The Daughter of Evil - Volume 4 - Chapter 3.27

chapter 3, section 2-a heartbeat in the rain; scene 7
Praefacio of Blue, page 193-210

✥ Kyle ~Once again, in the “Heartbeat Clocktower”~

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How could this be?      

I didn’t know how much of the Empress Dowager’s story was true. But one thing was very clear to me.

“Mother…you’re insane.”

I couldn’t maintain my composure without telling myself as much.

I didn’t even want to admit that she was my own flesh and blood. But that was a wish I could not grant. The fact that she was my mother was a truth I could not change.

Ignoring my words, the Empress Dowager brought out one hand mirror.

“Do you know what this is?”

It was the same as the one I had once carried—one of the “Four Mirrors”.

“I’ve put the demon of ‘Lust’, which originally dwelled in the ‘Venom Sword’, into this mirror. It’s very convenient. That this mirror can move other varieties of demon than its original Demon of ‘Pride’.“

That must mean that she intended to have me possessed by that demon of “Lust” again.

But—

“Abyss is gone now. Can you perform the magic to have me possessed by a demon when you’re not a sorceress yourself?”

“I can. As long as I have her—the ‘Clockworker’s Doll’.” The Empress Dowager patted the head of the doll that looked like Mrs. Margaret once more. “The demon of ‘Sloth’ dwells in her. …A more accurate way of saying it would be that this doll is the demon of ‘Sloth’ itself.”

At that moment, a blonde haired girl entered the room from the opposite door. Ney.

“Mother~ I’m all finished~”

Instead of a glass, in her hands she was gripping a bloodstained knife.

The Empress Dowager continued to talk, ignoring Ney.

“The ‘Clockworker’s Doll’ is the being that is the mother to all other ‘Demons of Deadly Sin’. And it is only when inside this 'Heartbeat Clocktower’ that her true power can be realized–”

The clocktower handbeats, which I should not have been able to hear, reverberated throughout the room.

Ney drew closer to the Empress Dowager while speaking.

“Hey listen, Mother~ They weren’t as chewy as I thought they’d—“

The doll’s eyes began to shine mysteriously.

The Empress Dowager continued to talk.

“As long as I have her, even I can freely control the 'Demons of Deadly Sin’. And I can have you possessed by them–”

“Hey, mother. Listen to m–“

Ney stood before the Empress Dowager, and peered into her face. But she paid no mind to her. She held the doll up overhead.

“Kyle, you think this doll resembles Margaret, don’t you? But you’re wrong. Her appearance was based on the ‘Original Sinner’, Eve Moonlit—“

“Mother. Listen, Mother, Mother Mother~”

"Come, Kyle, return to your true self. The you that fits my expecta–”

“I SAID TO LISTEN, YOU WHOOOORE!”

All of a sudden, the noises of the clocktower ceased. The Empress Dowager stopped speaking, and the doll fell to the floor without a sound.

When Ney moved away, blood was gushing from the Empress Dowager’s chest.

“Wha…”

What just happened?

I couldn’t immediately grasp the situation.

A knife was plunged into her breast. Her face was hideously distorting. Her face that must have been altered to appear younger ran with wrinkles, and started to look more like her actual age.

“N-Ney…What have you…”

Ney simply laughed without answering the Empress Dowager’s question. No matter what, no matter what she continued that laugh that resounded above the sound of the clock hands from just a moment ago.

Eventually the Empress Dowager collapsed, powerless.

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My mother died before my eyes.

But I wasn’t seized with any emotion. No tears fell. Nor did I tremble with rage.

Perhaps my heart was completely broken.

In that case, then including my dead mother there was no one left in this room but madmen.

Ney still continued to laugh.

I understood, once possessed by a demon myself. There had to be some side-effects of entering a state like that, of acquiring a mind and power that surpassed human knowledge.

Ney had likely been made into Abyss’s guinea pig soon after she was born. Doubtless she had been subjected to things quite similar to demonic possession.

