Ventorino Kingdom - Sprouting (16)
"That’s right. I’m the one who planned everything."
"...What?"
Jurina had been watching the boy standing before her with tense, unwavering focus, eyes fixed on his mouth. Then Valdes spoke, and his answer left her body freezing in place. It was a reply she could not understand.
He’s just admitting it so easily...?
Her brown eyes trembled.
It was, without question, the answer she had wanted—but for some reason, it only made her angry. Even though he was the criminal who had committed the offense, his shameless attitude was infuriating. He had killed Heik, the man she loved, a man far more precious to her than that repulsive half-demon, and yet he stood there with such infuriating calm that it made her blood boil.
Haa... calm down, Jurina.
Valdes saw the beastwoman maiden scowling so fiercely that her face had gone rigid, and he couldn’t quite hold back a laugh.
It suddenly occurred to him that he was curious.
What kind of expression would she make if she found out that he already knew everything—about her lurking around him, watching him, investigating him? What would she do when she realized the full scope of the little game he was about to play with her?
But that could wait a little longer.
If he didn’t, there’d be no point in leaving her to stew in place and let that hatred ripen.
"I’ll say it again. It was all my doing—leading the demons into attacking, and having a dark elf kill Heik. Every bit of it."
"...Your goal was Princess Clara?"
The memory of the two of them sneaking around in the dead of night flashed through Jurina’s mind.
"No, that’s wrong. That was just a side benefit."
"What...? The princess was just a side benefit...?"
Valdes drew out the corner of his mouth in a slow, crooked smile and walked toward her.
Step. Step.
With each step closer, Jurina’s body twitched ever so slightly. An urgent, almost physical desire to flee from that unknown villain surged through her. Her beastfolk instincts were screaming at her not to get close to him, not even to become entangled with him in the slightest.
And yet she suppressed it.
She couldn’t back down. The boy before her was an enemy she could not afford to let escape.
She wasn’t careless, of course. Even if he looked like nothing more than a boy on the outside, she had no idea what he truly was. But he was the murderer of the man she loved, and perhaps the enemy of the kingdom itself. That alone was reason enough.
What she didn’t know was that because she hadn’t run then—no, long before that—her future had already been decided. Jurina would one day not even be able to regret this moment. Because what awaited her future was neither death nor despair.
"Curious about who I am?"
"......"
"You must be dying to know. Why I’m so willing to tell you, too."
Though she trembled at the oppressive force of his presence now so close she could almost feel it on her skin, Jurina reached her right hand to her waist and gripped her sword. If he made even the slightest suspicious move, she intended to cut Valdes down on the spot.
"Simple."
—Thuk.
"...Huh?"
"Because I have no intention of letting you live."
"Kh... rgh...?"
Jurina coughed up blood with a stunned look on her face. Still disbelieving, she lowered her head and stared at the blood splattered from her mouth. But no matter how many times she looked, it had definitely come from her own body.
It made no sense.
Even at such close range, she was a beastfolk with famously sharp instincts, and an Expert-rank knight at that. And yet neither her instincts nor her reflexes had reacted at all. Only belatedly did she realize she had been stabbed in the stomach. Worse still, it hadn’t been by a weapon—it had been pierced by a finger.
It was such an absurd situation that even laughter wouldn’t come. And yet a laugh escaped her lips anyway.
"...Ha!"
Tears streamed down her face.
Her stomach hurt. It hurt so much. More than when she’d had her first period, even.
Well, that made sense. There was a hole in her abdomen. A hole about the size of one index finger. Jurina had never experienced war, and she had never suffered a wound like this before. And yet, even so, she could tell instinctively.
This was a wound that could absolutely kill her.
"Khh, ngh...!"
Still, she gathered what little strength she had left and pulled her sword free, swinging it out in one desperate motion.
They were this close. If she could only draw a proper diagonal cut, she could slice him cleanly in half in one stroke. Even if her instincts had failed her, a strike made with her life on the line—she believed it could still reach the enemy before her.
