Chapter 75
Born of a heartless woman, you were excessively full of heart.
“Is it tasty?”
Prina, you shared even meager bread, hard to chew and worthless, with small creatures.
“Oh dear, your leg is broken. Does it hurt? I’ll fix it for you.”
Though you had nothing yourself, you could not pass by anything smaller and weaker than you.
A child born of demonic blood clung to the pitiful, and wanted to become a good child.
Yet you, spoiled from birth, could never truly be that.
My foolish Prina.
It was misfortune from the start.
I loved you, and the misfortune you were born into, oh so dearly.
“…It’s refreshing.”
At the monastery you guarded your veil as though it were your life, yet in the Secret Forest you would cast it aside with ease. When your lush black hair fluttered in the breeze, I could not look away.
I remembered your birthday, though I could no longer even remember my own. A demon lives forever, in a tedious and hollow existence, fulfilling nothing but the wishes of others. When I looked at you, I wished the endless flow of time would stop, if only for a while.
The most beautiful part of the most beautiful girl in the world was her hair. If the world demanded you hide that jewel, then to me, that was fortune, for it meant only I could see it.
Prina. Prina. Prina.
I built a mansion in the ‘Secret Forest’ and always waited for you to come.
To me, who had only ever granted human wishes, the world was unbearably dull. I wanted nothing, was moved by nothing, and unlike foolish humans, I had no desire to give everything to gain something.
Perhaps it was because I had never had anything wholly my own. So I thought.
Prina.
You are wholly mine. I waited only for you.
When you turned twenty, I would finally have you. I would take you as my one and only bride.
I trusted that time itself would resolve my stifling desire. And so I prepared, step by step, to welcome you.
In the house I built in that forest you cherished, I chose the room that received the best light. I gathered things I thought you would like. I prepared to bring you as many pitiful creatures as you wished, so you could continue to try to be a ‘good’ child. With only you, it would finally be complete.
At last, you turned twenty. And I wanted to appear before you as soon as possible.
Because I knew you. You, too, had to know me.
It was only natural.
You are my master, and you are mine.
For you were born because of me. No, for me.
Prina. What do you like?
I thought carefully, but thanks to the secrets you confided to the ‘Secret Forest’, I reached the conclusion rather quickly. One day, perhaps, you will tell me those secrets yourself. Indeed, you will have no choice. From now on and forever, I will be the only one left to you.
The excitement thrilled me beyond control.
Yes, you like things that are pitiful and weak.
So I created a familiar in the form of a rabbit. I had never made anything so small and fragile before. The more I looked at it, the more it pleased me for surely you would love it.
When I gave it a wound along its side, as though bitten by a beast, it looked all the more frail. I thought such a small, wounded thing would seize your attention and lead you to me, and my expectation was easily fulfilled.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
When I seized the familiar’s long ears, it thrashed in pain, blood dripping as it struggled to live.
Well? What do you think. It’s yours, Prina. This is my first gift to you.
But instead of joy, you only looked afraid. Pitiful child. I found you so adorable, so lovable, that I could not help but laugh.
But your timid heart took even my smile as something terrifying. That was most displeasing.
“…Please let it go.”
What should I do with such a trivial thing?
“Why are you tormenting a poor creature like this?”
You burst out at me in anger. You must have misunderstood because I was holding the familiar’s ears, but clearly you wanted the gift. Seeing you, so wretched with your black hair dampened by sweat beneath the veil, pouring so much of your heart into it…
Perhaps it was then that I wanted, just a little, to tease you.
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