After facing the emperor,
I leisurely slipped out to the rear garden of the imperial palace.
“…Haa.”
Letting out a sigh, I took in the outside air.
For now, the deal had gone through just as planned.
About a year left until academy admission…
The emperor would take care of erasing my traces.
That was the nature of our agreement.
Tap.
.
.
.
Swaaahhh—!
Suddenly, heavy rain poured down.
It felt as though it was expressing my emotions.
My already gloomy mood sank even deeper.
My clothes grew increasingly soaked.
Both my body and mind felt grimy.
Especially my mind.
With splashing steps, I kept moving forward.
Meanwhile, the palace behind me belatedly grew noisy.
From the bursts of explosions echoing out, it seemed Adele was still fighting Lilith.
Thump!
Speak of the devil and she appears.
As the roaring ceased, she returned.
“Great work, Lilith.”
[It was a close one. That child’s skills are truly exceptional.]
“Big sister Adele is a little scary, after all.”
[She looks like she’ll break through the wall any moment now. If she comes at us again then, subduing her so easily won’t be possible.]
“She’s already at that level, huh.”
Soon, she would break through her limits.
It seemed she was nearing the peak of the Expert level.
…While someone like me was still struggling at the lower ranks.
[So, where do you plan to go now?]
Hmm… I don’t think I can keep moving around within the empire. Even if the emperor hides me, if the bastards from the Holy See decide to dig, it’ll be a huge headache.
Anyway, I’ve finished everything I needed to do in the empire.
And then, something else came up that I needed to look into.
“I’m thinking of going to the Demon Realm. Near the Demon King’s castle.”
[…Why would you want to go there?]
“There are plenty of reasons.”
To investigate the whereabouts of the remaining fragments of the book I possessed.
To acquire materials that could only be found in the Demon Realm.
…And lastly, because I wanted to visit an old friend’s grave after so long.
“Oh. And while I’m at it, I should let you meet the other succubi, too, Lilith.”
[There’s really no need to go that far for me…]
“We’re just doing it together while I’m there. It’s not any extra trouble.”
[…Thank you.]
“For what? I should be the one thanking you.”
Splash, splash.
I trudged forward endlessly, stepping through puddles of water.
The conversation faded, and once more, I reflected on my plans ahead.
Then, out of nowhere, Lilith voiced a question.
[Child… are you alright?]
“…Huh? What do you mean?”
[It’s just… today, you seem unusually calm. Quite different from usual.]
“……?”
Different?
I tilted my head at her question.
I don’t think I’m acting any differently.
If anything, I still felt plenty of uncomfortable emotions that didn’t exactly scream “peaceful”.
Regret lingered, and so did attachment. Emotions that were clearly far from calm.
And yet, I could somewhat understand the source of her question.
Maybe it’s that my emotions don’t seem to rise or swell? Like someone else is consuming my feelings in my place…
Honestly, I wasn’t sure.
It was just a feeling. An instinct that was hard to put into words.
How should I say it…? Like a dream, maybe?
What was it like in the original memory? Was I more depressed? More at peace? More regretful?
“Ugh…”
[Are you hurt somewhere?]
“…No. I just got a little dizzy all of a sudden. It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”
I shook my head once or twice and started moving my feet quickly again.
Soon, I would be able to pass through the back garden and slip out of the imperial palace.
But before that, there was a building that came into view.
“……..”
It was the annex.
A building unusually far removed from the main palace.
A place filled with memories of a certain princess.
She was probably sound asleep in there by now.
…Let’s just pass by.
I was no longer her guard.
Much less her butler.
There was no reason to wake her just to say goodbye.
Splash, splash.
I forced my gaze away from the place that was hard to look away from and kept walking.
That’s what I was supposed to do.
That’s how it should have gone.
“Ah, Ain…!”
A voice called out.
It came from the annex I had just passed.
It was a familiar voice. And that made it even harder to turn my head.
Why? I was sure I had no memory of running into her.
“…Ugh!”
The throbbing pain in my head grew worse.
My brow furrowed instinctively. Slowly, I turned around.
And as I expected, the voice belonged to her.
She looked completely different. She was more mature than the girl I had first met.
Her once short hair had grown long, and her height, which had seemed so small, had now become quite tall.
She now looked almost identical to her image in the main storyline of the game.
Our princess… she’s become a fine young lady.
That thought lasted only a moment.
Why was she here? I hadn’t made a sound.
She was supposed to be fast asleep, completely unaware of anything.
What was going on? Why was she awake? In my memory… it hadn’t happened like this.
My head throbbed with pain.
But my vision remained clear.
It showed Hela’s figure in stark detail.
She stood there in the rain, looking sad.
She didn’t come any closer; she just stood still in place.
