Chapter 28
"I'll make your body mine."
=I'll make you a chess piece I control.
A plainly recited sentence.
I told the girl.
That in exchange for protecting her weakness, I wanted her to be helpful on my side.
The girl's expression freezes for a moment.
"What, what did you just say...?"
"There are so many things Lady can do for me."
I answered with a slight smile.
"We'll have a lot to ponder over together... sticking close in a friendly manner."
=We'll need to think about upcoming events... just the two of us, I look forward to working with you.
Emilia was a capable person.
Not to mention her grades and abilities, she was especially good at reading the atmosphere.
Quick to calculate, she's also skilled at reading moves ahead.
In the original work she appeared as an extra villain, but it would be a waste of talent to throw her away like this.
'She seems useful in many ways.'
She has hidden connections here and there.
Her written grades were also top-tier, so wouldn't it be perfect to slack off on assignments when I'm lazy sometimes?
Just imagining it is fun.
"Huhu."
A smile spreading on my lips naturally.
As I'm sitting with such a grinning expression, suddenly the girl starts sobbing.
So pitifully.
"Ugh, hic......"
What the.
Why is she suddenly crying?
Does she not like the terms of the deal?
No, I'm saving her life in exchange. Can't she at least be a lackey until graduation?
"Why are you crying so bitterly?"
I ask in bewilderment.
"Isn't this quite a desirable deal?"
=Isn't this deal quite generous?
"......"
"You just need to do your best to satisfy me. Then I'll protect your weakness too."
=I'm thinking of making you do annoying things sometimes, but you just need to do that diligently. Then I'll protect you, okay?
"How can I trust someone like you...?"
"You'll have to trust me."
=What are you going to do if you don't trust me?
You're not in a position to be picky about that right now.
If I say just one word, you'll be expelled and have to say goodbye to this world right away.
This kid is just too suspicious.
A sigh escapes from my frustrated heart.
It seemed I needed to let her know the reality a bit.
***
"I'll make your body mine."
Emilia couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
A feeling like her breath was turning cold.
She trembled without realizing it.
It was a reflexive manifestation of anxiety.
"What, what did you just say...?"
She must have heard wrong.
Perhaps because she had cried all night, her consciousness didn't seem whole.
The girl asked, harboring a vain hope.
But,
"There are so many things Lady can do for me."
Even that shatters fleetingly.
"We'll have a lot to ponder over together... sticking close in a friendly manner."
"Ah."
Her heart sinks.
It felt like the pulse connecting her life had stopped.
Her blue eyes are dyed with despair.
Weakness, conditions, and price.
The golden snake was staring at the villainess with lecherous eyes. While flickering his tongue coated with poison.
Emilia realized.
The boy wanted her body.
'Sex slave.'
A word that suddenly comes to mind.
Though she wanted to desperately deny this reality, his gaze was so blatant it made such efforts futile.
His characteristic ominousness melts in his narrow slit eyes.
"Huhu."
His meaningless laughter is terrifying.
Her breathing becomes disturbed.
The girl had to bite her lip tightly to keep from crying.
Emilia, who had always devoted herself only to academics.
Though she had trained through sleepless nights, she had never taken any interest in relationships between men and women.
Thanks to that, her confusion returns doubled.
Fear of the unknown.
The blood drains from her face, turning pale.
'Why on earth.'
Why is this happening?
The villainess couldn't bring herself to form the question. Because she knew it was all due to what she had done.
Regret blooms with a sigh.
'I shouldn't have done something like a duel.'
She desperately wanted the top position.
She thought if she could reach that shining position, she could give the elders of her family a taste of their own medicine.
So she acted hastily.
A man exuding a pathetic atmosphere.
She never dreamed he would be so strong.
Perhaps it was arrogance.
In the end, she was humiliated in front of numerous students, and now she was in danger of losing her chastity.
"Ugh, hic......"
Tears fall.
She doesn't want to cry.
She doesn't want to be weak.
Even if she was walking a thorny path, she wanted to be dignified if it was for survival.
But,
"Why are you crying so bitterly?"
"Hic..."
The tears won't stop.
As she's spewing out sobs while sitting miserably, another whisper is heard.
"Isn't this quite a desirable deal?"
"......"
"You just need to do your best to satisfy me. Then I'll protect your weakness too."
"How can I trust someone like you...?"
"You'll have to trust me."
The corners of his mouth curve dangerously.
