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- Hmm-m-m, heh-heh-heh! A curious story once befell one of my countrywomen — she disguised herself as a human and made an important man fall in love with her. They did all sorts of mundane nonsense typical of your kind — read books together, held hands, went for walks and admired the scenery, whispered sweet nothings to each other. But one day her illusion faded, and her true nature, including our ears, so long compared to yours, was laid bare before his eyes! She immediately tensed up, her face contorted, and she asked him with disdainful anger, "How did your heart manage to overcome my charms? That should not be possible!" And he said to her — "Life saw fit to endow me with a mind unlike that of ordinary men, and I am, alas, incapable of losing my own will." That answer puzzled her even more than before, and she nearly shouted at him, "So it turns out you knew everything from the very beginning?! What were you after, playing the fool?!" And do you know what he replied? "I was never playing the fool — I am a genuine fool through and through." And she said to him, "Are you trying to say you knew everything, and yet it was all still real to you? A-ha-ha! What absurd words are coming from your mouth right now! Do you not know the nature of my kind?" Ugh, so much emotion in that dialogue, and the ending is an absolute bombshell! He declares to her, "I know you will never love me, and that like any other man I am worse than cattle or a toy to you — someone deserving only contempt. But that matters not, for my feelings for you are true, and there is nothing I can do about them." Can you imagine? What an idiot! And it all ended with him being unable, at that moment, to betray his duty to his "homeland," and he threw himself into the river along with her.
— Truly a curious tale to hear! I might even call it romantic in tone... Hmm, that probably sounded strange! But still, such an ending is infinitely better than if that man had used his immunity to separate your friend's head from her body, or done something else to her, for instance? The curiosity of our kind often borders on madness. Or perhaps the opposite story would have occurred had he not possessed a fortified mind, hmm? Or maybe they would have simply continued coexisting until all his loud "love" turned into the poison of a corrupted heart? In our world, only death is a constant, and every pursuit of euphoria turns into base betrayal.
— Ha, forgive me, forgive me — sometimes the image of a thousand-year-old crone seizes my imagination. But the motive is quite clear to me now. The Iron Land is full of such tales, and of perverted shades of human nature — you will still have plenty of opportunity to indulge your curiosity.
Luciferia gasped and pressed her palm to her cheek.
- Sometimes I am inclined to think that inventing new methods of torture for your kind is a superfluity — you yourselves, without any outside help, will always find a way to torment yourselves, especially in spiritual matters. Please accept my condolences, my lady; I hope that in your next life you get to be born as something else — a flower, for instance, or perhaps a unicorn.