Homecoming (3)
“Kill me... Just let someone kill me right here...”
A little later, I watched Cartesia crouched in a corner of the room, smashing her head against the wall, and let out a wry smile.
Ever since I told her that I didn’t actually need to kiss someone to use my ability on them, she’d been reduced to that pathetic state.
Bang!
Like some sort of woodpecker, Cartesia kept ramming her head into the wall at regular intervals, and Arieta, who had been watching her in silence, clicked her tongue and said, “How do you expect to die like that? If you’re really going to die, why don’t you hit your head a little harder?”
“...Shut up, you damn girl. Come to think of it, you’re so irritating I don’t think I can die here even if I wanted to.”
Cartesia let out another deep sigh, as if the floor might cave in beneath her, and I spoke up quietly.
“I told you clearly when I explained this ability a few days ago. The first person I ever used it on was some old mercenary.”
For the record, I wasn’t so insane that I’d hand over my first kiss to some random fossil like that.
Or had Cartesia somehow believed I’d been using this ability by kissing my sisters one by one like some kind of pervert?
“No... I thought you had to exchange saliva, so I figured a kiss was mandatory. I mean, when you used that ability on Arieta, your posture was kind of strange too...”
“You seriously thought I was lining up to kiss Arieta when I gave her a lap pillow?”
Cartesia nodded without a second’s hesitation, and I felt a headache coming on.
I didn’t even care about the rest; I just knew now exactly what kind of man she thought I was in everyday life.
What I’d done a moment ago—giving Arieta my lap—had been nothing more than a medical measure to feed my blood into her mouth easily. Nothing more, nothing less.
“...Sorry, but that thing I just did with you was my first kiss. Thanks to you, I got to have my first kiss in this sort of way. I suppose I should be grateful for that.”
In fact, considering Cartesia’s looks, it was less “grateful” and more like I’d been handed something far too good for me.
“...Your first kiss?”
And then it happened. Cartesia, who had looked as though her soul had left her body until now, began to melt right before my eyes.
“Really? So you’ve never even held hands with another woman besides me?”
“I don’t remember ever saying it like that, but... yeah, I guess not.”
I’d lived in the same space as my sisters and touched them more times than I could count, but that was family, so it was perfectly legitimate. And the hand I’d just held with Arieta had been for medical reasons, so that was legitimate too, wasn’t it?
“Then... fine. I’ll forgive you. Because... it was my first kiss too.”
I didn’t know why, but Cartesia seemed to be in a much better mood now, her expression far looser than before.
Watching her, I had a strong urge to ask, You forced a kiss on me, so why the hell are you the one forgiving me? But I still had enough sense not to say it out loud.
“Anyway, Sian, I really am grateful that you used this ability on me... but before that, there’s something I want to ask of you.”
“What is it?”
“I’m not like your sisters. No, I want to become different. But that isn’t something you can do just by trying. Because if my talent gets amplified by your ability and I end up with tremendous power... I might forget the favor you did for me and betray you just like those girls did.”
“Don’t say that. I know you’d never do that.”
When I said it to Cartesia in a firm tone, she quietly shook her head.
“You can never know what’s going to happen to people in the future. So I want to ask you for something in advance.”
“...Ask?”
“If I ever seem like I’m going to betray you, or even if I just look like I might... then remove this ability without hesitation.”
“...What?”
For a moment, I thought Cartesia had to be joking, but apparently she wasn’t.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of filth in her eyes.
“I’ve... already received too much from you. Things I could never repay even if I devoted my whole life to you. In this life, and even in some past that’s already been erased...”
As she said that, Cartesia’s eyes seemed to gaze toward some far-off place.
As though she were layering another version of me over the one standing before her now.
“I’ll do whatever you want. But for you to trust me that much, I suppose I need a leash. And I think that would be better for both of us.”
“...You don’t mean you want to become my slave or something, do you? There’s no need to go that far-”
“That wouldn’t be so bad either. If that happened, then everything would simply be my fault for choosing the wrong master to serve...”
Cartesia smiled gently as she spoke.
It wasn’t self-mockery. It wasn’t bitterness toward anyone else. It wasn’t even scorn directed at anything in particular.
It was simply a pure smile, directed at me and me alone.
“.....”
At that expression of hers, I scratched my head and let out a sigh.
Honestly, talking about this sort of thing was hardly my idea of a good time.
“So... now that the charge of assaulting a royal has been cleared, are you going back to Rutra right away?”
“I should. If I want revenge on my sisters, it’ll be easier if we’re all in the same place.”
Cooking up some sneaky scheme from the back door like a rat wasn’t my style to begin with, and even if I tried to get revenge that way, I was certain it wouldn’t satisfy me. If anything, it would just leave me feeling dirty.
Besides, I also wanted a front-row seat to watch those rotten bitches, who thought they’d achieved everything with nothing but their own abilities, collapse in real time.
So the answer was simple.
A direct assault. Nothing else was acceptable to me.
At first glance, it probably looked like a reckless choice, but I believed I had my own chance of winning.
More than that, I’d already worked out at least a rough plan for how to drag my sisters down from where they stood now.
“Then which one are you targeting first? Personally, I think Lobelia would be best.”
“Why?”
“Because... that bitch just annoys me. Especially when I see her clinging to Prince Ricardo like a pair of cockroaches, I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
At Cartesia’s cutting remark, Arieta chimed in from the side.
“Well, I think I kind of understand how you feel. One thing’s for sure—anyone who gets along with that man Ricardo probably wouldn’t get along with me at all.”
“Hmm...”
Lobelia, huh. It really wasn’t a bad choice.
If I succeeded in taking revenge on Lobelia first, then at the very least I’d be able to cut off the connections between my sisters, Ricardo, and the powerful people scattered throughout noble society.
And once the factions that had been supporting my sisters simply because of their talents disappeared, it would undoubtedly become much easier to exact my revenge on them.
But.
“No, I’m not going after Lobelia first. At least, not yet.”
I had several reasons. I already had other plans, and if I were being honest, among the four sisters, Lobelia—who stayed close to Ricardo—was the one I found most infuriating anyway.
Above all else, I was the type to save the tastiest thing for last.
So Lobelia would be postponed until the very end.
“The first one I’m going to hit is... Eli.”
Lobelia had joined hands with the crown prince, Letitia had the Magic Tower behind her, and Seria had the Holy Church.
By contrast, Eli didn’t really have anything that could be called a background.
“As far as I know, Eli is Duke Orphega’s disciple, though? Doesn’t that mean she has the Orphega Duchy behind her too?”
“No, Eli isn’t Duke Orphega’s disciple. The reason the duke treats her specially is simply because she has the highest chance of fully mastering his swordsmanship.”
In other words, if someone with even greater talent than Eli ever appeared before the duke, then Eli would become as useless as a kite with its string cut.
“That’s all well and good, but does someone more talented than Eli even exist? I heard Duke Orphega searched the entire world and only managed to find one person—Eli.”
“It doesn’t matter if there isn’t one. If no such person really exists, then I’ll make one myself.”
If all else failed, there was always one final resort: I could reveal my ability to Duke Orphega.
No, even if I didn’t need to go that far, now that I’d already undone the ability applied to Eli, her ruin was practically guaranteed.
So you’re first, Eli. At least I’m confident I can finish you off properly.
Our swordsmanship match from last time never came to pass because of that idiot Ricardo, but this time there would be no such luck.
If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t care. But my connection with you, Eli... I’ll sever it with my own hands.
Definitely.
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