Cecilia Saten's Revenge (6)
*Thud— Thud—*
Saten approached the fallen Lennon.
He lay on the ground, unable to control his body.
"You look pathetic. Like a dead cockroach—it suits you perfectly."
"...I don't understand why I'm beneath a bitch like you."
"Do I really need to explain it? It's because of the dignity you beat into me with your whip every single day."
The whip called dignity.
The whip that struck down on her for behavior unbecoming of the Cecilia family.
Dignity forcibly shoved into her head and body.
During her time in captivity, Saten had plenty of time to think about dignity on her own.
"People who think they have dignity rate themselves highly. Unlike how the world sees them, they become trapped in their own thoughts. They become arrogant. Just like you."
"...I lost for such a trivial reason? Ha, I'm speechless."
Lennon let out a bitter laugh and wiggled his fingers, trying to grab the whip that had fallen nearby.
Saten walked over quietly and lightly stepped on Lennon's hand.
"You damn bitch... stepping on my precious hand...? Get off right—"
"Be quiet. Just answer my questions."
*Crunch—*
Saten crushed Lennon's hand with the tip of her shoe.
The sound of tearing muscle echoed all around.
The Hero Party held their breath at Saten's violent actions.
"I can't breathe... the air is too heavy..."
"M-me too! Saten's even scarier than usual...!"
*Gasp—*
Two people unable to breathe in the heavy air.
Between Luna and Estia, Hare, who had briefly left, walked over.
"...What are you guys doing?"
"Y-you traitor! You show up now that it's over?! Are you even human? I could never trust a thief like you to watch my back!"
"...You're saying I betrayed you?"
"Of course it's betrayal! Are you saying it's not?!"
"...That's funny."
Hare smirked and countered Luna's outcry.
Luna flinched momentarily at her confident demeanor, as if she'd done nothing wrong.
*'Did I do something wrong? Why is she so confident?'*
Such confidence that it made her question herself.
Hare went even further and stood right in front of Luna.
"A-are you threatening me because you're taller than me? I'm not scared of that kind of thing!"
"...No, I'm just trying to establish the facts."
"Facts?"
"Yeah, facts. You think I betrayed you, but I'll show you the facts that prove I didn't."
Hare stretched out her hand and extended her fingers.
"One, when those undead started attacking Mister, how were we supposed to stop them? I saved Mister while you were all panicking."
"Well, that's true, but... I was going to make a cool entrance and save Mister too!"
"Two, I escaped the encirclement before you got trapped. You idiots just stood there."
"I-I'm not an idiot! I had a plan—"
"And three, the caster controlling the undead was defenseless, so I was trying to exploit that opening. Do you still think I'm a traitor?"
"F-fine... I get it... You're not a traitor..."
*Sulk—*
*I'm the hero of the Hero Party, so why is Hare talking like she's the leader...*
Luna pouted to express her dissatisfaction.
"Since Saten dealt with that guy, Luna, just watch quietly and then pick up the Holy Sword. Got it?"
"Even heroes have their pride..."
"...What was that, Luna?"
"N-nothing!"
However, her complaints didn't work at all.
Luna gripped the Holy Sword in her hand and decided to quietly watch as the twisted father-daughter relationship came to an end and Saten gained her freedom.
Saten was still pinning down the immobile Lennon with her shoe.
"Just answer my questions."
"What... why I made your life hell...?"
"Yes."
"You're asking the obvious. Because you killed my wife. There's no other reason."
*Crunch—*
Saten mercilessly stepped on Lennon's right hand.
It became unrecognizable, so Saten calmly moved to the other hand.
She voiced the question that still hadn't been resolved.
"Answer my question. Why did you persecute and abuse me?"
"I've told you many times. You killed my wife—"
"Not that answer. There's a real reason, isn't there?"
*Crunch—*
Saten stepped on his left hand again.
Lennon's blood flow had stopped and he couldn't move, so he could only endure it and bit his lip.
He was disgusted with himself for failing to maintain his dignity.
"You devil..."
"Hurry up and tell me. You love dignity so much, so why aren't you trying to end this honorably? Or should I say it myself?"
The real reason you tormented me.
The real reason you tried to find me after I left home.
