Chapter 223: Even If Not All Are Shining Gold (3)[R-18]
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 223: Even If Not All Are Shining Gold (3)[R-18]
CRASH—!!
The aftermath of the magic shattered the walls and furniture of the reception room, sending debris flying in every direction.
“Estelle.”
After a moment, Jeffrey spoke to Estelle in a voice that was eerily calm.
“...Why did you shoot me?”
Squirm! Wriggle!
A gruesome sight unfolded.
From the spot where Jeffrey’s prosthetic leg had vanished, disgusting masses of dark-red flesh began to squirm and drop like maggots.
They instantly intertwined and twisted grotesquely, forming a new leg that was decidedly not human.
“You had no reason to doubt me. There was clear, undeniable evidence... You should have trusted me, not Ian. ...So why?”
At Jeffrey’s question, Estelle forced back the tears that threatened to spill over and spoke.
“I don’t know! ...I don’t know anything anymore! Haah...! Haah...! Why you... why you’re fighting Ian... why Sister Frederica said those horrible things...! I can’t understand any of it! I feel like my head is going to explode...! Like my heart is being ripped apart! But...!”
Despair, frustration, fear, regret, anger, remorse, and sorrow.
It was true that all sorts of negative emotions were swirling within Estelle’s heart.
Yet, there was one feeling that endured—one that did not yield or run away.
“I... I’ve chosen to love Ian! That’s what I’ve decided!!”
It was sad...
It was so heartbreakingly sad, but...
The reason I accepted Ian’s proposal that day.
It wasn’t because of a belief that Ian would never betray me.
For someone as broken as I had been for so long...
Even if it were the person I loved enough to give my everything to, I had forgotten how to trust completely.
‘...So, I’ll make a promise, Ian.’
Instead, as I kissed Ian under the moonlight, I made a vow in my heart.
I don’t love you because you won’t betray me.
I love you even if you might.
Though I couldn’t shine by your side like gold, I was more than willing to fall into hell for you.
This was the best way I, Estelle Black Dahlia, knew how to love you.
“Sigh...”
Jeffrey let out a short, incredulous sigh at Estelle’s answer.
Then, he looked down at Frederica, who had collapsed on the floor, and clicked his tongue in contempt.
“Tsk... This is why you shouldn’t try to do anything with a mere ‘substitute.’ She ended up ruining everything. If she had just stabbed him properly instead of resisting, we wouldn’t have to deal with this hassle... Tsk.”
“...Substitute?”
“...!”
A horrific sense of foreboding surged down my spine at Jeffrey’s low murmur.
Even through my fading consciousness, I knew instinctively.
What Jeffrey was about to say...
Was something Estelle must never hear!
“Cough...! ...Estelle... don’t... listen...! Gah...!!”
I squeezed my lungs, trying to shout, but my voice wouldn't come out, blocked by a mouthful of blood.
As if mocking me, Jeffrey twisted the corners of his mouth into a smirk and whispered to Estelle.
“Estelle, do you really think your father picked up that orphan girl and raised her for no reason? Of course not! She was raised to be used as your ‘substitute.’”
“...You...! ...What... are you talking about...? D-don’t... insult my father...!”
Estelle’s voice trembled precariously.
“Hahahaha! Insult? I’m insulting my brother?? Ahahahaha!!”
Jeffrey burst into laughter as if he were truly enjoying himself.
After laughing like a madman for a long while, Jeffrey wiped the mirth from his face and looked straight at Estelle.
“How pitiful, Estelle. To think you’re still living in a sweet fantasy. Fine. Then your uncle will tell you the truth.”
Squelch—
Taking a step forward with his leg made of writhing worms, Jeffrey whispered with a snake-like foulness.
“Estelle, you are merely a ‘cursed child’... born only because your parents needed you for a contract with a demon.”
Those words seeped into Estelle’s ears like poison.
Thump—!!
Memories of the past I desperately wanted to forget flooded my mind.
Thump—!!
The nightmares I had every night, the senses that slowly vanished every time I opened my eyes.
Thump—!!
A life spent holding my breath, considering myself a ‘cursed child.’
Thump—!!
The guilt and fear I felt watching the people around me become unhappy for no reason.
...Was all of that really because I was born that way?
“N-no! That’s... a lie...! It’s a lie!”