"Now, now. That won’t do."
But even that last desperate blow came to nothing.
"...?!"
Because she’d forced her body to tense, blood gushed from the hole in her stomach. But that was all. Jurina couldn’t draw her sword. Valdes had done nothing more than press the bloodied tip of his index finger against the end of the hilt, and the blade became completely immovable.
"Th-thi...s... is... non...sense..."
...What a monster...
Jurina’s body slowly crumpled.
"Let me greet you properly on your way to the underworld. It was nice meeting you, Jurina. My name is Valdes. The next Demon King—the Demon Prince."
"......?"
What...?
Valdes’s absurd, utterly outrageous declaration left her wanting to ask what the hell he was talking about, but her lips refused to part.
The wound in Jurina’s abdomen was exactly two and a half finger joints deep. It couldn’t be called especially deep, but because he had stabbed so ruthlessly, the bleeding was severe. As a result, even though it had only been a short time since she’d been injured, she had already lost a considerable amount of blood.
Dammit... so I’m really going to die here...?
"Well then. See you later."
"Wai...t...p...le...a...se..."
Jurina forced her lips to move with all the strength she had left, trying to speak to the enemy who was already turning away with a farewell.
But that was the end of it.
Whether Valdes hadn’t heard her or had simply ignored her, he vanished from her sight in an instant.
Haah... haah...
Left alone in the dark alley, Jurina drew ragged breaths.
Her head was already swimming, and the world before her eyes was growing dim.
Ah...
The person she thought of as death drew near was still the one and only person she loved—Commander Heik.
Heik, senpai... I’ll be coming... soon too...
Was someone coming to meet her in the underworld?
Through her blurred vision and the muffled ringing in her ears, she thought she could see two figures standing there. That was the last thing she thought before losing consciousness.
"...Hah!"
I was definitely...?
Jurina looked around.
She was certain she had died, and yet, somehow, she was alive.
It wasn’t a dream. Her stomach still throbbed, and her head still ached. She lifted the blanket covering her and checked her body. Bandages had been wrapped around her abdomen, and her clothes had been changed into something else. Even a fool could tell someone had saved her and treated her wounds.
"......"
She lowered one leg off the bed, trying to get up.
"Ghk!"
The movement sent a sharp pain through her abdomen. But that was only natural. The stomach sat at the center of the body, so even the slightest twist could easily aggravate the injury.
At that moment, the door across from the bed opened, and two women appeared.
"Oh my, you’re awake."
"Y-you are...!"
Jurina’s eyes widened. She knew the identity of the woman—no, the girl—who had just spoken to her. Someone so unexpected in this place that her presence almost made no sense.
"Hehe. How are you feeling?"
"A-ah, I-I’m f-fine! P-Princess Mari!"
It was Mari Ulsro, the Second Princess of the neighboring kingdom.
At the sight of someone she could never have imagined appearing here, Jurina panicked and tried to rise from the bed. But Mari quickly stepped over and pressed a hand to her shoulder.
"Please, stay calm. Your wound hasn’t healed yet, so just sit on the bed."
"Ah, yes, yes. T-thank you very much..."
"Hehe. You look like you don’t quite understand what’s going on."
"I... d-do, yes..."
"You don’t need to think about it too hard. It was just that Ethylene here and I, while out for a walk, happened to find you and treat your injuries. Then we took a room at a roadside inn."
"Ah..."
The explanation was calm and easy to accept, and so was the voice delivering it.
Looking around once more, Jurina realized the place she was in really was just a normal inn. Of course they couldn’t very well drag some unknown beastfolk woman directly into the royal palace, so their choice had been the right one.
"Ah, I’m sorry—I was late introducing myself. Thank you for saving my life. My name is Jurina."
"Yes, Jurina. Then... may I ask why you were injured in such a remote place, and to such a degree that your life was threatened?"
"That... is..."
She hesitated.
