Chapter 163
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 163
Mavka's face, which had brightened for a moment at Rico's sickly sweet voice, fell as she turned to me with trembling eyes.
"Mavka won't do that..."
"Why? Don't you love your mother? If it were me, I would gladly do something like that for my mother!"
That's easy for a demon to say. I criticized her inwardly, pulling Mavka closer to me.
"...Mavka. You heard what she said, right? That isn't Rico anymore."
"No, she's Mavka's mommy! Mommy promised she would come back!"
Mavka desperately clung to her denial. It was hard enough to persuade a child under normal circumstances, but trying to convince one who was actively shutting her ears felt like a lost cause.
At this point, I was prepared to use force. Even if Mavka grew to hate me, even if she called me her mother's murderer and spent her life sharpening a blade for revenge, I would accept it. For the sake of the people I had to protect in this mansion, and for those who had been injured and dragged off to the Temple, I had to eliminate the Rat.
"Pudding, take Mavka—"
"...I..."
I was about to ask Pudding to teleport the child away when Mavka cut me off, her words tumbling out through a flood of tears.
"...I heard everything from Hazel... She said someone made a wish, and that's why Mommy disappeared and became the Duchess's daughter..."
Mavka babbled through her sniffles. To my surprise, she was fully aware that the person before her wasn't her mother, but 'the Rat' occupying Rico's body. That explained her insistence that her mother had promised to return.
"Then Mavka will make a wish, too... So, sniff... you can stop being the Duchess's daughter and be my mommy again."
Mavka buried her face in Rico's clothes as she spoke, her voice muffled by the fabric.
Pinned by Pudding's telekinesis, the Rat's body remained stiff, unable to return the child's embrace. Not that she would have, even if she could move.
"Hazel, what on earth did you tell her?"
"I'm sorry... But with Rico being so dangerous, I thought Mavka needed to know what was happening... She kept asking, so I ended up explaining it to her."
It seemed Mavka had sensed she wasn't being told the whole truth. When her mother vanished, she must have vaguely realized something was wrong with Rico. She had pestered Hazel with questions until she pieced together the situation. Fearing Mavka might blindly follow the possessed Rico, Hazel had likely told her as a warning.
"Mommy, Mommy..."
The child wept sorrowfully. At this rate, she was going to cry herself sick. Pudding was focused on restraining the Rat, and Hazel couldn't seem to handle the distraught child, leaving me no choice but to step in.
I gently pulled Mavka away from the Rat and into my own arms. The Rat stared at me for a moment. What are you looking at? I ignored her, focusing on the child. Fortunately, Mavka didn't resist and let me hold her quietly.
I patted her back with a steady, soothing rhythm. Wary of me, she fought to keep her strained eyes open, trying to resist sleep. But perhaps because I had comforted her like this before, she soon drifted off. Before long, the only sound was the soft, even breathing of a sleeping child.
I brushed my thumb across her tear-stained cheek. Her skin was warm, the high body temperature typical of a young child, made even warmer by her crying fit.
"Her blind devotion is just like yours," I remarked.
"Does Mavka resemble me?"
"Yes. You're just as devoted to Lady Agera."
I was speaking casually, but I felt something shift and looked over at the Rat. Pudding was also staring, a look of bewilderment on his face. Ignoring us, she kept her eyes fixed on me—or more accurately, on the child in my arms, as if engraving Mavka's image into her mind.
"Mavka does resemble me a lot..." the Rat whispered.
No, this wasn't the Rat. Recognizing the change, I studied her face. A gentle warmth washed over me, as soft as the spring sun. I knew it instinctively. This was Rico.
"Rico?"
"Yes, Lady Rohanson."
Was 'the Rat' mimicking her to survive? But there wasn't a shred of hostility in her calm reply.
Could it really be her? What was happening? Had Rico's soul somehow fought its way back? Had Mavka's wish actually come true? A thousand questions flashed through my mind.
"What happened?"
Unable to grasp the situation, I blurted out the one question that encompassed all my doubts. Rico offered a faint smile.
"My child was desperately looking for her mother. How could I just stand by and watch?"
So she really had seized control of her body, driven by her daughter's desperate plea. What kind of cliché novel plot was this? Then again, this was a novel. Right. A miracle wasn't out of the question.
"Lady Rohanson."
Rico called out to me as I stood there, dazed.
"Please, kill me. Quickly."
Her next words were a bombshell. Rico looked completely resigned to her fate.
I had also prepared myself to kill Rico. But I had been prepared to kill the Rat, not the real, lucid Rico who had reclaimed her own body. If she were still the Rat, I wouldn't have hesitated for a second.
"Wait, hold on. Now that the butler is back, can't we just...?"
Hazel cut in, terrified that I might actually kill Rico on the spot.
"...I'm sorry, but this is the only moment I can surface. I'm already part of the demon. The Rat was wounded, and Mavka's plea gave me a chance to seize control, but it's only temporary... As time passes, it will take over my body again."
In other words, she wanted me to end her life peacefully now, before she reverted to being the Rat.
"Hazel."
"Yes... Butler."
"Mavka will be fine. Her memories of my death will fade. In a few decades, she won't even remember her parent's face, just as I don't remember mine."
Rico spoke of Mavka's future as if it were her own past.
