Chapter 94 - The Villain (1)

1

Is there anyone who finds you as lovely as I do?

Anyone who has cherished and caressed you as I have?

Have you ever seen a gaze more urgent than mine?

Have you ever felt a touch gentler than my hands?

There cannot be. There cannot have been.

I will ensure there never is.

2

"Oh—hohohoho!"

Romantic laughter rang through the garden.

Struck head-on by that laughter, the crown prince looked utterly miserable.

"S-Sylvia...?"

"Ohohoho! Speak, Your Highness!"

"Isn't that manner of laughing somewhat frivolous? O-Of course, your voice is like a baby bird's. However you chirp, it sounds like music to my ears. Still, if you spared a little thought for your dignity as a noble..."

"Oh—hohohoho! But I am most satisfied with this laugh!"

"I-Is that so?"

The crown prince muttered uneasily.

"I-Is it... I see... No, listening closely, I think it's quite all right. Hmm... Hmmm. Hmm! It's fine. Very fine indeed! Beautiful. Today I have discovered a new charm of yours."

Huh. Just look at this limp noodle.

Even that wasn't cooling his love for Lady Golden Silk Blossom? Every student watching them was looking thoroughly unimpressed.

—Zombie.

The attendant spirit, who had been quiet for a while since we entered the apocalypse, spoke up.

—I've been quietly watching how you're playing this one. And I was trying not to interfere if I could help it. But this is so frustrating I can't watch anymore. Hey, aren't you getting something wrong?

'Wrong? What am I getting wrong?'

—You think breaking love apart is easier than bringing people together, don't you?

'Yes.'

—Sorry, but that... depends on the case.

The attendant spirit looked like a mountain gorilla who had ruled as a prince of the jungle only to suddenly find himself locked in a zoo.

'It depends on the case?'

—Yep. You're really radiating that lifelong-single energy, but love takes a slightly different shape for everyone who feels it, kid. Some kinds of love won't come apart no matter how hard you try to snip them to pieces. And from what I can see, that crown prince seems to be—

Before the attendant spirit could finish, the crown prince spoke.

"Sylvia! You truly shine with all the colors of a kaleidoscope. Yesterday you fell as snowflakes, and today you bloom as plum blossoms. Yes, is a person's laugh fixed at birth? Is a noble's laugh prescribed by law? I'll take this opportunity to change my laugh as well. Mwahahaha!"

That lunatic!

And an astonishing duet rose high into the sky above the garden.

"Ohoho!"

"Mwahaha!"

"Oh—hohohoho!"

"Mwahahaha!"

The couple of the century was born right there.

I was speechless.

'W-What even is love...?'

I was shocked.

—You've been single your whole life. You don't know a thing about romantic feelings, so sure, you'll do a terrific job untangling these kids' messy relationships.

The attendant spirit clicked his tongue.

—Some people have bankrupted entire countries trying to impress the person they love. Acting like delinquents to stop immersion was a good idea, but it's a little short of what you need to destroy love. Yep. Might not be enough.

Huh. Suddenly, the attendant spirit was starting to look very grown-up. Was I actually feeling inferior because I was single? To this mountain gorilla?

Wasn't that a little too much of a blow to my pride?

"..."

I stepped forward, placing myself between the crown prince and the Inquisitor as if to say, Look here. Naturally, the crown prince scowled at the sight.

"You..."

"Lady Golden Silk Blossom has said that she trusts me above all others."

Now, let's see whether your love stays warm even after this.

"Your Highness is noble. I am lowly. Yet Your Highness is far away, while I am always at my lady's side. Her family is my home, and her life is the life I shall serve, Your Highness."

Shrieks of "Eeeee!" rang through the garden. They came from the young ladies watching us.

—No. Hey, what the fuck. Hey, hey!

The attendant spirit shouted urgently.

—You idiot! You hopelessly single bastard! You really don't understand how romance works! He's the imperial crown prince. Just think how proud he must be! If you do that, he'll only get more jealous—!

"Ha!"

The crown prince ground his teeth.

"You've been hovering around the lady under the pretext of being her butler, and now you've grown insufferably arrogant. Fine. Then I shall attend to Sylvia myself! I'll look after her while she's at the academy, so you can take yourself back to the countryside."

No.

You're the crown prince of a country!

Has being madly in love made you actually mad?

"Ohohohoho!"

Mr. Inquisitor. Your laughing is getting distracting now, so let's stop, shall we?

"... What on earth is all this commotion?"

It happened then. The students' murmuring stopped.

Only briefly. The commotion subsided for no more than a second. The silence lasted just one second, but that was enough.

The noble sons and daughters bowed their heads and cleared a path.

"... Lady Silver Lily, the duke's daughter."

Only the crown prince watched with his brow furrowed.

A young lady with moonlight in her hair was walking toward us.

3

"I heard you requested sick leave this morning," the crown prince said.

"I expected you to be absent from the academy today. Are you feeling better again? Ha, your heart must be quite the troublemaker."

"..."

