I knocked on Laura's door with a soft tap-tap. There was no response.
If I revealed my name here, Laura might suffer an even worse episode. The things that eat away at a human soul the most are self-loathing and guilt. And Laura was harboring both emotions at once. The name "Dantalion" was the very embodiment of that knotted mass of feelings...
Without a word, I flung open the door to the bedroom and was instantly struck with horror.
"..., ..."
Laura hadn't registered that the door had opened. Her dark, unfocused eyes were continuously murmuring something. The whispers were so quiet that I couldn't make out what she was saying. It was an extremely withdrawn, autistic symptom—but that wasn't the real problem.
"Laura!"
I rushed over and forcibly grabbed Laura's wrist. Blood was trickling from it. Laura had been tearing at her own wrist—the spot where the meridian lay—with her fingernails. I hurriedly pulled out a potion and poured it over the wound.
"My lord...?"
Focus returned to Laura's eyes. But saying her gaze was clear would be a massive understatement. Her eyes were still as hazy as ever. The wrist I had seized was limp as a broken branch.
I thought vitality was returning to her, but it was an illusion.
Suddenly, Laura seized my waist. She began to cry. She pressed her face hard against the hem of my clothes.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my lord... I'm sorry..."
Only then did I realize what Laura had been muttering since the moment I first entered the bedroom. She had been apologizing without pause, over and over and over.
A chill ran through my bones. I gripped her shoulders firmly.
"Laura! Laura de Farnese!"
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
It had no effect. A cold shiver crept up my spine.
Autism layered with self-harm. I realized the situation was far more serious than I had imagined. I had been optimistic—at the very least, she would be in a state where we could hold a conversation. Laura was stronger and brighter than anyone. That was why I had been optimistic...
I clenched my teeth. Steeling myself, I slapped her cheek with moderate force. After three or four slaps, Laura's gaze drifted from empty space toward me.
"What is the meaning of this pathetic display?! Where has the girl who boldly urged me in the Black Mountains to walk the path of a Demon Lord—the path to hell—gone?! Where has the one who tried to bite off her tongue when I asked why she didn't just kill herself right then evaporated to?!"
Laura's shoulders trembled as she shrank back.
That gesture stirred both grief and rage within me.
Wasn't our relationship something that should have been called friendship long before it could be called love? Not some wretched codependency where we belonged to each other, but two complete individuals, each whole unto themselves, gazing toward the same horizon.
"Answer me, Laura. Was it nothing more than the fleeting folly of childhood? Have our spines truly bent so far that we cannot even bear the weight of a sacred oath?!"
"Ah, aah…"
Laura weakly shook her head, her face streaked with tears. She looked like a feeble baby bird—not even considering spreading its wings to take flight, but curling into itself merely to shield its own body.
Looking at her, I finally understood.
Somewhere along the way, Laura had come to focus on me alone.
I had rescued her from a life destined to be a sex slave. I had given an identity—strategist—to a girl who knew nothing beyond the narrow world of minor nobility. At that time, Laura was barely sixteen. She had received her identity from me during the most vulnerable and unstable period of her life.
…So that was it.
In the original game, Laura had walked the path of a strategist on her own. It was an identity she had seized for herself. The difference between an adult and a child lies precisely in whether an identity is imposed upon them or chosen by them.
Laura was no different. Shedding the self that was a sex slave—and beyond that, the self that was a noble—that was why Laura de Farnese had insisted on becoming a thorough strategist-administrator. But in this world, I had been the one to find her every identity.
To Laura, I must have been nothing less than a master.
I had told myself she was a talent destined to become a strategist, so I kept it simple. I thought I was merely accelerating what would happen eventually. What a stupid delusion that was…
I hadn't rescued Laura from the fate of becoming a sex slave. I had engraved a new slave's brand upon her. Before, even though Laura's body was enslaved, her mind had still been entirely her own. I had taken hold of her mind…
The decisive moment was most likely the instant her Affinity broke past 99.
Laura had abandoned her pride as a noble. I gave it back to her by gifting her the Farnese family banner. I even eased the resentment she had harbored from her past oppression as an illegitimate child. And so, every role Laura had ever held or would ever hold became something that originated from me.
To Laura, I was everything.
A world without me held no meaning, and a world that had wounded me deserved only destruction.
I should have realized.
When Gamigin showed signs of obsessiveness over me, when Ivar completely abandoned his identity, I should have painfully understood that Affinity was by no means only a beneficial function.
I had ruined her.
The responsibility lies with me, clearly.
Therefore—what I must do is also clear.
"Laura."
I quietly pulled Laura into an embrace. Her small body fit within my arms. In a tone infinitely gentler than the one I had used to press her so far, I whispered, as if to accept her exactly as she was.
"Master...?"
