The Daughter of Evil - Volume 4 - Chapter 2.25

chapter 2, section 2-the sorceress and the forest; scene 5
Praefacio of Blue, page 121-127

♣ Yukina ~The Country of Marlon, “Freezis Estate/Drawing Room”~

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Germaine picked up the unconscious Gumillia, and we all returned to my house.

After taking Gumillia to a bedroom, the remaining members of our group went to the drawing room, and Elluka sat down in a chair.

“Well then, from where should I start?”

Germaine followed suit, heartily plunking down in her seat. “For the time being…How about you start with whether or not you’re the real Elluka right now?”

Elluka confirmed that she was and nodded, smiling. “I’ve finally returned to my former body.”

Right then there was a knock on the door, and the servant boy nervously entered the room, carrying a cup and a pot on a tray.

“Ex-excuse me…I’ve brought your milk.”

 Elluka narrowed her eyes and made a sour expression.

“I can’t have milk. Bring me some black tea. With lemon.”

“-Sigh-…”

The servant boy bowed once, and then left the room. I could faintly hear him muttering “What the heck was that about…” beyond the door.

I sat down in a chair next to Germaine, facing Elluka. “I want you to explain from beginning to end. Everything from when you and Miss Gumillia left this house five years ago.”

“That’s going to take a while. Well, I’ll keep to just the important stuff.”

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After leaving the Freezis mansion five years ago the two of them had intended to go to the east. But apparently, midway through they realized that there was no “Demon of Deadly Sin” inside the vessel of deadly sin, the “Venom Sword”, that they had obtained from my father.

“I don’t need to explain what a ‘Demon of Deadly Sin’ is…do I?”

“No…”

The demon that had possessed King Kyle…There were others like it dwelling inside of the various vessels of deadly sin.

“Miss Elluka, you and Miss Gumillia were collecting the vessels, huh?”

“Well, sort of. Anyway, I could sense there was some act going on, so I decided to call off our trip to the east and do some investigation. Along with looking for the demon that should have been in the Venom Sword.”

In the process of that investigation, they had broken into the Lucifenian Palace and ended up being targeted by King Kyle’s “Witch Hunt”.

“We went to the palace because I’d sensed the influence of a demon in Kyle. The demon of 'Lust’ that should have been in the Venom Sword.”

“So Mister Kyle growing wings before was the work of this demon of 'Lust’?”

Elluka shook her head.

“No. That demon–the one dwelling in the mirror–is the demon of 'Pride’. The demon who possessed Kyle after the demon of 'Lust’ left him.”

Five years ago, or in other words some time before or after the revolution, someone had gotten Kyle possessed by the demon of “Lust”. That demon supposedly drove wild the affections and sexual urges of the people it possessed.

“S-sexual urges?”

Germaine saw my reddened face and smirked.

“I think that Kyle’s crush on Michaela was because of that demon. Though he himself would never recognize that.”

It would surely be a huge shock to him to learn that his love towards Michaela were feelings born by a demon.

“After that, at some point the demon of 'Lust’ separated from him, and instead he was possessed by the demon of 'Pride’. Thanks to that Kyle became puffed up with conceit, and picked fights with other countries.”

“Mister Kyle gets possessed far too much.”

Did that mean…he was a sinful man who tempted demons? Putting aside whether he himself wanted that or not.

“He might be predisposed to it. Of course, there’s undoubtedly someone else’s hand in it.”

In the end, Elluka and Gumillia had been unable to find the demon of “Lust”, and having judged their preparations insufficient to exorcise the demon of “Pride” possessing Kyle, they crossed over to Marlon the following year. That was because they’d estimated that Kyle’s mother, the Empress Dowager Prim, was related to what happened to him.

But it was there they met with the interference of Abyss I.R. and the Special Maneuvers Task Force.

“I was negligent. At that time I hadn’t believed there were still any sorcerers around like that…except for me. I was unable to run away in time, and was captured by Abyss–or at least, my body was.”

“Just your body?”

“I am able to move just my spirit into other bodies. Using that, I was able to temporarily have my spirit take refuge in Gumillia’s body. In other words, Gumillia ended up housing a soul that was composed of both her and myself.”

Now that she mentioned it, whenever I had met with Gumillia in the palace after the dead soldiers had broken out in the Beelzenian Empire, there were times when she’d seemed different.

If Gumillia had two people’s personalities inside her, then those times must have been when Elluka’s was coming through.

“Why would you do something like that?”

“I was able to guess from Abyss’ behavior that if I was captured I wouldn’t be able to get away. It was a waste, but I decided to part with my body. I figured at the time it couldn’t be helped.”

Giving up on her physical body for such trivial reasons seemed pretty par for the course for her.

“Then I ran away to the Beelzenian Empire beyond Marlon’s reach, and waited for my chance. And you know the rest from there.”

She’d made preparations in Beelzenia, met with Germaine and me, exorcised the demon from Kyle, and headed to Marlon.

And then, just a short while ago, she had taken her own body back from Abyss I.R.

“And finally, just who is this Abyss I.R.?”

“Who knows? I blew her spirit away before I could ask any questions. Just, judging by her ability to hijack my body and operate it like that, they’re a master of the 'Swap Technique’ like me. …and if that’s the case…There is a high chance that she’s someone who would become the mother of Magic Kingdom Levianta–a survivor of 'Ma’ five hundred years ago…”

Elluka continued to murmur to herself. “Miss Elluka?”

“Ah, sorry. Those points have nothing to do with you. …Oh?”

It seems the door wasn’t completely closed. An unexpected, rare guest entered the room from the open crack.

“Meow♪”

It was the red cat that had been riding on Elluka’s shoulder–or rather, on the shoulder of Abyss I.R. in Elluka’s body.

Come to think of it, it had been by Abyss I.R.’s side during the whole battle, but at some point had vanished afterwards.

“Has it mistaken me for its master? Well, I suppose that’s understandable, I have the same appearance…”

“Miss Elluka, how about continuing to take care of it?”

“I hate cats. Can’t you keep it?”

“I’m not too fond of them myself. …Miss Germaine?”

“Sorry…”

The cat innocently groomed itself.

Right then, I heard the sound of footsteps and my mother’s voice from outside the door.

 "Here kitty kitty~♪ Where have you gone~?“

The footsteps grew louder, and finally they were right outside the door.

"Are you in here?”

My mother peered into the room from the crack in the door.

“So there you are, kitty. …Oh!? Oh my, oh dear.”

It sounded like she’d noticed that Elluka was in the room.

“Miss Elluka, you’re here. It’s been quite some time hasn’t it?”

“Sorry for neglecting to write for so long, Madam. You certainly like cats, don’t you?”

We hadn’t had a pet like this one in the house before. So today was the first I’d learned that my mother liked cats.

She lovingly picked up the cat in her arms and looked my way.

“Hey Yukina, I’ve decided to keep this cat here in our house.”

“Huh!? Um, Mama. Don’t you know that I don’t really like cats?”

“It’s fine. We’ll keep her in my room.”

“No, that’s not really the prob–”

“Don’t be so fussy, Yukina. Especially when she’s so cute~”

My mother rubbed her cheek against the cat, and it once more let out a meow.