A Harsh World for Men (4)
Right here, there was one woman.
In a crystal palace more splendid than the empire itself, a lone woman walked, clad in a dress so sheer it revealed nearly everything.
"I'm here all alone—"
Her words, spoken slowly as if heralding the prelude to an opera, carried a melodic lilt from the start.
"Ruler of all the world's people—"
As her glass heel struck the floor, countless scenes unfolded across the palace tiles.
Men, gagged and laboring under the lash. The women in leather wielding the whips against them looked exactly like the woman in the dress.
Like clones.
"Angelica! Controller of all men!"
She snapped her fingers, and the walls erupted in light with a pop.
They sparkled like a jewelry box, each slot holding a handsome man—topless, in nothing but bow ties and dress pants, standing obediently.
"Angelica! Dominatrix of all women!"
She snapped the fingers of her other hand, and on that wall, countless women pounded against the glass, wailing in desperation.
Among them were luminaries from Esdinas Academy. The most beautiful student, graduates, the richest— all there.
"What do you want from me?"
[Please grant it, Queen Angelica!]
[Mercy on us!]
[Let us hold a man's hand, at least!]
The women began pleading toward Angelica.
"No way! Get lost! Not happening!"
Toward the men trapped in Angelica's jewelry box, hands reached out, accompanied by a chorus of desperate wails, pleas, and screams.
"All of this is mine! Ahh, I am the ruler of this world! Ruler of all humanity! Without my permission, no one can even hold hands—"
Snap.
Silence fell.
The moment I pulled my hand from Angelica's head, everyone in the room started exchanging awkward glances.
"Ahem."
Esta, the eldest, cleared her throat, her face flushing red.
"Phoenix. Was this an illusion you conjured?"
"No. Think of it as visualizing a dream."
"A dream."
"Yes. Everyone dreams like that sometimes, right? Dreams where you live in a fantasy world."
People dream all sorts of things in life.
"Impressive dreams stick with you after waking, but some reveal deep-seated desires buried in the heart. Just like this one."
"Angelica dreaming of ruling the world... ha."
Esta covered her face with both hands.
Angelica still lay in the case, but no one could bring themselves to look at her.
"...So that's how you see me."
"Well, it's just a dream."
Among those women pounding the glass, reaching out, begging and screaming toward Angelica's jewelry box—some were right here in this room.
"So don't glare at me like you wanna kill me, Evangeline."
"Th-that...! Treating me like some beggar...!"
Evangeline pointed at the sleeping Angelica, trembling from head to toe.
I got it. Unlike the other girls in their maid-like(?) rags, Evangeline was in beggar-worse-than-beggar clothes, chained at the neck, pleading more pathetically than anyone.
"This is... quite the problematic spell."
Rydmila looked troubled too, more confused than when the angel appeared. She stared at the case projecting Angelica's dream, letting out a groan.
"I've never been that crazy about men."
"That's Rydmila as Angelica imagines her."
"Even if I went into heat over a guy, I wouldn't beg on my knees like that."
She denied it firmly. Probably because the dream version of herself looked way too pathetic by her own standards.
"Ah, ahaha..."
Unia just chuckled softly.
I couldn't exactly spill the details, but Unia had endured unspeakable agony in the visions bursting from Angelica's stomping heels.
"Feels a bit weird, but it's like peeking into someone else's 'delusion diary' made real. Kinda off-putting."
"Delusion diary? You keep one, Unia?"
"No way! I don't write that stuff! Just a figure of speech!"
Unia straightened up, raising her voice. She definitely hadn't in front of me, and she wasn't the journaling type anyway.
But.
'Who here hasn't had weird thoughts deep down?'
Humans are thinking animals. With emotions, we spin all sorts of thoughts from them.
"Um, Phoenix?"
Cardisha raised her hand, stepping back a bit from me.
"That spell. It only works on unconscious people, right?"