"I don't want her to see me die. Could you please take her and go outside?"
"But... if I take Mavka out, then you'll..."
Hazel's eyes trembled, a violent quake of emotion passing through them. I handed the sleeping Mavka over to her. The frail Hazel staggered under the weight but quickly found her footing. Though she had accepted the child by instinct, she now hesitated, completely at a loss.
"...If I leave, you're going to die?"
Having finally voiced the terrible truth, Hazel trembled. The realization that leaving with Mavka would seal Rico's fate was a crushing weight. Though she wouldn't be holding the blade, she must have felt like an executioner. Crushed by a guilt so heavy she could barely stand, Hazel looked as if she were about to collapse.
I decided to ease her burden. Placing a hand on her shoulder, I gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Hazel. Respect Rico's choice. She wouldn't want to drag out a miserable existence as a demon's host."
At my words, Hazel looked at Rico, who offered her a gentle, reassuring smile. Bowing her head, Hazel spoke.
"Butler... Thank you for saving me in the dining hall."
"Haha. If you look at it that way, I was also the one who put you in danger. I should be thanking you for treating my hand."
With Rico's reply, Hazel bowed to me as well and left the room, sniffling. She would have her hands full when Mavka woke up.
For a long time after they left, Rico and I stood in silence. Only when Hazel's footsteps had faded down the hallway did Rico turn to me.
"Lady Rohanson... I know this is shameless of me, but please take care of Mavka."
I was the enemy who was about to kill her mother; Mavka would never follow me. We both knew she was asking the impossible, but neither of us said it aloud.
"Lastly... may I say goodbye to Lady Agera?"
Rico asked, clenching and unclenching her hands nervously. She was visibly tense, aware I could easily refuse. A final farewell to Lady Agera... Rico wasn't blindly obsessed like the Rat, but she had always revered Lady Agera as a savior. If possible, I wanted to grant her this last wish.
"Alright."
At my permission, Pudding released his telekinetic hold. We remained on high alert, however, not knowing when the Rat might resurface. Rico stumbled unsteadily toward Lady Agera's bed.
"Lady Agera..."
Sitting by the bedside, she looked down at the sleeping woman and called her name with a deep longing. In a strange way, she and 'the Rat' were similar. Just like the Rat, Rico couldn't bring herself to reach out and touch her. Since this was the end, it would have been nice if she could have at least held her hand.
"I am so incredibly grateful. When I was just a pickpocket in the slums, you didn't punish me. You brought me to your home and gave me a job."
Rico spoke softly, as if Lady Agera were awake and listening.
"When I became pregnant out of wedlock, you didn't cast me out. You told me I could raise her here. You even said Mavka was like a granddaughter to you. I'm grateful for everything."
Forcing back tears, Rico uttered her final words.
"I... I even dared to think of you as my mother."
I finally understood. The Rat was obsessed with becoming Lady Agera's daughter, which was why it had targeted me and consumed Rico. It chose Rico... because Rico already thought of Lady Agera as a mother.
Rico roughly wiped her eyes with her sleeve, as if terrified a tear might fall on Lady Agera. But despite her efforts, Lady Agera's eyes fluttered open.
Blinking as if still in a dream, she reached out to Rico. Since Rico couldn't bring herself to move closer, Lady Agera reached out first.
"...Rico."
I doubted my own ears. Did I mishear? Did Lady Agera just say her name?
"Rico."
The name was spoken again.
Seeing Rico's expression of pure shock, I knew I hadn't imagined it. Lady Agera recognized her. She reached up and gently stroked Rico's hair.
"Rico... I thought of you as a daughter, too..."
Rico froze, paralyzed by Lady Agera's touch, unable to process what was happening. Her face contorted as a wave of overwhelming emotion washed over her.
"So... don't ever say you 'dared'..."
With those final words, Lady Agera's head nodded, and she drifted back to sleep. I felt like I was seeing a ghost. For a moment, I wondered if another demon was controlling her. But the Rat would never do something so kind for Rico. This had to be Lady Agera, acting of her own free will.
Had her memory returned for just a brief moment? Or perhaps the dementia-like symptoms she exhibited weren't a simple illness. Maybe she had offered her memories as the price for summoning the demon, and now that the Rat's influence had waned, they were faintly returning.
Whatever the reason, it was a miracle. It was astounding enough that Rico had wrestled back control from the Rat, but for Lady Agera to remember her now... A strange warmth filled my chest. Why did this miracle have to happen now, of all times?
During my time at the mansion, I had watched Lady Agera ask for Rico's name again and again. Every time, she looked at Rico as if she were a complete stranger.
As the butler of the Duke's estate, Rico met with her constantly, yet Lady Agera never remembered who she was. It had always pained me to see. For Rico, who revered Lady Agera as her savior, how utterly shattering must it have been? Watching Lady Agera remember only Amaranth, wasn't she painfully reminded that she could never truly be her daughter?
I couldn't begin to fathom what Rico must be feeling right now.
"Uwah... Lady Agera..."
Rico wept aloud. Forgetting her age, she sobbed like a little girl. She wept with the sorrow of a lost child who had finally found her way home. In that moment, she was the spitting image of Mavka. It was a shame she wasn't a child, or I might have pulled her into my arms and comforted her.