“Lily. It’s all over now.”
It might be overlooked at some provincial educational institution, but this can’t happen at a school attended by the nobility responsible for the core of the empire, even if it’s rotten.
Snap!
As she snapped her fingers, the students started murmuring.
For Lily, the dream-like days until now had ended.
And the grudge of the dead Olivia would be resolved.
The faces of the noble students turned blank, one by one.
‘I was such a fool too.’
‘I, who was going to capture the Demon King and become an Archmage, didn’t even realize that Lily had made a contract with a succubus.’
‘No, maybe it was the same before, and it’s the same now. From the moment I entered Olivia’s body, I might have been influenced by the dead Olivia.’
‘After all, the brain and everything in this body come from Olivia’s experiences.’
‘It’s just a guess, but there’s no other way I would have reacted emotionally to the students under the succubus’ hypnosis.’
‘Even now, I feel a sense of relief welling up in a corner of my heart.’
“Wh-What is this?”
“Ah, my head hurts. What is…?”
The students were confused.
The hypnosis had just been broken.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘I am a benevolent Archmage and Saint.’
“In short, this is proof that all of you were being manipulated by Lily.”
“No! I wasn’t playing with everyone!”
“Yeah, by your logic, you didn’t play with them.”
‘If I were to put it a little more intelligently, it was deception.’
“So, let’s stop now.”
“You’ve already killed Olivia, isn’t that enough?”
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough by now?”
Lily rolled her eyes, as if still wanting to make excuses.
But this time, it wouldn’t work.
“No! I’m telling you, no! This is all your sister’s conspiracy! Isn’t that right?”
Her red eyes gleamed again, but Adran created a barrier around Lily to prevent her from hypnotizing the students further.
“Olivia, what’s going on?”
Aslan maintained a rather calm demeanor.
In fact, even when he was under the charm, he remained cool-headed.
So, by now, it was probably just that his affection for Lily had faded.
“As you can see, Lily made a contract with a succubus five years ago and bewitched the people of the border village.”
“That would have been before her marriage into Ashtar, wouldn’t it?”
“It was long ago.”
“Yes.”
“Do you realize what you’re saying? If this gets out—”
‘It’s not “if.” The moment this trial of judgment was set up, it became dangerous.’
‘I’m really grateful to Claire, who followed me even though she’s one of Mother’s subordinates.’
“Yes, the reputation of Ashtar will surely be tarnished.”
Politically, it’s risky too.
The Ashtar family, a renowned noble house.
And yet, its young lady made a contract with a monster.
This wasn’t just disgraceful, it was a reason for the young lady to consider ending her life.
Moreover, rumors about the family would circulate in noble society overnight.
A family whose young lady made a contract with a succubus.
“And yet, you’re personally passing judgment on your own sister?”
“Is that what surprises you?”
“Even knowing the truth Olivia went through, could you still say that?”
“It’s only natural that Lily should be judged, but do they find that too harsh?”
“I am a Saint. A Saint cannot be swayed by family or personal ties.”
The empire has never had a Saint, so neither Aslan nor Ashtar seem to understand this well, but Saints of the kingdom and the Holy Church are taught this way.
The affairs of the world and family cannot be placed on the same level.
That’s the cruel reality of being a Saint.
Of course, for Ashtar and the Empire Church, they were free to do as they pleased since they were born without legitimacy.
Lily didn’t understand anything and simply wanted to take what was mine.
“To pursue the truth, even at the cost of abandoning your family. You’re an unpredictable woman.”
At Yuria’s words, I shrugged.
“The truth must be revealed.”
“Honestly, handling Lily is easy.”
“Lily is a criminal.”
“I could just deal with her quietly, without anyone knowing.”
“This isn’t for the Empire or the nobles.”
“It’s for Olivia, the first victim of Lily’s abilities.”
Even Aslan, now clear-headed, carefully opened his mouth.
“Is this really true?”
“N-No! Sister, how could you frame me like this?”
“If you call this framing, you’re quite something.”
“How much further will you disgrace yourself?”
“If you just accepted it by now and at least laughed wickedly like a villain, you wouldn’t look this pathetic.”
I shook my head.
‘She really is beyond saving.’
‘Her final desperate struggle has passed pathetic and reached disgraceful.’
“Lily, if you had stopped at an appropriate point, I would have helped you.”
“You would?”
“Yeah, up until that point, it would have been fine. I’ll concede you were foolish enough to make a contract with a monster. But you should have stopped there.”
“Is there really a need to keep talking?”
“But this is too much, isn’t it?”
I sighed deeply.
“How could you do this? You’ve always had everything, so why can’t I have what I want?”
For a moment, I was stunned.
“You really think like that? It’s shocking.”
‘The logic she holds is completely different from that of ordinary people.’
‘To steal what her sister has.’
‘Where on earth did she learn this logic?’
“Did I ever tell you not to enjoy things? You can’t take what isn’t yours.”
I resisted the urge to mention her mother because it felt pitiful.
Her mother, a prostitute, did everything she could for her daughter, and yet her daughter turned out like this. Tsk.
“Mother told me so!”
‘Ah, of course. Like mother, like daughter.’
‘There’s no saving her.’
“Your mother was a prostitute, right? So, she probably wanted to take something for herself too. You should have learned proper noble etiquette and morals when Father hired private tutors for you.”
“I don’t care! I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t make any contract!”
‘She’s like a child.’
“Is this pure evil? Or does she just not understand what sin is?”
‘Maybe Nora had a part in this too. She’s the one who made Lily this way.’
‘Giving uncontrollable power to a child.’
‘She should have given it to women obsessed with lust instead.’
