“Lady Lauraaa…!”
[…!]
With a whoosh, Laura’s avatar slipped out of Irene’s palm and headed out of the laboratory.
I hurriedly followed and saw Laura clenching her fists tightly as if gathering all her strength, squinting her eyes.
Suddenly, her body abruptly expanded in size.
At this, tears welled up once more in Irene’s eyes.
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t enlarge yourself anymore…?”
[…!!]
“Ah! Because all the mana accumulated in your avatar has dissipated, you’re fully recovered!?”
[…!]
Laura’s avatar nodded, smiling brightly.
She spun around the garden as if delighted, then returned to Irene, reverted to her tiny size, and settled on her palm.
‘Does the Evil God’s avatar become more harmful as it accumulates mana?’
Normally, mana is the source of life.
Therefore, it’s generally beneficial to accumulate mana and harmful to lose it.
But in the case of the Evil God’s avatar, it’s the complete opposite.
When it accumulates mana, its activity and functions decline. If it accumulates beyond a certain threshold, it seems to fall into a state of suspended animation called “mana sleep” until it sufficiently decomposes the mana.
It appears to have a completely different physiology from ordinary creatures or spirits.
‘Wait, other creatures are also harmed if they absorb excessive mana.’
At that moment, recalling that excessive mana is the cause of monster transformations, I realized.
Excessive mana is harmful to anyone.
Looking at it this way, the Evil God’s avatar doesn’t seem so different from other creatures.
“Ah.”
[…!]
She slipped out of Irene’s hand and flew toward me—the mini Laura’s avatar.
As I reached out my hand, Laura’s avatar hopped onto it.
Then, smiling happily, she rubbed her cheek against my palm.
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ grinds her teeth as if displeased.]
[…!?]
At that moment, Laura’s avatar jumped as if startled.
She trembled and fled into Irene’s embrace.
Is she that frightened because of Kali?
Is Kali’s power stronger than I thought?
‘No way.’
That can’t be. Laura is probably just an Evil God of lower rank than Kali.
If she’s lower than Kali, just how low is she…?
When I first saw Laura, she seemed terrifying.
Now, she’s starting to seem utterly weak.
No, rather than incompetent, perhaps I should say she looks cute…
“Ah, anyway! I’m glad it wasn’t a big deal! Th-thank you! I’ll be going now!”
“Where are you trying to run off to? We still have matters to settle, don’t we?”
“…What?”
“…”
Trying to slip away, Irene was caught by me and flinched, her body trembling.
I formed a circle with my thumb and index finger and showed it to Irene, who was looking at me with trembling eyes.
“You have to pay the consultation fee before you go.”
“W-what consultation fee…! It was just mana sleep! It would have woken up on its own over time anyway!”
“But we didn’t know that until just now. If I had sent you back without resolving anything, could you have waited calmly until Lady Laura woke up? Even if it took weeks or months?”
“Ugh…”
“Now you get it. I didn’t just fix Lady Laura’s avatar. I relieved you of months of mental anguish all at once.”
“T-there might be… some truth to that…”
Even if I hadn’t fixed Laura’s avatar and sent it back, it wouldn’t have been a big problem.
We would only have had to wait a bit for it to decompose the mana and return to normal.
But could Irene’s mental state have held out until then?
For months—not just days or weeks—consumed by the fear that she might have lost Laura’s avatar forever?
It would have been impossible.
Just seeing how Irene came to me in tears, anyone could have easily inferred that.
Irene, perhaps unable to deny that fact, ground her teeth but couldn’t say anything.
“If you’ve received help, shouldn’t you pay the proper price?”
“Ugh…”
“Wow! Mister, you look really evil!”
“That’s like something a mastermind villain would say…”
“…”
Charlotte’s eyes sparkled with admiration.
Julia slightly opened her mouth in apparent admiration. I was sure I had said something reasonable and ordinary.
Why does it end up like this?
Sister, please stop trembling like that.
Otherwise, it looks like an evil villain is threatening an innocent woman.
“Wh-what should I… do…?”
“I want to conduct some experiments involving you, Sister. So please cooperate. We’ll call it even for the consultation fee.”
“W-what did you say!?”
Her face flushed bright red.
Then Irene glared at me with eyes full of bewilderment, contempt, and embarrassment.
