Before the confrontation with Faust, there were still things I needed to take care of. Neither of them would be easy.
“Emily, um… have you been doing well?”
“……”
I’m not the type to rely on just a single sword. I’m the kind of person who only feels at ease when I’m fully equipped with all sorts of advanced weapons.
I have no intention of bringing Emily into this operation, but I still needed to borrow her technical skills.
“I know it’s shameless of me to ask something like this, but…”
“……”
Emily didn’t respond.
Was it because it had been a while since we last met, after the battle with the Scriptwriter?
Things felt awkward between us.
With Stan going berserk not long ago, and thinking back on it, we’d both shown each other some pretty embarrassing sides… it just felt uncomfortable.
Even for Emily, it must be the same. What she did while under the influence of that drug is probably something she’d have the hardest time forgetting.
“Do you think you could make some gears for me? Here, um… I collected these.”
I spread out the Ex Machina seals I had obtained during my duties with the Guillotine Knights on the table.
Ever since I lost all my gears in the battle against the Scriptwriter, I’d been meaning to make new ones.
Well, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t make any gears myself. It’s only possible with Emily’s help.
And there’s one more person, the Imperial Princess Lapis, who could probably do it too. I actually had business with her as well.
Anyway, that’s why I came to see Emily after so long.
But…
“……”
Emily still didn’t respond.
She’s never been this unresponsive before… what on earth happened to her in the meantime?
Or maybe nothing happened?
Did I leave her alone too much? Then again, it’s not like I should be too involved in her life either.
I mean, we’re not even dating. If anything, we absolutely shouldn’t be.
“Uh, Emily?”
“……”
“That outfit looks really good on you today.”
“Does it?”
I finally changed the subject, unable to bear the suffocating awkwardness. Only then did Emily who had been insisting on silence respond as if this had been the correct answer all along.
Right… come to think of it, it was probably wrong of me to jump straight into asking for a favor.
Yeah, I was being a bit thoughtless.
Ours isn’t just a purely business relationship, is it?
“What do you want to eat? I heard the ice cream here is good.”
“Okay, I’ll have that.”
“Alright, I’ll go buy it. Just wait here a bit.”
Honestly, I can’t deny that I’ve been avoiding Emily until now.
Because I could feel that the distance between us had become… unstable.
I couldn’t just see her as a cute younger sister anymore like before. The things that happened last time were far too intense for that.
Still, it’s true I was being pretty arrogant for someone who came here to ask for a favor.
I was too careless. I should pay more attention going forward.
“Emily? Is there anything you want?”
“Something I want?”
“Yeah. I’ve owed you a lot, and I can’t just keep taking without giving anything back. Not as a transaction, but as a gift to show my gratitude.”
“……”
Emily lowered her head for a moment.
Then when she lifted it again, she looked straight at me and said,
“You.”
“Huh?”
“I want you.”
“……”
It would be a lie to say I had no idea.
I knew Emily had feelings for me or something close to that, at least.
That’s why I tried to draw a line, and I acted accordingly.
But I know this.
Once feelings start moving, they can’t be controlled.
And the fact that she said it out loud means—
“Emily.”
She’s prepared herself for it.
I can’t dodge this. That’s not an option. If she’s serious, then I have to give a clear answer too.
“Emily.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“Why not?”
I have to cut it off cleanly.
So there’s no lingering attachment.
“You know this too, right? I already have a fiancée.”
I tried to say it gently.
Maybe this will ruin our relationship.
But that can’t be helped.
“I know.”
“Then…”
“There are two of them.”
“…Ahem.”
“You’re not going to claim pure devotion when you already have two, are you?”
“Ahem!”
I was shut down instantly.
In a flash, Emily wiped out my justification. As expected of a genius. She caught the flaw in my reasoning right away.
“Do you not like me?”
“It’s not about liking or not…”
“Just answer that.”
“If it’s between those two, then I do like you. But…”
“That’s enough.”
If it comes down to liking or not, then yes I do like her.
How could I possibly dislike someone this kind? But that doesn’t mean those feelings lead to romance. Emily needs to understand that first.
“That’s enough for me.”
“No.”
“Big brother, you know something? I used to think that if I had a teacher, it would only ever be Master Coran.”
“Huh?”
The topic shifted so suddenly.
It was so out of nowhere that I couldn’t respond.
“But when the Scriptwriter died… I realized that wasn’t true.”
“……”
“Isn’t it strange? We didn’t even see each other that often. But the moment I thought he was dead, I suddenly felt… lonely.”
“Emily…”
This is bad. This conversation is dangerous.
I could tell instinctively.
She’s trying to draw out my sympathy.
“Big brother, I’m lonely.”
I was at a loss for words.
I never imagined I’d hear something like that from Emily.
“I actually know, you know. You’re indecisive, and you’re someone who’s afraid of liking others.”
“…If you suddenly say something that harsh, what am I supposed to do?”
“You were like that with Lady Ariel too, weren’t you? The engagement came first, right? You had some feelings, but it wasn’t love.”
“How do you even know that…?”
It’s not impossible for Emily to know about my relationship with Ariel.
We’ve been seen together plenty of times, and I never really tried to hide it.
“……”
At that moment, a small spider crawled down my sleeve.
I flinched, but quickly realized it was a mechanical device.
Stalking.
And far more discreet than before.
Then since when? No… the answer was obvious. From the very beginning.
From the time a relationship formed between us, up until now.
I had simply forgotten at some point, but she had been watching me the entire time. Honestly, it sent a chill down my spine.
And the fact that even I, having grown stronger, couldn’t detect it until now made it all the more suffocating.
Crack!
The spider that had crawled down onto the table shattered.
No…more precisely, it turned to dust.
