Episode 74 – A Refreshing Morning
by Afuhfuihgs
*
After accomplishing Jennifer’s death last night, which I could call the first turning point in my revenge, I returned to the White Glass Tower with Rose.
Lara and Lily, who were supposed to cause a bit of a ruckus to divert the guards’ attention, hadn’t returned yet, so I reverted to my human form and collapsed onto the empty bed.
Perhaps because I had a fulfilling night, I fell into such a deep sleep that I didn’t even dream.
How long had it been?
I woke up to the late afternoon sun high in the sky.
Rubbing my eyes from the sunlight pouring through the window, I woke up and gasped in surprise at the sight before me.
[Oh my! You scared me.]
“…Lara?”
“…Eung,”
As soon as I opened my eyes, my vision was filled with Lara’s sleeping face.
Lara’s face, breathing evenly at a distance where our lips almost touched, was so close that I could count her eyelashes.
I rolled away from Lara in a single motion.
Holy crap.
As the distance widened, I could finally see Lara’s entire body, completely naked, with only a blanket barely covering her important bits in her lower abdomen.
So startled that I almost fell off the bed, I stammered and struggled in embarrassment.
“W-what… is this…”
“Euh… eum, Ed…”
“Eup,”
I held my breath involuntarily at the sound of Lara calling my name.
What is it, I didn’t even drink any alcohol before sleeping,
Could I have made some kind of mistake?
Because I became a human body?
[Calm down, Ed. At least we didn’t feel anything, so nothing like what you’re imagining happened.]
[That’s right. Even if Ed was asleep, if something like that… that happened, we would know.]
‘Th-then what is this…’
[That elf bitch must have crawled into your bed while you were asleep.]
[Lara-ssi seemed to have a lot of lingering feelings for Ed.]
‘Ah… I see.’
I let out a sigh of relief.
After so heartlessly rejecting Lara’s confession, it would have been ridiculous if I had taken advantage of her while she was sleeping next to me, but thankfully, it seemed that nothing like that had happened.
Once I calmed my startled heart, anger slowly began to surge from the depths of my mind.
Even though I had clearly rejected her, the fact that Lara had slept naked next to me while I was asleep felt somewhat presumptuous.
What’s more, Lily was sleeping in the bed right next to us.
I frowned, scratched my head, and looked down at Lara’s peacefully sleeping face.
Whatever good dream she was having, Lara’s sleeping face was filled with a comfortable and happy smile.
I sighed at her carefree appearance and shook my head.
The sunlight pouring through the window was warmly welcoming my back, so I turned and looked out the window.
As befitting the top floor of the White Glass Tower, the wonderful scenery of the city at a glance sparkled in the sunlight and shone freshly.
“Whatever. It seems like nothing happened. And the weather is so damn nice,”
I approached the window, leaned against the frame, opened it, and stuck my head out.
People who looked like ants were moving around busily, unlike the peaceful and warm weather.
Most of the people walking around on the streets were soldiers in armor.
It seemed that they were moving around so busily because of Jennifer’s death last night, so I bowed my head slightly towards the soldiers, even though no one was watching.
The pouring sunlight was so dazzling that I got up from the window, put on the shirt I had taken off, and looked at Lara and Lily, who were still sleeping.
The two of them still didn’t seem to have any intention of waking up.
I quietly opened the door and left the bedroom.
*
“Good morning, Edward-nim.”
As I opened the door and headed to the living room, Mena, who was placing teacups on a tray, greeted me.
Mena’s face looked very peaceful.
“Good morning, Mena… well, is it really morning right now?”
“It’s still just barely before noon.”
“Is that so? Then, good morning-“
“Hehe,”
Mena smiled and laughed at the trivial story, as if all the anxiety she had shown until a few days ago had disappeared.
Her appearance was so graceful and beautiful,
It was easy to imagine how beautiful she must have been in the days when Robin’s grasp hadn’t reached her.
I smiled back at Mena and said.
“You look happy.”
“Yes, thank you once again for saving my daughter.”
“It was a promise. It was also a condition of employment.”
“… Haha, that’s right. It was. Thank you for keeping your promise, Edward-nim.”
“Um, what about Banata?”
“I’m here! Baron-nim!”
A thin arm popped up from behind the back of the sofa in front of the fireplace.
Banata was sitting on the sofa, sipping tea.
Banata’s small frame, reminiscent of a small animal, was so small and frail that it was completely hidden by the back of the sofa.
“It’s been a while, Banata-yang.”
After killing Jennifer and escaping from prison, Rose and I had a conversation.
