“I wonder what his problem is?” Noir asked herself.
After dropping Eugene and his group off at their rooms in the tower, Noir immediately departed from Giabella Castle.
She had been tempted to head in with them and spend more time with Eugene, but since Eugene’s condition seemed a bit different from usual, Noir also had no choice but to give up on that plan.
“At least he still has the same level of killing intent. Well, indeed, there should be nothing that would change his murderous intent towards me,” Noir muttered as she sat down in a plush chair.
Was it because of the dream she had shown him last time? It was true that Noir had provided him with a lot of information about Ravesta and Vermouth. However, such a favor wouldn’t be enough to erase Hamel’s acute killing intent. In fact, even now, Hamel still showed as much hatred for and desire to kill Noir as he always had.
But it could also have left Hamel feeling a little doubtful of their enmity. Noir could understand why that might be the case. In the end, the man she loved was only human after all, so he might not be able to understand right away how Noir thought as a demonfolk.
—You don’t want me to hate you. Having received help from you several times, you… want me to accept you, or perhaps join hands with you to fight against the Demon King of Incarceration together—
She hadn’t even bothered to let him finish speaking. Such words weren’t worth listening to in the slightest. From Noir’s perspective, Hamel’s words seemed incredibly cute . Of course, Noir didn’t want any of that.
While Hamel just wanted to kill Noir, Noir actually had two things that she desired:
To die at Hamel’s hands.
Or to kill Hamel, who had failed to kill me .
Noir hoped that Hamel would hate her so much that he dreamed of killing her. She hoped that he would hate her more than anyone else in the world. She hoped that he would one day stand in front of her, armed with his pure and upright killing intent. She hoped that he would give it everything that he had in order to kill her.
But she would also be pleased if he felt a slight hesitation at the very last moment.
“I’m really quite the greedy woman,” Noir said with a giggle as she stroked her cheek.
She wanted an emotional connection with Hamel. If possible, she wouldn’t mind if their bodies mingled a few times as well. That’s right; she would be happy if there could be a few more shared happy memories between them.
Whether it was her or him who remained standing in the end… when they found themselves on the brink of delivering that final blow, at the last moment, if they could recall those memories… Noir hoped that whoever it was, they might feel a slight hesitation.
Then, in the next moment, they would overcome that hesitation.
And after the victor satisfies their original murderous intent, when it becomes too late to turn back, Noir hoped that the survivor, whoever it was, would feel a sense of loss.
If at all possible… Noir hoped that the survivor would then regret killing the other and be left with sorrow, regret, and even self-blame.
Noir was confident that that would be her response if she won.
“Would that happen to you as well? However… it’s strange. I guess I’m not soft enough to want to change you like that just yet,” Noir muttered in a low voice as she tilted her head thoughtfully.
There was something more important than that.
‘I can’t have Hamel set down his killing intent,’ Noir reminded herself.
Though she didn’t really believe that Hamel would do so. Noir might want their shared memories to increase and their bond to remain stronger, but it was just as important for Hamel to become the version of Hamel that she wanted. At the very end, if he gave up on his killing intent due to hesitation, Noir would kill Hamel without any qualms.
‘Though I do hope that you will hesitate. As for me…,’ Noir chuckled, ‘fufu, I wonder if I would hesitate? I don’t think I would, but both emotions and the future are equally unpredictable.’
If Noir really did hesitate at the last second and stayed her hand….
‘I think it would be amazing if I died at your hands in that moment,’ Noir thought with a smile.
However….
If Hamel were to set down his killing intent before they reached that moment….
Though from the bottom of her heart, she honestly didn’t believe that would be the case.
But if he came to a misunderstanding due to the goodwill and affection that she had shown him and abandoned all his hostility and murderous intent, giving up on trying to kill her….
At that time, Noir would have no choice but to restrain her greed. She would be forced to give up on her wish for any last-minute hesitation, romance, tragedy, etc.
That meant then — just like she had said in the palace of Shimuin — she would have no choice but to do all the things Hamel would hate . If Hamel were to abandon his hatred and murderous intent, she would just have to step forward personally and rekindle the said hatred and murderous intent.
The two children who had let out such excited shouts at the thought of becoming princesses, the Saint who had proven to have as foul a tongue as Anise, Sienna Merdein, the Lionheart twins who he had grown up with during his childhood, the biological father of ‘Eugene Lionheart,’ and all the other Lionhearts.
After she tore them all into pieces, then Hamel….
“Though there shouldn’t be a need for me to go that far,” Noir hummed consideringly.
