Like Me More!
"I'm so booored..!"
Was it really normal for the daughter of a duke to be left alone this often? Of course not! Besides, the butler's vacation had already ended—why was he disappearing for days on his own whim?
This time he hadn't even shown up at the Imperial Palace! Had he really run off with the princess for some lovers' escape?
"Uuuu.."
Before I knew it, I'd grown so used to Sebastian's absence that I flopped onto his bed—the one I'd been using far too often lately—and buried my face in his pillow, lost in thought.
'If I hate being lonely, I could always talk to the other butlers...'
But they were all so stiff and formal that talking to them was no fun at all. Father had drilled it into them from the moment they were hired that they weren't to engage with me, so any conversation felt completely lifeless.
A few weeks ago, I would've just rolled around and read novels like always. This kind of situation was nothing new.
"Is it because I met Sebastian..?"
Nothing else satisfied me anymore. Novels were boring, talking to other people was a chore, and the lessons young ladies were supposed to learn just made me irritated.
It's not like I was ever going to enter high society anyway, so there was no point in learning any of that.
"Normally when I got this bored, I'd go outside and cause trouble or take drugs, but.."
Now I couldn't bring myself to do any of it. If I acted like that, Sebastian would probably hate me. I already couldn't compare to the princess—there was no point in making him dislike me on top of that.
"But honestly, aren't I cuter?"
Of course the princess had a great figure and was beautiful, but I didn't think I was that far behind.
I dragged the full-length mirror from the corner of the room in front of the bed and spun around in front of it. My face and figure weren't bad at all.
Maybe he indulged my whining and accepted my affection so easily because he thought I was cute too?
I should ask him when he gets back..
"Wait, now that I think about it, that guy.."
Sebastian had vaguely explained he'd be gone for a few days without any real details, then disappeared somewhere with the princess and still hadn't returned.
"No way.. Are the two of them already doing that kind of stuff?"
I'd thought even the princess wouldn't go that far with a butler, but remembering how she'd clung to him at the academy made it seem entirely possible.
"What if they rented a room and have been going at it for days.."
No, that couldn't be right. Even if the princess was a pervert, Sebastian would definitely..
No, even if Sebastian refused, if the princess forced him into bed and did whatever she wanted, what could a mere butler do about it? If she really wanted to do something inappropriate, she could do it as much as she pleased.
"I knew I shouldn't have let him go..!"
When Sebastian first told me about the date, he'd kissed my cheek and showered me with compliments, and my mind had gone completely blank. Before I knew it, I'd given permission in a daze.
"Kuuu.."
I should've held onto my senses and stopped him no matter what! Getting disarmed by a single kiss on the cheek and grinning like an idiot—what kind of fool had I been?
The location tracker had been stuck in the same spot for days now. Were they really holed up together?
If I waited a few more days and still got no response, maybe I'd go check myself..
"I think it's about time I made a decisive move.."
If the princess kept clinging to him, I'd have to make a bold play to advance our relationship too. At this rate, I really would lose Sebastian to her.
"What if he's already fallen for her..?"
What if her mature charm had already stolen both his body and heart?
No! Absolutely not! That couldn't be true!
"..Should I try dressing a little more provocatively like the princess and seduce him?"
The dress the princess had worn at the academy had been completely open at the sides of her chest. She'd smiled so seductively while linking arms with him, deliberately pressing her chest against his arm!
"Acting all foxy and calling it 'sworn siblings'? Please, that's ridiculous."
Fine. If I tried something similar, Sebastian would definitely fall for it. I was cuter than the princess, and he'd even said he liked me more than her.
"Hmm.."
After taking off my coat and outer layers, leaving only the thin inner clothes, I sat in front of the mirror and decided it looked pretty good. The exposure was probably much more revealing than the princess's outfit—almost like underwear—but that was fine, since I only needed to show it to him.
Hehe, with this, he wouldn't even think about the princess, right?
"What if he gets so excited he just pounces on me?"
What would I do then? Well, I'd resist a little at first, then pretend I couldn't help but accept it..
-Slap!
I smacked my own cheek to stop the thoughts from going any further.
And what do you mean, 'accept it'! Have I gone crazy?!
"..I'll ask first and decide after."
If he'd done it with the princess, I'd just make sure he could never even think about her again. If he hadn't.. well, whatever. I'd give him a reward or something.
