Attachment Knight - Chapter 4

“….”

I still can’t forget the expression Don made back then, even now that I’m an adult.

When I stroked his burned skin with my tiny palm and blew softly on it, hoo-

The way the man’s face twisted grotesquely.

“It hurts, it hurts.”

I mumbled with a childish lisp as I rubbed the shriveled skin with all my strength. I never learned how Don reacted afterward or what judgment he made about me.

The next day, the crying child’s clothes and shoes were burned. The child disappeared without a trace, and the clothes, toys, bed, and room she used became mine.

***

After that, I was given the name Millicent. He said it belonged to a princess from a palace with green spring water and glass boats drifting across it.

Don added indifferently, “It’s a name too grand for you. That woman wore jewels from head to toe. If you want, I can give you more than a life like hers, so easily it would make her seem laughable. Millicent.”

No matter where I went, Don Pisano’s eyes followed me.

He existed under shifting names: my guardian, my family, my teacher.

As my height grew, my limbs filled out, and my face bloomed prettily, Don Pisano remained the same.

If someone has strong magic, can they rejuvenate?

Some people said he was in his mid-thirties.

Some said he’d lived for hundreds of years.

Even as time passed, he stayed young, strong, and remarkably handsome, so he was worshiped like a god on Omelas.

An eternal life of immortality sounds incredibly dull.

Don Pisano was a relentless pursuer of pleasure, yet sometimes he sank into lethargy like everything bored him. Eventually, I’d become tiresome to him too.

Then one day, the loose line between us disappeared when I woke up in his bedroom.

I don’t know what to call this relationship, but right now, Don is absorbed in playing lovers with me. Even that interest will fade with time.

I’d just finished a meal in Don’s private sitting room.

Lying on the sofa, I chewed the eclair served as dessert. The cherry was bitter, and the chocolate topping was sticky. Eating sweets every day was exhausting, yet I kept stuffing desserts into my mouth without fail. Don lounged back, smoking as he watched me.

“I see a bit of potential. I think I’ll succeed.”

“Really?”

He looked quite satisfied these days. It seemed the research he’d devoted himself to for so long was finally making progress.

“Congratulations.”

He used his fingers to brush the crumbs from my lips.

“Ah-“

“Ah-“

When he opened his mouth, I mirrored him. His napkin-wrapped hand then wiped the whipped cream and chocolate syrup from my cheek.

“You’re still no different from a baby to me. Anyway, you finished this performance successfully too. If you want something, tell me.”

He was talking about the regular circus show from two days ago. I was quite a popular acrobat. Especially the advanced aerial tricks performed on a stage blazing with fire; even I thought they looked possessed.

I liked them too. The fiercely flickering flames that felt like they’d scorch my skin erased the heaviness clinging deep inside me for a moment.

“I do want something.”

“Tell me.”

“Can’t you release the man you locked in the prison?”

The napkin scraped the corner of my lips. I frowned at the sting, and Don grabbed my chin, wet the napkin, and scrubbed the hardened crumbs even harder.

“What did you say?”

“…Let him… go free?”

‘Radem Rosenbauer.’

The Rosenbauer family, a meritorious house that’d served as the guardian sword protecting the imperial family for over a hundred years.

Did Don Pisano know the boy was from the Rosenbauers when he kidnapped him?

“Why are you saying that?”

“He’s pretty and pitiful.”

“For you to say that in front of me, he must’ve been quite your type.”

“The one I love and depend on is you, Don. I don’t need anyone else.”

I answered out of habit, though some part of it was true. There was no one in this world who cherished me as much as Don Pisano.

“Unfortunately, Millie, that man is dangerous. I can’t release him.”

“If you’re worried the truth of Omelas will get out, you can just cast memory-loss magic, can’t you?”

Don cast mental spells on the people he abducted. Most forgot their memories and adapted to the island’s system.

“He’s the sacrifice I’ve been searching for.”

“Then why did you try to kill him?”

“Among people with strong wills, some are immune to brainwashing. Those types are troublesome to handle, so if there’s no potential, it’s better to eliminate them early.”

“….”

A chill crawled down my spine.

“He’ll either die here or become a sacrifice. There’s no other path.”

“Then there’s no choice. Do as you wish, Don.”