“I’ve prepared something for a situation like this.”
“If you still won’t admit it, then there’s no other choice.”
“It would have been better if you had admitted it.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let this slide.”
“Th-That’s right! Sister, please stop this already. This isn’t fun anymore!”
“Don’t you see everyone is looking at you with pity?”
Aslan, the student council members, and Adran—essentially all the important figures—felt sympathy for her.
‘She’s being driven into a corner, yet she shows no remorse, only offering excuses. No wonder they pity her.’
‘I probably look like the bad one now.’
“Well, I’ve prepared a witness in advance.”
“Witness?”
“Next is the succubus she made the contract with.”
With a snap of her fingers, Claire brought Nora in from outside.
‘This is my first task as a Saint, but it’s still funny to see a succubus in a church.’
‘I’m not sure what Claire did, but she seems to have persuaded the high priest well.’
‘My task now is to use Nora to hammer the cruel reality back into Lily’s head.’
“I don’t know that succubus!”
“No, that’s basically the same as saying you do know her.”
“Succubus Nora.”
“Y-Yes.”
“There’s no need to be scared.”
“As long as you do your job properly, I’ll spare you.”
“Nora said she first met Lily in the village of Moran at the border five years ago. Now, please be honest about everything that happened after that. It’s the least you can do to show remorse for the way you’ve manipulated the Empire through Lily over the past few years.”
‘Now, Lily. Let’s see how long you can hold out.’
“Yes, Saint. I am Nora, a succubus under the Succubus Queen, the commander of the 12th Legion of the Demon King’s army. I met Lily during the war and…”
Succubus Nora explained everything—from the background of meeting Lily to what had happened and what they had done together since then.
Lily tried to say something in the middle, but Adran stopped her.
“As much as it pains me to say this, I am also a victim. Succubi can’t survive without energy and slowly wither away. That’s why I was desperate and made the contract with Lily. But she never kept her promises and only used her powers for her own amusement. I never thought it would end up like this. It’s really frustrating.”
‘It’s the first time I’ve heard a succubus talk like that.’
As we listened to her testimony and complaints, Adran looked at the succubus with disdain.
“If that’s how it was, why didn’t you just surrender?”
“Even now, it’s still a war, but at that time, all my sisters had died. Would they have spared me if I surrendered?”
“That’s a valid point.”
At the time, both the Kingdom and the Empire had issued orders to kill any monsters on sight, regardless of surrender.
The Empire’s supply lines, which the Kingdom depended on, were seized by monsters, and this retaliation followed.
Before that, the military sometimes accepted surrendering monsters from the Demon King’s army to gain information, unlike the wild monsters.
But when the northern Libelt Cavalry recaptured the supply lines, every single monster of the Demon King’s army was slaughtered.
“So, you bear no guilt?”
“I’m a bit curious about this.”
“I made the deal because that brazen girl, Lily, promised to feed me energy once a week! She even said she would become my companion. I believed her!”
‘Hmm, I suppose that would be an enticing offer.’
‘For a succubus trapped alone in the Empire, that must have seemed like a tempting proposal.’
“Foolish! Wouldn’t it have been more reasonable to find another partner?”
“Contracts consume a lot of energy. It’s not feasible. I had to use what little energy I had just to stay alive, so finding another contractor was… a gamble.”
Nora cried desperately, tears streaming down her face in a bid for survival.
At first glance, it looked as though Lily had been exploiting the succubus.
“So, you’ve been barely surviving, using whatever energy you could?”
“There are various ways to consume energy. But without sexual relations, even if I replenish my energy, it’s barely enough to keep me breathing.”
“Can you show us proof of the contract?”
‘It’s better to see it with our own eyes than to hear about it a hundred times.’
‘Even though the hypnosis is broken, many of these idiots still can’t grasp the situation.’
‘With the war against the Demon King ongoing, some of them must have studied monsterology, right?’
‘These noble fools, despite their lack of intelligence, should at least recognize the characteristics of a succubus contract.’
Nora glanced around before speaking to me in a small voice.
“Sa-Saint, you’ll really spare me, right?”
“As long as you do things right, there’s no reason I wouldn’t.”
“Of course. Just trust me.”
‘Or do I need to hit her one more time?’
When I gave her a meaningful smile, Nora quickly stretched out her hand, activating her succubus powers.
Sparrrk!
Suddenly, a strange mark appeared on Lily’s stomach.
At first glance, it seemed sensual, but on that body, it looked… out of place.
“Now, do you still want to deny it? Everyone can see it already.”
“This is all that succubus’ fault! She threatened me into it!”
‘Now she’s blaming the succubus for everything.’
‘How amusing. This woman, Lily.’
‘If left unchecked, she might have risen to the top of the Empire.’
“If that were the case, you would have informed the vigilante group at the time.”
“Why is my sister always tormenting me?”
“Playing the victim now?”
‘Looking closely, Lily resembles both Siriana and Ella from the Hero Party, and not in a good way.’
Siriana always cried, making me look like a madman.
Ella never admitted her mistakes.
In the end, I was always the one who suffered from their vile personalities.
This one is a mix of the worst traits of both.
‘But what can I do? Now, I am also a woman.’
I no longer feel sympathy for her tears, and such overwhelming evidence makes it impossible for others to defend her.
“Would you like to be dragged to the Order and interrogated directly? They even have a lie detector there.”
‘If that doesn’t work, I can make her spill everything with my war hammer.’
“I-I just wanted to live happily! This is all your fault! Why is it always you, Sister? What did I do wrong? Don’t you realize that my contract with the succubus is ultimately your fault?”
So, she finally admits it.
She couldn’t hold it in anymore.