Fremd Torturchen

The dish of "wild deer liver saute paired with marinated raisins" flew up violently into the air.

Kaito raised a silver platter over his head to block the rain of food before shifting the platter in front of him in a splendid defense against the flying table knife aimed at him. Clang, the table knife bounced away out of sight.

"Like~ I~ said~, stop throwing things."

This kind of scene had repeated for the past ten-odd days and Kaito was already used to it.

He was starting to worry that he was too adaptable.

Putting that aside, after defending against all the attacks, Kaito turned his gaze to the perpetrator—Elisabeth.

With one foot on the table, Elisabeth was pressing a shaking index finger against her forehead. Next to her, a bottle of wine which had been selected very rigorously had already been knocked over. With tears in her eyes, Elisabeth cried out loudly:

"So disgusting! Even though the sweet and sour flavor of the marinated raisins is so weak, it forms an inseparable tangle with the liver"s explosion of b.l.o.o.d.y stench. You must be a genius at this sort of thing!"

"I"m not worthy of your praise."

"I am not praising you!"

The fork flew. This time"s attack was quite skillful. Pa.s.sing merely millimeters above the platter, the fork stabbed into Kaito"s forehead. Kaito pulled out the fork and blood came out with a spurting sound effect.

"Miss Elisabeth, Miss Elisabeth, I am bleeding."

"Who cares about you!? Overcome this level of injury with spirit! As my servant, you can do it."

"No... Using spirit is really..."

Pressing on his wound, Kaito sighed. Actually, this sort of minor injury was no shock to him at all. For starters, pain and suffering had never been absent from Kaito"s life. Not too long ago, he had lost an arm, so this kind of minor wound was trivial in comparison.

Humans were truly creatures that adapted to their environment.

Even so, Kaito"s cooking ability was still at a despairing level.

Kaito himself had almost no standards when it came to food, hence he could not understand Elisabeth"s overwhelming rage at all. He was in complete despair over his cooking ability, even to the point of thinking that trying to improve would be pointless. However, Elisabeth seemed to be harboring substantial expectations for him and her disappointment was growing with each pa.s.sing day.

"I shall no longer expect anything at all from your cooking. You do not need to prepare dinner tonight."

After finishing the salt-roasted heart Kaito had prepared, Elisabeth made her way to the throne room and finally issued that announcement. Behind her was the tragic hole in the wall, exposing the clear blue sky.

The wall broken by The Knight"s beast from before had remained in its collapsed state with no one tending to it. Even so, Elisabeth seemed to have a preference for this room, continuing to use it despite its sorry state.

Sitting on her throne that had been moved back to its proper place, she showed a vexed expression and issued a command to Kaito, who was waiting on the side, one that differed from her usual commands.

"Instead, I order you to explore the treasure vault today."

"The treasure vault?"

Kaito repeated her words like a parrot. Elisabeth tapped the stone tiled floor with the tip of her foot. Pitch-black darkness and red petals began to burn like a torch in the center of the floor then contracted into a point, scorching a square area of the stone floor before disappearing, leaving a black door.

As though equipped with a spring mechanism, the door opened suddenly from inside.

In it was a spiral staircase. Judging from the castle"s layout, it was quite abnormal for there to be stairs under the throne room. However, since he had already witnessed a door appearing out of thin air before, it would be quite boorish to voice such a comment. Hence, Kaito simply felt honestly impressed at a time like this.

"So there was a place like this here?"

"Hmph, after that incident with The Earl, a thought came to me. Your cooking is even worse than pig feed, but your pudding was delicious, you were able to make decisive calls of judgment, and you faced me fearlessly. These aspects are rather excellent. Every time you hang out the linen, that look of disdain on your face is rather displeasing. Hence, I have decided to bestow you with a weapon allowing you to face a demon on your own. Pick any item you wish from the treasure vault. Feel free to choose anything you are able to use. No matter what you find, I will give it to you."

"Uh, I guess I should be saying "I"m so honored"?"

"By the way, allow me to give an introduction. Despite its name of "treasure vault," it is actually a magical dimension I created to transfer all my possessions from the castle at my homeland. Everything inside is covered with grudges and memories, so careless touching could be fatal, understood?"

"Sure enough, you"re just picking a fight after all, right!?"

"Silence! Cut the endless chit chat! Off you go!"

