Chapter 36: Punishment for oneself (2)

“No… Stop…”

Inside a room where all sides were thoroughly sealed off.

Yukomis, whose limbs were bound, was shaking her head and resisting.

“No more… No more…”

Slap.

A woman slapped Yukomis’ cheek hard.

Then, she grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and forcibly opened her jaw.

“Ugh… Ugh!”

“Shut up. Swallow it now.”

One, two, three… four… Four pills came into Yukomis’ throat.

The effects of the medicine she had taken when she was captured hadn’t even worn off yet. And now, she was being forced to take pills again, close to twice the proper dosage.

The fact that they were doing this even though they had locked her in a room where external mana was blocked showed how wary the other party was of Yukomis’ abilities.

No, perhaps it was just out of emotion rather than those reasons.

Someone who confirmed that the medicine had been pushed down her throat,

stuck a water bottle in her mouth and trickled it in the same way she had been medicated.

“Keup… Keuheup…”

Drip, drip, drip.

Half went into her mouth, and half spilled onto the floor.

Whack.

She poured the remaining water over Yukomis’ head and watched her reaction.

“Ah… Cough! Cough!”

There was no light in the eyes of Yukomis, who was coughing.

It was due to the overdose of pills.

Her pupils were shaking wildly, unable to focus on the opponent standing right in front of her.

“What an unsightly sight.”

It was Manya’s voice.

Manya smiled in satisfaction as she appreciated Yukomis’ expression of suffering.

“How does it feel? It’s quite a fresh feeling to go from being a guard to being an inmate, isn’t it?”

“Ugh… Eat sh*t…”

Ptooey.

Yukomis spat out her last bit of saliva, but it didn’t even reach Manya.

As Manya released her hand from Yukomis’ neck and took a few steps back,

her head dropped limply downwards.

The effects of the medicine must have started to kick in quickly.

“Coming all the way here and still acting strong?”

Yukomis’ arms were fixed with chains, connected to spikes hammered into a position higher than her height.

Because her arms were pulled up by the chains, the shoulder that had been pierced by an arrow was conveying terrible pain.

Of course, she had received first aid.

But in other words, it was just first aid after all.

It didn’t eliminate the injury, nor did it erase the pain.

If Yukomis herself laid a hand on it, such an injury would heal without a trace,

but she was naturally in a state where all magic use was blocked.

Knowing that, Manya lightly gripped Yukomis’ injured shoulder.

It was really light, but the effect was dramatic.

“Ahheuugh…!”

Yukomis’ back was bounced from its spot,

and a groan involuntarily leaked out from between her gritted teeth.

She tried to reflexively thrash, but even that was impossible because of the restraints that didn’t allow even a bit of play.

“Does it hurt? You deserve to hurt even more.”

Now, Manya’s voice also contained a tone of contempt.

“This is nothing compared to the pain you gave her.”

“Ahk…”

“Huh? What’s wrong? Say something. ‘Princess’. Looking down on others is your specialty, right?”

There was no way an answer would come back.

“When you were doing that to me in Kiffole, I couldn’t have imagined that this day would come. Huh? Didn’t you think so too? You thought your position would be permanent?”

But Manya didn’t care about the response and just kept babbling on her own.

“But I was a little surprised. That you chased me all the way here alone. Even throwing away your well-behaved knight. Were you that upset that I gave you a taste of your own medicine?”

The four pills that Manya had fed her were effective even on fully grown wyverns.

Yukomis’ mind would be blank, and she would be in a state where she had no idea what she had done or what she had been trying to do.

“Did you think you would be safe if you came into the elves’ territory alone? Did you think you were invincible because you were a great mage? You who were even defeated by Katie’s grenades?”

“O…”

“To think you fought alongside Lady Thermis with that kind of mind, it’s sickening.”

When the elves had brought Yukomis in, Manya couldn’t help but doubt her eyes.

That she would chase after her so quickly, even alone and recklessly, Manya didn’t know that either.

Manya thought that she would come to subjugate her with the Count’s forces or acquaintances, after thorough preparations.

For that, she had the elves hide the cave entrance and cast illusion magic on the surrounding forest.

She was also thinking of moving the base to a more secret place soon.

Ultimately…

After gaining more favor with the elves, her goal was to secretly take ‘Signo’ and disappear with just the two of them.

Manya hated Yukomis, but she didn’t think she was this stupid.

Rather, it was the complete opposite. As far as she knew, Yukomis was a cautious and clever mage.

She wasn’t the kind of person who would act recklessly, relying only on her power.

Moreover, the elves who had been at the scene testified that

she had been greatly agitated by something, and couldn’t even use magic properly.

It wasn’t at all how she usually fought.

‘What was that thing that shook this cold-blooded woman so much…’

What she had demanded as soon as she met the elves.

What she had demanded with a hazy mind as soon as she saw Manya’s face.

“…OH…
“

Yukomis said ‘that something’ again.

“Give back… That child…”

“It seems like you still haven’t come to your senses.”

Manya grabbed Yukomis’ wet hair and lifted her head.

“You’re not in a position to demand anything from me right now.”

“Ugh…”

“You came all the way here to get that child back? Is that what you want to say?”

Slap again.

Yukomis’ cheek turned red, but she didn’t even show much of a reaction.

