CHAPTER 58…………………….
“So I’ll protect you, together with Mother, no matter what.”
At that resolute vow, Esther’s eyes widened slightly.
They were so clear, it was hard to believe she was a homunculus born from a flask.
Siderius silently carried Esther on his back up to the top of the spire.
“Did you greet the Duchess again today?”
As Esther entered the spire, a voice—lighter than before—asked the question.
“Ah…”
Lyla’s face, gazing at the lace-laden dress that seemed painful even to look at, carried a faint smile.
Her smile always felt as though color had been washed out of fabric. If you compared it to a color, it was closer to grayscale.
Not that it mattered to Esther what kind of smile it was.
After all, it wasn’t often she had someone to talk with like this, so she came to enjoy their meetings quite a bit.
Lyla wasn’t overbearing, and she was a good listener.
On top of that, she could speak the demon tongue and was wise.
So it was only natural that Esther had confessed she was struggling to win favor with the Duchess and her cousin.
“Esther. Come here, you’ve got crumbs on your cheek.”
“Ah, mm!”
When Esther trotted over, Lyla smiled and brushed her cheek lightly with a handkerchief.
Still chewing her cookie, Esther smiled.
“Esther, Mother. Yesterday some fine oranges came in. How about some juice? I’ll prepare it.”
Siderius approached Esther and Lyla, who were chatting by the bed.
“Mm, yeah!”
“…Yes, thank you.”
At their cheerful answers, Siderius broke into a grin and hurried down the spire.
“That child seems very fond of you. Even when she talks to me, she doesn’t look half as bright as she does now.”
“She’s just so cute and really lovable, you know? And a genius too.”
Nodding as if it was only natural to like her, Esther spoke, and Lyla bit down on an awkward smile.
“But did something good happen? You seem especially happy today.”
At her gentle voice, Esther lay her head on Lyla’s lap.
Her pale skin had lately regained a little color—probably thanks to Siderius’s efforts to feed her steady, high-quality food.
“Mm, actually, the Emperor is coming today.”
Esther whispered in a very small voice, as if sharing a secret.
“…Him?”
Lyla’s voice dropped slightly, her expression darkening.
“I asked him to come! He promised to bring the Emperor. Lyla, you want to see him, right?”
Esther worked hard to keep her promise, wagging her tail eagerly in front of the Emperor.
Not only that, she diligently offered tribute—usually cookies—and told him detailed stories about Lyla.
That she wasn’t insane, that she was changing, that his son had grown into a fine man.
At last, just a few days ago, Esther had urged the Emperor to meet Lyla in person.
After much deliberation, he had finally agreed yesterday.
‘If Lyla and the Emperor can return to what they once were, then the mission will be complete.’
Her tragedy stemmed from loss.
If all the missing fragments were restored to her, everything would be resolved.
It had taken quite some time, but the “black exclamation mark” request was finally nearing its end.
The Emperor would soon arrive at the spire for lunch, and all Esther needed to do was bring the three of them a little closer together.
Then Siderius’s commission would likely be finished.
Lyla would meet the Emperor and return to the past she longed for; the commission would either vanish or change into a new one.
‘Mm, perfect.’
Esther grinned in satisfaction.
Lyla’s black-marked request was regrettable, but after all, a request for death and a request for life couldn’t both be fulfilled.
From Esther’s perspective, everything was flawless.
“So that’s why… for me?”
“Yeah! It’s the life you wanted, Lyla. I’ll give it back to you.”
“…Thank you.”
As Esther spoke with a bright smile, Lyla gave her a strange look, then rose and sat by the window.
It was then, as Esther was rolling on the bed, crunching on sweet cookies—
[Esther, did you know? I think I might know who you really are.]
The sudden words in the demon tongue made Esther’s eyes go round.
[Our family has passed down this language for generations. For the day that will someday come.]
[That day…?]
[The revival of the demon realm. The day He returns, the day our faith is reborn.]
Esther’s expression grew uneasy. She couldn’t quite grasp what Lyla meant.
[The one who will willingly bear the sin of ‘the Beginning.’ You… you are the Seed. I’ve heard of it. The Seed must kill the parents who raised it and soak itself in much blood before it can shed its child’s body.]
Only then did Esther realize what Lyla was talking about.
She was speaking of the birth of the Demon King.
The unexpected turn left the child silent for a moment.
“Esther.”
“Mm?”
“You’re still young. I know what you’re lacking. You know everything, and yet you know nothing. Emotions… they aren’t divided into black and white.”
“…What do you mean?”
Esther scrambled off the bed.
“Sometimes, kindness born of selfishness can become poison.”
Crack—!
Like a cookie breaking, the sound of something fracturing rang lightly. Black energy rippled from Lyla’s fingertips.
Esther’s eyes widened as the glass window shattered, shards raining down the spire.
Crash!
The belated sound of shattering was followed by the spire’s heavy door creaking open.
But there was no time to turn around.
“How… Magic shouldn’t work here…”
Even Esther herself couldn’t use it. Yet Lyla smiled faintly.
“…Esther?”
“…Lyla.”
Two familiar voices.
Likely Siderius and the Emperor. But Esther didn’t dare look back.
Lyla, perched precariously on the windowsill, looked as if she’d vanish the instant Esther turned her eyes away.
Slowly—
With a faint smile, her body began to lean backward.
The spire was the tallest in the imperial castle, its long, sharp peak piercing the sky.
“Lyla, what are you…!”
“No!”
The Emperor’s voice rang out, but Esther understood her intent even faster.
On short legs, she dashed forward.
Even as Lyla’s torso slipped further out the window, Esther, being the closest, clambered onto the sill and grabbed the falling woman’s hand.
‘If I use magic now…’
“Lyla!”
The Emperor’s urgent voice came from right behind.
At that moment, Lyla’s eyes flew wide—and then she pulled Esther into her arms with all her strength, smiling radiantly.
Brighter, more certain than any expression Esther had ever seen on her.
“…Little Demon King.”
“You…”
“I curse you.”
With those words, she held Esther tightly, curling her body around her—
As if a mother were protecting a child in her womb.
Esther couldn’t move an inch.
Lyla looked up into the void.
Yes, into that distant void—whatever it held, she fixed her gaze upon it.
[…Why.]
Though gravity dragged them mercilessly down the spire, the distance in her sight seemed infinitely far, so Esther could only ask that.
“Because of you, I… wasn’t even allowed to go mad.”
[Then just…!]
Live. Wasn’t that enough?
Esther shouted, preparing to cast magic.
But a power darker and greater than her own engulfed her.
It was like watching a moth’s final moment as it dove into flame.
Burning itself away, becoming the fire it so desperately desired—that was its end.
The moth adorned its death in the most beautiful way.
‘I can’t cast magic…’
Biting her lip, Esther’s face darkened with despair.
“I found myself unable to love him.”
[Lyla Mors!]
At Esther’s cry, Lyla turned her wide eyes upon her.
That name, that family name—she had never told anyone.
“Mors” was the name Death had given herself.
Though it became a family line and endured through ages, Lyla had never once spoken it aloud.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t love him.”
Lyla’s voice came.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t love him… But… it wasn’t true that I bore no resentment either.”
With her fading voice, a parchment unfurled before their eyes.
“What the…!”
Even in this situation, the shameless parchment opened, and Esther clenched her fists.
At that moment, the sound of fireworks exploding rang out from somewhere.
