Chapter 232: Fragments That Will Remain
"...Urgh..." I groan in exhausted pain on the bed, my whole body aching and I’m exhausted. I look at Esther, who’s been watching me excessively for hours. I woke up a while ago, so I don’t know how much time has passed, but neither of us has said a word.
[Esther’s Favorability +10 (Total = 100/100) / Mark of Hatred = 100/100]
[Current Favorability Rank ??? Completely Obsessed!!! (Extremely Dangerous. When an Individual acquires this Favorability, it cannot be lowered. The individual becomes unpredictable and romantically jealous and dangerous, both for you and for those around you)]
’Haa... it was obvious it would end up like this eventually...’ I look at this; it seems like now Esther will only have eyes for me and has become dangerous. I bite my lips, knowing it wasn’t smart of me to get Esther into this state.
But I couldn’t do anything different. After being imprisoned and tortured, I couldn’t stop mentally begging for Esther to come and save me. And while I was alone with nothing but pain, I thought.
I have practically nothing. Because of me, my family in the other world was destroyed. In this world, even though I’ve achieved things, it’s nothing special. And the only person close to me who isn’t a puppet is Esther.
And in the end, even my puppets betrayed me. Normally, they shouldn’t be able to betray me because the [Connection] between me and them would prevent it. But because of that "Evelyn," who made me take her place, the connection was broken.
But it being broken showed me that the characters of the puppets I created weren’t perfect, and that they had too much freedom. And with her freedom, Syl’Vyr chose to betray me. Maybe I really wasn’t such a good master.
Maybe it was my fault for wanting friendship with puppets. Maybe everything started going wrong from the point I lost all the memories I should have had from being born in this world and only remembered too late.
"..." I lower my gaze to my body, covered in very intense marks from what happened between us. Esther has never been this rough with me before; I think she really is furious.
And of course she would be. I was very mean to her. I admit it was my fault for being so cruel, but I couldn’t have acted differently. I was tortured for over a month, and every second of the torture, all I thought was why she still hadn’t come to save me, even with her blessing.
Or when she would arrive to get me out of there. The first week, her delay was almost "acceptable." By the second week, it was unbearable. And from the third week on, I felt wronged by her not coming right away, and I started blaming her, even though deep down I know it’s not her fault.
"I-I... I’m in pain..." I murmur, calmer now. Now that I know she’ll never abandon me, I feel calmer. I know I have an emotional dependency on her, but she also has an emotional dependency on me.
And we both know emotional dependency is bad, but we can’t break free from it.
"That doesn’t matter. You asked for it." She says without stopping staring at me. Her gaze holds a disturbing wildness.
"I know..." She bit me very intensely. This was the first time she ate pieces of me without removing them from my body first. It was painful feeling her eat my tail without cutting it off first.
"Weren’t you busy... you said you would take care of the rest of my prison time..."
"I already took care of it. You are now officially a free woman. Although, not even I can remove you from the registry, and everyone in the kingdom already knows about your crime. Proving your innocence doesn’t matter anymore."
"I-I see... is there nothing else for you to do?"
"What else would I do besides watch my wife?"
"...About your plans... Maybe they’ve changed?" I ask curiously. If now that she loves me absolutely, her plans have changed.
"Oh yes, Evelyn, I changed my plans about the genocide."
"Really? So..."
"I’m going to kill everyone, not to free them from the falseness of this world anymore, but to have this entire world just for the two of us. Doesn’t it sound romantic?"
"W-What? No! T-That’s even worse than your previous motivation." I get up from the bed, disturbed. How the hell did she come to that bizarre conclusion? Before, she wanted to "free" everyone from this world, which she judges as false because of the knowledge she has.
But now she wants to kill everyone just to be isolated with me! That’s a thousand times more selfish than her original plan.
"Isn’t that what you wanted, Evelyn? You’re my number one, and I’ll always give my best for my number one. I’m going to give you an entire planet. Can it get more romantic than that?"
"B-But that’s not what I..."
"Why are you saying this now, Evelyn? I’m your number one too, so why are you thinking about other people’s lives? You should just accept everything I do with gratitude."
