Fremd Torturchen - Volume 7 - Chapter 2

2

The Imperial Princesses’ End

Down, down, down.

Alice fell down a very deep hole.

After being shoved down in the tub, beaten hundreds of times with a rolling pin, having my arms and legs tied up with packing tape, being stuffed in a garbage bag, and being locked in a car trunk for several hours, I suddenly found myself falling down a very deep hole.

No one would listen to me no matter how many times I apologized. No one would hear me no matter how loud I shouted. I was so sure I was being a good girl this time, so I thought and I thought and I thought, but I had no idea how I was going to apologize.

I didn’t scream. I didn’t get mad. I didn’t cry. And I properly apologized.

But he got mad at me anyway, saying that my apology was annoying, that it was creepy that I wasn’t crying, and that his arm hurt from hitting me so much.

But even though I was hot all over and my body hurt and ached, and even though rain and mud and bugs were getting in through the holes in the bag and rustling around and crawling in my mouth and ears, and even though I wanted to throw up and my tummy was empty and I was freezing cold and my teeth were chattering and chattering and chattering and my mind felt like it was going to snap—

—for some reason, I recalled a certain passage over and over again.

“Down, down, down.

“Alice fell down a very deep hole.”

Um, when was it I read that, again? Was it back when Mama was still nice and pretty and smiled every day? Was it back when my original papa was still alive? Was it before the first time we moved? And after Alice fell down, down, down—

—what happened to her at the bottom of the hole?

My head feels so heavy. I can’t remember anymore.

But it doesn’t, hurt, anymore, so

may be, th is, was for, the bes t

ye, ahmay be, th,is, was f or the, best

best est est?

best?

“Lady Vyade Ula Forstlast, you’re alive?!”

“—You murdered her?”

Lute cried out in surprise and joy, but Vyade, uncharacteristically, didn’t respond to him. She merely glared at the man in black, voicing her own question. She sat up straight, her body trembling in pain all the while.

When she did, her red-haired, fox-headed protector slid off her chest. Valisisa fell to the floor with a loud, hard thump. Fresh blood slowly spread out around the first imperial princess.

Elisabeth narrowed her gaze.

The first imperial princess had dropped like a rock.

Naught remains of Valisisa Ula Forstlast but a corpse, then.

After coolly making her assessment, Elisabeth shifted her gaze to the second imperial princess, Vyade Ula Forstlast. Just as she’d said, she did in fact yet live. However…, thought Elisabeth. Those wounds are deep. By the looks of it, she was stabbed with a spoon.

Elisabeth had drawn that conclusion from the ghastly state Vyade’s chest was in. A large swath of her thin dress, fur, and flesh had been completely scooped out. Her ribs, as well as the pulsating organs beneath them, were visible. The blow that had caused that wound must have been excruciating. As she studied the wound, Elisabeth began thinking of how she could save Vyade.

The beastfolk have little skill with magic. I could try healing her myself— No, such spells are hardly my forte. But there are no healers left in the residence, either. And even if escaping and bringing her to someone with enough talent to heal her were an option, given the burden the teleportation would take on her— No, ’twould be meaningless regardless. No healer alive could mend a wound that severe.

There was no point trying to lie to herself. The situation was beyond hope. Elisabeth had to plainly acknowledge the truth of the matter.

Vyade was going to die.

No sense in trying to save the doomed.

Her men seemed to have realized that, too. When they’d found out the second imperial princess was alive, they’d immediately rushed forward, but upon seeing her wound, they’d all frozen in their tracks.

Several of them crumpled to their knees. Hollow cries spilled into the air.

“Oh… Oh, Lady Vyade…”

Normally, it was the height of disrespect for a subordinate to omit the surname of a member of the imperial family. And sitting down in front of one’s master when that master was gravely injured was the height of absurdity to begin with. But that was just how horrifying Vyade’s wound was.

The man in black seemed to realize the state the second imperial princess was in. Perhaps as a show of mercy, he made no effort to shake free from her grasp. After tilting his head to the side, he finally spoke.

“There are a lot of people that could refer to. Who in particular is it you’re asking about?”

“My sister.”

A look of surprise crossed the man’s half-visible face when Vyade gave her answer. With his free left hand, he rubbed the line where his mask met his skin. Leaving his right hand in her grasp, he responded.

