CH 13

「…King of Humans, we see that woman and this country as separate. I have no intention of further flogging the victim of a cunning devil’s deception.」

「K–King of Demons…?! Such generous, words… I thank you, b–but, what about the devil…?」

The king of this country, who let out a sigh of relief, picked up an unusual word in Angel’s words and hurried to ask him back. I guessed it at that one word. I see, Angel is indeed suited to be a politician. He must have decided to get rid of her.

I look at Angel with a「What are you talking about?」I made a face and looked at Angel.

「In fact, Remilia had the memory of a maiden who was going to save this world. Only, in that memory, those evil beings don’t appear… about that, Remilia?」

「Yes… but, I can’t believe she’s the devil… Indeed, it is not the soul of the Star Maiden that is in that one, but something else… I thought she was a bad existence, but…」

In reality, she was probably a woman, demon or not, who lived in the same world as Emi. Ahh, only her character is specially bad… huh?

I realized after I said it out loud that I wondered what was going on with the soul of the original Star Maiden, and I almost thought, well, it doesn’t matter, but I stopped. If it were Emi, I’m sure she’d care, then we’ll think of something when this is all taken care of.

「That oracle and reality are divergent. Remilia was falsely accused and sent away, and together she was supposed to save the world… Her『former』fiancé and『former』childhood friends were entangled with that demon, and Remilia was going around the ruins of the world alone, rebuilding cities and saving people. Did you know?」

「…I knew from reports that Lady Remilia frequently dived into dungeons to fund the achievements of the city she ruled and its operations, but I had no idea that this lady traveled around the world alone…」

「You don’t know that the daughter of the Goddess of Creation has received numerous blessings for her purity of heart, and that she has been falsely accused and sent away the one who should be called a saint.」

「I’m ashamed to admit that…」

It can’t be helped, I had surveillance, but they can’t follow me into a dungeon with a high threat level. I’ve also used transitions from nearby dungeons to foreign countries to dazzle.

「Remilia, who had even acquired the power of purification in this way, appeared in the demon world undaunted. While the humans were still prejudiced against the demons, the evil gods who were harming the god of creation… Remilia joined forces with me to destroy it. Evil gods often create monsters and… They were causing terrible damage to both the demon tribe and the human tribe… Not only did he actually took life, but he also sent such an evil being with power into the human world and tried to eliminate Remilia, the being who would purify herself in the future, by means of a conspiracy.」

「What a surprise!」

「That is the only place where I feel sorry for the crown prince. I didn’t realize that the devil’s curse had forced him into a false love affair…」

「T–That was… So I’m still the one who betrayed Remilia because of that devil…?」

I looked sadly away from Williard, who had grief on his face. What, you just realized that now? You were deceived and taken advantage of because you are stupid. It’s because you believed that woman’s version of events after all the trust you had built with Emi.

While I pretended to be confused, I actually had a general idea of what Angel was thinking, although it was only a guess.

Just like when we talked about the evil gods to the demon tribe, we are going to make Pina into an easy-to-understand symbol of sin in this country and make her bear all the sinful disasters to cover everything up.

From her knowledge of her previous life, Pina knows that the god of creation, the object of belief of the demon tribe, had fallen and become an evil god, nearly destroying the world, and that demons are the end result of the demon tribe’s madness. They probably intend to erase the truth that is inconvenient for the demon tribe with Pina’s life.

But, that’s not good, Angel. That woman is my prey. She have to live miserably while being abused and abused while being known as a great sinner by those around her, regretting and remorseful for her deeds, and then live long and suffer a lot before she die. I’m not going to kill her right away and give her relief through death for the time being.

The key is「regret,」she don’t need 「atonement」or「remorse,」with her filthy nature still intact, I hope she never changes her mind and dies with a lifelong regret of「I shouldn’t have lied and tricked Remilia」and loathes herself for the past.

I wonder if I can save her life by being a softy and telling Angel,「I don’t want to go so far as to take her life, I want her to live to pay for it.」

Ahh, I’ve missed this arbor. I remember we used to have tea parties here with Emi and Williard, Claude and David, and Stefan.

「Remilia… No, Remy, when we were students, I don’t know what I said to you back then… because of Pina… No, I was set up by that devil’s schemes, and I didn’t trust you to do what you did… I hurt you a lot, you should have been important to me…」

「I see… I was so sad at the time because I thought we had built trust in each other… No one believed my words… Pina-san misled you all, and you all came together to lie and condemn me…」

「…I am truly sorry.」

「Angel told me… That the curse wasn’t meant to brainwash, manipulate, or take away reason, but only to make Pina-san fall in love with you… Will-sama, you made your own decision, you know who I am for, and you believed everything Pina said on that basis……?」

「Remy! That’s wrong, I was… I was dazzled by you, dazzled by your ideas and talents that I cannot… I was so envious that I couldn’t believe I was worthy of you. I subconsciously thought I was trying to balance myself by believing the lies of that devil… and I love you… Remy, please…!」

「Farewell, Your Majesty, Williard.」

「Remy!!」

One day, after the evening meeting, the current turmoil had been cleared up to some extent. I was invited to the royal castle to have a dialogue with His Highness. I am the favorite of Angel, but the Star Maiden is a confusing… Now that the other side thinks it’s a confusing one. He must have missed me, who has a track record of saving the goddess of creation and has been blessed by various goddesses with the blessings of purification, fertility, healing, and prosperity. Emi was so in love with Williard that it was obvious at a glance that she was in love with him, so I decided to have this meeting as an opportunity for an informal apology and a chance to make a statement.

