Red Riding Hood - Chapter 39
As winter came unfailingly, Quiel gradually came to learn the full extent of the brothel keeper’s household.
Vinya was old, sick, and plagued by arthritis, while the frail Six caught colds every winter. But Vinya wasn’t the kind of person to show leniency just because Six was ill, and so Cinq often cried.
Cinq sobbed like a baby as she supported the sickly Six on their way down to the village.
At the temple gate, Six tried to send the child back. But the girl would crouch beneath the cold stone wall, wailing as she waited for Six, whose return was uncertain.
During those times, Quiel would don his veil and silently descend the tower like a ghost. He pressed against the ice-cold stone wall and listened to the faint sound of the girl’s sobbing carried by the fierce wind.
Her cries pierced him painfully, yet sweetly. They cut into his skin like blades, seeping into him like a blissful, paralyzing poison.
Her sorrow was his sorrow. Her pain was his pain. Her despair was his despair.
Quiel pressed his forehead against the cold stone wall and silently called out:
Cinq, Cinq.
If I were truly the son of God, as the village beasts proclaim, I would rain fire and brimstone upon this place.
Quiel realized something.
Though he lacked the power to burn the village to the ground, he had the power to save one girl.
But everything had to be meticulously planned. So subtly that even the little girl destined for salvation wouldn’t notice.
Mindie was a secluded world that had chosen isolation, ruled by grotesque laws.
The sinners, masked as beasts, continued to live in mutual suspicion. Their community was deeply exclusive.
Mindie only accepted as new residents those who had committed heinous crimes and chosen beast masks to conceal their shame.
The sole exceptions were the brothel keepers and harlots, deemed the lowest of the low and seen merely as objects for exploitation.
Even as Carbreux’s son, Quiel could not monopolize a harlot. That would violate the village’s laws, and Carbreux would never tolerate such a breach.
To save Cinq…
He had to make her commit a grievous sin.
She would have to don a beast mask, crawl to his feet, and beg for forgiveness!
Again.
Carbreux asked him,
“Quiel, my son. Speak of sin.”
Quiel opened his mouth.
“We are all born with pure souls. But our souls are trapped in sinful flesh, forcing us to live lives where we cannot be full without killing, nor possess without stealing.”
Some desires were sinful. But just as one cannot avoid the wind while standing on a hill, he could not help but desire her.
He wanted to save her. But to save her, he would first have to cast her into hell.
“Yet our God, in infinite mercy, accepts even that sin as part of us.”
Cinq, my sinful purity.
To desire someone as pure as you is a sin. I am guilty of desiring you. Where will this sin lead me?
I hope for you, pure as you are, to commit a sin. To wear a beast mask, to beg for forgiveness like the others, and to long for my embrace. Thus, I devise a devilish plan.
“Our God cherishes even our sins, delighting in the sweetness of the stains upon our pure souls, taking the most secret delights of blasphemy to adorn His crown.”
Cinq, my innocent lamb.
This village, Mindie, is devoid of humans. Only great sinners who chose beast masks over humanity live here.
After generations of indoctrination, they believe this grotesque village is their paradise, and they blindly trust that it’s all thanks to a God who forgave their sins.
In truth, I had no desire to follow my father as the leader of these beasts. I would rather writhe and burn under the scorching sun than take on that role.
But for you, I will wear a crown of thorns.
“So, children of sin, do not fear corruption.”
Cinq.
What lengths will I go to protect you?
“Our God loves even our sins!”
The voice he lent to the false God echoed through the temple of sin, filling the wretched sinners with ecstasy.
Carbreux declared,
“Quiel, my son. You are now the highest-ranking figure in this village.”
Handing him the white goat mask.
Quiel smiled.
