Chapter 95 - The Villain (2)

5

... My beloved daughter.

... Do not expect anything.

... Expect nothing at all.

... Expect nothing, lean on no one. That is the secret to life.

... Whenever you tell yourself, ‘Perhaps this time,’ the world will whisper back, ‘This time, too.’ To be deceived once is experience; to be deceived twice is tragedy. But to be deceived three times is comedy.

... My beloved daughter. You are a noble. Take care that your life does not become someone else’s comedy. Do not grant yourself three chances.

... Twice. Just two wounds are enough to be remembered forever. Those ancient sovereigns commemorated their own deaths while they were still alive. Do not repeat the folly of erecting a monument in the desert.

... If, even so, you mean to entrust yourself to the world, my daughter, remember this. You are not lending your life to others. Do not try to become anyone’s creditor. Give with no intention of ever receiving anything back. Give everything.

... Forgive them for holding a carnival with your corpse. Give them your hair. Give them your fingers. Give everything, from your most chaste sacrifice to your most innocent joy and your purest hope. They will greedily covet all of you and savor their feast.

... And so, leave this world with nothing left behind.

Nothing.

Mother died after leaving those last words.

She was cremated.

6

The basement was quiet.

“What is the matter?”

Only Lady Silver Lily’s voice resounded softly. The air was cold. The interrogated servants bled, but the pooled blood of three people did nothing to warm the basement.

“As heir to this nation’s throne, pronounce their punishment without delay.”

“Ha, ha.”

The crown prince gave a faint smile.

No, could that even be called a smile? The corners of his mouth barely rose before trembling. It was a dismal failure of a smile.

He turned his head as though fleeing and looked at the Inquisitor and me. [What do you two make of this absurd situation?] That was what his eyes were saying.

“Your Highness.”

But his escape failed. Lady Silver Lily’s sharp voice cut off his gaze.

“Shall I refer their crimes to His Majesty the Emperor’s Special Task Force?”

The crown prince faltered.

“Do you intend to follow in the footsteps of the deposed crown prince?”

“...”

“Will you test the limits of His Majesty’s forgiveness?”

A threat.

Her tone was soft and measured, never breaching etiquette, but the duke’s daughter, Lady Silver Lily, was unmistakably cornering the crown prince.

And her threat worked.

“Ugh.”

The imperial heir’s hand trembled. Trembling, he grasped the sword the duke’s daughter had offered. But his resolve went no further than taking hold of it. It did not extend to swinging it.

“Sylvia...”

The prince let the sword tip droop limply. He stared blankly at us. Was he hoping someone would step forward and stop Lady Silver Lily?

“What a tidy way to handle things!”

But the Inquisitor beamed.

“I like that you involved the two of us as well as His Highness. Aha, everyone gathered here becomes an [accomplice] and keeps quiet. His Highness benefits because his blunder is covered up, and I benefit because you will be punished, my lady!”

“S-Sylvia?”

“The problem is that you alone seem to gain nothing from this, my lady.”

The Inquisitor’s eyes narrowed halfway, like an upturned moon.

“Is there anything you stand to gain by handling things this way? My lady, three loyal servants of your ducal house will die, you know? And you even propose to suffer corporal punishment in His Highness’s stead. I am very curious about your thinking.”

“I do not know what you mean. As I said, they are servants of my house, and as its daughter, it is only right that I take responsibility for their mistakes...”

“Aha, how pretty! But inefficient for a discussion! Let us both be honest so we can discuss this more efficiently. Why do you intend to suffer corporal punishment in His Highness’s place? Is that, perhaps, your ‘love’?”

Breathing in the basement.

The golden lady and the silver lady held each other’s gaze for a moment.

“I am doing what I must as a subject, Lady Golden Silk Blossom.”

Her even voice continued.

Not even an eyebrow stirred on Lady Silver Lily’s face.

