She had a teary face.
Benimus was sad about that, but he didn’t know exactly what caused her expression to crumple.
He stroked her pale cheeks with pity. Then she kissed his callus-filled palm.
“…I’m sorry I couldn’t return as much as I received.”
The tears that were hanging from her long eyelashes flowed sideways and wet Benimus’ fingertips.
Benimus stood still.
He wanted to comfort her. But he didn’t know what to say.
It was only natural because he couldn’t figure out why she was sad.
The boy pondered, and brought up the topic that the girl was most curious about.
“…The Duke hasn’t come to visit yet.”
Her shoulders flinched.
“But he told everyone to do everything possible.”
Those were words to make her feel better. Because she likes the mad duke the most.
But instead of smiling brightly, she buried her face in a pillow to hide her expression.
He didn’t seem to be able to offer any consolation this time either.
Just like when he was young, his mother’s crying did not go away even when he hugged her with all his might.
As Benimus frowned, she, who had been looking sideways, shook her head hastily.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to cry again.”
She smiled. The thick lips drew an arc beautifully.
In his head, he thought it was a forced smile, but the expression itself was difficult to distinguish.
Despite having spent a long time among people, Benimus couldn’t tell the difference between real and fake emotions.
“…I’ll go and change the water.”
Benimus got up holding the basin with a towel in it.
He left the room and grabbed the door handle. The boy’s left eye instantly turned into a reverse eye.
After a while, his hand turned black and sticky like oil and wrapped around the handle.
The liquid soon turned into a hard stone, holding the handle in place.
After closing the door in a way that prevented the sick girl from getting out, Benimus returned his body to human form.
She only told him not to attach magic stones to her clothes, so this type of restraint would be fine.
With that in mind, he walked down the hallway. The guards, who were standing idly at the end of the hallway, bowed down to him for fear of disturbing the patient’s rest.
Benimus passed them by without reacting.
It wasn’t really meant to be insulting. He just had no interest.
To him, except for her, everyone else was nothing more than a giant sack doll. Such a being that he would have no idea even if the contents turned into mud or sand.
If the other person was related to him, even a doll would have been a little special. But if they were unrelated to each other, there was no reason for him to mind them.
***
Benimus drew water from a well in the backyard.
There was water in the hot water room, but it wasn’t cold enough, so he had to go up and down the high stairs throughout the whole nursing.
That was the best Benimus could do now.
“…….”
An expressionless face was reflected in the water.
Benimus pushed up his cheeks. The corners of his mouth went up, but it didn’t look like a smiling face.
Even if he grabbed the skin and lowered it, he couldn’t make a sad expression.
It was frustrating.
To comfort her, he would have to change his expression first, but that was no consolation.
The boy did not know how to make up his own emotions as he did not know how to understand others.
His heart had one screw missing. It was as if God had made him a foreign monster from the beginning.
That was never a good thing. Thus, when he was young, there were times when he tried to listen to others. Every time he did, the cries from the ground interrupted it.
No one but Benimus heard the evil spirits’ screams. No one heard it even though they were crying like that.
No one, including his mother.
In a world full of terrible weeping, people’s voices were nothing more than the scratching noises of sackcloth.
The more he came into contact with other people, the more he thought they were just like stones on the roadside.
“…Princess.”
Everyone was like that except for her. Even his dead mother.
“…….”
Benimus took a small glass bottle from his pocket.
It was a bottle found in his back pocket after returning from the crown prince’s palace.
At first, he thought the crown prince had inserted it secretly, but when he looked closely, he realized it wasn’t the case.
A majestic tree was painted on the cork. This was the symbol of the emperor, not the crown prince.
Inside the bottle were three or four petals of the World Tree along with a thinly rolled note.
Benimus opened the lid and brushed what was inside with the palm of his hand.
A simple phrase on the note caught his eyes.
「To the evil spirit boy.」
Turning to the back page, he saw a slightly longer sentence.
「I want to talk to you.」
As soon as he finished reading, the paper became a bright light and disappeared. All that was left was the petals of the World Tree.
Benimus swallowed the petals.
There were no significant changes other than a burning in the throat.
However, Benimus closed his eyes as if he already knew the purpose of those petals.
After all, even if he had absorbed white magic into his body, she couldn’t do anything other than entering his dream.
“…….”
