“S-So that’s how it’s going to be? You want to be whipped, do you? Get on your knees!” She grabbed a whip that was leaned up against the wall. It had been placed there for an obvious reason—so the staff could beat Kreis whenever they wanted to vent their own frustrations.
The numerous scars on his back were the result of the countless lashings he’d endured. But even after all that, he’d still obeyed...until now.
Elly raised the whip, trying to threaten me to rise from the bed. Normally it would have flown through the air and lashed across my skin by now. But not this time.
Because I caught it.
“Wh-What are you...?!”
“Perhaps it slipped your mind since I never resisted before, but nobles are expected to learn swordsmanship and martial arts. The only reason you’ve been able to beat me all this time is because I let you. You’ve never had any real power. Not even once.”
Elly stared at me like I had two heads. I couldn’t blame her. Just yesterday, Kreis had trembled at the mere sight of a whip, and now he’d caught it in his bare hands, showing he was, without question, the stronger one.
“Wh-What do you think you’re—”
“That’s my line, Elly. What made you think you had the right to raise a whip against me, the eldest son of House Louboutin?”
I gave her a light tap on the cheek with the whip. I knew it didn’t hurt, but Elly flinched anyway, tears springing to her eyes. She let out a small shriek and began to tremble. She’d thought I was a timid mouse, but she was slowly realizing that I was the cat.
“I-I’ll tell His Lordship about this!”
“Oh? And what will you tell him, exactly? That I resisted when you tried to whip me? My father may despise me, but do you really think he’d allow a maid to whip his heir?”
“Wh-Who do you think His Lordship trusts more, you or m—”
“You really think he’ll believe you when I show him the marks on my back?”
“I-It wasn’t just me!”
“That is true, and that’s a big problem, isn’t it, Elly? If word of this gets out, you won’t be the only one facing punishment. Every servant in this household will be guilty by association. And I bet they’ll resent you deeply for it.”
I was telling her loud and clear that she had no place here anymore. She began to tremble violently with fear. It finally dawned on her that if anyone was going to be beaten with that whip, it would be her.
“P-Please have mercy! I’m sorry! Please!” Her arrogance vanished in an instant, replaced instead by pathetic, desperate pleas. The shift was so abrupt that it was almost refreshingly ugly.
But I felt no sympathy for her. Not after everything she’d done to Kreis. Begging for forgiveness now was laughable. I felt no satisfaction from it. In fact, I wished she’d resisted even more. But now I was the one who felt like the villain.
Come to think of it, I guess I was the villain now. So maybe it was fine to play the part.
“By the way, I know you’re embezzling funds. I suggest you never speak to me with that attitude ever again unless you want people to find out about that too. Now get out.”
“Y-Yes, right away!” Elly rushed out of the room in a panic.
Once the door shut behind her, I tossed the whip aside with a sigh and sat back down on the bed.
And just like that, now I was free of the lashings. No more cracked, bleeding hands. No more pain.
“Ha...ha ha!” A dry laugh escaped my lips. “At least this is a step in the right direction.”
I knew it was a long road ahead, but this was the first step, and I’d made up my mind.
I would see this through, and I wouldn’t die in vain.
“I’ll grant your wish, Kreis.”
If I remained passive, I’d just end up dead anyway, so this was my only choice.
But I’d need Siegfried to carry out the revenge. His presence was essential for me to survive in this world. If he fell from power, then Kreis’s place in the world would vanish along with him.
I would save Siegfried and see Kreis’s revenge through. If I wanted to survive in this story, that would have to be my top priority.
I would struggle to the bitter end. After all, I wrote this story in the first place, which made me the creator of this world. So what if I was the one who tore it apart?
Revenge, huh?
Kreis’s voice echoed in my mind. “Ngh... Please, God...”
That anguished cry hadn’t belonged to just Kreis—it was mine too. It had become imprinted on both my heart and body by living through Kreis’s life.
I didn’t care if I had to be the villain. I’d do it, and I’d use any means necessary to destroy those men.
“I’ll rip them all to pieces,” I said to myself.
A slow, easy voice answered me. “Now, that would be a problem.”
“Who’s there?!”
The room should’ve been empty. I sprang to my feet and looked around in a panic, just in time to see the blanket rustling. Something poked its head out.
“You’re awfully bloodthirsty for just having woken up, aren’t you? But I guess you have to be.”
“A...wolf?” The first thing I saw was its wet nose before a fluffy white beast climbed out from underneath the blankets.
“Calling me a mere wolf is quite rude. I’m, well... I suppose you can think of me as a divine beast. But this form is only temporary. My true form is far more—”
“This adorable creature is a divine beast?!” I exclaimed.
In this world, divine beasts were revered as messengers of the gods. As I’d lived through Kreis, I’d heard they could bestow powers on humans or take them away. But this was the first time I’d seen one in the flesh. I thought they were nothing but creatures from fairytales. I couldn’t believe they were real.
“Ha ha. I am pretty adorable, aren’t I? I chose this form so everyone would want to pet me. I’m irresistible, right?”
The self-proclaimed divine beast puffed out his chest proudly as he sat on the bed. No matter how I looked at him, he didn’t seem very divine. He spoke rather casually, lacking the dignity I’d expect from a servant of the gods.
I’d never once encountered a creature like this during Kreis’s life, so why was he acting like he belonged here?
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, and the self-proclaimed divine beast nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, it’s good to be skeptical. So I’ll just let you know that I’m your support character, here to assist you now that you’ve returned from the dead.”
“Support character?”
“That’s right! In the world you used to live in, there were those things called video games, right? Well, I loved those things. I tried them a bunch when I was peeking into your life and—”
“What do you mean, peeking into my life?!”
“Ahem. Putting that matter aside...”
“No, there’s no putting it aside! Peeking is spying, and spying on someone is even worse than being a stalker, you know!”
“Oh, don’t be so upset. I did it for your sake, after all. I’m your support character, remember?” he said proudly, as if that somehow was an excuse for the invasion of privacy.
“If you know I’m back from the dead, then that must mean you know that other self-important jerk I met back then, huh?” I asked.
“He’s not self-important. He’s actually genuinely important! You know, people these days really don’t understand how to be reverent anymore.”
The “divine beast” bared his fangs and snarled dramatically, but he wasn’t intimidating at all. His large, wolflike body might have inspired fear, but it all just came off as way too adorable.
“You should be grateful I’ve graced you with my presence, you know,” he said.
“So you’re going to grant me some kind of amazing power as my stalk—er, support character, then?” I asked.
The creature wrinkled his nose and growled when the word “stalker” had almost slipped out of my mouth.
“No, I’m not granting you any sort of power.”
“Then are you going to tell me what’s going to happen in the future?”
“I can’t cheat like that.”
“Are you going to fight on my behalf?”
“Nope.”
“Then what will you do?” I asked.
“I watch you.”
“Huh?”
“My job is to watch over you.”
So in other words, he was completely useless. Some “support character” he was. More like a babysitter.
“If you’re watching over me, does that mean you’ll get in my way if I try and change the future? Like you’ll try to stop me or something?”
“Nope.”
“Will you help me change the future?”
“Also no. Oh, but if you’re ever really in trouble, you can call for me and I’ll come running, no matter where you are.”
“And then what? You’ll just...watch?”
“Sometimes being present is enough, you know.”
I seriously wanted to punch this thing. Maybe that was why he’d decided to be so cute: to prevent people from punching his lights out.