Saren's True Face
It all happened so fast that I couldn't even react. “S-Saren……”
Saren acted as if she hadn't heard me. With vacant eyes, she ripped the veil from Chloe's face and seized her by the hair. “How dare a lowly saintess like you try to seduce the young master?”
“Kghhh……”
Chloe's face turned deathly pale in an instant. Her whole body trembled as she twisted her head away. The moment their eyes met, Saren twisted the dagger still buried in Chloe's shoulder.
“Aaaaargh!!”
Chloe's scream echoed through the forest. The most terrifying part was that Saren's face showed not a single trace of emotion.
“Saren, what the hell is wrong with you?! Have you lost your mind!?”
I shoved her aside and rushed to untie the ropes binding Chloe. But the haphazard knots were even harder to undo than proper ones.
“J-Just wait a moment. Hold on.”
“Ughhh… Aaaaargh!!”
Chloe thrashed in panic, making it even more difficult.
“What exactly do you think you're doing, Brother?”
“What do you think you're doing?! What did she ever do to deserve this?!”
Saren tilted her head, her expression blank, as though she genuinely couldn't understand my actions. “What did she do? Didn't you hear what she said earlier?”
“That doesn't mean you can do this!”
“Of course not. She deserves to die, doesn't she?”
“You… You…… You……”
I couldn't find the words. Was Saren always like this? I didn't know. I truly didn't know her anymore.
“Brother.” Saren took a step toward me.
“Don't come any closer.”
“Brother……”
“I said stay back!!”
At my shout, she stopped. She looked down at me with half-lidded eyes—bored, weary, and utterly disappointed.
“What do you intend to do?”
“I'll handle this myself. Just go.”
“Very well……”
Saren shrugged and walked off into the shade. She pulled out a book from her bag and began reading against a tree, as if nothing had happened.
“Are you all right?”
“Ugh… P-Please… save me…… It hurts… so much……”
“Just hold on a little longer. I'll get these off.”
Even as I worked on the ropes, my mind raced. Maybe Saren was right. Letting Chloe go could put both our lives in danger. In this world, murder was as common as breathing. One wrong move and your throat could be slit before you even opened your eyes. So what was I supposed to do? Kill this woman for our sake?
……
No. No matter how many times I turned it over in my head, there was no need to go that far. We could treat her wounds and keep her bound so she couldn't escape. That would be enough.
“I won't run. I'll do whatever you say. Please, just spare me. Please…… Sob……”
Chloe had descended into panic, pressing her face into the dirt and muttering desperately. Her breathless pleas only stoked my guilt.
“I'm not going to kill you, so stop worrying.”
Shrrk—
Once the last knot came undone, her hands were finally free. Yet Chloe only trembled, making no attempt to flee or resist. Whether she was keeping her word or had simply realized escape was pointless, I couldn't tell. If it was the latter, her fear was directed at Saren, not me.
“I'm going to pull the knife out now. It's going to hurt.”
The moment my fingers brushed the hilt—
“Kyaaah! W-Wait!!”
Chloe screamed again and bit down hard on her lip. Even the slightest touch seemed excruciating. The blade must have pierced through her shoulder blade. How had Saren managed that? Her wrists were so thin they looked like they might snap at the slightest impact. Yet she'd driven a dagger clean through bone. It defied common sense.
“Wait, aren't you a saintess? Can't you use healing magic?”
“M-My mana…… I don't have any left……”
“Then just endure it. Here, bite down on this.”
“Mmph.”
I rolled up a piece of cloth and placed it between her teeth.
“I'll count to three and pull. Don't spit it out, no matter what.”
Chloe nodded slowly, her eyes filled with terror.
“One— Two—”
Shunk—!
I yanked it out on two.
“Mmmph!! Mmmph!!”
Chloe's eyes flew wide as she thrashed beneath me. I had to pin her down with all my strength. She glared at me with pure venom.
“Sorry.”
I'd done it on purpose. People instinctively tensed when they heard “three,” and pulling the blade then would only make the wound worse.
After a long while spent staunching the bleeding, I splinted her shoulder with a sturdy branch and bound it tightly with strips of cloth. It was the best I could do without magic.
“I'm not a mage, so this is the best I can manage. The bandages will need changing later since they're already soaked. Bear with it until your mana returns.”
She'd handle the rest herself after that.
“I-I'll take care of it myself…… So please, just let me go……”
“No.”
“Why!!”
“Why? How could I possibly trust you enough to set you free?”
