Fremd Torturchen - Volume 6 - Chapter 8

8

At the Torture Princess’s Castle

A cold night wind billowed atop the watchtower, blowing the clusters of murky clouds away.

Behind them, the tranquil darkness came into view. It resembled the bottom of a clear, still lake. Izabella’s silver hair and mechanical parts shone radiantly in the moonlight.

Kaito found himself reflected in her mismatched blue and purple eyes—the only parts of her body that had remained wholly unchanged.

He returned her calm gaze in kind. After a few moments of deliberation, she nodded.

“Understood. I think that’s a perfectly reasonable decision. And I have no objections to your request, either. Taking the time to do so now, at this late stage, is for the best. You may not get another chance.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you see it that way.”

“But… Will you really be able to kill her?”

There was no need to ask whom she was talking about.

Wearing an expression that almost resembled a smile, Kaito elected to remain silent. Izabella no doubt understood he had no intention of answering her question. However, she continued pressing him.

“Regarding killing God and Diablo while they’re still inside their contractors… I checked with Vlad, and he confirmed that Jeanne’s method of bringing about salvation is still viable. Their vessels becoming unable to withstand the strain would be one thing, but if we kill them, contractors and all, the contracts will be annulled, and both God and Diablo will be forcibly returned to the realm from which they came. That’s the only way we can save the world. Or if nothing else, Diablo is the one carrying out the destruction, so we need to put it down while it’s still in its vessel…that is to say, Elisabeth. But…”

Izabella cast a pained glace toward Kaito. She, too, understood.

“Elisabeth Le Fanu is deeply important to Kaito Sena.” That fact would be evident to anyone who’d spent even a little bit of time around the two. Kaito didn’t answer. Eventually, Izabella went on.

“I don’t know if it’ll help, but I have a shameful confession to make. It’s one of the reasons I wavered so greatly on whether or not it was right to bring about salvation.”

“…What?”

“Killing Jeanne de Rais is beyond me.”

Kaito let out a small gasp. The moment he did, a harsh wind gushed up. For a moment, he felt as though he could hear a nostalgic voice nipping at his ears. Although it was lacking in emotion, it had a sweet, bell-like ring to it.

“You really are The Fool, aren’t you, mister?”

Kaito thought back to the other Torture Princess, the golden girl who described herself as the saint and the whore. She’d had a certain mechanical sincerity to her actions, as well as a coldness that bordered on inhuman.

Because she’d prioritized Izabella’s life over her duty to bring about salvation, she had been transformed into God’s pillar.

Izabella glanced softly over the mechanical parts supplementing her own body. Originally, they’d made up Deus Ex Machina, Jeanne’s living weapon.

“When I came to my senses, I was terribly confused. Why was I alive? What had happened? What had become of my body? After that, though, Ms. Ain helped calm me down, and Sir Lute explained what I’d gone through. But even then, I honestly, seriously couldn’t understand it one bit!”

“Oh yeah, I don’t blame you. That was some crazy shit.”

“The various truths that were unveiled were heavy. However, I was able to come to terms with the Saint’s thoughts and the way everything turned out. But first love… First love! In that tiny amount of time, and toward me! I didn’t understand it; it didn’t make a lick of sense!”

“Wait, that’s the part you had trouble believing?”

“Hmm? What else…ah. As far as my mechanical body went… True, I did sink into despair for a little while, and I even went so far as to resent Jeanne de Rais. But it turns out it’s actually fairly handy; I can move around much faster now. And in any case, it was necessary in order to save my life. I quickly got used to it, and now I feel nothing but gratitude.”

“Man… You don’t get fazed by anything, do you?”

Kaito went all the way past admiration and landed on shock. In the battle against the three demons, Izabella’s skin had torn from the inside out. But she hadn’t paid any heed to the change in her physical appearance back then, either. It was downright impressive. Izabella puffed out her chest with pride. Suddenly, though, her expression grew mournful, and she looked down at her largely mechanical palms. A wistful smile spread across her face.

“And then I remembered. When we parted, the words she spoke as she kissed my hair had nothing but truth in them.”

Kaito closed his eyes, then thought back.

That, too, felt like it had been over a century ago.