“If you had answered the first imperial princess, I was prepared to criticize you harshly for it, even though my deeds don’t leave me in much of a position to do so. I wouldn’t have looked fondly on your treating members of the imperial family differently from your subjects. Asking about your own family, though—that’s entirely reasonable. As a sister, you have every right to question me, and every right to despise me.”

The man’s voice was tinged with respect as he spoke to the dying Vyade. However, it was also free of shame.

“To answer your question, yes. I murdered your sister.”

“You killed Valisisa Ula Forstlast?”

“I did. I killed Valisisa Ula Forstlast.”

Vyade asked. The man answered. And Elisabeth was struck speechless.

Not at the answer.

At the change in Vyade Ula Forstlast.

The moment she heard the man’s response, Vyade contorted the corners of her mouth. A fierce smile spread across her face, one full of grief and hatred and bloodlust and rage. It was an expression hardly befitting the Wise Wolf—it was something you’d expect to see on a monster or a demon.

The second imperial princess began speaking like a woman possessed.

“Valisisa Ula Forstlast had the capacity of a dynast. Back before the end of days, she would have prioritized surviving even if it meant sacrificing me. But because we’ve entered an era of peace, she sacrificed her body to protect me. She determined that the fear and confusion over losing Vyade the Wise Wolf would threaten the stability our country has finally gained over these past three years. How truly gallant. Heh, although, it would seem that my wound is plenty fatal as well. Apparently, even my sister can make mistakes. Who would have thought?”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Vyade began laughing in amusement. With each chuckle, blood spurted violently from her mouth. But her fluid speech seemed hardly to be that of a dying woman.

It seemed downright bizarre.

Alice looked to the man, her eyes wholly frightened. The white ribbons on her hat began trembling as well.

“Father…isn’t it weird? Why is the dying dog talking so normally? She’s all covered in blood, and yet… I think it’s a little creepy.”

“Oh yes, this normally wouldn’t be possible. It may not seem like it, young miss, but I’m trying very hard right now.”

Alice’s face froze. She peeked timidly at Vyade.

Vyade gave her a gentle smile. Ah, thought Elisabeth, nodding, so that’s it. Vyade, ignoring the fact that Alice had just called her a dog, winked charmingly.

“I needed to buy time, you see.”

“Hmm? …Wha—?!”

Alice looked down, then let out a little yelp. At some point, light-silver ivy had begun coiling around her ankles. And the same had happened to the man in black. However, his expression remained unchanged.

Vyade calmly let go of the man’s wrist.

“I wasn’t able to stop your raid…so perhaps I’m in no position to talk. But if you wish to be on top, you need to constantly consider the possibility of having the carpet pulled out from under you.”

She quietly opened her palm.

Sitting atop its pink pad sat a gorgeous, shining ring.

“Right before she passed, my sister made sure to entrust this to me.”

While Valisisa was alive, it was the one ornament she had always kept on her person. That silver loop was where the ivy was coming from. A pink flower bud was sealed within the crystal at its center, like spring itself had been frozen in ice. And now that crystal had undergone a major change.

The bud within had burst into magnificent bloom.

The pink crystal-flower’s gold center was glowing. As it did, tiny sparks burst off it as the compressed mana within whirled like a tempest in a teacup.

“—!”

Alice swung her teaspoon down and smashed it into the vines binding her ankles. However, doing so simply made a sound like she was striking dragon scales and caused her teaspoon to twist at an odd angle.

That was largely what Elisabeth had expected to have happened. Those vines clearly had an abnormal hardness and flexibility to them.

Alice bit her lip, visibly shaken.

Vyade opened her mouth to speak to her men, her gaze fixed on Alice all the while.

“Lute. My surviving soldiers. This will be your final order from Vyade Ula Forstlast. Take Madam Elisabeth and flee, now. And no matter what, don’t stop running. I have no desire to get you caught up in what I’m about to do.”

“Wh-what are you talking about, Lady Vyade Ula Forstlast?! We could never abandon our—”

“You would have me repeat my final order?! Run!”

Vyade’s sharp reprimand cut through the air, her intonation reminiscent of Valisisa’s. Lute and the others reflexively straightened their backs. Unlike her dynast sister, however, Vyade followed up in a gentler tone.