The tiny, fragmented mechanical device scattered into dust and was carried away by the wind. And the moment it became completely invisible…
“I’ll do the same. That’s how it’ll be. I’ll make it that way.”
“…No.”
Something began to form over her shoulder. No….not appearing, but gathering, like dust coming together in the wind.
I recognized that technology.
Nanomachines. The most useful technique the Scriptwriter had wielded.
Emily… had she really reached that level while I wasn’t looking?
“But did you ever have the right to decide that?”
So she knew that much too?
I had planned to calmly talk her down, but before I knew it, I was the one being threatened.
“Just act like you always do.”
“……”
“That’s enough. I’ll take care of the rest.”
The wind blew again.
On the table, an image flickered like a hologram, appearing and disappearing.
“Before you know it, it’ll be like that. I’m confident.”
It was a scene that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
The Scriptwriter’s castle. Emily swaying under the influence of the drug, and me holding onto her.
It was captured vividly.
“This should be enough justification, right?”
“Emily?”
“I’m sorry, big brother.”
Emily smiled softly.
The girl who once seemed emotionally faint now knew how to smile sweetly.
“I wasn’t as nice as you thought I was.”
But what she said was anything but sweet. In a way, it was chilling.
“You shouldn’t have given me an opening.”
“An opening…?”
“Isn’t that right?”
Emily picked up one of the seals I had laid out on the table.
An unrefined gear.
She took one and quietly slipped it onto her fourth finger.
Like a ring.
“After using me like that.”
She smiled again. It was an undeniably cute smile, but her words remained terrifying.
“You didn’t think it would turn out like this?”
What on earth have I done…?
I was repeating exactly what had been done to Yuna before.
Even if I thought I had given her an opening, I had no excuse. But I had to stop it. This time, I had to stop it.
Otherwise, I would die.
I would be killed by Ariel and Yuna.
“You knew whose little sister I was. You should have been more careful.”
At the center of her radiant smile, I could see a familiar face.
“If you noticed that I had feelings like this, you should have drawn a line and kept your distance much earlier.”
Right, I had forgotten.
Emily is Cattleya’s younger sister.
And merchant Cattleya was not someone to be taken lightly.
“I love you, big brother. And you’ll come to feel the same.”
I had received something like a declaration of war from Emily only to end up worse off than before.
***
It was only recently that Emily became certain of her feelings.
It started at the Scriptwriter’s Castle when she had been drugged.
Of course, Emily wasn’t foolish enough to mistake simple lust for love.
But she couldn’t help finding it strange that the object of that desire was always the same person.
At first, she thought it was simply because Johan was the only man nearby.
But what about after that? What about when they joined up with Theseus and Immun?
Even then, Johan was the only one she could see.
Yes, all along.
I’ve only ever seen one person.
The Scriptwriter might have known. That’s why he used shock therapy to teach Emily.
Now, there was no turning back.
If she hadn’t realized it, things might have been different. But now that she had, she couldn’t stop.
I see.
Even though Emily was currently using the name Robinhood, she originally belonged to the Tales Marquisate.
And the Tales family had long been a famous merchant house.
Merchants do not live in debt.
If it looks like they are in debt, then it is merely an investment.
Perhaps from the very beginning.
Emily had never once refused Johan’s requests.
She even made everything he wanted for the bare minimum payment.
And only now did she understand why.
Maybe I knew my own heart all along.
She had let the debt pile up.
An overwhelming amount of it.
“Hehe.”
She had dyed him in her own colors.
***
My conversation with Emily had ended almost entirely one-sided. It felt like I went in to fix a problem and came out with an even bigger one.
There was nothing I could say in rebuttal.
This familiar sensation. The overwhelming pressure I had felt from Ariel and Yuna. Something I couldn’t resist.
I felt that from Emily.
Even though I had clearly rejected her, she didn’t care in the slightest.
On top of that, what she said, telling me not to act like I was devoted to pure love when I already had two, really stuck with me. What could I even say to that? I truly had no excuse.
“I don’t even know anymore.”
When had things ever been any different?
If I just let myself get swept along, things would sort themselves out eventually.
Besides, I did reject her. That much was certain, so I had nothing to feel guilty about toward Ariel and Yuna.
They’d figure it out themselves. Come to think of it, when had I ever really been able to decide anything? I never had.
For now, I should deal with the problem right in front of me.
Romance is romance, and work is work.
“Welcome. My dear sister.”
“Ugh, I’m tired.”
“….…?”
I went to find Lapis.
Emily could make the helical gear for me, but what I needed most right now was the Babel gear.
It was what I had been using before, so I was used to it, and more importantly, its ability was exactly what I needed.
“Your Highness Lapis. I trust you’ve been well.”
“Of course! At least, until someone sighed the moment they saw my face. And you’re the one who came to see me, no less.”
“My apologies. Something came up.”
“I see. So what brings you here today?”
The reason I came to see Lapis today wasn’t just about the Babel gear. It was also about the Faust issue.
“I heard a certain rumor recently.”
“What kind of rumor?”
“That Faust has turned into a living hell.”
“……”
In reality, Faust had survived a direct hit from the Power of Destruction.
There might be a connection.
Perhaps Lapis had helped Faust.
If that were the case…
“Oh my!”
At that moment, Lapis widened her eyes and cried out.
“Now that I think about it, one of the hells I was managing has disappeared?”
“……”
“Oh my, when did it disappear? How surprising.”
“No.”
She didn’t know?
About something that important?
“Didn’t I tell you? This woman doesn’t work. She just slacks off and plays around.”
“……”
I never thought the day would come when I’d agree with Mephi…
But at this very moment, I was completely in sync with her.
Yeah, I couldn’t help but look at Lapis with the exact same expression.
“Why are you looking at me like I’m so pathetic?”
What a truly pathetic older sister.
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