Back at the Capital’s underground tomb, Jeanne had reached out. From an angle where their enemies couldn’t see her, she’d taken a tuft of Izabella’s silver hair. Then she’d planted a kiss on it, like a knight would to a princess.

Facing Izabella’s dignified back, she’d whispered quietly.

“I don’t hate seeing a mere human trying to oppose them. After all, such actions are the ones that are supposed to change the world. You may be an idiot, a dunce, and a fool, miss, but I choose to believe that your actions helped delay the clock hands in their march toward the end. You did catch my eye, and the eyes never lie.”

Then with slight vestiges of sorrow, she’d let go and offered her final words.

“Good-bye, my stupid, gallant little lady.”

“And then Jeanne chose to save me and was made into God’s pillar.”

All because Izabella had been her first love.

Izabella held her hand up to the starlit night sky. Then she closed it tight, as though trying to grasp the hand of someone far away. After ten seconds or so of silence, she gave her head a small shake.

“I don’t have it in me to kill someone like that. She was so ignorant in the ways of the world; she held me when I was crying, she kissed my hair, she gave me her first love and saved me because of it… How could I possibly kill her?”

Izabella’s eyes were filled with a profound sense of sadness and anguish. Suddenly, Kaito realized:

Normally, making a confession like that would be unforgivable.

Izabella had slaughtered countless people who’d been transformed into underlings. Saving a single life because she placed it atop the scales alone and claimed it bore weight would be unforgivable. And she, too, must have known what an act of folly that was. If nothing else, she would lose the ability to turn to the people she’d slain and boast she’d saved them. She wouldn’t be able to see herself as anything other than a simple murderer.

But even so, everyone has someone who they just can’t kill.

Someone who they’d rather gouge out their own heart than lay a hand on.

Izabella sucked in a breath, then exhaled. She quietly turned back to Kaito.

“Now let me ask you once more. Sir Kaito Sena. That is how I feel. And I imagine it’s even worse for you.”

After all, Kaito Sena was a man who would have no problems weighing Elisabeth against the world. For the sake of what he held dear, there was a very real chance he would allow the world to descend into darkness. But Izabella also believed in his virtue, and in the claim he’d once made. So for the sake of a world clutched tightly in death’s steely grasp, she earnestly, carefully asked him a question.

“You said you would save the world.”

But in order to do that, he would need to kill Elisabeth Le Fanu. Was it all one grand lie, then? Had he been deceiving everyone? Or had what he’d told them been the unvarnished truth?

Izabella then concluded her cross-examination, as though she were handing down a final verdict.

“Can Kaito Sena kill Elisabeth Le Fanu?”

“I…”

And with that, the reminiscence ended, and Kaito opened his eyes.

He must have fallen asleep at some point.

A short while ago, he’d experienced that scene in real life, but now it was just a dream. It faded away and vanished.

At present, Kaito had already left the Capital. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at his surroundings.

He was sitting atop the stone floor and leaning against the side of a hard bed. Although it had a wood-slatted window, the room as a whole was small and cramped. Thanks to the thick, stone walls, it felt oppressive, too. The furnishings were minimal. And that only made sense. The building was constructed like a fort, with little heed paid to the comfort of its residents. And all the more so, given that he was in the servants’ quarters.

“All right then… Gluk, urk… Well! I wonder if Hina’s up yet?”

After surreptitiously gulping down the blood in his mouth, Kaito knelt atop the cold floor. He peered at the bed.

In the middle of its clean, white sheets lay a beautiful maid with her eyes closed.

She was curled into a ball and breathing like a child. Ever since she’d collapsed back at the Capital, she’d been operating on low functionalities. Her mana was the first thing Kaito had checked, but it was flowing normally. There wasn’t anything wrong with her.

She was just peacefully sleeping. Or to be more precise, she was replicating a human’s sleep. And while she was, she was as defenseless as a baby. In spite of himself, Kaito poked one of her white cheeks. She squirmed from side to side.

“Oh, Master Kaito… I couldn’t possibly eat any mwore…”

“Man, that’s cute. Is she dreaming or something?”

Technically, automatons weren’t equipped with the ability to dream. On occasion, though, their Self-Recording Devices would spontaneously play back one of the massive number of scenes recorded in them. They must see them in the dark sometimes; it made for a phenomenon not unlike human dreams, Kaito supposed.

