Chapter 520: A Hundred Times

From Christina’s perspective, the food aboard the ship was... plain.

It wasn’t bad by any means, and according to the other soldiers in the Third and Fourth Battalion, the quality of their rations had been steadily improving over the past 6 months, but compared to what a princess who was also the Disciple of a Marquess usually ate, it all still tasted pretty bland.

Thinking back a bit further, though, Christina realized that compared to what meals were normally like in the palace, the food on the ship wasn’t actually all that different.

Only after she arrived in Redwood Town, then subsequently moved to Misty City, did she really notice a significant improvement in the quality of food.

It seemed her palate had actually become much pickier as a result of being spoiled by all the delicious things her Senior Brother had introduced her.

In other words, ’normal’ food being unsatisfying to her was all Lucas’ fault!

Of course, Christina was completely ignoring the fact that since arriving in the South-East Province, she too had gotten heavily involved in the creation of higher-quality, better-tasting food, but who could blame her?

She certainly wouldn’t.

Everything being her annoying Senior Brother Disciple’s fault was just the way of the world!

All that said, for a poor village girl like Elly, even the standard evening meal aboard the Raging River Legion warship was nothing short of a feast, one she devoured with something akin to desperation after finally surrendering to her hunger.

As Elly was eating, Christina sat back down on the simple wooden chair next to the bed and watched. She was also feeling a bit hungry and was slightly regretting not having gotten her subordinate to bring her a serving of soup as well, but she wasn’t a child anymore.

She was a full-fledged adult, by half-a-month, and could endure her stomach’s protests for a while.

Although this seemed like a good opportunity to do some subtle probing, what with Elly being distracted by her meal, Christina didn’t try to ask the little village girl anything or interrupt her meal as that, in her opinion, would be uncouth.

Sure, she may be able to extract a bit of useful information, but given how smart and wary Elly seemed to be, it was likely the little girl would soon realize she was being manipulated again and clamp her mouth shut once more.

Pushing too hard right now would be counterproductive in the long run, so Christina figured it would be best to just allow Elly to eat in peace.

However, halfway through meal, Elly suddenly slowed down and lowered her head.

At first, Christina was confused, but then she heard a faint sniffle, which quickly turned into bitter sobbing.

Soon, the spoon and piece of bread dropped from Elly’s hands as she began weeping, then wailing while bawling her eyes out.

Christina wasn’t so dense to not understand what was going on, or to misunderstand that something was wrong with the food, so she moved swiftly to remove the tray and gently embraced Elly, patting her back as she let her cry.

For her part, Elly seemed unable to express herself any other way but through her tears.

Elly didn’t care if Christina was a bad girl anymore, she couldn’t possibly be as bad as herself, something the young girl seemed to only realize as she was sitting there, eating such yummy food, on such a comfy bed, in such a nice room.

"I..." Elly said through her sobs, "I’m the bad girl... I shouldn’t be here..."

"I ran... I ran away..."

"I left... I left Papa... and ran..."

"I should have stayed... *sniff sniff*"

"I should have stayed with Papa... with everyone!"

"Waaah!! Why didn’t I stay!? Why did I leave?!"

There were no words to describe how anguished her cries were, how filled with guilt and self-loathing they were. The pain was so intense that Christina couldn’t stop herself from crying as well as she held Elly tight, trying desperately to reassure her and comfort her despite knowing nothing could possibly make things alright in this moment.

Elly kept crying and screaming about how it was her fault, about how she was the bad one, and about how sorry she was for running away on her own, all while clinging with all the strength she could muster to the stranger she had only just met and had been fighting with not long ago.

Her voice went hoarse, and her tears ran dry, but still Elly cried, on and on until exhaustion finally took her once more and she collapsed in Christina’s arms.

When sleep came for Elly, Christina tried to put her down on the bed again to let her rest, but even unconscious, the little girl was latched on tight, and every time Christina tried to gently remove her, Elly would start shaking and cling even tighter.

During the crisis in the South-West Province, Christina had seen children who had lost everything, who had their homes destroyed and their parents taken from them.

At the time, when Christina saw their small, hollow eyes and the forlorn expressions on their young faces, she had thought there couldn’t possibly be anything sadder or more tragic in the world.

Now she knew, she was wrong.

It was one thing for the Heavens to take what was most precious from you, for an act beyond anyone’s control to deprive you of something, or someone you loved, but in the end, there was no malice behind such acts. Such tragedies were simply an unfortunate reality in the merciless world they lived.

What Elly suffered, however, was different.

This was no accident.

It was purposeful.

An act borne of malice, perpetrated with intent, and designed to cause the most suffering possible.

It was, quite simply, a pure manifestation of evil.

Lying there in that small bed, holding Elly tight, stroking the young girl’s head, Christina could not have felt sadder or more sympathetic, but at the same time, anger and hatred beyond anything she had ever imagined possible filled her heart, her tear-stained eyes burning with raging fire as she swore to herself, When I find the monsters responsible for this, I’m going to make them suffer ten, no, a hundredtimes the pain they’ve caused!