After Deus became docile, Rowena made her first request of us. It was that she wanted to be alone with Deus during class time.
I protested saying we couldn’t do that because we didn’t know what Deus might do while we were away, but she said it was a long-standing rule of the Valentine family, so even royalty couldn’t break this rule. It was the only moment her always-gentle face became serious.
When I asked Deus if it would really be okay to be alone, a shameless answer came back.
<Ash, obsessive men aren’t attractive. Even if we’re married, sometimes we each need personal time.>
I suddenly remembered something from a few days ago. Lately Deus had developed a habit of sleeping while holding me tightly, which meant that every time I felt the urge to urinate at night, I had to devise an escape plan close to an intelligence operation.
One day, while I’d briefly left the bed unable to hold my urge, before I’d even finished peeing, Deus who had woken up who knows when was pounding on the bathroom door saying if I didn’t come out right now, he’d kill my father, my great-grandfather, my great-great-grandfather, all of them—and that was just a few days ago.
“I have no idea what his psychology is.”
“……”
“Sometimes he’s just like a thoughtless child, but other times he’s like an old man who knows everything. Sometimes he’s more human than anyone. Every time I press to see his reaction, a different result comes out, so I have no sense of how to handle him.”
We eventually moved to the room next to the drawing room. Even if we couldn’t directly observe the lessons, it was to immediately prepare for any possible disturbance. Unlike me sprawled on the sofa, I looked quietly at Kiss reading a book in a neat posture and asked.
“If beastman transformation was impossible for a while, did he spend his entire childhood in animal form?”
“In front of vassals, yes.”
“……”
“But not in front of me. He often came in human form.”
My eyes widened at the unexpected story. It meant he’d deliberately pretended beastman transformation was impossible. Toward me who sat up in surprise, Kiss added.
“At the time, there were quite a few people targeting me in the imperial palace. Poisoned meals came up almost every other day. Thanks to building up resistance then, I don’t get poisoned by most poisons even now.”
Poisoning—it was one of the specialties of Lucius who had committed all kinds of evil deeds in the original work. I deliberately muttered in a pitying voice while knowing the subject.
“Who on earth would do such a terrible thing……”
Kiss, who had been staring at me making the most innocent expression possible, closed the book he was reading.
“That’s when Deus came to me. And made a proposal. If I wanted to live, I should use the information he gave me as a weapon and become the Empress’s most faithful watchdog.”
“……”
“So when I asked why he was helping me……”
“……What did he answer?”
A silence passed. Kiss, who had been ruminating on past memories, answered in a low voice.
“There was no reason like that, just that he wanted to see the empire turn to ashes.”
My entire body’s blood chilled at the chilling story. It meant he’d tried to achieve the empire’s complete destruction by using the revenge-filled Kiss. Pure malice without any purpose or intention.
Kiss, who chuckled at me left speechless, naturally got up and sat next to me.
“Deus sometimes acts like a child, but that’s closer to the innocence possessed by malice that can’t be reformed. You don’t need to be swayed or softhearted.”
Kiss grasped my wrist mottled with bruises and bite marks. Bright light swirled around and all the wounds disappeared as if rapidly rewinding time. Just as I was thinking it was certainly an amazing ability, I inadvertently blurted out the thoughts floating in my head.
“Have you never wanted it, Lord Kiss? For everything to turn to ashes.”
In the original work, Kiss wanted to become emperor for revenge, but he never once mentioned what he’d live for after all revenge was finished. As if that revenge was the endpoint of his life. Kiss, who had been silent, answered readily.
“Yeah, I never wanted it.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want everything to disappear.”
It was an answer uncharacteristically unclear for Kiss. I muttered while blankly looking at my now-fine wrist.
“For example…… like a favorite dessert shop?”
It was a question thrown out without much thought. In the original work, the only thing Kiss who felt no interest in any existence liked was dessert.
For the first time since entering the room, our gazes that had been crossing met. Kiss, who had been quietly looking at me, smiled faintly.
“Can you take off your shirt? I caught a glimpse earlier and it looked like you were hurt in other places too.”
