A seemingly unhinged vampire girl came charging into the mansion.
Well, that's fine.
Not really fine, but she's a vampire girl, so whatever.
I'd been monitoring the situation through my split-off bodies and already had a pretty good idea of what happened.
But, uh, hello?
The moment things started looking suspicious, I stopped monitoring—so when I came back out, there was one more vampire than before.
I stopped watching because peeping at lovey-dovey scenes just felt wrong, and look what you went and did.
For now, I kicked the screaming vampire girl to shut her up.
"Gufh!"
Yet another elegant display of femininity from our vampire girl today.
The boy who'd come with her went wide-eyed the moment he saw that and— "You—!"
He lunged at me.
Drawing his sword, he tried to slash me.
Ugh, vampire girl, your familiars could really use some manners, couldn't they?
I was about to casually fend him off when—fwip—a shadow landed right between the boy and me.
The shadow pinned the boy to the floor with what looked like a judo throw, then locked his arm joint to restrain him.
Sure, being a vampire, he could probably break his own arm on purpose to escape or something, but these are fresh-off-the-turning, still-warm-and-toasty newbies.
They don't think of anything that macabre.
"Grrr, let me go!"
"I can't. This is for Lord
"That voice... Could it be—Fermina?!"
Oh, she's been recognized.
That's right.
The one sitting on top of you right now is your former fiancée, Fermina.
A pitiful young woman who desperately tried to save men ensnared by the vampire girl's charm, only to have every effort crushed—not to mention ignored—and then dumped by the very fiancée she was fighting so hard to rescue.
Taking in a girl like that and raising her? I'm incredibly kind!
And training her, then giving her a job too? I'm the picture of a caring guardian!
"My Lord, please stay still. You'll be killed if you resist."
And that girl is looking at me with eyes full of terror?
Imagination, pure imagination.
I'm not going to kill her.
She's from some prominent Demon race family, you know.
Killing her would be such a hassle.
So there's no need to be that scared.
Really, truly.
"Gefh! Ugh, ugh... *cough* Master, could you please stop kicking me every single time?"
Oh, the vampire girl is back.
She's dabbing at the blood dribbling from her mouth with a handkerchief.
Don't sweat the small stuff.
It's not like she's going to die.
"So, Master—who's that kid? Seems to know Wald."
"Huh?" ← Fermina "Huh?" ← Wald "Huh?" ← Me "Huh?" ← Vampire girl Heavy silence.
Um, vampire girl, don't tell me you don't remember Fermina?
Or rather, you never even recognized her in the first place?
How tragic...
Sorry about that—our vampire girl is a bit... empty upstairs. It's not malicious.
Though the fact that it's not malicious somehow makes it worse.
Fermina, still straddling Wald, starts trembling with her shoulders shaking.
Wald, wearing a painful expression, stares down at the floor.
The vampire girl, having clearly done something wrong but having no clue what, is trying to stay composed while obviously panicking up a storm.
So this is what a love triangle looks like.
I have nothing to do with this—time to make my escape.
Let's do that.
"Don't you run!"
Tch—the vampire girl grabbed my sleeve.
Even if you make those pleading faces at me, there are some things even I can't help with!
Namely: friendship, effort, victory, romance, messy tangled feelings, emotional communication—above all else, I do not understand the human heart!
Let go!
I am escaping from here!
Besides, don't drag me into this!
You're the one who set off this bomb!
The thing's already exploding and there's nothing you can do about it, so just bite the bullet, grovel, and apologize!
Though I doubt you even know what you did wrong!
"Um. So how did things end up like this?"
Oni!
Perfect timing!
Help me out here!
"So the root of all this is that Miss
"That's right."
We decided to calm down and sort things out, so a hearing commenced in what was essentially a small conference room inside the mansion.
This place is ridiculous—even the "small" rooms are big enough to hold a university lecture.
Not that I know anything about university lectures. I just have this image of students milling around in a huge classroom.
In response to the oni's weary expression, the vampire girl answered with full composure—or at least, she apparently believed she did.
You can't exactly play it cool when you look like you're about to cry.
"So then, Mr. Wald directed hostility toward White-san, who had kicked Miss Sophia, and Miss Fermina stepped in to stop him."
"Yes."
"That's right."
On one side, Wald, who at least appeared calm on the surface; on the other, Fermina, still looking rather deflated.
"And Miss Sophia, when asked, said she didn't know who Miss Fermina was."
Silence.
The vampire girl's face was twitching. Wald was doing his best to keep his expression neutral, though he was anything but calm inside. As for Fermina—she started crying again.
"Miss Fermina had tried every trick in the book to rescue the charm-brainwashed Mr. Wald from Miss Sophia's clutches, but failed. Mr. Wald then condemned her for it and cast her aside. After that, White-san took her in and she's been operating as his subordinate."
"That's right."
Fermina, crying, confirmed every word the oni said.
Being the opponent someone fought so hard against, only to not even be recognized by them—that's got to sting.
"The verdict: Miss Sophia is at fault."
"Objection!"
"Objection overruled."
The vampire girl lodged her objection against the oni's ruling.
He dismissed it instantly.
No mercy.
"It's obviously Miss Sophia's fault. Using charm to brainwash people—what the hell is that? That's not something a person does. It's the lowest of the low."
A cold, cutting condemnation, dripping with genuine contempt.
A little unexpected, honestly.
The oni tends to be pretty mild-mannered, so I didn't think he'd bare his emotions like that in words.
Well, no—actually, think about it for two seconds.
After all, the oni is the Lord of
Deep within that heart of his, an undying fury resides.
If anything, his usual gentle demeanor is the act—and this might be who he truly is.
The vampire girl flinched, her whole body shuddering, and looked down at the floor after being hit with those unexpectedly harsh words.
Fermina watched the vampire girl with cold eyes, while Wald couldn't bring himself to interject.
Even though Wald had chosen to stay at the vampire girl's side even after the charm wore off—it was clear he still had his reservations.
Though honestly, if he'd come along without a single thought in his head, he'd just be an absurdly easy mark.
"...It's not the same."
The vampire girl whispered—so quietly that only my keen ears could catch it.
But it was a clear, resolute whisper.
"What?"
"It's NOT the same!"
This time she shouted it.
"I am a vampire. I am not human. It's not the same."
Probably, I was the only one in that room who truly understood the weight of those words.
Because that statement was the vampire girl's declaration that she had completely abandoned her humanity.
But— "So what?"
The atmosphere in the room grew heavy as lead.
Anger pressed down as though it had physical weight.
"There are things that are right and things that are wrong. No matter the reason, evil is still evil. What you did was wrong—no matter how you twist it."
Fermina gasped.
Wald couldn't maintain his poker face—his expression twisted in anguish.
"That evil is the way of life as a vampire. If you deny that, then you deny me myself. Evil is fine. That is who I am."
Only the vampire girl—just her alone—was meeting that wrath head-on.
The two glared at each other.
Time crawled by in silence.
So, um, I'm getting kind of hungry—would it be rude if I excused myself?