Episode 185
"Conquest Route Closed..."
Sitting in the carriage, I quietly focused my gaze on one spot.
Rosewin Solar Sunset [Conquest Route Closed]
Details.....
It was Rosewin's current status that appeared in the newly updated 'Affection System' just moments ago.
"...It bothers me."
The affection system's update wasn't something mentioned in the prophecy, and since it was updated just recently, I don't know much about it.
But that 'Conquest Route Closed' status is likely connected to my decision, isn't it?
After all, I had just made the decision to push Rosewin away until the final battle.
Of course, it's not certain, but for now, that guess seems most rational.
"Hmm..."
Because of that, I keep feeling uneasy. I can't know for certain what the 'Conquest Route Closed' status means right now.
'Could it be that her life is in danger?'
Of course, I'll make sure that doesn't happen. My decision in the first place was to protect Rosewin's life.
And for the same reason, I have no intention of reversing my decision to make her hate me. For now, this is the best course for both her and me.
"Huu."
Finishing my thoughts and letting out a short sigh, I was about to close the floating window when.
"Huh...?"
I soon tilted my head and furrowed my brows.
"Why is she listed as a sub-heroine...?"
Before long, with a puzzled expression, I muttered like that.
""..........""
The animals that had been staring blankly at Lulu leaning against my shoulder, all started looking at me coldly.
"...Hmm."
Thanks to that, I stopped speaking for some reason as a chill ran down my spine, and after staring at the system window for a while, tapping my fingers on my knee.
- Crack...!
"Hey."
I quickly snatched the system window floating in front of me.
"What exactly are you plotting?"
Normally it would always avoid my touch, but perhaps because I was determined to catch it, it couldn't escape and ended up caught in my grip. I glared at the system window.
"You're the one orchestrating and adjusting all these things anyway, aren't you...?"
I began interrogating the Demon God who must be watching me from somewhere with a cold voice.
- Whuum...
Then the system window began vibrating at a low frequency along with quite an annoying noise.
It seems like it's trying to shake the window left and right, does that mean it's denying my words?
"You're saying this isn't something you orchestrated?"
Thinking that, I asked again, and this time the system window shook up and down.
"Do you think I'd believe that?"
Saying that to such a fellow, the vibration started ringing even more strongly and unpleasantly.
"Fine, do as you please. I'll play along for a while."
Enduring the unpleasant vibration transmitted to my hand, I muttered looking at the system window in a low voice.
"But still..."
I pushed aside the somehow pitiful-looking system window that had been trembling until then and finished speaking.
"...things won't go as you wish anymore."
I don't have just the system window now. There's the DLC created through the efforts of the Sun God and Perlotche.
Of course, that affection system seems to be a somewhat heterogeneous system with a different nature from the existing 'Path of the Wicked' system.
Who cares. I just wanted to warn that fellow who's getting more and more annoying as time goes by...
"...Master?"
"Ah."
I had been lost in thought with a darkened expression, and only came to my senses when Lulu's trembling voice reached me from beside me.
"W-why are you suddenly like this...?"
She was looking at me with an expression of disbelief.
'...Damn.'
Did I let my guard down thinking she was asleep like before? Or did I momentarily lose my temper due to the suddenly appearing 'Route Closed' and new variables?
Or did I unconsciously recognize her as an ally? I ended up showing strange behavior with the system in front of Lulu.
Unlike my other allies, Lulu still doesn't know my true identity, so I should minimize such behavior as much as possible. What a blunder.
She already has the 'Demon Eye' with considerable observation and analytical skills, so she might suspect something...
"D-did I do something?"
I decided to make an appropriate excuse.
"Sorry. My body hasn't been great lately, so I sometimes see things that aren't there."
".....!"
But upon hearing those words, Lulu's face began to turn pale.
"A-already... to that extent..."
Then she looked at me with a terrified expression and started muttering something.
"It can't be..."
She suddenly bowed her head deeply and began muttering in a low voice with dead eyes.
"I haven't found the method yet... it can't be happening already..."
"Lulu?"
I tried to speak to her in a low voice.
"........."
She still kept her head bowed with dead eyes.
"Hmm."
Thus, silence began to flow in the carriage for a while.
.
"Lulu, are you okay? Lulu?"
As I kept my head bowed with dead eyes, Master spoke to me with worried eyes.
A gentle and soft voice. Warm eyes. Cozy emotions different from the cold things that had been sent my way until now.
Master, who provides such affection to a worthless person like me, is still so wonderful.
- Lulu! Please join our party!
Of course, Master wasn't the only one who had sent such interest and affection to me.
- Like last time, let's eat ice cream together! Watch plays! And have fun chatting together!
Ruby the Hero who had been sending me letters continuously a few weeks ago, and other classmates who suddenly started approaching me intimately.
They also sent me interest and love.
But right now, I don't need their love at all.
In the past, I wanted to be loved so badly, but now even when I receive their love, I don't feel happy at all.
"....."
Master is looking at me steadily right now.
Except for the affection, love, and interest that He gives, I no longer feel any emotion.
Why?
Because I love this man, the only one in this world who truly loves me, whose already short lifespan was greatly reduced because of me. A villain, but a warm man to me.
And because of that.
Even if He is the Empire's greatest villain.
Even if ours is a twisted relationship of master and pet.
Even if my soul is tainted by His evilness.
It didn't matter at all.
Because the man before my eyes is the Master I chose with my own free will, the one who owns and dominates me.
But.
If, just if...
'If Master disappears... what will become of me?'
