Chapter 95. Villain (2)
Chapter 95. Villain (2)
5
...My beloved daughter.
...Do not hope.
...Do not hope for anything.
...Do not hope, do not lean. That is the secret of life.
...Every time you whisper to yourself, "Maybe this time," the world will whisper back, "Not this time either." Being fooled once is experience. Being fooled twice is tragedy. But being fooled three times is comedy.
...My beloved daughter. You are a noble. Take care that your life does not become a comedy to someone else. Do not grant yourself three chances.
...Twice. Just two wounds are enough to be remembered forever. The ancient emperors mourned their own deaths while they still lived. Do not repeat the foolishness of raising a monument to yourself in the desert.
...But if you must entrust yourself to the world, my daughter, remember this. You are not lending your life to people. Do not become someone's debtor. Give without any thought of being repaid. Give everything.
...Forgive people for holding a carnival over your corpse. Give them your hair. Give them your fingers. Give them everything, from your purest sacrifice to your most innocent delight, your most untainted hope. They will greedily devour all of you and feast.
...And so, leave this world leaving nothing behind.
Nothing.
That was the will my mother left before she died.
The funeral was a cremation.
6
The basement was quiet.
"Why do you hesitate?"
Only the voice of Lady Silver Lily echoed low. The air was cold. The interrogated servants had bled, but a pool of blood from three people was not enough to warm the basement in the slightest.
"Hand down your punishment as the heir to the throne."
"Ha, ha."
The Crown Prince laughed faintly.
No—could that even be called a laugh? The corners of his mouth barely lifted and trembled. It was a smile that had failed miserably.
He turned his head as if fleeing and looked at the Heretic Questioner and me. [What do you two make of this absurd situation?] His eyes seemed to say.
"Your Highness."
But the escape failed. Lady Silver Lily's sharp voice cut off the Crown Prince's gaze.
"Shall I report their crimes to His Imperial Majesty's special task force?"
The Crown Prince flinched.
"Do you intend to follow in the footsteps of the deposed Crown Prince?"
"......."
"Will you test how far His Imperial Majesty is willing to forgive you?"
A threat.
Her tone was soft and did not breach decorum, but the daughter of the ducal house, Lady Silver Lily, was unmistakably cornering the Crown Prince.
And it was an effective threat.
"Ugh."
The heir to the empire's hand trembled. Trembling, he gripped the sword the ducal lady had offered. But the Crown Prince's resolve stopped at holding the blade. It did not extend to swinging it.
"Sylvia......."
The Crown Prince let the tip of the sword droop weakly. He stared at us blankly. Was he hoping someone would step in and stop Lady Silver Lily?
"How tidy of you!"
But the Heretic Questioner smiled brightly.
"I like that you've dragged not only His Highness but the two of us into this as well. Ah-ha, everyone gathered here becomes an [accomplice] and keeps their mouth shut. His Highness the Crown Prince benefits from having his blunder hushed up, and I benefit from seeing the young lady punished!"
"S-Sylvia?"
"The problem is that it seems only the young lady gains nothing from this arrangement."
The Heretic Questioner's eyes half-opened like an inverted moon.
"Do you gain anything from handling things this way, my lady? Three loyal servants of the ducal house die? And you even offer to take the punishment in His Highness's place. I am very curious about your thinking."
"I do not know what you mean. As I said, these are servants of the main house, and it is only proper that I, as the daughter of the main house, take responsibility for their mistakes......."
"Aha, how pretty! But it is inefficient for discussion! Let us both be honest for a more efficient discussion. Why do you offer to take the punishment in His Highness's place? Is that, perhaps, your 'love'?"
The sound of breathing in the basement.
The golden lady and the silver lady exchanged glances for a moment.
"I am merely doing what is proper as a subject, Lady Golden Thread Plum."
A calm voice continued.
Lady Silver Lily did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
"To weigh profit and cost is disloyalty. You were raised in a frontier house, so you may not easily understand."