The boy answers as if he had been waiting.
"If you want to protect your precious family."
"What do you mean...?"
"Don't you have a twin younger brother? In the same situation."
A boy who entered Class A this year.
His name was Rusca Beniti.
He was the last family left in Emilia's life.
The reason she was so desperate also contained thoughts for her brother.
Because she had to protect him.
"The blood relative you relied on so much... I'm concerned whether the family elders will really leave him alone."
A sharp assumption pierces her lungs.
The children had nowhere to lean on.
In this situation, if Emilia were to leave this world too, it was obvious how they would move.
It was literally the end.
"...From the start, I had no choice."
A voice quietly muttering.
Her transparent blue eyes have already lost their vitality, dead with gloom.
"Ugh, haa... sniff."
The situation forces a choice.
Reality chasing coldly.
The girl could only choose the last remaining path to avoid the worst ending.
Even though the path in sight was thorny.
"I understand."
It was better than dying.
In the end, the villainess ends up being played by the cunning snake's tongue.
Emilia lowered her eyes.
"I'll follow your words."
Pitifully.
The tears glittering for a moment contain a sadistic beauty.
"Hey."
"Hmm?"
"I... have no experience in that area at all. Please understand if I'm clumsy."
"It's alright."
A sly answer returns.
"Gradually dyeing a Lady who knows nothing seems quite enjoyable in its own way."
"...It's a bit scary."
"Oh my, you don't need to be afraid?"
The boy lightly extends his arm.
Fingertips that slowly approach rest on the villainess's chin.
As she raises her head following the gently guiding force, her gaze meets slit eyes staring intently.
Emilia's breath stops for a moment.
"I'll be gentle."
Ugly person.
What light are your pupils seeing me with?
They must be glistening with desire.
"Ah."
The boy's face comes closer.
Is he starting already?
A little.
Scary.
"......"
She closes her eyelids.
With her vision blocked, it was somewhat better.
Of course, the trembling doesn't disappear.
Thump thump thump thump...!
Her heart pounds as if it might burst.
The lowly pulse devours the girl's world without a trace.
Eventually,
"...!"
Something touches her lips then pulls away.
It contains a warm temperature.
Emilia instinctively judged it to be lips.
Her eyes squeeze shut even tighter.
As if unsatisfied, the boy overlapped their lips a few more times.
But he wasn't rough.
'It's strange.'
It felt like heat was rising.
Her breath becomes disturbed.
To gather her consciousness that was hazily loosening, the girl had to clench her fist tightly.
It continues for a while.
'It's not... painful or agonizing like I worried.'
A sensation of gently being dyed.
It was her impression of her stolen first kiss.
***
Meanwhile,
"Gradually dyeing a Lady who knows nothing seems quite enjoyable in its own way."
=Meaning he'll help teach her slowly if she's not used to it.
"Oh my, you don't need to be afraid?"
=Meaning she really shouldn't be afraid.
"I'll be gentle."
=Meaning he won't be too harsh, so don't worry.
The boy actually had no particular thoughts.
An expression raising question marks.
'Why is she closing her eyes while I'm wiping her lips?'
He was simply trying to wipe them because blood was coming from her tightly bitten lips.
But she suddenly started acting serious on her own.
Now she's trembling her shoulders every time his finger touches her lips.
'Maybe she's had a hard life... She doesn't seem to be in good condition.'
That's right.
The sensation the girl thought was lips was none other than fingers.
The two don't understand each other.
'Anyway, I gained a friend. I should tell her to get along with Regia.'
The misunderstanding deepens.
***
And so the noisy duel event came to an end.
We each kept our promises.
Following the winner's will, the [Execution] was indefinitely postponed.
Emilia diligently followed by my side, performing the role of a secret friend.
The conclusion is,
"Ta-da~!"
I gained a new friend.
"Y-Young Master? What is this all of a sudden......"
"You, what did you do this time?"
Regia standing with a stiff expression, Irene leaning on one leg indifferently.
Though they didn't show it, their reactions were tinged with bewilderment.
Regardless,
I introduce someone to the two of them.
"This is an acquaintance I've recently become close with."
"...Hmph."
It was none other than Emilia.
The villainous young lady quietly kept her place. A cold light lingers in her blue eyes.
She exudes the oppressive atmosphere unique to great nobles.
"L-Lady Beniti...?!"
"It's the young lady we met last time. The one who acted rudely to you."
