Side: H
"So you came looking for me?"
Hana nodded.
The woman with the striking red hair answered with a prim little air, but she did not brush Hana off. If anything, she seemed to grasp the girl's predicament; she sighed and pressed a hand to her head.
"I can see why you came to me. You and Yuri don't get along, so you figured I'd be the one to ask... That doesn't mean I have any authority, though. I can't imagine what you expect from an ordinary person like me."
She said it that way, and yet a strange amusement lingered at the corner of her mouth. Hana hung a small hope on that look.
If she's the Skin Collector, there has to be a way.
Skin Collector. Once, that had been the alias of the red-haired woman—Rachel. The name came from her ability: the instant she flayed a person's skin and drew it over herself, she could know everything about them. She had been equally famous for sheer skill, and the gold badge that once adorned her uniform was proof enough of it. Rachel wore a maid's dress now, but in the past she had held one of the few parliamentary seats within Trinity itself. Where the human mind was concerned, and the solving of problems, she could fairly be called an expert.
If not for that vicious little hobby of peeling the skin from the living, she might still be throwing her weight around inside Trinity, the very center of the world...
She picked a fight with the Master without knowing her place, and ended up a thrall.
Measured against the height she had fallen from, it was a truly foolish end. That she had survived even that foolishness only proved how capable she was. Yuri was the one who actually ran Hope Manor, but the authority itself sat more heavily with Rachel. And just as Hana had guessed, Rachel was already uneasy about this very matter.
This is really not good...
Rachel had become Pino's thrall for a truly absurd reason, but it was no lie that she had once served consecutive terms as a Trinity parliamentarian. Her principal work had been the profiling of anyone who might threaten Trinity, and because of that she could see the situation a little more objectively than the rest.
The Great One said this was the proper raising of a successor. To Rachel's mind, though, the purpose of this life looked less like the cultivation of an heir and more like the cultivation of someone who understood her. Put more bluntly, it was about making a friend. The goal sounded a little childish, but the solitude of an absolute being was vast enough to match it, so she understood. A blasphemous thought—but she must have been lonely.
And on top of that, she's someone who can't stand human beings.
Otherwise there would have been no need for a lie this grand, nor for the labor of dressing up an entire country as a stage set. Not in a season this busy. The scale of the power was simply too immense; even so, the motive behind the actions was easy enough to guess. She wanted Lady Lust to live through an ordinary life. At the same time, she did not want to show the young lady to anyone... but a person's heart was never something that could be explained rationally, so this, too, she understood.
The problem was that the attention turned upon the young lady had already passed interest and drawn close to obsession.
It really did take too long... In that sense, this one is already too late.
Hana's death was a settled matter. To Her, whether it came against the girl's will or by it, that was no longer an important question. Not now—but later, once the situation allowed, She would tear her apart and kill her with Her own hands. She was not exactly a person of gentle character...
But if that girl dies, someone has to take her place, don't they? No matter how many replacements we've brought in, that's still a hard one...
The post of personal maid was tempting. She had no desire, however, to throw her life away for it.
That girl needs to hold out as long as she can... hmm.
Rachel finished the thought quickly and opened her mouth.
"Haa. You know perfectly well how complicated this is, don't you?"
"Yes."
"However much goodwill the young lady showed you, you should have refused her properly. How old is she...? Still, I understand. There are people like that sometimes. People reason doesn't reach. The kind your eyes go to on their own, just from being near them. Even I wouldn't trust myself to refuse if the young lady came at me that way."
Hana nodded. Honestly, it rankled. Easy to say. Could you have refused?
Rachel ignored the look and went on.
"You can't change the past, and you can't start acting differently from here on, either. From what I've observed, the young lady's nature itself is a bit like that. It isn't that she means any harm—it's more that she keeps the distance in her heart very small, shall we say? Refuse her for no good reason and you'll only put her in a bad mood, and that will be the end of it. Then you're finished, too."
