was, her presence was as sinister as ever. "...Fiore, the Grand King." Kaito groaned in a low key. The blood and tallow were stuck especially thick near the mirror's edges, so he couldn't get a good sense of the Grand King's surroundings. However, there appeared to be a great throng of people behind her. He couldn't tell what was going on, but occasionally he heard voices calling out the Grand King's praises. Finally satisfied with her face's angle, the Grand King nodded. She adjusted her hair and then sighed. "Oh, I had the perfect introduction prepared and everything...but I suppose things don't always go according to plan. In any case, I had something to discuss with you, so I had the Marquis bring over a mirror for me. Is he still alive over there? If he's not too incontinent, would you be so kind as to praise him for me? His ability to control minds is similar to mine, and on top of that, he's quite the narcissist. He's a very bad boy, who rarely does as he's told. Recently, though, he's been serving as a rather obedient mutt. I'm really quite grateful." Her voice sounding truly appreciative, the Grand King inspected the blood running down the mirror from its reverse side. The cheering from behind her had grown conspicuously rowdier. She turned and then waved and blew a kiss into the air. She then turned back toward the mirror before joining her hands in front of her face. "Ah, that's right. I mustn't let the Marquis's efforts go to waste, so I really ought to get to the point. With the second Sacrifice having taken hold successfully, I plan to take the Marquis over there, the Grand Marquis, and over a thousand of my underlings and familiars and boldly attack your castleâ€”but that would cause you some problems, wouldn't it, Elisabeth?" The Grand King smiled sweetly and tilted her head to the side. Her eyes filled with compassion, she snapped her fan shut. Then, with the poise of an empress, the Grand King Fiore pointed it directly at the mirror and made her haughty invitation. "Fleeing will do you no good. I will track you down to the ends of the earth, you see. You are a fish on my hook, and as such, I have a proposition for you. Bend the knee and serve me, little princess. I doubt you'd properly listen to my orders if I stuck a needle in you, so I'll simply accept you as you are. You would make a fine pet. I love all who are strong, not just men, and you...you aren't half-bad." As far as the Grand King was concerned, that was probably one of the highest compliments she could give. Kaito and Hina frowned and looked at each other. Unconcerned about their reactions and Elisabeth's silence, the Grand King went on. "In fact, I'll even allow you to bring that automaton with you as a dowry. As for that lover boy, I could do without him, but I'm sure I can find somewhere to store a piece of rubbish or two. And I'll treat you well. After all, now that I think about it, you are the beloved daughter of my dear friend Vlad. I'll cherish you from your head to your toes, as if you were my own child." "That's not the kinda thing you're supposed to say to your children." "While I am fond of Lady Elisabeth, I am Master Kaito's maid and Master Kaito's alone." Kaito and Hina spoke simultaneously. However, the Grand King paid them no heed. Loud voices of praise rang out once more from behind her. She turned toward them and waved merrily. As she did, the blood and tallow staining the mirror dripped lazily onto the floor. Then the Grand King turned back toward the mirror. Upon seeing her face, Kaito reflexively frowned. Her expression had changed so drastically that he almost thought she was a different person. When she spoke, her features looked so elegant that she reminded him of La Guillotine. "Now then, Elisabeth, enough with the tomfoolery. Let's speak earnestly." The Grand King inhaled quietly and then took her time before continuing to speak seriously. "The Church won't save you. You will die. I will kill you, and you will die. Why, then, do you still insist on fighting? You have the right to stain yourself deep to the bone with evil and the power to do so, as well." Her thoughts inscrutable, she spoke on in a kind motherly tone. "...Perhaps a story is in order. When I was a child, a good-hearted, foolish gardener caught my eye." Suddenly, the surface of the mirror wavered. A moody young girl and a gardener with a face that looked practically like a squished frogâ€”but with a simple, genial expressionâ€”appeared on it. The Grand King's voice carried on. "Day in and day out, the adults in my life showered me with sweet, affectionate lies. They hated my father, who'd come into wealth suddenly, but no matter what happened, they kissed up to him and constantly visited nevertheless. I was like a little queen. No matter what I did, the people around me never scolded me...but he alone did, and to make up for it, he never lied to me. 'If you do bad things, punishment is sure to come, young miss.' 