Victory. Did you do it?

I stared at the bat monster that Aina had transformed into.

Although it was smaller than the monster I had encountered before, it was far more dangerous.

The reason was its immense magical power… while not on par with Vladimir’s, it was still enough to be oppressive.

The opponent seemed to be observing us as well.

Does it still retain its reason after becoming a monster?

…Perhaps it’s just combat instinct.

But soon, the bat monster made its move.

In the blink of an eye, it vanished from its spot.

When I looked again, it had already closed the distance and was slashing at me with its sharp claws.

…So fast!

I immediately deployed an ice shield, attempting to block the blow.

But just like before, the attack passed right through the shield.

…Is it another shadow with no attacking power?

No, my intuition told me it wasn’t that simple.

I immediately back-stepped, but the claws still grazed me, tearing the fabric on my chest.

A trickle of blood seeped from the wound, staining my chest red.

…Thankfully, it only broke the skin.

“Ailena!”

Though worried about me, the Young Miss did not let this opportunity pass.

She darted out from the side, thrusting her short knife at the bat.

But the bat did not dodge.

Instead, it blocked the blade with its wing.

Purple blood dripped from the bat’s wing, and magic seemed to dissipate from it.

Alarm bells went off in my mind, and I immediately shouted to the Young Miss:

“Get back!

Young Miss!”

The moment my voice fell, the blood transformed into thin, long pillars, shooting towards the Young Miss like bullets.

“!”

Thankfully, my warning had given the Young Miss time to prepare.

With a series of backflips, she deftly dodged the blood attack while simultaneously creating distance.

The bat seemed relentless, continuing to pursue the Young Miss with its blood projectiles.

…I won’t let it have its way!

“Wind Blade!”

Three blades of wind shot toward the blood pillars, slicing them in half.

At the same time, the Young Miss returned to my side.

“Ailena, are you okay?”

The Young Miss glanced at my chest, then for some reason turned her head away, her face flushing red.

“It’s just a scratch, nothing serious.”

“Ahem… It seems we’ll need to win this in a single blow.

If we let it bleed more, it will only put us at a greater disadvantage.”

“…If you can give me time to prepare, I should be able to win by casting a high-tier spell.”

“Then I’ll go and delay it.”

…I can’t let the Young Miss do something so dangerous.

I wanted to say that, but the Young Miss projected an air of unassailable authority.

And this was indeed the best strategy we had at the moment…

There was no choice.

I could only suppress my personal feelings and choose to trust her.

I handed the remaining three short knives to the Young Miss.

“You must be careful, Young Miss.”

“Of course.

I’ll leave the finishing blow to you, Ailena.”

After exchanging a glance, the Young Miss moved.

She once again flashed to the monster’s side and threw a short knife at its head.

This time, too, it blocked the knife with its wing.

Immediately after, countless dark purple blood pillars rained down.

And the Young Miss, as if dancing in this rain, dodged with nimble grace.

What incredible physical ability.

I couldn’t help but marvel as I gathered my magic.

…Though her small size is probably an advantage.

But to keep the monster’s attention, the Young Miss had to attack it frequently… which meant the monster’s wounds would increase, it would bleed more, and the frequency of its attacks would also intensify.

I could see the Young Miss’s initial ease give way to strain, nearly becoming overwhelmed.

Scratches began to appear on her body.

This made my heart race with anxiety, but I had to calm down.

If I made a mistake in constructing the magic circuit, I would have to start all over…

I cannot let the Young Miss’s efforts go to waste!

Before my eyes, dense volleys of blood pillars fell one after another, while the Young Miss wielded her short knife, dodging and shattering them, as if performing a Blade Waltz, repelling wave after wave of attacks.

At the same time, the bat monster, which had been manipulating its blood, finally moved.

Mingling among the blood pillars, it charged straight for the Young Miss.

The Young Miss turned to face the monster, seemingly intending to meet it head-on.

…But something seemed off.

The center of its magical energy seemed to have shifted.

Realizing what was happening, I shouted to the Young Miss:

“Young Miss!

That’s a fake!”

As expected, the short knife passed through the bat’s shadow.

But with my warning, the Young Miss reacted instantly, throwing another short knife behind her.

“Puchi!”

Because it was in the middle of an attack, it had no time to defend.

The knife struck it squarely in the chest!

It must have been a severe blow, as it was visibly stunned for a moment.

At the same time, I had finished constructing the composite magic.

…This opening, I will not miss it!

“Scorching Cyclone!”

A fierce tornado engulfed in flames completely swallowed the monster.

The blood pillars that had been chasing the Young Miss were all incinerated, dissolving in the wind.

