Chapter 171: The Young Villain
“Peruth is near death, but isn’t dead yet?”
[Yes, Mr. Yu Mo, the system checked, and currently, the villain character Peruth is hovering between life and death; there is still a chance for survival!]
In this world, where gods once existed, there were remnants of former divine nations, as well as the Netherworld, where ordinary souls went after death. The space between life and death served as a chaotic gateway to the Netherworld.
If a person was close to death but had strong willpower or a unique soul, they would first go to this space between life and death.
Most souls lost within this space would eventually drift aimlessly toward the Netherworld and die completely.
However, some fortunate ones managed to escape from this space and return to the human realm.
[Mr. Yu Mo, will you try to save the villain’s life? If Peruth dies at this point, the protagonist won’t be able to deal with the current Pope, and the entire world will fall due to the Pope’s death, causing your mission to fail as well.]
“There are other ways to kill the Pope,” Yu Mo replied calmly.
Hearing his tone, the system assumed that this contracted host truly intended to let the villain die, given his indifferent attitude, seemingly ready to seek other means to achieve his goal.
Yet, in the next moment, this seemingly cold and detached Mr. Yu Mo sighed and asked, “How do I enter the space between life and death?”
…
Charli returned from the temple, a smile on her face, though there was a hint of unease beneath it.
“Brother, I heard from Teacher Croft that His Holiness, the Pope, is coming back! I might even get the chance to meet His Holiness soon!”
Charli wasn’t exactly a devout follower of the God of Light, but the Pope, who had lived for over two hundred years, was a legendary figure for everyone. Just the thought of meeting His Holiness filled her with excitement.
However, amidst her excitement, she couldn’t help but feel a bit reserved when she remembered her brother’s identity as a heretical believer and his special connection with Cardinal Peruth.
When Teacher Croft mentioned taking her to meet His Holiness, her first reaction was to go home and ask her brother for advice on how best to approach the situation.
“Meeting His Holiness is a great fortune for you. Receiving his blessing would be even better,” Yu Mo replied, appearing as usual.
But Charli, with her sharp intuition, sensed something different. Her brother’s mood seemed off, as though he was distracted, lost in thought.
“By the way, Brother, I heard that Cardinal Peruth went to handle the northern plague situation. Hasn’t he returned yet?”
“Perhaps the situation is challenging and requires more time.”
Yu Mo looked at Charli and said in his usual tone, “Charli, I plan to rest for a while and will be staying temporarily at the estate.”
Charli smiled, “Brother, you’ve been so busy; you definitely deserve a good rest. Don’t worry; I’ll study hard with Teacher so you won’t have to worry!”
Yu Mo didn’t say much else, only bidding Charli a brief farewell. He also instructed Amos to inform the members of the Star Society to lay low and avoid making any big moves for the time being.
With the Pope’s return, the activities in the dark world needed to quiet down.
…
The space between life and death wasn’t a specific location. It was a mysterious place, like a space born from a memory, a road spun from imagination, or a fragment of a distant world.
Yu Mo stood on a vast snowy path, the cold wind blowing his clothes and short hair. The delicate snowflakes drifting down from the sky felt so real.
He looked around, seeing the faintly outlined snowy ridges rising and falling in the distance, under a dim sky. A narrow path dusted with snow stretched out into the distance.
Standing in the middle of the road, it looked the same in both directions.
The sapphire star pendant hanging at his chest emitted a faint glow as soon as he arrived here.
The system informed him that the space between life and death was unique, with time and space completely distorted here.
Upon entering, he might encounter those who had strayed in from different times or even different worlds.
However, anyone he encountered here would be someone with a connection to him, and the deeper the bond, the more likely they were to appear.
In this fragmented realm of disjointed time and space, he needed to find Peruth and guide him out.
But Yu Mo didn’t rush; instead, he stood there, observing and waiting for a moment. Before long, through the biting wind, he saw a figure.
That shadow moved unsteadily along the small snowy path, shrouded by snow and wind.
Finally, Yu Mo moved, heading toward the figure.
In the flurry of snow, he saw a boy with nothing on. His pale, frozen skin seemed almost to have frosted over, and his platinum-gold hair held a deathly cool hue.
