Chapter 46 - Humans Always Betray Me

“Hm? What do you mean...?”

Amelia asked, but I merely smiled and held my tongue.

“Nothing. You needn’t worry too much. I’ll come when you need me.”

“Hmm, hearing you say that only makes me more suspicious... Still, how unusual to hear such words from you. I don’t believe your empty flattery. Promise you’ll write often.”

Why was everyone so obsessed with letters?

“Yes... well.”

“Utterly insolent. Still, I’ll take that as an answer. If you possess even a fingernail’s worth of awareness that you’re a noble, I trust you know how dishonorable it is to break a promise you’ve spoken aloud.”

I almost said a rat had eaten my fingernails, so I wouldn’t know, but stopped myself.

There was no need to bicker on her last day.

“I’ll write often.”

I answered simply.

“Hmm.”

She smiled in satisfaction, her eyes crinkling so charmingly that I found myself thinking she was cute before I could help it.

“Oh, Hasgard.”

She changed the subject as though something had occurred to her, and I was almost sorry to see that smile fade.

“About your pupil.”

She abruptly brought Laward into the conversation.

“You mean Laward?”

“Yes, him. Shouldn’t you keep a closer eye on him?”

“A closer eye...?”

“It seems he’s monopolizing the training grounds.”

“He certainly has been training even harder since that incident, but there’s no problem. I’m making sure he doesn’t overexert himself.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I heard second- and third-years alike complaining that he’d taken over the training grounds. Honestly, if they don’t like it, they should just get there earlier than him. Apparently diligence is a crime now.”

Oh, was it that sort of thing?

The upperclassmen have been bringing up your name lately, so watch yourself.

Something like that?

What a joke.

“He’ll handle that much himself. It’s not something I need to worry about.”

“Well, if you say so, I suppose it’s fine.”

Amelia shrugged and fixed her gaze on me again.

She had married Laward in my previous life, yet now she spoke of him as though he meant nothing to her.

“I only thought... something might happen to tarnish your name. He is your pupil, after all.”

Even that topic had only been an offshoot of her interest in me.

“Thank you for your concern.”

“Concern? Hardly... It just happened to cross my mind.”

Amelia turned her head slightly away.

Before I could become any more captivated by her ever-changing expressions, I studied the [Affection Scouter] screen again.

There was still one more thing I hadn’t checked.

The rewards for reaching maximum affection, which I hadn’t been able to see before upgrading the Scouter.

The Bond Skill.

And the Special Command.

I’d checked the Bond Skill, so now it was time for the other one.

With the Bond Skill being nothing less than teleportation, I couldn’t help having high hopes for the Special Command too.

Perhaps the Bond Skill was a utility skill, and the Special Command was something offensive?

But the instant I checked it, indulging in those pleasant imaginings...

“...”

My face froze.

And I’d only recently resolved to keep my expressions under control.

I simply couldn’t collect myself.

“What’s wrong, Hasgard? Hmm, does the thought of parting with me make you sad after all?”

“...”

“Have you been holding it in all this time? Is that it? Hm? Hm?”

The Special Command.

It wasn’t the sort of skill that helped you clear the game or play through it again.

Instead, it was something far more suited to the genre.

A feature that made it impossible to forget this was a dating sim.

I should have focused on “Command,” not “Special,” from the start.

I could order Amelia to do something special.

I could even make her do things she normally wouldn’t.

Acts available only after reaching 99 affection.

To put it one way...

And to say as much as I could say about it.

It went beyond even a True Ending.

046

“Forgive me for interrupting your meal.”

A woman spoke with a bow, a cloth draped over the arm she held at waist height like a waiter.

“Hm?”

Fox ears perked up and turned toward her voice.

“What is it?”

The fox-eared man leaned toward the woman without taking his eyes off his plate.

With practiced ease, she dabbed the blood from the corners of his mouth with the cloth.

Smiling in satisfaction, the fox man picked up another piece of raw meat from his plate and opened his mouth wide.

His pointed fangs gleamed in the light as the piece of meat slipped onto his tongue.

The gentle swaying of his fluffy tails made it clear how it tasted.

All nine moved in sequence, like fingers playing piano keys.

Then the woman carefully leaned toward one fox ear and whispered, shielding her mouth with her hand.

“Hmm, I see. They were so confident they’d bring me his head, and instead they ended up dead.”

Hearing the news about the twins, the man nodded two or three times as though it were nothing of consequence.

“That paladin must be quite strong... He wasn’t a candidate for nothing. What a shame. We might have become family... But I suppose he’s crossed a point of no return now.”

Licking the blood from his fingers, the fox lifted his sharp gaze.

Higher still, toward the ceiling.

He looked at the man hanging upside down.

“Ah, humans always betray me.”

Who knew how long he had been hanging there? Blood had pooled in his head, turning his face crimson, and he glared murderously at the fox.

“Raaagh! I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll slaughter you!”

The hanging man shouted, flailing like a freshly caught fish.

“Thou shalt shut thy mooouth.”

The fox man spoke mockingly, then leaned back in his large chair and draped one arm over its back.

“Is that how royalty talks?”

His eyes crinkled in a smile as he looked at the hanging man’s finger.

His index finger.

A ring carved in the likeness of the sun glittered there.

“Grrgh...!”

The first prince struggled, but all it produced was the rattle of the chains binding him.

