Chapter 5
Chapter 5:?It's Mine.
Ever since the day before, an awkward silence had settled between them.
I felt uneasy when I brought fresh bandages, and even when handing over a meal, I checked on the final boss's condition.
'...It seems like she tried to do something on her own yesterday.'
It didn't go well, from the looks of it. I was quietly sensing that Amelia found my presence uncomfortable.
At 1 point, the inner chamber had been spotlessly cleaned. The shelves were neatly arranged, the mirror polished to a shine, and the entire room gleamed. I had been looking around in a daze when I was startled to find Amelia flat on the floor, wiping it down with a cloth while sweating. I had no idea why she was cleaning, and above all, she was still in the middle of recovering at the time. I rushed over, took the cloth from her, and asked her what she was doing without resting—to which she quietly bowed her head without a word.
'...This can't go on.'
Shaking off those stray thoughts, I opened the door.
"...Good morning."
There was Amelia, basking in warm sunlight. Even from her profile alone it was plain to see. That she was beautiful. At the same time, she looked listless. Eyes drained of their clarity and life. She was using her long side hair to hide a faint scar on 1 cheek.
"...I was too disoriented to even offer my thanks. Thank you for saving me."
The sorry state of the woman forcing herself to look composed as she faced me made her seem more deeply wounded than I had imagined.
'It really does feel like looking at someone broken.'
"Can you manage to eat something?"
"....I'm not a picky eater. I'll eat whatever I'm given."
And true to her word, she ate whatever food was placed before her without a change in expression, chewing quietly. At first, when she picked up the spoon, dropped everything she was holding, and said with a blank face, '...I'm sorry. I didn't think I'd be this useless even in something like this'—I had wondered for a moment what was happening.
After clearing away the meal, a question came flying at me from the other side out of nowhere.
"...Come to think of it, aren't you going to change the bandages again? My clothes had already been fully removed."
...Right from the start, a question that cut straight to the point.
I averted my gaze to the other side and spoke.
"From today onward I've left that to another attendant."
"I'm not trying to complain. What I wanted to ask was... whether you found my body to your liking."
"...The pace of your recovery is fast, if things continue like this—"
"Not about my condition. I was asking for your... impressions."
As she said it, Amelia guided my hand slightly downward. From her collarbone, to the nape of her neck, and then further down where it had no business being.
The large chest that was pushing up the bandages that had been somewhat insufficient for her kept stealing my gaze away. Even when I tried to look at something else, in this state of close contact, everything was blocked by her considerable chest and nothing else could enter my field of view.
She studied my eyes and asked:
"...Do you find it to your liking?"
"That's......"
Deliberately letting the words trail off made the uneasy air grow all the thicker.
Her eyes were trembling with fear. Like someone who had suffered something resembling domestic abuse in the past. Even so, she pressed 1 step closer to me again, repeating, 'I was asking... whether you found my body to your liking.'
"..."
"...I'm sorry if it was not to your taste."
How am I supposed to react to this?
...Is this a situation where I'm supposed to say I like it?
When I lowered my gaze, Amelia was there, her upper body laid bare without any attempt to conceal it.
"No, for now... just get dressed properly first."
"...I'm sorry, but I cannot do that."
"...?"
But the answer that came back was a refusal. Was she trying to offer her body to me? Surely not.
"You may take me. If I am to your liking."
Before that thought had even finished, she went and proved it with her own mouth.
"…."
"It is nothing much, but... I have kept my virtue intact until now. For the sake of a fated encounter that would one day come.... So, worthless as it is... I offer it to you."
She called it nothing much, yet it was a tone and manner that felt anything but. Her face, as she placed her hand over her lower abdomen and said those words, already seemed to have accepted her own circumstances.
"...Did it perhaps seem as though I brought you here for that sort of purpose."
"...I am an exiled Illegitimate Daughter. Though I was a knight, I am a fugitive... simply... a useless woman who can do nothing."
"…."
"Keeping me hidden here will surely... bring trouble upon you."
She wasn't wrong. It was a fact that she was a fugitive, and hiding someone like this wasn't without its burden on me either. The only thing that pained me endlessly was that I couldn't show Amelia her own Rampage Gauge.
"You don't seem like the type who thinks offering your body solves anything."