Perhaps she instinctively sensed the change in atmosphere. Laura looked up at me with anxious eyes. She looked just like a fragile animal gazing at its mother. It's alright. There is nothing to fear. I smiled softly.
"Laura has done nothing wrong."
"It's because of this girl... because of this girl, Master whipped..."
"No."
I held Laura closer.
"Would I have done such a thing knowing full well how much pain you would feel? Laura, you are the most precious person to me. I will never hurt you."
Just as I had done to Ivar once.
Just as I had done to Paimon.
I whispered gently to Laura as well.
"Then, why..."
"Because others were watching. You know this too, Laura. Unfortunately, I have not only a private sphere but also a public one. If you had openly violated the law, I had no choice but to punish you."
As if casting a spell.
As if casting a curse.
He unleashed the demon's sweet language.
"The issue was that Laura inflicted excessive torture. To cover up the offense, I would have had no choice but to execute Laura. But, as I said, Laura is the most precious person to me. There is no way I could carry out an execution…"
"S-So you did receive a lighter punishment because of the girl after all!"
"No. It was not because of Laura."
He planted words deep in her heart.
Above all, the one thing she longed for and desired to hear.
"It was 'for Laura's sake.'"
So that her heart would pour everything into nurturing just those few words.
The seed feeds on emotion, grows, and eventually blooms in full — sacrificing her original heart and convictions as an offering, unfurling its black petals wide.
"Just as you would give your life for me, it is only natural that I would stake my life for you. We are of one mind and body. Nothing is strange about that…is that not so?"
"Ah…"
It was remarkably simple to seize control of the girl's heart once it had grown weak.
Laura clung desperately to the lifeline of words I had offered her. Tears streaming down her face, she wrapped her arms tightly around my waist. Tightly. Incredibly tightly.
"This girl lives only for my lord…as long as my lord is safe, anything else can go however it may!"
"That is right, Laura. We are bound by a bond that exists on an entirely different plane from the commonplace people scattered throughout this world. Your life is my life. My life is your life."
"Mm, my lord…mm…!"
I gently stroked Laura's hair, as though combing through it.
If, Laura,
The reason you were consumed by emotion was because of your love for me.
And if the one who gave you that love was none other than myself.
I will gladly bear the weight of everything that is you. Your beliefs. Your will. Everything that made Laura de Farnese who she was, from beginning to end.
From now on, you don't need to apologize to anyone for what you do. You don't need to blame yourself. You don't need to take responsibility. You've entrusted everything to me.
The sin, the atonement, the wrong—I'll carry it all in your place.
"Then let us make a contract, Laura. Swear to me that you will entrust your beliefs to me."
I pressed my lips to Laura's pale forehead. Her eyes glistened with moisture.
"A… contract?"
"From now on, you will find all meaning in me. You are my sword. When I give an order, you obey. When I command slaughter, you carry it out. Slay my enemies. For my sake."
I gently brushed away the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes with my finger. Even crying, she was beautiful. She probably hadn't washed in days by now, but Laura's sorrowful beauty hadn't diminished by even a fraction.
"In return, I will give you my love."
"My Lord…"
"Eternal love. A love so absolute that no doubt would dare encroach upon it."
Laura gazed at me with hazy eyes.
Without a moment's hesitation, she opened her lips.
"Yes, my Lord… I swear it! I swear that my life will be used solely for my Lord! If my Lord does not wish for it, then this girl does not wish for it either, and if my Lord does not command it, then this girl will not command it of herself!"
"I'm glad."
I smiled brightly.
That's right.
A person must take full responsibility for what they have done.
Talk of pretense or falsehood—that sort of wordplay is utterly trivial. You did this, therefore you bear this. Before this absolute duty, everything is ordered to shed its weight.
If you didn't have the resolve to see it through to the very end, you should never have begun in the first place.
Once you've begun, you walk on in silence to the very end.
"As expected, I only have you, Laura. If it hadn't been for you, I would have long since been dead. Elizabeth, Henrietta—none of them frighten me. All I need is you, Laura."
Joy spread across Laura's face.
I smiled playfully and gave her a light tap on the head.
"But Laura is incompetent beyond matters of strategy and resources. You also desperately need the help of others. Lapis, for example, possesses a talent that you lack. Understood?"
"Mm… If they are someone my lord needs, then they are someone I must also need."
"That's right. In order that we may love each other forever."
Laura's breathing had visibly steadied. The tears she had been shedding seemed to have been completely absorbed by the hem of my clothes.
Now for one final word of caution.
"So you mustn't go around punishing others arbitrarily. You mustn't be jealous, either. Things like that make me sad… If you always remember the simple fact that you are the most important person to me, you'll find it easy to endure."
"I understand, my lord. I will keep it firmly in mind."
Laura smiled.
It was a smile as beautiful as cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Ah. I love you, Laura.
— I truly loved you.