In other words, automatons could dream about the people they loved. When he thought about it that way, it seemed even cuter than before. Kaito squished Hina’s cheek several more times. As she rolled about, she let out a sweet whisper.

“I told you, I can’t… I already ate all the Master Kaito I could…”

“Wait, am I the one getting eaten here?”

“Hee-hee, you’re so cute that I wanted to eat you up, Master Kaito, and you’re jusht as tasty as I expected.”

“I didn’t actually want an answer there! Hey, hey, Hina, wake up! No more scary dreams!”

“You caaah…hmwuh… Hmm? Master Kaito?”

Suddenly, Hina sprang up. Perhaps due to her surprise, the gears in her chest began audibly accelerating. She blinked and fixed her gaze on Kaito. Her cheeks instantly went flush.

“M-Master Kaito… In, um, in the one-in-a-million chance that my memories are accurate… Did you, perhaps, by any chance, possibly, say ‘date’? No, no, it must have been a dream—I’m ever so sorry!”

“I definitely do remember asking my wife on a date, actually.”

“Off to death I go.”

“Please don’t die on me with a big smile on your face like that.”

Kaito frantically propped her up before she could peacefully topple backward. He gently righted her posture. A moment later, they were facing each other again. Hina’s cheeks grew even redder.

She was about to say something, but instead, she covered her mouth in surprise. Her emerald eyes darted about. It looked like she’d finally noticed. Then she spoke, her voice trembling with astonishment and nostalgia.

“Pl-please wait just a moment! Could it be—? Are we…?”

“Yeah, I teleported us here while you were sleeping. Takes you back, huh?”

“Yes, incredibly so. It’s very nostalgic. Ah, here we are. We’ve returned.”

Hina nodded over and over. With a smile, Kaito glanced around the room once more.

In reality, it hadn’t been long enough since they’d left to truly describe the place as nostalgic. To the two of them, though, everything felt like it had been a distant memory.

Unlike when they’d fled here from the World’s End, it was silent outside. Not even the underlings’ ever-present cries reached them. The quiet of the night enveloping them made it seem as though nothing had changed. But that was mere fiction. Nowhere in the world was that the case.

In truth, nothing was eternal. Until recently, this place had been crawling with underlings, too.

However, before Hina had woken up, Kaito had driven stakes into the lot of them. The silence they were currently enjoying was temporary. But Kaito chose to conceal that unromantic, troubling truth. Instead, he gently nodded.

“Yep, we’re back. Back to the place where we both belong…Elisabeth’s castle.”

Hina laid her hands atop her chest. Overcome by a flood of emotions, she closed her eyes.

And thus, in the brief frame of time before the Diablo pillar released the fifth wave—

—the two of them had left the front lines and returned to this dearly missed castle of theirs.

“So on that note, well… Normally, I would’ve liked to take you somewhere more special, but the world’s ending, so… Man, now that I’ve said it out loud, it sounds kind of scary. Anyway, I was thinking we could have a stay-at-home date. Does that sound okay?”

“That sounds delightful! Or should I say, it sounds suuuuuuuper delightful!”

At Kaito’s invitation, Hina began hopping up and down. Her face was filled with sincere joy. Kaito nodded, having expected she’d say that.

After all, Elisabeth’s castle was special to the two of them. Kaito was from another world. Hina was an automaton. For the two of them, it was the only place they could call home. And that wasn’t all. It was also the place where they’d met, the place where they’d spent their days, the place where they’d fought for their lives, and the place where they’d promised each other that they’d become a true family.

Countless memories were scattered about the grounds of this castle.

Thus, the two of them headed for a place one would never normally associate with a date.

“Hee-hee, this is it! Just as I suspected, this here is the most nostalgic place of them all!”

“Oh yeah, for sure. We used to spend every day in this kitchen… You handled the cooking, and I washed the dishes.”

The two of them exchanged a gentle smile.

At the moment, they were in the castle’s cramped, inconvenient kitchen.

It really had been a while since the two of them had come here together. Ever since the Grand King knocked Elisabeth into a coma, Kaito and Hina hadn’t had a chance to cook side by side.

