Episode 18
"You used me?"
"That's right. I've been using you all along."
As I spoke coldly once more, Kania's expression grew even more troubled. Looking at her, I began to speak with an icy expression.
"The Starlight family is a hero's lineage. You're aware of that, I assume."
"Yes, I am aware."
"Our family has a certain prophecy."
"A... prophecy?"
"Yes. A prophecy that exactly 1000 years after the Demon King's death, the Demon King's successor and the Hero will appear in the world once more."
Hearing those words, Kania quietly opened her mouth.
"...So you're saying that Hero is you, Young Master."
"Correct. But I bear a curse."
"A curse?"
"It's a curse the previous Demon King placed on the successor Hero as a final act of desperation before his death. If I'm caught doing good deeds by others, my power diminishes, and the more my evil reputation grows, the stronger I become."
At my words, Kania nodded with a dark expression. I continued speaking, thinking that things were surprisingly going smoothly.
"That's why I've been openly committing evil deeds from childhood until now. It was the only way I could defeat the Demon King."
"Is... that so?"
Hearing this, Kania gritted her teeth and asked a question. It seemed my brazen words had made her furiously angry.
"Yes, and so I've done many terrible things to you as well."
"........."
"I have no intention of asking for forgiveness. All the humiliation and pain you've endured until now cannot possibly be washed away with a single word of apology."
"......I understand."
Doing my best to ignore Kania's contorted expression, I sighed and finished speaking.
"Since I was caught performing a good deed for you just now, I'll be weakened for a while."
"...For a while, you say?"
"There will naturally be some permanent stat reduction as well. But don't worry. Though my body has weakened, after some rest, I'll regain enough power to defeat the Demon King."
"I see."
"Well, since the penalty doesn't apply to those who've already witnessed it... I'll stop doing evil deeds to you from now on."
Speaking as stiffly as possible without emotion, Kania looked at me with an equally emotionless expression and said.
"Thank you."
"Good."
And then, silence flowed through the dormitory for a moment.
"...I have one question."
"What is it?"
"I saw you doing something to me at dawn."
"...Ah."
When I fell silent at those words, Kania glared at me coldly and asked.
"What were you doing?"
"...That was me restoring you with the Hero's power."
"Restoring?"
"Yes. Since restoring you counted as a good deed, I had to do it secretly. If it was unpleasant, I apologize."
"...No need."
"I'll continue restoring you once every night from now on. Missing even a single day would cause serious problems."
"Understood."
After Kania gave a short answer, we stared at each other with expressionless faces for a while.
'...This should be enough.'
Having said this much, I won't be attacked or killed by Kania.
Of course, the resentment she's built up over time won't be resolved, but this was the only way to prevent her from being consumed by guilt.
"Then, I'll take my leave. Young Master."
"Very well... oh, and I plan to visit the Duke's residence next week. Make sure to prepare in advance."
"Under...stood..."
Kania, seeing me being brazen until the very end, finally let her expression crumble as she answered with contained frustration. Honestly, even if it were me, if someone who had tormented me my whole life suddenly asked me to understand because there was a reason, I'd look at them with contempt too.
But that was fine.
The one who must be hated should be me alone.
[Acquired 10 Villainy Points! (Crossed Hearts)]
I briefly glared at the system that had appeared before my eyes, which had started stingily awarding points related to Kania after my villainy was exposed to her, before dismissing it. Then a question suddenly occurred to me.
'...By the way, what day is it now?'
Forcing my creaking body upright as my life force and lifespan drained away in massive quantities, I looked at the calendar and sighed.
"Classes start again tomorrow."
Having received a debuff during a week with overlapping Empire holidays instead of recovering my body, honestly, having to go attend classes from tomorrow is painful.
In this physical condition, I'll probably faint before even sitting through an hour of class. What's more, I might need Kania's support just to walk through the corridors.
But there's so much to do ahead, so I'll have to somehow overcome this.
- Creak...
I took out the 'Stone of Domination' from a box hidden beneath my bed and muttered.
"...Time to start helping Irina soon."
The commoner dormitory raid incident is approaching.
.
"You're a bit late, aren't you?"
"...I apologize."
"S-sorry!"
"Miss Ferloche, I wasn't speaking to you."
"...Oh."
Kania, having emerged from Frey's dormitory, headed to a cafe in a back alley where the Imperial Princess and the Saintess were waiting for her.
"So why were you late? You didn't make the first move, did you?"
"Nothing like that. It was simply... personal circumstances."
"Personal circumstances... I'm quite curious what personal circumstances Miss Kania could have."
"...I have something I'm curious about as well."
"What is it?"
Looking at the Imperial Princess who had been interrogating her with an intrigued expression, Kania asked with a puzzled look.
"Why is our secret meeting place a cat cafe of all things?"
Hearing this, Klana, who had placed a cat on her lap and was petting it, replied.
"Meow..."
"Cute..."
"Hiss!"
"S-sorry!"