But his bare limbs and chest were covered in vivid red wounds, gaping and layered one over the other on his body.
He didn’t appear even sixteen, but Yu Mo recognized him instantly.
It was undoubtedly Peruth, but not the composed, mature cardinal he was seeking—this was him from another time.
Head bowed slightly, the wounded, naked boy trudged through the snow, his bare feet pressing into the frozen ground, until he suddenly stumbled forward and fell.
For a moment, he lay silently in the thin snow, then, struggling painfully, he forced himself back up, his injured back rising and falling, as he staggered forward once more.
Yu Mo had already reached him, but the boy seemed unaware, his frozen face blank as he walked past him, like a ghost.
But he had lost all strength to the cold and his wounds, and after a few more steps, he collapsed forward once again.
This time, he didn’t fall into the snow—Yu Mo caught him in his arms.
Am I dying? Peruth wondered.
So cold… he thought he would be buried in this snow.
But then, a faint, delicate scent reached him, along with a trace of warmth spreading from his chest.
Peruth’s consciousness stirred slightly, and he saw a part of a collar in front of him. He was leaning against someone’s chest, being held upright. The faint fragrance and that bit of warmth both came from this person.
Slowly, he lifted his head and saw a pair of deep black eyes.
Dark eyes, with faint ripples within, so deep they seemed bottomless.
The young man with black, tousled hair held his wavering heart steady.
“Why are you here?” the young man asked him.
His voice sounded as though it was coming from another world.
Peruth heard the question, but his frozen, sluggish mind couldn’t comprehend it; he simply stared blankly at the young man.
After a long moment, he became aware of his own disheveled state and, panting, tried to cover himself.
But he had nothing to hide with, and he could only awkwardly hunch his body, trying to shield himself from those black eyes.
Suddenly, something covered his body, protecting him from the biting wind.
With a calm expression, the young man holding him had taken off his coat and draped it over him.
Almost instinctively, Peruth pulled the coat close, clinging to the residual warmth of the young man’s body, finally able to take a breath away from the suffocating cold.
But as he took that breath into his chest, an even sharper pain burst through him, causing him to convulse involuntarily.
Yu Mo held him, his gaze lowering to catch Peruth’s pained expression. The young Peruth had frost clinging to his lashes, cheeks, and hair.
What a pitiful sight.
Yu Mo reached out, lifting him up along with the coat.
The nearly unconscious boy had no choice but to lean against him, his breath cold, tinged with the scent of blood.
In the wind and snow, a small hunter’s cabin stood nearby, and Yu Mo soon had a fire crackling in the makeshift fireplace inside.
He placed some dry firewood into the fire, his slender hand testing the orange flames, feeling unsure about what was real or illusory in this strange space between life and death.
It all looked so real.
After tending to the fire, he looked over at the area near the fireplace.
The boy, wrapped in Yu Mo’s coat, was curled up on a chair. His lowered eyelashes trembled, a faint white vapor drifting from his hair and body. Small droplets of water clung to his frost-covered lashes, falling onto the fine coat.
He had a long, slender frame, but the coat clearly wasn’t enough to cover all of him, leaving his legs exposed. There were visible wounds on his legs, and the spot where they touched the ground was stained with a faint red hue.
Yu Mo bent down, reaching out to touch his forehead.
The boy shivered slightly, then slowly opened his eyes. His amber gaze caught the firelight, glimmering like scattered gold.
In his eyes, there was only confusion and embarrassment, nothing else—not even curiosity.
So this was what His Excellency the Cardinal had looked like as a teenager. It was a bit unexpected.
Yu Mo withdrew his hand. “Feeling a little better?”
“Who…who are you?” the boy asked, his voice a bit hoarse.
Yu Mo didn’t answer; he simply said, “You can’t stay here for long. You need to leave this place.”
The boy’s hand tightened on the coat, his confusion still evident. “Leave here? Where am I supposed to go?”
“How did you get here?”
“I don’t know,” the boy thought for a moment, then lowered his head. “I don’t remember.”
He only remembered being punished by the priest.
Sensing his intense trembling, Yu Mo knelt on one knee, lifting the boy’s cold, injured leg and resting it on his own, steadying his trembling knee.
“What are you afraid of, Peruth?”