Hina gazed around the room fondly. Then suddenly, her eyes flashed.

“Oh my… That’s—!”

Hina rushed over to a white cupboard, then eagerly opened it up.

Inside it was a neat row of little boxes. One by one, Hina removed their lids. Within them were colorful tea leaves, nuts, and dried petals. She’d assembled them to make Elisabeth’s morning beverage with.

After checking all their contents, Hina breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank goodness. They haven’t gone bad. Even after we had to temporarily betray her, Lady Elisabeth left the cupboard as it was. She really is a kind person.”

Hina softly wiped the corner of her eye. Kaito tried to picture what Elisabeth would say if she were to see that. She’d probably bellow, Fool! Don’t go raising your estimation of people so easily! Its mere existence slipped my mind—nothing more! However, forgetting to dispose of what the people who’d betrayed her had left behind was, in and of itself, very Elisabeth-like.

I don’t think she herself realized it, but she really did have a soft spot for her followers, especially Hina. You know, that’s a form of kindness, too, Elisabeth.

As he was thinking, Kaito started walking. He opened up the ice-spirit fridge. Even with the castle’s inhabitants gone, the ice spirits were still in good health. Cold air was brimming within. When the smell hit him, though, he scrunched up his face.

As he gazed over the partition board, he let out a blank murmur.

“Yeah, that makes sense… I guess this is what happens now that they’re gone.”

All the food inside it was thoroughly spoiled. It was only natural. There was no merchant to diligently bring fresh cuts of meat to the castle, nor was there a gourmand to gobble them right up.

At the same time, Kaito realized something.

That refrigerator was always empty. At most, it’d be full of beer and shochu.

There had also been times when it had rotten food in it, or sketchy, illegal-looking packages.

In his childhood, Kaito had occasionally been unable to withstand his hunger and had opened up the fridge. Every time he’d done so, though, he’d been beaten so harshly that he’d felt his intestines would come flying out. Sometimes, he’d even been forced to drink detergent or some unidentifiable liquid as punishment.

It really is a happy thing, having a fridge that’s always stocked with fresh food.

And if there was someone who’d happily bring you food, someone who’d delightedly prepare it, and someone who’d eat it with a smile on their face, then all the more so.

Kaito shook his head, then closed the ice-spirit fridge. Then after turning around, he tried to start walking again but immediately stopped.

Standing before him was Hina. Both her arms were behind her back. Kaito lightly called out to her.

“What’s up?”

“Well, you see, Master Kaito… Ta-da!”

And with that, Hina revealed what it was she’d been hiding: hard cheese, honey sealed in wax, and a jar of nuts preserved in oil. Kaito rubbed Hina’s head in praise. She cooed sweetly.

And so in the end, their dinner ended up being simple, but warm all the same.

It was no match for the feasts they’d used to have, replete with appetizers, cooked organ meat, and sweet desserts, lamented Hina. But as far as Kaito was concerned, the meal she’d concocted out of little more than love and ingenuity was beyond impressive. There were cookies baked from kneaded dough and topped with nuts, honey, and cheese, as well as a colorful salad made from garden-fresh herbs. However, when she gazed upon the completed goods, Hina shook her head once more.

“If only there had been some meat that I could have prepared as a main course. As a maid, I find it ever so mortifying.”

“Not at all. This is plenty. The Butcher used to bring by fresh stuff all the time, so we never bothered to stock up on dried meat. There’s no helping that.”

“Mr. Butcher was oh-so-proud of that meat of his, and I really did love cooking it. It was always so lustrous and shiny, and preparing it was truly rewarding.”

“…I’m sure he knew that. And I’m sure it made him real happy.”

With that, Kaito stroked Hina’s head. She smiled, looking to be on the verge of tears.

And soon, their dinner was ready. However, Hina didn’t normally eat. Automatons were equipped with the ability to ingest food and dismantle it so they could attend banquets alongside their masters, but they didn’t derive any sustenance from doing so. Rather than eating food herself, she generally preferred to watch Kaito and Elisabeth as they took their meals. Today, though, she elected to eat alongside Kaito.

They didn’t eat in the dining room.

Instead, they ate before the gaping hole in the throne room’s wall.