“You all are fine soldiers, but there is no meaning in protecting a dying woman. We are all children of our Three Kings of the Forest, and it is your duty to live long so you may continue serving the people.”

Even if she died, there were some things that went on. There were some things that had to.

She urged them forth, her voice as tender as a sister’s and as firm as a mother’s.

“Now go and don’t turn back.”

All at once, the beastfolk soldiers cried out. They looked up at the ceiling and howled in unison.

It was as though they were paying their respects to a star in the sky. Alice covered her ears, and her hat’s white ribbons folded themselves over in kind. The man offered no response. Elisabeth stood wordlessly.

The howls continued, then suddenly stopped. Then as their echoes yet reverberated, the beastfolk leaned forward and took off from the stairs and floor at a dash. The rookie was still on his back on the floor, but one of the Brigade’s more veteran members grabbed him by the collar and pulled him along.

“Come now, run!”

“Pardon the impropriety, Madam Elisabeth!”

Lute scooped Elisabeth up and slung her over his shoulder.

As she obediently let him carry her, Elisabeth continued watching Vyade.

The second imperial princess faced their enemies alone and opened her mouth once more. Blood spilled from it as she spoke. But this time, her words were not a last will made to her comrades.

They were a bitter curse, spat at her foes.

“For the crimes committed against my subjects, I would have you die a thousand times over. But most unforgivable of all, you murdered my sister. Valisisa Ula Forstlast was a precious treasure chosen by the Three Kings of the Forest, as was I. We were royalty, chosen by the Three Kings to serve as special pawns. We were this country’s greatest treasures, as well as servants to its people.”

“…Hmm. While I’m still not fond of the special status you seem to assign royals, your recognition of your role as ‘servants of the people’ still merits praise… No, forgive me. I’m just talking to myself. Please go on.”

“I don’t recall asking for your permission. But for those who destroy such treasures, the only fitting punishment is death. For such an act is unforgivable. Till the end of days, you shall never be forgiven—and thus, you shall perish here and now.”

Vyade’s fur, stained crimson, bristled with malice. Her blood pressure must have risen, too, as blood began spilling from her chest even faster. The Wise Wolf’s long-hidden fury filled the room with its terrifying presence.

As she stood, still dying, she curled her lips into a grim smile.

“None of us are leaving here alive.”

“Father…”

Alice yanked on the hem of the man’s coat in fear. However, he didn’t stir.

For a moment, the room was still.

Then Vyade glanced to the side. Her and Elisabeth’s gazes met.

Vyade nodded, as though saying she was leaving the rest to her. Elisabeth nodded back. Perhaps that came as a relief to her, as Vyade’s expression softened a little. For just a second, it looked like she was about to cry.

Elisabeth could tell there were two emotions waging war inside her.

A deep rage—the desire to take her enemies down with her, even when faced with certain death.

And a childlike fear—the fear of dying, especially after having just watched her subjects and adoptive sister get struck down in front of her.

The two emotions were at stark odds. As long as they stayed inside her, they could coexist.

But the dying woman only had room on the outside to express one.

* * *

“Consider it an honor to die alongside me, villains!”

Without a shred of hesitation, Vyade chose the former, stifling her fear and raising her voice high. There was no falsehood in the proud, elegant figure she cast. Yet at the same time, it seemed unbearably tragic.

’Twould be a slight of the highest order to voice that thought, though.

Consequently, Elisabeth chose to remain silent. She just continued watching the second imperial princess.

Vyade didn’t cry. She glared majestically at her foes, not shedding a single tear. The man, seemingly in response, gave a slight nod. Then he moved with intention for the first time and shifted his fingers.

A small shuffling noise sounded out.

The man had removed his half mask, as one might take off a hat as a show of respect.

From Elisabeth’s position, all she could see was the half of his face that had been visible all along. However, when Vyade saw the rest, her eyes went wide.

Then something remarkable happened.

All the malice drained from Vyade’s face.

Seemingly having come to understand something, she let out a quiet murmur.

“You’re…”

The man appeared to smile.

There was no animosity in it.

Then Elisabeth and the others passed through the audience chamber’s entrance. Lute and his men hastily rushed into the hallway. And as though it had been waiting for that, the crystal’s glow reached its zenith.

A sound like that of glass shattering rang out. A flash of lightning filled the room, burning the curtains away. The ivy twisted and cracked like whips. The pink flower twirled. The air began turning silver.