No, it was more like an order as the Demon King.
I told Banata, who was asleep inside Rose, to obediently hand over the leadership of her body.
Rose nodded willingly to my words, perhaps because it was after killing her own mother.
With the words ‘I want to rest,’ Rose sank into Banata’s consciousness, and Banata’s body returned to its original owner.
One of the reasons I went to bed early last night was that I didn’t want to interfere with the touching reunion of Mena and Banata, the two mothers and daughters who would reunite after a long time.
Banata, still scurrying around like a squirrel and smiling bashfully, and Mena, looking at her with a kind face full of smiles.
The ideal mother-daughter relationship that Rose might have so desperately wanted was here.
Banata got up on the sofa, raised her knees, and rested her hands and chin on the back of the sofa, looking at me and asking.
“Um, Baron-nim… is it okay to call you that? Um, Edward-nim? Hero-nim?”
“Call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”
One of the things we all didn’t expect at all was that Banata wasn’t asleep inside Rose.
Like the two guys chattering in my head, Banata also said that she had been seeing and hearing everything from within.
I later heard that when I revealed my identity to Rose, Banata screamed so loudly in Rose’s head that it was deafening.
I approached Banata.
The small girl, as always, looked up at me, shaking her smooth, soft, green bobbed hair.
The only difference from before was the tail wagging in front of me.
I thought of Rose, who must be in Banata’s head right now.
I knew best that having someone else living in your head wasn’t a good thing,
[Tsk, seriously]
[Ed… that’s too much.]
I asked Banata with a worried tone.
“How is Rose doing?”
“Um… she told me not to talk to her.”
“… She seems to be doing okay in her own way.”
“My head must be a good place to live!”
“No, I mean Banata-yang.”
“Ah?”
“You weren’t exactly close friends with Rose, were you?”
“Ah… well, I’ll be okay. I also learned about Rose’s story during that time… Besides, there will be plenty of time to talk now… Ah, you’re not going to talk? To me? Then what are you going to do there by yourself?”
Banata started muttering to herself while talking to me.
Of course, I knew very well that it wasn’t just a simple mutter.
I left Banata, who was busily debating with the being in her head, and approached Mena, picking up a teacup from the tray and saying.
“You probably already know… but that’s how it turned out. I’m sorry.”
Mena shook her head and asked me.
“Why are you apologizing, Edward-nim?”
“… Still, I’m sorry.”
“Edward-nim.”
“Huh?”
Mena looked straight at me.
Although she was 10 years younger than me, Mena, who was also 10 years older than me at the same time, sometimes showed me a sisterly side while also being like a younger sister.
The expression she was giving me now was also somehow dignified, yet at the same time, it combined the bright and cute appearance she had regained, exuding a strange charm.
Mena bowed her head to me and said.
“I started working as a maid when I was 5 years old, and I have served 10 masters in 3 mansions throughout my life.”
“…”
“And the most wonderful of them was Edward-nim.”
“… Hey, that’s just because I’m not aristocratic…”
“No matter what anyone says, I want to serve Edward-nim in the future as well. That way, I want to repay the favor I received from Edward-nim. So please don’t apologize to me. Just… please allow me to continue serving you.”
“…”
“Will you allow me?”
I looked at Mena with a slightly surprised expression.
If you think about it, Mena has already gotten everything she could get from me.
She regained her daughter, Banata, and Jennifer, who had been tormenting her, also disappeared.
There is still revenge left for Robin, who raped her, but that is something I will take care of if I leave it to me.
Rather, now that Robin is cornered and doesn’t know what he will do, her staying by my side without any power could be a very dangerous thing, but Mena is saying that she wants to stay by my side.
Whether it is loyalty, pity, or a desire for revenge to see Robin die, I could desperately feel that trust in me was the basis for all of that.
I chuckled without realizing it.
Thank you,
I don’t know why, but I laughed because I was so grateful.
“Haha. Yeah, I can’t even drink tea unless it’s Mena’s anymore.”
“That’s good to hear.”
It was then.
The sound of someone running urgently from the hallway outside the room was heard, and then a woman’s scream was heard.
“Gasp!!”
“What…?”
Bang!
The door to our room was torn off its hinges with a loud noise.
Mena and Banata were startled and flinched, and the sound of employees screaming was heard in the hallway.
Since I wasn’t wearing a mask, I quickly took Mena and Banata and hid.
Soon, two women stepped into the room, stepping on the door that had fallen to the floor with a thud.
“Everyone, go down to the first floor!”
