Chapter 87

Flam was desperately trying to survive.

Without even a moment to think, she found her body moving to protect herself.

It was a clumsy attempt, far from what could be called a slaughter rule.

It should have had enough power to sever a skull with a direct hit, and the ability to infiltrate blood into a body and disable its functions, but she had not managed to use these skills at all.

However, for Flam at that moment—and for Otilie—it was more than enough to be effective.

“Haa… haa…”

Flam, her shoulders heaving, faced Otilie.

The strength to wield a sword was no longer in her arms, but her fighting spirit remained.

On the other hand, Otilie had suffered more damage to her heart than to her face.

“Why… why did a little girl like you have a slaughter rule…!”

For example, when someone you like rejects you.

For example, when you lose something you love.

People cry and grieve.

But eventually, they overcome it and start walking again.

...But that’s just a convenient illusion.

Survivor bias.

Those who drop out say nothing; only those who recover speak.

Grief and lament—compared to what Otilie is feeling now, these words are too “light.”

“I’ve… worked so hard to stand by my sister’s side… and yet…”

Otilie, holding her face with one hand, squeezed out her words.

At that moment, she finally noticed the presence of Henriette, who had entered the room.

Her eyes were cold, devoid of any warmth.

“Sis… sis?”

Otilie, who noticed the lack of warmth, was hit with a despair even greater than when Flam had used the slaughter rule on her.

Flam, noticing that Otilie’s hostility had disappeared, released her grip on the sword.

With a clatter, the sword fell to the floor.

Hermann, approaching her, looked at her trembling hands with a sad expression and gently patted her back.

It seemed the commotion had come to a temporary end, but for Otilie, hell was just beginning.

*Why don’t you ever listen to me?*

There were no words, but Henriette’s message was clear.

Her face was already injured, and if the scars remained, she might be rejected by the person she liked. Moreover, the bond she had with her sister had been taken away by a newcomer, causing her great pain. And now, she was being looked at with a gaze that saw her as filth by the person she loved the most.

*I was scared.*

Otilie wanted to make an excuse.

*I was so scared that my sister would be taken away by someone else.*

She was not strong.

Because strong people don’t need to rely on others.

And Henriette was strong.

That’s why she could live alone.

If that was the case, it was fine; she could live alone forever.

But she was kind and had given something to others.

She had intended to give a small piece of bread.

But the one who received it felt as if she had been given a full feast.

There was a mismatch.

No matter how much they tried, they couldn’t connect, and yet the distance between them was unnecessarily close.

Because they were childhood friends.

Nothing more, nothing less.

*Hey, sis, can you promise me that you won’t go anywhere and that you won’t belong to anyone but me?*

Her strong will did not reach Henriette.

Always, forever, they would remain parallel.

But unfortunately,

*I’m disappointed in you.*

Henriette’s will was painfully clear to Otilie.

“No, that’s not true, sis. I… I…”

“…It’s enough, Otilie.”

She spoke gently.

But her voice sounded formal, not the way one would speak to a family member—especially a younger sister.

“Sis, please listen, I…”

“I order you to a week of confinement. Return to your room.”

“Sis!”

“Go back, I said!”

At the harsh shout, Otilie’s body trembled.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she looked at Henriette pleadingly, but there was no sympathy.

Despite all the warnings, she had disobeyed the same order twice.

In other words, she had embarrassed Henriette twice.

If she really liked her, why didn’t she listen?

It wasn’t affection or anything; it was just selfishness—Henriette concluded and stopped indulging Otilie.

“U… uu… uu…”

Pressing her bleeding face, she looked down and left the room.

Flam, finally calmed down, watched her go with her eyes.

When Otilie disappeared, Henriette bowed deeply to Flam.

“I’m sorry!”

It was a sincere apology.

However, even if Henriette apologized, it wouldn’t compensate for anything, nor would it heal Flam’s wounds.

As her mind stabilized, her body’s sensations gradually returned to normal.

In other words, the pain that had been reduced by endorphins was now flooding in.

“D… u…”

Holding her arm wound, Flam’s face contorted in pain.

Not only the laceration, but also the parts that had been stepped on and punched were painful.

The apology could wait; what she needed right now was help.

“First, we need to treat your injuries. I’ll take you to the infirmary, follow me.”

Henriette led the way out of the room, with Hermann accompanying Flam.

◇◇◇

After the treatment, Henriette, sitting in a chair near the bed, spoke solemnly.

Flam, lying on the bed, bandaged, looked up at the ceiling and listened without meeting her eyes.

There was something nagging at her, but she couldn’t remember what it was.

However, she understood that the presence strongly asserting itself within her was someone she had fallen in love with.

