“I told you. I don't know how to activate the rune.”
Elysia shook her head.
“That's a lie. When you said the password ‘Menosorpo,’ I felt a different rune unfold than mine. I know because I drew the rune myself. At that moment, two runes definitely unfolded.”
“That was just an excuse, right? To keep me here. But that makes it even stranger. You could activate the rune, yet you kept me here. And you even protected me with that black liquid. Things would have been much easier without me.”
Elysia initially thought Frondier would kill her. That's why she had been brought to this remote location, to prevent her escape. Once the rune was complete, Frondier would dispose of her like a used pawn.
But that didn't happen. Frondier had safely protected Elysia.
Then why was Elysia kept here? She had only been a hindrance in battle.
“You've become quite talkative, Elysia.”
She had finally gained control after experiencing Pandemonium. She should be able to instill a slight amount of fear.
Elysia gasped and broke out in a cold sweat at the sight.
But she gritted her teeth and shook her head.
“It's no use, Frondier.”
Elysia was sweating and looking at Frondier with a pained expression, but she definitely didn't seem to be succumbing to fear.
In fact, she had been more scared when Frondier was chasing her.
An opponent whose intentions were unknown, who she believed hated her, chasing her and trapping her with incomprehensible techniques.
But now she knew. Frondier was not her enemy. At least, Frondier hadn't thought so from the beginning.
“There's no murderous intent in your eyes. No, more importantly, there's no ‘malice.’”
What kind of eyes a person with malice had. What kind of face they made.
It was a simple matter.
She had only seen her own face in the mirror.
“I know better than anyone.”
Elysia spoke of the sins she had committed.
Sins she had believed she could never atone for, even if she spent her entire life doing so, after falling to the status of a commoner.
It was truly a simple matter.
Since she could never atone for them, she was still a villain.
Frondier closed her eyes. Not knowing about malice – it was definitely a point that hit home.
She wondered if she could even become the Devil King .
“Well, since everything's over, I suppose I can tell you. It's something I have to say anyway. We need to get our stories straight.”
“……Get our stories straight?”
Get their stories straight? About what? And for whom?
“Listen carefully, Elysia.”
“You can't go back to the dorm.”
“I know. You said that earlier.”
“So, even after a few days, you still won't be able to return to the dorm you were staying in.”
Elysia's eyes blinked at those words.
She couldn't immediately understand what Frondier was saying.
Frondier looked into Elysia's eyes and said,
“Become the Empress, Elysia.”
“Return to the place where you belong.”
Elysia froze, her mouth agape at Frondier's words.
Looking at her, Frondier explained,
“See all these devils here?”
“……Uh, well, that's.”
“Because of the rune, right?”
“Because of the rune you drew, right?”
Elysia realized what Frondier was trying to say.
Naturally, she raised her voice at Frondier.
“That, that's! You told me to do it……!”
“I don't remember that.”
“Why would I even tell you to do something like that? And why would you listen to me? Did I threaten you? Do I have something on you?”
Elysia tried to say something but stopped, then tried again and stopped once more.
She felt like she had been threatened.
She felt like she had been caught with a weakness.
But Frondier had never said anything like that to her.
There, Elysia realized something.
“……Then the reason you made me draw that rune, and made me activate it.”
“The rune leaves traces of the activator. I don't want to take credit for someone else's work.”
To change the direction where the devils were headed. To make it solely Elysia's achievement.
“Now you understand, Elysia.”
“You saved the Empire. No matter how you look at it, that's the truth.”
“Let's say it was because of me. Then why did you follow my words? You had plenty of chances to escape. No, you could have at least tried to defy me. At least if you wanted to claim that I threatened you.”
But Elysia hadn't. She had never said she wouldn't do it.
Without even knowing how strong Frondier was, or if she could protect her.
In a situation where she knew that outside the barrier, external monsters were lurking, and devils would swarm the rune.
‘……Why did I do that?’
Now, Elysia questioned her own actions.
Because she was afraid of Frondier? Of course she was. She was terrified. Terrified enough to faint.
But was it enough to risk her life?
Or was it just a convenient excuse, that she obeyed orders because she was scared?
What did she intend to do with that excuse?
As if knowing the answer.
Frondier smiled faintly.
“You wanted to be the Empress. There was a time when you acted solely for that reason.”
“Why was that? What is the Emperor to you?”
The moment Frondier said those words.
A voice, both affectionate and resentful, echoed in Elysia's ears.
The voice was younger than hers, yet mature, with benevolence within its coldness, and thorough calculations ultimately based on sacrifice for her daughter.
The woman who wielded the greatest influence in the Empire and was also her mother.
—You will become the Empress one day.
—When that time comes, remember these words, Elysia. Never forget them.
The teachings her mother had imparted to her for so long.
The countless wealth and power she had received, and the numerous lessons based on them, what were they all for?
Her mother always said.
After all the education and teachings she gave her daughters, she always ended with.
“The one who stands above to protect the people.”
The look in Elysia's eyes at that moment was something Frondier had never seen before.
‘……She resembles Bartello.’
Frondier thought as she saw that look.
A look she had never seen in Aten, her sister.
If Philly was described as an endless gray, Elysia had taken the black from it, and Aten the white.
When Elysia was a villain, that was truly the case. She was like a misguided Philly.
So this was Elysia's essence, something even Frondier had
Frondier confirmed it and said,
“I can't send you back to the dorm.”
Whether Elysia would become the Emperor or not, Frondier couldn't decide that.
But Elysia couldn't stay forever.
For herself, and for Philly.