Akuyaku Reijou no Naka no Hito

Chapter 28

Extra Story — The Saint's Laboratory

Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV

「Nooooo, pleaaaaaaaaseeeee!!! Stop this… please stop this……」

The screams of a foolish man echoed in one of the hidden floors of the dungeon.

This room, which seemed to have suddenly appeared in a bare rock cave, was furnished with expensive magical tools and where I was conducting important research related to my life’s purpose. They are my test subjects. One of the rats used in this experiment has lost consciousness because he could not bear the load of his soul, and the others are shivering and cowering in the corner of their cages, apparently afraid to be the subject of the next experiment.

「You’re too noisy. Would you please shut up, you’re cluttering up my thoughts.」

With one swipe of my finger, I created a vacuum around the man’s face. Learning from Emi’s knowledge, without air, sound cannot resonate. In the space that had finally become quiet, I often sank into a sea of thoughts.

…I screwed up again. In theory, this should have been enough to swap these two souls. There is no bankruptcy in the magic that I have created. The magical vacuum that was constructed to prevent impurities from mixing also worked. They had a perfect operation that was as close to the theoretical value as possible, but their souls were still mixed up and their souls were muddled in the way they were.

Moreover, there is a kind of restorative power, or perhaps the mixed parts of the body have gradually returned to their original selves. It is as if water and oil mixed by spraying separate. Does physical distance have something to do with this? Would it be more stable if I let it go farther away? … I’ll think about that again.

If I don’t solve this problem, I can’t even offer Emi an option. I haven’t been able to proceed from here for a long time.

Or does the failure of the experiment have something to do with the wound on the soul? Their souls are scarred by the fact that I used them as training grounds until they were able to handle them, if not freely, then at least to a degree.

I care nothing about the future of their souls. Their wounds will not survive reincarnation, each shard after that’s shattered will only repeat its short life as an insect or microbe a few thousand times or so.

Then perhaps I should go get a new rat with an unscathed soul? Of the women who were actively and gleefully spreading rootless rumors about Emi’s「Remilia」out of envy, there are three left who have not yet been dealt with. They even had Emi help them once… They looked so happy and said,「I knew that even a princess like her would be jealous and do something like this.」

Their engagements was annulled for disgracing the Saint, and there were no good marriages left, but one of them married a commoner and seems to think that she is reasonably happy in this life, so I must make her regret it. Emi has been hurt and can no longer feel happy because of them. All of you are not even allowed to have the tiniest bit of happiness.

No, rather than dredge it up, I might try to destroy the marriage by blowing falsehoods to that marriage partner. Unlike Pina, I’ll also have solid evidence… and they’ll experience the despair of people not believing them at all and treating them as a bad people one-sidedly

…It’s probably not even close to the grief that Emi felt when she was condemned for something she didn’t do at all.

「Ahh, geho, geho–geho…!! Kaha! Hi, higu…!」

I couldn’t kill him because he was a valuable test subject, and more importantly, I wasn’t ready to give him the repose of「death」yet, so I wagged my finger again to break the spell.

In the residue of the disarmed magic, one of the rats, flapping its limbs in search of air, huffed and puffed and salivated in its windpipe. His face is pale, and his eyes are bloodshot with broken blood vessels. I found it hilarious that he was always ranting about「killing him already,」but when he was on the verge of suffocation, he would do this, desperately trying to breathe.

「P–Please…! Remilia-ojou-sama, why are you doing this to me… Stop this, you’re not that kind of person, right? I…I was threatened! We were… by that Star Devil… so we had no choice…!」

「Oh my, begging for your life? You’re grating on my ear.」

「Gi–Gyaaaaahhhh!!」

「Can’t you shut up? Do you want to be deprived of air again?」

「Hii, hii, hiie…!」

Threatened? By a little girl who has no power and is protected by the state? I have told him many times that if he had played up when he was approached, none of this would have happened, but he still hasn’t learned.

I warned him ahead of time that if I drove a small thorn into his bare soul, it would make him noisy again. He seemed to be swallowing his screams desperately, and his tears were flowing unceasingly.

「Oh, you said that I am a criminal who looks good on the outside but was harsh on my servants behind my back and mistreats those who don’t like me.」

「T–That’s!」

「You swore an oath not to tell falsehoods when you testified.」

I giggle and laugh, and I can hear sobbing from the corners of the room. Yes, that’s right, they need to cry and despair and grieve over their stupidity more.

「You said something like「 you’re forced to perform an unwanted service by being forced to play a bad game out of curiosity of a young lady,」…sort of like that? Now you’re right. You didn’t say anything untrue.」

「Ugh, ughh…」

The one used by me under the name of “experimental subject”.

This rat… oh yes, this was called Romano. This man, who was the fifth son of a Count, must have had a dream, because his third son’s brother, who was also a knight escort for a noblewoman, was beguiled by that lady’s mistress.

He envied his brother who was living off his allowance, secretly accompanying his bride-to-be, he was thinking,「If I’m better looking than my brother, I should have a better idea of what I’m doing,」weren’t he? But to powder the next queen is nothing short of foolish. He was being too greedy. He had no sense of humility to even resent Emi, a chaste woman who doesn’t flirt with him at all.

If he hadn’t helped that woman, Emi wouldn’t have been hurt so much.

I don’t know what you are threatened by. I know that he was happy to help her with the story because he thought it would be more profitable for him.

The rats who were her personal attendants also hurt Emi for similar selfish reasons.「She’s all uptight, she’s doing all kinds of things, she’s acting like a good person,」that’s all their reason. Emi was so good to you all… Emi even thought of you guys as her friends, and you trampled on her heart.

There were a handful of talented people in the Duke’s family, but all of them were of low quality, as the Duke had made them his senior servants in order to ingratiate himself with his children.

They are not loyal, they have poor morals, they are envious of others, they do not work hard, and they are full of excuses for themselves. And yet, they had a high self-esteem, saying,「I’m not worth enough to end up in a place like this.」

In the「story」that Emi knew, these guys were pawns of「Remilia」and perpetrated harm to the Star Maiden. It was through the testimony of this escort and chambermaids in the investigation of the broken engagement that the details of「Remilia’s」crime were told.

No wonder he was always like this. He easily turned to crime even though he’s ordered to do so, and easily betrays his master by taking advantage of a more lucrative story.

I really feel sorry for Emi, who had been so humble in wanting to get along with the servants as well. I really hate you guys for playing a part in using Emi’s trust to trap her. I don’t even want to give you death.

「U–Ughhh… you Devil! You must have a Devil inside of you too!」

Oh my, you’re on the right track. I’m not sure if I’m being honest, but this is who I am. But I’m offended that people think the Devil is such a simple being.

I am what I am, you know? It only came out because you guys hurt her and took her away from me.

「You’re not the ones who denied me that I was that good girl. Good for you, for being what you said I would be.」

I smiled at them and the rats began to cry again, full of sorrow.