Chapter 41
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Vivian's Taming Journal (6)
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In a room filled with flickering candlelight, a man wearing a white mask sat in an arrogant pose, one arm draped over the chair and his legs crossed.
'...Why isn't she here?'
He'd gone to great lengths to set the mood, but Lucia was late.
One might think it was just one of those things that happens in life, but Lucia never kept him waiting when it came to him.
Even so, fearing she might slip in while he adjusted his position, he held still—and now his legs were starting to go numb.
'...Something must've happened.'
At this point, even a sigh felt pointless.
Did a patrolling guard spot her? Or did some other student come back for a forgotten item? Or maybe...
Several plausible scenarios raced through his mind.
Of course, he'd never been caught during gameplay.
Today was meticulously chosen—a day with no events, no people around.
But he'd been through this world enough times already.
He knew unexpected incidents overflowed in this place.
The main story he knew was just the most likely path, not a guarantee.
'Shit...'
Coming to a decision, he shot up from the chair.
Lucia obeyed orders perfectly, but she lacked improvisation skills.
If she'd really run into someone, he needed to step in and mediate, or things could blow up big time.
"Hoo, hoo."
Careful not to start a fire, he extinguished all the candles he'd lit and bolted outside.
"Haa... haa..."
It was exhausting.
Running in this black suit he'd worn to look imposing wasn't helping.
"...No... I... don't... want this."
At least, silver lining: Vivian's voice drifted down from upstairs.
As he cautiously climbed the stairs,
—Slap
Lucia struck Vivian across the cheek.
A quick scan showed no one else around—just Lucia and Vivian. Good.
'Phew...'
Not the worst-case scenario of getting caught by someone else.
He ducked into a corner to assess the situation, ears perked.
"...I... can't... do it..."
—Slap
"...S-sorry... I'm sorry..."
—Slap
"I'm sorry..."
—Slap
Lucia slapped her mercilessly.
Each crack made him flinch, even though it wasn't him taking the hits.
'Hmm...'
Back in the first playthrough, before building affinity, Lucia showed this side often.
Fair but cold, endlessly harsh to those outside her circle.
If the princess was pure madwoman, first-run Lucia might've been a sociopath.
...Had he been reborn into that first-run world, he'd have steered clear of her for sure.
"Don't get the wrong idea. It's not just about ruining your family. That's merely the beginning. I'll crush everything. I'll grind it all underfoot until you're barely clinging to life. And don't think of escaping through death. If you die, next is your sister, then your father, then your cousins—I'll keep going until every last person bearing the Beatrice name is gone."
While he reminisced, Lucia spat out those terrifying words.
'...Isn't that a bit much?'
Cold sweat trickled down his back as he listened.
He had given Lucia some disciplinary authority, true.
Taming required punishment.
But her hostility toward Vivian felt unnaturally intense.
'This isn't the first time...'
Lucia's aggression wasn't new.
Not just with Vivian—she'd shown it to the princess too.
'...Why?'
If it was mere jealousy, it could be fixed. But something nagged at him, beyond simple envy.
It wasn't because he'd tamed her not to be jealous.
He'd anticipated jealousy flaring up amid all the chaos.
But she wasn't jealous of the princess—he'd been avoiding her—and she showed zero aggression toward Yuria, whom he openly mingled with, or the new target, the school nurse.
'What's the pattern?'
As he pondered what linked the people drawing her outsized hostility,
"Y-yes... Th-thank you... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."
Vivian's state turned eerie.
'Wait...? Why's that line popping up?'
Thinking he'd misheard, he peeked out—light faded from Vivian's eyes.
'We're fucked...'
This was bad. Really bad.
That was Witch Vivian's awakening dialogue.
Precisely, the line right before awakening—not fully there yet, but rampage was imminent.
'Shit...'
He couldn't lose Vivian here.
Had to salvage this, whatever it took.
'Phew... Deep breath.'
He wanted to rush out and snap her out of it, but Prince on the Bed said that wasn't optimal.
Panicking out there would just kill his gravitas.
Like the saying—haste makes waste. He straightened his clothes, slicked his hair back neatly, and stepped forward with elegant, weighty poise.