Hermann, standing a little away, watched her with concern.

“Can you tell me what happened from the beginning?”

Flam had no intention of refusing the questioning.

It was a fact that she had injured a military person, and even without her memory, she knew it wasn’t a situation that could be brushed off.

“After you left my room, Otilie came almost immediately. Of course, I couldn’t resist, so I followed her.”

“The guard was already knocked out, I assume.”

“I think so, he was lying on the ground.”

Henriette sighed deeply and held her head.

The soldiers were also her subordinates.

She must have been as depressed as Flam, if not more, as she had to explain the situation to her superior, Satouki.

“Then, I was led to the same room as before, and a sword was thrown in front of me, and I was told to ‘grip it.’”

“And you did?”

“Yes… and she said the duel was established.”

“Ridiculous.”

Even to someone who had grown up in a similar environment, it was an unreasonable argument, and Flam felt a bit relieved.

She had been worried that there might be a custom in the kingdom where a duel was automatically established when a sword was gripped.

“I was cut, punched, and kicked by Otilie. When I couldn’t move, she raised her sword to my neck… and that’s when…”

“You used the slaughter rule, right?”

“…Yes.”

As expected, she had noticed.

It was also a shock to Henriette that the slaughter rule had been so easily copied by Flam, and her expression darkened even more.

However, if she were to be given a sword again in this situation, she probably wouldn’t be able to use the slaughter rule again.

“At that time, I was just desperate, doing everything I could to survive. I just wanted to be saved, no matter what.”

She might die, and her body moved on its own.

She had a vague memory of something similar happening before.

Perhaps it was the strength of desperation in a crisis, the kind of strength that humans can exhibit when faced with the threat of death.

In Flam’s case, it was even more powerful than in others.

“…Gadio, did he know?”

Henriette muttered.

Flam, not understanding the meaning of the words, could only tilt her head.

“By the way…”

“Hmm?”

When the conversation paused, Flam asked her.

“What happened to Otilie?”

“She’s being treated for her injuries. As for other punishments, I’ll have to discuss them with Satouki.”

“No, I mean, is she okay?”

“What are you worried about? As the victim, you have no reason to be concerned about Otilie.”

Flam, who had no reason to be concerned about Otilie, who had injured her, thought so too.

However, seeing Henriette, who seemed to be pushing her away out of anger, made her feel uneasy.

Probably, she was trying to distance herself from Otilie out of anger—

“Would she… commit suicide?”

“Ha, that’s a bit extreme. She might be reflecting and feeling down, but—”

“Do you plan to keep your distance from Otilie?”

“Yes, it’s a good opportunity to do so. It’s for both our sakes. As the deputy general of the prestigious kingdom’s army, she lacks too much. She needs to become more independent.”

Henriette said this without hesitation.

Flam’s unease only grew.

Earlier, in the room, she had said that Otilie was “not sincere,” and that she wouldn’t pretend to accept her.

It was true, and it was healthier to be honest even if it hurt the other person.

However, this was based on the assumption that Henriette accurately understood Otilie’s feelings.

If Henriette underestimated them—

“Just so you know, I’m not worried about Otilie. I don’t like her, and I don’t want to see her again.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“But I can’t help but be concerned. Henriette… do you really think she won’t take her own life?”

Flam said this with a hint of irritation.

Henriette was twenty-six, and Otilie was twenty-four.

They were grown adults, and Henriette believed Otilie could stand on her own.

However, it also meant that their relationship had lasted for over twenty years.

Their deep-rooted feelings had become part of their personalities.

“What do you mean?”

“I understand the feeling of depending on someone. I can’t remember it clearly, but I think I was in the same situation. When you lose everything, a weak person like me can’t stand without someone to lean on.”

Flam felt this presence more strongly than before.

Perhaps it was because she had become aware of the foreign object in her brain.

And when she focused on the foreign object, she felt as if the plug that was blocking her memories was gradually loosening.

“But Otilie’s case is different.”

She didn’t feel sympathy, and she still disliked her.

However, in this situation, she felt a sense of pity beyond anger.

“Probably, she can’t even live without her feelings for you.”

“That’s a bit extreme.”

“It’s not extreme at all.”

Flam firmly contradicted.

She couldn’t hide her frustration at Henriette’s dullness, who couldn’t even notice such a thing despite being so close.

If Henriette had a sharper sense and had accurately understood the depth of Otilie’s feelings, she wouldn’t have engaged in this half-hearted sister act.

A normal person would be intimidated by such a chasm and wouldn’t reach out carelessly.

“You say you want to make her independent, but it’s too late. If you wanted to, you should have done it years ago.”

“She can do it, Otilie can.”

