Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

192 – Those Who Sit Above (End)

Giggles, high and clear,

a village where children’s laughter

knows no end.

Perhaps it is due to the radiant

crimson glow behind them,

but today it seems exceptionally beautiful.

It’s a scene of the village, almost palpable.

“No, so, what I’m saying is,

what I told him then was…!”

“Reina, another round here!!”

“Ah, yes!! Coming right up!!”

People, having completed their honest,

humble daily tasks, were noisily chatting,

raising their glasses to one another.

“You worked hard today, honey.”

“What? Looking after the little one

and toiling away at home all day,

you worked harder than me.”

“Hehe… you sure know how to talk pretty~?”

A wife warmly greets her husband,

who has worked all day, and

a husband lovingly treats his wife,

who couldn’t even rest her weary body

all day as she waited for him and smiled.

“Hey, don’t even think about backing out today.

We’re all gathered because of you.”

“No… I still think drinking

is a little…”

“Aish, come on, you man.

Just shut up and come along, you punk!!”

“Wa…wait, U…Urgh!!”

There were also teenagers, indulging in

minor transgressions, hidden from the eyes of adults.

A village scene that seemed to

literally illustrate the word ‘harmony’.

And in this village, so harmonious that

it even seemed happy, it wouldn’t take much

for something calamitous to occur.

“Aah, annoying.”

“What troubles you, Your Majesty?”

A beautiful voice echoed from the

almost black, dark sky,

followed by a man’s

blindly devoted voice.

“Hmm? Just annoying, I guess?”

“How dare you!! Irritate Your

“Tell me, this instant, what the *one* cause is!”

The woman, ignorant of what sparked the man’s displeasure,

started emitting squeaking, pig-like

sobs.

Of course, in his own mind, he was

trying his hardest to appease his

“Queen,” flattering her with all his might,

but the woman, soaring through the sky with a captivating

smile playing on her lips,

found even that utterly disagreeable.

Well, the biggest reason was,

above all, his appearance,

but the fact that she felt nothing but

pure lust in his gaze was also a factor.

Forcing herself to conceal her

discomfort with his stare,

she clicked her tongue softly and once more gazed down at the distant village.

Affection, harmony, friendship overflowing in every glance.

All those gazes merging together

to create a blissful sense of happiness,

evoking, in those who witnessed it,

an involuntary surge of envy.

“Your Majesty, you seem particularly

ill at ease today…?”

‘…Tch.’

“I knew it! You’re still not

completely soothed, are you? I shall immediately…!”

Still oblivious to his place,

his face flushed crimson,

casting furtive glances at the woman’s chest,

the man unsheathed his sword with a *schwing*, causing

the woman to furrow her brow once more.

If the annoyance she felt just moments ago

stemmed from the harmony of others,

the irritation now blossoming

within her heart originated from pure disgust,

and the difference in magnitude was undeniable.

“Speak, tell me! What on earth has

offended Your Majesty’s sensibilities?!”

“Hmph… first, that village.”

Finally, a flicker of amusement danced on the tips of the woman’s fingers,

fingers that pointed towards the village she had, just moments ago,

regarded with such placid contentment.

Simultaneously, the dozens of wings behind her

launched their assault upon the village.

“You mean *that* village, my Queen?!”

“Mhm, that’s the one~”

“We could advance even now and raze the village, root and stem─!!”

“And you, you’re quite the nuisance as well.”

“..Are you referring to me?”

Whether he hadn’t imagined the Queen’s noble

finger would be directed at him,

or whether it was a premonition of

the events about to unfold, was unclear,

but the man, who had been so blustering

just a moment before, now found

his cheeks inexplicably flushed.

“Yes, I’d very much prefer it if you would die.”

To him, the woman bestowed

an unchanging, alluring smile,

while miming the act of slitting her throat with a finger.

An expression of pure, unveiled malice,

a candid expression of her distaste

for a man who made no secret of his lust for her.

“As you wish.”

But astonishingly,

the man actually obeyed the order.

And with a joyful expression, at that.

As if merely receiving a command

from her filled him with a transcendent ecstasy.

*Scrshhh─*

Without a single death cry,

the two mangled halves plunged from the sky,

and as if to compensate for the

unuttered final gasp,

screams began to erupt from the village not long after.

“Haa… now I’m starting to feel a little better~”

“My Queen, all that you commanded has been completed.”

And at that very instant,

another shadow flickered into being beside the woman.

A shadow suspended in the void, just as she was, with no footing to speak of.

“Oh? Were you there then?”

“..To speak of the outcome first,

not a trace could be found.”

“..Really?”

“I apologize, punishment I shall

accept as the Queen sees fit─”

“No, well… I wasn’t expecting it to

definitely be there anyway~”

“….”

“Shall we rise and observe then?

Or perhaps you desire to join them down there?”

“..That is not my wish.”

“Indeed, the rutting of pigs

likely does not excite you, does it?”

“….”

“Then let us listen quietly~

It shall be over soon enough regardless.”

“..As the Queen commands.”

And so, the cries of anguish began to resonate all around,

and she, as though it were

some grand symphony,

calmly closed her eyes and began to listen,

and the moonlight of the inky sky,

which silently watched all of this,

did not rebuke her.

