Ch.280Bioroid (3)

Ah, right. Look at me being absent-minded.

“I’ll open it right away.”

I entered a 40-digit password to unlock the door. The beeping sound continued for nearly a minute.

The door opened.

“It’s open now.”

For some reason, the government officials’ expressions hardened.

“W-we’ll be going now.”

“Take care on your way back. Will you be visiting again next time?”

“We’re not s-sure.”

The officials hurried away like people being chased by monsters. They must have other appointments scheduled. I thought to myself how busy they all seemed.

I closed the laboratory door after seeing the officials off.

“That gets us past the immediate crisis.”

“Yes, though it’s just a stopgap measure.”

“No matter what happens, we can’t hand Sonia over to the government.”

“I know.”

At best, she would become a government tool, and in the worst case, she’d end up in a scrap yard. Androids in this world are treated as nothing more than tools. There’s no way she could be treated as a person.

“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”

It might cost me some money, but that’s better than losing Sonia, who is as precious to me as my own life.

***

Rustila Kersil and Zernya von und zu Trisha Adelbein were in emergency mode.

The two women cornered Sonia in the room and insisted that she must not meet with Eidel under any circumstances.

Sonia protested vehemently.

“Miss Zernya said it herself. If I became human, you would give me a chance.”

“But you’re not completely human.”

“I bleed, I can get pregnant. My appearance is no different from a human’s. If I’m not human, then what am I?”

Zernya sighed repeatedly. She was regretting what she had said before.

How could she have known things would turn out this way?

Sonia continued her argument.

“I was the first. I was the one who raised the young master. The number of years I’ve known him is different from you two.”

“What does that have to do with marriage? By that logic, everyone in the world would marry their childhood friends.”

“You two… took him away from me.”

Sonia looked like she was about to cry. Her tone was even, but there was a slight tremor in her voice.

Rustila rolled her eyes as she fell into thought. Suddenly, she remembered something Eidel had said before.

‘Rather than having one person rejected and sad, I’d make both happy even if there’s friction.’

Rustila understood. She knew the feeling of liking someone first, only to have another woman appear and try to take away the man she loved.

She had never thought badly of Sonia before. Her resolve was wavering.

“Zernya, let’s talk separately.”

“Why?”

“Just come.”

Rustila took Zernya outside. Before she could speak, Zernya beat her to it.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of bringing those two together?”

Rustila nodded. She clearly conveyed her thoughts. Let’s accept just Sonia, and absolutely no one else after her.

Zernya clicked her tongue. She held up her right index, middle, and ring fingers, showing the number three.

“There are three reasons why we shouldn’t allow that girl.”

“Tell me.”

“First, allowing this would set a bad precedent. Think about it. If he has three wives, would it be difficult to have four or five?”

“If the number of wives increases… our position becomes weaker.”

“So you do understand that much.”

It’s simple. When there’s one husband and multiple wives, the amount of love each wife receives decreases. This applies physically, emotionally, and financially.

Sometimes both Rustila and Zernya thought about it. If the other wasn’t there, they could have received twice as much love from Eidel.

Zernya folded her ring finger and continued.

“Second reason. The Rheinland family’s reputation would suffer.”

“Reputation?”

“Sonia had no status as a human. Legally, she’s a robot. Even if we allow the marriage, would the country recognize it?”

“Eidel might just live with her without officially registering the marriage.”

“And then rumors of adultery would spread.”

“…Hmm.”

“Let me tell you one more thing. What if Sonia bears Eidel’s child? That child would be illegitimate. They couldn’t register the birth with the government.”

Rustila’s mind was spinning. Love alone wasn’t enough. It was a complicated issue.

“Even if we solved all these problems, there’s still the social perception. Remember that bad rumors could spread one way or another. And…”

Zernya folded her index finger. She wiggled her remaining finger and said:

“The third and final reason, which is actually the biggest: I don’t trust the outer god that Sonia has contracted with.”

“Cartesia?”

“Was that the name?”

“Eidel told me.”

“The name sounds like a girl’s name.”

“I’ve spoken with her when Sonia was burning up before. She was unusually friendly toward humans for an outer god.”

“That’s exactly what I find suspicious.”