Elisabeth"s skillful and accurate kick sent Kaito flying like a ball, rolling through the door in an exaggerated manner as one would see in a cartoon. Then with perfect timing, the door slammed shut. Kaito tried pushing and pulling but to no avail.

With no way to go back, Kaito sighed at Elisabeth"s merciless ways.

In front of him was a long spiral staircase, the only path at the moment.

In the darkness, the rectangular steps of stone curved gently, hovering in midair at regular intervals. Looking down, all Kaito could see were steps stretching endlessly and nothing else. Warm wind could be felt blowing upward from below the steps though there was no guarantee that there was solid ground at the end of the staircase.

"...What the heck."

Looking at these stone steps which did not even have a handrail, Kaito could not help but grumble. Despair seeped into his heart bit by bit but he shook his head and changed his mindset.

(Elisabeth made a good point.)

A weapon was necessary in order to fight demons. There was no telling whether he would end up in a similar situation as last time again. If he had obtained a weapon, perhaps he could have fought the crows and the spider. Doing this was to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

For the sake of preventing that from happening again.

So what if he had to explore this ominous magical dimension?

"So that"s that. I just have to brace myself and do it."

Confronted with the steps that seemed to lead to the bottom of h.e.l.l, Kaito committed his resolve. Spreading his arms to maintain balance, he began the downward journey with the sound of solid footsteps.

Kaito thought the surroundings consisted only of eternal darkness, but unexpectedly, this was not so.

As he descended, a great variety of shapes and forms started appearing next to the steps. Amid the darkness, there were gigantic birdcages, iron maidens, gallows, Spanish donkeys, appearing one after another haphazardly. Glinting with dark l.u.s.ter, those instruments of torture all showed signs of use. The iron maiden"s chest was caked with dried blood, the protruding spikes inside the birdcage had discolored pieces of flesh and fat on them.

Looking at these rusted instruments, Kaito realized something. Unlike the magical items summoned by Elisabeth, these were real articles. The magical items summoned by Elisabeth were brand new. Most likely, she possessed the power to endlessly summon instruments of torture and execution free from rust or fat sticking on their surface.

However, why were these unusual tools kept here?

"...Intriguing."

Puzzled, Kaito continued onward.

By the time he realized, the steps were gone, turning to a flat path. Perhaps his sense of balance was disrupted in this dimension. He had no idea when the change started. He had been following the endless stone steps, advancing onward. Meanwhile, the surrounding objects became even more varied.

Gemstones the size of a human fist, a pot decorated with three-dimensional bees around it, ancient rum gla.s.ses... Tiger pelts, ivory, broken chandeliers, small mummies of some sort, bronze axes, iron swords, silver spears... Kaito pulled out a magnificent sword from between two pots then could not help but stagger backwards.

"No good, too heavy... The axes and spears are too heavy too."

The weapons at The Earl"s house had apparently been chosen so that even children could wield them easily. On the other hand, the weapons in the "treasure vault" were meant for career fighters such as knights or swordsmen. Kaito"s body had not been strengthened magically nor had he undergone training, so it looked like he had no way of using these weapons effectively.

He tossed the sword aside, only to hear a heavy clong as though it was being swallowed by a pile of gold coins like sinking into quicksand.

Completely uninterested in wealth and treasure, he continued to walk, but the farther he went, the less the randomly scattered objects resembled weapons.

A chair that looked very comfortable to sit on. A half-finished work of embroidery. A painting depicting a deep forest scene.

"...Hmm?"

Suddenly, the tip of Kaito"s shoe b.u.mped into something soft. He looked down to see a small teddy bear with cotton spilling out from its belly. By the time he realized, he was surrounded completely by children"s toys.

It looked like had he reached a level where Elisabeth"s childhood possessions were kept.

The plushies were disemboweled, the dolls were decapitated. Porcelain, cotton, wood... Dolls and plushies of various materials exhibited twisted cross-sections that pained the viewer. This was sufficient evidence to know that these things belonged to her.

"So she already had that kind of hobby back when she was little, huh?"

Kaito muttered in a daze. As the saying went, "The child is the father of the man." Elisabeth was definitely not cute as a person. Feeling surprised, Kaito was just about to toss the teddy bear away when he felt sorry for it and repositioned it properly.

Just as he was about to keep walking when he heard a hollow voice from afar.

"Elisabe... th... Eli... th... sabe... th..."

"What"s going on?"