I rushed to the Young Miss’s side to check her wounds.

“Hah… Thank goodness, they’re just scratches…”

“I’m not like you, Ailena.

I do think about my own safety.”

…She’s still going to take a jab at me at a time like this?

But that just meant she was fine, which let me breathe a sigh of relief.

Gradually, the fire tornado began to dissipate, leaving behind only the bat monster, burned beyond recognition, its form already beginning to disintegrate.

And it was then, through the dissipating motes of light, that I thought I saw something.

I was just the unremarkable fourth daughter of a Viscount.

My looks were plain, my family’s standing was average.

My two prettier older sisters were married off to high nobles to secure funds, and my older brother was the heir, so I was sent to the ducal estate as a maid to foster closer ties, and to get closer to a high-ranking family to see if there was any information that might be disadvantageous to my own.

Because our circumstances and age were similar, Celine and I had a very good relationship.

But as time went on, she climbed to the position of head maid, while I remained a mere maid… It made me feel betrayed.

But I also understood that she had reached her current position through her own hard work… I was just jealous.

…I really am an ugly person.

An ugly person like me will probably live an unremarkable life forever.

…But on that day, my destiny was completely changed.

It was during a shopping trip one day that I met him, in his weakened state.

Perhaps it was because he was too handsome… or perhaps I just wanted to feel good about myself.

In any case, I saved him and took care of him.

After he recovered, we parted ways.

I thought I would never see him again, but the opposite happened.

We met again and again, and gradually grew closer…

Finally, under his advances, I fell, and he left his mark on my neck.

At the time, I naively thought I had found true love, that I had met my own Prince Charming.

But who knew that this was a sign of danger, the beginning of a descent into hell.

After being marked as his kin, my body could no longer be without him.

Without his blood, my body would burn with an unbearable heat, a feeling like thousands of ants biting at my heart, an maddening itch.

I once tried to endure it, to escape his control.

But it proved to be all in vain.

That was something no human could endure.

To blindly resist would only lead one deeper into the mire, driving one to madness.

…In the end, I chose to give up, to accept reality, to fall into the path of evil.

I killed the emotions in my heart and became a puppet that only obeyed the commands of a demon.

I really am an ugly person, aren’t I?

…Was this… Senior Aina’s memory?

I remember from the original game’s lore that when a human who has turned into a monster dies, someone with strong magic can see their memories as a human through the magic particles they dissolve into.

…When I played the game, I originally thought this was just a feature to flesh out characters, but experiencing it myself, I could thoroughly taste Senior Aina’s despair and pain.

Wordlessly, I walked up to Aina.

Even as a monster, there were crimson stains on the corners of her eyes, as if she had been crying tears of blood.

Perhaps, for her, death was the only release.

“Actually… I still respected you a great deal, Senior Aina.

Thank you for standing up for me that day.”

I closed her eyes for her.

Until her body completely dissolved into particles of magic and dissipated into the air.

The surroundings fell completely silent, signaling the end of the crisis.

…But isn’t it a little too quiet?

“Speaking of which… why haven’t any guards come by yet?”

It was only then that I noticed this problem.

Looking around, there were only a few maids and male servants watching from a distance… which was normal.

They had no combat ability, so of course they would hide from a monster.

But not to have seen a single guard with combat ability, that was far too strange, wasn’t it?

“…That’s right.

Although there aren’t many guards left at the estate right now, a few should have come to check on the situation, right?”

The Young Miss also voiced her confusion.

“…Not many guards left?

What does that mean?”

“It’s just as it sounds… A large demon army suddenly appeared within the ducal territory.

The situation was urgent, so Father quickly led the majority of our forces out to suppress them.

Naturally, we only have a skeleton crew on guard at the estate now.”

…Come to think of it, I did run into quite a few guards on my way here.

“Could it be that no one has come because… I knocked them all out?”

I muttered to myself.

“Ailena, did you say something?”

“No… nothing…”

Ahem, let’s put that aside for now…

“His Grace the Duke went out to suppress a demon army?”

“Uh-huh.”

If I recall correctly, in the game, the original Duke went out to suppress demons, only to be ambushed by them and lose his life…

…Could it be?

Thinking about it carefully, Senior Aina had no need to get entangled with us.

For someone who could slip into shadows, the optimal solution would naturally have been to flee…

But she chose to sacrifice her life to fight us head-on, almost as if… no, she was stalling us!

Could this all be Vladimir’s scheme!?

The thought sent a wave of panic through me.

“Young Miss!

This is bad!

We’ve fallen into a trap!”

“…A trap?

What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain on the way!

His Grace the Duke is in danger!

And we’re the only ones who can save him!”