chapter 13
13 – You didn’t know it would turn out like this?
Feeling a sudden, stabbing pain in the head, Ilia Agies opened his eyes.
But even when she opened her eyes, she and Ilya were in the same black darkness as before she opened them.
She was startled, but Ilya tried to move from the spot.
Click
Her Ilya’s body staggered with the sound of something dragging her object on the floor with her metal.
Ilya almost lost her balance and fell on the spot, but her Ilya’s body stopped in the air as if something had caught on her.
“What…What…?”
When she put her hand on what supported her own body, it was a steel chain.
Ilya, who had come to her senses, checked her own body.
Her waist was tied with large steel handcuffs, which were chained to the wall.
Ilya fell in front of her, and she was kept from falling by her handcuffs on the wall.
Realizing that she was imprisoned in the pitch-black darkness, Ilya was driven out of her mind by her fear.
Who the hell? For what purpose me?
At that time, light came in, albeit slightly, with the sound of something heavy moving.
When she looked around her, relying on the light that briefly came in, she saw stone walls and dull glowing iron bars here and there.
…Probably, it was a prison.
The sound of the door, presumably, came again and the darkness returned.
But then, the weak light came back in, and I heard the sound of footsteps and something dragging.
The sound of footsteps and the light were coming towards me.
A strong sense of tension flowed through Ilya’s body.
And then, when those footsteps stopped.
“Oh, I see you opened your eyes?”
It’s a voice I’ve never heard before. And very recently.
But the emotion in that voice was very unfamiliar.
Excitement, or joy.
It sounded completely different from the cold, dry voices I had just heard.
“I think the timing is really good. I thought it was time for a shift.”
“E…Miss Eve…? What the hell is this…”
Instead of answering, Eve opened the barred door of Ilia’s prison and came in.
Then he tossed something aside for Illia.
It thump! It fell beside Ilya with a loud sound.
Ilya involuntarily turned her gaze towards it.
And she immediately regretted it.
“Hick!”
It was a man in tattered clothes.
The clothes were tattered, but the body was clean.
But regardless, her face was terribly contorted with pain.
Saliva flowed out of her slightly open mouth, and she let out a feeble sigh.
“Huh…Chloe…?”
It was Chloe, the woman she had just been with, who was working as an exclusive attendant just like himself.
Ilya’s body began to tremble at the sight of her transformed appearance, which was a big gap from her usual self, who had always done her job faithfully with a calm expression.
“Puhyor”
Illia’s eyes shifted to Eve, the epicenter of the laughter.
Eve’s face reflected in her lamp was a distorted smile.
“Puheh…Ahahahaha!!”
Eve burst into laughter as if he couldn’t stand it any longer.
“hahahaha…No, I’m so sorry, it’s so funny.”
Withering away her bursting laughter, Eve looked at her Ilia.
Ilya couldn’t understand the situation.
Why?
I just came to deliver a letter…
Why am I being put in this way?
While thinking that way, Eve’s cold voice reached Ilia’s ears.
“You really didn’t expect this to happen?”
Ilya looked up at her Eve, trembling at her.
Eve’s expression, which had been filled with joy until just now, was filled with contempt.
“You’ve been scorning your master so long, you really didn’t know it was going to turn out this way?”
Ilya’s mind became more confused.
Despise her own master?
Me?
Eve looked at the scene and made a strange expression.
“You must be really unaware.”
Splash!
With a loud noise, a sharp pain hit Ilya’s right cheek.
At the same time, the feeling that her head is spinning.
At the same time, a cold voice entered Ilya’s ears.
“Well, now it doesn’t matter if you’re conscious or not.”
Splash!
And then the shock applied to the other cheek.
Now Ilya couldn’t come to his senses.
“It’s not my will~, or it’s been manipulated~ It’s too late at the latest.”
For hours, the sound of primitive beatings echoed through the prison.
By the time Eve caught her rough breath and stopped her aching hand, Ilya’s face was swollen from Eve’s one-sided assault.
Tears flowed from Ilya’s eyes due to the great pain and psychological shock.
“Sorry…Forgive me…”
“……”
She doesn’t think about anything, but Ilya just starts crying and begging for forgiveness.
But Eve’s eyes are bitterly cold.
No wonder, this is the scene I saw a few hours ago.
Because Chloe also showed that kind of side in front of one-sided violence.
Then…
Eve opened her mouth with a feeling of experimentation.
“Then, get out of the duchy.”
“…Yes?”
“I’m telling you to quit your job and get out of the Ignis family.”
“……”
“Can you do that?”
To be honest.
