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Volume 8 Chapter 2 Part 1

Translation by Goma
Editing by Team Foxsunes

I wonder how much time had passed since I had been locked up in the room by the demon and Noct. Hugging my legs on the bed, I lifted my face that I had been burying in my knees. I opened my eyes. The curtains had been opened, and I looked outside. The sky outside the window glass was still dark. Hence, I deduced that it had not been long after the two had left the room.

   I completely understood that I should not stay here obediently. However, I did not know. How should I carry out my next move? What should I do? Though I needed to carefully deliberate my subsequent actions, I could not move from the bed. What a shame.

   Currently, nobody that I usually relied on was beside me. This included that man and other people I hold dear to. I wanted somebody to laugh away my fright. That is, even though I did not have the right to ask anybody, even the man to do so.

   At least I could fully realize how childish and immature I was. Even though I had my precious life to learn from; even though I was a mom of this baby in my stomach; I was nothing but a child, since I could not do anything without guidance.

「How embarrassing…….」

Sighing self-depreciatingly, I buried my face into my knee once more.  Even though I had been tricked by Noct and the demon disguised as the servant girl, I could not help but be depressed at how I could not resist.

   Just before I had been kidnapped and brought to this estate, the demon who had disguised as “Daphne Hipelcum” said the priest had demanded for me from the hero. The high priest, whom I personally despised utterly, that is. Although I had no means of confirming its accuracy, I had somehow felt it was true. I was sure the demon had wanted to kidnap me before I would be imprisoned in a “church”, a place she would have had difficulty infringing. That was why Noct and the demon had carried out their plans today.

   By now, the hero and others would have noticed my absence. Although I did not know what sort of action they would take, whatever it was, my absence would only be disadvantageous for the hero. I hoped the church would perceive that I had escaped, but if not, it would be problematic. If the church accused the heroes in hiding me somewhere, that would be very bad. The situation was not very good.

   Ah, I could not bear the thought of troubling those kind people. My predicament was beyond description. I did not think the church, which worshiped the goddess, could make a move against the hero. Besides, the hero had been chosen by the goddess. However, the enemy was that annoying priest. I did not know what he would do.

   Anyways, why was it me? Although it was a rather late thought, I got frustrated with how unreasonable it was.

   Even if it was merely venting, the anger empowered me. Perhaps such an emotion was good for me. Better than being depressed at least. Thus, as my rising impulse told me to do so, I vigorously lifted my face that I had been burying. I then nodded to myself.

   I would leave the depression and self-depreciation for later. I would apologize to every party after everything was solved. I could apologize with a “Dogeza”. What I needed to do now was neither self-deprecating nor self-pity, but to think of the necessary actions to overcome this situation.

   Now, let me return to the beginning. Let’s say I am attacked both by the priest from the high church, and the high-ranking demon. What an unwelcome amount of attention I had to myself. From my perspective, I am firstly the wife of the royal head magician. Then, I am the daughter of the family that were scribes for magical texts. Additionally, I am the friend of this world’s heroes including the princess.

   Upon listing my titles, I realized: unknowingly I had acquired quite an important standing. However, if this was a story, my role would be quite trivial. I was one of the numerous unimportant characters and should not be a person involved in the main story. Whether it was the priest or the demon, what trouble they were putting themselves into for me. Of course, I was not showing appreciation for them. Obviously, I was being sarcastic.

   ———And this was reality, not just some story in a book. Hence, based on this reasoning, I understood the priest’s logic. After passing the jet-black magician’s child off as the second demon lord, he would lead the destruction of the 『Second demon lord』. Then, he would reinforce his own standing as a priest, and hopefully get a promotion. That was why I was………. rather, the baby was targeted. I could understand this explanation.

   However, what about the demon? She said she had a purpose. According to her, it was a wish she was desperate to realize. She had kidnapped me for this purpose, but I did not know what she intended to do with me. Initially, the demon had intended for Noct to kidnap me. However, in the end, she herself intruded the Schtorenvihein territory, disguised as a servant girl. I could not easily overlook this fact.

   What was the meaning of going through such an ordeal to kidnap me? What if, what if, this baby in my stomach was really the second demon lord?

   I had always thought otherwise. I had believed so. How ridiculous would it be if this child was a demon lord? However, I did not have a firm reason to believe so. If someone had questioned my evidence, I could not give a solid answer. There was no reason to believe that this child was the demon lord. But similarly, there was no justification for the opposing argument as well.

   There were a lot of things I did not know. Information was too scarce. Additionally, I did not understand Noct, who had aided my kidnapping.

   …….. No. It was an excuse to simply say “I did not know”. He had affectionately called the demon “mother”. Noct seemed to care and love her. That meant every action of Noct’s had been for that demon. Yes, nothing less, nothing more.

   Besides, Noct had said so. He had said how he had a mother and had promised her to live together once everything was settled. That he was very excited for that day. Probably, “everything” meant this kidnapping.

   Noct had been tricking us. Murmuring to myself once again, I felt I was suffocating my heart. It was as if a thin metal thread was tightening around my heart. What if my heart was cut into pieces by the thread? I almost felt that way. My heart that had finally been roused by my anger suddenly cooled off. I clenched my fist tightly. If not, I felt that tears would start flowing.

   Undoubtedly, an average person would say: you had been crazy enough to even trust a demon. Hence, this was a natural consequence, and I was to blame for housing Noct. For refusing to face reality. But, but I.

— “Something to be feared” does not necessarily mean it is “actually scary”.

   I remembered the words of my wet nurse. My response to Noct had all been linked to these words. However, I had wanted to believe in Noct. I thought I had been putting in the effort to believe in him.  No, surely, I had believed in him long ago before I knew it.

   Why could I have discriminated against him; just because he was a demon. I definitely did not want to do the same thing as the people who had singled out the man with jet-black hair.

   How happy I had been when Noct’s outright hostility had gradually mellowed through the time we lived together. As a human of this world, perhaps I had been wrong to think of him as family. However, I wanted to believe that I was correct.

   That is why. That is why I had been so shocked. The fact that Noct had betrayed me hurt me so much. No, “betrayed” was not the right expression.  Rather, Noct had been working for the demon from the beginning.

   Everything, from the beginning. From the beginning, I had been wrong. I wondered how the man thought of me. Of his wife that had continued to believe in her own mistake.

「Edi」

I softly rubbed my bracelet on my right wrist and the ring on my left ring.  After gazing upon those things for a while; things that offered no warmth, I lifted my right wrist in front of my face. This bracelet had a precious magical sphere in the center of it that resembled the morning glow color of the precious magical sphere on the man’s wand. This bracelet had various functions. Among these, the communication function. I had used this function several times before, to contact the man when he had to come home later than usual. This was my only hand.

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