"In other words, you expect no reward?"
"Do you expect an answer? Give up. Whether you understand me or not has no effect whatsoever on my actions."
"How interesting......."
The Heretic Questioner let out a breath, haa. I could not immediately guess what meaning that breath held.
But one thing was certain. The Heretic Questioner's reaction was not at all what the Crown Prince had hoped for. The Heretic Questioner had no intention of stopping Lady Silver Lily. The Crown Prince, who had clung to his love, had despair staining his face.
"...Please wait a moment, my lady."
And so I had no choice but to speak.
The Heretic Questioner tilted his head and looked at me.
"Yes, butler? What is it?"
"If those servants truly are the criminals who commissioned the assassination, then we too have the right to vengeance. It is not right to leave the punishment solely to His Highness."
My mouth was dry. I turned my head. To overcome this situation—a politically tangled affair if ever there was one—I focused on recalling the [best course of action]. I did not hesitate to draw on the butler's knowledge.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 7%.]
My tongue was parched. Still fine.
"...The same goes for Lady Silver Lily. She was betrayed by loyal servants, after all. I believe she is fully qualified to punish the attendants."
"Oh-ho, meaning?"
"As it happens, there are three servants who committed the crime. And three people qualified to punish them."
I looked at the servants bound to the chairs.
"How about each person takes charge of punishing one?"
Silence.
"In any case, Lady Silver Lily, you wish to make us accomplices, do you not? That is why you brought us here. ...His Highness the Crown Prince seems to have difficulty bearing the punishment alone. I believe it would be fitting for the three of you to share the responsibility equally."
Stillness lingered for a while.
"Hmm."
The Heretic Questioner closed one eye.
"......."
Lady Silver Lily silently narrowed her brow.
"Th-that......."
The Crown Prince's complexion brightened in a hurry.
"That's right! Sylvia's servant speaks true. The lady was betrayed by her subordinates. Sylvia was attacked. I must set the law of the land aright! Each of us has our own circumstances, so it is best that each of us handles one execution!"
"Your Highness, a sovereign must not share responsibility with others......."
"Silence!"
The Crown Prince irritably flung the sword at Lady Silver Lily. Thwack! The scabbard struck the lady's leg and bounced off.
Lady Silver Lily was expressionless. It must have struck hard enough to bruise.
"If something happens, kill! Execute! Punish! Is that all you know how to say! Until now, all this time, how many people do you think I have disposed of!"
"It is the duty of the one who will one day lead this empire."
"I am not a murderer! Not a slaughterer! You cruel, vicious thing! If you want to see blood so badly, then you kill first!"
The Crown Prince seethed. The ducal lady quietly watched him. Time froze.
The thin ice in the air broke as the lady slowly bent at the waist. She picked up the sword. Her hands moved. Left hand on the scabbard, right hand on the hilt. Skillfully.
Lady Silver Lily drew the sword.
"Your Highness."
The color of the blade resembled her hair.
"Then at the very least, give me an order."
"A-an order?"
"Yes, Your Highness. Command me to carry out the execution. Why do you hesitate? Have you perhaps forgotten how to command? Will you renounce the rights of a sovereign?"
"......."
The Crown Prince drew a breath.
"Ki......."
A single word, like a misstep.
"Kill......."
But Lady Silver Lily never misstepped.
Blood sprayed.
The air in the basement split, and something heavier than air—flesh—split as well.
"Haa."
Lady Silver Lily's shoulders stirred faintly, as if she had let out a small sigh. That was all. After taking a life with a single sigh, Lady Silver Lily looked at us.
"......."
Ominousness surged in. My heart pounded uneasily.
I realized what it was I felt toward Lady Silver Lily.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 8%.]
It was an instinctive foreboding: [This person will one day stand in the way of Lady Golden Thread Plum.]
It was an obsession that the person before my eyes must be dealt with.