And Ferloche, stuck right beside Klana, tried to touch the cat sitting on the Princess's lap only to get hissed at, and shrank back with a dejected expression.
"You seem uninformed. Cafes are a paradise for eavesdroppers. Having secret conversations at a cafe is like selling your secrets for free to the Empire's intelligence agents."
"...So a cat cafe is different?"
"Naturally. People come to cat cafes to pet cats and heal, not to have conversations. Intelligence agents wouldn't come to such places."
"I see."
Though she said that, Kania looked dubiously at Klana, who had bright red cheeks and was picking up every cat that passed by to place on her lap, before getting to the main topic.
"So, what's the plan going forward?"
"Simple. We destroy Frey, and kill him."
"That's right! We need to kill him!"
"Is it really appropriate for a Saintess to shout something like that so innocently?"
As Kania looked at Ferloche, who was shouting with clenched fists, with an incredulous expression, she tilted her head and answered.
"But the Sun God gave me his blessing!"
"Wait, did you say blessing just now?"
When Klana asked in surprise, Ferloche smiled and answered.
"Yes! I prayed for help to tear Frey apart, and he gave me a blessing! I did well, didn't I?"
"T-that blessing... isn't that something that requires performing a sacred ceremony with a year of preparation to obtain?"
"Huh? I just prayed earnestly and received it?"
"....???"
While the Imperial Princess made an incredulous expression and tilted her head at those words, Kania frowned and muttered.
"Why would the Sun God..."
"...Excuse me? Did you say Sun God just now?"
"Ah, that's..."
"Miss Kania is interested in the Sun God as well! That's wonderful! When will you visit our cathedral to receive a blessing...!"
"I would die if I received a blessing."
"Huh?! Why?!"
"Because I'm a black mage."
"Gasp."
At those words, Ferloche, remembering that the person before her was a black mage, began to slowly back away.
"You saw me using black magic at the auction house last time, so why are you reacting like that?"
"Ah, right."
"And didn't you also play with my black mana mass in your hands?"
"That's right! That was fun!"
Hearing those words, Ferloche's eyes sparkled as she approached Kania again and reached out her hand.
"C-can I have some today too?"
"I refuse."
"...Huh?"
"I will never give you any from now on."
When Kania refused with a cold expression, Ferloche shrank back dejectedly once more.
"Um, we didn't come here to play."
Klana, who had somehow lined up seven cats on her lap and was stroking them, began to speak with a serious expression while looking at the two.
"Miss Kania. Gather evidence of the corruption Frey is committing. As his servant, it will be much easier for you."
"Yes."
"Miss Ferloche, you will study this time around."
"Yes! Understo...ood?!"
While Ferloche was horrified, Klana glared at her and continued.
"Why that reaction? You don't want to lose authority in the Church this time too, do you?"
"Y-yes..."
"Then study and build your knowledge. That way you'll be able to fight the old men of the Church."
"B-but... I'm stupid..."
"I'll help you study. We need the Church's power to keep the Starlight Duke's family in check. So I will definitely fix... make you smart and turn you into someone with real authority in the Church."
"I-I'll work hard!"
As Ferloche shouted with a determined expression and Klana smiled with satisfaction, suddenly someone spoke to them from behind.
"...What are you all doing here?"
"Kyah?!"
Startled, the Imperial Princess screamed, and the cats sitting on her lap rushed onto the Saintess's lap. Ferloche, suddenly having to care for seven cats, froze and began breaking out in cold sweat.
This was because the Princess had broken an important engagement-selection schedule to attend the auction, and the Saintess had missed a major annual event, so both were being tracked by important figures.
"...Professor Isollet?"
"You don't need to use formal titles outside. Your Highness."
However, what appeared behind Klana was neither an imperial servant nor a church official, but Isollet. Looking at her with surprise, Klana soon smiled and asked.
"...What brings you here?"
"I'm searching for an illegal magical tool artisan who was nearly arrested recently in the back alleys."
"So why a cat cafe..."
"I searched everywhere but couldn't find him, so I ended up coming even to a place like this. But it seems he's not here either."
After Isollet said that and sighed, Klana nodded and suddenly clapped her hands before asking.
"Ah, by the way, you got caught up in the back alley auction incident recently, right?"
"Yes, that's true...?"
"What business took you to that auction house?"
"Ah, that's... with Frey..."
"...Yes?"
Klana, who had asked to gather information, lit up at the mention of Frey's name and began questioning Isollet.
"Was Mr. Frey there? Why?"
"Ah, well... that is..."
As Isollet faltered with a troubled expression, Kania quickly interjected.
"I heard a rumor that Professor Isollet and the Young Master were dating. I suppose it was true."
"...Really!?"
"Wh-what!? No!! Dating is absolutely not true!"
As Isollet was horrified by those words, Kania glanced sideways and began muttering.
"Entering an auction house together is something only lovers or married couples do... so if you're not lovers... could it be that the two of you have a child?"
"......!!!"