Could she really involve the princess of a neighboring kingdom in this? But then she shook her head. Thinking it over, there was no need to hesitate at all. If anything, the more dangerous country was Ulsro Kingdom. After all, that was where the Demon Prince had truly infiltrated.
Mari had every right to know. And at the same time, Jurina needed strength and authority to oppose that overwhelming enemy—the Demon Prince—who was deceiving everyone so perfectly. For that reason too, she decided to bring Mari into this.
"W-well... the truth is..."
In the end, Jurina told her everything that had happened up to this point.
All the while remaining completely unaware that Mari and Ethylene already knew every detail—and that they were toying with her together with Valdes.
As the assigned bodyguard, Ethylene didn’t even need to act; she only had to stand behind Mari and wear a serious expression. She wasn’t particularly gifted when it came to deceiving other people anyway.
"Ah... r-really? That’s... incredible..."
By contrast, Mari was extraordinarily skilled as a listener. She responded at all the right moments, let out little exclamations of shock and sympathy, and shifted her expressions with delicate precision. The skills she had honed as the face of the Ulsro royal family—handling nobles day after day—were on full display. Naturally, Jurina, who knew nothing about Mari’s true nature or politics, had no chance of seeing through her.
In fact, she got so caught up in talking that she blurted out more than she intended. Only afterward did she realize she’d gone too far, her face turning red as she hurriedly apologized to Mari.
"I-I’m sorry... I-I ended up telling you all sorts of unnecessary things..."
"Hehe, no, not at all. Thanks to you, we learned something important, didn’t we?"
As Mari said that, her expression darkened.
"To think Sir Valdes was the Demon Prince... Honestly, I had my own suspicions about a few things, but I never thought too deeply about them. Still, if he really is the Demon Prince, then there are quite a few things that make perfect sense..."
"I see... It feels a little strange to say this, but I’m relieved."
"Relieved...?"
"Ah, well, I-I mean... you might have dismissed it as a ridiculous story, but you believed me... yes! I mean, I’m glad you believed me right away..."
"Hehe. I was only teasing."
"...Um, by the way..."
Jurina suddenly asked Mari about something that had been bothering her.
Had she really stayed in the inn this whole time because of her? Setting aside the fact that Mari had arrived at just the right moment, Jurina had no idea how much time had passed, so it was a natural question. Mari’s answer was simple.
"Not at all. I only got back recently myself. You were lying in bed for almost an entire day, Jurina. I just happened to come by during my usual walk."
"A whole day..."
A dry laugh escaped her. Then anger rose in her chest at her own helplessness.
While that day slipped away, Valdes would only be growing his influence further and training Princess Clara into submission, and all she had done was lie there in pain. Her teeth clenched of their own accord.
Mari gently took Jurina’s tightly balled fist between both of her hands.
"Don’t worry too much. I’ll do everything I can to solve this, too."
"Ah, yes... thank you..."
After that, the two of them exchanged a few more words about their plans going forward, and then parted ways.
"How was she?"
"It’s been a while since I set out to deceive someone on purpose... so it was actually pretty fun."
"And Clara?"
"Come on, how could that not have been fun? ...Ah, wait, Oraboni!"
"Whoa, geez. Why the sudden yell?"
"You were really awful, you know!"
"Huh?"
"Do you have any idea how long Ethylene and I waited outside?!"
"Ah... I was with Clara and..."
"Exactly! While you were having your fun with that woman, we were out there... ugh."
"Haha, sorry..."
"If you do that again, I’m really going to get angry."
"But you had fun, didn’t you?"
"I did, but still..."
"And..."
"Yes? And what?"
"...What are you going to do if you get angry?"
"Well, I..."
"Where do you think you’re talking to your sky-high older brother..."
"Ah, ngh... I’m sorry...♡ Mari, who dared raise her voice to my heaven-sent older brother, please punish me with Oraboni’s cock...♥"
"...Stick your pussy right out."
"Kyyaa~♥"