We Must (3)
The person the Caligosa ducal heir intended to attach to us was none other than Maria Caligosa herself.
In Luke's Biography, she became the Demon King — the one who, alongside the demon-worshipper Karl, swallowed half the continent.
The reason Maria had become the Demon King was the Curse of Emotionlessness, which drove her to chase ever stronger stimulation. And then she had gained a goal: to make the illusions Karl saw into reality. Not merely creating phantoms the way I did, but realizing a world swallowed whole by illusion.
That was why I had taken the Curse of Emotionlessness from her, and why I had resolved to keep my distance from her life.
"Have you been well, Karl? I'm so happy to see you again."
"…Yes."
"That answer is awfully half-hearted. Didn't you want to see me?"
"Honestly, I can't say I particularly wanted to meet again."
"My. You'll hurt my feelings, talking like that."
"Will I."
She said the words, but that mask-like smile of hers never changed — as if the Curse of Emotionlessness had never been lifted at all. If she truly were hurt, I would have preferred she simply stay away from me.
I had split off from the Special Task Force and was riding in Maria's carriage. On her way to Blarose County, she had said she wanted to talk alone for the first time in a long while.
"After you transferred the curse to me, I assumed you no longer had any business with me."
Once the transfer of the Curse of Emotionlessness was finished, Maria hadn't spoken a word to me even at the mental hospital. I had thought her interest in me was simply gone.
"No. I had plenty of business. I just held myself back."
"Why?"
"Because you're under the Curse of Emotionlessness, Karl. I'm clearly far too stimulating a woman for you. Spend too much time close to me and you'd fall hopelessly in love."
"You needn't worry about that. I know my place."
A country noble of sorts, and Maria — illegitimate or not, still of a ruling house's blood. An unbridgeable gap lay between us. Even if I somehow fell for her, the line would have to stay clear.
"That isn't what I'm worried about. The problem is that you'd grow bored of me so quickly and leave. That's what the Curse of Emotionlessness does."
"…"
"So I held back and avoided contacting you as much as I could. I could have visited your territory whenever I wanted. I just couldn't stand it any longer — so here I am."
"My lady, you almost sound as if…"
I nearly said she almost sounded as if she had feelings for me, then stopped. I did not want to get entangled with Maria. Better to avoid any words that might create even the slightest possibility.
"As if I have feelings for you, Karl?"
It was no use.
"Well. Who can say?"
"…"
"But you helped free me from my curse. Is it so strange that I might hold you in my heart? That's how it goes in fairy tales, isn't it? Right, Miss Dorothy?"
"Yes."
Dorothy was sitting beside me. Maria had said she wanted to speak with me alone, but Dorothy refused to leave my side, so I had asked her understanding.
"So what is the relationship between you two?"
"Master is. My master."
"Hmm. A simple master-servant arrangement?"
"Dorothy is a werewolf who was being used by a dark mage. After that dark mage died, she looked useful enough that I took her on as a servant."
"Heh. There you go again."
"…What do you mean?"
"You're not being honest."
Maria reached out and stroked Dorothy's cheek. Dorothy stayed still, apparently not minding.
"You've acquired yourself a useful little bitch."
"…That kind of language—"
"See? It bothers you, doesn't it?"
The word wasn't entirely wrong. Through the trait Heretical Offering, I was using Dorothy as a reservoir of extra life force. Honestly, there were times I thought of her as something like a pet dog, and someone might easily misread why I kept her around. Even so, referring to one of my own people that way…
"I'll apologize for that just now. Miss Dorothy."
"Okay."
"Karl is a kind person, isn't he?"
"Yes. Master. Is kind."
Dorothy accepted the apology, but she didn't seem to register that she had been insulted at all.
"…How have you been spending your time, my lady?"
The atmosphere didn't feel like one that was going to spare my feelings, so I changed the subject.
"Heh. I've been busy. And even in the middle of all that, you have no idea how exhausting it was keeping tabs on what you were up to, Karl."
Given that she had come all this way to find me, I had already assumed she had been investigating me in secret. Hearing her say it so openly somehow felt very much like Maria now.