I wondered why she was acting like that…
“Ugh…! I can’t believe my own brother was harboring such filthy fantasies about me…! I really, really hate it, but… if you absolutely have to accept your payment that way…”
“…Ah.”
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ sighs and shakes her head.]
Even while trembling, Irene slowly approached me.
With a look that seemed to say “Just kill me”, she appeared to have resigned herself.
Only then did I realize what misunderstanding Irene was under.
“No, I’m conducting black magic research, and so far I’m the only person who has absorbed Neomium. I want to add you as another sample to increase the data’s reliability…”
“Oh.”
“…”
“Um. Hmm? Is that it? I knew it. Yes, I knew everything. I was just pretending not to know. I wanted to see how you’d react. I was just testing whether you’re a perverted bastard looking at your sister with lecherous eyes. Yeah…”
“…”
With her face flushed bright red, Irene fanned herself furiously, babbling incoherently.
I was left speechless.
Sister… Why do you keep creating your own embarrassing moments…
.
.
.
‘I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die…’
Sitting on the lab table, Irene covered her face with both hands and sobbed in distress.
This is driving me crazy.
Why do I only show such embarrassing sides to Aslan?
Last time, I was dragged into the inner world and forced to confront an unwanted past.
This time, I ended up crying and causing a scene over nothing.
If I think about it, it’s all self-inflicted.
But Aslan isn’t entirely blameless.
Ever since that day when I leaned on Aslan to escape from the Other World, for some reason, I relax whenever I see him, and my mind feels at ease.
‘I really hate it… Because of you, my poker face is completely falling apart…’
If you ask whether that’s a good thing, absolutely not.
I’ve maintained my poker face for over ten years.
Hiding my true feelings so thoroughly that I no longer remember what’s genuine, I’ve acted out a personality befitting the ‘Vermont’ name.
But with just one glance from Aslan, it all crumbles.
It’s so frustrating I could die. How much effort I’ve put into maintaining this image.
My ‘cool beauty ice queen’ persona has been completely exposed.
If it were only in front of Aslan, that would be one thing.
But even in front of Aslan’s bodyguard and those tiny little kids he’s raising to devour…
Ah! I’m so embarrassed I could die!
I want to die!
Before long, Irene’s sobbing turned into wailing.
“You’re still at it? Don’t you get tired of this?”
“Would you be able to stop if you were me? The image I’ve maintained all my life is being shattered.”
“You should be worrying that it might get even more broken.”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to spread today’s events everywhere!?”
Smack!
Irene twisted her face and grabbed Aslan by the collar.
However, Aslan, with a calm expression, simply let her grab him.
“Can’t I spread it?”
“Just try spreading it… I’ll kill you… I’ll really kill you… I’ll kill you and then follow you in death…”
“…”
Sobbing, Irene pushed Aslan into a chair.
She pressed the heel of her high heel into the inside of Aslan’s thigh.
Even so, Aslan didn’t budge.
…Well, maybe he flinched a little.
“Do I look like I’m joking!?”
“I don’t know about jokes, but it looks like you’re bluffing.”
“What…!?”
“Before, I wondered why I was ever afraid of you, sister. There’s no reason for a brother to fear a sister who’s soft-hearted, timid, and cares deeply for those around her.”
“Wh-what do you mean…!”
“Isn’t it okay to stop that act now? There’s no father to bind you anymore.”
“…”
“Unless it’s because of that, do you still want revenge on me?”
“…!”
As if he’d hit the nail on the head, Irene’s body flinched and trembled.
Aslan was right.
There was no reason to maintain the ‘cool beauty ice queen’ persona or pose as a villainess.
Nevertheless, if there was a reason she couldn’t stop, it was indeed to pay back Aslan.
To make Aslan, the very person who created this villainess, regret it.
Focusing solely on that, even after Father died, she lived on without shedding this mask.
But if her hatred towards Aslan was gradually fading…
If her desire for revenge was subsiding…
Then what was she supposed to live for now…?
“I don’t know…”
“…”
Tell me. Tell me.
Because he made her like this.
Please take responsibility and teach her how to take off this villainess mask.
As if pleading, Irene tightly grabbed Aslan’s hand that was holding his collar.