Benimus fell asleep on his back. And immediately opened his eyes.
It was only a few seconds, but it was enough time to talk to the emperor in his dream.
The boy looked up at the moon. A faint smile appeared on his handsome lips.
***
When he went back to the Princess’ room, ‘she’ was already asleep.
Benimus straightened her hair and placed a damp towel on her forehead.
And he gently untied her loose braid. Red hair like flames scattered across the sheet.
“Actually, I wanted to be forgiven.”
She wanted to be loved by the duke.
That was also the reason why Benimus had not yet killed the duke.
“I wanted to be my Dad’s daughter.”
Benimus turned her chin to the side and braided her hair. His fingers flexibly twisted the damp strands.
“…It’ll be possible.”
The boy wanted to destroy this world and create a world just for the two of them. He believed that the girl would also be happy someday.
But the girl now wants to live with her family.
She wanted it deeply enough to hesitate to throw away her current life completely.
So he had to find another way to be happy forever.
“Aside from being forgiven by the Duke… You might be loved as well.”
Benimus tied the ends of her hair with a band and stared at her, who was sleeping peacefully like an angel.
“Not only that, but you will be loved by everyone in the world.”
Her cheeks flinched as his breath drew closer.
“…Forever.”
Benimus tucked her baby hair behind her ear and sat right down on the chair.
He stayed by her side until morning came. It was an incredibly happy time.
***
As soon as the morning dawned, I woke up and got out of bed.
The fever went down, and so my head was refreshed. Now that my stamina was back, I had to do my job.
I took Alan’s key, which Benny had kept, and ran to the dungeon at once.
Even after the handcuffs were lifted, Michael had his eyes lowered and did not come out of the prison.
I took his hand and climbed up the tower.
And while climbing the many stairs, I explained what had happened.
I told him about the memories I had seen in the basement of the ant cave, and surprisingly, Michael did not raise an eyebrow.
The skinny boy remained expressionless the entire time, and only moved his facial muscles when he set foot on the ground.
Instead of trying to block the bright sunlight, he turned his wrist around. The scratches on the skin that the handcuffs had touched were clear.
“Michael, hand.”
After taking the medicine out of the pocket of my underskirt, I gave orders as if I was treating a dog.
Michael didn’t even listen to me and only stared at my face.
The bright sunlight fell upon his delicate golden eyelashes, making him look like a pale porcelain doll.
“Give me your hand.”
I grabbed Michael’s arm forcibly and spread ointment on the wounds.
Michael frowned arrogantly, and, as a matter of fact, began to murmur.
“…It hurts.”
The situation from where he was taken out of prison until medicine was applied was so tough.
I gave a finger flick to the cheeky boy’s forehead with hands that were not stained with ointment.
“Ack.”
“Your wrist doesn’t hurt anymore, does it?”
“…….”
I thought he would respond with annoyance, but Michael became unexpectedly calm at once.
‘It must have been hard living in prison.’
I applied a thin layer of ointment to his scarred wrist and knelt on the floor.
When Michael’s trousers were folded up, his tattered skin was exposed.
The wounds on the ankles were scraped against even before they healed, leaving a lot of scars, and there were bloodstains from the top of the foot to the Achilles tendon.
While I was on the floor squeezing the ointment, I could feel his gaze staring at me from the top of my head.
“…Why?”
I slowly raised my head.
Michael looked at me as if he was looking at a strange animal. He wiggled his wet, shiny wrists.
“Why are you doing this?”
I couldn’t understand the intent of the question.
“What do you mean why am I doing this?”
“Why are you saving me?”
It was like asking why I rescued a person from drowning.
‘He’s such an arrogant kid, really.’
I took a deep breath and stood up.
“Are you still talking about that? I just told you. Because the real culprit is that damn Crown Prince…”
“What is that?”
I thought it would remind him of the memory of poisoning me, but the following words were unexpected.
“I am the son of the man who twisted your life.”
Come to think of it, that’s true. There was one more reason why this guy was so arrogant.
“But why…”
Bloody-red eyes were engulfed in more confusion than when he was sentenced to be hanged.
I scratched my head because I couldn’t find suitable words.
“Umm…”
Michael was definitely the son of a hateful bastard.
But besides that, his origin was no reason to let him die or live.
“…You are different from your father.”
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