I gave Williard a sad-looking smile and said goodbye, and sat down. How could you be so stupid as to plan to humor me by offering a failed Williard, who is rumored to be out of wedlock?

I follow the boardwalk from the arbor in the garden where I used to watch Emi and Williard playing here. Angel, who could not be seen but was apparently nearby, appeared and lined up next to me.

「…Already, looks like you really blew it.」

「Yes. That day when my trust was betrayed…『Remilia’s』first love has finally ended.」

I wonder if Emi can hear Williard crying with regret about that day.

「Remy… Remy…」

I hope that the wailing of that fool, sobbing and seeking Emi for salvation, has healed some of the wounds in Emi’s heart.

I also remember Claude and the last time I spoke with David and Stefan.

David was squirming with me, rubbing his head on the ground. He said he was too happy to be jealous of Remilia, so he used Pina and found he was too afraid to disobey her to the point where he was afraid of being disliked.

Stefan seemed to think that if this caused a falling out between Williard and Remilia, he, as a friend, could intercede and get Emi to rely on him… I really feel sorry for Emi who was betrayed and hurt because of such moronic self-esteem and how stupid those men were.

Claude saw that Williard’s heart was beginning to turn to Pina, and he was planning to bring the engagement to an end on the part of the royal family if he could successfully do so, considering that the other party was the Star Maiden. In that case, he had a black desire to own his sister-in-law, who had become a wounded woman for the convenience of the royal family. So how could you say,「May I still call you sister?」

Of course, I refused to call him「Duke Graupner’s son」on the grounds that I am a branch of the Duke of Graupner’s family. Then he looked despairing and petrified, with a tragic look on his face, like he’d been abandoned. It makes me laugh, you threw away Emi’s trust first.

If you regret it so much that you cry, you shouldn’t have betrayed Emi…… Ahh, the tears they shed in remorse comfort their hearts just a little bit for the loss of Emi. Still, I’m just happy that it’s working better than I thought it would, and that it doesn’t seem to be noticed at all. I tried to create a kind of suction-activated confession drug based on the flavor text of the item in the story… This would be fun to use on Pina if it were a little more potent.

Pina has managed to save only her life since then, with a successful plea for help. I didn’t say anything about it… I don’t have any, you know? As a result of the trial, her throats was burned as part of her sentence, her speech was taken away, the fact that she was the Star Maidens was erased, and she was given laborious work to keep buffing her to work more efficiently in the frontier mines where prisoners labor as a punishment.

As Remilia, I told her in a good-natured way,「No one is dead, and I don’t need what you did to me anymore,」and she was very concerned about it, I took the trouble to look it up because all I was told was,「She’s imprisoned and will never come out in the open.」

The son of the house parson who manages the prisoners there was one of the crown prince’s guards who was caged by Pina and closed off from the future. That alone should give me an idea of how she’s being treated, right?

She said she was burned in the face by a man who had a grudge against Pina when he visited her at her place of incarceration. I finally found her, her face burned and disfigured, but I used an errand to find the criminal men who, because the officials deliberately turned a blind eye, were being asked to do manual labor, which was a different kind of labor and a horrifying act to even mention. I wouldn’t have recognized it if it weren’t for that mole above her waist. She had been roaring her vindictiveness toward Remilia for a long time, interruptedly in her throat, unable to speak properly. There were many families that had to disown or disinherit their sons and daughters because they were publicly accused of lying in the condemnation of「Remilia」for that one incident, which means that there were quite a few nobles who hated Pina so much that they wanted to kill her. Angel has given them strict orders not to kill her because「Remilia would mind,」and they even uses a demon potion every time she is about to die, so it seems that she has been through living hell many times. On the other hand, it seems that she have also been deprived of the ability to get pregnant and are considered「toys that can do anything they want as long as they don’t kill.」

I mean it when I say I’m done, okay? In fact, I didn’t ask for any punishment, because Emi was not the kind of girl who would ask for redemption, but not the kind of punishment that would hurt people. It’s just what Angel around me and the royal family who took in Angel’s wishes are doing on their own. I don’t care what they do to her. I’m not going to forgive her for hurting Emi for the rest of her life, though.

I know the truth-telling drug is already on a practical level… I’m afraid of the effects on the brain when strong chemicals are used repeatedly, so I’ll have to perfect the magic of looking into the mind in the near future. It’s no fun if she go crazy on drugs. I’d like to hear more about how miserable she is, how much she regrets, how much she hates me, in her own words.

