Devil's Bible

Page 342

Of course, this kind of despicable behavior only applies to those who are morally upright.

The soldier was brave and generous, though he lacked other moral qualities to justify being considered a hero.

However, comparatively speaking, he is indeed a morally upright and good person.

However, this high moral character caused him pain at that moment.

Moral dilemmas create a series of self-reproachful constraints, thus allowing conscience and moral law to resonate.

This resonance turned his self-blame into a small knife, cutting away the handsome features on his face.

The tall and valiant soldier, now hunched over, looked like a hideous, malevolent man with a terrifying aura emanating from him; to some extent, he even resembled a wild beast.

“You don’t need to have such a heavy burden on your mind,” the shepherd said at this moment.

Looking at the princess lying there, the shepherd could only offer some words of comfort.

"You and she can only be considered to have had intimate contact."

"The one who truly caused her to fall into a coma was the witch who cursed her," the shepherd stated, offering a valid reason.

The soldier and the princess's date can only be considered a young couple's mutual attraction.

Similar incidents are not uncommon, and based on what I've seen in big cities these past few days, some are probably even more chaotic than this.

After all, many people believe that indulging in physical desires is like wanting to eat meat when hungry or wanting to drink water when thirsty—it's a way of satisfying desires.

You can eat and drink at home with your family, or you can eat out at restaurants or street stalls.

Since they are all physical desires, to a certain extent, 'chastity' is essentially a less important morality, or even something that can be considered a morality at all.

Of course, there are also people who consider chastity and fidelity to their partners as part of morality.

So the soldier and the princess can only be said to have slightly chaotic private lives; there's really no need for them to see themselves as sinners.

The soldier shook his head.

"I was blinded by desire, which is why I did this." The soldier was terrifying in appearance, resembling a hunched and ferocious standing beast.

But his mind was clear at that moment.

"This is a sin I should bear." The soldier revealed a sinister smile.

"But the most urgent thing is to think about how to save the princess." Although he had become ugly and lost his former heroic and handsome appearance, the soldier was also somewhat frustrated. But at this moment, he wanted to save the princess and try his best to make up for the mistakes he had made.

“Perhaps we can ask the fairy for help with this,” the shepherd said.

That's how it was back in the village. Whenever we encountered difficulties, we could go to the fairy.

As long as you are sincere and have no ill intentions, the fairy will generally help you.

"No, that won't work." The soldier was much calmer.

“I have carefully investigated the curse. There was a fairy present back then, but even she couldn’t directly lift the curse. She could only wish that the curse would be lifted when she met her true love.”

"Therefore, for such matters, we can only seek out witches who possess the ability to cast spells."

"During this process..." the soldier thought for a moment, "Let's send the princess back."

At that moment, he felt intense jealousy and even considered possessing the princess for himself.

Although it wasn't true love, he was still the princess's lover.

He couldn't help but feel jealous as other 'princes' kept trying to wake the princess with kisses of true love.

However, he truly had no way to leave with the sleeping princess.

Upon hearing the soldier's decision, the shepherd nodded. The next day at dawn, he went to gather intelligence before preparing to leave.

Then he heard news that instantly ignited his anger.

The old carpenter was arrested.

And because he refused to provide relevant information, he was killed.

The charge is that of harboring a criminal.

In addition, it is said that guards have gone to the small village where he lives, intending to arrest everyone associated with him.

Upon hearing the news, the shepherd's heart was filled with murderous intent.

This murderous intent instantly made his face look somewhat fierce.

At the same time, a stinging pain on his face reminded him that he shouldn't harbor such malice towards others.

Along with the murderous intent came a sense of guilt and self-doubt.

Guilt stemmed from their actions implicating the old carpenter, while self-doubt arose from questioning the correctness of their actions.

As dawn broke, the streets were filled with comments directed at them.

First, soldiers secretly infiltrated the palace, causing the princess to fall into a coma.

Then last night, they seized an opportunity to use black magic to summon the big dog, thereby stealing the princess away.

At this moment, the shepherd couldn't help but doubt himself.

They did indeed do those things, and from the perspective of the events themselves, their actions did violate the law and morality.

Their previous actions could be explained by the fact that the soldiers were unaware of the curse and that they were in love with the princess.

Their subsequent actions can be interpreted as the soldiers believing they and the princess were truly in love, and that their decision to do this was based on the old carpenter's discussion of social status and morality.

At that time, their moral compass lay in 'true love'.

However, when it turned out that the true love was fake, all the support he had was crumbling.

Only then did the shepherd suddenly understand why the soldiers had suddenly become like this.

Since true love cannot stand on its own merits, their actions are essentially immoral.

