CHAPTER 69 – CONQUERING THE PRINCESS AND THE DARKNESS AT THE SAME TIME
「I am thinking of stepping down from the throne」
The next morning, in the audience hall.
Aura and I were standing below, and the king was sitting on his throne.
The king was very exhausted, he was a wrinkly old man in the first place, but it seems like he had become much older than that; he’s weakened so much that he could die anytime.
「Otou-sama……」
「I was blinded. To think that I took a monster as a queen, to think that I was controlled by a monster」
The kind covered his face with his hands.
「Astrea, Clora, Shima, Daphne, Eunice, Lena, Leda……」
He called out names, his daughters’ names.
「Ohhhhhhh……forgive me, forgive me……」
He wailed while covering his face, repenting to the daughters that no longer exist.
「Onee-sama……」
Aura who was by my side also cried.
Honestly, I’m troubled. I don’t know what face to make. I can’t laugh or smile right.
I could only stay quiet.
Stay quiet and look at them, waiting for the two to calm down.
Aura returned earlier.
「Otou-sama, this kingdom still needs Otou-sama. Please continue, please continue to lead us, lead the people」
「The sin of dragging a monster within us……is heavy. It cannot be forgiven other than stepping down the throne」
「Otou-sama」
「And there, the next king……is……uhh……」
The king stutters, he took glances at Aura, it seems like he’s hesitating about something.
He had said it clearly when leaving his throne, what is he hesitating after all this time?
『He probably can’t say that his son would be the next king?』
Eleanor said. I see, that’s how it is huh.
The reason why he killed his daughters while being controlled by Aerine is to make his son the king; after regaining his senses, it’s probably hard for him to say that his son is the next king.
『That obsession and the his weak heart was probably the reason he was controlled』
That’s probably right. I also think so.
The king stutters. Later than Eleanor, Aura also noticed that.
Aura kneels, and said while bowing her head.
「The crown prince should be the next king. Aura Torideca Comotoria, as weak as I am, I am willing to support the new king as a va.s.sal」
With a formal tone, she said what the king wants.
The king clearly got relieved, and his expression got bright.
『That’s why he got taken in』
Eleanor didn’t have mercy.
I also……agree with her pretty much.
I was invited to Aura’s house.
It’s a splendid mansion that stands in the most lively place in the royal capital Krades. It’s several times more luxurious than my mansion, ‘as expected of a princess’ I thought.
Welcomed by many butlers and maids, I was pa.s.sed through to the drawing room.
After waiting for a while, Aura appeared.
Her appearance right now, wearing a princess dress, is the most beautiful that I have seen her.
Aura straightens her back, and walks gracefully towards me.
She stood in front of me, stares, and bows her head.
「Thank you very much. All of it, is thanks to you」
「Yeah, be grateful」
「Yes, thank you very much」
Aura bowed her head again once, and said to me.
「I have talked to Otou-sama. You are now a viscount……one rank above baron」
「I see」
「Also, the land that bestowed before, he says that you will be given a vast land more than that」
「Land? Ahh, there was something like that right」
I remembered Comotoria’s messenger that came to my mansion.
If I’m correct, at that time, that man told me that he’d give me a land other than the baron t.i.tle.
I didn’t have interest with that, so I had forgotten up until now.
「Is it vast?」
「Yes. It seems like your n.o.ble rank could not be raised immediately, so the land was increased」
「Fu〜n. That, it’s troublesome, so you manage it」
「Eh?」
「I don’t have that much interest in lands or territories. Honestly, n.o.ble ranks too」
「N-No way……」
Aura’s expression breaks off.
She had a princess-like refined face when she entered the room, but now, she was almost crying.
「I cannot give my grat.i.tude back then. Is there anything……is there anything else you want?」
With a face that is about to cry, she asked me as if to beg.
「You」
I answered immediately.
From the start, I was only planning to request that.
Aura got dumbfounded.
「Me……?」
「Yeah, you」
「Me, you say, what do youーーah!」
She was a little bit late to understand, but Aura realized.
The way her face blushes, it’s no doubt that she understood correctly.
「That’s right, let me embrace you」
「Do not joke with me, rather than the viscount t.i.tle, rather than land」
「I’m not joking. You’re a good woman, a good woman is good enough for a reward」
「……are you saying that seriously」
「I’m serious」
I immediately answered again.
Aura’s blushed face reddens.
She blushed, and got restless.
It’s a little bit vexing. It’s not like she doesn’t like it, so I carried Aura like you carry a princess.
「Where’s the room that has a bed」
「Eh, ehhh??」
「Where is it」
「Uhmm, you go left there」
「Yosh」
While holding Aura, I walked imposingly.
When we went outside, we encountered servants there.
The butlers and maids, they looked at me with a surprised face.
Aura covered her face with her hands. It seems like she’s too embarra.s.sed that she would die.
「Uhmm……」
「What, even if you say it now that you don’tーー」
「From the time that you saved me, I have loved you」
Aura said with a voice as small as a mosquito’s cry. The way she said that while covering her face was so dangerously cute.
I took Aura to the room that has a bed on it, and ‘took’ her as a reward.
Within the darkness, small lizard monsters squirms.
The lizards gathered at one point.
With that dark haze as a point, as if a black hole was there.
The child lizards came and jump into that, came and jump into that, repeatedly.
After that, the black hole gradually got bigger; it got bigger every time child lizards jumped into it.
Repeating that, for one whole day.
The black haze finally materializes, and broke just like an egg.
「Kuhoaa!」
A lizard came out from the inside.
The thing that came out of the broken egg was Aerine in her lizard form. However, her appearance was small, just the size of a child.
Aerine’s face was full of hatred.
「That man……I won’t forgive him, I will never forgive him!」
The words she spits out, they were also filled with hatred.
「I will torture him, torture the ones around him……I will kill him slowly that he would regret he was alive!!」
With blood-shot eyes, a strong will could be felt with her declaration that she would do anything so that it can be done.
「……」
One man appeared without sounds.
Wearing a black outfit, a man that has an appearance of an a.s.sa.s.sin.
「You, you came at the right time」
It looks like Aerine and the man know each other.
It’s not like her hatred had completely disappeared, but it lessened when she saw the man.
「Take me back with you, when I regained my strength, that manーー」
Without waiting for Aerine finish talking, the man pierces out his hand.
He pierces her fiercely with the track of a body blow.
His hand pierced through Aerine’s body. His hand that was coated in blood had sharp nails; it didn’t look like a human’s.
「Kaha!……W-Why」
「You didn’t seem like you’d lose your hatred, you know」
The man said with a merciless tone.
「The who cannot be controlled would be destroyed」
「Even so……I……」
「My bad」
The man used his remaining hand and pierced through Aerine, and tears her into two.
Aerine who had just regenerated had been torn into two, and this time for real, she died.
The man only took a glance at her, and looked at the other side as if he had lost his interest.
「To treat Aerine as a child like this, stronger than expected」
Unlike his words before, a bit of weakness could be felt with his words.
「We are stronger than anybody else. He probably cannot be stopped with one on one anymore」
He whispered, and let out a sigh this time.
「The man who subordinates the Demon Sword……the man who gives birth to a new Demon Sword. I must make everyone thoroughly not get involved with him」
Saying that, the man disappeared into the darkness.
In a place where Kakeru is not present, the darkness, it changed its movement greatly.