Lady Silver Lily did not answer immediately. Instead, she surveyed the gathering.

The students flinched and bowed their heads deeply when her gaze met theirs. Until then, they had been buzzing excitedly over the royal scandal. Only after they froze did Lady Silver Lily part her lips.

"I trust you are well. Thanks to Your Highness's concern, I passed a peaceful night."

"... Did you? How fortunate. You spend half the year bedridden on sick leave, so a day like this must be precious to you. The spring sunshine happens to be lovely. Go enjoy a leisurely stroll."

His face was icy.

[Go enjoy a stroll] meant [Leave us]. The crown prince clung so desperately to Lady Golden Silk Blossom, yet treated Lady Silver Lily harshly.

Perhaps a little strangely harshly.

'Even a royal ought to find it difficult to treat a ducal house that harshly...'

But Lady Silver Lily remained composed.

"A stroll. How lovely. If the spring breeze grows just a little rougher, the magnolia petals will fall. I fear the flowers might feel lonely if I enjoy them alone."

Unlike at last night's ball, when she had struggled, Lady Silver Lily's words flowed smoothly.

"Your Highness, please do not soil yourself with dust in such a noisy place. Why not take a stroll with me and offer spring some comfort?"

"Ha. Why would I..."

"Lady Golden Silk Blossom, the baron's daughter."

Lady Silver Lily looked at the Inquisitor.

"You shall join us as well."

The crown prince closed his mouth.

Every gaze around us turned to the Inquisitor.

"Hmm."

The Inquisitor fanned himself and glanced back at me.

'What shall we do, Death King?' his eyes asked. 'Would it be best to follow her?' Those eyes promised to defer entirely to my judgment.

Would it be all right?

Lady Silver Lily and the crown prince. Both were dangerous. Simply being with them deepened our immersion. The Inquisitor drew closer to Lady Golden Silk Blossom, and I drew closer to the butler.

It was that dangerous, but standing still wouldn't solve anything.

"... What's your immersion rate now?"

I whispered so only the Inquisitor could hear.

"Has it gone up?"

"Yes, a little," the Inquisitor whispered back.

"My current immersion rate is 17 percent. Aha, it went up one percent while I was listening to the crown prince speak to me. Then another percent when I saw Lady Silver Lily. Altogether, it's two percent higher than yesterday."

2%.

Compared with the way it had skyrocketed last night, the pace of immersion had definitely slowed. Should we take the risk and enter the tiger's den now? If not now, when would be the right time?

I looked into the Inquisitor's eyes.

"When spring comes?"

The Inquisitor smiled brightly.

"Magnolias fall, Death King."

Okay.

My mind was made up.

"Very well. Let us follow her, my lady."

"I trust your judgment, Butler."

The Inquisitor snapped his fan shut.

"Oh—hohoho! When the duke's daughter, Lady Silver Lily, personally invites me for a stroll, how could I refuse? I gladly accept your invitation!"

Lady Silver Lily furrowed her brow, then turned away lightly.

"Follow me quietly."

4

She took us to her residence. Her family's influence must have been considerable, because Lady Silver Lily did not stay in the dormitories. She lived and ate in a detached villa, as though staying at a country retreat.

"You mean to take a [stroll] here?"

The crown prince, who had been half-forced into following her, grumbled.

Lady Silver Lily's residence was lavish for a student's lodging, but that was all. The crown prince had grown up in the imperial palace. Such luxury did not seem to impress him anew.

"Of course not."

Lady Silver Lily spoke casually as she walked. Her shoes struck the corridor floor.

TAP. TAP.

"The stroll was an excuse."

"What?"

"There were many watching eyes in the garden. I could not speak plainly about the truth. This matter requires secrecy."

"... Secrecy?"

"Yes."

TAP.

"It concerns dealing with the assassins who dared intrude upon the cradle of the nobility, Your Highness. We must not speak carelessly and allow public sentiment to be unsettled."

"..."

The crown prince fell silent.

By my deductions, the crown prince was the one who had hired the assassins. Perhaps it was only my imagination, but Lady Silver Lily's composed tone seemed to say, [I already know what you did].

"... Are you saying you caught the culprits? Even I have yet to find a lead in the investigation. How did you..."

"Lady Golden Silk Blossom's attendant gave me a clue."

TAP.

"Last night, I expelled Lady Golden Silk Blossom and her servant from the ball. It was an excessive reaction. However, I only told my people to remove them from the ballroom. I never ordered those two locked up anywhere. It seems some of my subordinates may have harbored wicked intentions."

There was a staircase leading to the basement in the duke's daughter's residence. Standing before it, Lady Silver Lily looked back.

Her face was expressionless.

"Shall we go down, Your Highness?"

"... I see no servants. How odd. Where have the ducal household's servants withdrawn to?"

"Are you concerned? I imagine you would be. I shall lead the way."

Without answering his question, Lady Silver Lily descended the stairs. Her footsteps seeped down into the basement.

TAP. TAP. TAP...

She disappeared into the darkness of the stairwell.