Kaito could not help but halt. Instantly, a man"s deep voice ensnared him like a giant python.

"Elisabeth... Elisabeth... My lovely daughter... Elisabeth... My..."

The voice was terrifying, as intangible as wind blowing between trees, yet carrying warmth that clung to one"s skin tightly. If one were to listen for long duration, the voice would probably permeate one"s eardrums to eat away at the brain.

"What the... heck is this?"

Driven by an intense instinctual disgust, Kaito backed away. The voice grew progressively stronger as though pursuing him relentlessly. Hoping to lose that voice, Kaito ran subconsciously. However, the voice sounded quite obsessed, chasing him nonstop as though muttering "don"t think you can escape."

"Elisabeth... Elisabeth... My lovely daughter... Elisabeth..."

"What the f.u.c.k is this!?"

No matter how he ran, Kaito still could not escape the voice. Looking around him for a way out, Kaito then noticed something. There was a door buried in a pile of toys that resembled a mountain of corpses. It seemed as though toy soldiers were guarding it. In desperation, Kaito grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.

Inside the open doorway was not a scene behind a door. Instead, it was a swathe of even sinister darkness without light. He took a few steps through the door then immediately widened his eyes in surprise.

This moment, he was standing in an unfamiliar room.

".........Huh?"

Kaito surveyed his surroundings blankly. This was apparently a child"s bedroom.

Within the cube-like layout of the room, the walls were covered by faded and yellowed wallpaper with patterns of flowers, the windowsill was decorated with adorable plaster in the shape of candies. The furniture was uniformly white. The dresser"s golden handles were quite beautiful. On top of it were dolls and plushies. Surrounded by four posts, the bed was covered by pearly sheets that probably had a thick mattress stuffed with down underneath.

In a sea of blankets, multiple layers thick, sat a girl in a negligee.

The girl"s chest was dyed red from blood.

Her face was pallid and her body was so skinny that one could see every vein clearly. Probably quite beautiful originally, her long black hair had lost its l.u.s.ter, getting messier the closer to the tips. Those large round eyes and straight nose were so beautiful that they did not seem to belong to the mortal realm, however, those hollow eyes had lost all vitality. Her little thin lips had tragic traces of blood stuck to them, as though she had just coughed up blood.

Confronted this familiar face, shrouded by the shadow of death, Kaito gasped.

Unmistakable. This girl was none other than Elisabeth in her childhood.

(Oh... Surely this isn"t something I"m meant to see.)

After realizing this, Kaito inched away backwards and exited the door. As soon as he pa.s.sed through the door completely, the scene before his eyes dissociated and disappeared like ripples on a calm water surface. All that was left were the mountain of broken toys and the door embedded in the pile of toys.

It looked like he had exited the child"s bedroom at least. Kaito looked around the "treasure vault" and sighed in relief. However, the creepy voice instantly entered his ear. Without any time to contemplate what he had just witnessed, Kaito turned around and ran. In his confusion, he desperately distanced himself from Elisabeth"s childhood image as well as the man"s voice that was calling to him obsessively.

(What the heck, cut that out... I-I don"t want to know anything.)

Kaito did not want to know what kind of past that the arrogant girl with bizarre behavior had, neither did he expect to be forced to peek on memories that she herself likely did not want others to know. Although he did not feel any affection for her, he felt that this was a kind of betrayal.

Elisabeth Le Fanu was both a proud wolf and a lowly sow.

She had introduced herself fearlessly in this manner. However, this stood in stark contrast to the feeble girl he had just seen.

Surely, she would not want her servant Kaito to see her looking so weak.

Kaito kept running single-mindedly and reached somewhere with a substantially different atmosphere.

"Huff... Huff... Huff... Where is this... place?"

He might have reached the end. In front of him was a towering wall of stone. Approaching for a closer look, he saw that the wall had a weird structure composed of cubical stones without the slightest gap between them. This wall extended left and right like a world boundary. Here, Kaito noticed something.

"Hmm... What"s going on?"

For some reason, part of the wall was illuminated by a circular light. Kaito approached it in trepidation.

On the illuminated wall was a set of iron shackles.

A naked girl"s upper body was restrained there, like merchandise hanging on a rack.

"What?"

Surprised, Kaito halted. No matter how many times he looked, it did not seem like an illusion.

