“What did you do to her? And what is this about the Demon King?” Sathya asked.
She realized her special chains had been undone.
Not only that, but relying on her perception as a magical beast, she discovered that Sister Tina had also left.
“I'm sorry, Lady Sathya. I'm a nuisance,” Shetiel said immediately, filled with shame. She could tell Sathya was angry.
The Demon King.
Sathya had first sensed this existence before the Time Reversal.
When humanity was tormented to their absolute limit by magical beasts, nearly all the scholars of the Tower of Stars began researching topics related to them.
The scholars and she had agreed that the only reason the magical beasts could unite and coordinate strategies was because of a leader who stood above them all.
They relied on and trusted one another, and they even had a wise leader.
And that leader was also a magical beast—an existence powerful enough to single-handedly stand against an entire civilization, which was why the demons followed her commands.
However, that Demon King had never once shown herself until the very end of the war.
Sathya did not know how many magical beasts still existed in the world.
Even when her transformation into a magical beast was discovered by the Church, and she was hunted to the brink of death, she had never encountered the real “Demon King.”
But after the Time Reversal, she discovered traces of someone resembling the Demon King.
—Velrose had been turned into a magical beast with the help of the Demon King.
She had become a rational magical beast before she could cause any catastrophic destruction.
Later, high-ranking members of the Church were assassinated one after another, matching the exact pattern of the Demon King's movements after the outbreak of the magical beasts.
Finally, she had discovered the Demon King in the fortress where Babarol was stationed.
The Chaos Mask hid her identity, but the obsession she exuded and the resentment buried in her aura allowed Sathya to immediately confirm that she was indeed the Demon King.
—She had used a young girl's body as a cover and the Chaos Mask as a disguise.
To a magical beast, the Demon King's orders were absolute.
But upon learning that the Demon King wanted to hurt Sister Tina, Sathya decided to wage war against her. She absolutely would not allow anyone to harm the person she loved—she would not even tolerate their existence.
She had launched a fierce assault on the Demon King, using all her strength to brand her with a curse.
A curse that tortured the Demon King every single second.
And things had gone smoothly; she found the Demon King on the top floor of the library, and the curse had not dissipated.
The curse easily subdued the Demon King.
But she discovered the truth was different from what she had imagined.
The Demon King was tortured to the point of agony, falling to her knees and even showing signs of submission... throughout the entire process, she never once resisted, nor did she show any intent to kill.
She suddenly recalled that the Demon King had never actually harmed her, only dodging her attacks.
And coincidentally, at the exact same time she had branded the curse, Sister Tina had fallen ill.
Was it truly just a coincidence?
When the Demon King was on the verge of death, clutching the ring on her ring finger, the truth seemed to lay itself bare.
Sathya could see the sorrow in her eyes through the mask as she knelt on the ground.
That tattered maid uniform also seemed to prove something...
Sister Tina also had a well-fitting maid uniform.
The ring I gave her was worn on the exact same finger.
“Sister Tina?”
The moment she uttered that name, the Demon King's body shuddered violently.
Was Sister Tina... the Demon King?
No... she couldn't accept it.
Rather than being unable to find proof, Sathya was simply unwilling to admit this truth that was practically staring her in the face.
For instance, she could have checked Sister Tina's body for the curse while she was unconscious.
Or she could have directly confronted Tina, telling her she was the Demon King and that she had been found out, just to test her reaction.
But Sathya hadn't done any of that.
She was afraid to face the truth: perhaps Sister Tina was already on the verge of collapse and about to turn into one of her own kind. It was a painful process that would leave permanent, unhealable scars on her soul, burden her with an inescapable obsession, and turn her into the kind of monster people spoke of with dread.
...She had watched with her own eyes as Tina was burned at the stake, and then spent over seventy years protecting her body from the world.
She had once intended to die together with Sister Tina, but later, she only wanted to see a healthy, smiling Sister Tina.
She would give herself and Tina time; perhaps they could become friends again.
Does she hate me, or does she like me?
She didn't know, she wasn't sure...
She didn't want to face it.
She had walked through the forest for a very, very long time, sitting on a steep cliffside and staring blankly at the tiny Holy Academy in the distance. She thought about the past and the future, remembering that her own magic core had shown signs of reviving, and realized that perhaps life wasn't so bad after all. She could endure. For Sister Tina, for love, she could keep living this otherwise meaningless life.
On that day, Sister Tina had followed her, sitting down by her side.
Tina had noticed her suspicion.
Tina lay in her lap, clutching her head in painful struggle. The obsessed state she had been hiding all this time was almost completely exposed right before Sathya's eyes.
And so, Sathya had said:
“I am by your side. I will always be by your side, so don't be afraid~”
“I will always stay with you.”
“Once you're fully recovered, let's go on a date. I'll take care of you, Sister Tina.”
Tina was suffering; she could not be hurt by anyone else ever again, even if that person was herself.
...So, she had bound Tina.
It was better for her to handle the conspiracy of the White Dusk Forest, rather than letting Sister Tina's condition worsen.
...
But all of this had been disrupted.
Sister Tina had woken up, breaking free of restraints that even the old Tina could never have broken.
Why was Shetiel so certain of the Demon King's existence? And how did she even know the Demon King wanted to kill the Cardinal?
Shetiel shouldn't have known about the Demon King, Tina shouldn't have woken up, and the Demon King shouldn't have appeared here.
Sathya thought of a terrifying existence, but what was more important right now was where Sister Tina was.
“Big Sister Demon King likes you very much, Lady Sathya. She did all of this for your sake.”
Sathya's expression grew complex, her voice trembling slightly.
“She said... what?”
“She said it's wonderful, and that she's very happy to build a ‘kingdom of magical beasts’ with us~” Shetiel replied.
A kingdom of magical beasts?!
Sathya rushed out of the wooden cabin, left the subspace, and passed through the door hanging in midair.
Wings condensed from holy light materialized behind her as she quickly flew to where Velrose was waiting.
Velrose was currently sitting quietly on the ground, resting. Upon hearing Sathya's voice, she immediately opened her green eyes, her tattered clothing bearing witness to the dangerous battle that had occurred not long ago.
Velrose lifted her skirt and curtsied.
“Lady Sathya.”
“Where is the Demon King?”
“She has already left. She wouldn't let me follow her...”
Rumble—!
As if to confirm that Velrose was telling the truth, a thunderous explosion rang out. The flash of lightning and crash of thunder that followed made Velrose shudder, her hair standing on end like a startled cat, cutting her words short.
The sound came from outside the castle. The ground trembled violently, and even in the very core of the White Dusk Forest, the shaking could be felt clearly.
There was not much time left.
Rate on N.U.