……
She glanced sideways at Saren, then turned back to me with a face twisted in fear. “Please let me go. That woman…… She's definitely going to kill me. Please…… Please……”
“No means no.”
“Aah…… Aaaah……”
Chloe's shoulders slumped in despair. Clear tears began to fall.
……
I stood up quietly and tied her legs to a thick tree trunk with fresh rope, binding her so tightly she couldn't move an inch.
“Young Master Elcia, please…… Save me……”
I clenched my teeth at her desperate pleas. Don't let yourself waver. If I released her now, our lives would be at risk. That possibility alone was burden enough.
“I'm sorry.”
“Hic……”
I forced myself to ignore her sobs and walked over to where Saren sat. She was still reading, utterly at ease.
“As kind as ever, aren't you, Brother?”
She spoke without even looking up from her book. I had no answer for her. I was afraid of what I might say—or what I might hear. I simply sank down beside her, buried my face in my hands, and closed my eyes. I was exhausted. Body and soul.
……
It felt like I'd slept for a long time. A faint scream brushed against my ears—muffled, as though someone was desperately trying to hold it back. Was it a dream? I hoped it was. But the metallic scent of blood stabbing at my nose told me otherwise.
I slowly lifted my head. Night had fallen; the sun had long since set. After blinking several times, my vision cleared. And in the distance, I saw Saren crouched where Chloe had been tied. Chloe's body hung limp, the ground around her soaked in blood.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart began to pound violently.
“S-Saren……”
I stepped across the blood-soaked gravel toward her.
“Ah, you're awake. Was I too loud?”
Saren turned her head, her face and hands painted crimson.
“W-What…… What are you doing……?”
“Oh, this?”
As Saren stood, I instinctively covered my mouth. In one hand she held the dagger. In the other, Chloe's severed head.
“She kept whining about how she'd kill us, so I made her quiet down. I didn't want to wake you.”
……
My head dropped. No—it simply fell. My breathing grew ragged; my mind began to blur.
“Brother.”
Saren's clear voice drew closer, along with the thick, metallic stench of blood.
“You've always been like this, Brother. You embrace even the lowest of commoners, always putting them before me.”
……
“I hate you for it enough to die…… and love you enough to die, too.”
No matter what she said, my gaze remained fixed on the ground. I lacked the courage to look her in the eye. And now I was certain: my little sister Saren, the adorable twin who had always adored her older brother, was no such thing.
She was a monster. A monster who regarded life as worthless.
Was the game system really telling me to save this monster? ……Why?
Swish—
Saren wrapped her arms around my neck. Chloe's severed head bumped against my back with soft, wet sounds. Nausea surged up my throat.
“Brother.”
Her lips hovered just shy of my ear as she whispered, “Shall we take a bath together? It's been a while.”
……
“Saren wants to enjoy it with you.”
This child had clearly gone mad. Was this another consequence of deviating from the prologue? Or had she always been this way? My head throbbed as if it might split open.
Come to think of it, there had been that terrifying expression on Saren's face when Vivian placed her hand on my shoulder back at the mansion. I'd thought I'd imagined it. But I hadn't. If Vivian had made even the slightest wrong move, Saren would have killed her on the spot. Without hesitation.
“Brother!”
Saren shouted right beside my ear. Only then did I manage to raise my trembling eyes to meet hers. At the same time, the corner of her mouth twitched. She was struggling to suppress a smile, her lips pulling upward uncontrollably before she bit down hard to stop it.
It was not an expression that belonged in this situation.
“Do you find me terrifying? Is that it?”
……
“Do you think I enjoyed doing this? Do you really believe that? I did it for us!!”
Her voice was anguished, sorrowful. But the red eyes gleaming with ecstasy remained unchanged.
“How…… How is this for us?”
“You have to ask?! If we'd let that saintess go, she would have reported us for certain!!”
She wasn't wrong. Not at all. But……
“I never planned to let her go. You heard me say that yourself.”
Her face froze for a moment, as if caught in a lie. Then she lowered her head and let out a deep sigh before looking at me again.
“There was a reason, Brother.”
……
“A very fitting one.”
Saren released my neck, tossed Chloe's head aside, and wiped her hands clean. Then she turned to face me fully. This time, she made no effort to hide it—the corners of her mouth stretched into a wide, chilling smile.
“You're mine, Brother.”
……
“What?”
The little sister I was supposed to risk my life to save was, without a doubt, completely insane.