"...Even if things stay like this, I feel like I'm finished anyway."
Hana muttered it with a gloomy face. This time Rachel nodded as well.
"That's right. Sit there grinning like a fool and you're finished all the same. But what if you distinguished yourself? Merit enough to cover the fault, I mean."
"What kind of merit?"
"Listen. So..."
Rachel laid the situation out quickly. Telling the truth outright was awkward, so she swapped the circumstances for something roughly invented—but the authority she carried lent the words their weight.
"Think of it simply. In the end, there's only one thing for you to do. Ask what would please Lady Lust, and report it to Her. That's the limit of what you can do, isn't it? Work hard at the things you can."
Who knew—perhaps, instead of dying in pain, She would at least take the girl's head cleanly. Rachel swallowed the words that would have followed. There was no need to hand her despair.
"You're right. What I can do..."
Hana clenched her fist. Yes. Having come this far, there was only that one thing left to her anyway. Whether she fawned or did something else entirely, she would cater to Lady Lust's whims and bring back whatever information would please the Master.
She's right. Her power surely has no end, but that doesn't mean She knows everything.
If that ability were truly infinite, there would have been no need for the likes of them in the first place. Hana broke into a bright smile and bowed her head.
"Thank you, Miss Rachel. Thanks to you, I know what I have to do. I'll do my very best!"
"Mm. Yes. Work hard. Hmm..."
"What's the matter?"
"No. It's nothing. Must be my imagination."
Rachel swallowed what she had been about to say. A suspicion had stirred that the young lady herself had arranged the present situation, but that was surely taking the guess too far. Even if her origins were something else entirely, someone whose memories were not yet whole could hardly have laid a plan like that.
...It must be coincidence.
No matter how simple a thing looked, it was only possible when one knew every circumstance. For a young lady who knew nothing to have conceived this situation was impossible from the start.
Was I being too sensitive? Maybe I was.
Rachel set the needless suspicion aside and let out a short laugh. Old habits, it seemed, still lingered.
"Then may I go now?"
"Ah. Yes. Oh! No. Let me ask you one thing."
"Yes? Yes. Ask me anything."
"Um, that..."
At the sight of Rachel drawing right up beside her, Hana swallowed hard.
What on earth is so important that she has to come right up next to me?
Her tension peaked when she saw Rachel glance around. Whether Rachel noticed or not, she leaned in and whispered.
"The young lady."
Gulp.
"So. How is she?"
"Pardon?"
…?
"I mean... how did it feel? It isn't a strange question. That wasn't an ordinary touch, you know. Her skin looked incredibly soft, too. Anyway, how was it? You're the only one who's been held by the young lady. So. Did it feel good?"
"Wh-what are you saying?!"
Hana was in the middle of bursting out in shock when she remembered. Come to think of it, this person...
The hobby was one thing, but her tastes were strange, too.
Just like that alias, Rachel's proclivities were famous in their own right. Pretty as she was, her attraction to women was already a problem—but while her usual behavior ran sadistic, she liked being stepped on and looked down upon by those who surpassed her. Her authority was so great that it had never become a real issue, yet it was also true that everyone kept their distance. She had even volunteered for the menial chores others rarely touched, and the reason, she said, was that she wanted to see the young lady even from afar...
How is this person still alive?
Whether she caught Hana's thought or not, Rachel sighed and went on.
"Ah. I'm jealous. I wanted to attend the young lady myself, if I could, but for some reason everyone stops me. How many years has this been? They're all so cruel. I'm actually very confident in my skin massages—if I could just do it once— no. Anyway, so how was it? The way I see it, the young lady has a ruler's nature by birth, just like the Master. A gentle domination? I adore that sort of thing."
At the chatter rattling out without a pause, Hana swallowed her contempt and thought.
This woman is dangerous...!
If I don't do something—!
Please watch over the young lady! Hana will protect her!