In essence, all their actions are doing wrong things under the guise of a moral excuse.

At that moment, the shepherd realized that he had been too naive.

He was so focused on believing in true love that, because of the old carpenter's story, he completely regarded the royal family as enemies.

They may have really made a mistake.

As the shepherd pondered these things, a growing unease stirred within him.

And this sense of guilt stemming from morality is constantly eroding the shepherd's heart.

"No, I did nothing wrong." The shepherd instinctively wanted to deny everything, but then he realized something was wrong; he had become a puppet.

It has a long nose, rosy cheeks, and joints that connect to each other.

This change alarmed the shepherd.

He immediately returned to the place where he and the soldiers were hiding.

"I was wrong," he whispered, before transforming back into a human.

But at this moment, he realized that he had become very ugly.

Chapter 573 Reshaping Ideas

The two ugly and ferocious-looking people looked at each other and both gave bitter smiles.

If no serious consequences result, the shepherd can remain naive.

But the old carpenter died as a result, and the people of his hometown were also arrested.

Shepherds cannot be without moral burdens.

Once the burden is formed, the power of idealism will affect their appearance.

Unless they can extricate themselves from this moral dilemma.

They firmly believe that they are morally upright and have an absolutely clear conscience.

Otherwise, this ugly appearance would basically accompany them for the rest of their lives.

At this point, they also realized the seriousness of the situation.

At this moment, they are only physically ugly and have not yet been punished by morality or law.

The stench of taboo, of being punished and then evaded through witchcraft, is quite evident.

Most other people would probably just keep their distance from them.

However, morality has a major problem—the uncertainty of its standards.

Moral standards can be completely different for different people.

Some people believe that actively doing bad things and creating various problems, lacking mainstream high morality, is morally corrupt.

Some people believe that not doing good deeds and choosing to pretend not to see problems is morally corrupt.

Some people believe that if you cannot sacrifice yourself and do not help the weak when faced with difficulties, then you are a heartless bad person.

Therefore, in the eyes of many people, the standard between being moral and being immoral is different.

Therefore, the soldiers previously believed that there would be no moral problem in killing the old witch who clearly smelled of decay.

So now, some people will inevitably think that there is no moral problem in killing people like them who are full of immoral thoughts and are ugly.

The moral dilemma, at this moment, has been transformed from a question in the heart into a real predicament that must be faced by the system.

"The moral and legal framework is unreasonable," the two said after some thought.

Once this thought takes hold, whether it's called shirking responsibility or genuinely believing that one hasn't made a serious mistake, it doesn't matter.

Both of their faces had recovered somewhat, at least they no longer looked so ferocious.

But after saying that, the soldier suddenly gave a bitter smile.

The shepherd asked and learned the answer.

It turns out that similar remarks had been made before.

At that time, however, that person was merely a 'monster' or a 'witch'—a being who did not require judgment.

"Given our current situation, the country's guards will find us very soon."

“If we don’t want to die like this, then we will inevitably have to clash with those people.”

"Furthermore, we are also at a disadvantage in terms of public morality, such as public opinion."

"In other words, as long as we are alive, we will inevitably face an end—being judged by morality and law."

“At that time, unless we mastered witchcraft, we would all die because of it.”

This hopeless future has severely damaged their confidence, to the point that they are now somewhat reluctant to carry out their original plans.

A deeply disheartening thought arose in the shepherds' minds: they would return the princess and then commit suicide to end their lives.

That way, perhaps the farmer, the blacksmith, and the chicken farmer wouldn't be implicated.

However, the moment this disheartening thought arose, another emotion emerged—why should I!

The root of this matter lies in a curse.

If the soldier were a prince, he wouldn't need to be 'chased' out of the palace.

Although the king might still blame them, things won't get any worse.

"This kind of identity morality causes different people to do the same thing, but get different results."

"This is so unfair." The shepherd sensed the old carpenter's resentment.

It was this shared experience that helped him understand, to some extent, why the old carpenter supported them.

This understanding further reduced the shepherd's sense of guilt.

The old carpenter didn't blame them for implicating him; on the contrary, he hoped for and actively guided them onto the path they had taken today.

Thinking this way, the feeling of moral guilt lessened considerably.

Although the shepherd's face still appeared somewhat ugly, and his aura exuded a fierce, murderous aura, it no longer elicited much of a reaction.

At this moment, he was not much different from the previous 'guards'.

He may be a bit fierce, but not to the point that he would be looked at with suspicion as soon as he goes out, and then be killed by the other party if he is not careful.

All of this illustrates one point—the shepherd's moral compass, after being broken down, has begun to be rebuilt.