“I knew there were creatures like you behind this! The Subjugation Festival, the princess’s abduction, the undead in the marquisate—it was all connected! The Death God’s cult...! The necromancer has returned...!”

“Wow.”

The fox man pricked up his ears and swished his tails.

“What an intelligence network you have. You’ve already discovered that much? No, discovering it is one thing, but you even managed to find us. Bold. Very bold. Could that be it? Did you think catching us would give you an advantage in the election?”

The fox pointed at the first prince as though offering him a turn to speak.

“...”

“You’re so clever!”

Then he raised both hands and clapped.

“Even knowing everything, an ordinary person would have struggled to do this. Is the eldest son really different after all...? But I suppose being clever and being cautious are different things. You might say knowing too much has actually made you stupid.”

“What are you talking about...?”

“Well, think about it. If you know us so well...”

In a sudden rush, his smiling face came to a stop right before the upside-down first prince’s.

“...you should have brought an army.”

SNICK.

The fox’s nail grazed the first prince’s throat, and a stream of blood spilled onto the plate.

Like water from a drinking fountain, the blood pooled in his lowered head poured out without end.

“A-aaargh!”

With the first prince’s screams as background music, the fox continued his meal.

He lapped up the blood that kept filling his plate.

On and on.

And on.

* * *

“... Amelia.”

Chiron, disguised as Daywin, spoke cautiously.

“Are you... nervous...?”

“Hmph. Nervous? Hardly.”

Dressed in royal formal attire, Amelia slipped the ring onto her slender middle finger.

“... It’ll go... well.”

She gave a little start and looked up at Chiron as he spoke gently.

“Brother.”

“... Yes.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“... Hm?”

‘It makes me happy when you say those things looking like him, but then I remember you’re my brother and it ruins the mood.’

The words rose to her lips, but Amelia merely sighed and shook her head.

Having returned to the royal court, Amelia headed to the gathering of succession candidates.

A round table stood in the middle of the conference room.

When she pushed the great doors open with both hands, the siblings who had arrived before her all turned.

They stared at the unexpected intruder for a long while before recognizing Amelia.

It was their first glimpse of their younger sister’s face in two years.

“A... Amelia...?”

Their expressions turned comical.

They stared at her with their mouths hanging wide open.

As if to show how little she cared, she merely surveyed those present.

‘Their numbers have dwindled.’

Eleven siblings.

Two of the four princes.

‘And two of the seven princesses?’

Four candidates sat at the north, south, east, and west sides of the round table, their bodyguards standing behind them.

And there was one empty seat.

Five in total.

Six, including Amelia.

“Amelia... How did you...?”

At the second prince’s murmur, Amelia looked down at them.

“You’ve all worked so hard trying to kill me.”

Amelia noted which of her siblings changed expression at that guilty reminder.

“I spent two years pretending to know nothing, yet there were so many eyes watching me. You must all be disappointed. I’m sure you prayed I’d never return.”

BANG!

At that, the second prince planted his hands forcefully on the round table and stood.

“A-Amelia. Welcome back. But only those with succession rights may enter here. You know that, don’t you? S-so... I’d like you... to leave now.”

“Yes, thank you for the welcome. But I’m afraid I can’t leave.”

“Amelia, do you realize what you’re doing?”

The third prince rose next and reprimanded her.

“This is a place where eligible successors peacefully discuss the future policies of the royal court. Someone stripped of her rights has no business daring to enter—”

“Peacefully, my foot. When you’re all secretly plotting how to kill one another?”

“You dared protect Chiron after the king cast him out!”

As the third prince rebuked her, Amelia noticed Chiron stir slightly behind her.

‘Don’t let them scare you.’

Out of her siblings’ sight, she made a fist and gave Chiron a light tap in the side.

“Amelia, listen to your brother. Tsk, what is this, appearing out of nowhere...?”

“Leave at once. Do you intend to disregard tradition? Guards! Why aren’t you stopping this intruder?”

Then even the princesses rose and pointed their fingers at Amelia.

Fingers.

Amelia, too, raised a finger toward them.

“Will this suffice?”

The ring on her middle finger gleamed gold.

Once again, her siblings stared at her, dumbfounded.

CLATTER!

The guards who belatedly entered were equally bewildered by the room’s sudden silence.

They had rushed over at the report of an intruder, but every succession candidate except Amelia stood frozen and speechless.

“Ah, you’re here.”

Amelia alone turned her head, singling out one guard with her gaze.

“Since you’re here, fetch me a chair.”

“Pardon? Ah... yes.”

The guard hastily nodded and dashed outside.

“At last, I’ll be able to sit.”

Amelia lowered her hands neatly and sighed.

“A-Amelia. You... you... how...?”

“Did His Majesty return your ring? No, that can’t be... You helped that demon, of all people...”

Her siblings began addressing her with varying reactions.

At that moment.

DONG, DONG, DONG, DONG.

The palace bell rang out in heavy tones.

Her siblings, and even Amelia and Chiron, startled at those four tolls.

Every child of the royal family knew that sound well.

Tidings of death.

The bell rung when someone of royal blood had died.

They all turned toward the seat of the one person who had yet to arrive.

The empty place at the round table.

The first prince’s seat.

“It can’t be...”

“Amelia... Who did you get that ring from...?”

The question of where she had obtained the ring soon became one of whom she had obtained it from.