“Ye… Yes!”
“…Ellie?”
The people who came into the room were Ellie and her teacher, Deborah.
Ellie was looking at me with a huffing expression, and Deborah was glaring at Ellie from behind, shaking her head.
Judging from the fact that the metal decoration on the door that had fallen to the floor was dented, it seemed that Deborah had kicked the door open at Ellie’s command.
I checked that all the employees had disappeared from the hallway and stepped forward, opening my mouth.
“Ellie, are you crazy?”
“That’s what I should be saying!”
“…Uh, what’s wrong?”
“What the hell did you do?”
“…Uh? You know.”
I looked at Ellie with a bewildered expression.
Ellie already knew that I was going to kill Jennifer last night, so I couldn’t understand why she was angry.
Ellie’s expression, who usually hides her true feelings, looked genuinely angry, so I carefully reviewed what had happened yesterday.
“…Uh, is it because I drew a picture with Jennifer’s corpse pieces?”
I drew a large magic circle on the walls and floor of the prison with Jennifer’s corpse pieces and the blood flowing from them.
I drew letters and shapes related to the Demon King or monsters as much as possible in the magic circle, making it look as if Jennifer had attempted some terrible magic in this prison and failed.
Of course, I can’t even read magic circles, so I just drew them randomly as I saw them, so if professional magicians saw it, they would immediately find the flaws, but it didn’t matter much.
All I needed was for the rumor to spread that Jennifer had exploded while doing something ominous and blasphemous.
But, could that have caused some kind of problem?
However, Ellie puffed out her cheeks and shook her head at my words.
“No! Not that! Do you really not know?”
“…What is it? I think I’ll know if you tell me.”
“…Ha, where did that wicked elf Lara go?”
“Uh? Why Lara again?”
Deborah stepped forward and calmed the excited Ellie, explaining to me instead.
“Ed, what did you do to distract the guards who were guarding the prison where Jennifer was being held yesterday?”
“Eh? Ah, I know that Lara caused a bit of a commotion.”
“Ed, all the guards were found dead yesterday.”
“…?”
“Shot with arrows.”
“…What?”
Squeak,
At that moment, the bedroom door opened and Lara walked out.
Lara, who appeared yawning while wearing a thin nightgown, scratched the back of her head and said.
“Ah, I did that.”
“… What?”
“Do you think the Sionisia Empire is just a bunch of nobodies? No matter how much you try to divert their attention, how could there be guards who leave their posts for tens of minutes like that?”
Ellie looked at Lara with a fierce expression.
When Ellie didn’t know my identity yet. She offered to help me on the condition that I wouldn’t harm the people of Sioland without knowing my purpose.
As befitting her position as a princess, it was clear that she sincerely loved this country and its people.
Deborah was also glaring at Lara with eyes full of hostility.
“Is that what you have to say right now?”
“I couldn’t help it. Did you really think that Her Highness the Princess thought that Ed would just kill Jennifer comfortably in an instant?”
“…”
Ellie clenched her fists tightly and glared at Lara as if she would kill her.
The thick blood vessels on her thin neck were clearly visible.
Since it was an atmosphere where a collision could happen at any moment, I walked between the two of them.
“Stop it.”
“Ed. This is a crime, those people all have families,”
“Everything I do is a crime anyway. Ellie.”
Ellie looked at me with an absurd expression.
Ellie’s appearance, showing off her emotions without hiding them even a little, was even refreshing.
Was her anger that great?
Or is it because she trusts me that much?
“…Are you taking Lara’s side right now?”
“Did you really think I would take your side?”
“Lara, you be quiet too.”
“…”
Standing between the two, I looked at Mena.
Mena met my gaze and nodded once, then took out the best high-quality tea leaves from the kitchen drawer.
I looked at Ellie and Lara and said.
“Let’s talk over tea first. I think it’s been necessary to sort things out between you two since last time. And I also had something I wanted to ask you, Ellie. Teacher, do you agree?”
“Yes, I will ask for responsibility, but we are not trying to be hostile to you either. Your Highness, please accept it.”
“… Okay, I understand.”
“Lara, you… ha, let’s talk later for now.”
“If Ed wants to.”
Ellie and Lara turned their eyes away from each other as if they were physically repelled and walked to the table.
I ruffled my hair and got a little annoyed.
Deborah put her hand on my shoulder once and walked after Ellie.
When I looked back slightly, I saw Lily still sleeping soundly through this commotion through the still open bedroom door.
I’m really jealous.
Thinking that, I moved my steps towards the table.
.
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