What’s more, she had recently been continuing to use the power of the “Glass of Conchita”–the power of a demon–

Ney’s laughter abruptly stopped. And when she saw the corpse of her mother, she adopted an expression of enormous shock.

“…Mother!? Agh, Mother! How awful! How did this happen!? Who, who could have done such a—“

This time she turned and settled her gaze on me. The blood that had spurted when she’d stabbed our mother clung to her face.

“…You? You killed her! I ca-ca-can’t forgive you, I can never forgive you! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you I’ll kill you I’ll kill you I’ll kill—“

While gazing at me with eyes filled with hatred, Ney readied her knife.

–Mother, you were insane.

Because of that you were unable to realize that the daughter you probably never thought of as anything more than a pawn had grown even more insane than you.

I’ve had enough.

Let’s put an end to all of this already.

As the one left behind, I would take responsibility for my family’s misconduct. But before that–

I drew my sword.

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My little sister. I will save you

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While holding her knife in her right hand, Ney pulled the glass from her pocket with her left.

“I’ll show you the true power of the Glass of Conchita! Demon of ‘Gluttony’, enter my body!” She shouted. In that moment, a strange transformation began to occur in her.

The color of the clothes she was wearing began to change from blue to a fiery crimson. And that wasn’t all. The style went from a military uniform to a dress the likes of which a noblewoman might wear.

A demonic transformation…?

A demonic transformation, like what had happened to me with growing wings and claws and such, was probably happening to Ney. The way she changed was different than mine, so perhaps there were differences among the various types of demons.

But unlike me, Ney didn’t seem to be undergoing any physical changes. After her clothes had completely changed into that red dress, nothing else happened. It was just a simple costume change.

“Wha—whaaaat~!?”

Ney too looked a little surprised by that.

“Did I use up too much power by summoning the dead soldiers? …Oh well. Even if I don’t have the demon’s power, I won’t lose to this evil man.”

Evil man—she was talking about me.

In reality, who was the one that was really evil?

The Empress Dowager Prim, who brought many people to disaster for the sake of her own vanity? Abyss IR, who had deceived my mother and scattered the seeds of demons? Ney, who had summoned the dead soldiers and had them attack civilians? Riliane, who had conducted herself in a state of hedonism and brought disorder to the Evillious region? Allen, who had averted his eyes from his sister’s pride and sacrificed himself for her? Elluka, who could do nothing to stop countless tragedies while knowing about the existence of demons? Or was it me, who brought forth so much war and strife, unable to go against the expectations around me?

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What in the world is “evil”?

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–I’d think about that later. Ney was heading my way with her knife raised. I had to stop her.

There was the sound of blades clashing. I had a broadsword. My opponent had a tiny knife. Yet I was the one who got knocked back. She had more physical strength than I would expect of a woman her size. Perhaps she had taken on some of the influence of the demon’s power after all, or else it was her own strength as the head of the Special Maneuvers Task Force.

Her knife was solid, and quick. The men I had come up here with, Seton and Walpole. I realized how two such powerful people even among the rest of the unit had been done in by her.

It took all my might just to block her. But I wouldn’t be bested so easily. Even if she had strength, it wasn’t infinite. If I kept up my defense, my chance would come eventually. I calmly continued to handle sword stroke after sword stroke.

Perhaps irritated that her knife wasn’t reaching me, Ney temporarily retreated while still facing me directly.

She began to slowly circle me. There didn’t seem to be any reason left in her eyes, but her body apparently remembered how to fight. She moved in a wide arc around me, looking for a chance to strike. During that period I continued to change my position so as to not lose sight of her. Then, as though having grown impatient, Ney suddenly lunged. She vigorously slashed at me.

I just barely managed to block, but the gap between us then was much too short. I could feel her breath on my face. A knife would be overwhelmingly advantageous at this distance. In an instant, I struck Ney’s face with the handle of my sword–while she was recoiling from the blow, I kneed her in the stomach. The gap between us widened.

Blood was flowing from Ney’s lips. Coupled with the blood still on her from the Empress Dowager, her entire face was red. It matched the color of her dress, and she looked as though her whole body was stained in blood.