'God is always watching you, so you must strive to be a good person.' Oh, what foolish things he said to me. But I liked that about him... Oh, I did. Laughable, isn't it? I liked that about him." The Grand King spoke in a subdued voice, almost as though she were embarrassed. The next moment, however, a grim spectacle flashed across the mirror's surface. The man from before had been stripped naked and hung up from a tree. His body was swollen so badly he looked like a fresh-baked loaf of bread. He had been struck all over and was dying. A young girl carrying sweets was looking up at him in a daze. The basket in her arms had enough baked sweets for two, so it seemed she'd been planning on sharing them with someone. "But he died after being framed for a crime by the other servants. They said that he'd stolen my mother's golden comb and went out womanizing with the proceeds from selling it... What a lark. No other man was as straitlaced and devout as he, but...nobody lent an ear to that unattractive man's clumsy explanations." The basket tilted over, and the baked sweets tumbled out. They rolled along, accumulating dirt from the ground as they went. Then the image faded away. The Grand King returned to the frame. Her lips were twisted ever so slightly, and her eyes were narrowed, as if she were glancing into the distant past. However, she eventually shook her head lightly from side to side, as if to say there was no use crying over spilled milk. "It's a trivial little tale. Yet, as a fable, I find it ever so relevant. Elisabeth, some day you, too, will understand. No matter how we amuse ourselves, live out our days, and die, that's all there is to the world. Good, evilâ€”it's all the same. None will praise us, and none will punish us. And for the world to condemn you and then refuse to reward you for your efforts...I can't bear to sit by and watch." The Grand King then brought her story to a sudden, somehow lonely end. "You remind me of myself, in my youth." After hearing what she had to say, Kaito gulped. Her thoughts aligned with his, if only a little. The Torture Princess needed to atone. And she deserved to die grandly atop the pile of corpses she'd created. But was the punishment truly designed to shove all the responsibilities onto her and then look away? I, for one, don't think it is... And she's right. I can't bear to just sit by silently and watch it, either. Kaito bit down on his lip. Elisabeth had yet to respond even once. Even so, the Grand King finished talking. She turned around, and her crinoline dress shook as she walked away. Pulled by her rings, a number of underlings followed after her. The mirror had cleared up, and the scene behind her was finally visible. *** As he saw it, Kaito suppressed an intense urge to vomit. The Grand King was inside a massive circus tent. Countless men and women clamored from the audience. They were weeping, fervently clapping, and shouting out the Grand King's praises. The audience's gaze was focused on a circular stage, atop which was a carousel. It was decorated as colorfully as a cake, and the people riding its blade-maned horses had their mouths stuffed with barbed wire. An underling with a bag over its head was supplying the carousel's power and changing the speed at which it cranked the carousel's handle on a whim. Each time the wooden horses jerked up and down, the oscillations of their victims' bodies caused their cuts to deepen and fountains of blood to spill forth. The men and women in the audience raised their voices frenetically. However, one of them raised their voice a beat too late, possibly due to shock. An underling dragged her up to the stage. Her fierce screams were cut off when her mouth was stuffed full of barbed wire. The Grand King turned around. The chains on her hands rattled as she raised them to gesture to the Hell behind her. "Good, evilâ€”it's all the same." "She's a monster!" Kaito retracted what he'd thought earlier. He couldn't agree with a single thing that came out of that woman's mouth. Anyone who enjoyed a spectacle like that was worthless. Kaito could have said it aloud. However, there was nobody there with the power to convey the truth of those words to that arrogant woman. The Grand King spoke softly, as if she were looking down from above on humanity like they were worms. "We have the right to oppress them, Elisabeth." "What do you think you are, sow, a god?" A sharp noise rang out, and a lance pierced through the mirror's face. Shattered fragments of silver glittered as they danced through the air. Awakened by the impact, the Marquis's toes scraped against the stone floor when he took the attack after it passed through the mirror. He somehow managed to remain standing, supporting the dressing table all the while. From beyond the mirror's cracked surface, the Grand King's smile grew even deeper. The image she now gave was quite twisted, and a cold voice bored down on her. "None possess that right. Not you, nor I, nor the people, nor kings, nor gods possess it." As he turned his gaze toward the source of that forceful declaration, Kaito breathed a sigh of relief. A beautiful woman was standing atop the bed, as sharp as a blade. "Elisabeth." The bondage dress she wore, crafted from her mana, seemed to be on the verge of dissolving. Its black cloth, which barely covered her body, hung in the air with the uncertainty of a shadow. Her skin was even more exposed than usual, and it was covered in the invasive crimson runes. However, her violated body didn't stop her from looking down on the Marquis. She clicked her tongue and then went on a displeased tirade. "And who is it you're saying you were in your youth? What a joke, Grand King. Care not to misunderstand me. Worldly rewards have naught to do with my actions as the Torture Princess. All I'm doing is paying the fee for the plate I licked clean, the plate topped with meat and blood and pleasure. A fattened sow such as yourself who refuses to acknowledge the annihilation waiting at the end of her road of slaughter and tyranny has no right to speak." "Elisabeth, you..." "Why