Her expression was a complete mess.
The streams running down her face. Was it rain, or tears?
It was impossible to tell, but her emotions came through with painful clarity.
…It was the first time.
The first time I had seen her with such a sorrowful expression.
Of all the expressions I’d ever seen from her, I’d never seen her so undone.
And I probably never would again.
In all my memories, Hela had never worn that kind of face.
.
.
.
It was only then that I realized.
“…Ah.”
This was a dream.
A terrible nightmare.
The moment I realized it, the pain that had been tormenting my head disappeared.
Soon after, my consciousness began to fade.
As my vision grew blurry, Hela’s sorrowful face lingered in my mind.
***
“…Mmm.”
“So you’re finally awake? I was so bored waiting, I thought I’d die.”
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a familiar ceiling…
When I turned my head, I saw a blue-haired girl lazily chewing on candy.
“Headmistress?”
“That’s right, you sleepyhead.”
“Where… am I?”
“Still half-asleep? Obviously, this is the headmistress’s office.”
It wasn’t the enchanted forest thick with trees.
The soft couch I was lying on. This was definitely the headmistress’s office.
Once I confirmed that, I shot up and asked her,
“…Hela. Where is Hela?”
“She’s right next to you.”
“…Ah.”
On the couch placed right beside mine,
There lay a red-haired girl, neatly positioned.
Her face was far too serious for someone simply resting.
“What’s wrong with her? Did something else happen after I passed out?”
“Who knows? She’s been like that since I found you two.”
“…How long have we been missing?”
“Right after the explosion at the lab… It’s been about two hours now?”
What? Not as much time had passed as I thought.
Relieved at that fact, I still looked at the sleeping Hela with a worried expression.
“Is she really hurt again…?”
“I already patched you both up. It’s not a physical injury, I’d say.”
“Then what in the world…”
“Well~ maybe she’s dreaming or something? Like, a nightmare~?”
There was a subtle nuance as if she were indirectly trying to tell me something.
At the headmistress’s words, I looked at Hela again, and something came to mind.
Lilith.
…But there was no response.
Even after checking my heart and the book, I couldn’t pinpoint her location.
Which meant—
No way… did she go to Hela?
Only then did the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.
That final encounter with Hela in the nightmare.
It had clearly been a scene completely different from my own memory.
And unlike the usual nightmares I’d had, it hadn’t felt like the dream was trying to consume me.
…Did we split the curse? Hela and I, together?
It probably had been Lilith’s doing.
It seemed like she had entered Hela’s dream to help her.
Once I understood the situation, a long sigh, heavy with meaning, escaped me.
We had split the curse.
Which basically meant that I had shared my nightmare with Hela.
And that meant… she had come to know everything about what had happened to me.
“…Ha, this is driving me crazy. This really complicates things.”
“Hmm? I think it’s a pretty decent situation.”
“How is it decent?”
“At the very least, both of you are alive, right? Especially you. You know you almost died, don’t you?”
“……..”
Clack.
She moved a piece as she spoke, letting her words flow casually.
When I turned to look at her, she was playing chess alone on the board.
…Playing both sides in chess, seriously.
“You almost died before she did, you know.”
“Well… that’s true.”
“Not like staring at her will make things better anyway. Why not sit across from me?”
“I’m not going to play chess.”
“…Just sit. There’s something we need to talk about.”
Her voice was practically dripping with disappointment…
I glanced briefly at Hela, then took a seat across from the headmistress.
She continued her chess game as she went straight to the point.
“The explosion in that lab. It was caused by the Gate-type magical tool that was there, right?”
“You’re well-informed.”
“The real culprit… well, I’m sure you already know.”
The real culprit.
The magic circle that had set all of this in motion.
Someone had planted a secondary magic circle hidden within that magical tool.
Because of that person, fate had been forced to arrive earlier than it should have.
“…So. Did you find out who did it?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“…What?”
“I said I couldn’t find them.”
She let out a sigh as if venting her frustration.
“Hah… There were definitely traces left in the magic circle, you know? But they were untraceable.”
“What? How is that even possible?”
“Because I couldn’t find them.”
“Does that even make sense?”
“Right? If they were anywhere on the continent, it’d be nearly impossible to slip past my eyes.”
She was the one who governed the concept of space.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that everything happening in this world was in the palm of her hand.
…Except for a few rare exceptions.
Clack.
She moved the final piece.
With that, one king toppled over, and the game came to an end.
“Which means…”
“There’s a high chance it’s one of the ones upstairs.”
Holding the piece that had taken the king, she pointed her index finger upward.
…The ones upstairs. That referred not to those living in the middle earth where the continent lay but to the beings who resided above it.
Leave a Reply