"Aha-ha. You grow more and more interesting to me! Hmm, very well!"
That was why my Immersion Rate was climbing like mad.
"We cannot very well leave the one who commissioned the assassination alive. Hand me the sword. I will handle the second one. Now then, shall we become accomplices!"
How many people has the Heretic Questioner killed so far?
I still did not know, but at the very least, it was all too clear that the Heretic Questioner was no amateur in this field.
The moment the Heretic Questioner received the sword, "Hmph!" he carried out the execution in a single stroke.
Now only one servant remained.
"Ah......."
And only one person remained to preside over the punishment.
The Crown Prince stared at the Heretic Questioner with his mouth open. He had not expected the Heretic Questioner to carry out an execution so easily.
"Ugh, uh......!"
And then something astonishing—no, something infuriating—happened. The Crown Prince stumbled backward and tried to flee. Before Lady Silver Lily could even say anything, the moment the Heretic Questioner let out an "Oh!", the Crown Prince ran.
Because no one had expected it, the Crown Prince nearly succeeded in escaping. Yes—if I, standing behind the group, had not blocked the basement stairs.
"H-how dare you! A mere servant, blocking whose path!"
"Yours."
I snatched the Crown Prince's wrist and gripped it. Crush! I put in strength deliberately.
The Crown Prince tried to shake off my hand but failed. A low cry escaped him. In the first place, his grip strength was no match for mine.
"How dare you say 'yours'... Gah! Let go of my hand this instant!"
"Didn't this all happen because of you?"
The voice that came out of my mouth was cold even to my own ears. It was not my usual voice.
"If you hadn't frivolously commissioned an assassination, none of this would have happened. You went mad with love and staged a kidnapping. That much, perhaps, is understandable. But do you intend to shirk responsibility just because you were mad?"
I glared at the Crown Prince.
"Take hold of it."
"T-take hold of... what......."
"The sword. Take hold of it."
The Crown Prince flinched.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 9%.]
My immersion deepened, but it did not matter. My feelings now were exactly the butler's own. Rage at cowardly flight.
I seized the Crown Prince's wrist and pulled. The Crown Prince resisted. He thrashed, trying not to be dragged along. But I ignored him and brought him with me.
"Grip the hilt."
"Ugh, you insolent...! How dare you...!"
He would not grip it, so I forced him to.
"Raise the sword properly."
"Let go! I ordered you to let go! I-is there no one here!"
He would not raise it, so I forced it up.
"I can see how you have lived until now, blaming others. The dirty work, the vile work, the work you did not want to touch. You must have shoved it all onto Lady Silver Lily. And you call yourself the Crown Prince of a nation."
"S-Sylvia! Stop your servant! Please! Sylvia!"
"Bring the sword down and cut."
The Crown Prince's arm strength was pitiful. Easy to overpower.
So I overpowered it.
"Ah."
The smell of blood in the basement grew a little thicker. The body of the servant bound to the chair slumped and slid.
The Crown Prince stared ahead with a dazed face. At his feet, Lady Silver Lily slowly bent her knees. The hem of her skirt settled into the pool of blood and was dyed red.
"That the heir to the throne has set the law aright is a great blessing for all, Your Highness."
"......."
The Crown Prince did not answer. He turned his back without a word. This time, I let go of his hand.
"Steady your heart, and henceforth uphold the discipline of reward and punishment."
The Crown Prince climbed the basement stairs with weary steps. Thud, thud....... All the while, Lady Silver Lily continued to offer her loyal counsel. Her voice struck the Crown Prince's back and flowed softly through the basement.
"The fate of this nation and the destiny of its people rest solely upon Your Highness's state of mind. Though Your Highness may feel alone, you are not alone. Each and every one of Your Highness's actions and decisions greatly affects the empire. I beg of you."
The footsteps receded and faded. We watched Lady Silver Lily, who still had her head bowed.
"Grow strong."
I.
I wanted to understand this person.