Sofia slowly climbed off the bed. She still felt as if she was in a dream, her eyes looked vacant. She turned her eyes to the door with a relaxed expression on her face.
“Father…What are you doing?”
“So-Sophia, you’re awake?”
“What are you doing, Father?”
“Well, that is…..Whatever Leon-kun told you was just made up. I’ve talked to him about marrying you, so you don’t need to worry about anything. Everything’s fine.”
“Fuu…well, that’s good.”
“Ah, right. But, it’s dangerous there so come over here with me.”
Carlos turned his eyes to me and said this. The way he’s speaking, he’s trying to make it seem like I wanted to take Sophia hostage.
Of course, I never planned on doing that.
But, Carlos is genuinely worried, so Sophia has no reason to doubt his words. She nods and slowly heads towards the door.
Should I stop this?……No, Carlos wouldn’t harm Sophia. She should be safe wherever he takes her.
More important than that, is finding a way to get free of Carlos’ control.
“Alice, can you move?”
I ask Alice, who is leaned up against me.
“Sorry, I still don’t have any strength….it’s impossible.”
“Okay. I’m going to buy some time, so please watch for an opportunity.”
I lay Alice on the floor so that she can run away at anytime.
But, not right now. I’ll try to buy time by asking about Sophia, and hopefully find a way to help Claire escape.
While thinking this, Sophia arrived in front of Carlos.
“…Hey, Father, what did you do to Leon onii-chan?”
“That is……I just negotiated with him.”
“……Negotiation? Negotiation!? Haha, hahahahahah. That’s what you call a negotiation!?”
Sophia suddenly started laughing. I was behind her, so I couldn’t tell what kind of expression she was making.
But Carlos and Elyse were in a position to see her face, and they both looked shocked.
“So…Sophia? What’s…..what’s wrong so suddenly?”
“Ahahaha…..haa. Ah~that’s so strange. Father, did you forget?”
“Wh-what is it?”
“My ability, remember? Even if I don’t touch you, I can tell what you’re thinking. So, I could tell what you were thinking when you said negotiated.”
“What are you saying —- !? Are you angry about what I ordered my people to do? That was just to free Leon-kun.”
“……Just another lie. I was scared of knowing everyone’s true feelings before, but if I can find out stuff like this, I should have used it much earlier…..Right, Father?”
Sophia calmly takes one more step towards her father.
At the same time, she reached down near the hem of her skirt and grabbed the daggers that were attached to her thighs.
What was that? Nobody left in the area seemed to know what just happened. Immediately afterwards, fresh blood danced around Sophia, covering her in red from head to toe.
Carlos then slowly collapsed in the pool of blood that had formed at his feet. Everyone finally understood. Sophia had used the daggers to cut through her father’s throat.
“So…Sophia….?”
After hearing my words, Sophia slowly turned towards me.
“It’s okay, Leon onii-chan. Onii-chan, I’ll kill all the bad people that cause you pain. No matter who they are, I’ll kill them all.”
As Sophia stood there, covered in blood, she smiled innocently.
I couldn’t describe what I felt after seeing that. If Sophia could tell what I felt at that time, our relationship would have been forever changed from that point on.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Sophia did not notice. The only reason she didn’t notice was because Regis, who had finally regained his senses, rushed over to Carlos.
“Carlos-sama, hold on! Carlos-sama!?”
Regis kneeled in the pool of blood and supported Carlos’ limp body, but it was already too late for Carlos. Regis’ face was distorted in pain.
“Carlos-sama, I’m sorry. Even though I was by your side…..”
Regis gently set Carlos’ body down on the floor, and closed his eyes. He then quietly stood up and looked down at Sophia.
“…Sophia-sama, why, why did you do this? Do you understand what you’ve done?”
“I should be asking you that, Regis. Why did you kill Leon onii-chan’s family? Do you understand what you did?”
“Th…that’s because…..”
“Haa~, such a terribly strong feeling of guilt. Still, that didn’t stop you…. Because it was my father’s orders, you did it because you’re so devoted to the Sfir family.”
Regis doesn’t answer, but for Sofia, and her ability, she doesn’t need to hear his words. She continued this one-sided conversation,
“I understand your feelings Regis. I understand them, but…….still I will never forgive you for the pain you’ve caused Leon onii-chan.”
Sophia approached Regis and silently raised the dagger.
“Please stop, Ojou-sama!”
Regis tried to block the dagger with his bare hands. In fact, Sophia was moving slow enough that I could probably stop her with one hand.
However, Sophia still managed to stab the dagger into Regis’ chest.
“……Wha-?……..Why?”
“Haa~, why are you surprised? Attack when your opponent’s guard is down, isn’t it the same way you killed Blake-san?”
“Something like that? For me to be so careless…..”
“Mou~, Regis, you need to listen to other people’s stories properly. I told you I can read other people’s minds, right? It’s easy for me to predict your movements, so naturally I’d be able to catch you off guard, right?”
“Ojou….sama…..”
“…..Goodnight, Regis. I didn’t hate how loyal you were.”
Sophia lets out a small, lonely laugh and pulls out the dagger from Regis’ chest. Immediately after, while still gushing blood, Regis collapsed.
