As he looked around frantically for me, I revealed my true eyes and crouched down to meet his gaze. “I’m right here. More importantly—Lily. Do you still not know who I am?”
I called him by the name I’d given him in my previous life, when I’d thought he was a girl.
“Huh...”
“Come on, Sacred Beast Drogolena! Together, we’ll destroy the demon’s power!”
I handed over Dia, whom I’d been holding, to the vines that the wives had extended over at just the right moment. They instantly wove the vines into a baby bed. It was quite impressive!
I pulled out my shamisen from my own subspace—an instrument I’d grown familiar with in my past life.
What was it that had surprised Lily, who’d seemed convinced I was utterly talentless and incompetent? Was it the golden ring in my eyes? Or was it being called by a name no one should have known anymore? Perhaps it was because Beljeanne and Laviange were slowly linking together within Lily’s mind.
I felt the vow within me slowly manifesting its power, intent on hurting me.
Of course, I ignored it for now. I signaled to the captain with my eyes, and the familiar jingling sound came from beside me.
“We’re onstage!” we declared together, plucking the strings with our plectrums. “Hah!”
I strummed in perfect sync with the captain, weaving in the rallying cry as we played a rock-infused shamisen duet—a piece my grandson had composed in my past life.
Borrowing Dia’s magic power and weaving in her sacred beast magic, we summoned an ice wall to completely encase the two of us as one. (Incidentally, the frozen ground I’d asked Dia to create had collapsed when she fell asleep.)
“Hah!”
The captain and I shouted in time with our shamisen duet, unleashing the magic power of a sacred beast—capable of countering demonic forces—and high-purity holy magic power all at once. As we were contract partners, the captain exchanged his own sacred beast magic with mine, and my magic flowed to him. Together, we continuously unleashed the sacred beast shock wave—a unique technique we’d developed by combining magic and sound waves—at Lily.
Reflecting off the ice and inducing resonance, we lifted the stubborn impurities of power that clung stubbornly to Lily’s body, refusing to let go.
The image, of course, was the ultrasonic cleaner that had perfectly cleaned my glasses in my past life!
The demonic filth clinging to Lily’s body dissolved into his blood vessels under the shock wave’s force. As proof, he began to spew thick, viscous, pitch-black blood, mixed with his own, from his mouth in gurgling spurts.
“Hah!” We struck the strings, plucking them even more fiercely.
“Is reviving Beljeanne even the purpose of your contract with the demon?” I demanded. “Don’t you realize this fundamentally amounts to breach of contract?”
“Ah... No, that...”
“Reviving Beljeanne in the form you desire is impossible now. Even if you could resurrect the body, what would you put inside? A hollow shell, or a body filled with something else—is that truly the Beljeanne you desire? And seriously, did you truly believe she would crave the status and honor you spoke of? Don’t make me laugh.”
I could see the pope was utterly stunned as I shattered decades of his misguided efforts. His body was shaking harder now, but there was no need to worry—I’d heal his frostbite later.
“Th-That... That’s a lie...”
“A lie about what, exactly? About clinging to your own delusions about Beljeanne, conveniently twisting your own desires into hers, and trying to fulfill them?”
“No! I was trying to ease the princess’s regret...”
“Beljeanne felt no regrets whatsoever, even at death’s door. She delivered a fist to the face of her father, who couldn’t even properly fulfill the role of father she’d chosen for him, and to the mother of her half brother, who was possessed by misplaced jealousy and envy.”
“Huh?” It seemed he’d never imagined she’d beaten those two before dying. His bitter, tormented expression shifted to one of utter bewilderment.
“I beat the hell out of that disgusting half brother of mine, and honestly, it felt refreshingly satisfying.”
“Hell... Cough cough, I...I saw that, but...”
“Of course you did. You have to settle your own scores while you’re alive—anything else just isn’t fair.”
Lily looked startled. Had he only just realized something so obvious?
“So listen, Lily. Not once in my final moments, not once after fulfilling my next life, not even now as I sit here—not once did Beljeanne ever feel regret. Beljeanne Yevina Rovenia was incapable of caring for anyone beyond her own obsessions. You should have known that yourself, Lily. After beating them senseless with physics and setting up the mechanism to torment the royal family afterward, it should be obvious I’d lose all interest.”
Honestly, saying this myself, my past life was completely broken inside. The fact that the royal family still held me up as a legendary villainess for the trap I’d set proved they’d fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
“Do you seriously think Beljeanne ever placed any value on blood ties that were nothing but a formality?” I said.
“So you’re saying I was nothing to the princess either?! After all that time together, she left me no words! Nothing... Nothing at all!” Tears streamed down his face like a child. His skin color had finally returned to normal, and he’d shed the demon’s power except for its core. The pope looked so pitiful, so I decided I’d restore his stamina just enough that no one would notice. “You’re talking as if you were the princess herself... That’s it! You’re a fake pretending to be the princess!”
Oh dear, I’d made him bitter. I must have revived him too vigorously.
“Otherwise, why on earth would I have made a contract with a demon... I won’t accept that!” he howled. “I can’t accept it! Until the princess is revived, I won’t break my contract with the demon! There’s no way I could default on it!”
Well, well, maybe it was all the pent-up anger he’d been holding toward Beljeanne that’d made him stubborn. To be honest, I did want to tell him it wasn’t that I hadn’t had anything to say to Lily, it was just that things had happened so suddenly back then, there’d been no time to leave him any words.
Even if I hadn’t exactly wanted to live, I never imagined I’d die like that on that day. But now, because of that reason and the vow I’d made, I couldn’t tell Lily everything. It had all started when I’d died as Beljeanne—no, when I’d promised to return to Casquette once more. It was a test of endurance between me and the sacred beast who’d given me my blessing-name.
Even so, when I’d been reborn in this life and my body had grown strong enough to move, I’d searched for Lily right away.
But since I couldn’t tell him that, I’d have to use my last resort.
“Come forth, little library!” I just wanted to say it like that. I summoned three bookshelves from subspace, arranging the books inward to form a triangular prism around Lily.
“What is this?” he gasped.
Ignoring him, and still strumming on my shamisen, I called out to the captain. “Captain Dread!”
“Yes, ma’am...” he answered meekly, seemingly aware it was his turn to be scolded. Though he looked dejected, he didn’t stop strumming with his dreadlocks. The sight almost made me laugh...but no, no. Now was the time to scold.
“So you were expecting to be scolded, were you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Did you deliberately hide Lily from me because he had made a contract with a demon? Because you believed that unless you developed a purification spell using your unique sound waves, the moment the contract with the demon was broken, Lily wouldn’t just lose his life—it would be far worse?”