Episode 93
"Ugh..."
As Rosewin suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth and rushed out of the room, I, who had been wearing a dazed expression, soon stiffened my face and rose from my seat.
"...This is driving me crazy."
As if Clana showing strange reactions wasn't troubling enough, now even Rosewin is causing trouble.
She was someone who would never accept any gift if it meant dating me, yet she not only accepted a gift but cherished it dearly.
She used to feel disgust every minute just looking at my face and would twitch with convulsions, yet now she put aphrodisiacs in my drink and tried to seduce me.
And she touched the flower cursed by Kania without any issues.
'As expected, the plans I make always go awry...'
Originally, today I had planned to commit an evil deed by giving Clana a flower with a weak curse placed on it, requested from Kania.
That way, a year later, Clana would have the justification and evidence to reject my proposal.
However, things went wrong because Clana noticed the weak curse on the flower.
This was something Kania had poured her heart into for several days, and even I couldn't feel any black magic power from the flower, so how could Clana have sensed it?
Moreover, Rosewin who touched that flower was perfectly fine.
The curse should have activated the moment she touched it, so why didn't it?
- Creak...
While I was thinking such thoughts, the door opened and Rosewin entered.
"R-Rosewin... where did you go...?"
Quickly putting on that dazed expression again, I spoke those words while sighing inwardly.
'Since it's come to this, I have no choice but to use this situation.'
Earlier, when I pretended to be affected by the aphrodisiac that didn't work due to my exceptional mental strength, playing along with Rosewin's lead and assaulting her, I noticed something.
The small magical tool inside Rosewin's body.
And the faint solar mana felt from the balcony behind the room.
Considering those things, this incident was likely a trap created by Rosewin and Clana to frame me.
So, since today's operation failed anyway, going along with their plan might...
"Ugh..."
"...Rosewin?"
As I was thinking that, Rosewin suddenly started staggering.
"Are you okay?"
"Ah, yes... I'm fine."
When I asked with a worried expression looking at her, Rosewin answered while forcing a smile.
"Th-then... about what just happened, I need to apologize..."
"Hurk...!"
".....?"
I was trying to apologize while looking at her with suspicious eyes, but suddenly Rosewin started breaking out in cold sweat.
"I-I'm sorry... Frey. My condition suddenly worsened... l-let's meet... next time."
"O-okay. See you next time."
Soon Rosewin spoke in a trembling voice and hurriedly ran out of the room.
"...Sigh."
Being too used to such unexpected situations, I, who had been sipping the cocktail with aphrodisiacs, narrowed my eyes and spoke.
"Kania, is that you?"
"What do you mean?"
Then, Kania poked her head out through the wide-open door that Rosewin hadn't even bothered to close.
"How long have you been there?"
"I've been here since earlier."
"...Then did you perhaps see everything that happened inside?"
When I asked while furrowing my brows, Kania started acting innocent.
"Kania... earlier, Rosewin touched the flower but the curse didn't activate. Isn't that strange?"
"...It seems I cast the curse incorrectly and it failed. I apologize."
"What if a curse was already placed on her hand?"
Soon, glaring at Kania who answered while lowering her head, I continued my interrogation.
"Come to think of it, last time, static electricity occurred on her hand when she was touching my collar..."
Then, Kania subtly turned her gaze to the side.
"Kania, what did you do to make Rosewin run out like that?"
Only when I asked with certainty did Kania answer in a low voice.
"I won't kill her, so you don't need to worry too much."
As Kania spoke with a cold expression, I felt chills run down my spine unconsciously.
If I hadn't revealed my true identity to Kania, every day might have been hell.
"Young master, I have something to report."
"...What is it?"
"Yes, it's about Miss Clana's current condition."
While I was thinking such thoughts and shrinking back, Kania took out a notebook and began speaking.
"They say Miss Clana's recent condition is very poor."
"In what way?"
"Mentally."
When I frowned at those words, Kania quietly added.
"They say she's become very passive, and is even showing symptoms of anxiety."
"Clana being passive? The sun will rise from the west tomorrow."
"The imperial physicians say they don't know the cause either. Of course, the power base that Miss Clana has built while grinding her teeth won't be easily shaken, but if that situation continues, I think it will become quite dangerous."
