Chapter 69: A Woman Who Looked As Though Gothic and Lolita Had Been Simmered Together in Black and Pink (2)
A Woman Who Looked As Though Gothic and Lolita Had Been Simmered Together in Black and Pink (2)
Issak took a sip of the tea Tokiha had prepared and asked the two of them a question.
“How did you two get here?”
“I was begged by the ones keeping watch over this place.
They said you’d come back for revenge, and asked me to take their place.”
“Revenge?”
Desnos pointed toward the ceiling.
“You apparently made a terrifying face at the camera. They were convinced you’d kill them, and they were scared out of their wits.”
“Oh…”
It had been his best attempt at a smile, filled with affection. And yet, it had backfired completely. Issak sank into quiet dejection, muttering inwardly that he should never have done something so out of character, then glanced at Desnos with visible dissatisfaction.
“Why is it that the guys on-site like you so much? You look like ten times the brute I do.”
At that, Tokiha laughed.
“Probably because every man in the royal castle hates Lovecraft.”
“Ah…”
It wasn’t as though Lovecraft treated the male staff poorly.
As a superior, his conduct met expectations. The problem was his behavior toward the female staff. It was utterly abnormal.
He treated every woman like a lover, so the disparity in how he treated men versus women stood out glaringly.
And considering he seduced every woman who caught his eye, it was only natural that he earned the resentment of the male staff.
In contrast, although his wife had run away from him, the caring Desnos was well-liked.
“But you, on the other hand, are universally disliked by both men and women. What did you do?”
“I kind of remember… but also kind of don’t…”
As Issak mumbled this, Tokiha replied with a faint smile.
“Because you are, in both name and reality, the worst king imaginable.”
Issak allowed himself the smallest of smiles, and the two shared a quiet chuckle.
Desnos didn’t understand what they were talking about.
But if he ever asked, they would surely tell him.
And if that happened, Desnos would be dragged into the darkness.
That’s why Desnos said nothing. He wasn’t ready for that yet.
Issak finished his tea and handed the empty teacup to Tokiha.
“Why did you come back?”
Accepting the cup, Tokiha peered into the teapot as she answered.
“I came to look for the Evil God statue.”
“!?”
Desnos looked to Issak in surprise.
Issak scowled and replied in a displeased tone.
“I can’t believe you of all people would suddenly take an interest in that thing.”
Tokiha poured tea into the cup and placed it in front of Issak, then straightened her posture.
Despite being dressed like Gothic and Lolita styles simmered together in black and pink, Tokiha exuded the tension of a still lake before a storm.
“Onii-sama, you made a deal with a demon, didn’t you?”
Issak’s brow twitched faintly.
Desnos looked from Issak to Tokiha and asked,
“What’s this about a deal with a demon?”
Issak gave no reply, averting his gaze from the both of them.
Tokiha answered in his place as if expecting this.
“Va, the Hollow Demon, the youngest of the three gods of the creation myth.
Onii-sama paid a price to that demon and received something in return.
Desnos, haven’t you ever noticed any strange behavior from Onii-sama?
Like a sudden obsession with gambling, or showering gifts on some random woman?”
Desnos suddenly remembered.
“Wait, you mean that game you were all fired up about, the one with the GG Rare? That one!?”
Issak looked away and asked Tokiha,
“How did you figure it out?”
“Because that old bastard’s vault in the capital was opened.”
Tokiha stared straight at Issak.
Feeling cornered, Issak turned his head further away, but Desnos grabbed his twisted neck with both hands.
“Hey, Issak, answer me! What did you give in exchange for that game!? Don’t tell me it was your life!”
“Ow ow ow, that hurts! It was just… parts of my body, that’s all!”
“Parts? Specifically, what parts!?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hey!”
“It’s fine. I won’t die… not right away, anyway.”
“…”
Desnos sank back into the sofa like a man slowly collapsing under his own weight.
As he sat there in a daze, Issak awkwardly scratched his head with a finger.
Tokiha narrowed her right eye, the one outlined in black.
“Is that really all you paid the demon?”
“…It is.”
“Really?”
Stared down by that darkly rimmed eye, Issak looked away.
“It’s true. Why are you doubting me?”
“Because you’re not the kind of man to do anything so reasonable, Onii-sama.”
“You’re one to talk about reason, dressed like that.
So what do you plan to do with it once you get it?”
“I want Onii-sama to reign as the true king.”
Issak blinked, then gave a weary shake of his head.
“Come on. I’m the last of the royal line. There’s no heir, and I’m not making one.
What’s the point of a perpetual monarchy?”
Tokiha’s right eye, lined thickly in black, lifted with a fearless smile.
“You misunderstand. I don’t want a perpetual monarchy. I want Onii-sama to be the immortal king.”
“Humans can’t live forever, you know?”
“Then Onii-sama will have to stop being human.”
“What?”
“With the power of the Evil God statue, it’ll be easy.”
Despite looking like a walking joke in her outfit, Tokiha’s heavily black-lined eye was not laughing.