Chapter 50
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: 11. Inducement
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Ella entered her room.
Her final words still echoed in my ears.
A sense of accomplishment, interest, amusement—those emotions floated through my mind.
A year ago, the options I considered were two.
One was to toss firewood onto the slowly smoldering emotions of Ella as she sorted them out.
The other was to help her sort those emotions while stirring up affection for me.
Tossing in firewood was easy, but stirring affection was a hassle.
So I chose neither.
What I picked was the third option, hidden between those two.
Choosing only what's plainly visible makes this world far too boring.
'In the end, it worked out well.'
I stepped out onto the veranda and inhaled the night air.
What should I do now?
It's the thought that always comes after ending a game.
The big picture doesn't change, but within it, things can shift organically as needed.
'Anyway... to smoothly carry out the plan, I do need a helper.'
Kyle had been slotted as the helper, but his whimsy made him vanish.
Executing the plan smoothly from here would be tough.
But if I took this incident as a turning point and made Ella my helper, it might get a bit easier.
'I can't share the entire plan like with Kyle... but I can guide her actions by sharing parts of it.'
A pawn that moves on its own accord would suffice.
In that sense, I needed to gauge Ella's emotions and thoughts, calculate her favorability.
Saying it like that makes it sound like a game—
And it pretty much is.
It's a game, after all.
'By now... she should be feeling a mix of relief and anger.'
Her hatred won't grow.
In the end, I didn't kill the tutor, and the damage to Ella was effectively zero.
She might even have developed some sense of duty by now.
Like, 'Because of me, the tutor could end up like that, so I have to stop that monster!'
'...Duty, huh.'
The right amount of duty is good.
It could serve as a leash to control Ella.
In fact, that's exactly what I aimed for in orchestrating this.
A warning that anyone close could be next anytime, so focus on me.
'Then, assuming I lock in that direction...'
I gazed outside, continuing my mental calculations.
The night was deepening.
Ella couldn't sleep.
She lay in bed, but her eyes were wide open. She had no idea how many hours she'd been staring at the ceiling.
Crack!
That sound kept replaying.
The sensation of the dummy head crushing. Not bone, but something else breaking—that alien feel.
And before that.
Click.
The box opening, the mix of lilac perfume and blood stench assaulting her nose. The tutor's half-lidded eyes. The bloodstain on her lips.
Ella squeezed her eyes shut.
'No. She's alive. The teacher is still alive.'
She had hugged Ella, asked if she was okay, and stayed by her side the whole party.
Ella could swear to it. The teacher was alive.
'But...'
What about tomorrow? The day after? A year from now?
That thought chased away any hint of sleep.
After tossing and turning for a while, Ella opened her eyes again. The ceiling still loomed the same.
His words came back to her.
[Always taking the easy path isn't fun, you know?]
To that man, only amusement mattered.
Comrades, bonds, even his own life—he'd toss them all away anytime for fun.
Ella had known that from the start, since their first meeting.
That man wasn't human.
He pretended to understand human emotions but didn't grasp them at all.
That's why he could manipulate them so cunningly.
'...Monster.'
Ella clutched the blanket. Her body trembled.
This time it was a dummy head. What about next time?
It could be a real one. Not the tutor, but someone else. Or maybe the tutor again.
Maybe Ceres. Maybe someone she'd meet at the academy later.
He would do it.
Whenever she opened her heart to someone, he'd show up again and bring them as a 'gift'—real this time, not fake.
Because it'd be more fun that way.
'I have to stop him.'
Someone had to. Before that lunatic hurt another person. Before someone else sacrificed themselves because of her.
But who?
Who could stop him?
The imperial family? The guards? Academy professors?
They didn't know. They had no clue who he was, what he was capable of, how dangerous he truly was.
But she did. She knew his identity.
His abilities, the persona he used, the plans he was weaving.
She was the one involved!
His identity, plans, persona, abilities—she was the only one who knew it all!
So Ella could reach only one conclusion.
'I have to stop him.'
Then another question followed.
How?
Yeah, how could she stop that man?
'Killing him won't work. I can't yet, and he'll just come back to life.'
Better to leave him visibly alive.
That way, she could prevent him from carrying out new plans in another body, another persona.
'...I have to keep him in one body. Trap him there.'
So how?
Her thoughts continued.
'Amusement. If that bastard prioritizes fun above all...'
Ella herself had to provide him the ultimate amusement.
But was that possible?
His sense of fun was severely warped.
Her doing clown acts alone couldn't satisfy him.
'Then... what if all his attention is fixed on me? If he's so focused on me he has no time for anyone else?'
If she monopolized his interest, wouldn't others be safe?
At that moment, her racing thoughts locked onto one path.
'If I open my heart to someone else, he'll use it. So I can't give him a chance to look elsewhere.'
Then what should she do?
She reached that conclusion quickly too.
'I have to make him see only me.'
Yeah.
'Only look at me.'
He had to focus solely on her.
With no chance to glance at anyone else, pouring all his attention only on her.
Crisis turned to duty, and duty turned to obsession.
Just like he once had, Ella didn't realize she was walking a similar path.
But ignorance could make it even more extreme.
Having tasted the plunge of extreme emotions, Ella's twisted mind began warping her conclusion in a strange direction.
'Make it so he can't look at anyone else, only me.'
Ella's eyes gleamed dangerously.
'Yeah. I have to make him see only me.'
A fleeting sense that something was off passed through her mind. But it was quickly buried under other emotions and vanished.
Besides, she had already decided.
It was too late to change it.
And so, without realizing it, Ella added another reason.
'Only I can stop him. I have to do it.'
Why?
'Because only I am worthy.'
Morning came.
When I entered the living room, Ella was already on the sofa. Normally, she'd still be asleep at this hour.
That alone was odd, but even stranger was how her gaze locked onto me the instant I appeared.
"You're up early."
"Yeah."
I casually put water in the kettle and sat at the table.
I felt her stare on my back. She was still watching me.
'Has a sense of duty to stop me formed?'
Just as I'd intended yesterday, she was gripped by the thought that 'someone has to stop this monster.'
The perfect level of duty.
As expected.
"Want breakfast?"
"Yeah."
This was different from usual too.
Normally, she'd say "no" or skip answering altogether.
And then Ella got up and came over—not across from me, but right next to me.
Her stare burned.
'Does duty really create eyes like that?'
I was thinking that when Ella spoke.
"What are you doing today?"
"Why?"
"Just curious."
The usual her had no interest in my plans. She just followed orders.
Now she was suddenly asking my schedule?
"Nothing much. Going to meet your new tutor. Your lessons will resume in a bit. Until then, practice swordsmanship alone—"
"I'll come too."
"...Come with?"
"Yeah."
"Do whatever."
Ella's lips curved up ever so slightly. Barely noticeable, but I didn't miss it.
'...A smile?'
Why smile?
Because the plan was going well? Ella wasn't like that.
She didn't habitually plan ahead, nor did she get happy when things went according to plan.
'Because of the duty?'
But shouldn't duty mean approaching the task rationally, emotions aside?
Or was I overthinking duty?
"So who's the new tutor?"
Ella's eyes held a strange fervor.
Something was wrong.
This was far from duty.