Chapter 134: Guess, is the coin heads or tails?

"You're saying that... Betty ended up living just like her mother?"

Outside the screen, Betty murmured in a daze, her spirit somewhere far away.

She had never once imagined that another version of herself would appraise her own life this way—yet looking back over the story on the screen, from beginning to end, it fit unexpectedly well.

What was she supposed to make of this?

Should she say that the way her mother Echidna had raised her had been a success, or a failure?

But the one thing Betty was certain of was this: she would take the lesson to heart and never repeat the same mistake—never let it end in a lifetime of regret!

She would not be like that version of herself on the screen, the one who spoke of honoring the contract while in truth merely sending Subaru away from the manor, out of sight and out of mind.

From now on she would cling to Subaru without fail, guard him at his very side, and never leave the smallest opening.

Even when he went to the toilet, even when he ate or slept, she, Betty, would stay pressed to Subaru's side!

It wouldn't matter even if Subaru someday found a partner—after all, this was the unique ecological niche she held as his contract spirit, and a power that belonged to her and her alone, I suppose!

Then Betty watched with her own eyes as the version of herself on the screen rose onto her tiptoes, her gaze fixed intently on Natsuki Subaru's eyes, and asked whether he was her "that person."

And Natsuki Subaru did not disappoint her—he gave an affirming answer—

["Yes. I am your 'that person.'"

The next instant, the kunai gripped tightly in Natsuki Subaru's hand pierced through Betty's chest.]

"Subaru... you really are gentle."

Seeing this, Betty lowered her head and spoke softly.

The Natsuki Subaru of that world clearly could no longer shout at her the way he had in her memories: "Choose me, Beatrice!"

But even so, Subaru had gently acknowledged that he was her 'that person,' and then granted her release, letting her at last sleep forever.

"Ah, this really is a tragedy—a world where no one at all can be saved. Even someone as strong of heart as Mr. Natsuki has a limit, a point where his strength simply cannot reach."

On the other side of the audience seats, Otto let out a long, heavy sigh, genuinely grieved for the Mr. Natsuki he admired and revered on the screen.

No one understood better than he did what a fine man Mr. Natsuki was—like a hero out of legend, someone you wanted to follow from the bottom of your heart.

So within the story on the screen, Mr. Natsuki was, in truth, only a victim too.

So Otto lamented in his heart.

However,

the scene that appeared on the screen next shattered the thought he had only just formed, in the blink of an eye.

"There's a proverb where I come from: a drowning man clutches at straws to survive."

"I don't know if you have anything like it where you're from—probably not, since our cultures are so very different..."

The screen lit up on a grand hall, resplendent in gold and jade, its very corridors laid with costly red carpet.

Seated high upon the throne, a young man was chatting with great enthusiasm with the old man kneeling below him—Mr. Sigrum, a man of some sixty-odd years.

To call it chatting, though, wasn't quite accurate.

Because from beginning to end it was only Natsuki Subaru, spouting an endless stream of idle nonsense.

Yet nonsense though it was, Sigrum, kneeling on the ground, had no choice but to listen in earnest.

For the moment he displeased the other man, his entire family would be dragged down with him.

One might look at the throne and see only a frail, feeble young man seated there.

But this was a man who, in a mere two years, had silently infiltrated the societies of all four great nations and built up a powerful organization—a terrifying existence.

In the two years since he rose to power, his conduct had been cold and merciless: anyone who became his enemy or a stumbling block on his path would see not only their family, but even those with the faintest connection to them—purged.

It was precisely by this method of killing the chicken to scare the monkey that the young man's forces had swept forward like a splitting bamboo, growing into the colossus they were today.

For the four great kingdoms, he had become a festering affliction at their very heart.

Trembling with fear, Sigrum let his gaze sweep across the extravagant hall before him.

The wealth piled up here, brick by brick and beam by beam, could be called rich enough to rival a nation without exaggeration.

And beyond that, dozens of world-renowned warriors and mercenaries stood arrayed along either side of the corridor.

To invite or hire so many mighty figures made one's heart quail at just how terrifying and unfathomable his fortune must be.

Most terrifying of all were the powerful figures positioned on either side of his throne—those were beings that no amount of wealth could ever have hired...!

"Mr. Sigrum? Are you... listening?"

Suddenly, Sigrum, kneeling on the ground, heard a polite call drifting down from the throne above his head.

And almost in that same instant, Sigrum, whose thoughts had drifted far away, snapped back to himself—yet when he lifted his head in a panic to look, he found that the smile that had been on the young man's face upon the throne had already vanished without a trace.

In that moment Sigrum's body went limp; he could scarcely hold himself steady even on his knees, as though the reaper's scythe had already come to rest against his neck...

Yet the very next second, that "king" acted as though he cared nothing for it, and instead patiently explained the reason for all his nonsense.

"My apologies—I've bored you. I have a bad habit: if I don't ramble on a bit first, I simply can't get down to real business."

In the span of a few short moments, the sixty-odd-year-old Sigrum had risen from hell back up to heaven, feeling how very wonderful life was.

"My King, please forgive me..."

Because he had abruptly relaxed, Sigrum raised his head, squeezing out a faint smile, anxious to apologize for the offense he had just committed.

But just then he saw the King calmly press the index finger of his right hand against his lips, staring at him with a gaze that felt strangely off-putting and blood-curdling, radiating a terrifying sense of pressure.

Sigrum wracked his brain, drawing on more than sixty years of life experience to try to understand the meaning of that look.

At last, he understood.

That King's gaze was, in fact, saying this:

A dead man—how is it that you're still talking?

Yet the next words from Natsuki Subaru upon the throne set his ice-cold heart stirring back to life once more.

"Ah! I've read the letter you sent, Mr. Sigrum. It seems you're a clever man—you've made the right choice."

"Once you've joined us, you're one of our own, and your family will all be safe and sound as well!"

Having solemnly made this promise, Natsuki Subaru let a candid, hearty smile bloom briefly across his face, his manner now so warm and cordial that he seemed like an entirely different person from a moment ago.

And so, with a few easy words, the two of them settled the terms of their coming cooperation... But—could it really be that simple?

Sigrum, however, didn't think that far. At those words he was at once seized with wild joy, and even the shadow Natsuki Subaru had cast over his heart faded somewhat.

His goal accomplished, he turned to leave, his heart now full of the calm that came from having made the right choice, and the anticipation of being reunited with his family at any moment.

However—

"Ding!"

Just then, from behind him, he suddenly heard a sound he knew intimately from his years steeped in the life of a merchant—the crisp ring of a gold coin.

And then came the flat, level words of that King.

"Tails."

As the words fell—no, before the words could even finish falling—

Sigrum only felt the world around him lurch, and his line of sight suddenly dropped level with the red carpet of the hall.

It was even closer than when he had knelt with his head bowed against the red carpet just before.

"Deal with his family too. Help them... be reunited."

From within the darkness, a hoarse voice came at the last.

And then, there was no sound at all.

____

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