CHGD 42

Chapter 42

He seemed flustered by my sudden visit, but soon asked with a gentle expression.

“What’s the matter, Deliana?”

“I just met with Lord Dues.”

“……”

I felt his breath stop. I had no intention of choosing my words carefully, so I spoke bluntly.

“Why did you manipulate his memories? And who is this wife that suddenly appeared? Is she one of your associates?”

I didn’t even bother asking the pointless question of whether Lord Dues had made a wish.

At the end, he had accepted his wrongdoing and embraced his new son.

I had returned, blessing their future, but everything had gone wrong.

“……Deliana.”

“Answer me. For what possible reason did you do such—”

As I approached the Count, firing off accusations, the office door opened once more.

“My Lady.”

“Louis?”

It was Louis who appeared through the door. With his usual stoic expression, he carefully closed the door and offered a greeting.

“I heard my father had visited the annex, so I came in haste. I thought you might have noticed.”

“So you knew as well. Are you alright?”

I had expected him to be shocked that his father’s memories had been manipulated, but Louis’s face was calm. He looked between me and the Count, then continued evenly.

“Of course I am. This is what I wanted, after all.”

“……Pardon?”

“It was I who changed my father’s memories. I had intended to tell you after everything was settled, but my father went to see you first.”

It was an unexpected answer. The strength left my knees, and I sank weakly onto the office sofa.

“What are you saying now…”

“I learned a great deal from the Count’s and your advice, my lady. I came here to express my gratitude for that.”

He bowed politely and continued.

“At first, I did not love my father as a father. Because he did not love me, I thought this was merely a contractual relationship. But as I acted the part of a son, following your advice, and as I felt my father’s emotions, I began to change.”

*The monster trapped in a human body sometimes becomes intoxicated by human emotions.*

That was what the Count had said to Louis.

It was meant as a warning not to immerse himself too deeply in being human, but for Louis, it became a catalyst for realization instead.

He decided to become more faithful to the human emotions he himself was feeling.

“I think I quite enjoyed the role of a son. I came to realize the preciousness of family, as a mortal. Even though these sensations will be forgotten once I return to the cosmos, they were invaluable to me now.”

“If they were so precious, then why did you… to Lord Dues…”

“Precisely *because* they are precious. Because my father is precious to me, I too came to desire a ‘perfect’ father.”

I was breathless.

Because when Louis raised his head, a serene smile I had never seen before was blooming on his face.

“Humans cannot attain perfection. They lack the power to change memories and phenomena. It was that fire that made me realize this.”

Dues, having confirmed once more that the perfect family he desired no longer existed, attempted suicide out of despair and guilt.

Louis, too, was shocked to realize he could never be a perfect son.

And at the same time, he understood.

—

*’Perfection is too good for humans!’*

—

That the unobtainable treasure of perfection is precisely what ruins humans.

“So that’s what the Count meant when he said humans don’t like perfection.”

“But, Lord Dues overcame it. He said he didn’t need a perfect son, and he accepted you as a new son, a new family…”

“Correct. Perhaps my father was satisfied with that. But.”

Louis squinted his eyes and said.

“Why is my own intent being left out of the equation?”

“……Pardon?”

“Having become satisfied with the role of a son, I am not satisfied with the inferior position of being ‘second’.”

……We call beings we cannot understand monsters.

A monster more monstrous than any being from the castle I had encountered so far began to act spoiled like a child before my eyes. In a lively voice, like a child showing off a new toy.

“Having been acknowledged as a son, I came to love my father even more. The affection of a mortal trying to protect a small being, the deepening color of the soul along with benevolence, that arrogance of promising to embrace everything of mine… I liked it all. I came to love it all.”

It was like a child who had only eaten milk and porridge discovering sweetness for the first time and becoming obsessively attached to it.

The change in the monster who had acknowledged human emotions was equally sudden.

“Therefore, I desired it even more. A happy—a perfect—father who feels no guilt and considers me his one and only ‘first’ son!”

Because it’s only natural for a child to want their parents to be happy. What a filial child this is.

This is exactly the act of serving one’s parents (*孝* / filial piety) that I had spoken of to Louis.