A beautiful silver-haired maiden had her arms bound to the wall. The girl had a magnificent bust and her beautiful body of perfect proportions was tragically spread out and displayed.

The instant Kaito laid eyes on her, he felt a slight sense of dissonance for some reason. However, he could not keep staring at a woman"s naked body nonstop... It would be a problem too if he was accused of visual rape.

Ignoring the sense of dissonance, Kaito turned his face forcefully away and timidly checked the girl"s circ.u.mstances from the corner of his eye. The silver-haired girl had her head down and did not move at all.

"Hey, are you okay? Hey? Hey?"

There was no response even when he spoke to her. With no idea why this girl was imprisoned here or how to handle the situation, Kaito hesitated. Judging from Elisabeth"s personality, he did not think she would imprison a demon, so the silver-haired girl was most probably not an enemy.

Even if the girl were an enemy, the only possible victim in this place was Kaito himself.

Even if he left then doubled back, there was no guarantee he would return to the same place. Thinking to himself, Kaito decided that he would rather rescue her now instead of regretting it after leaving this place.

At this point in his thoughts, Kaito decided to release the girl"s restraints. He looked around him but there were no useful tools nearby. However, he noticed a leather pouch tied to the girl"s slender ankle.

With her arms bound, there was no way for her to take the pouch on her own. This position was quite in poor taste.

Kaito took off the pouch and poured the contents out to check. What fell out was a key and a piece of parchment. Kaito used the key to unlock the girl"s handcuffs and her arms fell down limply by the sides of her pale and blemish-free body. However, even after obtaining freedom, the girl showed no signs of moving. Kaito looked around, searching for something to cover up her body and his gaze was drawn to the parchment that had fallen on the ground. Words had been written on the parchment in red in big letters.

""Instruction manual"? "Important details during activation"?"

Aided by the golem"s functionality, Kaito deciphered the language of this world. Then he began to puzzle. Suddenly realizing a certain possibility, he turned towards the girl and checked her body.

At that moment, he finally figured out the cause of the sense of dissonance.

Upon closer examination, he found that the silver-haired girl"s slender limbs were ball-jointed. The straight silver hair was not human hair either, but was made of sparkling shiny silver thread instead.

The girl was a doll. She was probably one of the items kept in the "treasure vault."

In the next instant, the girl"s head suddenly jerked up and down with noises then finally, she slowly lifted her face. Made from green gemstones, her eyes glowed with eerie light. Seeing her face, Kaito was struck deeply with fear.

On that beautiful face that was like a work of art, there was no expression at all.

Her facial muscles were completely stiff like a mask.

The girl—the robotic doll—began to spin her limbs in different direction, centered on the ball joints. Seeing this unusual situation, Kaito hastily read the rest of what was written on the parchment.

After reading the words in red ink, he widened his eyes and kicked the ground.

—Please take care, the doll attacks people upon activation.

Kaito began to run as fast as he could.

He could hear the doll crawling on the ground, chasing after him at high speed.

Kaito made a mad dash as though competing in an obstacle race. He jumped over chairs, squeezed through gaps between cupboards, slid down mountains of gold coins, and his suspicions proved to be correct.

The doll charged straight at Kaito without any awareness of avoiding obstacles. The more objects that needed to be destroyed, the more time required by the doll to move. In this manner, Kaito succeeded in creating some distance and continued to escape. However, he knew very well that a moment"s complacency and he would be joining the ranks of those destroyed objects.

(What the h.e.l.l!? This is no joke at all!)

Kaito rushed up to the final step with vigor that tore his leg muscles. Ignoring the searing pain, he compelled his body to move through sheer force of will. All would be lost if he looked back. Also, he had nothing that could serve as a shield.

Suppressing his surging fear, he managed to make it to the black door alive. However, the great door remained shut tightly. Clenching his fist to bang hard on the door, Kaito yelled in a panic.

"Elisabeth, hurry and open the door! Open the door for me now!"

"What is the matter, Kaito? Have you finally learned your lesson? From now on, do remember to give your cooking a proper taste test before bringing it to the table."

"I knew it, you were planning to punish me from the start! Anyway, forget about that for now, hurry up and open the door!"

Instantly, Kaito felt a terrifying chill as though his heart was p.r.i.c.ked by needles.