There was a part of her that wanted to see it happen. If she did all that… then just what kind of expression would Hamel show her?
Noir addressed the absent Hamel, “You must be thinking of that as well. After all, I did tell you all of that myself.”
She didn’t know what was currently causing Hamel to waver, but Noir still trusted Hamel.
‘Does it have something to do with why he suddenly came to visit me?’ Noir wondered.
It didn’t feel like that was the case. Considering that he had concealed himself from the eyes of the world for the past half a year… Noir had some guesses as to why he had suddenly decided to visit Giabella Park.
The clouds of war were currently hovering over Helmuth. Several demonfolk had already crossed over to Nahama, and the Demon King of Incarceration hadn’t sent out any clarification of his position from Babel. Moreover, the Blade of Incarceration, Gavid Lindman, was also keeping his silence.
Babel might be eerily silent, but Pandemonium was still as peaceful as ever. And that wasn’t because it had been placed under strict control. On the surface, daily life seemed to be continuing just as usual.
However, below the surface, the demonfolk who were thirsting for war were already moving. And it wasn’t just demonfolk who had made a contract with the black wizards of the desert dungeons that had crossed over to Nahama.
Taking part in this war were the young demonfolk who hoped to dominate the coming era, as well as those has-beens who had managed to survive the last era of war, only with nothing to show for it, and had been rendered obsolete.
Noir looked down on those who had crossed over to Nahama, but at the same time, she understood them. It wasn’t clear when exactly it would happen, but it was an undeniable fact that a huge war was on its way. If the war were to break out in Pandemonium, there was no way that the has-beens who had been left behind the curve following the era of war and the children with few achievements to their name would be able to play even the smallest active role in the coming war.
The best place for them to shine was in the upcoming war, and as a result, quite a large number of demonfolk had already crossed over to Nahama. Since neither the Demon King of Incarceration nor Gavid had put a stop to it, the number of demonfolk crossing over would gradually continue to rise in the future.
However, no matter how many demonfolk crossed over into that parched desert, the outcome of the war about to take place there wouldn’t change.
The desert would serve as Amelia Merwin’s public execution ground; that was an undeniable fact.
‘I don’t know where he was or what he did for the past half a year, but… he’s become much stronger since I last saw him in Shimuin. If I take into account that mysterious power as well, he would probably be able to kill Iris all on his own if they were to fight once more…,’ Noir surmised.
Amelia Merwin was going to die. While Noir would acknowledge that Amelia was a unique and exceptional black wizard, as long as the black wizard remained confined within Ravesta, it was impossible for her to escape the death sentence imposed on her by the dark power of Destruction.
If she didn’t want to die in vain, Amelia would eventually have to leave Ravesta. Since she had been openly preparing for war and anticipating its arrival, Amelia would be left with no choice but to go to this desert that would soon be transformed into a battlefield.
However, could Amelia Merwin — whose state wasn’t all that different from a corpse — really be able to face the current Hamel? Noir thought about the cards that Amelia might be holding.
Among those cards, the one that Amelia had put the most effort into cultivating was the Shade, who could no longer be referred to as merely the Death Knight. It seemed that it had become an even more special existence by incorporating the dark power of Destruction, but… it didn’t seem likely that it would be able to win a fight against the current Eugene. Ultimately, both Amelia and her pets would meet a miserable and terrible end.
Noir estimated, ‘Hamel should have come to this city to lure Amelia out. Or perhaps it was to check the current situation in Helmuth.’
She didn’t think he would have any other reasons apart from those two. In the end, this meant that Hamel was just blatantly making use of her affection to one-sidedly benefit himself, but… Noir didn’t feel any discomfort from that fact.
Noir was also looking forward to seeing the sight of Amelia dying horribly. While imagining Amelia being torn to pieces, Noir let out a giggle.
Noir suddenly paused in thought.
While she was in the middle of stroking her own cheek, she suddenly became distracted by her fingers. Noir blinked her eyes a few times, then stretched out her left hand in front of her face.
“...Hm,” Noir hummed thoughtfully.
Naturally, the fingers of Noir’s left hand were completely bare.
Why had those thoughts about a ring suddenly appeared in her mind out of nowhere? Tilting her head to the side, Noir tried to recall the emotions that had previously washed over her.
But it didn’t work. It was because she had felt those emotions so quickly and fleetingly that no traces were left behind.
Even so… Noir tilted her head to the other side as she clenched and unclenched her fingers a few times. Every time she did so, large, gorgeous rings appeared on the fingers of Noir’s left hand, only to disappear once more.
