The Unchanging Nature of Man
"...What?"
The air turned cold.
Viviana, who only moments ago had spoken as though she would grant me anything, was now looking down at me with eyes gone utterly frigid. The murderous intent in that gaze ran so deep that simply being under it sent a chill crawling over my skin, as if my flesh itself were freezing solid.
"That bitch... no. You're saying you want to send letters to those young ladies?"
"Yes..."
My assent only made the atmosphere around us colder still. Ordinarily I would have read the room and backed down, but I had to get those letters out somehow, so I held my ground.
"You..."
"I-it's for your sake, Lady Viviana...!"
Viviana's face remained twisted as she lifted one eyebrow. She said nothing, only watched me — as if daring me to keep talking.
"Well... it's a little awkward to say this myself, but... those ladies were rather fond of me, you know? And I've been attending banquets with them every day, only to vanish without a single word of contact for three whole days now..."
"So?"
"They're bound to start worrying... and if word gets out that Lady Viviana is keeping me at the estate, ugly rumors will start circulating. I simply wanted to head that off before it happens..."
Viviana's expression stayed cold, but the killing intent in the air eased, if only a little.
"Even if those women come to resent me, they couldn't so much as touch a hair on the Merdelia Ducal House."
Of course. I already knew that perfectly well.
Versha. Mardian. Shari-one.
No matter how vast their influence in high society, no matter how deep the roots of the houses backing them, there were walls that simply could not be scaled.
There were only four great ducal territories in the entire Empire. And among them, the Merdelia Ducal House might as well have existed in another world entirely. How else could Viviana have once hurled Mardian out of a carriage and that vicious villainess still not dared to utter a single word of protest?
"Tina. You're lying to me, aren't you?"
I flinched.
Viviana's razor-sharp intuition made my whole body twitch. I forced a smiling mask over my face to hide the turmoil and managed a reply.
"What on earth do you mean?"
"Cunning people tend to be clever, you know. They usually have excellent judgment, too."
She pulled me in by the waist, and once again I found myself face-to-face with her — eye to eye, nose to nose.
"I find it hard to believe that a sly, clever little thing like you would be so lacking in judgment as to worry about me in front of mere countship houses."
"Th-that's..."
Those eerie amethyst eyes swept over me. Caught completely off guard, I rolled my gaze this way and that, trying to escape the weight of her stare.
"Be honest with me, young lady. Why do you really want to send those letters?"
I couldn't bring myself to speak, and lowered my head. But Viviana would have none of it. Her hand caught my chin and tilted it back up until our eyes met again.
"Tina. You need to answer me."
"U-uh..."
I kept my lips pressed shut for a long while. Viviana simply gazed into my eyes in silence, waiting. I almost wished she would say something — anything — but the quiet only pressed harder, tormenting me into speaking.
Viviana...
You really are...
I squeezed my eyes shut and whispered.
"...Idiot."
"...What?"
Of course she heard that tiny voice. Viviana's brow furrowed. Embarrassment flooded my face and I turned my head aside, but once again her hand guided my face firmly back into place.
"What do you mean by 'idiot'?"
"If you're my master... then you should understand how I feel a little..."
"Hm?"
The blank look on Viviana's face made it clear she had no idea what I was talking about. She was usually so sharp — why was she being this dense now?
"No matter how... unshakable the Merdelia Ducal House may be... aren't you underestimating them a little too much?"
"And so what? A cockroach that turned up in the house would be more of a threat."
"Do you truly believe that? From the outside, it will look as though the young lady of the house has kidnapped and imprisoned me. Those three will absolutely use that to attack your reputation...!"
"W-wait. Hold on."
Viviana took a step back from me, her voice unsettled. She stared at me for a long time, then finally spoke with a look of genuine confusion.
"You really... want to write those letters because you're worried about me?"
"O-of course I do. I don't want to cause you even the slightest harm, my lady...!"
Those amethyst eyes that always held such perfect composure wavered helplessly. As if my clumsy words were simply too hard to believe, she stared at me for a while in a daze.
Several minutes of silence passed between us.
"...Write the letters."
At last Viviana broke the quiet with her consent. And that was not all. She stroked my hair with a gentle look in her eyes, then said something I had not expected at all.
"Starting tomorrow, you don't have to bind anything around your arms anymore."
"...Pardon?"
"And I'll bring you a book. Read it if you get bored."
My eyes went round of their own accord. At this sudden shower of rewards, I could only blink blankly, still half in a daze.
"Really...?"
"Yes."
Viviana was not the sort to go back on her word. She truly meant to reward me. Joy surged up from somewhere deep inside, and I threw myself at her with a bright smile blooming across my lips.
I crashed into her—!