He instinctively ducked down into a p.r.o.ne posture. Immediately, the doll"s leg swept horizontally over his head. This attack was as swift and fierce as a snake"s. The tip of the foot approached from an unbelievable angle, shattering the st.u.r.dy door. Elisabeth began to panic, yelling through the door:

"W-What on earth is this common?"

Hearing Elisabeth"s exclamation of surprise, Kaito ignored getting injured and charged through the flying shrapnel, throwing himself into the throne room, rolling and scurrying along the way, then hastily distancing himself from the treasure vault"s entrance. From the door, the doll"s pale body, swaying like a ghost, was stumbling out.

Elisabeth had apparently fetched wine on her own and was drinking it, but seeing this situation, she spurted wine from her mouth. With a speechless expression, rarely seen, she roared angrily:

"J-Just how deep did you go, you knave! This robotic doll was created by my foster father in poor taste! Since it does not obey commands at all and even destroys everything it sees, it is extremely dangerous! Why did you activate it!?"

"I"m sorry for activating her without asking! But I didn"t know she"d start moving as soon as I released her restraints!"

"Releasing the restraints is the signal for activation! You imbecile beyond compare!"

However, there was no time for idle banter.

"Ugh! How vexing! Why must I, Torturchen, feel upset over a mere puppet?"

She impatiently stood up from the throne and tapped the tip of her shoe on the floor twice.

Darkness and petals rolled and spread on the floor like mist, finally conjuring a great number of vertical spikes from below. However, the doll leaped up with astounding reflexes and beast-like jumping power, evading the spikes, then landed unharmed by clamping the tip of one spike between her palm and the sole of her foot.

"No bad. To think it escape this move."

Elisabeth murmured, impressed, then reached behind her and swung her arm forward. Out from the darkness flew an executioner"s ax, hurtling straight at the doll"s neck. With a clack and movements that seemed to dislocate joints, the doll barely dodged the ax before her head was chopped off. Elisabeth widened her eyes in surprise.

Bending her knees, the doll jumped again, landing in front of the throne, getting into close range with Elisabeth. Immediately, Elisabeth snapped her fingers as though she had been waiting for this moment.

"Ducking Stool!"

Out from the floor emerged a chair that managed to strike the doll"s bottom and immediately restrain the doll with leather straps. The Ducking Stool greatly resembled the interrogation chair that Kaito had been treated to before, but there were no holes on the seat for spikes to come out. Instead, the backrest was tied to a very long chain.

Suddenly, a square-shaped section of the floor around the doll disappeared. The s.p.a.ce underneath was instantly filled with water with red petals floating on the surface. With an exaggerated splash, the doll was dropped into the water.

Vigorous bubbling appeared on the surface probably due to the doll"s struggles, but suddenly calmed down. With a clonging rattling, the chain was lifted up. The doll sitting on the chair was motionless.

Water dripped from the strands of her silver hair. Only then did Elisabeth exhale in relief.

"My goodness, it finally settled down. However, this thing has a drainage device installed so it will presumably recover automatically soon. It needs to be destroyed before the internal gears start turning again."

"Eh? Wait a sec, is destruction the only option?"

"Is it not obvious? It will go on another rampage unless you break it! Or do you wish to keep escaping from this doll that will lop of your head any time? When the time comes, I shall use you as a meat shield first. No objections, right?"

"No, but all things considered, I"m the one who activated her without permission... It feels a bit of a shame to destroy such an exquisitely crafted doll... Can"t we return her to the initial state, deactivated?"

Kaito tried to persuade Elisabeth. Although he was afraid of the doll"s terrifying pursuit, ultimately, he was to blame for activating her on his own. He would feel quite guilty about destroying this doll that resembled a human so impeccably. Furthermore, the doll looked very expensive and Kaito did not think he could pay for it even with his life.

Elisabeth opened her lips in displeasure but suddenly suppressed the angry words she was about to deliver.

"Hmm? Hold on. You make a fair point. Breaking the doll would be a waste... Perhaps it could still be put to use."

In front of the contemplative Elisabeth, the doll shuddered mildly, her body making unpleasant mechanical sounds, her head jerking in bizarre movements and angles.

Her green eyes flashed with eerie light again. At the same time, Elisabeth whispered in a sing-song voice:

""O gears, stop turning. You shall remain forever beautiful.""

The doll suddenly stopped, losing all strength in the next instant. Having spent so much effort to capture the doll, Elisabeth was now about to put her in such a state with just a few words, shocking Kaito.