The crown prince swallowed hard and went down the stairs.

We followed.

The farther we descended, the stronger something grew. Something that had become far too familiar to my nose, to my life. The smell of blood. The Inquisitor and I were not disconcerted, but the crown prince's shoulders twitched as he walked ahead of us.

"... Forgive me for receiving you in such humble surroundings, Your Highness."

Three people were tied to chairs in the basement.

All three were servants of the ducal household whom I had glimpsed the night before, and...

"These are the people behind the assassins who attacked Lady Golden Silk Blossom."

All three were drenched in blood.

"..."

The crown prince's hands trembled.

Even I frowned a little. Of those present, only the Inquisitor and Lady Silver Lily wore the same expressions before and after coming down the stairs.

The Inquisitor's composure was understandable. He was the Pantheon's Guild Leader, who had carried out countless tortures and interrogations in the Tower.

But the other person was a duke's daughter. She resembled moonlight, looked frail, as if she might stagger and collapse at any moment. Yet she stood there as though thoroughly accustomed to such places.

"After investigating through the night..."

And I remembered.

"I discovered that they committed their crime purely out of a personal desire for revenge."

The young lady before me was the person who would destroy this world.

"A personal... desire for revenge?"

"Yes. Would you care to hear them?"

Lady Silver Lily seized one servant by the hair and lifted their head. "Aaagh!" The servant opened their eyes in agony. Could the right eye no longer open? The servant looked at us with only the left.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is here. Show your respect."

"My lady, urgh... My laaady..."

"You conspired with your colleagues to hire assassins. Your target was Lady Golden Silk Blossom. Confess truthfully to His Highness why you sought her life."

"My lady... My... lady..."

"If you tell the truth, no harm will come to your family."

This woman.

"L-Lady Golden Silk Blossom... That lowborn daughter of a frontier baron dared to flirt with His Highness, forgetting her station... Y-You are His Highness's rightful... yes, his fiancée, my lady. It was settled long ago, but she..."

She was dangerous.

"That baron's daughter ruined it... I was angry, beside myself with rage... and I did something foolish. Forgive me. Forgive me, my lady. Forgive me, Your Highness..."

"Was there someone else behind you, someone who ordered you to hire assassins?"

"N-No. There wasn't. There was no one like that..."

No.

"You mean to say that only the three of you were involved?"

This was false testimony.

"Yes... That's right, my lady... That's right..."

To protect the crown prince.

"Is that truly so?"

"There is no doubt..."

"Very well. So it is."

Lady Silver Lily had deliberately manufactured [false testimony] to protect this country's crown prince.

I could surmise that she had made the three coordinate their stories, fabricated alibis, and flawlessly falsified every piece of evidence.

The fact that they had been [the crown prince's agents] would never come to light.

That the crown prince was the [mastermind] who had arranged for the two of us to be locked in the storeroom.

That he had then tried to appear when we were in danger and [play the hero].

Lady Silver Lily intended to bury all those truths underground.

For none other than the crown prince.

For the man who would suffer the greatest blow if the truth came out.

"Your Highness."

Lady Silver Lily raised her head and looked at the crown prince.

"Execute them."

The crown prince flinched.

"Execute them...?"

"They sought to kill Lady Golden Silk Blossom, whom Your Highness holds so dear. They are criminals who intruded upon the cradle of the nobility. It is right that you execute them, and you have the authority to do so. Your Highness is this nation's heir."

"..."

"Why do you hesitate?"

"Could it be," Lady Silver Lily began, "that a truth other than what my investigation revealed lies behind this incident?"

"..."

"I speak not as a student of this academy, but as one who will be your subject. Heir to the throne, if my investigation is inadequate, postpone their punishment. This is a grave matter, so I shall send word to His Majesty the Emperor's Special Task Force."

His Majesty the Emperor's Special Task Force.

The moment I heard those words, the 'butler's' memories resurfaced.

Hounds who stood beneath only one person and obeyed no orders issued in any other name. Composed of the empire's finest swordsmen and mages, they were granted absolute independence in their investigations.

The current crown prince had only been able to take his position because they had devoured the previous crown prince, who had committed acts of corruption.

"But if you are satisfied with my investigation, there should be no need to complicate matters."

Lady Silver Lily bent down.

A sword lay on the basement floor, as though prepared in advance.

"Execute them here..."

Lady Silver Lily rolled up her sleeves with practiced movements.

Both arms thus revealed were covered in countless scars.

"And upon me, for failing to properly manage my family's servants..."

Scars from stabbing, cutting, scratching, tearing, beating, and burning had eaten away at the duke's daughter's arms, which must once have been as white as lilies.

No, not only her arms. Seeing the long gouges extending toward her shoulders, like marks left by ripping out worms that had burrowed into her flesh, I somehow knew her entire body must be a wreck.

With her head bowed, Lady Silver Lily whispered.

"Bestow punishment."

Silver Lily.

This world's villainess.

"As always, I shall bear the guilt."

The crown prince trembled.