“To weigh benefits against costs is disloyal. Though, having grown up in a frontier family, you may find that difficult to understand.”

“In other words, you expect nothing in return?”

“Do you want an answer from me? Give up. Whether or not you understand me has no bearing on my actions.”

“How intriguing...”

The Inquisitor let out a long breath. I could not immediately guess what that breath meant.

Still, one thing was certain. This was not at all the response the crown prince had wanted. The Inquisitor had no intention of stopping Lady Silver Lily. Despair colored the face of the prince who had clung to his beloved.

“... Please wait a moment, my lady.”

That left me no choice but to speak.

The Inquisitor tilted his head and looked at me.

“Yes, butler? What is it?”

“If those servants really are the culprits who commissioned the assassination, we have a right to revenge as well. It is not right to leave their punishment solely to His Highness.”

My mouth felt foul and dry. I set my mind to work. I focused on overcoming this situation, this endlessly complicated political affair... on finding [the best course of action]. I did not hesitate to draw on the butler’s knowledge.

[Your immersion in the character deepens.]

[Your current immersion rate is 7%.]

My tongue was parched. I was still all right.

“... The same goes for Lady Silver Lily. She has been betrayed by her loyal servants. I believe she has every right to punish her retainers.”

“Oh? Meaning?”

“There happen to be three guilty servants. And three people entitled to punish them.”

I looked at the servants bound to their chairs.

“How about each of you taking charge of punishing one?”

Silence.

“Lady Silver Lily wishes to make us accomplices in any case. That is why she brought us here. ... His Highness seems to find it difficult to bear the burden of punishment alone. I humbly suggest that it would be fitting for the three of you to share responsibility equally.”

The silence lingered.

“Hmm,” said the Inquisitor, closing one eye.

“...”

Lady Silver Lily silently furrowed her brow.

“Well...”

The crown prince’s face brightened abruptly.

“Indeed! Sylvia’s retainer is right. You were betrayed by your subordinates. Sylvia was attacked. I must uphold the law of the land! We each have our own reasons, so it would be best for each of us to dispose of one!”

“Your Highness, a sovereign must not share responsibility with others...”

“Silence!”

The crown prince flung the sword at Lady Silver Lily in irritation.

THUD!

The scabbard struck her leg and bounced to the floor.

Her face remained expressionless. It must have hit hard enough to leave a bruise.

“Whenever something happens, it is ‘Kill them!’ ‘Execute them!’ ‘Punish them!’ Those are the only things you know how to say! How many people do you think I have disposed of until now, all this time?”

“It is the duty of the man who will one day lead this empire.”

“I am no murderer! No butcher! You vicious, wicked thing! If you want to see blood so badly, kill one yourself first!”

The crown prince panted with fury. The duke’s daughter simply watched him. Time froze.

The thin ice in the air broke as she slowly bent at the waist. She picked up the sword. Her hands moved next: her left around the scabbard, her right around the hilt. Skillfully.

Lady Silver Lily drew the sword.

“Your Highness.”

The blade was the same color as her hair.

“Then at least give me an order.”

“A-an order?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Order me to carry out the execution. Why do you hesitate? Have you forgotten even how to give orders? Will you relinquish your rights as sovereign?”

“...”

The crown prince drew a breath.

“K...”

A word like a foot coming down on empty air.

“Kill them...”

But Lady Silver Lily never faltered.

Blood spattered.

The air of the basement was cleaved, and something heavier than air—flesh—split apart.

“Hah.”

Lady Silver Lily’s shoulders stirred slightly, as though she had sighed. That was all. Having taken a life with a single sigh, she looked at us.

“...”

A sense of foreboding washed over me. My heart beat with an ominous unease.

I realized what it was that I felt toward Lady Silver Lily.

[Your immersion in the character deepens.]

[Your current immersion rate is 8%.]

An instinctive intuition: [This person will one day stand in Lady Golden Silk Blossom’s way].