“And unlike humans, we possess the power to create that very perfection.”

So he remodeled him.

He remodeled his father, and installed a new mother (being) to create a perfect family.

“Back then, you said, my lady: ‘Instead of saying you shouldn’t have done this, you should change yourself.’ Those words were the answer. From the start, *I* didn’t need to change! If you just change the father—the variable that is the human—from the root, then there was never a problem to begin with!”

Because he himself (his being) is perfect.

Changing things other than himself was the answer he arrived at.

The current Louis was like an innocent child who knows nothing of justice or morality, but wields omnipotent power.

Just as I had thought, a state of ‘acting spoiled like a child’.

It was so utterly repulsive and terrifying that… I too bowed my head and averted my gaze.

“In the end, it was all thanks to the Count’s and your advice. The weakness of humans who cannot accept perfection, the filial piety of helping one’s parents, and my own abilities… Finally, the family my father wished for has been born.”

“……Lord Dues did not want this ending.”

“‘Before,’ that would have been the case. But my father is happy now, isn’t he?”

Everyone is happy, so there is no problem.

The unhappy human no longer exists.

I covered my face with both hands.

I didn’t know what expression to show to that monster. I didn’t even want to look him in the eyes.

It wasn’t so much the feeling of disappointment in the monster, but rather that I didn’t want to face the truth that I was the one who had created him.

“Thank you. With this, my request is complete. I will receive the emblem from the Count and have it engraved upon my chest shortly. Once again—truly, thank you, my lady.”

*Creak—*

The door closes. Louis, as if he had no intention of listening to my response, bid his farewell in that same lively voice.

“If you ever need a family, please say so anytime. I will create a perfect family for you. Or, you are also welcome to become part of my family.”

Please, stop now.

“Then, until next time.”

*Click—*

The door closed.

Silence descended upon the office where Louis had left.

Amidst the heavy silence, where I could hear my own breathing loudly, the Count’s footsteps approached.

“Deliana.”

He stopped before me and carefully took my hands, lowering them. As I revealed my face, I met his eyes.

The Count, with a complex expression that seemed sorrowful yet also restrained with anger, spoke.

“You did nothing wrong. The one in the wrong is us.”

“……Monsters.”

To that comfort that did not move my heart in the slightest, I replied in a pained voice.

“Cannot become a family with humans.”

“……”

“That goes for you too, Count.”

I didn’t want to hide the fact that I knew their secrets, even if it meant hurting my current feelings.

I looked at the Count not with eyes that saw a human, but with eyes that saw a monster.

“You were trying to do the same thing to me.”

“That’s…”

What he had tried to do during our private breakfast the day after I arrived at the castle was no different from Louis’s actions.

Because back then, the Count had also tried to erase my childhood memories.

Whether that act was out of goodwill or malice, the outcome was the same.

“What are humans to you?”

The Count fell silent. For a monster committing demonic deeds, he wore a pitiful expression, like a child who doesn’t want to be caught for his wrongdoing.

Towards him, who did not answer, I spat out my last remaining emotion.

“Monsters, you all… are different from us.”

Just as we do, they too do not understand humans.

Louis’s request had become a clear opportunity to confirm that.

At that moment, the Count slowly opened his mouth.

“……You are right. We are different. From your perspective, I may be an untrustworthy race.”

He knelt on one knee and brought my hand, which he still held, to his lips.

“But Deliana. My feelings alone are true.”

True. Louis’s feelings had probably been true too.

As I tried to pull my hand away, the Count pulled it back with a firmer grip.

“You may call me a monster. It’s fine if you never understand me for the rest of your life. Just, please know this one thing.”

“……”

“I am on your side. Please don’t ever forget that fact. Even if you come to hate me, even if you distance yourself from the world, even if you are called by such names… please believe that this is the truth. That is enough.”

The Count kissed the back of my hand, as if pleading.

“I love you, Deliana. More than anything in the cosmos.”

He repeated that unbelievable confession.

I quietly listened to the monster’s confession.

Even though the words were unbelievable, they somehow seemed to calm my troubled mind, just a little.