I'm suddenly terrified.
Currently, rumors about Master's health have spread throughout the Empire, and the Master before my eyes looks so fatigued and sickly just by glancing at him.
And when I examine such Master with my Demon Eye...
It's excessively neat.
On the outside, he looks rotten and crumbling, but inside, he's too clean.
That's why I had been somewhat reassured until now, but from Master's remark just now, I could understand to some extent.
Master has been deceiving me all along.
There's no way a person who is so sick they're seeing things would have a clean inside. So when I maximized the Demon Eye's output, I detected traces of subtle magical power here and there.
In other words, Master had placed magic on his own body to deceive my Demon Eye.
"Mmm, mm..."
My vision is getting darker and darker.
How should I live in a world without Master?
Will I be able to be loved by someone again? No, that's wrong. I can no longer receive love.
Except for Master who gives me love while hiding even his own death, I don't want to be loved by anyone anymore.
But Master is still dying. Because of me. Caught up in my misfortune that I approached with the intention of using him.
What should I do? How can I save him? Is there even a way to save him in the first place?
No, do I even have the right to be doing this right now? Do I have the right to become his pet? Do I, as I am now, have the right to be loved...
"...Lulu."
While feeling like I was sinking deeper into a swamp, lost in thought, Master grabbed both my arms and called my name.
"Stop that."
"...Ah."
Oh my. Without realizing it, I was scratching both my arms with my fingernails.
This is bad. I promised Master I would never harm myself again.
I'll definitely get scolded. Master said with a cold expression that if I self-harm, he would scold me firmly.
"...I need to punish you."
Ah, no. I was wrong. Don't hit me. Please...
- Slurp.
I was trembling as memories of my parents from long ago surfaced, when Master's tongue entered inside me.
"Mmm..."
And then the intertwining of tongues began.
It was so sudden I couldn't feel it properly, but.
The kiss with Master was so sweet.
"Hah..."
Feeling like I was melting, just as I was about to seep into Him, Master separated his lips from me.
"Are you a bit better now?"
He said that with a gentle smile.
"Ah..."
This is punishment? No. This isn't punishment.
I, who has always received punishment, know well how terrible punishment can be.
Come to think of it, Master has never punished me even once. He's never hit me, never starved me of meals.
"I'm fine, Lulu. So don't worry."
".....!"
Thinking such thoughts, Master strokes my head and speaks.
'...Lies.'
Thanks to that, my heart becomes even more troubled. Thanks to the Demon Eye I've had since birth, which I don't know why but has become several times more sensitive lately, I can easily detect lies.
"You have to live as my one and only pet for your whole life, so it's troublesome if you get hurt, isn't it?"
Then came Master's continued words.
"....Ah."
Hearing those words, I suddenly realize.
That I am Master's one and only pet.
"".........""
Although those animals over there, for some reason burning with intense eyes as they look at me, are also often with Master.
According to my Demon Eye,
Those animals are not simple 'animals'.
They are spirits with mana and mysterious powers mixed together, possessing a master other than Frey.
Of course, that black cat doll seems a bit different...
But that's a pet 'doll' anyway.
Master's pet is just me alone.
But, as that pet, what have I done for Master?
No matter how much I look back on my memories, I've only received many things from Master until now.
'How pathetic, how foolish.'
As a pet, I want to be of help to Master.
Not just prostrating myself before Him and wagging my tail to entertain Him, but I want to provide more fundamental help.
I want to repay the grace of Master who saved me from days without hope.
But how? With what means?
I don't know how to do much, and all I have is my body as a woman and my Demon Eye.
Can I save the dying Master by making such efforts?
No, even if it's not that.
Can I provide some kind of substantial help?
I want to repay the grace. I want to repay Master.
I'll give everything I have, I just want to be of strength to my Mast...
"...Ah-euuuk!!!"
"Lulu!?"
I was having such thoughts while being stroked by Master, when suddenly a terrible pain began in my Demon Eye and head.
"Euu-ah?"
Before long, an incredibly hot energy began to boil inside my body.
"Euuu-u..."
Thanks to that, I was moaning in complete bewilderment when.
"...Are you okay?"
Looking at Master who was genuinely flustered.
"I'm fine..."
I told a lie for the first time.
"Ah, it's nothing."
I don't know what this is, but I can't worry Master, and.
"Lie."
It was also because I wanted to receive punishment once more from Master, who is as quick to notice as I am.
"Hehe."
I love you, Master.
.
Meanwhile at that time.
"F-Frey is coming here right now?"
Serena, who unlike at night has detailed memories of Frey deleted, rushed to her vanity table as soon as she received contact from her confidant and spoke.
"W-when will he arrive? I need to change my makeup method depending on the arrival time."
"It seems like it will take less than a minute..."
"U-uah..."
Soon after hearing the answer, Serena, unlike her usual self, was flustered as she selected cosmetics when.
"...But, who is that at the counter right now?"
She stopped her actions and asked her confidant.
"Well, you know. Miho... I think that was her name?"
Then the confidant.
"She's the child who was taken to the imperial family during the last slave market incident and we smuggled her out."
Scratching his head, he answered like that.
"...That fox beast-kin?"
Then, frowning, Serena asked back like that.
"Something, I have a bad feeling about this."
She whispered that and stood up from her seat.
- Creeeak...
In the window beside her, Frey's carriage that had arrived in front of the building was now visible.
- 101 Strategies to Improve Relations with Frey.
The memos plastered all over the wall were visible as well.