'Here we go.'
—Click
His footsteps echoed through the hall, launching the do-or-die Vivian conquest.
"M-Master..."
Lucia whipped her head toward the sound, startled, and rushed to the masked man.
"M-Master, why are you here..."
"...I'm disappointed in you, Lucia."
"...Ah. S-sorry... Master..."
Lucia, who never lost her composure, trembled and bowed before him.
"Didn't I say your taming was complete?"
"I-it's just..."
"Tch. Spare me the excuses. Your punishment comes later. Step aside."
"Yes..."
Lips pressed tight, Lucia retreated to the side as the masked man approached me.
—Click
At first, it was vague, but as he drew near, déjà vu crept in.
—Click
A familiar gait.
—Click
A body he knew well.
—Click
A sweet scent.
—Click
Above all, that unforgettable voice.
...Unbelievable, but all signs pointed to one conclusion.
"...Eu...gene...?"
He halted abruptly and removed the mask.
"H-how... You...?"
Her breath caught.
Impossible to believe.
Never dreamed Eugene would appear here.
"...Vivian Beatrice."
Eugene's face was icy, his voice unlike any she'd heard—cold and unfamiliar.
Just that nearly shattered her fragile heart.
"Never thought the new bitch Lucia found for me would be you."
His fingertips brushed her lips, trailing slowly downward.
"...So, Vivian, what's your value?"
Skimming her neck, his hand caressed her collarbone.
"I... I'm..."
Honorifics spilled out instinctively.
My value...
Did she even have any?
Born and raised, she'd been nothing but a stand-in for her sister.
"Right, compared to your sister, you're worthless at everything. So you're just her replacement?"
His words pierced like he read her mind.
Pop, pop
Roughly, he tore open her buttons, his hand reaching her breast.
"...Hngh...!"
A large, hot male hand—distinct from Lucia's—drew an involuntary moan.
Watching her, Eugene smirked, one corner of his mouth curling.
"...Moaning like that from just this? Your body's well-trained at least... Oh right, you started masturbating to my name from the get-go."
Her blood ran cold.
Lucia had never mentioned it, so she'd assumed Eugene didn't know—but he did.
"Ah, Vivian. I treated you as a 'friend,' yet you saw me like this... I'm deeply disappointed."
"...Hic... Sniff... S-sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
His whisper tickled her ear.
Even in this despair, her lewd body thrilled at it.
"...Hic... For m-masturbating... hic... th-thinking of you... Sorry."
"Say it clearly. Where and how did you do it?"
"In the... cl-classroom... On y-your... desk... I-Imagining you r-raping me... I masturbated..."
Tears fell from the shame of confessing to her love that she'd pleasured herself to him.
"Ha, in the sacred classroom, on the desk of the guy who saw you as a friend..."
"...Hic... Sniff... Y-yes."
Eugene stroked his chin, then leaned close to whisper.
"...Vivian. You're an incurable pervert."
One small condemnation crumbled her.
Despair beyond compare.
She collapsed there, sobbing.
"...Hic... Haa... S-sorry... Hic... S-sorry I was even b-born... like this."
Die.
Just die.
His words made her realize.
She didn't even qualify to curse the world.
A being worse than trash had no right to resent anyone.
The moment she resolved to end it, Eugene embraced her.
"...But it's okay, Vivian."
It was poison.
Sickeningly sweet poison.
"Vivian. No matter how useless you are, no matter how lewd, no matter your sins—I'll cherish you."
Salvation from despair's abyss was intoxicatingly sweet.
"Hic... Haa... Hic... Haaang..."
It seeped into her shattered heart.
It terrified her.
This sweetness.
She didn't want to believe anymore.
Didn't want more pain.
...But she couldn't let go.
She clung to Eugene's clothes.
It was the sole reason she could stay in this world, denied everything else.
"...In return, Vivian. Give yourself to me."
She knew rejection would destroy her utterly.
Didn't matter.
If Eugene discarded her, she'd end it then.
Slowly, she knelt and bowed her head.
"Hic... Y-yes... Y-yes... Master... I-I offer myself..."
Kissing his foot, she swore.
"I... I offer everything to you..."