"B-But it’s not... it’s... this..." She exposes the hypocrisy of what I did before. Before, I made Esther my number one in everything because I had nothing. And I was imprisoned, full of pain. I only had Esther as an option, so it was easier.
But now that everything is out in the open, she’s using the same thing I did before, in an even worse way.
"...Say thank you."
"Huh?"
"Say thank you, Evelyn. Thank your wife for being so benevolent as to give you an entire planet. Don’t you have your dragon problem with hoarding? Well then, I’m giving you an entire planet to hoard. Isn’t it satisfying?"
"B-But I thought... that it would be different..."
"I didn’t ask what you thought. I told you to say thank you." She climbs on top of me, her voice carrying a dangerous tone.
"Th-Thank you..."
"Thank you for what, Evelyn?"
"Thank you for wanting to give me a planet..."
"No, no, no, that’s not it, Evelyn. Come on, don’t be a stupid bitch. Thank me properly."
"...Ah... t-thank you for being my number one..."
"That’s better." She leans down, kissing me. It’s so intense. She holds me tightly. I feel her touch as if a dangerous snake were coiling around me.
"H-Hmmm..." She shoves her tongue into my mouth, her gaze not leaving mine for even a second. I close my eyes, simply accepting the kiss born from what I so desired, but which came in the wrong way.
"Haa... Haa..." I pant when she breaks the kiss. The taste is coppery, the taste of my blood on her lips.
"This is how it should be, Evelyn. Don’t make me hurt you, because I feel like I won’t be able to control myself so well if it happens again."
"..." She takes my hand, looking at our wedding ring. Her gaze is indecipherable as I just look at the bedroom window.
’Did I really want things to end up like this?... I wonder... why did everything get so dark so fast...’ Everything I do seems to lead to a terrible fate. I wonder if the reason destiny hates me is because of what that Evelyn did with that whole confusing business of affecting time and causality so that she would no longer exist and I would take her place.
"O-Ow..." I groan in pain, looking at her as she bites my finger.
"Don’t get distracted. I’m here, in front of you. What could be more interesting than me?"
"...Nothing..."
"Exactly. Nothing is more interesting than me. So look at me when I’m near you." She growls at me while continuing to stare at the ring on my finger.
"Our siblings will probably return to the castle to organize everything in a month or two, since the Demon King is dead. We’ll have a lot to deal with, since the competition for the throne continues and there’s the ongoing war."
"W-What will you do about my ruined reputation and those responsible for framing me for the Demon King’s murder?" I ask hopefully that there will be some justice.
"Nothing for now. Your image can’t be recovered. That’s not how an accusation of this level works. Even if you’re innocent, you confessed, and that’s what matters to the masses. Besides, finding the culprits will be difficult, and there’s still a lot I have to do."
"So don’t expect much progress on that front. Besides, Evelyn, why would I fix your image? It doesn’t matter, right? I know the truth, and whether your image is tarnished or not, I’ll always love you, and that’s all that matters."
"...A-Ah... yes... it’s... you’re all that matters to me too... what will you... do with Syl’Vyr..."
"Evelyn, you talk too much. Why are you asking all these silly things instead of asking about me? Why don’t you ask what happened to me during the time I was on the battlefield? Why don’t you ask how I found out about you, why I was late, and what I did to save you?"
"I just thought... it was important for me to know what would happen..."
"No, it’s not. Everything important for you to know, I’ll tell you. Now be quiet. You’re still injured, and your body is recovering. I don’t want you leaving this bed without permission, since you’re almost out of magic and slept for three whole days."
"!!!"
’Three days? I’ve been sleeping for three days and I’m still in pain?’ When Esther started eating my tail, I ended up fainting from exhaustion and pain, but I didn’t know three whole days had already passed. I thought it had only been a few hours since it all happened.
I look at the wings I have now. At some point, they grew, but I don’t remember clearly because the time in prison was hazy and the pain kept me from focusing properly.
"Alright, I’ll stay here until my body recovers..." She kisses me again, interrupting me. Her intensity is suffocating, but I simply accept it.