A compulsion to deal with the person before me, no matter what.

“Ahaha. I find you more and more intriguing! Hmm, very well!”

That was why my immersion rate was climbing like mad.

“We can hardly leave someone who commissioned an assassination alive. Please give me the sword. I will take care of the second one. Now, shall we become accomplices?”

How many people had the Inquisitor killed in his lifetime?

I still did not know, but it was abundantly clear that he was no amateur in this field.

The moment he received the sword, the Inquisitor gave a “Hmph!” and carried out the execution in a single blow.

Now only one servant remained.

“Ah...”

And only one person remained to administer punishment.

The crown prince stared at the Inquisitor with his mouth hanging open. He had never imagined the Inquisitor would carry out the execution so easily.

“Ugh, ah...!”

Then something astonishing—no, astounding—happened. The crown prince backed away and tried to flee. Before Lady Silver Lily could say anything, the moment the Inquisitor cried, “Oh!” the prince ran.

No one had expected it, so he nearly succeeded in escaping. Yes, he would have, had I not been standing behind the others and blocked the basement stairs.

“Y-you insolent wretch! Who do you think you are obstructing, you mere retainer?”

“You.”

I snatched the crown prince’s wrist and gripped it. I deliberately squeezed hard.

He tried to shake my hand off but failed. A low cry escaped him. His grip strength could never have compared with mine in the first place.

“‘You’...? Urgh! Release my hand at once!”

“Isn’t this happening because of you?”

The voice that left my mouth sounded cold even to my own ears. It was not my usual voice.

“None of this would have happened had you not commissioned that foolish assassination. You go mad with love and stage a kidnapping. That can happen, I suppose. But do you intend to use your madness as an excuse to shirk responsibility as well?”

I glared at the crown prince.

“Take it.”

“T-take... what...?”

“The sword. Take it.”

The crown prince flinched.

[Your immersion in the character deepens.]

[Your current immersion rate is 9%.]

My immersion deepened, but it did not matter. At that moment, I felt exactly as the butler himself did. Anger at a cowardly escape.

I dragged the crown prince by the wrist. He resisted. He struggled desperately not to be dragged along. But I ignored him and pulled him with me.

“Take hold of the hilt.”

“Ugh, you insolent... wretch...! How dare you...!”

He would not take hold of it, so I forced him to.

“Raise the sword straight up.”

“Let go! I ordered you to let go! I-is anyone there?”

He would not raise it, so I forced it up.

“I can see how much of your life you have spent blaming others. Dirty work, sordid work, anything you wanted no part of. You must have pushed it all onto Lady Silver Lily. And you call yourself the crown prince of a nation.”

“S-Sylvia! Stop your retainer! Please! Sylvia!”

“Bring the sword down and cut.”

The strength in the crown prince’s arm was negligible. It was easy to shake off his resistance.

So I did.

“Ah.”

The smell of blood grew a little stronger in the basement. The servant bound to the chair slumped limply.

The crown prince stared ahead, his face blank with shock. At his feet, Lady Silver Lily slowly bent her knees. The hem of her skirt settled into the pool of blood and turned red.

“As heir to the throne, you have upheld the law. It is a great blessing for all, Your Highness.”

“...”

The prince did not answer. He turned his back without a word. This time, I let go of his hand.

“Steel your heart, and continue to uphold the principle that merit must be rewarded and wrongdoing punished.”

The prince climbed the basement stairs with weary steps. His footsteps sounded one after another... All the while, Lady Silver Lily continued offering her loyal counsel. Her voice struck his back and flowed softly through the basement.

“The fate of this nation and its people depends entirely upon your resolve, Your Highness. Though you may seem alone, your life is not yours alone. Every action you take, every decision you make, has a profound effect upon the empire. Please.”

The footsteps receded and ceased. We watched Lady Silver Lily, her head still bowed.

“Become strong.”

I...

Wanted to understand this person.