"You were going to use me as the knights' dog, then kill and discard me when I became useless. Because I knew facts I shouldn't have known."
"Stop talking."
"You silence me because I know the truth. But you don't want to dirty your hands because it would tarnish your dignity."
"Stop."
"You should have been happy when the person you hated left the estate, but instead you became anxious and tried to find me. Afraid I'd reveal the truth. You used the people in the estate to paint me as a demon. To make me kill myself."
Saten knew that if she had stayed at the estate, she would have died.
And before Mister reached out his hand and offered her hope, she actually thought it didn't matter if she died that way.
She had no purpose in life, and Lennon wouldn't allow her to create one.
Lennon ground his teeth and glared at Saten, who was about to expose his shame.
For a moment, Saten's heart sank as memories of the past surfaced, but she calmly met Lennon's gaze.
"...The truth is, you were just afraid there'd be problems with your son's succession, so you attached a justification to it."
"Stop—!!!"
Dignity.
That damn dignity.
He tried to use Saten by keeping her down so his dignity wouldn't be tarnished.
Saten, who had moved according to Lennon's manipulations, was aware of this fact.
Lennon, who feared that Saten, freed from his control, would reveal the truth and lower his dignity.
—*Even though I'm the Demon King of Pride, this is the first time I've seen a human so obsessed with dignity.*
Lennon, who had the thoughts even a Demon King would be appalled by and acted on them.
Saten murmured to him, whose face was distorted now that the truth was out.
"The very fact that you're my parent disgusts me. Now stop existing in this world."
Saten finished destroying Lennon's left hand and pointed her staff at his head.
She had always bowed her head before him and never faced Lennon's face for this long, but today, for the first time, she greeted his face.
"Disappear from my life. That's the dignity you can show me as your daughter."
"...I regret not killing you—"
*Bang—*
Magic shot toward Lennon's head.
Saten exhaled and immediately left, approaching the Hero Party.
"...Take care of the rest, Hero. Where's Mister?"
"H-he's over there."
"Thanks for telling me."
Leaving only those words, Saten walked toward where Mister was.
Her expression looked somewhat relieved, yet also complicated.
The Hero Party, left behind, exchanged glances until Saten was far away before opening their mouths.
"Saten's family is totally messed up!"
"You shouldn't say that, Estia! That's rude to Saten!"
"I'm an orphan, so I don't know about that stuff!"
"..."
Luna had nothing to say and closed her mouth.
"T-then should we go eliminate the Demon King? Hare, can you help me—"
"...Did Saten say she was going to Mister? She's not doing anything weird with him, right? She's just talking to the unconscious Mister, right? Why am I so anxious?"
"...Sigh, I'll just do it myself."
*Trudge— Trudge—*
Luna walked toward Lennon's corpse with the Holy Sword in hand.
Then, as if waiting for this moment, the Demon King's voice rang out.
—*H-Hero. If you're a woman who knows dignity, how about sparing my life just once? If not, I'll give you my power. The ability to control others with high pride. How about it, doesn't that sound appealing?*
"Hmm, can I use that to control Mister?"
—*If by Mister you mean that guardian? That man would be impossible, but other men...*
"Then it's a completely useless ability! Even if I could control Mister, I wouldn't want it from you anyway."
*Shing—*
Luna raised her sword toward Lennon's corpse, which contained the Demon King of Pride.
"Three Demon Kings left? Lately the Holy Sword's been too noisy telling me to hurry up and catch Demon Kings. I should let it taste a Demon King after so long, right? Estia! Give me some Divine Power!"
—*S-stop...!!*
"Here goes."
*Slash—*
Luna cut Lennon's neck without hesitation.
His body was too damaged to even move, and there was no one nearby for him to possess.
Unlike his name of honor, he could only meet his end in an ugly form.
"Ugh, finally it's over! I don't know about Saten's family situation, but...! Did it end properly?"
She didn't really know, but anyway, Luna was in a good mood from defeating a Demon King.
She sheathed the Holy Sword and quickened her pace.
"...Saten and Mister are okay, right?"
Luna, secretly worried about Mister.
She imagined Saten and Mister alone together.
One step further.
She increased her speed even more.