How Long Will You Hold My Hand?
How long do you intend to keep holding my hand? Overturning time, shattering causality. Erasing my star, breaking the laws of the world. The one and only miracle born from the love between the Demon King and me. Regression. That's how we eliminated the powerful figures who would rise in the future and locked them away. The Emperor of the Empire, the greatest slaughterer, even the most fearsome warrior. Anyone who stood in our way, anyone who might interfere with our love—we erased them all. Yet this one was clearly among the targets I should have eliminated. I thought he wouldn't be strong yet, that I could deal with him a little later. But what on earth is this? That insane ability already? How many followers does he have? Those arms writhing in the sky as if ready to burst at any moment—if this power is real, it could destroy the training hall. No, the entire academy. Is he really planning to unleash it? No, if it's that madman, he just might. That's the kind of person Hebriel was. Demon King, answer me. If I die this time, can I regress again? Ah, I understand. Of course. Wasting my full strength in a place like this would be a waste. Very well. Then we'll mark that one as our final target and continue toward our love. If we unleash our full power, there's nothing we can't overcome. Thank you, truly, for helping this foolish, stupid me again today. I love you, Demon King. Forever.
"I surrender."
Faye shouted upon seeing the arms suspended in the sky, and at the same moment, the countless arms floating above crashed to the ground and dissolved into light.
"What a shame, brother… I thought this would be a good chance to test my ability."
Watching Hebriel smack his lips in genuine disappointment sent a chill down my spine.
"Ugh… scary…"
And yet the young lady, as if she hadn't heard a word, remained trembling while clutching my hand tightly. The sight was oddly endearing, so I chuckled softly and simply watched her.
To think that someone this innocent would later blacken and become the villainess. That bastard of a family head…
I was one of the few people in this game who mixed curses into names. Isaac Floyd, head of the Floyd family. In the end, this man would try to kill the young lady, and the rage that finally consumed her would transform the clumsy, simple young lady into a true villainess. So he, too, would have to die eventually… but that could wait.
The family head will have to die someday, but I can't kill him right now.
Considering the hardships the young lady would suffer, tearing him apart a few times still wouldn't be enough. He was the head of the Floyd ducal house, a man so powerful that even calling him the greatest in the Empire wouldn't raise eyebrows. Naturally, he was an opponent far beyond Faye's level at present.
"Haa…"
From the Demon King to a regressor to the head of the Empire's foremost ducal house—none of them were easy opponents, but that was my lot in life. That aside, the young lady's turn in the duel was coming up soon. Was it really all right to just stand here?
"Excuse me, my lady."
I called out to her and poked the hand of the young lady, whose eyes were squeezed shut and ears stuffed with something resembling cotton.
"My laaady…?"
"When is it over…"
She had blocked her ears so thoroughly that she didn't even realize the match had ended. Feeling mischievous again, I plucked the cotton from her ears and blew a soft puff of air into them.
"Hyaaaah!"
She let out a bizarre shriek of shock and nearly rolled backward, yet her left hand gripping mine never moved an inch. She must have been terrified. Teasing her really was entertaining. Back in Starlight, she had been just as difficult to deal with, but once you got close, she grew shy about everything—that had been her charm. I really did have to save the young lady and let the world see how adorable she was.
"Wh-what?! You blew air into my ear?!"
As if a ghost would have done it. I laughed and pointed at the training ground with a surprised expression.
"Oh, the match isn't over yet. You can open your eyes now, you know?"
"I'm not a child! I can handle at least this much…!"
Even as she said that, the young lady deliberately looked away from the training ground and kept her eyes fixed only on me. Still, the way her now-uncovered left ear twitched toward the arena suggested she was curious about the match after all.
"…Huh? Why can't I hear anything?"
She soon realized that no sound was coming from the training hall where a duel should have been taking place. She looked around, searching for the people who had been dueling moments ago, but the arena now held an entirely new pair of contestants.
"Y-you… You tricked me!"
Finally understanding that the match had long since ended, the young lady hissed like a cat whose food had been stolen. Well, who told her to threaten me with a knife and stuff cotton in her ears? To divert her attention, I spoke smoothly.
"My lady, more importantly, how long do you plan to keep holding my hand? It's starting to hurt a little."
"What? Why would I be holding your—hyaaah!"
Only now noticing that she was gripping my hand, the young lady's hand trembled violently before she yanked it away.