“Give back…”

“Is that child that precious to you?”

There was still no focus in Yukomis’ eyes.

“Do you want to pretend to be a good person now?”

“Give back…”

It didn’t seem like she was even understanding Manya’s words.

It wouldn’t have been strange if an average person foamed at the mouth by now, rolled their eyes, or fainted.

“Has a witch like you finally awakened to affection now?”

However, Yukomis, while enduring the excruciating pain in her shoulder that was seeping through the shattered parts of her mind, never let go of her consciousness.

“Give back…”

As if she was broken, she just kept repeating those words.

“…I don’t understand.”

Manya muttered softly.

“To you, that’s just a boy you picked up from Irendel. Why is that child so important?”

“It’s strange, isn’t it? You hated Thermis so much, didn’t you? You wanted to torment her? You cast that disgusting curse and took away everything that should have gone to her, right?”

“Doesn’t it make you feel bad that that child looks exactly like your sister? Why are you so obsessed? Are you okay with anything as long as they’re talented?”

“Answer me!”

Manya shouted, knowing that Yukomis couldn’t answer.

Scratches on her face from when she planted her face on the ground, marks from the gag, marks from being slapped, marks from dried tears. Clingy hair, eyes with almost no intellect left…

Yukomis’ beautiful appearance was messed up and sullied.

“Is that child that precious???”

It was strange.

Clearly, it was Manya who was unilaterally binding, beating, and questioning her, but it was Manya who was getting angry while looking at that.

“The second Thermis that I wanted to create?”

“You cherish that child so much, so why didn’t you cherish your sister?”

“…Ah…”

“What did you dislike so much about that person who was so kind and full of love that you had to abuse her? Couldn’t you have given that affection to the ‘real’ one, not a replica of her?”

“Were you laughing? You were so excited when you found just one boy who looked similar, and you only wrote about that in your diary, and you even recklessly planned to kidnap him, and you thought I was funny?”

“After all, isn’t he just a fake?”

Manya’s body trembled.

“……That’s right. No matter how similar he is, she’s already dead. She’ll never be able to come back, will she.”

It was a cruel fact.

“But if I’m so funny, then what are you? If that’s so funny, then what are you doing coming all the way here to find me and beg me to give that child back?”

“What are you?”

“You’ve become the very thing you hated so much? What’s the reason? What is that child to you?”

“You spent so long with the real thing, you were closer to the real one than anyone else. You selfishly monopolized the opportunity that everyone here wants. Is that all you did?”

“Torture her until she died?”

That vacant face, to Manya, somehow felt like it was endlessly ridiculing and mocking her.

Putting such a curse on her idol…

Creating a limited life span, treating her like a disposable tool.

That expression that she knew nothing.

“I should have been by her side instead of someone like you!”

“Why did you have to be her sister, of all people, instead of me, who had resolved to do anything for her!!!”

Even though Manya finished speaking with a shriek, there was still no reaction from Yukomis.

“If I had been by her side, I would have died instead!!!”

With those words, a sudden silence came over the place.

Other than the rough breaths that Yukomis was occasionally leaking as she suppressed her groans, there was no sound in that place.

Say please.”

Manya said again in a subdued voice.

“Say ‘please’ right now. In honorifics, beg in front of me again in a humiliating way. Then maybe I’ll reconsider, right?”

She didn’t expect an answer.

It was just contempt that she spat out to hold back her rising sadism.

But.

“Plea…”

Yukomis’ mouth, which probably had no reason left, slowly opened, and

“Please…”

The humiliating entreaty that she had never made in her life was about to come out.

And Manya couldn’t stand that.

Even if it was because of the medicine, even if it was a word that came out unconsciously, even if it was because she wasn’t in her right mind, for whatever reason…

Yukomis should never have said such a thing.

“Don’t say it like that!!!!”

Manya grabbed Yukomis’ shoulder again and cut her off.

“Ah… Ahk…!”

“You’re not that kind of person!!!!!!!”

“Aaaaaaaaack!!!”

“You shouldn’t care about the fake I made at all!!!!!!”

Thud.

Thud.

“Kyaaaaaaaaack!”

“You’re not the kind of person who sells all your pride for a child you just picked up!”

Because of the screams and struggles, the pain was only intensified beyond what Manya had inflicted,

and when it exceeded a certain level…

Yukomis finally rolled her eyes and fainted.

“Haa… Haa…”

The strength slowly drained from Manya’s hands.

She just kept looking down at Yukomis, who was hanging limply with her limbs bound, for a long time.

“I’ll never… Never give him to you. I’ll never let you take anything from me again.”

Dozens of emotions that she herself couldn’t understand were swirling inside her.

Everything was confusing.

She had come here thinking that she would feel satisfied seeing her opponent begging for her life,

or that she wanted to laugh at Yukomis, who was pathetically acting strong even in this situation.

What she saw was neither of the two.

“Kugh…!”

For a long time, Manya just stood there as if she was rooted to the spot.

Eventually, she stopped for a moment when she was about to gag Yukomis again and put on a blindfold.

And as if she had remembered something, she briefly left the room.

When she came back, she was holding a small mirror in her hand.

“How terrible you look… Make sure you see it when you wake up…”

After placing the mirror in a position where Yukomis could see it, Manya finally left the room.