"I'll make him beg me to go out with him..!"
Last time I'd been the one begging, but this time would be different! I'd completely captivate Sebastian so he couldn't live without me!
***
"You really aren't sleeping properly? You're seriously something else.."
The Blood Demon grumbled beside me while Itz remained bound, limbs severed, unable to use his hallucinations.
"I'm only taking these short naps because I'm exhausted, you know."
I'd already beaten Itz over a hundred times.
I'd realized I hadn't slept at all for nearly two full days, so my solution was to beat him just enough that he couldn't regain his senses, then catch a quick nap in between.
"Thanks to that, your body's recovering a bit, isn't it?"
So here I was, slowly waking up from what felt like death.
Because it was all an illusion, I hadn't noticed the passage of time and only felt the fatigue much later.
"And this guy is finally starting to come back to his senses too."
The last time I'd knocked Itz out, his eyes had focused on me with some clarity. Maybe next time we'd actually be able to have a proper conversation.
"Still, I can't believe this actually worked. I thought it was pointless after the first few dozen times."
I'd almost been moved to tears the first time we'd managed even a few words.
Even now, he was clutching his head in pain and showing less hostility toward me.
"You can tell just by how much less aggressive he is. He's already recovered quite a bit."
When he'd first seen me, he'd been curious rather than immediately attacking, trying to figure out who I was—but in the end, he'd still attacked.
"I was a little doubtful at first too, but after doing it, I understood."
The positive change I'd noticed from repeating this was that the time it took for him to recognize us and attack kept getting longer.
"Now let's just wait for the right moment."
With over a hundred defeats under my belt, it was finally time to face the madman with the axe.
The loop surrounding us was itself a kind of hallucination. Naturally, the axe-wielding assailant created within it was weakened, but he was still strong.
"He might even be stronger than Laplace.."
The masked man who'd attacked the academy with an axe covering half his face. He was the core driving Ankillé's illusion, the one Itz had never been able to defeat no matter what.
Defeating the axe-wielding man was the only way to break the loop and escape.
"Honestly, in his current weakened state, I probably could've beaten him if I'd fought properly.."
But the countless deaths and terrors etched into my mind always stopped me at the last moment.
The despair from repeated, unreachable hope was greater than anything else, and it was what had broken Itz.
"Still, shouldn't we prepare? You said dying in the illusion would be the end, right?"
Exactly. That was why I'd decided to make preparations.
"Blood Demon, could you burst the blood packs using your power, like when you created that path in the sky?"
"Of course. Something that simple won't take much effort."
That would be enough.
I approached the unconscious Itz and slipped a blood pack into his robes.
"If it looks like I'm about to die fighting, burst it. That's my save-load button."
"..Got it."
I heard what sounded like him clicking his tongue inside the glove, then it began to hum as if ready.
"About two minutes left. Let's head out."
This would be the first time in two days I'd see the axe-wielding man.
"Honestly, I'm a little nervous.."
He was strong enough to single-handedly destroy an entire academy, yet nothing was known about him. Even the academy attack incident only appeared in Itz's backstory and was barely documented.
That was why I refused to call the axe-wielding man by name and kept referring to him this way.
His name had never been revealed, so I didn't know it.
"Don't die doing something stupid. I still need my revenge."
After hearing the Blood Demon's curt remark, I closed the door to the guardroom where Itz was bound and headed straight for the main gate in front of me.
"..Why does this feel so damn ominous?"
The Blood Demon suddenly started complaining a lot. Why was he like this today?
-Shhhk!
At that moment, an axe came flying straight at me from the front.
-BOOM!
I hurriedly raised a blood barrier to block it, but the destructive force nearly shattered the shield completely.
"..What the hell."
Even Itz's attacks had rarely pushed me this far. A single axe throw did this?
No, more importantly—this guy wasn't originally this strong, was he?
"That bastard. It's him."
The Blood Demon muttered with certainty after seeing the axe. What the hell was he talking about?
"..Why are you holding the Blood Demon? And in that glove form?"
Before the Blood Demon could answer, the axe-wielding man—now wearing a mask that covered half his face—spoke first.
How did he know I was inside the glove? More than that, he knew about the Blood Demon?
While I stood there confused, the Blood Demon spoke quietly.
"That's the guy. The one you said was the academy headmaster—the one we sealed inside this glove."
..What? Why was the headmaster suddenly involved?