To avoid further suspicion, I pretended not to care and changed the subject.

My expression stayed bored, but inside, my thoughts were in chaos.

The mysterious scenes I’d seen when our eyes met, the strangely familiar voices.

If I let him die, the island might really sink. The island was one thing, but what weighed on me was my own life.

If Don Pisano’s decision stayed firm, then Radem would die just as I’d seen, and we’d be doomed to be annihilated in retaliation.

No matter how powerful Don was, how long could he withstand a full assault led by the empire’s greatest sword, the Rosenbauers?

I didn’t even expect Don to escape with me from a besieged island.

He had other women he’d been involved with over the long term besides me.

Where was that woman now?

The alchemist who’d earned Don’s favor for quite a while had been abandoned and now worked like a slave in a dark underground workshop.

Waiting for Don endlessly.

And she wasn’t the only one. I, too, was a replaceable existence he could discard at any time.

“….”

My thoughts spiraled. I recalled the man who shone beautifully even in a prison cell.

For some reason, it felt like the answer lay with him.

***

Thankfully, the gods were on my side.

It’s blasphemous for someone like me, who’s helped Don commit every sort of crime, to invoke a god, but fortune was fortune.

“Master, it’s just that….”

Exactly on the third day.

The guard from the underground prison came to Don, looking troubled.

“The young lady’s brainwashing did work, but that slave… only asks for the young lady.”

“….”

According to the guard, Radem didn’t react at all to Don’s commands. Only when my name was spoken did he behave obediently.

In the heavy silence, I was the only one covering my mouth and laughing.

“So he obeys only Millicent.”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

Even though he’d done nothing wrong, the guard bowed his head.

“Should we reinforce his mental conditioning? Once the body weakens, the mind usually breaks as well, so if we beat him thoroughly….”

“And if he dies, will you take responsibility?”

Is he insane! I jumped in, and the guard flinched.

“If you’re careless, he’ll die. Try acting arrogant and see what happens. If you kill him, you’re next.”

“I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn.”

The guard’s face went pale as he looked between me and Don. As if to prove the warning wasn’t exaggerated, Don’s murderous intent was aimed squarely at the poor guard.

Which meant there was only one option left.

“There’s no choice but to place the criminal under Miss Millicent’s care, Master.”

Right, that’s it!

Smart guy!

I cheered the guard on in my head for saying exactly what I wanted.

My cold and arrogant lover’s face twisted mercilessly. But there was no other option.

I poked Don’s side repeatedly and coaxed him with as much sweetness as I could.

“I don’t want to go down to the underground prison. It’s scary and gloomy and it smells. You aren’t telling me to go to that filthy place every day just to imprint one prisoner, right?”

“….”

“There’s a room right next to my bedroom. It’d be perfect to train him there.”

I gently scratched the back of his hand, then scratched deep enough to hit his nerves.

The fact that his brainwashing didn’t work on a “kid barely out of childhood.”

The fact that the only solution was to put that man right beside his beloved “Millicent.”

Don didn’t even look at me, clearly irritated. He shoved away my flirtatious hand.

He muttered with a cold sneer, “You’re giving him the room next to your bedroom? A luxurious release, isn’t it?”

The enormous Omelas Castle perched on the north side of the island.

Among the countless rooms, my bedroom was extraordinarily splendid.

Of course he hated it. To him, Radem wasn’t someone who deserved anything but to be thrown in the lowest underground floor and branded with hot irons.

“If we apply continuous brainwashing, a time will come when Miss Millicent’s involvement won’t be necessary. And that slave seemed like a devout follower of Libra. Wouldn’t it be amusing to watch him break apart, drowning in lust and pleasure?”

“….”

The wizard beside us soothed Don, but his filthy gaze brushed over me when Don wasn’t looking. It was a familiar look.

He probably meant: go perform like a whore and make it entertaining.

I chewed my chocolate slowly.

“Hmm.”

A thick displeasure still drifted across Don’s face. He saw me as his possession, so he probably hated the idea of “lending” me to someone.

The wizard’s murky stare that could’ve been either lechery or contempt. The invisible leash in Don’s hand.

The world was absurd, but the sticky sweetness clinging to my tongue and throat never changed.

In the end, it fell to me to soothe Don that night.