Episode 262
- Creak...
Frey pushed open the firmly shut door and entered, quietly gazing ahead.
"......."
Coming into his view was Aria, sitting in a chair before a desk with her legs crossed.
"Um, well..."
Subjected to a gaze from Aria that was cold enough to chill his entire body, Frey scratched his head with an innocent expression and asked her a question.
"Who might you be?"
Though his eyes held a look of genuine ignorance, Aria merely continued to glare at him coldly.
"I played along earlier because I was flustered, but no matter how I think about it, I really don't know who you are..."
"Give it up, Oppa."
Perhaps finding his all-too-easy admission unconvincing, Frey had attempted one final desperate resistance, but Aria shut down his attempt with absolute firmness.
"You know perfectly well that right now, in this empire... there are only two people in the entire world who can walk around intact while possessing star mana, don't you?"
"........"
"If you understand, then stop that pathetic acting and sit down."
Though Frey's disguise was perfect, he hadn't thought to hide his star mana.
He hadn't expected that his younger sister would personally raid his hiding place.
And in the first place, star mana wasn't something that could be hidden just by willing it so.
Of course, if he deliberately suppressed it, it was possible to hide it to the point where ordinary people couldn't distinguish it, but even so, deceiving the eyes of Aria, who had spent over ten years with him, would have been nearly impossible.
Moreover, given that he had used a large quantity of 'Star's Protection' overnight and the room he stayed in was thoroughly saturated with star mana, the probability was even slimmer.
"...What exactly did you do here?"
Looking around the lodging that was soaked with star mana, Aria wore an unpleasant expression as she looked at Frey.
".........."
Of course, Frey merely looked at his younger sister in silence with his mouth closed.
"Why don't you start by dropping that disguise?"
When Aria, who had been coldly glaring at Frey, growled in a low voice, Frey, who had been quietly looking at the floor, brought both hands to his face.
In that instant, Frey's face returned to its original form in a flash.
"Who made that disguise for you?"
"...Who knows."
Though Aria asked with a dumbfounded expression, Frey remained uncooperative.
"Fine. If that's how you're going to be."
Aria, who hadn't really expected Frey to answer in the first place, quietly glared at Frey and was about to speak, but.
"Then..... Hmm?"
Soon she tilted her head, then quietly reached for the window where she had drawn the curtains.
"Tch, coming all this way to check for nothing."
After slightly lifting the curtain, she saw soldiers stealthily approaching the inn and frowned deeply.
"Ah, ah, notify all troops."
Then she took out a wireless magical communication device from her bosom and began speaking.
"A report has come in regarding Frey's location. There was a sighting near the inn, 5km to the east. Check it immediately."
"...Aria?"
"Quiet."
Cutting off Frey coldly as he tried to speak to her, Aria ended the transmission and, confirming that the soldiers approaching the inn had turned back, quietly closed the curtain again.
"Don't misunderstand, this wasn't to save you, Oppa."
Then, with an expression cold enough to chill the surrounding air, she spoke.
"I just wanted to buy some time to learn the truth."
"...Thank you for saving me, Aria."
"Ugh."
But when Frey suddenly smiled with a relaxed expression and provoked her, she clenched her teeth for a moment and glared at Frey.
"You'd better answer everything I ask from now on without a single lie, Oppa."
"........."
"Because I already know almost everything."
When she said that, Frey quietly nodded.
"Then, first question. Oppa, you're part of the Demon King's army now, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"No matter how much you deny it, it's no use... ha."
Aria, who had asked the first question, looked at Frey with an expression of contempt as he admitted the truth all too easily.
"You don't even realize the seriousness of the situation, do you? Oppa?"
Her condemnation quietly pierced Frey's heart, but Frey just sat there with his eyes gently closed.
"Second question. The terminal illness... that was all a lie too, wasn't it?"
Aria, who had been glaring at Frey as if to kill him, casually threw out her second question.