Yes, once a year, let’s actually go see「If Pina-san is sincerely repentant, I’d like to offer her a pardon.」If I go, Angel will definitely be worried and follow me, right? I’d like to be in front of that woman and be sheltered by that woman’s last obsession, Angel, and say kind words to her,「If you admit your guilt and sincerely atone for your sins, there is a different path for you.」That’s a great idea, I’m looking forward to it.

Dukes and Duchesses are also slowly reducing their income, it’s just a few years before they start living on debt, unable to reduce their spending just to look good. I need to crush the investment to prevent them from succeeding and arrange for a tacky moneylender with political enemies in the background to back it up.

This country is also slowly being eroded by my hands. Those who helped Pina perjure herself have succeeded in closing off a bright future for all of them, even though they did not directly touch her. Both aristocrats and appointees from commoner backgrounds are no longer promoted, and depending on the magnitude of the perjury, they are either sent to quiet positions or dismissed on disciplinary grounds that「a person who fabricates a crime is not to be trusted.」Well, I guess they deserved this.

I have a long way to go before I take over, but our current king needs to step down as soon as possible… Because, I don’t want a king so incompetent that he can’t spot a single lie from a little girl, do we? I need to fundamentally change the education of children of aristocratic sons and daughters and reform the academy and aristocratic society to prevent tragedies like Emi’s.

Halfway down the garden walkway, Angel stopped unnaturally and awkwardly faced me and gave me a serious look. The dark glow like boiled gold shines in the sunlight.

「Remilia… this is, I was going to tell you again when you and the prince are done with each other… I want you to marry me.」

「A–Angel…!」

「Of course, I know there are issues like race, longevity, and such… but, only one person showed up at my door… I like Remilia, who is good-natured and vulnerable, but can’t leave people alone, I like that about you. I want to protect Remilia like that and… If I could, I would make Remilia happy with my own hands.」

I felt a breathtaking joy at his words.

He was good-natured and loves Emi’s「Remilia」who is too kind to leave people alone, even though he was vulnerable. He sincerely wants to make such「Remilia」happy. Yes… That’s right,「Remilia」who was Emi, was a good-natured… She was kind enough to shed tears of sympathy for Remilia who died as a villain, and even though she was hurt many times by Williard and others who crossed her path, she said that not helping her when there is a way to save her is the same as abandoning her, she is a wonderful girl who can run and say,「I want to do something.」

I felt as if I had been embraced by the most important thing, my dignity as a private person, and I was bursting into tears.

「Angel… I’m so happy… I can’t believe I’m going to be your bride… I don’t know if that’s alright, but… I feel like I could be happy with you.」

「Remilia… yes, you will be happy. Definitely so…」

Angel, who embraced me, must have seen that my words were not false, and although he looked a little embarrassed at himself for having unconsciously confirmed the truth of the words of the woman she had fallen in love with, he was still relieved inside and relief was evident on his face.

Yes, I’m so happy. Angel loves my Emi’s「Remilia」so much. I too could love Angel for loving Emi’s「Remilia」so much.

Besides, having a happy ending with Angel was what that woman wanted. She loved Angel the most. She bought not only the story, but also an external novel in which Angel is the main character, listened to Angel’s backstory at a talk show by the producers, memorized all the game’s events, including dialogues and choices, and boldly stated that she knew everything about Angel, even things that were not in the setting book.

I got that Angel in a way that made that woman most miserable. I couldn’t be happier. Imagine that woman’s chagrin, and my marriage to Angel will be a very happy one.

In a garden surrounded by flowers, in a place where I have fond memories of Williard, I… Remilia offered her first kiss to Angel as he looked at me, who had Williard out of the corner of his eye.

Hey, Emi. I wonder if Emi’s soul is still inside me. I’m sure she is, I know she is. You are only asleep, I can’t feel anything right now, but I know you are in me.

I should do something about the lifespan first. There must have been a death-hungry alchemist who got immortality as one of the characters to attack, so I need to find him and ask for his help first. If I can manage my lifespan, I intend to spend a good amount of time doing soul research. I wonder if I need to develop a human-like doll at the same time, since Emi would not like the idea of using someone else’s body and transferring her soul to it, right? No, not a doll but, would a homunculus be appropriate? I don’t know, I need to be able to communicate with Emi first before I can even decide on a direction. Something that maybe she might say「I want to be a cat」like she thought before.

I still think it would be most successful to have a human body inside of mine, since it would be completed within the closed area of the same body… In other words, I intuitively feel that it would work best if mine were to have intercourse with Angel and become pregnant, and then transfer Emi before the soul is there.

Ahh, that one is good too. Of course, I will name her Emi again, and I will raise her as a brand-new Emi who has no knowledge of the betrayal by Williard and her friends. Just as Emi’s mother did for her, I will love and adore Emi a lot and a lot, and we may fight at times, but we will be a loving family.

And so, just as Emi swore to me as a young girl, I will now make Emi the happiest girl in the world.