“It’s clothes with many buttons, so it’s hard to take off.”
“Then just lift it up a bit. It seems like wounds left for me to see anyway.”
After only a moment’s hesitation, thinking it would make the atmosphere strange if I refused, I obediently grabbed the hem of my shirt and lifted it up.
I’d felt this when reading the original work too, but his personality was truly unpredictable. Originally Kiss found using his ability to heal someone extremely uncomfortable.
Even cherished subordinates were no exception. Unless it was a truly urgent situation, it was fair to say there were almost no situations where Kiss directly used his ability to heal someone.
So this situation was very unfamiliar. The Kiss I knew would absolutely never bestow such a precious ability on Ash.
‘Is he in a better mood than other days?’
While I was absorbed in puzzling feelings, I flinched at the cold hand sweeping down my side.
What happened in the Void flashed through my mind like a panorama. Of course, the contact that happened then was just close to an accident. But after doing such things with Deus several times, should I say I became more conscious of that area in particular?
However, if Kiss found out I was feeling strange sensations, he would obviously think it unpleasant, so I tried hard to maintain a calm expression.
“Do you have time this evening?”
“Time?”
“They say the festival has already started in the village ahead of the birthday celebration.”
I only blinked at the words whose intention I couldn’t understand. Kiss continued in a calm voice.
“You wanted to go together every year, how about it?”
* * *
In the original work, Ash deeply admired Kiss. The power, wisdom, and benevolence Kiss possessed were excellent talents he himself lacked.
That’s why he wanted to know what Kiss liked, and if it could gain Kiss’s favor, he willingly followed even if it meant betraying his family. Never dreaming in his wildest dreams that his selfish judgment would soon bring the family’s destruction.
So if it had been Ash from the original work, he would have accepted that proposal from Kiss that seemed superficially romantic without question. He might have shed tears of emotion saying it was the first time Kiss had proposed doing something first.
The problem was I wasn’t Ash from the original work, and I knew how black-hearted a character Kiss was. For that reason, only one thought came to my mind.
‘What is this bastard trying to gain by doing this to me this time?’
Cold sweat ran down my back. There was no way Kiss would let Ash do something nice without any intention. I was certain that proposal contained some sinister intention.
I broke the silence and let out an awkward laugh while clasping both hands as if praying.
“O-of course I want to go, I want to go so much but. This year is a bit……”
“……”
“If I’m away, Deus might run wild…… and you must be busy these days too, Lord Kiss. It seems like an imposition to hold down an important person with such trivial matters.”
This should be a decent polite refusal, right? I glanced to examine Kiss’s complexion. Seeing he didn’t show any particularly offended signs, fortunately it didn’t seem to be a proposal he’d placed much meaning on.
Kiss, who had been looking at me expressionlessly, slightly turned his gaze. Then he spoke in a sunken voice.
“Well, that kind of place would be one thing if it were with a fiancée. It’s a bit much to go when we’re nothing to each other. Right?”
“If it’s your fiancée, Lord Kiss…… it’s the young lady of the Bellua family, right?”
A name I’d glimpsed in the original work flashed through my mind. Erina Bellua, the precious only daughter of the Bellua family known to possess the most mines in the empire.
Realizing that connections were also important for revenge, Kiss had early on coaxed Erina, the noble daughter of the Bellua family, into becoming his fiancée.
I remember in the original work, whenever Kiss’s knight order faced financial problems, she appeared from somewhere and generously poured out financial support. She was a beautiful girl character called one of the few heroines in FluffyChron which had almost no romance.
Right, come to think of it, he had a fiancée. I nodded with sparkling eyes in an expression that said you spoke well.
“Of course, naturally you should go with that young lady rather than me. We’re not even just nothing to each other, you’re engaged.”
“……”
“You don’t need to worry about Deus, I’ll watch him well. Feel free to stay out late. Seeing you rubbing against my thigh last time, you seemed quite pent up. That’s all sexual frustration that comes from not releasing lust here and there……”
I screamed mid-speech. It was because Kiss suddenly pinched my bruised side.