"...Right?"
Unlike how she had been treating Frey until now, her voice was slightly trembling.
"That's correct."
"Haa."
When Frey nodded as he quietly looked at Aria, she let out a short sigh.
"I thought so."
For a fleeting moment, relief crossed her expression.
"Of course Oppa would be like that."
But soon her face was filled with deep disappointment and disgust.
"I knew you were sickly from before, right? I hated having such a body. So I surrendered to the Demon King's army early and was receiving life force..."
"Stop."
Cutting him off with an expression that showed she didn't want to hear Frey's additional explanation, she clenched both hands tightly and asked her third question.
"Third... is it true that Oppa has been using sex slaves and treated the servants the same way?"
"Of course... what?"
Frey, who had intended to affirm everything Aria said, tilted his head at those words.
"What did I... do?"
"It's the official result from the investigation team."
Then Aria took out documents from her bosom and threw them at her brother.
"Some of the servants tested positive on the Stone of Purity."
"What...?"
"The servants who went to the imperial family were particularly severe. The Stone of Purity turned black upon touching almost all of them."
Hearing that, Frey wore an expression of disbelief.
"Of course, some servants protested, saying they couldn't believe the results, but... the other servants accepted the results."
"........"
"When the servants were sleeping, did you do something? Oppa?"
Aria asked with earnest eyes.
"Is it true that you really did such things?"
"........"
"Why aren't you saying anything? Hurry up and say..."
Aria, who had been pressing Frey while standing up from her seat, stopped speaking.
"This is..."
And quietly grabbed Frey's hand.
"A ring made of... the Stone of Purity?"
A ring made of material perfectly similar to the white stone she had seen many times at the verification ceremony was shining darkly on Frey's finger.
"The only ones who possess the Stone of Purity, of which there is only one in the world, would be... the Order. And even with permission, one could only obtain a very small amount. Where on earth did you get this?"
The ring Frey was wearing was something the Order had given as a gift when they handed over a massive amount of slush funds to Serena to silence her when she proved that 'divine power' was not actually divine at all.
This meant that, except for the ring he was wearing, the Order had completely monopolized the Stone of Purity.
'Those Order bastards... they fabricated the results.'
Now realizing why Aris and his servants had been firmly believing they had been raped by him, Frey quietly clenched both hands.
"Did they say they directly saw or experienced me raping them?"
"After you were caught by me feeding medicine to Cardia while she was sleeping, you're still going to say such things?"
"........."
"Some imperial servants even testified that they were directly raped. So please stop with the pathetic excuses."
At those words, Frey quietly lowered his head.
Since the day all the servants completely left the mansion, the attacks from the radicals who had completely turned against Frey and headed to the imperial family were growing more intense by the day.
They had come to enjoy lives several times more luxurious than the neutralists who had gone to his father Abraham and sister Aria, and the few defenders who ended up doing menial work at the imperial family, in exchange for participating in dragging down Frey's social status.
And most people naturally had no choice but to believe their statements, which even the Order had stepped forward to prove.
Even Aria, who had only vaguely known that Frey wandered around the mansion every night, was no exception.
"Oppa..... last question."
To Frey, who maintained silence with his head lowered, Aria asked her final question.
"Do you feel even a little guilt?"
That question was a cruel one for Frey.
"Do you feel even a little guilt for all those sins you've committed until now?"
But when Aria asked him once more, Frey eventually had no choice but to open his mouth, narrowing his opened eyes.
"Not at all."
With the wicked smile he had always worn in front of his younger sister.
"I'm a subordinate of the great Demon King, you see."
"........."
"Want to burn the world together? Aria?"
After those words, silence flowed through the room for a moment.
"If it's you, you could reach quite a high position..."
In that silence, Frey smiled once more and opened his mouth.
- Slap...!
The next moment, Frey's head turned.
"You piece of trash..."
Before him was Aria, now shedding tears from her eyes.