"...At the very least, for my own peace of mind, I must. Even a little... I have to prove my worth."
Before I knew it, she was speaking of offering her body as though it were nothing. I found myself wondering if it was really alright for the final boss to be like this. Small wonder such words were coming out of her.
"Let me say this upfront—I have no intention of pressuring you to give me anything right now."
"That isn't what I'm trying to say. What I mean is... I am here, receiving food and shelter, and potions of incalculable value, endlessly and without limit."
"…."
"I know those potions are expensive. I drank failed potions often as a child, so I can tell. That you used nothing but the finest quality on me, without reservation. Mid-grade potions are one thing, but high-grade ones are considered the finest among luxury goods. Obtaining them is no different from reaching for the stars. So... so I must... repay you. And since I must prove my worth..."
"…."
"Please... give me... some task I can do... and I will see it done without fail."
[<<Target>>: Amelia's Rampage Gauge is at 66%.]
{......Time Remaining: 1 day—17:56:22}
...Good grief.
There's no getting through to her.
In that case, either I had to give her something she could do, or I needed another sharp solution.
Honestly speaking, the things Amelia could currently do?
None.
When washing dishes she couldn't even properly hold a bowl—one wrong move and she'd shatter the lot.
And the floor wiping? With her hands in that state, just gripping something and holding it there looked like torture.
In truth, even just standing upright she was swaying—it looked quite precarious. It was clear that the morning's cleaning had also taken a considerable toll on her.
In that case... the only option was to reach a compromise somewhere reasonable.
"Amelia."
I called her name directly. I intended to set the tone that I already knew who she was.
"Then I'd like to make 1 proposal."
This was the only way to reach her. For someone as guarded as she was, and as deeply broken, nothing else would do. And fortunately, I already knew what she wanted right now.
Without hesitation, I answered directly. I looked at her with resolute eyes that could give her certainty.
"...I'll be on your side."
Simple, but—the 1 thing she must have desperately wanted to hear. The words that had never once been permitted in that place echoed in Amelia's ears.
Looking into those eyes that flickered as though they might go out at any moment—
"Not only will I make sure that arm heals—I'll treat you from the deep wounds that lie behind all of it. As your one and only ally."
"…."
No answer came back.
She was someone who had been betrayed over and over until now. By blood family, by close friends, by knights—betrayed by everyone, every time. Faced with someone like that, she might only grow more guarded.... I hoped she wouldn't.
I had heard from someone's advice that with a woman, holding her hand and speaking in a decisive tone was what gave her the most certainty. Meeting her eyes was a given.
I had done exactly that, but her reaction was unusual.
".......All of my... wounds... you say?"
"That's right. I can help you get rid of every last person who made you this way."
"The price... what price must I... pay...?"
"Just be on my side too. I'll be on yours, and you'll be on mine. And if the day ever comes when that breaks—you can leave my side whenever you like."
There's no better backing than the final boss.
Amelia asked again, as if confirming it once more.
"The price... is that truly all the price there is?"
"That's all."
"You'd be satisfied... with someone like me...?"
"That's enough."
I said it with full confidence. Because without that, I couldn't give her 'certainty.' Either way, Amelia would become a figure on the level of the final boss within 5 years no matter what. Even if it seemed like I was getting the short end of the stick now, buying the final boss's loyalty was practically a bargain.
...But her reaction is strange.
"...Even though I'm being hunted by nobles...?"
"If my enemies become my family's enemies, I'm ready to turn my back on the family."
"...You're saying you would stand against your own family on the strength of a single word from me...?"
"That's right."
Either way, I was destined to play the villain in this family. And even if I managed to escape that fate, living in this family alongside the protagonist would make me a villain no matter what I did. Better to go back to the countryside and live in peace than walk on thin ice like this.
"...Why would you go this far... for me..."
"? Because you're mine."
Obviously.
From now on, you're on my side. That was the thought—but unlike that reaction, cold sweat was rising on my back. Because Amelia's burning gaze was landing on my face like a stab.
"...Ah."
"In this world...."
Slightly unfocused eyes and a flushed complexion. An expression dazed, as though she had fallen into a trance.
"...I've changed my mind. I will offer my Master everything—body and soul."
".......What?"
[<<Target>>: Amelia's ?? Gauge fills to 99%##*.]
....What on earth is this now.