"Thank you, Lady Viviana...!"
She caught my light, rushing body with ease. I could not contain the happiness overflowing in me, so I buried my face against her shoulder and nuzzled against her for a long while.
I was happy.
Truly, genuinely happy.
How could I not be?
At last.
At last I had found the kind of coquetry that actually worked on Viviana.
So you like it when I show weakness, Viviana?
The act that so many young ladies had fallen for never worked on her. The brighter I smiled and the more I fawned, the colder she became, pushing me away all the harder.
But a slight difference in taste was all it was. In the end, even she had a version of a person she preferred.
From the moment Viviana told me to become her pet, there had been one thing that puzzled me.
She claimed she was captivated by me.
A woman who saw through every last one of my pretenses as if by magic — what part of me, exactly, had she fallen for? Strip away the act, and all that remained of me was frailty and incompetence. Could it be that Viviana actually liked that?
Suspicion became possibility. Possibility became deduction. And at last I understood precisely what drew Viviana to me.
When I had asked her to apply medicine to my backside. When a nightmare left me clinging to her, begging her not to leave. When a quarrel at Lady Shari-one's estate left me sunk in gloom.
In those moments, Viviana had looked at me with eyes full of genuine fondness.
The more I lowered myself, the more satisfied she became. The harder I struggled to force out embarrassing words, the more I hung my head with uncertain eyes — the softer her gaze grew when it rested on me.
Just like now.
Writing letters to the young ladies because I was worried about Viviana?
Pfft.
As if.
I knew better than anyone what kind of being Viviana was.
A monster who earned the title of Evernight at a mere fifteen years old. A person upon whom even His Imperial Majesty had bestowed the epithet Saint of the Sword. She was not someone a few well-connected young ladies from countship houses could challenge simply by putting on airs.
My reason for sending the letters was simple.
The love of those young ladies was something I had spent years cultivating. I had no intention of letting it go. After all the coquetry it took to build those relationships, how could I simply abandon them?
Viviana was willful by nature. Whatever caught her interest, she seized in her hand — and the moment that interest faded, she discarded it without a shred of mercy.
How long before she grew tired of me and walked away? Was I supposed to depend on her alone?
A year? Two years? If I managed her favor carefully, I might enjoy three years of abundance under her protection.
But what about after that — once Viviana's interest cooled?
For a peaceful life of pure idleness, a guarantee of safety mattered every bit as much as money. The assurance that no matter what happened, my quiet existence would never be upended.
And for that, solid connections were as essential as wealth. Which meant I could not afford to lose Shari-one — or Versha, either.
Mardian was a bit more of a dilemma, but I planned to approach her again eventually. Before long, the second heroine would take my place in satisfying her twisted desires.
Let our Saintess protagonist handle the rough sexual needs. I would just keep Mardian placated enough to maintain a serviceable relationship.
But hadn't I sworn not to put on an act in front of Viviana?
Yes. I had promised that. And when I made that resolution, there had been a measure of sincerity in it.
But do you know something?
A person's resolutions change dozens of times in a single day. No one can guarantee that a vow made yesterday will still hold tomorrow.
Laziness is human instinct.
There's a reason Sloth made the Seven Deadly Sins.
If people simply lived the way they resolved to, there would only ever be success. Why would failure even exist?
Why do couples who marry in blind faith end up divorcing — or cheating?
Why does a criminal who swears never to offend again walk out of prison and commit the exact same crime?
Why do most people who taste drugs even once, knowing full well it ends in ruin, still reach for them again?
Choosing the easy path is human nature.
Even someone as brilliant and radiant as Viviana could never change a rotten creature like me.
When Viviana first saved me, I felt a profound debt of gratitude. But as time passed and I thought about it more coldly, that feeling inevitably withered.
I asked myself why Viviana liked me. Why she paid me any attention at all. And every conclusion pointed to the same place.
A face so lovely it could stop you cold even in a mirror. And the personality of the childhood friend I had found most endearing in my entire life.
Who could dislike the Tina that was the clever fusion of those two things? Viviana, in the end, had simply fallen for that appearance.
And of course, neither of those things was truly mine. Just as Artasha mistook me for her real daughter and poured out false love without reservation, Viviana's kindness was not directed at me either.
From the moment I stole Tina's body and possessed it, everything could only be a lie.
The day this face withered into something plain and worthless, I would be discarded like a worn-out shoe.
Not that I particularly care.
I simply possessed a pretty young girl, and I intended to exploit that advantage for all it was worth.
Some might call it despicable and vicious, but that is simply the kind of person I am. All I want is money — the one thing every human desire instinctively craves.
At the very least, money...
Would still be at my side even when I was no longer Tina.