Isollet froze for a moment at those words and began sweating profusely as she tried to make excuses...
"Th-that's not..."
"Does the child resemble the Young Master? Or Professor Isollet? Personally, since I'm the Starlight family's butler, I think the Young Master..."
"H-hnngh...!"
As Kania escalated her remarks, her chronic condition triggered, and she turned bright red and rushed out of the store in a panic.
""..........""
The Imperial Princess and the Saintess stared blankly at her retreating figure, then looked at Kania, who shrugged and answered.
"It seems Professor Isollet and Frey are in a special relationship. She happened to mention she'd give me private tutoring. So from now on, I'll take charge of her and extract information about Frey."
The Imperial Princess and the Saintess nodded with somewhat displeased expressions, and Kania stood up with a satisfied smile.
"Then, I'll be going now."
"Leaving already?"
"Yes, I need to work hard to destroy Frey."
"That's true. Goodbye then."
"I-I'll be going too...!"
"You're coming to the library with me."
"...Huh? B-but..."
"Have you already forgotten what I just said?"
Having left behind Ferloche with a look of utter despair and Klana with a stern expression urging her on, Kania headed for the exit, her face once again expressionless.
.
'...From now on, I need to prevent Professor Isollet from personally approaching those two. Same with Irina and the fiancée.'
Standing outside the shop, I gazed at Isollet's retreating figure in the distance and lost myself in thought.
This morning, the Young Master lied to me.
At first I was bewildered, but as I listened, I came to understand why he had lied.
He had told a false story to lessen my guilt.
A hero who sacrificed others to comfortably kill the Demon King, then abandoned the route of joining the Demon King entirely to walk the path of a villain.
The cruel fate of having to commit villainy to earn 'points' to defeat the Demon King.
A wretched life where not a single understanding soul could exist.
Had it ended there, I might have felt pity and a desire to help, but my heart wouldn't have torn apart like this.
But I heard it.
The shocking truth that the young Frey told me in his unconscious world.
When asked to name any action he'd done out of love for me, after saying 'he continuously gave me his life force to save me,' that terrible truth that followed.
"Frey's mother... died fighting your parents who were black mages. Your parents coveted her mana, which possessed the most dazzling star's mana."
"What... did you say?"
"They thought that by extracting and corrupting the most brilliant star's mana, then injecting it into young you, they could create the world's most powerful artificial black mage."
"What... does that mean?"
"But the experiment failed. The black mana created when the star's mana was corrupted was more powerful than anything... but the curse of self-destruction born when star and darkness merged imperfectly began eating away at your life force."
"What are you saying?!"
"Afterwards, when the sealed prophecy book awakened and his father belatedly learned the truth, he broke into the laboratory. But your parents were already dead from the aftermath of the self-destruction curse's creation. In the end, Frey's father beheaded them both with the family's treasured sword, then took you and your sibling into the Starlight family."
"...That's absurd. The Lord definitely back then on the street..."
"After reading the entire unsealed prophecy book, Frey chose to use magic to manipulate both his memories and yours, fearing he might come to hate you, the daughter of those who killed his mother."
"Memory... manipulation?"
"Respecting that choice, his father transcribed the original prophecy book in his crooked handwriting onto other paper, changed only the prophecy about you, and gave it to Frey."
".........."
"...This is the reason Frey loves you. He made that choice because he was afraid of coming to hate you."
After hearing those words, when I learned that I had even drained his lifespan as a penalty, I could only retch.
Because I, a wicked black mage who received 'cursed' mana, found it unbearably revolting,
Because I loathed my ignorant self, who had continued to drain his life force to treat a curse created at the cost of his mother's life, yet tried to kill him with that very power.
Though the Young Master said being hated was enough for him alone, I was originally someone who should have been hated by him.
So I made my decision.
To secretly help him from behind.
Since he, whose life would soon end, had decided to reject my help and walk his own path alone, I too would respect that decision and support him from behind.
Because I, who should rightfully be hated by him, have no qualification to stand beside him.
"Of course, when the time comes, I'll tell the truth and gladly accept the Young Master's hatred..."
Muttering thus, I quietly headed toward the dormitory.
"...On the day I decided to fade away together with the Young Master once everything ends."
It's time to strengthen my power in preparation for the upcoming commoner dormitory raid incident.
.
"...Lady Serena, what exactly is that?"
"Ah, this?"
Meanwhile, at that same time, somewhere in the Western Continent.
"...Something squirming that looks like an earthworm... why have you been holding onto that throughout the journey?"
"Who knows?"
"Also, why did you change the travel route to the ruins left by the hero Hanbyeol Raon Starlight from 1000 years ago?"
"Would you like to guess?"
"Hmm... I've noticed you've been carefully examining characters similar to the ones Lady Serena is holding whenever we go to ruins... but the rest..."
"Ah, this means 'Hero'."
"...Excuse me?"
"It's nothing."
Serena Luna Moonlight, Frey's fiancée, was unknowingly threatening Frey's life.