"...Haah."
Hearing those words, I grabbed my head, then sighed and stood up from my seat.
"Where are you going?"
"To meet the girls in the next room. There's something I must do."
Hearing those words, Kania momentarily stiffened her expression, then grabbed me as I headed toward the entrance.
"What's wrong?"
"Before you go, please tell me information about Rosewin."
"Now?"
"Yes, because I know nothing about her. Even briefly would be fine, please."
As Kania said that, spinning her fountain pen and preparing to take notes in her notebook, I sighed and began speaking.
"For now, what comes to mind immediately is... she accepts any request that pays well, tends to enjoy situations where she has a unilateral advantage, and hates the imperial family considerably. That's about it."
"Is there anything else I should know?"
"She also possesses solar mana. Of course, weaker than Clana's."
Saying that, I spoke with a worried expression.
"So be careful, okay? Kania?"
"...Goodbye."
Then Kania bowed her waist and greeted me.
- Shaah...
I, who tried to ignore the black magic power seeping out from Kania that she hadn't managed to hide, left the room and began heading to the next room.
.
"What the, where did Lulu go?"
I entered the next room where I had sent the girls, but Lulu wasn't there.
Thanks to that, I frowned slightly and asked, and the girls began speaking while trembling with terrified expressions.
"S-she went to the bathroom..."
"Earlier, she suddenly went out with a pale expression... we don't know why."
When I made a serious expression at those words, the girls all knelt and began speaking.
"P-please forgive us."
"We did wrong. Please let us off just this once."
I only asked about Lulu's whereabouts and only slightly furrowed my brows.
Yet these girls are trembling in fear, wrapping their bodies with their arms, or looking at me with dead eyes, having given up everything.
Judging from these reactions, it seems that being beaten for even simpler things than what I just did has become daily life for them.
"...Who's the youngest one here?"
Thinking such thoughts, I sat quietly in a chair and asked, and one girl among the children who were watching cautiously stepped forward.
"How old are you?"
"I don't know well."
"You don't know well?"
"The house my master gave me was dark... so I don't know well how many years have passed. I'm sorry, really sorry."
When that girl answered in a trembling voice, I soon lost my words.
".........."
What made me feel even more complicated was that there were others who looked younger than that child, looking at the child who came before me with trembling eyes.
'...She took the bullet, I see.'
I was quietly watching the child who was trying to maintain a calm expression but whose eyes showed hidden fear, when suddenly the door opened and I began glaring at that place with sharp eyes.
"Ah, ah... Lord Frey."
"Lulu, come quickly."
I forced a smile for her, beckoned her to the seat next to me, and gave orders to the girls who had dazed expressions.
"All of you, from now on, do for me what you used to do for your masters."
"Yes."
Then, the girls answered as if they had been waiting and began taking off their clothes.
"Stop, not something that boring. Something different."
At that, I spoke in surprise, and the girls looked at each other then spoke to me in trembling voices.
"If you wish, we'll let you beat us..."
"We'll do anything, just don't kill us... we want to live..."
Looking at those girls speaking with desperate expressions with a complicated face, I whispered to Lulu who was sitting next to me with a pale expression.
"Lulu, where did you go?"
"B-bathroom..."
I gently stroked Lulu's head as she answered in a trembling voice, and asked once more.
"Why the bathroom?"
"That's... my stomach felt nauseous..."
"Is it because you saw that scene?"
At my question, Lulu made countless expressions in a fleeting moment.
Understanding the meaning contained in those expressions, I sighed and began looking at the girls in front of me again.
"Do you all have families?"
After maintaining silence for a while, I asked just in case, but the girls only shook their heads.
"How many meals do you eat a day?"
"One meal."
"When the master wants it."
"Once every three days."
Soon I found out the reason why they were on the verge of collapse, and I frowned deeply and stood up.
"Please spare us."
"Please forgive us. We're sorry."
"Be quiet, I'm going out for a moment, so play well with Lulu."
Soon I spoke coldly to the girls who started begging in fear again, and sighed as I left the room.
"Ha, they're casually having a drinking party."
I entered the room next to where the girls were gathered and frowned deeply as I muttered.
