allonlinenovel Chapter 166 Game of Chess
Chapter 166 Game of Chess
"The Lord of Plagues promised me life, and I rejected His invitation, but He still told me I could visit His garden anytime," Howard answered truthfully. When a reasonable lie is impossible, honesty is better than making up a flawed one.
"Why do you refuse His invitation?" Slaanesh asked.
"My life wasn't given by Him, nor does it belong to anyone else," Howard said. "And the Lord of Plagues didn't respect my thoughts. He allowed the plague to spread across the planet again. Perhaps He saw turning my friends into that state as salvation and doing them good, but I didn't want that. The Lord of Plagues must have understood my thoughts, but he still did it."
"This benevolent father of plague, who has existed for countless years, may have become accustomed to being a superior parent, and thus can no longer empathize with his own children." Howard said, "But I believe that Lord of Joy, you must understand that many times adults believe something is right, but children may not necessarily see it the same way. Perhaps when children grow up, they will make the same judgment as adults, but you must let children grow up on their own, rather than forcing your inner love on them in the name of their own good."
Howard lowered his head and whispered, "When I begged Freya to save my friend's soul, even though she believed the Lord of Plagues' actions were also a form of salvation, she still respected my opinion and fulfilled my wish."
When Howard said this, Freya, who was kneeling on the ground, opened her eyes wide. She did not expect Howard to be so tough and even dare to say such words in front of the Lord of Pleasure.
Howard's words were equivalent to telling Slaanesh directly, "I don't think joining Chaos is a form of salvation."
Saying that joining Chaos is not salvation in front of the Lord of Chaos is no different from a declaration of betrayal.
Sure enough, on the throne, Slaanesh, who had been squinting his eyes, widened them a little. He looked at Howard and said, "To say such words in front of me, I don't know whether to call you brave or foolish."
"I think neither," Howard replied stiffly. "Lord of Pleasure, I could make up a lie to please you, but I don't want to say anything against my will, and I don't want to deceive you."
But to save his life, Howard said something to make amends, "And I only dare to speak my true thoughts in front of you."
When Howard finished speaking, Slaanesh did not answer. Instead, he raised his index finger and tapped lightly on the armrest of the throne.
Slaanesh's slender fingers kept tapping the throne, making a rhythmic "tap" and "tap" sound, as if it was the countdown of Howard's life.
Howard was sweating profusely. The clothes on his back had already been soaked by the wine, and now they were wet again by the cold sweat, becoming sticky and stuffy.
But in the end, Slaanesh lowered his finger and smiled at Howard: "Human, if anyone dares to say this in front of me, I will throw him into an eternal nightmare... But as for you, you can remain honest with me, which is good. Loyalty can be cultivated, but honesty cannot be fabricated, so I forgive your disrespect."
"Like you said, when a child is immature, what they need is growth and discipline, not killing them and having another one." Se continued to say to Howard, "It seems that your experience living in the real universe is not enough for you to see the truth of this world. But I won't act as rudely as that piece of mud."
When Slaanesh finished saying these words, Freya looked surprised, because she did not expect that the Lord of Pleasure would choose to forgive and tolerate Howard's disobedience and disrespect.
What he didn't expect was that from the Lord of Joy's next answer, he vaguely heard that the Lord of Joy was planning to release Howard back to the real universe.
Freya immediately thought of the bet she had made with Howard before meeting Slaanesh. Howard had bet with Him that the Lord of Pleasure would let him return to the real universe again. But now it seemed that she had lost the bet.
As one of the top demons under the Lord of Joy, Freya quickly figured out the logic and reasons behind everything.
It was all because of that young leaf, the gift of Isa, the gift given to this mortal by the goddess of life that the Lord of Joy had always desired but could not obtain.
Regardless of the purpose, when Isa gave the leaf to Howard, Isa and Howard were directly connected by a thin silk thread. If Howard was killed, or taken back to the palace and held tightly in her own hands, the thread would be torn off, but if Howard was let go, the thread would remain connected.
This is also one of the few things related to Isa that the Lord of Joy currently has.
And more importantly, Nurgle's promise to Howard.
The so-called ability to enter the garden at any time seemed to be said to Howard, but after the Lord of Plague saw the Lord of Joy behind Howard, this sentence was equivalent to being said to the Lord of Joy.
If this is a game of chess, the Lord of Plague has already made a move on the board through his actions, and now it is the Lord of Joy's turn to make a move.
If the Lord of Pleasure retrieved or killed Howard, it would be equivalent to directly surrendering, which was absolutely unacceptable to the Lord of Pleasure.
So when Howard said, "I can visit His garden at any time," it was inevitable that all of Howard's presumptuous actions would be forgiven, and that he would be sent back to the real universe.
After sorting out all this, Freya suddenly realized something very suspicious.
That is, before meeting the Lord of Pleasure, Howard had already anticipated what was going to happen.
But the Lord of Joy did not know at this time that Howard had already realized what was going to happen.
Now, in the eyes of the Lord of Joy, Howard is just a mortal who only knows what happened but does not know what these things mean. Now, in the eyes of the Lord of Joy, Howard is just a blind chess piece on the chessboard that is given special value, and the Lord of Joy himself is a chess player playing against the Lord of Plague.
But the reality is that the chess piece actually manipulated the player, making him place himself where he wanted.
Freya stole a glance at the back of the human who maintained a humble attitude before the Lord of Pleasure.
This human being is far from being as simple as he appears.
But why did Howard tell himself his judgment and guess in advance?
Freya knew that if she told the Lord of Pleasure now that all this was actually within Howard's judgment, then no matter how important this mortal was to the Lord of Pleasure, the Lord of Pleasure would kill him.
But would he tell the Lord of Pleasure?
Freya thought about it for a long time and finally came to the conclusion that no.
Because this would not benefit either him or the Lord of Pleasure. After he reported it, the Lord of Pleasure would definitely kill Howard, because Howard had played tricks on the Lord of Pleasure in front of all the people and demons in front of the throne, and the Lord of Pleasure had to kill him, not because killing Howard would bring greater benefits.
Some things are not a big deal until they are spoken out and exaggerated, but once they are investigated, the matter will probably not stop until someone is killed.
If I tell the Lord of Pleasure, it would mean that I am forcing the Lord of Pleasure to kill a human being whose life is beneficial to him.
Then after Howard dies, don't expect to have an easy life.
Only then did Freya realize that her actions were within Howard's expectations. After he told her his guess, he was sure that she would not tell the Lord of Pleasure.
For the first time, Freya developed a third kind of emotion for this human besides "lust" and "interest." It was a complex and indescribable emotion that he had never felt even in the countless years he had existed as a great demon.