The boy’s eyes widened slightly, staring at him without daring to move. “You know me?”
“How did you get these injuries?” Yu Mo asked, gently examining his leg.
The boy pulled his leg back a bit, his face half-buried in the coat, looking up at Yu Mo’s firelit figure with wide, shining eyes.
“They’re from the god’s punishment.” Young Peruth seemed obedient, answering the questions even though he had no idea who Yu Mo was.
“I am a follower of the Goddess of Desire. Because of my lack of devotion, the priest punished me,” he whispered.
He had grown up in the sanctuary of the Goddess of Desire, with no family, raised solely by a priest.
The priest, a devout follower of the Goddess of Desire, renounced all desire, believing that only by doing so could he be a true believer, and he taught Peruth the same.
As his successor, Peruth followed this doctrine, living a life of austerity.
However, his appearance was exceptionally beautiful, and as he grew, his beauty only increased, inevitably drawing the admiration of others.
One day, a girl blushingly offered him fresh berries she had picked in the morning.
The bright red berries exuded a sweet fragrance, and Peruth, still unaware of why the girl was blushing, accepted them.
But when the priest saw this, he was furious, and twelve-year-old Peruth received his first punishment.
The priest had said that attraction between men and women was filthy, that uncontrollable bodily desires were sinful, and that he must not be influenced by such things.
The first time he was punished, he was terrified. He held tightly to the priest’s words and kept his distance from the girls who admired him, not sparing them even a glance.
As he grew older, he began to understand those feelings of admiration, but he also grew fearful and averse to them.
When his body started developing and he experienced the natural responses of adolescence, he was punished again.
“Peruth, you must learn to control your body. Having such reactions is sinful and a desecration of our goddess!”
The natural changes of his growing body were unacceptable in the priest’s eyes; whenever they were noticed, he would be punished.
At first, he was whipped, but later the priest made him strip and kneel in the snowy ground as a form of “awakening,” so he would remember his errors.
“Can you control your body now, Peruth?” the priest’s deep voice had asked him.
The snow was so cold, and his wounds hurt. The snow continued to fall, and there was no one else around.
How did he end up here?
Peruth could barely remember.
Yu Mo squatted in front of him, listening to his halting account, and fell silent.
“I won’t do it again, I really won’t violate the doctrine again, I’ll stay in control,” the boy mumbled softly.
Yu Mo felt the trembling of Peruth’s knee under his hand growing even more intense—was it fear, cold, or pain?
Ending up in this space between life and death meant that young Peruth had nearly died at some point in his youth.
Seeing this shivering boy, it was hard for Yu Mo not to think of the calm and often smiling cardinal he had come to know.
He recalled his restrained touches, his tense body whenever he came close.
Even though he had become such a powerful cardinal, it seemed the shadow of his younger self still pulled at him from within.
“I already know I was wrong…” Peruth muttered, not sure whom he was talking to, his amber eyes fixed on the empty ground.
“That wasn’t a mistake,” Yu Mo lifted his chin, making him meet his gaze. “It’s just a natural reaction, something everyone experiences. There’s no need for shame or fear.”
His tone was calm yet weighted with authority, compelling Peruth to believe him.
“The priest’s words went against human nature; his teachings were wrong.”
The boy looked at him, stunned and disbelieving.
“You should listen to me, forget those harmful teachings, understand? Peruth.”
Yu Mo’s voice left no room for argument. Even though his expression and the press of his fingers were cold, Peruth felt as if his entire body was burning under his gaze. He was unable to respond, trembling without understanding why.
[Mr. Yu Mo, whatever happens in this place between life and death, he’ll forget it once he leaves here] the system reminded him.
Yu Mo ignored the system’s words and gently moved Peruth’s wounded leg aside before standing up.
As soon as he stood, the boy suddenly reached out and clutched his shirt.
Nervously clutching the coat around him, Peruth leaned forward and stammered, “Who are you? Why do you know me, why would you say these things to me…you…”
His body was painfully tense—not just from the cold, but from Yu Mo’s touch moments before.
“My name is Yu Mo,” he said, holding Peruth’s icy hand. “Because I don’t want you to die here. If you die here, how else will you ever meet me again?”
