When I opened my eyes, I was riding on a body that I wasn't.
I thought it might be back to Abel's past follow-up experience, but it looks different.
Because the sight was strangely high.
"(...... Is this the body of Mr. Abel who has grown up?)"
The place is not an abandoned tower. It was a mansion somewhere.
Abel seemed to be sitting in a chair and looking out.
Recognizing the current situation, the door to the room was opened.
That's where I came in.
──Oh, it was Graziana.
"(Why Graziana!?)"
The beauty that I haven't seen in a long time is as cold as ever and makes me feel no emotions.
Watching what was going on, Graziana said briefly, "Follow me."
Mr. Abel nodded slowly.
Graziana then manipulated some kind of device and entered the basement through the hidden staircase that appeared.
"(Or maybe this is the Villandel residence...?)"
I wanted to go blind, but my vision was under Abel's control.
“Abel Jarvis, from now on you will be under the control of my Villandel family.”
I get upset when I hear that.
What the hell is that supposed to mean!?
I think so, but the unfolding continues unilaterally.
“But my Villandels are not as tolerant of evil as your former keeper.”
……
Are you listening to me?
"... yes"
Ms. Abel replied with an emotionless voice.
It was as if Abel had just met us... when she was alone.
I feel uncomfortable with it, but it keeps unfolding.
"That said, the Villandels are not inefficient people who can only deny evil. Evil has jobs that only evil can do.”
……
"Come here."
Graziana said that, and a maid entered the room.
The maid brought in a small bird in a── cage.
Graziana said, placing the cage on the desk in front of Mr. Abel.
"Kill me."
"If you can't kill me, I'll kill this maid."
"What are you doing...!?"
When he saw it, the maid who had brought the little bird turned pale and trembled.
You must have informed me beforehand. I'm not threatening you, I'm really saying it.
"Come on, it doesn't matter how." Kill them with your hands, or witchcraft. If you want, I'll get you a weapon. ”
"...... ah"
Mr. Abel is upset and backs away.
As soon as she saw it, Graziana took out a concealed knife from her pocket that was about the length of her thumb.
And.
Without any hesitation, he slashed the maid's neck.
"... is that...?"
Blood splashes erupt with tremendous force.
"You stepped back and did not choose to kill the little bird. This is the result.”
The maid fell to the floor.
While stained with that fresh blood, Abel-san was just stunned.
“You won't be waiting for me at that time. Okay, here's the next one.”
Then a new maid came in.
I was about to scream when I saw the maid lying down, but I was standing silently, trembling, as if I had been told in advance.
"Choose your life."
Graziana smiled── for the first time.
"If you keep choosing the better, it will be a cause."
"Do you want to...?"
“That's right, if you keep making the right choices, you'll be forgiven one day.”
That said, Mr. Abel, who was fluttering, laid his hand on the desk.
Then she looks at the── maid, looks at the birds, and opens the cage with her trembling hands.
Through Abel-san's senses, the feeling of holding a small bird is conveyed.
Soft feathers. Warm life.
"I don't know what the cause is..." Abel muttered in a trembling voice.
He must have decided to kill the birds to avoid killing the maids anyway.
Abel-san closed his eyes and tried to break the bird's neck, putting his strength into his trembling hand.
But Graziana stopped me.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait."
I open my eyes in the hope that I will be spared from killing.
However, it was only a preparation for further despair.
"Open your eyes and kill me with a good stare."
……
“You kill to save the maid. Do I need to turn my eyes away?”
Graziana says it in a way that makes sense.
Even Abel, who was reluctant to take his life, was relentless.
Mr. Abel seemed to hesitate... but he was in a hurry to get his hands on it, as if he remembered what he had just done.
The little bird that sensed the danger to his life rumbled.
But Abel didn't let go and broke the── bird's neck.
Dazedly staring at the life she had lost at her own hands.
Graziana whispered to Abel in a state of indifference.
"You have taken a step towards forgiveness.... my housekeeper will continue to take responsibility for you."
Mr. Abel doesn't feel comfortable answering.
However, this hell-like two-choice plan was not once, not twice.
Three or four times.
It lasted countless times.
Next to the birds are the animals.
Small animals are followed by creatures such as dogs and cats.
Next thing I knew... I was a human.
"Choose one of the men in this room and kill him. If I can't do that, I'll kill them all."
... Mr. Abel chose one.
"Kill the oldest man in that mansion." If you can't do that, I'll kill the two maids who look after you. "
... Abel-san sneaked into the Mansion and killed a majestic man.
Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Experiencing the scene after the scene made me go crazy myself.
Graziana's words devoured Abel's reason like drugs.
The mouthpiece is "ten before one".
Kill one person and save ten.
Then the thousand lives you've killed will be redeemed one day.
You will continue to kill with responsibility.
As she continued to bathe herself in such poisonous words, Ms. Abel began to assume that they were true.
Or so I was trying to think.
The "cause" that was imposed on him was repeated over and over.
"The next target of assassination is Baron Ronald Nagar.── Come on, for the good of your life."
"... I understand."
By that time, Mr. Abel was going to kill even if there were no substitute sacrifices.