The screams of a foolish man echoed in one of the hidden floors of the dungeon.
This room, which seemed to have suddenly appeared in a bare rock cave, was furnished with expensive magical tools and where I was conducting important research related to my lifeâs purpose. They are my test subjects. One of the rats used in this experiment has lost consciousness because he could not bear the load of his soul, and the others are shivering and cowering in the corner of their cages, apparently afraid to be the subject of the next experiment.
ăYouâre too noisy. Would you please shut up, youâre cluttering up my thoughts.ă
With one swipe of my finger, I created a vacuum around the manâs face. Learning from Emiâs knowledge, without air, sound cannot resonate. In the space that had finally become quiet, I often sank into a sea of thoughts.
âŠI screwed up again. In theory, this should have been enough to swap these two souls. There is no bankruptcy in the magic that I have created. The magical vacuum that was constructed to prevent impurities from mixing also worked. They had a perfect operation that was as close to the theoretical value as possible, but their souls were still mixed up and their souls were muddled in the way they were.
Moreover, there is a kind of restorative power, or perhaps the mixed parts of the body have gradually returned to their original selves. It is as if water and oil mixed by spraying separate. Does physical distance have something to do with this? Would it be more stable if I let it go farther away? ⊠Iâll think about that again.
If I donât solve this problem, I canât even offer Emi an option. I havenât been able to proceed from here for a long time.
Or does the failure of the experiment have something to do with the wound on the soul? Their souls are scarred by the fact that I used them as training grounds until they were able to handle them, if not freely, then at least to a degree.
I care nothing about the future of their souls. Their wounds will not survive reincarnation, each shard after thatâs shattered will only repeat its short life as an insect or microbe a few thousand times or so.
Then perhaps I should go get a new rat with an unscathed soul? Of the women who were actively and gleefully spreading rootless rumors about EmiâsăRemiliaăout of envy, there are three left who have not yet been dealt with. They even had Emi help them once⊠They looked so happy and said,ăI knew that even a princess like her would be jealous and do something like this.ă
Their engagements was annulled for disgracing the Saint, and there were no good marriages left, but one of them married a commoner and seems to think that she is reasonably happy in this life, so I must make her regret it. Emi has been hurt and can no longer feel happy because of them. All of you are not even allowed to have the tiniest bit of happiness.
No, rather than dredge it up, I might try to destroy the marriage by blowing falsehoods to that marriage partner. Unlike Pina, Iâll also have solid evidence⊠and theyâll experience the despair of people not believing them at all and treating them as a bad people one-sidedly
âŠItâs probably not even close to the grief that Emi felt when she was condemned for something she didnât do at all.
I couldnât kill him because he was a valuable test subject, and more importantly, I wasnât ready to give him the repose ofădeathăyet, so I wagged my finger again to break the spell.
In the residue of the disarmed magic, one of the rats, flapping its limbs in search of air, huffed and puffed and salivated in its windpipe. His face is pale, and his eyes are bloodshot with broken blood vessels. I found it hilarious that he was always ranting aboutăkilling him already,ăbut when he was on the verge of suffocation, he would do this, desperately trying to breathe.
ăPâPleaseâŠ! Remilia-ojou-sama, why are you doing this to me⊠Stop this, youâre not that kind of person, right? IâŠI was threatened! We were⊠by that Star Devil⊠so we had no choiceâŠ!ă
ăOh my, begging for your life? Youâre grating on my ear.ă
ăGiâGyaaaaahhhh!!ă
ăCanât you shut up? Do you want to be deprived of air again?ă
ăHii, hii, hiieâŠ!ă
Threatened? By a little girl who has no power and is protected by the state? I have told him many times that if he had played up when he was approached, none of this would have happened, but he still hasnât learned.
I warned him ahead of time that if I drove a small thorn into his bare soul, it would make him noisy again. He seemed to be swallowing his screams desperately, and his tears were flowing unceasingly.
ăOh, you said that I am a criminal who looks good on the outside but was harsh on my servants behind my back and mistreats those who donât like me.ă
ăTâThatâs!ă
ăYou swore an oath not to tell falsehoods when you testified.ă
I giggle and laugh, and I can hear sobbing from the corners of the room. Yes, thatâs right, they need to cry and despair and grieve over their stupidity more.
ăYou said something likeă youâre forced to perform an unwanted service by being forced to play a bad game out of curiosity of a young lady,ăâŠsort of like that? Now youâre right. You didnât say anything untrue.ă
ăUgh, ughhâŠă
The one used by me under the name of âexperimental subjectâ.
This rat⊠oh yes, this was called Romano. This man, who was the fifth son of a Count, must have had a dream, because his third sonâs brother, who was also a knight escort for a noblewoman, was beguiled by that ladyâs mistress.
He envied his brother who was living off his allowance, secretly accompanying his bride-to-be, he was thinking,ăIf Iâm better looking than my brother, I should have a better idea of what Iâm doing,ăwerenât he? But to powder the next queen is nothing short of foolish. He was being too greedy. He had no sense of humility to even resent Emi, a chaste woman who doesnât flirt with him at all.
If he hadnât helped that woman, Emi wouldnât have been hurt so much.
I donât know what you are threatened by. I know that he was happy to help her with the story because he thought it would be more profitable for him.
The rats who were her personal attendants also hurt Emi for similar selfish reasons.ăSheâs all uptight, sheâs doing all kinds of things, sheâs acting like a good person,ăthatâs all their reason. Emi was so good to you all⊠Emi even thought of you guys as her friends, and you trampled on her heart.
There were a handful of talented people in the Dukeâs family, but all of them were of low quality, as the Duke had made them his senior servants in order to ingratiate himself with his children.
They are not loyal, they have poor morals, they are envious of others, they do not work hard, and they are full of excuses for themselves. And yet, they had a high self-esteem, saying,ăIâm not worth enough to end up in a place like this.ă
In theăstoryăthat Emi knew, these guys were pawns ofăRemiliaăand perpetrated harm to the Star Maiden. It was through the testimony of this escort and chambermaids in the investigation of the broken engagement that the details ofăRemiliaâsăcrime were told.
No wonder he was always like this. He easily turned to crime even though heâs ordered to do so, and easily betrays his master by taking advantage of a more lucrative story.
I really feel sorry for Emi, who had been so humble in wanting to get along with the servants as well. I really hate you guys for playing a part in using Emiâs trust to trap her. I donât even want to give you death.
ăUâUghhh⊠you Devil! You must have a Devil inside of you too!ă
Oh my, youâre on the right track. Iâm not sure if Iâm being honest, but this is who I am. But Iâm offended that people think the Devil is such a simple being.
I am what I am, you know? It only came out because you guys hurt her and took her away from me.
ăYouâre not the ones who denied me that I was that good girl. Good for you, for being what you said I would be.ă
I smiled at them and the rats began to cry again, full of sorrow.