It merely maintained its silence.

*

“So… all of this

is merely the business of one village?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“The entire village slaughtered, and furthermore

each one dismembered, raped, beheaded, and so on…”

Even though it is relayed through documents,

the ghastliness held within those words

does not simply vanish.

Moreover, next to that document,

If the state of the village was laid bare,

then all the more so.

“To think there are those who dare

commit such an act on Charlotte’s lands…”

“…”

“I thought I’d extinguished all who

would bring harm to my lands… or was I wrong?

“…I will dispatch men to discover

who is responsible for this deed.”

“Nay, that won’t be necessary. I doubt

those who commit such a deed so brazenly

would leave behind a trace.”

“…”

“Such an audacious declaration, in broad

daylight, is a first in my lifetime, wouldn’t you agree?”

Hahahaha─

Though others who knew nothing

might not have noticed,

Gustave, who had remained at his side the longest, could perceive it.

How much wrath lay hidden

behind that amiable laughter.

Fine veins began to surface,

on a face that usually maintained such a poker face.

A hairline crack, thinner than

a spider’s silk, was appearing

on his ironclad mask, which seemed as though it could never be shattered.

And in that instant, Gustave knew, instinctively,

that whoever was responsible

for this act,

or rather, whether the thing that had done

this could even be called a person,

they would never die a peaceful death.

“Well, even so, perhaps it’s best

to dispatch some men, just in case.”

“..I will select and send the most skilled.”

“Aye, if need be, I’ll lend you my hounds.”

“Ah, and… this is regarding

another matter entirely, but…”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“A report has come in, milady, of a great disturbance

in the western territories.”

“..A great disturbance?”

“Yes, there was no significant damage, but

the surrounding terrain is riddled with these sword marks…”

“..Let me see, give it here.”

And upon the documents Charlotte received,

were, in truth, sword marks that looked as though they sought

to cleave the very mountain in two.

Sword marks so large and deep it was

difficult to believe a single blade could have wrought them.

The trees nearby were all

scattered about, reduced to hacked pieces,

and the surrounding rocks were pulverized,

their shapes unrecognizable, utterly shattered.

Whether caught in the aftershock,

I cannot say, but the corpses of animals lay scattered amongst the debris.

And above all, the massive size of the sword marks themselves, dwarfing everything else,

those sharp slashes

digging into the mountain range like so many fangs.

“….”

“..Milady?”

And the expression on Charlotte’s face as she

slowly examined those documents,

if it wasn’t a trick of the light, seemed

even more grim than before.

“..Ha, now even that aged

lion is raising hell in our territory.”

“..Pardon?”

“After so desperately clinging to his family, he leaves it

to his daughter and wanders about? Truly…”

“…?”

“He even reattached the arm he lost,

somewhere, somehow? Heh..”

“..I, I don’t understand what you mean?”

“Gustan, send men to investigate that village

thoroughly.

And you will come with me.”

“Yes…yes? Where are we going…”

“Westward, to the demesne.”

*

“Ugh… hmm? Young Master?

Why are you returning so late?”

“..There were matters requiring it.”

From the end of the sparring session,

a considerable amount of time had already passed,

and due to the unexpectedly

lengthy conversation with Duchess Charlotte,

by the time I returned

to the dormitory, the moon was

shining brightly above,

and what greeted me was

Ella, dozing on the sofa.

Judging from the neatly

folded clothes beside her,

she must have been waiting for me,

tired from doing chores,

and sleep still clung

to the corners of her eyes.

“Ugh… just wait a moment.

I’ll quickly prepare dinner for you─”

“No, it’s alright. You can

go in and sleep, Ella.”

“..Huh? Ah… did you eat already?”

“..Yes, so you should go

get some proper sleep.”

“Uhm… yes, good night…”

“..Ah, come to think of it, Ella.”

For a moment, Aria’s absence

from the manor weighed on me,

and I meant to ask Ella, who

had most recently spoken with her,

how she was doing.

But no matter how I looked at it,

Ella was clearly not in a state

to provide a proper answer.

How could a girl so deeply

drenched in sleep, barely able to support herself,

possibly offer a rational thought

or reply?

“Yes..?”

“..No matter, go in and sleep.

It’s alright if I ask you tomorrow.”

“Yes..”

She rubbed at her eyes like that,

and headed towards her room,

and I, watching her retreating back,

clutched at my stomach, empty and aching

from not having eaten anything, and headed for bed.

‘Tomorrow, please be a little..easier..’

Before I could even finish the thought,

sleep mercilessly poured over me,

and I fell into a deep slumber like that.

Still pointedly ignoring the moonlight

shining beautifully from the window.

*

“….”

“….”

“..Um, Lady Valentine,

what brings you here?”

“..My wounds are hurting.”

“….”

“As soon as I woke up this morning,

my whole body was aching all over.”

“….”

“I wondered what the senior

who inflicted these wounds on me was doing, so I came looking.”

“….”

“Is there a problem?”

Yes, there are many problems.

Of course, that only applies to me, though.

..Shit.

≪User stress levels rapidly increasing..!≫