"W-What did you do?"

"What I just recited was the incantation for registering a new master. Hmm, it worked, which implies that this thing"s previous setting has been cleared. With that, it should be possible to set a new master. Once that is done, this thing should regard its new master"s orders as top priority and stop attacking people mindlessly. Well then, to proceed..."

Just as Elisabeth was about say something next, the doll"s neck moved bizarrely.

Click click click click click... The neck was bent forcibly for the doll to look at Kaito, causing him to jump in surprise, but the doll simply stared at him silently, her green eyes reflecting nothing but Kaito"s image. Feeling she was relying on him, Kaito felt troubled. Sighing briefly, apparently impressed, Elisabeth whistled.

"Good grief... This thing has made its own choice. Rejoice, perhaps because you have saved it twice, you have caught its eye. Very well, your are its master henceforth. However, there is one problem."

"Master? Huh? And there"s a problem?"

"Becoming this thing"s master requires setting a "relationship." This thing"s creator is an eccentric who takes pleasure in putting others in difficult situations. You must select the correct answer out of the following four relationships: "parent-child," "siblings," "master-servant," or "lovers." Should you choose incorrectly, the robotic doll will direct its killing intent towards the master. I have no issue with it, but you might lose your life."

"A four in one chance of getting the right answer, that"s honestly a challenge... What should I do?"

"Who knows? Destroying it would be the most convenient, but you are reluctant to do so. Choose from parent-child, siblings, master-servant or lovers... Hmm, why not pick the choice that seems the least likely to betray you?"

Elisabeth laughed maliciously and sat down on her throne casually.

She was definitely enjoying the current situation. Confused, Kaito desperately racked his brain. No matter what, this answer was a matter of life and death for him. Since his father had killed him, forget about parent-child. As for siblings, he did not have much of an idea. He had met a man who was supposedly blood related, but no good memories came out of it. Master-servant... That would be his current relationship with Elisabeth, hence ruled out. That left only one remaining choice.

"Lovers, I guess."

"You must be a virgin."

—What the h.e.l.l are you a.s.serting? However, before Kaito could protest against Elisabeth"s slander, the doll"s body began to shake violently as never before. Convulsing uncontrollably, she caused the leather straps restraining her to fly off. Hot gas was discharged from gaps in the ball joints.

Due to her excessively intense reaction, Kaito involuntarily worried about the doll instead of himself.

"Hey, you didn"t break, did you?"

He timidly looked down to check the doll. The doll suddenly opened her eyes, ripped the Ducking Stool"s straps and jumped lightly out of the water tank, landing before Kaito.

Aww man, I"m dead meat now... Just as Kaito prepared himself...

The doll suddenly knelt down on one knee in front of Kaito.

"Huh?"

"Thank you for your patience, my dear, my love, my destiny, my liege! My true lover! My eternal companion!"

The doll cried out in an extremely emotional voice. Hearing her voice for the first time, Kaito found it lovely and pleasing. The doll grasped Kaito"s hand tightly and looked up.

Framed by her smooth sleek silver hair, her face was making expressions that she had never shown before.

On her emerald eyes, her eyelids lowered gently and beautifully. Her pale cheeks blushed lightly. The doll"s sweet face, innocent yet no less gorgeous, showed an expression of rapture and intoxication.

With very human motions, she started rubbing Kaito"s palm against her cheek. Her delicate skin felt tender and warm like a real person"s. In utter bliss, the doll whispered softly:

"From hereon ever after, until my limbs are broken and severed, until my head is chopped off, until my iron heart stops beating, I shall be your lover always, your companion. I live only for you and will break only for you. Loving me, stopping me, and doing anything else to me is the privilege enjoyed by you alone only."

Gazing straight at Kaito, she then smiled shyly.

"Please enjoy me any time as it suits yourself. Please love me tenderly forever and ever, okay?"

Faced with this endless torrent of words, Kaito and Elisabeth were stunned. Unconcerned with their response or lack thereof, the doll continued to rub Kaito"s palm against her cheek. This endearing behavior was like a puppy seeking affection.

Soon after, Elisabeth murmured:

"......I-It would seem that you picked the correct answer. A-Are you happy now?"

"......Uh... W-Well, inevitably..."

—It feels like this will inevitably become very troublesome too.

Confronted with the doll"s look of bliss, Kaito gulped these words down his throat.