“Ahahaha! You can’t believe it? Well, I suppose you wouldn’t want to! But this is the truth! Think about it! How did a noble family like the Black Dahlias, who were noble in name only, come to enjoy power second only to the Three Primary Colors Families in just a few generations?”
“I-I don’t know!! I don’t know!!”
“Exactly!! Why would a brat like you, who knew nothing, be born with such massive mana? How could you have possibly formed a contract with the ‘Balance Demon’! It’s all because you were born for that very purpose!!”
“...No!... I... I never... made a contract!!”
“Are you really going to claim you didn’t know? Hahahaha!! No, Estelle, you’re quite clever, so you must have had an inkling! The fact that everyone suffers when you get close! That you are the very source of all that misfortune!”
“No....! No! Nooooo!! Stop it!!!”
Estelle screamed, covering her ears with both hands, but Jeffrey’s cruel words pierced her heart like daggers.
“Deny it all you want! But every bit of misfortune and pain you’ve experienced is because your parents made you that way!! Your very existence is a curse! You’re like a plague that brings misery to everyone around you just by breathing!”
—Crack —Snap
Estelle’s world was crumbling.
At some point, her life had become filled with nothing but misery.
There were so many times she wanted to end it all...
But she had endured by holding onto the happy memories of being loved by her late parents.
But even that was a lie.
‘....Then... why.... am I.... alive?’
I was just a sacrifice to be offered to a demon.
A being brought into existence out of necessity.
I was a ‘cursed child’ who should never have been born into this world in the first place.
“Hack... cough! Cough! Wheeze!”
Thud—! Thud—!
Just then, the sound of violent coughing and something being struck hard shook Estelle’s hollow consciousness.
“...Ah?”
When she turned her head, Ian was frantically pounding his own chest with hands covered in blood.
“I... Ian?... W-what are you doing?... S-stop!!... Why...! ...Why are you doing that!!”
With every blow of his fist, blood gushed from Ian’s side, but he didn’t stop.
Thud—! Thud—!
“Gah!... Keh...! Cough..!.. Gack!... Ptu..!... Haa..!.... Haa...!.. Fuck...”
Splat—
I finally spat out the thick clot of blood that had been clogging my throat onto the floor.
“Haa... Estelle. Of course the shit coming out of a son of a bitch’s mouth is just bullshit... Don’t fall for it.”
“...B-but... Ian... you heard him... I... from the moment I was born... I was cursed...”
“So what?!”
I barked before Estelle could even finish her sentence.
“Just because you were born unhappy, does that mean you have to live unhappy? I promised you! I told you I’d make you happy! How long has it been since I proposed that you’ve already forgotten?!”
Pant— pant—
I managed to catch my ragged breath and continued.
“And Estelle... think about it. If your parents really thought of you as just a ‘sacrifice’... why would that son of a bitch have killed them?”
“I-I don’t know...! I don’t know! Ian... hic!... R-right now... I don’t want to think about anything...”
“Then I’ll tell you. It’s simple, isn’t it? Because they didn’t want to use you as a sacrifice!”
“...What?”
“Yeah! Maybe your parents really did have you for some trashy reason at first, just like that bastard said! They probably weren’t the saints you remember them as! But... Estelle! You told me so much that day! How much you were loved and what a happy child you were! And that’s why I have to make you even happier from now on!!”
In an instant, Estelle’s trembling eyes widened.
“After bragging to me like that... do you really think all the love you received was just an act?”
“....”
After a brief silence, Estelle bit her lower lip hard and slowly shook her head.
Her eyes were still brimming with tears, but she was no longer in despair.
“......No... it wasn’t an act.... Yeah!... It wasn’t...! ...Mom and Dad... they... loved... me!”
There were a mountain of things I wanted to say to her, things I wanted to tell her while holding her close.
How precious she was to me, and how much she deserved to be loved.
I wanted to talk to her about it all night long.
But unfortunately, it didn't look like the current situation would allow for that.
“Isn’t that enough? Whatever the truth is, whatever the past was. If that’s how you felt, then that’s all that matters. So...”
Shink—
I gripped my dagger with a trembling arm and barely managed to point it at Jeffrey.
My vision kept darkening, and cold sweat poured down like rain.
I didn't know how many bones were broken, but every breath brought a dizzying wave of pain.
But it was okay.
Because Estelle was by my side.
Estelle, who had trusted me until the very end despite all that despair, was here.
That was enough.
I could still fight.
“...Let’s talk about the rest slowly in bed after I’ve finished off this son of a bitch.”