Everyone is frozen.
Sophia is the only one making any noise, laughing innocently in the room dominated by surprise and fear.
……What is going on? This doesn’t look anything like the Sophia I know. Is this really Sophia in front of me?
“Now, then…..Mother…..it’s your turn.”
Sophia turns her gaze to Elyse, who was still frozen in fear. The moment their eyes met Elyse seemed to regain her senses.
“So-Sophia! What are you going to do! I am your mother!”
“……In your mind you’re thinking I’m nothing but a monster. Well, such words are fitting.”
“—–Hiii!?”
It seems Sophia hit the bullseye — I guess Sophia is continuing to read everyone’s minds. Elyse’s face was overcome with fear, she threw Claire to the side, and began to retreat down the hall.
But, Elyse had nowhere to go and was backed into the end of the corridor by Sophia. Sophia walked slowly towards Elyse —
“This isn’t good Sophia, you must stop!”
I came back to my senses and quickly grabbed on to Sophia’s arms. At that moment, Elyse screamed and clumsily ran away.
“Let go onii-chan, I can’t kill Mother like this!”
“Stop this! You can’t kill her!”
I desperately hold on to the arms of Sophia, she tries to break free from my grasp. Sophia continued to struggle for a while, but when she saw Elyse disappear from the corridor, she became quiet.
After confirming she was calm, I released her. She then slowly turned to look at me.
“…..Onii-chan, why did you stop me? Why, Leon onii-chan, isn’t what Mother did unforgivable?”
“I can never forgive her…….But, why do you need to kill her?”
“Well, Mother knew about everything. When she learned that onii-chan’s family had been killed, she was pleased that the Sfir family would gain even more power. Can that be forgiven?”
“That is……”
I feel sick after hearing this. If that is the truth — no, Sophia read her mind, it’s definitely true.
If so —
“Don’t you want to kill her too?”
“You-you’re wrong!”
“I’m not wrong. In your heart you can’t forgive her, it’s screaming out for you to kill her!”
“That’s…..”
Calm down, I need to calm down. If Sophia is saying that then it must be true.
No, I certainly have the urge to kill. I was hoping to get along with all of my family. Even though I wouldn’t have been able to do it now, I hoped that someday I could.
In the end, everyone was killed for the Sfir family’s selfish reasons.
Something like that can never be forgiven!
……However,
“Still, I don’t want Sophia to kill anyone else. Please, stop trying to kill people.”
The moment when I said so, Sophia’s face was dyed with surprise and fear.
“……Eh, you’re lying. You have to be…….Was it useless? Sophia was working so hard for Leon onii-chan.”
“No, I don’t want you killing anyone.”
“If that’s the case then, what should I do!? Sophia’s mother and father killed Leon onii-chan’s family!”
“……Sophia?”
“No…no, no, no Leon onii-chan will hate me! No, I don’t want that….no, no, no, no, no, nnnnnnooooooooooooooo!”
“Sophia, calm down! Sophia!”
Damn it, I misjudged her reaction! I knew she was unstable, so why did I reject her!?
I embrace Sophia and try to calm her down, but Sophia is thrashing around violently, I have no idea how her tiny body has so much power.
“Leon, keep hold of her!”
Almost at the same time I was able to understand that it was Alice’s voice, all of the power left Sophia’s body. I held her up so that she wouldn’t collapse.
“Did you put her to sleep?”
‘Yes, I thought it was best to calm her down. Was I wrong to do that?”
“No, you saved me.”
Sophia was obviously irrational.
She relived all the tragedies I’ve been through and killed her own father. How much strain was put on this young girl……If she’s left as is, Sophia’s mind may remain broken.
First I need to calm her down, then I need to take my time and care for her……
With these thoughts in my mind, several footsteps could be heard approaching us from behind. And soon, a few knights rushed into the room.
“ —- Father!? Stay with me!”
One of the knights rushes to Carlos and checks on his condition. He quickly found out that Carlos was already dead. He then turned his angry expression to me.
“Did you do this!?”
“No, it wasn’t me.”
“Then, who was it! And what have you done to Sophia!?”
………..As expected, who would believe me in this situation?
A suspicious boy who has invaded the mansion of another person. Carlos and Regis’ bodies are near me, and I’m currently holding Sophia’s unconscious body in my arms.
No matter how you look at it, I appear to be the criminal here.
First of all, it’s a problem that I don’t know whose side this knight is on, he doesn’t know anything that happened with Carlos. But, if he was already on Carlos’ side then a fight is unavoidable.
“That person is innocent, Eric-sama.”
Suddenly a voice could be heard from the corner of the room. When I turned to look for the source, it was one of the knights that Alice had knocked out.
“Will, you’re okay!”
“Yes, Eric-sama, I was a little stunned, but I know the situation. They are not guilty — rather…… Carlos-sama was the criminal here.”
“What? What are you saying!?”
“Actually —”
The knight, Will, began to explain what had happened. Although he had been following Carlos’ orders, he seemed to be disgusted by Carlos’ cowardly nature.
That’s why Eric, who was doubtful at the beginning, eventually believed we were innocent. Not everything has been resolved, but for now it seems we’re saved.
