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Episode 150: Playtime (III)
“Oh, my lord, you haven’t forgotten that.”
Had I ever acted like this before?
I was a little perplexed and blinked while still sitting on Rixus.
…Anyway, that didn’t matter now.
I got out of bed and put my clothes in order.
“If Spinel’s search team finds the ‘gate’, it would be better to prepare secretly and keep an eye on it so that we can quickly deploy troops there. Why don’t you bring the Ghost Army of the Margrave to the capital?”
“I’ve already called them.”
“……When?”
“After killing the barbatus dragon.”
“Aha.”
I felt again that it was convenient to partner with a man who also had a fast brain.
I brought the invisibility cloak up to my shoulders.
I figured our discussion was done, so I thought about saying goodbye and heading back to my room.
But it was then.
Rixus, who was sitting on the bed, gently grabbed my hand.
“……”
“……”
I tried to get my hand out, but he wouldn’t let go.
Not knowing what to do, I looked into his eyes… And seeing those sharp eyes, I finally realized.
He, who was lying on the bed with me… what he wanted from me.
Tak—
I pretended I didn’t know and tried to pull my hand again, but the warm hand was just wrapped even more tightly.
Just looking into his eyes…
The tension in my body tightened, and my heart began to race.
Badump, badump.
‘…It’s a foul.’
At such a late hour, holding me with that expression.
I started to become very conscious of being alone with him in the bedroom, despite thinking nothing of it until now.
His top, which was thin and exposed the muscular body inside, seemed to look racy.
My face gradually turned red.
Rixus let go of my hand slowly, then parted his lips, swiping his cheek outward with his index finger.
“We’ve been to all the places you’ve been to before…”
His eyes stared at me and his whisper continued.
“You have to do everything you did.”
“….…”
It felt like my heart would burst at the hushed whispers.
I couldn’t stand it any longer and pulled the cloak up to the top of my head.
I, who must have become transparent in front of him, said,
“Stop talking insolently like a dog.”
“It makes me want to do a gesture worthy of that name.”
“What kind of gesture?! It’s like a pervert…!”
“I understood it right away, and they said it was a pervert, so they’re close friends.”
Rixus got up from his seat and found me at once (I didn’t know how he knew), and wrapped his arms around me tightly
Then he shwik— he took off the cloak, revealing only my face, and kissed me tenderly on the forehead.
“!”
“I can see your skirt.”
It was the first time I had received a kiss from Rixus, so I froze from surprise. Meanwhile, he wrapped me up nicely with a cloak again.
Then he sent me off at the door.
Still stiff, I barely walked to the door and went out.
Fortunately, thanks to Rixus, I was able to get out without having to open the door myself.
If the door opened and then closed when no one was there, rumors of a ‘ghost in the Imperial Palace’ might circulate.
“I wish you well.”
“….…”
“The cute little bird outside the window.”
Rixus looked out the window in the hallway and said goodbye to me, pretending to greet a bird.
“……?”
As soon as Rixus appeared, the guards, who were quietly courteous, looked at him instinctively.
I took the opportunity and quietly left the hallway.
The first secret meeting I had with Rixus… It was quite successful.
* * *
“Damn it, I didn’t think I’ll starve because I don’t have money…!”
Deborah burst into empty laughter as she stared at her very empty wallet in absurdity.
She really didn’t even imagine. Really, she never expected she would become so poor that she couldn’t even buy food.
A long time ago, of course, it often happened when she worked as a maid to pay for the living expenses of the family.
Because her father and mother used to scrape everything off her when she got paid.
Not even a single ferring left behind.
But the same thing happened again.
After donating all of her fortune to the nobility society and giving the money Johann gave her to her father… She really didn’t have any money.
With a few loose coins, she bought bread and survived, but that was the limit.
‘I don’t even have that change anymore.’
‘Can I borrow some money?’
She had that thought, but she didn’t want to say anything regrettable to the nobles or anyone.
However, if she went to a place where they lend money with credit as collateral, they would not lend her even a single ferring.
Since her reputation and future in Aktoum were the worst now!
“…But I can’t even go to that devilish bastard!”
The thought of Johann made her feel chills along with fear.
Deborah shook her head vigorously.
Gurdu, gurrr—
‘Is it because I’m hungry?’ The pace was a bit sloppy and strange.
No, maybe the weird stuff had nothing to do with hunger.
‘It’s because that creepy human fed me something terrible.’
Suddenly, she remembered the time when Johann commanded her to swallow the black beads.
“What the hell did you feed me…!”
“A part of my heart. ‘Some kind.’”
Ugh, a human heart. She tried gagging, but only sickness came over, and what she ate never came out of her throat.
But it was often felt. That the black energy he fed her, that he had gathered like beads, was in her heart.
