Chapter 5

...

My clothes were finally prepared.

I still didn't even know what kind of piano performance I was supposed to deliver.

Would it be something elegant and classical?

Something theatrical and overly dramatic?

Or perhaps one of those traditional compositions that sounded beautiful enough to make aristocrats pretend they understood music theory?

Honestly, I had no idea.

But one thing was certain...

Right now, I was wearing a bluish-purple dress alongside stockings that were... admittedly rather long.

I could feel the pressure wrapped tightly around my now surprisingly thick thighs.

The same kind of pressure people usually carried in life, I suppose.

The kind born from expectations so absurdly high that—

well...

they were practically impossible to achieve.

Aside from that, my hair had already been tied up neatly.

Somehow, it reminded me of my old school days.

Quite a beautiful time in my life, really.

A period you absolutely did not need to know anything about.

"Oh, Lady Sekhmeth? Are you prepared already?"

Ah right.

I still didn't know her name—

[A. Of course, you slutty little maid.]
[B. ...]

Hah?!

What kind of rotten artificial intelligence was this?!

To think it still had the audacity to mess around during a situation this critical.

Wait...

If I were in its position, wouldn't I have done the exact same thing?

Ah, whatever.

"Of course, you slutty little maid."

Hearing that, she merely lowered her head quietly.

But then, suddenly—

"Celeste, what's wrong?"

That rough yet half-shrieking voice greeted me so abruptly that it felt as though I had been dragged back into a distant past.

Ah.

That damned man again...

Yes, he was the husband of that woman.

That same woman who gave birth to the only tiny seed of life destined to grow into a defective child incapable of functioning properly—someone who could do nothing except lie helplessly inside a hospital room.

Not to mention the fact that, despite all of that, I still wasn't even considered his legitimate child.

Already figured out who that baby was?

Idiot.

Don't tell me you still can't figure something that obvious out.

Of course it was me.

Anyway, the man I used to call "father" looked absurdly affectionate toward his own maid.

It was painfully obvious from the way he gently held her.

"Uh, no, she—"

SLAP!

That violent slap of reality landed without warning.

Far too suddenly for me to calculate.

No, this entire chain of events had genuinely been impossible to predict.

It felt as though I had simply been dragged into it by force.

For the very first time, I experienced directly—physically and cruelly—the brutality of the man who was supposedly meant to raise and protect me.

So this is how it feels like when my body actually works properly, huh...

"You ungrateful child!"

"You should be ashamed of yourself for speaking so rudely to the maid who practically raised you!"

I remained silent.

"Hey! Answer me!"

Still silent.

"Lord Sekhmeth, please don't force her. Perhaps she—"

"She needs to be forced! She's caused trouble in this kingdom for far too long! I don't care if she resents me for it! I want her to learn discipline!"

Caused trouble?

Give me a break...

Still, good.

That simply gave me even more reasons to kill this bastard later.

We'll see eventually.

Even so, I remained silent.

Neither of them moved.

Celeste—or rather, the new name apparently replacing "Kaguya"—looked hesitant, as though she wanted to intervene but lacked the courage to do so.

I could tell from the reflection beneath me.

But just as things seemed ready to worsen—

I suddenly began giggling.

From down here, I could clearly see the anxiety and fear growing on both their faces.

"Victoria?"

"Young Lady Sekhmeth?"

Apparently, those words had ignited something inside me.

Or in simpler terms...

I had become far more insane than before.

That quiet giggle slowly escalated into full laughter, as though I had been born specifically for this moment.

My head lifted slowly.

Predatory.

Almost as though I were hunting them.

My eyes and lips curved into a smile, and little by little, that laughter descended into something unmistakably mad.

"Oh... so that's how it is..."

"Claudius."

Both of them froze in shock.

One of them widened his eyes so hard it looked painful, his trembling body language exposing both fear and...

Hatred.

"Address me properly as Your Majesty the King!"

Ah, absolutely.

There was that ego towering above the heavens again.

"Oh, of course."

"Your Majesty, the Great King."

"Claudius Arendelle Sekhmeth."

I slowly rose from where I had collapsed earlier, standing bit by bit while gathering the remaining fragments of anger still buried inside me.

"I'll prove just how wrong you are about me with this performance."

I genuinely had no idea what I was supposed to do.

However...

There was still one piano performance that continued to captivate me even now.

It had once been played by a certain man who—

No, it would probably be better not to talk about him.

What mattered was that he had been...

Quite interesting.

Though honestly, interesting alone wasn't nearly enough to describe him.

Then I straightened my posture and grabbed the man by his collar.

"Y-you—"

I released him immediately afterward.

Yet my eyes remained sharp, locked onto his.

Then that gaze slowly shifted toward that shameless maid.

"So..."

"How does it feel?"

"Enjoying something that belongs to your own master, Celeste?"

She obviously understood exactly what I meant.

I wanted to see her skin flush, wanted to see her sweat, wanted to imagine her being bent over that same mahogany table by this old man while she whimpered like a broken animal.

Whether it was true or not didn't really matter to a pervert like me.

I simply needed to provoke that disgraceful woman no matter what, to turn her neat, tidy little world into a chaotic mess of raw, explicit reactions.

"Dear Madam, I believe you may be going a little too far right now. Are you certain this is alright?"

Don't try to fuck with my personal business, you bot.

And soon...

Silence.

Yes, it had to be better this way.