And it was there I realized something terrible. On closer inspection, a small crack had started to run on the base of my sword. I had tried to be very careful in maintaining it before setting out for the front, but would it endure Ney’s power?

If this kept up I wasn’t going to win—

When agitation began to sprout in my heart, suddenly–a voice began to echo in my head.

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Give it over

Give over everything to me

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It resembled the voice that I had heard when I was possessed by the demon. It merely resembled it—it was not the same. Above all other things, unlike back then this voice did nothing to make my heart feel calm. Rather it filled me with a sense of revulsion.

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Haha, how awful

Have you completely forgotten about me?

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This voice–it was coming from the mirror Prim had been holding, which had tumbled to the floor.

Ah, that’s right. I remember you.

The owner of the voice was another demon who had possessed me—the personification of “Lust”

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Give it over

Give over everything to me

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That’s right. If I borrowed your power, perhaps I would be able to stand against Ney.

But—

I tightly gripped the shell pendant hanging over my chest.

I refuse!

At this late hour I don’t think my sins will ever be forgiven.

Even so, I can’t accept you any further.

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…How boring

You have really boring mind

As ever….hm

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At that I finally stopped hearing the voice.

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The conversation with the demon had felt like it went on a while, but in actuality it only lasted a few seconds. If not for that, Ney would have run through my chest long ago.

I didn’t know what was funny, but a smile started to spread on her face.

“Ah…I’m hungry.”

Ney spoke, sounding carefree–then she once more launched herself at me. I tried to stop her as well as I could with my sword, giving my undivided attention to blocking while backing away.

“But I don’t wanna eat something as grotesque as that anymore. It’s really, really gross. But I’ve gotta eat. ‘Cause—“

Ney continued to speak using childlike expressions. During her speech she never stopped swinging the knife around.

“—If anything’s left behind, I’ll be scolded.”

The intensity of her flurry of knife strikes increased. I wouldn’t be able to keep her at bay with defensive movements for long.

If I’m going to end up getting done in at this rate–

I shifted to a counteroffensive. I stepped out my right foot, and brought my broadsword down on Ney. But she blocked the blade with her knife, and the sword merely broke off at the base.

There was nothing more I could do–Ney rammed me in the solar plexus with her shoulders and knocked me over.

“Come, this ends now!”

Ney straddled me, and brought the knife down

The image of blood gushing from my chest crossed the back of my mind. But that didn’t actually happen.

The knife had shattered into small pieces without cutting in. Both Ney and myself were stunned.

What? What just happened!?

I put a hand over my chest.

There, broken just like Ney’s knife, was my shell pendant.

It wasn’t an especially tough shell. Ordinarily it was unthinkable that it would be able to catch such a strong blow from Ney’s strong knife, much less destroy it.

“Ch…Is this payback for having killed you? Stop interfering, 'Daughter of Green’!”

Ney’s voice trembled with rage.

I see—so you were the one who killed Michaela, Ney…

I had finally found the target of my revenge. But somehow I couldn’t bring myself to feel any hatred towards her.

“Revenge will only bring you emptiness.”

I thought back on the words that Germaine had told me earlier.

We had both lost our weapons, but Ney didn’t stop her assault on me. While straddling me, she began to punch me in the face several times repeatedly.

“Die! You! Bastard! Die! Die die die!”

Her fists raining down were much stronger than one would expect of such skinny arms. If I kept up taking her blows like this, perhaps I really would die as she said.

I desperately tried to squirm away from her grip, holding me down from above, but I wasn’t successful. I felt as though some abominable curse of some sort outside of Ney’s power was keeping my body from moving.

In my dimming consciousness, I heard the sound of a door opening. I guessed someone had come in…but who in the world was it?

“Kyle!”

That was Germaine’s voice. If she was here then that must mean she had defeated the crew of the Special Maneuvers Task Force under her own power. …Honestly, what a formidable swordswoman.