"Y-you grabbed mine without me knowing, didn't you? Pervert! Scum! Shameless bastard!"
"If you just look at the position of our hands, it's obvious it wasn't me. Your hand was clearly resting on top of mine for anyone to see."
"…!"
The young lady agonized over how to deny the disaster she had brought upon herself, then her eyes sparkled as if she'd found a rebuttal.
"Th-that's right! You could have picked up my hand and placed it on yours yourself!"
She placed both hands confidently on her hips, as though convinced by her own logic.
"Ha… haha! You perverted bastard. If you wanted to hold my hand that badly, you should have just said so… No, wait! How dare you touch the hand of a ducal daughter so freely? You must have a death wish!"
However, her confident rebuttal had one glaring flaw.
"If I had picked up your hand and placed it on mine, there shouldn't be any handprints left on my hand, should there?"
I showed her my right hand. The vivid red marks from her grip remained, as though she had been trying to crush it. It was exactly like being caught red-handed stealing chocolate cake and trying to deny it while chocolate still smeared your mouth.
Well, that wasn't the important part right now. I watched the young lady's expression with great interest—it was the highlight of the day after the duel.
"U-ugh…!"
Realizing that no answer could deny the situation, the young lady declared with all the brazenness characteristic of Violet,
"Fine, so I held it. So what? Now that we've held hands, are you going to try something?"
Her face was flushed bright red beneath the iron plate she had slapped over it. Anyone would mistake her for a tomato. Of course, as the self-proclaimed Young Lady Master, I had expected this reaction as well. I put on a deliberately sorrowful expression.
"Why would I harbor such feelings toward you, my lady? Although you are the most beautiful person I have ever seen…"
"H-hmph!"
One compliment and the young lady's mood soared all the way to Jupiter; even her ears turned red. Time to pour some cold water.
"But you don't seem to like me very much, my lady. You even called me a shameless bastard. Perhaps my presence at your side is…"
I deliberately trailed off and made my eyes look as though they might spill tears at any moment. I had been in the drama club back in high school, so my acting was practically professional.
"Th-that's not it…!"
The young lady waved her hands frantically, realizing something was wrong with the conversation, but my performance showed no sign of stopping.
"I said I would protect you, but that must have felt burdensome to you… No, perhaps it even felt close to disgust."
I pretended to hold back tears by closing my eyes, then peeked at her through half-lidded eyes. The young lady looked completely lost as to how she should respond. Shall I tease her a little more?
"My lady, earlier I spoke in jest and got slapped, but now I'm asking seriously. Do you like me?"
"U-uh, wait a second…!"
Hit by the sudden attack, the young lady's eyes spun in circles as she failed to collect herself. Well then, let's hear your answer. I barely suppressed my laughter and looked at her with sorrowful eyes. Before long,
"Ugh… I-I like you… I like you too…"
The young lady squeezed her eyes shut and gave her affirmative answer. Of course, it was far more likely that she had said it out of fear I might quit being her butler rather than because she truly liked me. Still, it felt nice.
"Haha. I like you too, my lady."
The moment I heard those words, I smiled and pressed the button on the pen-shaped device I had kept in my jacket's front pocket.
"Ugh… I-I like you… I like you too…"
The young lady's voice played back exactly as it had been spoken. It was a pen-shaped recorder that also served as a camera, something I had brought along for a separate purpose. I had kept it in my pocket until now, but since there was no need to leave it in the outer pocket, I had been about to move it inside my clothes—yet here was the perfect opportunity. I couldn't let this chance slip by.
"Y-you bastard… What is that?!"
The young lady, who had been trembling like a rabbit facing a predator, asked in a daze.
"Hey! Give that here!"
She seemed to come to her senses and began hopping about, trying to snatch the recorder from my hand. Not a chance. This was mine for life. I was taking it home with me. Just as we were struggling back and forth—
—Bzzt!
A brilliant blue flash suddenly erupted from the direction of the training ground. What the—? For a duel to emit that much light, the participants had to be at least named-character level. But all the famous NPCs—commonly called named characters—should have finished their matches by now. Then what…?
"…?"
While I had been tussling with the young lady, I naturally turned to look. There stood a student frozen stiff, and beside him—
"Haa… Another masterpiece has been completed."
A blue-haired man was calming something crackling with electricity in his hand while spouting nonsense. …I'd never seen a guy like that before. What the hell was that? More importantly, who wrote that line for him?