"After I was discharged from the mental hospital, I went back to the duchy and crushed the insects who'd been ignoring me, one by one."
"…Excuse me?"
"My eldest brother, my second brother, my eldest sister, my second sister… hmm… how far down did it go? I've killed so many I can't even remember. Father really did produce quite a litter, didn't he."
"…Is that something you should be telling me?"
"The rumors will spread soon enough anyway. 'The Caligosa bastard child brought a storm of blood' — something like that."
"…A young lady barely out of the hospital, and you did all that in such a short time?"
"Heh. How I managed it is a secret."
I had never seen Maria make a face like that. She was smiling — not that mask-like, inhuman smile, but a smile of genuine, rapturous delight.
It hadn't even been that long, and she had killed that many brothers and sisters. The succession struggle of House Caligosa was as good as settled by Maria's hand. How she had managed it, I had no idea.
At this rate, there was hardly any difference from the plot of Luke's Biography. Maria was leaving a trail that looked exactly like someone becoming the Demon King. Had everything I done been useless?
"Anyway, everyone died except my third brother. He was the only one who ever treated me like a person. Ah — you've met my third brother, haven't you? Brother Yohan."
"His Grace the ducal heir… you mean."
"…Why that look? Did you not know I was this kind of person?"
I had known. That was exactly why I had wanted to change things.
"If — just if — you took the Curse of Emotionlessness because you were afraid I might do something like this…"
"It wasn't that. I needed the Curse of Emotionlessness for myself—"
"I said if. If you thought I'd become a different person just because the Curse of Emotionlessness was gone, you miscalculated."
"…"
"If you wanted to stop me… you should have killed me then."
"…Your joke goes too far. I simply needed the Curse of Emotionlessness. Thanks to it, I'm almost never tormented by the terror of my illusions anymore."
"Heh. Karl really is kind."
Killing her and cutting off the Demon King's bud at the root would have been a fine method, I supposed. But back then I hadn't had the power to kill Maria. She could use dark magic, and I had been a sickly child who could barely walk for long.
…Now, though, it might be possible. Maria had not yet awakened as the Demon King. With the strength I had now — having paid vast amounts of life force and made the power of every kind of curse my own — I might be able to subdue her.
This world is a single story. Everyone has a role assigned on the stage, and no one can escape it.
Having a little more power than others, knowing a little more than others — that alone changes nothing. Even if it looks like you've changed something, it will only be for now.
The words I had once heard from the Goddess of the Black Swamp suddenly came back to me. I found myself thinking she might have been right.
"My lady. I am not a kind person."
"Hmm. Is that so?"
"No. Master. Is a kind person."
Which meant that no matter what choices I had made until now, no matter what choices I made from here on — there was nothing I could change.
"What I am is stubborn. I cling to things."
"Oh? Stubbornness… that does sound plausible."
It wasn't that everything was meaningless. The Goddess of the Black Swamp herself had said she wouldn't go so far as to call it futile. Even if I couldn't change anything, I could find meaning in the choices I had made and the ones I would make. I had always liked assigning meaning to things.
I didn't want to keep thinking about this right now. Time to change the subject again.
"By the way — after I was discharged first, what became of the dark mage?"
Jeina, the Curse Eater. After I left, the heresy inquisitors should have come and taken her. When I asked Veronica, she said it wasn't her jurisdiction and she didn't know.
"Ah. That woman. Well…"
Maria seemed to sink into some amusing private deliberation, giggling without giving me an answer.
Just then, the carriage stopped.
"My lady. We have arrived. Blarose County."
"Perfect timing. I'll tell you next time."
"…"
The coachman opened the door. I stepped down first, then Dorothy. When it was finally Maria's turn, the coachman offered his hand.
But Maria did not take it. She simply looked at me, steady and unblinking. The coachman withdrew his hand, embarrassed, and followed her gaze to me.
I let out a small sigh no one else could hear, and held out my hand to Maria.
She laid her hand atop mine and stepped down from the carriage.