Rustila replied:

“That outer god has saved Eidel from crisis multiple times. Plus, Eidel said all his research so far has been with that outer god’s help. It’s true that she’s been helpful until now.”

“That’s exactly what scares me. What ulterior motive could she have…”

An outer god wouldn’t bestow favors without expecting something in return.

Zernya had been pondering this for a while. But there was no clear answer.

“Anyway, there’s something there. Being from the Descartes’ Forces and all. We might be being mentally manipulated without knowing it.”

Hearing Zernya’s logic, Rustila had to agree.

Still, she felt sorry for Sonia. This was the realm of emotions. Rationally, they shouldn’t allow Sonia, but she was trying so hard.

As their concerns deepened, the dock bell rang.

“Looks like he’s home.”

“He’s back earlier than expected today.”

“…Young master?”

Sonia burst through the door. The three women rushed to the entrance. And there they met an unexpected figure.

“Oh, hello. I’m here too.”

Ireh Hazlen.

She entered with an awkward smile.

***

One man and four women. Rustila and Zernya sat on either side of me, while Sonia and Ireh fidgeted with their forks across from us.

An awkward silence hung in the air.

Why had the atmosphere become like this?

It was undoubtedly because of the Sonia situation.

“…I understand the situation.”

Zernya put down her utensils and spoke.

“But we can’t let Sonia and Eidel be alone together. We need someone to monitor them at minimum.”

“Are you saying I have no self-control?”

“Even if you trust yourself, I don’t trust that outer god. What if she controls you and makes you pounce on Eidel?”

“I would resist. Both me and the young master.”

Zernya snorted.

“Anyone can say that easily.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“That’s why we need surveillance. Rustila and I can’t follow our husband around all day because of work. So we need to ask someone trustworthy…”

As she spoke, Zernya’s gaze shifted. Rustila also turned her head toward someone. That someone was Ireh.

Ireh pointed at herself, looking bewildered.

“M-me?”

“Isn’t that why you came, unnie?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“24-hour close surveillance of Eidel. Name your price.”

24-hour, Eidel, close, surveillance. Each word seemed incredibly stimulating to Ireh. Ripples spread through her eyes.

“Seeing your reaction, we definitely need to assign this to you, unnie.”

Zernya smiled with satisfaction.

Ireh was even more startled and waved her hands in protest.

“Y-you shouldn’t assign something like this to me. I’m not good at this kind of thing…”

That must be a lie. In previous iterations, she had worked as a killer and a spy. Tailing others should be second nature to her.

“You should assign this to someone else or an android! Or if you must, assign a man to avoid gossip!”

Zernya sighed.

“We’d like to, but there’s no one trustworthy. An android would be easy for Sonia to silence.”

“What about me? I’m a woman too!”

“Unnie, you avoid every man you meet, including Eidel.”

Ireh was at a loss for words.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anyone suitable besides Ireh either. Everyone else was either busy or untrustworthy. In contrast, Ireh was upright and extremely tight-lipped.

Ireh seemed to have the same thought as she shuddered.

“…Fine, I’ll do it.”

I felt bad. The protagonist was getting dragged into this because of me. And into the Rheinland family’s internal romantic affairs, no less.

Anyway, Ireh ended up taking on the role of monitoring Sonia and me. Her job was to stop Sonia if she lost control and tried to jump me.

“…Tch.”

Sonia clicked her tongue quietly. Zernya smirked and continued the conversation.

“By the way, you said government officials came looking for Sonia today?”

“Yeah.”

“Honey, I’ll respect your decision. If you don’t want to hand Sonia over to the government, find a substitute.”

I was impressed.

As expected, Zernya was sharp. She had read my intentions perfectly and had the same idea as me.

“That’s the plan.”

“Then until the fake is ready to show the government, Sonia shouldn’t accompany you.”

“Tsk.”

This wasn’t good.

The next outer god to appear specialized in assassination and conspiracy, so I needed Sonia to stay close to me.

But if she went around in disguise, it would obviously raise suspicion.

I needed a better way to deceive them.

Just then, Rustila, who had been quiet, muttered:

“Now that I look at them, Sonia and Ireh unnie look quite similar.”

“It’s the hair color and the overall vibe that overlap.”

“Their heights are probably almost identical too.”

“…”

I had it.

The perfect solution.