These were the type of rings that Noir usually wore when she wanted to accentuate her own beauty. She had never once thought that they felt awkward or out of place, but… strangely enough, she now had a strong feeling that they just weren’t right.
‘Could my tastes have changed?’ Noir wondered with a shocked expression before fervently shaking her head.
* * *
In the tallest tower of Giabella Castle lay the top-floor penthouse. It must have been a fact that these rooms usually never received any guests, as apart from the furniture, they were barely equipped with any other daily necessities.
This didn’t turn out to be a problem. Because not long after Eugene and his companions had entered the penthouse, the hotel staff quickly climbed up and delivered all the items they needed.
Among the items that had been delivered in this fashion were several sets of clothes meant for Mer and Raimiara. Although dozens of different types of clothes were stored within the Cloak of Darkness tailored explicitly for the two girls, there weren’t any ‘princess-like’ dresses like the ones brought up by the staff.
In the end, they spent quite some time giggling while trying to choose one of the princess dresses to wear, but they just couldn't decide on their favorite, so they changed into the dresses that Eugene and the Saints recommended.
Eugene told the two girls, “Head out and take a look around before coming back.”
“Huh?” Mer looked at him in surprise.
“Benefactor! Are you saying that Mer and I should go out alone with no one accompanying us?” Raimira asked.
“That’s right,” Eugene confirmed.
To think that Eugene would actually allow the two of them to go out on their own. Mer stared at Eugene with an expression of disbelief. Although it didn’t seem like there would be any problems if the two girls went out on their own, even so, this was Giabella Park. Wasn’t this still a city ruled by the Queen of the Night Demons?
“What if we get kidnapped?” Mer asked doubtfully.
Eugene cocked an eyebrow, “Who do you think would kidnap you two?”
“The Queen of Sluts,” Mer quickly answered.
Eugene’s eyes widened at Mer’s reply. His surprise came because Eugene could never have imagined that the words ‘Queen of Sluts’ would come out of Mer’s mouth.
He didn’t think there was anything wrong about the title itself, but… even so, weren’t those words a bit too vulgar and low-class to come out of a child’s mouth?
“Where did you learn such vulgar language?” Eugene demanded.
Mer looked at him doubtfully, “Sir Eugene, are you seriously asking that question?”
Eugene frowned, “Then do you think I’m asking you as a joke?”
“I first heard those words from you, Sir Eugene, as well as Lady Sienna and Lady Anise. I know a lot of other profane words apart from those, but who do you think I might have learned those from?” Mer asked teasingly.
Eugene clicked his tongue, “Tsk. Really, now, look at this girl’s mouth. How cheeky.”
“Where do you think I learned such cheekiness from? Why don’t you take a guess?” Mer, who was wearing a colorful princess dress, asked with a grin as she waved around a well-made toy wand.
Her appearance was so cute that if Ancilla had seen her, she would drop to her knees while covering her mouth, but the words that she was spouting were supremely un-cute.
“There’s no chance that that succubus will try to kidnap you, so you don’t need to worry,” Eugene eventually reassured her.
“Why not?” Mer tilted her head to the side.
“Because she has nothing to gain from kidnapping you,” Eugene explained.
“But Benefactor, in fact, this lady wanted to hold both your and the Saint’s hands while we went around sightseeing,” Raimira confessed with a sulky expression.
At these words, Kristina walked over and patted Raimira on the head as she comforted her, “It’s not like this will be our last day here, you know? So Rai, just for today, please go out and have fun with Mer.”
Raimira pouted, “Miss Saint….”
“Next time, Sir Eugene and I will explore all the places you want to visit together. I look forward to seeing what kind of place the two of you will end up choosing,” Kristina promised with a kind smile.
With that push on their backs, Raimira and Mer skipped out of the penthouse, looking as if they had never even hesitated to leave.
“Is there something you don’t want Sienna to know?” Anise asked after confirming that the two girls had really left.
“That’s right,” Eugene said as he plopped on the expensive sofa.
They had already checked that there were no bugs installed in this penthouse.
Mer was able to read Eugene’s thoughts. However, that wasn’t something that she could just do at will. So Eugene was able to hide things that he definitely didn’t want Mer to know in the depths of his consciousness.
He didn’t want Mer to know about Noir Giabella, the fact that she was the reincarnation of the Twilight Witch. No, it was actually Sienna to whom Eugene didn’t want to reveal this news.
In fact, if Eugene told her to keep it a secret, Mer would have no choice but to follow that order, but if he really did that, wouldn’t he be forcing Mer to lie to Sienna?
“Frankly speaking, I don’t want to tell you about it either,” Eugene muttered with a wry smile.