They’d laid a cloth out on the floor and lined the plates atop it. They were also utilizing the side table that Elisabeth had used so regularly. Placed on it was a bowl full of ice that Hina had half-submerged an expensive bottle of wine in.

Beside it, three glasses were laid out.

A silvery moon rested in the clear, night sky.

Elisabeth had been fond of drinking wine while basking in the moonlight. And she’d often dragged Kaito and Hina into her drinking as well. As he reminisced on that fact, Kaito poured the wine into the three glasses.

Its vivid shade of scarlet, like melted rubies, reminded him of Elisabeth’s eyes.

Kaito and Hina purposefully left the throne alone and sat on the floor. They gazed up at the moon, the empty space between the two of them so distinct that it almost seemed as if someone were there. Hina held her glass in both hands as she whispered:

“I hope that someday, Lady Elisabeth will be able to… No, she definitely will—”

“Yeah, to her being able to drink wine like this again.”

With a clink, they lightly tapped their glasses together.

They then brought the fine wine to their lips, more in prayer than in thirst. Hina closed her eyes, as though she was trying to fully take in the flavor that Elisabeth had liked so much. As she did, Kaito surreptitiously snapped his fingers.

“La (fall).”

The blade Kaito had created flashed across the darkness. The underling’s head went toppling off. The cry that had been creeping up its throat vanished without a sound. Still poised as though to leap, its grotesque body toppled down into the forest below. Hina opened her eyes. The figure outside the hole was long gone. Kaito didn’t even cast a glance toward where it had fallen. With no one to interrupt them, the two of them continued their dinner.

The only thing bearing down on them was the soft moonlight.

The third glass remained full through to the end.

After they finished their dinner, the two of them washed the dishes side by side.

To anyone else, it would look like they were just doing the chores. But for Kaito and Hina, it was a perfectly natural part of their date. They engaged in a trifling conversation as they wiped down the glasses, as though imitating their normal, everyday routine.

They conscientiously returned the tableware to their shelves. Kaito stared at the plates and glasses all sitting in a line.

If worse comes to worst and nobody ever comes back here, may these, at least, remain.

With sentimentality bordering on prayer, he closed the cupboard. Elisabeth’s favorite tableware all disappeared from view with a soft click. It almost felt as though he was drawing a curtain of sorts.

For a few seconds, he stood still. Then he let go of the handle and stretched.

“Well then… What should we do now?”

“What, indeed? It’s getting quite late.”

It was hardly a good time to do much of anything. And they didn’t have much of it left. After discussing, they decided to head back to the servants’ quarters. For whatever reason, they ended up heading for Hina’s room.

She took the lead and cast the door open. Then with a broad smile, she beckoned Kaito inside.

“Please, Master Kaito, after you, after you.”

“Uh, pardon the intrusion, I guess.”

“Oh, by all means, welcome to my humble abode! Eek, I’m alone in my room with Master Kaito!”

Hina was thoroughly wound up. That said, it was a little late for the two of them to have such an exchange given how long they’d known each other by now.

They were, after all, a married couple, and their relationship wasn’t particularly bogged down with formalities. Furthermore, Kaito had been in Hina’s room a number of times before. But because it was happening in the middle of a date, the experience was strangely nerve-racking.

Kaito awkwardly stepped inside. He glanced around the room, wondering where best to sit. Thinking a chair might be nice, he turned his gaze toward the desk. Then he cocked his head to the side.

“…Huh?”

There were small bookends on top of the desk. Tomes were methodically lined up within their wooden frame. However, there was an empty space in the middle, and a book that looked like it might belong in it sitting atop the table.

It seemed altogether unnatural. Kaito called out to Hina.

“Hey, why’s that one book out of place?”

“Hmm? Oh, I could have sworn I put it away with all the others. I wonder what it’s doing out?”

Hina trotted over to the desk and scooped the book up. Now that he looked closer, Kaito felt as though he’d seen that red cover before. It was Hina’s diary. When she opened it up, her eyes went wide.

She seemed to be practically dancing as she rushed to Kaito’s side. She pointed at one of the pages in excitement.

“M-Master Kaito! Please look! Look! Look here!”

“Wait, that’s your diary, right? Is it really all right for me to read it? Wait…what?”