Working for a duke’s family, and as the exclusive servant of the duke’s family, is very attractive.
However, even after being beaten like this, she is not strong enough to keep going.
So, even if she said she would quit her job, Eve had no intention of letting her go.
I made the same suggestion to Chloe.
Like Ilia before her eyes, Chloe cried out for forgiveness because her heart was broken by the one-sided violence.
But the moment I heard the words ‘get out of the duchy’.
“That…Not as much as that!”
Ah, of course.
It’s the same reaction as Chloe.
It was like an instinct.
They refused to leave the duchy, as if that couldn’t happen.
“Why?”
“Uh…?”
“Why do you not want to leave the duchy?”
“That…That’s…”
Ilya put on a puzzled expression.
You make that kind of expression after all.
Even if Chloe was beaten to death, she didn’t want to leave the duchy, but she couldn’t explain why either.
As expected, there is something.
It’s not magical, but there’s no doubt that they’re being manipulated by something.
Eve decided that.
But outside of magic, there are limits to what she can investigate.
For the time being, we have no choice but to investigate the cause and countermeasures while observing and responding to the situation.
“Well, I can’t help it if I hate it that much.”
“…”
Ilya was still confused.
Because I was still saying to myself, ‘I…Why…’.
“I mean, I’ve hated you guys ever since I was little.”
Eve suddenly starts talking about herself.
Her face seemed to be looking somewhere far away.
“My loving family, and our Riel, who is more lovable and cute than anyone else.”
When he brings up the story of Riel, he has a very happy expression.
“All the attendants took care of us wholeheartedly, and at that time, words about how happy they were were not enough.”
And suddenly a chilly expression
“But the bastard appeared, Alan Ludwig.”
“……”
Alan’s name jumped out of Eve’s mouth.
When the name came up, Ilya reacted.
And Eve did not miss that reaction.
“At first, I thought it might be because he is polite and has a smooth face.”
Ilya’s body was convulsing slightly.
“By the way, it seems like everyone’s gone crazy and forgot who their owner is?”
Eve’s gaze turned to Chloe, who passed out with her distorted face.
“Even Chloe, who was loyal to me.”
Eve’s teeth grinding.
She went right next to Ilya and sat down in front of her, making eye contact with her.
“Even if I hit it, it was nothing with the strength of a child, and I was afraid that I would kill it when I used magic…”
Eve put her own face close to her Ilia.
Eve’s hand moved to Ilia’s swollen face, and a little of her magic began to radiate from her hand.
“Since I’m still young, it’s hard to meet my father who is out of the house, and since I’m trying to report by letter, the letters are stolen from each other.”
The magical power released from Eve’s hand was healing Ilia’s face.
However, Ilya showed no reaction with a blank expression.
“Well, I misunderstood and gave up on my own in the second half… But I’m still trying to correct it.”
Ilya muttered something softly with a blank face.
Let Eve see it and tilt her ear slightly towards her Ilia’s mouth.
“Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan…Alan. ..Alan…”
“……”
Eve looked at him with the same expression as expected.
Because Chloe also reacted like that when Alan’s name came up.
As expected, it must be Alan Ludwig.
What is he doing?
He doesn’t know the means, and he can’t get the evidence.
I felt very upset.
My stomach boils with resentment.
…Then, it should be resolved.
Slap!
Eve slaps Ilia’s face once more after her healing is over.
Shocked, Ilya looked at her Eve as if she had come to her senses.
“Uh…? Uh uh…?”
“…So is Chloe, she’s really out of her mind.”
Eve frees Ilia from the handcuffs.
Ilya was released from her handcuffs and became free, but she only trembled as she noticed Eve’s pressure.
Eve grabbed her by the nape of her neck.
“I knew you didn’t want to leave the duchy.”
“That… Yes…”
“Then, I’ll have to make him want to go out.”
Like that, Eve grabbed Ilia tightly and started dragging her somewhere.
Ilya is dragged along without being able to judge how the situation is going.
“What…What are you going to do…?”
“I mean, I fought a lot after joining the Order of Wizards, didn’t I?”
Ilia looked at Eve with a blank expression at Eve’s sudden story.
“Well, basically, I dealt with monsters, but there were many cases where I dealt with people, such as thieves and bounty criminals.”
Eve was smiling.
It was definitely a gentle smile, but somehow Ilya felt afraid and frightened by that smile.
“So, I guess I can tell by my senses how much people burn and die.”
“Ser… Can’t it…?”
“Chloe endured for quite some time before she ended up like that, but how long can you last?”
Ilya could only scream and struggle.