It was because the guys I had chased out earlier were casually drinking and playing.
"Everyone, attention."
I looked at them coldly, then banged on the desk with an arrogant expression.
"Hmm... Lord Frey? Is your date with the princesses over?"
"Who was better? Rumor has it the 1st princess is so..."
"Pfft... Lord Frey would be the best at it, I suppose."
Then, the guys who were drunk and not in their right minds started spouting nonsense.
"If you don't get your act together and listen to me starting now, you'll only be hurting yourselves, you know?"
But when I spoke while raising the corner of my mouth, the guys stopped cracking jokes and started focusing on my words.
As expected of trash guys full of greed for power and wealth.
"I'll get straight to the point. Sell me all the pets you have."
"...What?!"
However, when a shocking statement came out of my mouth, the guys who were filled with greed opened their mouths with bewildered expressions.
"S-suddenly sell our pets... what do you mean by that?"
"They're top-quality goods with no family and no resistance... it would take years to find such things again..."
"Quiet."
I raised my hand to stop the complaints full of dissatisfaction, then slightly raised the corner of my mouth and made an offer they could never refuse.
"In exchange, I'll give you information about the Demon King's Army."
Then, all the guys froze.
"I-is that... is that really true? Lord Frey?"
"Yeah, it's true. Originally, that's why I came to find you all today."
When I spoke with a smile, the guys who had been looking at each other for a moment soon started sparkling their eyes.
'Goodness, how ridiculous.'
Watching them, I sighed inwardly.
At the Demon King's Army meeting I attended last time, I had confirmed all the names of everyone here on the list of nobles requesting contact.
Seeing that, I was certain they were planning to sell their houses and surrender to the Demon King's Army, so I threw out bait, and sure enough, it worked splendidly.
"And as a bonus, I'll give you the sex slaves in my basement too. How's that? Quite a good offer, right?"
When I spoke while crossing my legs, the nobles started looking dumbfounded.
"Uh... Lord Frey, just for giving mere pets... isn't that too much?"
When one noble who was watching the atmosphere asked cautiously, the other guys all started glaring at him. Looking at them, they seemed worried I might cancel the offer.
"It's fine, it's fine. I didn't make this deal for profit."
When I laughed heartily and spoke to them, they started tilting their heads.
"I just wanted to convey that we're now in the same boat."
Then when I raised my glass and spoke in a low voice, the guys all grinned broadly and started clinking their glasses noisily and making a ruckus.
'Of course... it's a shipwreck.'
The sex slaves I'll send to these guys soon are actually succubuses owned by the Demon King's Army.
So within a few months, they'll have all their energy drained, and the master-slave relationship will be reversed.
Around that time, I plan to use the completely subdued guys for my plans and make them suffer as much as the karma they've accumulated.
In other words, these guys are finished with that deal just now.
"Lord Frey! Have a drink!"
"Take from my glass first!"
"No no, first the penalty drink...!"
Thinking such thoughts, I muttered inwardly while watching the excited nobles competing to offer me drinks.
'...When this main scenario ends, I should start taking down the Order too.'
There's still a lot left to do to set this rotten Empire straight.
.
"Ugh... why is this suddenly happening..."
At that time when Frey was accepting drinks from nobles with a satisfied smile, Rosewin, stumbling out of the bathroom, muttered with a dazed expression.
"Really... whenever I get involved with that pathetic bastard, I always have bad luck... ugh..."
But the moment she cursed Frey, she felt abdominal pain of unknown cause again, and Rosewin made a crying face and tried to go back into the bathroom.
"Kuuu...!!"
"Heek!"
Suddenly, an owl flew from somewhere and started hitting her head wildly with its wings, and she sat down in fright.
"Stop! Don't do i... huh?"
Rosewin, who had been pecked by the owl for a while and couldn't come to her senses, discovered someone walking toward her from afar.
"Y-you... why are you already..."
"My, Rosewin..."
She trailed off with a pale blue face.
"...You've grown a lot?"
Nevertheless, the girl who approached right in front of her whispered in a cold voice, and Rosewin soon started hiccupping with a terrified expression.
".......Hic."
Serena, the person Rosewin hates most in the world, was looking down at her with cold eyes and smiling.