His gaze then turned toward some unknown direction. He could sense a signal from one of his own companions, a direct warning telling him to retreat at once.

It would be troublesome, given that he’d failed. But what else could he do?

Crimson fell silent for a moment, then glanced back at Eiros.

Eiros no longer felt like he was lying down. He tried to rise, his consciousness somewhere else entirely — his body now kneeling, staring up at the ceiling in agony.

Then Crimson glanced toward somewhere else.

The smile on his face widened.

"Oh... who else could it be but our princess from the spirit world? Have you had enough playing around?"

Erness stood there, her face cold as ice as she stared at Crimson, her eyes empty and full of killing intent.

Her gaze flicked briefly to Eiros — her body froze for a few seconds — then returned to Crimson.

Crimson kept his smile in place, greeting her with a perfectly mannered bow.

"Unfortunately, I’m rather busy at the moment. So I’m afraid playing with you today would be difficult. My apologies — let’s play some other day, princess."

Crimson then turned and began to walk away, his footsteps slow and steady. But partway there, he paused, glancing back over his shoulder.

"By the way, did you honestly think we wouldn’t find your location just by changing your name? Especially when the name you used is your own brother’s name. Truly a terrible idea. I can’t tell if that was intentional or not."

Crimson chuckled. His body slowly vanished from where he stood, disappearing with the help of some unknown artifact.

Erness’s face remained cold as ice as her gaze locked onto Eiros. The black veins had spread across his entire body, slowly becoming visible even on his ravaged face.

Dark, filthy energy scattered wildly around his body.

Erness had done everything she could. She’d run here even with her Soul Essence stretched dangerously thin, staking everything she had left.

But in the end...

"See? You’re going to regret this."

Erness stepped closer, biting her lip, her expression darkening.

"Not just you. I regret this deeply too."

Her pupils swirled, full of obsession, as she stared at Eiros.

"I should have taken you away, no matter what it took. That would have been so much better — and seeing how things turned out now, you’d have been willing, wouldn’t you?"

But it was already too late.

Eiros had already been touched by Crimson. Whatever came next was impossible to predict, so Erness sat beside him, patient on the outside but with a fear buried deep in her heart.

’Please hold on. Whatever this is, just hold on. Don’t go. Don’t leave me.’

Her thoughts were consumed by Eiros, filled with pleading and despair. Eiros’s screaming wouldn’t stop — if anything, the despair on his face only grew worse.

If this kept going...

Her breath caught in her throat.

Should she just kill Eiros?

Yes, that might actually work.

If she killed Eiros now, whatever Crimson had given him might just vanish completely.

That’s right...

’Just like that time. When I poisoned him, it was a poison that burned through someone’s internal organs. But his body healed completely once the poison itself disappeared.’

It might work the same way now. But then again, whatever had already been touched might not fully recover.

Still, it didn’t matter.

It was far better this way.

Erness approached Eiros, her gaze soft. Then she raised her hand, her nails extending, sharp as razor blades.

Then, without a single trace of hesitation—

Squelch!

She drove her claw into Eiros’s throat, killing him instantly. His screaming cut off right there, replaced by a cough that brought up clots of spilling blood.

The next moment, his eyes went empty, and his body began to collapse. But Erness caught him in her arms before it could happen.

Thump-thump!

Her heart pounded hard in her chest.

"...I knew it, really. I should have killed you back then, before your stigmata ever awakened. That way, you wouldn’t have had to go through any of this... Even for Cray himself, everything turned out so horribly messed up. This is my fault."

Erness closed her eyes.

"...Forgive me, my love."

***