After peering at the spot Hina was pointing to, Kaito tilted his head to the side. Letters were scrawled across the thin sheet of paper, but the handwriting clearly wasn’t Hina’s. Upon reading the section’s contents, he widened his eyes, too.

“This…this is…”

“While Hina sleeps, I shall take it upon myself to fill out this diary in her stead.”

“I found a diary Madam Elisabeth seems to have misplaced, so I shall take it upon myself to write an entry in her place.”

“Whatever this is, I discovered it while searching the castle, so I have taken it upon myself to write its continuation.”

Kaito could tell. In the middle, the writers had started changing.

The final three pages had been written by Elisabeth, the Butcher, and Jeanne.

At some point, Hina’s diary had passed through a number of different hands. And all of them had gone ahead and written entries in her place. Kaito gently stroked each of their distinctive letters.

Elisabeth. The Butcher. Jeanne.

None of the people who’d written entries were with them anymore.

Kaito turned his eyes toward the lines at the end of each page.

“Both Kaito and I are wishing for you to awaken soon.”

“At the very least, I hope that my acquaintances will be able to keep on smiling for as long as possible.”

“Perhaps if my little lady was here, I could have asked her about the parts that make no sense.”

Each one of them had left words of concern for a different person.

Kaito shook his head, then tried to close the diary. Before he could, though, Hina reached out her arm and placed a finger between the pages to stop him. He blinked at her sudden action.

“…Hina?”

“Um, if it’s all right with you… Or rather, if you’re able, I have a request I’d like to make.”

She gently picked up a quill pen from atop the desk. Then she gestured at the sealed inkwell beside it. Kaito could tell what she was trying to say. He took her diary in his hand.

After flipping through the pages, past the entries from all the people he knew, he arrived at a blank, white sheet behind them.

He stared at it hard.

“Me too?”

“You too, Master Kaito.”

Hina bobbed her head up and down. Her tone was timid, as though she feared he’d refuse.

Kaito let out a quiet chuckle, then stepped forward. He pulled the chair out from the desk and sat down. After setting the diary on the table, he grabbed the quill and opened the inkwell.

Then he wrote his own diary entry.

Hina sat down on the bed with a relieved smile. Her manners and posture were impeccable as she waited for him to finish.

The minutes ticked softly away. The sound of scratching echoed throughout the silence.

Once, while he was writing, Kaito set the quill down. Right before he picked it back up, he gave his fingers a faint snap. A pin shot through the heart of the underling clinging to the castle’s outer wall. However, Hina didn’t notice.

He also stealthily swallowed down the blood gushing up from his lungs. Then he went back to writing as though nothing had happened. Eventually, he set the quill down for good. As he snapped the diary shut, he made his announcement.

“Right, all finished.”

“Wow, it’s complete! Excellent work! May I go ahead and read it, then?”

“Nope. The stuff I wrote’s a secret.”

“How can this be?!”

Upon hearing Kaito’s response, Hina sprang into the air. Seemingly unwilling to give up, she got down off the bed. Then she hurriedly snatched at the diary. Kaito evaded her fingertips as he quickly rose to his feet.

Hina grunted as she stretched out her arm. She then made a frantic plea.

“But whyyy? Not being allowed to read what you’re thinking, how you’re feeling, how you wrote it… Why, it’s so painful that the world might as well end!”

“Er, yeah, there’s a real chance it’s gonna end. But still, no. This isn’t the kind of thing you read when the person who wrote it’s still here, is it? Just read it later!”

“Master Kaito, you meanie, you bully! You’re just as cool as ever!”

“Wait, why’d you compliment me at the end there? Anyway, no means no, c’mon!”

“Nnnn… But! I! Want! To! I’m going to show you more stubbornness than I ever have before!”

“Don’t go boasting about that! Seriously, cut it out!”

Hina was taller than Kaito. Due to that fact, the battle over the diary was getting heated.

The two of them paced about the room, practically dancing. From the outside, it probably looked like they were horsing around, but they were both deadly serious. Kaito cleanly evaded Hina’s feints and jumps. However, that success bred carelessness. His foot crashed into the side of the bed, and he lost his balance. That was when Hina charged.

“Hwah!”

“Eek!”