"Not exactly, but it's way easier on someone asleep."
"Wha..."
Instructor Esta panicked, eyes wide.
"Y-you don't mean...?!"
Her face turned beet red, she backed up two steps, eyes shaking wildly.
"Mean what? Did I use some shady spell during that mana massage on you before? Or did visions like this pop up?"
I stood tall. I could say it proudly in front of everyone.
"Even if you dreamed something, Instructor, it was just a dream. I didn't do anything, and it didn't show to anyone else."
At least not in reality.
If Esta dreamed of marrying me, living like dried fish, then riding off on a unicorn after graduation—some 19+ fantasy—that was just her wishes taking dream form.
"Honestly, I'm relieved Angelica-senpai has such wholesome desires."
"Wholesome...?"
"Yeah. This spell lets you see the darkest depths of human malice. The abyss, basically."
I lightly tapped the case where Angelica lay.
"I've used it to catch criminals before."
"Criminals...?"
"Murderers."
"...!!"
If they'd been lightly flustered before, now everyone stiffened, tension rising.
"Looked like a normal noble on the outside, but deep down? A psycho killer slaughtering people left and right. Family, strangers—his dreams showed it all."
"...So it's not just rational thoughts?"
"Right. Though Angelica-senpai's rational side did reveal some unique kinks."
I tapped my temple lightly.
"In that sense, tastes in the opposite sex are pretty tame. Like... Unia?"
"Y-yes?"
"Say you fantasize about treating me like... a male slave."
"Why'd it veer there again?!"
I'd slipped into polite speech explaining to the others, but Unia was too flustered to notice.
"But that doesn't mean you'd dismember me and freeze the parts, right?"
"Th-that's true, but...!"
"We're talking normal, average, common sense stuff."
Normal. Average. Common sense.
Unia's favorite words.
"I-is that so...?"
"Yep. Regardless of background, status, or age, everyone's drawn to attractive opposites. You fantasizing about me—your only male classmate in the old school building—as a 'fake boyfriend'? Totally normal."
"Uh, um..."
"It's not like you're thinking of me rationally. If you imagine dating or marrying some guy, you wouldn't picture a faceless black shadow with no hair, right?"
"W-well, yeah...?"
"So you imagine a specific person, and that becomes a dream. Basic human desire everyone has."
I scanned the room.
"If something darker than basic sexual desire shows up first, that's the real danger. Stronger urges like killing, destroying nations, ending the world."
"...!"
"So this is better. Though Angelica-senpai's could spark humanity's doom."
Eyes turned back to Angelica.
"She wanted to control all men and women in her dream. No hand-holding without her say-so."
"...If she never permits it, men and women never meet."
"Yeah. The dream didn't show it, but..."
If. In a world where Angelica ruled, and two lovers held hands without permission.
Ding-dong.
"No need to dig that deep."
"...Then."
Cardisha raised her hand.
"Someone dreaming desires that could end humanity—they're angel bait?"
"That's your take?"
"Yeah. The angel said 'kill the mortals.' Not specific people, and killing isn't just throats or blades."
Cardisha extended her hands, about to clap, then stopped mid-air.
"Claps need two hands, babies need alignment."
"I-Instructor?! What...!"
"Desires blocking human reproduction? That's angel possession material, right?"
"Huh. Probably."
Classic Cardisha.
"Humanity's end isn't just bloodbaths."
Cardisha was a heroine too, prime angel host.
Her nailing the 'angel condition'? She harbored similar thoughts herself.
I wouldn't call her out. Her affinity was low; no need to poke old wounds and trigger trauma.
Still.
"Take Angelica-senpai."
A little nudge wouldn't hurt.
"Control all men, halt breeding— no new babies till everyone dies of old age. Humanity extinct. Extreme example, but."
Cardisha. Her alchemist side birthed apocalypses.
One genius brews a drug, and boom—biochemical castration for all men. Or every guy turns TS bishoujo.