“That’s not trust, it’s cruel insensitivity.”

“You’re overthinking it. No matter what, she wouldn’t—”

But reality contradicted Henriette’s refusal.

The door was slammed open, and a soldier rushed in without knocking, his face showing panic as he saluted Henriette, out of breath.

“It’s noisy, what’s going on?”

She turned around with a tired expression.

“R… Report, Lady Otilie has stabbed herself in the abdomen and attempted suicide in her room!”

“Wh—”

Henriette was speechless.

“I told you so.”

Flam muttered.

It was clear that this would happen, given the extent of Otilie’s disappointment.

“I’m sorry, we’ll continue the conversation later.”

Henriette stood up and was about to leave the room with the soldier.

Flam called out to her.

“Can I ask one more thing?”

“Make it quick.”

Turning to Henriette, she asked in a flat tone.

“Was it you who sealed my memories?”

There was no evidence.

But she could tell that the foreign object in her brain was blood from someone else.

It couldn’t have been Otilie, so the only possibility was Henriette.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because I understood the application of the slaughter rule.”

Flam, aware of the foreign object in her brain, said this again.

“…I’ll hear the details later.”

With that, Henriette left the room.

Flam, caught up in the rapidly changing situation, felt sorry for her, but the root cause was Henriette’s failure to understand Otilie’s feelings.

It was her own doing, and not something to be pitied.

Flam, staring at the door Henriette had left through, sighed deeply.

She knew who had sealed her memories.

And she felt as if she had found a way to recover her memories.

She was definitely moving forward.

But she still didn’t know how, where, or what she needed to do to be rewarded.

Flam, with a gloomy expression, was approached by Hermann, who had prepared a plate of cut fruit and placed it in front of her, saying, “Eat.”

◇◇◇

In principle, heroes were not allowed to make unsupervised contact with each other.

They were allowed to walk freely within the castle as long as they had guards, but they were not allowed to enter each other’s rooms—supposedly.

However, this only applied if they left their rooms through the proper channels.

Linus, who had boldly escaped through the window, had climbed the wall and visited Eterna’s room.

Of course, Linus was not the type to make a mistake that would be noticed by the guards.

“I thought you were a pervert when you came in through the window.”

“Don’t say that to someone dressed like you.”

Wearing a tight outfit like a swimsuit, with a robe over it and an Enan hat, Eterna’s eccentric fashion was becoming her symbol, but it was still strange.

“So, what’s the purpose of this visit?”

“To exchange information.”

“Aren’t you already exchanging letters?”

“There are things that can’t be conveyed through letters.”

It had been a while since they had spoken directly, but Linus, Eterna, and Gadio had been exchanging notes and sharing information every day.

They were already aware that Milkit and the others had escaped.

However, the only one they couldn’t contact as they wished was Kirill, due to the strict security around him.

“So, what’s the main topic?”

“About the escape plan.”

“Right, what do you think of the details I wrote in the last letter?”

“Unfortunately, we can’t use Kirill’s ‘Return.’ It seems the link between the transfer monument we set up in the demon territory and him has been cut.”

“Link?”

“Kirill and the monument were connected. But that connection is gone, meaning he can’t freely teleport as before.”

Linus had hoped that once they joined up, they could use Kirill’s Return to get to the demon territory in one go, but it wasn’t that simple.

However, he hadn’t expected it to be that easy either.

“I don’t understand the mechanism, but we can’t use Return to escape. That leaves the underground passages.”

The castle was built on top of ruins.

Especially the underground prison was a facility that used the existing ruins.

Linus had learned that there were several passages leading to the capital, which were usually blocked by walls.

He had also confirmed their existence by checking the airflow.

“Indeed, they could be used as an escape route.”

“Right?”

“But there are concerns.”

“What are you worried about?”

“I don’t think Satouki, who has been here for so long, would be unaware of what we know. He would consider the possibility that hidden passages leading to the capital would be used for escape.”

In other words, Eterna was saying that some kind of countermeasure was likely to have been taken.

“That’s possible. I thought the underground passages would be a way out, but it’s not that easy to find a good method… By the way, I just got some more discouraging information. Do you want to hear it?”

“Your introduction doesn’t make me want to hear it… but I will.”

Avoiding reality wouldn’t change anything.

Linus listened to Eterna’s words with a serious expression.

“It’s about Flam.”

“Her memory hasn’t returned… I assume.”

“No, it’s different. I don’t know what happened, but I heard that Flam was moved from the isolated room to the underground prison.”

“The prison? Was she arrested?”

Eterna nodded.

Flam had been moved to the prison a few hours after she returned to her room and received treatment.

It was a punishment