Tangled together, the two of them fell.

They tumbled down hard onto the bed.

Hina’s sleek, silver hair grazed his cheek. Her emerald eyes batted directly in front of his. Before they’d noticed, their noses had gotten so close that they were practically touching.

With a start, Hina balled up her back a little. Her voluptuous breasts pressed even harder into Kaito’s chest. She was practically squishing him, but her body was warm and soft.

Kaito instinctively thought back to the night they’d spent together in the beastfolk lands.

The diary fell from his hand. This time, neither of them made to retrieve it. It flopped onto the floor with a thump.

Kaito covered his face with one hand. With difficulty, he squeezed out an explanation.

“I, uh, I didn’t fall on purpose, you know.”

“Oh, I know! Er, well, I didn’t exactly fall down with you on purpose, either, but…to be quite frank, I did…press my breasts against you…on purpose… I’m very sorry.”

“That was on purpose, huh…?”

“Y-you did say you didn’t mind my being immodest, so…”

“Oh, no, I’m super happy, or, like, I feel like I should be thanking you, or… Man, I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. I’m just… Sorry.”

Kaito buried his face in his hands. Upon seeing that, Hina began gushing about how cute he was and indiscriminately planting kisses on him. Every time she moved, her soft breasts squished against him. And for a finishing blow, she moved her legs from her upturned skirt and wrapped them around Kaito’s body.

Although the feeling of her ball joints was a little disconcerting, her skin was smooth and pleasant to the touch.

As his face grew redder and redder, he peeked out at Hina from between his fingers.

Her emerald eyes were glistening sweetly. However, her face seemed somehow uneasy.

He was certain there had to be some kind of rule against making an expression like that.

“God, I just can’t!”

“Eep!”

Kaito reached out his arms and wrapped Hina in a strong embrace. She let out a thrilled cry.

They shifted positions, now lying side by side. A beaming smile spread across Hina’s face like a flower coming into bloom. She gently nuzzled against his face like a puppy. To answer her fawning gesture, he opened his mouth.

Suddenly, though, he froze. Hina tilted her head to the side. She called out to him concernedly.

“Um… Master Kaito, is something the matter?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

Kaito chose to evade the question. In truth, he hadn’t wanted to worry Hina more than necessary, so he’d adjusted his blood in addition to his eyes. She had once told him the blood of a loved one had a sweet aroma to it. Now, though, it seemed as though she couldn’t make it out. He’d made a number of special alterations to his blood so as to make it odorless to automatons. Now he was sincerely glad he’d made the effort.

At the same time, he also swallowed down the blood that was rising up in his throat. However, if he kissed her, she’d catch on. And if she found out about his current state, it would undoubtedly fill her with a deep sadness. So instead of kissing her, he wrapped her up in a firm hug. As he did, his thoughts churned.

Yeah…I know.

In his heart, Kaito knew. It was quiet inside the castle. But that peace was nothing more than a lie.

Nothing remained the same forever. The outside world was overrun by underlings. He wasn’t wearing that butler uniform anymore, the one that had once been his staple outfit. And his body was currently being flooded with constant pain.

Kaito thought back to what he’d been told so earnestly earlier that night.

“You said you would save the world.”

Yeah, I swore I’d save the world.

At the same time, though, he had an objective that he was determined to see through to the end. He was completely unwilling to yield on it. That was why he hadn’t answered Izabella’s question. He’d simply smiled and persisted in his silence.

Could Kaito Sena kill Elisabeth Le Fanu?

If he couldn’t…

That would mean…

“…Hina, I have something important to ask you.”

“Ah, yes, Master Kaito? Whatever might it be?”

Hina seemed to have picked up on the seriousness of his tone. She stirred restlessly. He stroked her hair. After burning its silky texture into his hand, he spoke softly.

“Do you want to have a baby?”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?”

Hina’s voice instantly cracked. Her entire body shook. If Kaito hadn’t been hugging her, she probably would have fallen off the bed. Her eyes spun around in confusion.

“Mas-Master Kaito, that’s— Why—? How—?”

As her face went bright red, her questions became jumbled and confused.

Kaito just kept gently stroking her head.

With a forlorn expression on his face, he closed his eyes for a moment.