The appearance of an unexpected person.
Especially Regia, who had trauma from the villainess, showed a startled appearance.
I smile to mean she should be at ease.
"Now, now~ She won't bite?"
"Y-Yes...?"
"We had a sincere conversation a few days ago. We seemed to get along, so we decided to become close."
You don't need to be afraid.
Along with such words.
I naturally stroked Emilia's hair a few times.
It was an expression that she wasn't dangerous.
"...!?"
"Huh."
The pilot and fox are shocked simultaneously.
An action casually treating the young lady of a duke family.
Moreover, even Emilia didn't get angry at this, but rather obediently followed along, so the shock was doubled.
The fox asks as if dumbfounded.
"What kind of threat did you make?"
"Didn't I tell you? A sincere conversation."
"Yeah right."
"Oh my... You don't believe me?"
"90% of what you say is lies. Believing you would be naive."
"Everyone tells lies, you know."
"Not as much as you."
A few words of light conversation were exchanged.
Even in the midst of that, I kept fiddling with her blue hair.
"......"
It was an uncomfortable place for the villainess.
At first her eyes tensed, and now even her fists were clenched as if about to break.
Emilia finally couldn't endure it.
Tak-!
She roughly swats away the hand resting on her head.
What sparkles in her blue pupils is anger.
"You two. Don't misunderstand."
The cold gaze points at none other than the two girls.
Perhaps she couldn't rebel against me?
Emilia was being dogmatic to the innocent children while subtly turning her body away.
"A commoner who doesn't know her place, a vulgar beastkin maid... I have no intention of associating with such low-class people."
Even if she was bent once, a villainess was still a villainess.
Vanity burning her heart red.
Although she knelt to me, she wouldn't be servile to others as well.
Her characteristic arrogance spreads.
Emilia glances at me sideways.
It was as if asking to allow this much pride.
"Although I agreed to offer my body to you... that doesn't mean I've dedicated my heart as well."
"That's correct."
"...I absolutely won't let you steal my heart."
"As you wish."
So even though she became an ally as promised, she can't fully trust me, is that it?
Well, I did act quite suspiciously.
From her position, it's natural to be suspicious.
It's a bit disappointing that she won't give her heart (trust).
But I guess I'll be satisfied with this for now.
There's plenty of time ahead.
I can slowly conquer her.
"However."
I had parts I couldn't yield as well.
"I'd like you to be careful with your words and actions towards these two from now on."
Irene, and Regia.
I can't tolerate being sharp towards my people, even if it's other students.
I deliberately put on an eerie smile.
"They're rather precious connections to me. To be honest, I almost got angry just now."
"......"
"Surely you don't want to incur my anger?"
"...I'll be careful."
Emilia finally nods.
Where did her previous lofty atmosphere go? She shrank instantly.
The villainess mutters towards the two girls.
"I seem to have gotten too excited... I'll apologize."
"Uh, y-yes? N-no! There's no need for Lady to apologize...!"
"No. I'm sorry."
Even apologizing on her own.
It seems I'm quite scary.
Even Regia, who had been stiff at first, seemed to relax her tension seeing the deflated villainess.
I watched that scene contentedly.
"Huhu."
As I'm nodding like that,
"...?"
There's a gaze piercing my cheek from the side.
I turn my head at the stinging feeling, and there's a fox with eyes dyed in contempt.
"You said you didn't do anything."
She always had a cold impression, but not like this time.
Why is she suddenly acting like this?
"Offering her body, what on earth did you do to make her say such things."
A chill exuding coldly.
The fox who had been hesitating for a moment soon furrows her brow and condemns.
"...Beast."
It was sincere criticism.
I had to raise question marks for a while, not understanding the fox's reaction.
No.
Why are you acting like this to me again?
***
Anyway,
A week passed.
As I was spending each day following a daily life that was gradually becoming familiar,
"Miss Irene?"
"The children. It's been over a month since we've seen them. I want to show my face once."
"Huhu, you seem worried."
"Well... I can't say I'm not."
"I understand. They must be precious people to Miss Irene."
Irene made one request.
A request to see the foxes I had entrusted to 'safe people'.
I gladly accepted.
"I was thinking I should drop by once anyway."
It's been a while since I've seen their faces.
I wonder if they've been doing well.
'Astro.'
The rulers of the city that don't cry.
I chewed over the faces of a few people that came to mind as I stood up.
Well then,
Shall we go meet our members?