It seemed Ney had realized Germaine was there. She stopped bringing her fists down on me, and turned to face the door, where I imagined Germaine to be. Ney was preoccupied with her, and so the restriction on my body lightened just a little.

I put my left hand at my hip. I gripped the hilt of my sword, and brought it up to strike the side of her face.

But she realized what I was doing a second before I could. As she’d immediately brought herself back, the hilt only grazed her cheek.

“Cease your pointless resistance…”

Ney glared at me. Her eyes were full of clear intent to kill, but once she noticed the item on my hand, they widened.

“That's…”

The hilt of my sword was a mere decoy. My true aim had been to bring this out.

When I had shipped out from Lucifenia, Chartette had entrusted to me a secret weapon–her rocket glove.

It was an improved model whose output had been several times upgraded by Chartette’s father.

I flicked the switch inside the glove, and it was engulfed in light.

“This is a message from your former workmate. Please accept it, Ney.”

“Wha!?”

The ball of dazzling light powerfully collided with Ney’s stomach.

“Gugh!”

Struck by the rocket glove at point blank range, Ney flew high into the air, hitting against the ceiling and then crashing back down.

Its power level was much fiercer than I’d anticipated, and there was a large bit of kickback on my end too. The area around my abdomen was hot, as though it was on fire. When I looked, I saw that part of my clothing had completely burned off, leaving my bare skin exposed.

I had heard it was intense up until now, but…

Come to think of it Elluka had inscribed some symbol on the glove the day before I left Lioness.

…Is this because of that?

Germaine dashed over and helped me to my feet.

“Kyle, are you okay?”

“Yeah, somehow. …Worse for wear than you, it seems.”

“All the dead soldiers had returned to just being corpses. Thanks to that the army soldiers were able to make it to the courtyard, and then, well…we managed.”

That must mean that, incomplete though it was, when Ney had concentrated the magical power of the “Glass of Conchita” into herself, she’d cut off the magic going towards the dead soldiers.

Ney didn’t move, prostrate on the ground. When I put a hand to her neck, I felt a pulse. Looked like she’d just fainted.

“Germaine, hand me your sword.”

“…What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to strike the final blow.”

But Germaine shook her head.

“No.”

“Please. The misdeeds of the Marlon family have to be put to an end by my hand.”

Germaine looked a little surprised when she glanced around and caught sight of the Empress Dowager’s dead body, but she quickly returned to her calm expression and said to me, “…I don’t know what reasons you have, but I’m not going to allow you to kill an unresisting person.”

Germaine moved away from me and pulled Ney into her arms.

“I’ll take her back with me. You–”

At that moment, several Marlon soldiers entered the room, out of breath.

“Your Majesty! Are you okay!?”

Germaine smiled, and after leaving “Keep them occupied” as her parting words, she exited the room.

I gathered up the pieces of my shell pendant that were scattered on the floor.

“Michaela…You’ve saved me again.”

The soldiers balked before the Empress Dowager, sitting dead in her chair. When I walked up to them they all looked at me with similar disturbed expressions.

“King Kyle…What in the world…”

“…”

I gave them a fake explanation.

The Empress Dowager Prim had been murdered by the sorceress who was controlling the dead soldiers. By the time I’d gotten here it was already too late. The Special Maneuvers Task Force had been manipulated by that sorceress. And she had already escaped. …Something like that.

I wasn’t trying to protect Ney. But if her evil deeds went public, then eventually the things that the Empress Dowager had done, and the connection between the two of them, would all come to the surface. If that happened the authority of the Marlon family would be shaken, casting the country into disorder.

I had no wish to smooth over my family’s public image at this late stage in the game, but right now I still had to act–to do what I could do, at least–as king.

“As for my mother’s body…please be courteous and take it to Marlon Castle for me. And now–I am going to take charge of my mother’s valuables.”

Once I had picked up the mirror and doll scattered on the floor at her feet, I left the room. I hurt all over, but I managed to walk down by myself.

When I looked out the barred windows midway through descending the stairs, I saw that the sun peeking out from behind clouds.

The rain had stopped.