Monologue V

Love is a cruel thing.

Unrequited love is considered a virtue. But I know to my core just how truly brutal

such a one-sided love could be.

Because the object of that love would never reciprocate. It would never be rewarded.

Passion or lust were the only ways to maintain their attention.

But if the one you loved was kind enough to realize that accepting that passion and

answering that lust would only hurt the both of you in the future… If the one you loved

could not bring themselves to simply accept it… If the one you loved possessed an

unclouded heart that did not wallow in desire… If the one you loved never lost

themselves…

Then what was there to do?

It would be simple enough to laugh it off as the act of a child. But the older and longerlived you become, the more you realize how difficult that choice truly is. How hard

that is to come by.

Compassion is a poison. Rapture is toxic. And for anyone who would give in out of

sympathy, the relationship would become a cross that both of you would bear until it

ended in pain and suffering for all.

With the pure longing he held in his heart, he would surely never waver. If he were to

ever be corrupted, it would be by force alone. His clumsy, high-minded way of living

would never submit. And if he were to be tainted, he might very well continue to push

onward regardless, never giving up on his desires, even as he bore the stain on his heart.

When faced with someone like that, how would you gain his heart?

I do not have an answer.

Love is—he is—cruel.

But even so, or rather precisely because of that, I am grateful to him—and I despise

him.

Because your sublime way of living is driving even a goddess mad