Dida's eyes were slowly but surely turning red and flushed.
　It's the same as when she first met Ion.
　The black tattoos crawling all over her body and the blood-red eyes.

　Dida must tell only the truth, the lie she told.
　As a result of that lie, Dida had to bear the crest of the prison.

　But it's still within our expectations so far.

'Ha ............ ha ha ....... I don't have the strength ...... this is the prison crest or .......

　Dida muttered, half-heartedly.
　The prisoner proves to be a serious criminal in this country.
　One who has been forsaken by God. One who disobeys God's name.
　But if it was Dida, the Solo family would be able to take custody of him and exorcise the prison crests with a spirit stone.
　Normally, it seems to be detained as a serious criminal, but this country should not be that tightly packed. It is even more so if you are dealing with authority figures.
　Well, it seems to be the general custom that people with a prison crest are abandoned even by their relatives, but when you're as big as Dida, you won't be cut off so easily.
　That's why Dida chose the prison crest rather than the disadvantage of speaking the truth.

　And I wasn't going to pursue it any further.
　Rather, Dida was still pitch black.
　I didn't take any action, but there was no doubt in my mind that he was involved.

'...... Mr. Dida. I understand that you took on that jailbait with some determination, but I wanted you to tell me the truth. That was all I wanted. ...... I'm sorry.

　While spending sleepless nights on the couch, I had been thinking about some of my response plans.
　Of course, I knew that there was a high probability of this kind of outcome - but I still had a strong feeling that it was going to be like this after all.

　If Dida was going to tell the whole truth without lying, she was going to make him forget about it by pretending that what he told her was not 'time-reversal magic', that is, Deanna's recovery magic, and then let him go.
　Of course, he'd get the money and bind me with a spirit contract to never mess with him again.

　But it wasn't to be.
　I have no choice but to - I have to kill him.



　◇◆◆◆◇



　I quietly pressed the stop recording button on the camera.
　All that had happened up to this point had been captured by the recording function of my digital camera.
　People in this world don't know about cameras (let alone their relatives). So Dida was somewhat skeptical but didn't say anything, either.

　The best way to get rid of him was to have Dida say everything, record it, have him forget what he said and let him go, and then show the recording to the priest and have him legally hunt him down. It was.
　That way, there's less chance of anything happening to us, and we can leave him in the hands of the law.
　Of course, it will result in the death penalty.
　There's even the possibility that he'll be executed by the entire clan.
　But even if that happened, it had nothing to do with me.

　But that wasn't the case.
　It's a good thing that you're not going to be able to get away with it, because it's not going to be able to be cured by Deanna's recovery magic, nor can it be released.


I'm sure you've all believed in me and watched over me. It's been decided that Dida will be treated.
What are you going to do?　You've succeeded in getting him to bear the prison crest, and you're going to call it a hand strike?　I don't mean to be blunt, but to that extent, this man--
I'm going to kill him.

　There's nothing we can do about it, not after what's happened.
　If we keep him alive, he'll be a danger to all of us who know his secrets.

'Hi ...... hahahahaha!　You're killing him!　After all!　Kill, kill, kill!　I'm as good as dead if this happens anyway!

　Dida screams like a madman.
　Loss of a blessing.
　It doesn't matter to me, but blessings are so heavy for people in this world.
　And more importantly, prison crests.

　To be honest, I didn't want to choose to kill them.
　I wanted to give him some kind of reason to go home alive.
　That's a shame.

"I am. I was going to forgive you if you told me the truth and got through it without losing your blessing. I mean, I said I would forgive you first, didn't I?　You couldn't, after all.
Do you think I would have believed that ......
'It's up to you not to believe it. ...... And the spirit contract was firmly in place for me, too. 'If you lie, you lose your blessing,' they say.

　Dida was given an anomalous spirit contract content, but the contract was firmly made on my side as well, 'If you lie, you lose your blessing'.
　Now that Dida's blessing is lost, the contract itself is annulled.

'Well, Dida. The former emperor and all that stuff is actually a bonus, and the point of this case is that you tried to kill me. So if I forgave you, that was a deal breaker. The truth is.

'I don't know about the former emperor ...... I don't know anything about him. All I know is that I've heard rumors about him.
Yeah. So you want to tell me about this rumor?

　Let's hear it for now.
　Well, there's no contract already. There's a good chance you're lying.

"You have a missing princess, right?　Rumor has it that that one, the third son of the former emperor, poisoned his father, the former emperor, in order to become emperor himself.

　Oops.
　You want to deny the involvement of the Solo family at this point in time.
　But ...... you stepped on a land mine, this guy.

"If you managed to poison him successfully, how did he go missing?
The rumor is that my brother, the current emperor, somehow learned the truth and handled it in secret.
'I see. So you're saying that the Solo family was never involved then?
Of course. We're just merchants, you know.