At that, Anise let out a snort, then picked up a bottle of liquor that had been placed in the room as part of the decor and sat down next to Eugene.
“Hamel, you might have been able to hide it if you came here alone. However, I came here with you, so what can you do about the fact that I’ve already seen it?” Anise raised an eyebrow in challenge.
Eugene sighed, “As expected, you really did notice something?”
“It’s all because you really weren’t acting like yourself,” Anise muttered as she uncorked the bottle. “Just like Kristina, I am very good at reading people’s facial expressions. Especially since… we both know the feeling of despair extremely well.”
Anise tilted the bottle over to Eugene. Eugene didn’t refuse the invitation and took the bottle. He didn’t even feel like taking the time to pour it into a glass, so he just raised the bottle to his lips and poured the liquor straight into his mouth.
Eugene emptied half of the bottle in a few quick glugs before handing it back to Anise.
“Does it have to do with Agaroth’s memories?” Anise asked as she assessed the remaining weight of the much lighter bottle.
She wasn’t entirely certain about her guess. However, for Hamel to feel despair in the moment when he was confronting Noir, whom he hated and held such a desire to kill, she believed that there could be no other reasons apart from that.
As for the gap in levels between himself and Noir? That was something Eugene had already known about right from the very start. Anise knew Hamel wasn’t the kind of man who was shallow enough that he would feel despair at facing an opponent who was currently stronger than himself. Even more so if that opponent was an actual enemy.
“Yeah,” Eugene gave a curt acknowledgment.
He didn’t suppress the feeling of intoxication that started to bubble up within him. The inside of his stomach felt hot as if he had swallowed a flame, but in contrast, his head felt ice-cold.
Anise hesitated, “Hamel, you… after seeing you in so much… despair, I’ve formed a few of my own guesses.”
Although she was holding onto the bottle, Anise didn’t take a drink from it. This was because she really didn’t feel like drinking right now.
She had already known the truth from the start. After all, it was Anise herself who had mocked Krisitna’s concerns during the latter’s moment of anguish when it came to Agaroth and their comrades’ possible past lives. However, even so, if asked whether Anise had felt… just the slightest expectation of a past connection with Hamel? Anise didn’t have the confidence to say that she definitely hadn’t had such thoughts.
Anise and Kristina didn’t have past lives. While Sienna and Molon, no, all of the people currently alive in this world might be the reincarnation of someone from ancient history, Anise and Kristina could never be anyone’s reincarnation. That was because both their souls and very existences were artificially created.
Anise had no desire to despair over that fact. After all, their current reality was far more important and valuable than a past life you had no awareness or memory of.
However, for those who did have some awareness and memory, just how heavy were the bonds from their past life?
Anise finally voiced her suspicions, “She’s the Twilight Witch.”
The Saint of the God of War.
Anise didn’t ask any further questions. In their shared mind, Kristina was repeatedly letting out depressed sighs.
In that silence, Eugene let out a snort of laughter and turned his head towards her.
Eugene gave Anise a wry smile, “Isn’t this why I didn’t want to talk about it?”
“If you don’t say anything, how are we supposed to come up with a solution,” Anise scolded.
“Solution to what?” Eugene asked.
Anise replied, “To whatever it is that you’re worrying about all by yourself….”
He had been wondering what she was trying to get at. Eugene let out another laugh and shook his head.
“It looks like you’re having some kind of strange misconception, Anise. There is only one solution to my problem, and I have no intention of looking for any other solution. That is why I didn’t want you, Kristina, or Sienna to know about it,” Eugene expressed.
“What are you talking about?” Anise prompted.
“So what if Noir, that bitch, is the reincarnation of the Twilight Witch? Whether or not Agaroth had any special feelings for her is none of my business,” Eugene said as he took the bottle from Anise’s hands once more.
Under usual circumstances, Anise would have never allowed the bottle of liquor to be taken from her, but right now, even Anise couldn’t help but just blink in confusion as she stared at Eugene.
Eugene reaffirmed, “It’s really none of my business. Because I am not Agaroth.”
“...,” Anise listened silently, unsure what to say.
“In other words, how I should think of Noir is completely dependent on my current self,” Eugene said before pouring all of the remaining alcohol in the bottle into his mouth. “And I’ve decided that I am going to kill Noir Giabella.”
“Hamel,” Anise hesitantly called out.
“That’s right, I am Hamel. I am also Eugene Lionheart,” Eugene said with a laugh as he lowered the bottle of alcohol. “So I’m not going to think of any solution apart from that one.”