‘Damn… it’s cold,’ I thought as I looked at the situation in front of me—Carmelia facing her two previous best friends, Nix and Melvin. Now, without the negative push in their minds, they were able to function fully without any issues, so now they know how messed up they are.
With us coming out of the clearing, several of the tribeswomen came out, waving their hands at me, but the moment they felt the cold atmosphere around, all of them cleared up, the majority just vanishing as they understood the need for privacy at the moment. I just turned to look between Carmelia and the two, awkwardly struggling in their own positions.
“I’ll leave you guys to deal with it on your own then,” I spoke as I tried to give them their own privacy, but as I tried to move, Carmelia caught my hand, pulling me closer to her as her voice got softer when she spoke to me.
“Don’t, as my family, stay to watch this.”
I saw Carmelia’s eyebrows twitch, and she bit her own lips a bit as she said the word “family,” the sense of meaning in this situation—those words—something she will come to hate dangerously in the future. I will make sure of that.
‘Suffer a fraction of the shit I had to go through to get you!’
While I screamed this internally, the sudden close action from Carmelia and the different management took a certain approach to the two as Melvin hesitantly spoke.
“Carmel, where were you?”
“Did you enjoy your night time?”
The sudden question from Carmelia made the two flinch as they bit their lips, knowing how much they had messed up. Nix started to walk closer, his eyes a bit red as he shouted out.
“It wasn’t us! Believe me! Don’t you know me?! There was something messing with my mind! Maybe these demons even spiked us with some kind of aphrodisiac to take us to bed!”
‘Close, but I’m not a fool to leave such a path open. Even an Imperial will struggle to see what happened,’ I thought as Melvin barked right next to Nix, he too approaching closer.
“Exactly! We weren’t ourselves! It was as if there was something wrong with our minds! Believe me! We were being manipulated! I’m sure!”
Their steps, even as they tried to approach further, though the more they did, the more suffocating the coldness became as Carmelia finally spoke.
“Stop…”
Her voice was cold as always, but the majesty in it was detectable as Carmelia coldly looked at the two. I am sure she herself has doubts about their actions. Heck, she had even spoken to me of their unique actions now during the travel. After all, even if they were hiding their true selves, it didn’t mean they were idiots to just ruin it all in a moment on a trip so important.
They would have to be extremely dumb to do the actions they did when they were coming along with her to save the one sister in her whole bloodline of siblings that she cares for, so it’s not hard to see that there might have been some sort of foul play at hand. Truthfully, I wasn’t going to hide it as Carmelia turned to look at me, her eyes questioning as I spoke.
“I did give them a certain serum that would make it such that their true actions of their mind would come out so that you would be able to see their true selves.”
The admission of this could ruin everything I have done if it is not played around correctly. My voice was soft, so only Carmelia could hear it, her eyes widening, and before she could speak, I continued.
“I knew of their deceit toward you, and I have long ago learned of their true selves, and for you to see the truth, I had no other way. I promised to keep you safe, and if it meant in the end that you would hate me for it, I was willing to live with it.”
As I said this, I tried to take my hand away from Carmelia, but she held on to it tighter, the gaze of Carmelia seemingly flashing with several emotions as she asked.
“So everything about not wanting them was a play?”
To this, I shook my head, my eyes meeting hers as I spoke.
“I didn’t want them to come on the trip, and in fact, I was planning on using it in a situation, you know, to show you what darkness they hold in their smiles, but when they wanted to come so badly, I just wanted you to see what they truly are, even if it meant tricking you for a moment.”
Carmelia held her gaze to me, trying to see through me, and I kept my gaze on her, showing her my sincerity. The truth I told was mixed with lies and truth, hence the picture would be drawn of me raising my reputation and my status to do this on a trip where I could lose everything just for her. Sure, mild lying was there, but wasn’t it in the end all to benefit her?
+500,000 affection!
‘Nice,’ I thought.
Her hold on my hand only got tighter as she, not minding the two idiots in front of her, spoke to me.
“I appreciate what you did, but in the future, I will appreciate it better if you directly come to me with this. After all, right now, I have my memories and my feelings back, which means you are the one that holds the highest level of my trust in the world.”
I smiled at her words, holding her hand tighter as I replied.
“Of course, sister Carmelia.”
That once again made her lips twitch, and her hand held me tighter, but now it was for a completely different reason.
‘Urgh… what a nice picture!’ I thought as I admired the workings of my dream. Carmelia turned to look at the two in front of her, not in the mood to deal with several things, and directly asked the question.
“Years ago, back then, did you enter that maze to save my life with the armies you brought?”
The power of the question, the suddenness of it, and the tension in the air all stopped the brains of those two for a moment. As they froze for a bit, looking stunned, a foreboding atmosphere grew around as Nix replied, sweat pouring down his head as he did.
“Of course! Don’t you remember the past?! We had risked our lives even at that entrance to get you back!”
“Right! Why are you suddenly asking this?!” Melvin added. This situation made Carmelia close her eyes for a moment, the past memories of what they had gone through no doubt ringing in her, but it would be overshadowed by the fact that it all began with a lie. Along with the truth that I had shown her, she is smart enough to understand that with this, there wouldn’t linger too much doubt in her mind.
“Then didn’t you find me just at the entrance and lie all around to just get close to me?” Carmelia asked as she opened her eyes to look at the sinners, their bodies now trembling, their mouths wide open as they looked at us, seemingly their brains taking some time to understand that the greatest truth they had hidden had come out and at the worst possible time too. For a moment, silence lay until Melvin broke it.
“That… that… who told you that?” Melvin asked, his voice lowered as he looked at Carmelia, the way in which she answered showing that the cat was out of the bag. Trying to fight against it would only bring greater shame to it, and Nix caught on to it as he asked.
“So what? Haven’t we helped and stood along with you a lot even from it? So what if our beginning was a lie? Haven’t we become close enough to be best friends? Haven’t we helped you a lot?!”
The last of it was filled with pure emotion, and Carmelia would not be able to deflect that. After all, it’s the backing of the duke with their powers that she had kept her largest foot forward to gain the position of crown princess that stood strong. Of course, she would have gotten it regardless due to the bloodline that runs in her blood.
Even then, it doesn’t wash off the help they have done for her. The betrayal lay, yet behind it also lay the help she has gotten from it too. Thus, with a hardened gaze, Carmelia spoke.
“You can stay in my faction as my subordinates, but the friendship we have is over. Consider that the price for the lie.”
Her words rang with promised conviction that cannot be changed.