"Oppa is... no, you... are no longer my family."
"...Mm."
"I will forever sever our family ties, Frey Raon Starlight."
Aria, who had stood up, looked down at Frey as she spoke.
"No, now you're just 'Frey'."
Then she shouted at Frey, who was quietly holding his cheek.
"As the acting head of the Starlight family, I will remove you from the family registry starting today."
"......."
"You're not even a noble anymore. Just a commoner."
Hearing those words, Frey smiled faintly.
"Don't ever set foot in the mansion again. I will issue a permanent exile order using the 'authority' descending from the family."
But Aria, not seeing that smile, wiped the tears flowing from her eyes and began gathering star mana.
"And..."
"Are you trying to kill me? Aria?"
"........."
Before anyone knew it, she had summoned numerous weapons made of star mana in the air and aimed them at Frey.
"Really?"
Each one was sharp, lethally dangerous magic.
"I, I won't kill you... I'll make you... live as a commoner. Living as a commoner... I'll make you suffer... as much as the evil deeds you've done until now..."
With such magic floating around her, Aria continued speaking resolutely.
"So, are you trying to kill me or not?"
"Ugh...!"
When Frey stood up and walked toward her, she began preparing to fire the magic.
"Planning to half-kill me and then drag me to the Order or imperial family?"
"W, warning... don't come any closer."
"Why don't you just kill me completely?"
"I said don't come closer!!"
Looking at his sister who was backing away while looking at him with an expression of disgust, Frey smiled bitterly, then slowly began releasing the demonic energy implanted in his black left arm and whispered.
"Why not join me in burning the world after all..."
"DON'T COME CLOSER!!!"
In that instant, all the star mana around them exploded simultaneously.
"Cough, cough..."
Frey, who had been thrown against the wall by the shockwave, beat his chest then hurriedly approached Aria.
"...Huu."
She had fainted from the aftermath of the star mana explosion.
"You idiot."
She had lost her reason without realizing it and caused the mana to go berserk.
Or perhaps, she had instinctively caused all the attacks directed at Frey to detonate.
Which one it was, no one could know.
"...I'm sorry, Aria."
Frey, who had escaped from the villainous persona that had briefly taken hold and carefully lifted her up, held her in his arms and murmured with a trembling voice.
"And thank you..."
His eyes, which had been holding back the villainous persona that tried to burst forth time and again by even biting his tongue, were trembling greatly.
"You finally stopped worrying about me."
That day was the first time Aria had stopped worrying about Frey.
"I'm truly glad..."
When her survival rate in the fourth trial was approaching zero percent.
"Sister Isollet... I'll somehow save her... so please wait a little..."
Aria, his only remaining blood relative in his current situation, and the almost sole medium through which he could vividly recall the face of his mother who had passed away long ago.
At the thought that he had finally succeeded in saving such an Aria, Frey's face held only joy.
"Because I will protect you no matter what."
Thus, Frey, who rubbed his face against his long-lost sister's cheek.
"...I love you, my sister."
Whispering the sincerity he had never been able to convey even once since receiving the prophecy, he quietly laid her on the chair.
His eyes rippled slightly, but no tears fell.
"Once I end everything, I'll resurrect immediately... and give you a happy ending."
Knowing all too well how those left behind in the third trial crumbled, Frey muttered with determined eyes and left the room.
"I promise."
And silence flowed.
.
Meanwhile at that time.
"T, things have become extremely complicated... even if the scenario ends, I won't be able to resurrect you 'immediately'...?"
The Sun God in his possession state, who had been quietly watching that scene from right next door, groaned while clutching his head with a dazed expression.
"W, what should I do... it's such an important matter that just mentioning it would destroy my divinity... th, then how should I tell him..."
Thanks to that, the innocent paladin's hair began to be plucked out bit by bit.
"Uuu..."
The Sun God's groaning, who unlike his younger sister extremely disliked miserable situations, continued for a long while after that.