　Well, but I can't help but make these excuses.
　Because, no way--

I didn't expect him to be there: ......
......?　What are you talking about ......?

　I took a step back, and Ion took a step forward.
　As expected, not many parties would be able to keep quiet in this development.
　Not only Aeon, but Rebecca and Hetty-san are both filled with power, as if they are about to draw their swords and flash them at any moment.

''I'm sorry, Ayase-san,''

　Aeon stepped in front of Dida and, if he was quick to say so, removed his mask.
　Revealing, his true face.

'Dida Barbacro. It's been a long time. How can you say such worldly words as ...... I poisoned your father ...... and so on,
'To ...... ......?　...... Huh?

　Aeon stares straight at Dida with her slitted, cool eyes.

'Nah ...... stupid ...... no way.'

　Dida's face turns startled.
　It's hard to tell because it's dyed in prison crests, but that's exactly what happens when you lose your bloodlust.

　I ended up pondering what to do about Ion.
　To be clear, I was thinking that if I was going to kill him, I could have him get revenge on Ion himself.
　But that's the risky side of things, and I'm not sure if that's really a good idea, so I've been putting it on hold, but--

I won't let you tell me you've forgotten my face .......

　Oshirasu.
　Ooh-oh-oh!
　Don't tell me you don't recognize this Lucreion.

"So ...... that face ............ is Princess Lucreon ...... ............?　Why ......
'Why would ....... Did Zach's regret give me the opportunity to get my revenge?

　Aeon takes out a dagger from his pocket.
　A replica of the dagger that Isaac received from the Emperor.
　Aeon has been carrying it around with her for a long time.

Aeon!
'Ayase-san ...... I'm sorry ....... I thought I didn't need to get ...... revenge when Ayase-san told me that I would be happy ...... and that Zack would be happy too. And now.

　Aeon removed the scabbard, exposing that beautiful blade of the dagger.
　The cutting edge, more than sharp enough to kill each person, shone in the sunlight.

'You weren't ...... dead, were you ......?　Princess Lucreon.
'As you can see. I was surprised that it was you, even your father's avenger, but if so, I must kill you, even more so. ...... Ayase, you're good. I promise to serve you for the rest of my life. So, just for now ...... let me just get this revenge.

　There was no time to stop.
　Aeon dove into Dida's chest silently with a fluffy and quiet motion and thrust his blade at her.



　◇◆◆◆◆◆.



So, Miss Hetty, it's nice to meet you.
You can count on us. Giraud, please take care of Aeon at .......
Yes, sir.

　Hetty hid the bag of bodies in the luggage compartment of the carriage and left.
　I walked away from it, hugging the still mesmerized Ion.

'...... Well, but. I guess that's a wrap. Aeon ...... okay?
Ugh ...... yeah ....... It's okay. I'm just feeling overwhelmed. ...... I hope this makes your father and Zach feel a little better about it.
I think so.

　I honestly don't know if this was really the right thing to do.
　Even the killing was something I was prepared to do, I was ready to put my hand down, but Ion ended up doing it.
　You're right when you say that I didn't have time to stop him, but I still feel like I really should have done it.
　Well, there's no point in goofing off now.

But from now on, let's just live our lives thinking of fun things. This is the end of revenge.
I know. I promised you that I would be devoted to you for the rest of my life, Ayase. I'm looking forward to working with you from now on.

　He squeezes and hugs me tightly after saying that.
　Is it good for Mr. Isaac? No, I guess it means my revenge is made and I'm blown away.

"For the rest of your life or not, ......, nice to see you again.

　From this day on, it seems like Aeon has gone from "Princess Lucreon" to "Aeon".
　In order to break the ties of the past, this revenge may have been necessary for him to move forward in the true sense of the word.

　Incidentally, Dida's body was brought in secret to Dida's permanent lodge.
　The automata, stripped naked and further undressed, was left in an operational state.
　The automata was fed Dida's hair.
　Since the prison crests are gone when he dies, it would appear that in the circumstances the automata was killed by eating his hair when he tried to do something erotic to the automata .......
　Or rather, if you can fool the Solo family side. The average person doesn't know about the automata and will wonder why they died or were killed, hence the Solo family's will think that the automata is the killer.
　In a world where forensics doesn't exist, this should be deceptive enough.
　Well, regardless of that, there's a possibility that the Solo family will come here for questioning.
　There is a possibility, but that's the time to do it.
　In the meantime, we'll make sure our knights and shop are strong enough.



　--At a later date.
　It was reported that Dida's body was found in the inn's bedroom.
　Since the site where the body was found was suspicious, a priest was sent from the temple to inspect the scene.
　Since the assassination tool was next to him, it was assumed that he had been killed by his own magic tool, either by a runaway magic tool or by accident.
　The doll was temporarily placed in the custody of the temple, but was later transported to the imperial capital along with the wounded, cleaned and preserved spirit-magically treated corpse.