It sometimes showed an eerie presence and made her heart squeeze.
“If you disobey my orders, it will ruin you from inside.”
“Damn it!”
Deborah groaned and smashed a teacup in anger.
But it was then.
A single ferring turned and settled in front of her.
“……Ah!”
Deborah involuntarily smiled broadly and picked up the coin.
If it was this, she could buy a piece of hard bread and eat it.
She hurriedly put on a hat and went out of the door. There was no longer a maid attending to her.
She had only to feed herself.
To do that, wouldn’t she have to buy some hard bread with the change she picked up, soak it in water and crumple it in her mouth?
That was when she went out carrying a ferring to satisfy her hunger.
“It’s Deborah!”
“!”
Deborah looked back as if she had been electrocuted.
She saw a terrible face.
Olive eyes, a person who had stolen money from her a few days ago.
Baron Travino, who smelled of alcohol; her father.
“Why did you come again!”
Deborah shouted at her father as if in a frenzy. Baron Travino smirked, revealing his teeth, yellowed and rotting ones because he had no money to treat them.
“Deborah, it’s because I ran out of the money you gave me back then?”
“…That is already gone? An ordinary noble would have lived on it for three months.”
Deborah said contemptuously and fired.
“You must have squandered it on gambling!”
“You’ve been very condescending since a long time ago. You just gave a small amount of money.”
Deborah’s eyes shook.
She had lived her life doing so many vile things, but there was always someone she couldn’t win against.
Her parents. The dark shadow that had been cast over her life since she was born.
From the time they were born, there were unhappy children who lived their entire lives paying for bad parents as if they were ‘sin’.
Humans who lived with parents who were like indelible beings, like the iron marks on their souls from birth.
And Deborah was one of those people.
‘Do you know how I made that money?’
It was the money she received at the risk of death from a demon-like human. The cost of life.
She shivered at the thought of her father throwing away such money on gambling.
But she did not explain the importance of the money. Her parents were accustomed to the money they got from selling their daughter.
“…I don’t really have any money today, go!”
“Deborah, if you don’t give me money, how can I go? Do you want this father to go and starve?”
‘Go and die of starvation, please! If you did, I would have no wish!’
All this while, she had been living with all kinds of scheming in the social world, and it felt like her mask was coming off in front of her father.
Beaten and given lashes and the sound of him urging her to give him money, it felt like she was returning to the age of 8, when she started doing chores with her little hands.
She was really fed up.
Despite this, Deborah knew it well. That the only way to get rid of her father was ‘money’.
Deborah gritted her teeth and said,
“…I’m running an errand for Archduke Marquis. Money will come in soon. I’ll give it to you then.”
“Really…? Are you looking after his business?”
“It is a secret.”
Deborah, who was late in denying it, added later.
“You’ll get a lot of money!”
Baron Travino’s eyes lit up.
Baron Travino could not have not known that Archduke Marquis was a really wealthy man.
What a miracle!
His daughter went bankrupt and now his money line was almost dry, so he tried to scoop as much money as possible before it cracked like the ground from a drought.
…If that was the case, wouldn’t money keep coming out?
Baron Travino, feeling better, chuckled.
“Then, if you receive money from Archduke Marquis, take care of this father.”
“…Okay, so stop!”
Deborah pushed the old man with all her might. However, she was starving, and the old man who was crazy about money was stronger than her.
She couldn’t even push him away properly.
“You promise, Deborah?”
“Yes! Got it. Please.”
That was then.
A nice carriage stood in front of Deborah’s house.
In a typical romantic novel, a knight who would save her at this time would appear, but…
It was Melfis who got off the carriage.
Seeing Melfis gave Deborah a bad feeling, and she furrowed her eyebrows like cucumbers pickled in salt and vinegar.
“Archduke Marquis is looking for Madam Deborah.”
However, Deborah got into the carriage without any words.
It was better for her to enter the devil’s mouth than to deal with her father further.
Either way, it was hell.
When Baron Travino heard the words ‘Archduke Marquis’, he seemed to be in a good mood.
“Goodbye! My daughter!”
The carriage with Deborah started moving slowly again.
Baron Trevino, excited at the thought of getting the money, didn’t know.
In the carriage, ‘Melfis’, the butler of Archduke Marquis, who came to pick up his daughter…
…The fact that he was looking at him very carefully.
Ame: Is there a need to introduce a new character at this point of the story? It’s not like Deborah needs more characterization and backstory, but I guess every up and coming demon lord needs a human sacrifice! :>
Dea: She can get all the characterization she wants, but it won’t change my opinion on her. She’s had her chance to be redeemed and lost it. But having said that, I hope her father will become a sacrifice, throw him in the cauldron!