09
Sitting on the cold stone pavement inside the dungeon,
growing weaker while enduring hunger. Merely waiting for death as stones and
moldy bread were thrown at her. Candice
trembled uncontrollably as she recalled her life in the dungeon. Heading up the
execution block without a single ally. The images flowing as if to torment Candice over and over were like
torture. It felt as though she was being told to admonish herself. In this
inexplicable situation where time had rewound back to when she was a child even
though she had certainly died, there was only one thing Candice could do.
（I refuse to live that kind of life
ever again……! This time, this time I absolutely will not kill anyone!）
Candice decided in this moment that she would never kill anyone
again. Because she thought that if she did so, she wouldn't have to die. For Candice, who had eliminated
people as naturally as kicking away a pebble lying on the roadside up until
now, this was a very difficult thing to do. These two maids, whose names she
did not even know, were likely just a tiny fraction of the massive number of
maids Candice had
erased. If she did not like someone, she had no choice but to make them
disappear from her sight; she knew no other method. Because Candice's memories were in a
state of confusion and she had fallen over on her own, they were about to
receive punishment for it. Candice
headed towards the trembling maids. Standing imposingly before the maids who
were rubbing their foreheads against the floor, Candice slowly opened her mouth.
「Hii……! I am sorry, please forgive
us!」
「We are so sorry, please forgive us!」
「You lot, raise your faces.」
「……hk!?」
「A-Are you…… Imperial Princess Candice-sama?」
The two maids raised their faces, wet with tears and snot,
and looked at her as if clinging to her. Overlapping that with how she herself
had looked at her father before her execution, Candice bit her lip until it bled. Her heart was giving off
impossibly loud thumping sounds. Nausea welled up, making her feel sick.
（……What should I say at a time like
this?）
Up until now, it was fine to just say 〝I don't need you〟. Candice
was reflecting on her memories up until now. However, just because she had
sincerely reflected on herself in the dungeon didn't mean she would suddenly
know how to forgive people.
（What should I do…… what did I want Otou-sama
to say to me?）
Candice clenched her palms tightly.
「I-I……」
It seemed everyone was waiting for Candice's words. She thought
about what she had wanted her father to say to her. However, in the end,
nothing came to mind other than 「I want you to love me」. For Candice,
who had never been loved by anyone, nothing was more difficult than this. Candice desperately recalled everything
she had experienced so far. And then, as if squeezing it out, she uttered
certain words.
「I-I don't think you lot are all that
bad, but do you have any complaints!?」
Hearing Candice's
words, the slender maid's glasses slipped down. That was only natural. Up until
now, they had been punished depending entirely on Candice's mood.
「Eh……?」
「Th-That's why I said you don't have
to worry about this incident since I just fell over on my own!」
「Are you really…… Imperial Princess Candice-sama?」
「Who else could it be but me!」
「Y-Yes! We are so sorry!」
Candice glared sharply at the bespectacled maid. If she fired a
maid in a place like this, she might be called the Evil Imperial Princess again and end
up facing execution. Having just regained her memories, the confused Candice was desperate. She didn't
know why time had rewound while keeping her memories, but in her own way, she
had derived an answer.
（If I deal with things the way I
always have, I will die……!）
If she remembered her memories because she tumbled out of the chair, she should probably thank the chair instead.
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