Chapter 3: Part 7
That night, Sateriasis began reading the diary from before in his room again.
One of the portraits was propped up beside his desk. There was a young man depicted in it.
Finding it in a room in the attic earlier, he brought it here. Sateriasis continued to read, skipping over pages and pages of the diary; before long, he stopped his hand on a certain page he turned to.
(…… There it is. It’s this page. It’s from here)
In it, it was written that the boy who was originally confined to the prison was visited by another boy.
(July 19, 123
Prison’s dark and it was a hot and humid day.
A boy named Sateriasis visited the prison today.
Surprisingly, he told me he’s my brother.
He said that I had a different mother from him, that we’re siblings of different mothers.
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July 31, 123
Prison’s dark and it was a hot day.
Sateriasis also came by and gave me food I’d seen for the first time ever.
It was very sweet and delicious.
The guard was just quiet.
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August 3, 123
Prison has become just a little brighter starting today.
Sateriasis came and hung a great, big lamp on the ceiling in front of the prison.
He said it was the state-of-the-art.
Sitting in front of the grate, Sateriasis told me a lot of stories of the outside.
The guard was just quiet but he was smiling a little.
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August 29, 123
When Sateriasis came by today, he asked me a lot of questions.
Stuff like “Aren’t you in pain?” and “Don’t you want to leave?” and stuff.
Since the guard’s here, I wasn’t in any pain.
But, I told him I did want to leave.
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September 7, 123
Today was the first time I left prison.
Sateriasis took me out!
He tried giving something over to the guard but he wouldn’t take it.
The guard told Sateriasis, “I’ll keep quiet, rest a.s.sured.”
I could see anything and everything for the first time ever.
But, unlike what I heard, it wasn’t so bright.
Sateriasis told me that “There’s no helping it since it’s nighttime.”
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October 10, 123
I played outside with Sateriasis again today.
I got to look through and around a lot of buildings today.
There was one building brighter than the others that I really liked so I peeked through the window.
The man inside was using a tool to hit shiny things.
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October 16, 123
I made a new friend.
It’s a girl named Gumina.
Sateriasis made an awkward face when we met her outside.
It was apparently because someone shouldn’t find out that I’ve gone out.
But, Gumina promised not to tattle on us.
The three of us decided to play together from now on.
————————————————)
…… From there on, the writings continued to talked about the fun the three had playing together until the last page.
Sateriasis was convinced.
The one who wrote the diary was his brother, Cherubim.
He closed the diary and picked up the portrait placed beside the desk.
It was a man with long hair wearing servant clothes.
The painter that he met earlier that day wrote that it was portrait of his brother.
Cherubim had received it from the painter and kept it in his personal quarters in the attic――in the servant room.
(Cherubim became an adult and was freed from prison. But not as a child of the Venomania family but as a servant)
The picture of the portrait felt similar to his own as well. But, his face was crucially hidden by long bangs, which he didn’t quite understand.
(Something so important――how could I forget about my own brother?)
Even after hearing the story from Gumina, even after reading the diary, even after looking at the portrait, Sateriasis didn’t feel anything spring forth. Everything related to Cherubim had completely fallen out of his memories.
Rather than memories of him, what bubbled up from within Sateriasis as he continued to look at the portrait was――.
Intense disgust.
(What the, this feeling…… I hated him――my brother?)
Soon, his head began hurting. Sateriasis dropped the portrait onto the floor and crouched on the spot.
Instead of going away, his headache steadily worsened.
(Again…… that scene……)
Gumina’s face came to mind.
Not the face he had seen earlier that day――the one of the past that ridiculed and laughed at him, that face.
At the same time, he heard her voice.
“…… How irritating.”
“Why are you so obtuse?”
“I didn’t actually like you from the start.”
“I feel like puking just by being beside you.”
“It’s awfully unbearable.”
“You aren’t the one I love.”
“――Yes, you know him as well as I do.”
“I’m going to marry him. So――“
“Don’t come near me with that ugly face.”
――The headache soon subsided and Saterasis stood up.
He understood everything.
(Gumina…… chose my brother instead of me)
Not Sateriasis, the heir of the Venomania family, but Cherubim, a mere servant.
(So I killed my brother? Along with my entire family and the other servants?)
Even though he felt that was right, he also felt like it wasn’t right.
(But I don’t give a d.a.m.n about any of that anymore)
Saterisis closed his eyes and called for the “demon” within him.
(Demon. Tonight, I shall finally rage again)
…… Well, entertain me to the fullest then
The very next moment, Sateriasis transformed into his demonic form.
There was only one thing for sure.
For Sateriasis, this Gumina――he acquired this power to obtain the love of she who wasn’t suitable to him.