Elisabeth’s retinas burned.

Then she stopped being able to see altogether.

She saw nothing—

—and no one—

—not even the face—

the imperial princess made in her final moments.

Vision slowly returned to her seared retinas.

However, the world still appeared the same—everything in front of her was completely white.

Curious, she reached out her hand. When she did, her fingertips quickly went flat. The whiteness was solid. At that point, she finally realized what had happened.

She was in front of the audience chamber’s entrance, and every square inch of the chamber before her was packed with pale-silver ivy. That was why it had felt like her vision hadn’t come back yet.

The plant within the crystal grew at an explosive rate, I take it.

As she made her conjecture, she reached out and touched the densely packed vines once more. They were cold, firm, and soft, like a corpse that was just coming out of rigor mortis. It reminded her of a graveyard.

And in a sense, it was one. After all, nobody within the audience chamber could have survived.

No one inside could have escaped being crushed.

“Ah, I see. ’Twas a self-destruct device, to be used in the event an imperial was captured by any who meant to do the nation harm… Ha, that was the item generations of imperials took such painstaking care to pass down?”

Elisabeth murmured in exasperation, but the voice that came out was tinged with anger at the absurdity of it all. She frowned. She’d had no intentions of getting emotional over the situation.

Suddenly, her frame of view swiveled.

“Hmm?”

“Pardon me.”

Lute, who must have wanted to check for himself, had turned around. Elisabeth was still facing backward over his shoulder. Having no desire to be spun about any further, she hopped down.

Lute stared silently at the silver mass. Suddenly, though, he pounded his fist against the ivy wall.

“Lady Vyade Ula Forstlast…”

He was clearly reflecting on each syllable as it came out of his mouth. He closed his eyes and caught his breath. Then after practically tearing himself off the wall, he thumped his chest, assumed a salute, and knelt.

The rest of the beastfolk followed his lead. It was their way of showing their grief, as well as their respect for their late master.

Elisabeth, the lone member standing, waited for them to finish their prayer.

Eventually, the silence ended. Lute shook his head as he solemnly rose.

“That’s all the time we can spare lamenting our cowardice and helplessness. Lady Valisisa Ula Forstlast and Lady Vyade Ula Forstlast, the first and second imperial princesses, have fallen. We need to make sure the Three Kings of the Forest and the rest of the imperial family are safe.”

“Not just them. ’Tis important we check the status of the other races’ dignitaries as well.”

Elisabeth amended Lute’s statement with a warning. Startled, he turned to look at her.

What makes you say that? his eyes were asking. Elisabeth’s reply came dispassionately.

“Alice Carroll told us as much. ‘If you keep being like that, you’re going to die along with everyone else in the world.’ The beastfolk weren’t their sole target.”

Alice hadn’t said that with any sort of agenda in mind. She’d simply been mad. Yet even so, her childish outburst had been akin to a proclamation of war.

They wish to revolutionize the world.

It was still unclear what their exact goals were. But given that they’d summoned the Fremd Torturchen to facilitate their revolution, something told her that they weren’t just planning on handing out pamphlets.

Whatever they were planning, it was going to have a substantial body count.

Vyade took those two down with her…but I doubt things will end so easily.

Her intuition as the Torture Princess told her that worse developments were yet to come.

Blood would flow. People would die.

And their screams would give birth to despair.

Just now, she’d gotten a whiff of the embers smoldering in the world’s dark underbelly. She was on high alert, like an animal reacting to imperceptible signs of a coming calamity. Something was coming. Something comparable to the end of days.

She didn’t know what it was, but there was one thing she was certain of.

It was the same as what Kaito Sena had known all those years ago.

“If things go on like this, we’ll all die.”

Skreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Suddenly, a strange noise cut through the tense air. Everyone looked up to see what was going on.

The sound was coming from the window farthest down the hallway. It was sunny out, so the waterproof leather flap atop the window had been rolled up, and some sort of round object was smacking into its bare wooden lattice.

Bang, bang, bang. It pounded against the window in a pointless display of perseverance.

Elisabeth nodded. Lute, puzzled, spoke up.

“That’s… Is that a…?”

“Aye. ’Tis.”

Elisabeth was well-acquainted with those winged white orbs.

It was one of the Church’s communication devices.