In this world there are beings, invisible to the eye, called spirits.
You give a spirit your mana, and it manifests a supernatural phenomenon in return — that is magic.
“Magical aptitude” measures whether your mana is the kind a spirit of a given element will find palatable.
Picture it this way: spirits invoke magic as thanks for being given their favorite food.
And me — I have no magical aptitude.
To the spirits, my mana is something close to poison.
So what happens if a larger volume of mana than the spirit was offered interferes with it?
The spirit, in pain, cancels the invocation — and the magic itself is unmade.
That is one of the techniques I built. [Magecraft Funeral].
“That should do it…”
I used Ruark and his friends’ uniforms to tie them up so they couldn’t move.
After this, hand them over to the academy together with the photographs, and they’ll be expelled and laughed at forever.
They’ll never appear on the public stage again.
Pick a fight with me, I’ll fight back with everything. I’ll use the full weight of House Veret to crush you.
“I’ll have Father informed later, too.”
Now then — more importantly…
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
”…!”
When I spoke, Liche’s shoulders jumped.
I understand this reaction.
I’d been called an incompetent thoroughly by her.
She must be drowning in guilt.
“U-um… I — I said terrible things to you, Lord Veret…”
——Too bad. I’m the kind of villain who exploits that guilt.
Liche has no luck with men. Her only two suitors so far have been Ruark and me.
But I’m not gentle enough to step back out of consideration.
I’ll pretend to be kind, however.
“Don’t worry about it. More importantly — here, cover your front with this.”
I draped my blazer around her body.
Carrot and stick. Drip the gratitude in slowly like this, until the day she can’t refuse a single thing I ask.
A Mashiro Liche who will do anything I say — that’s the finished product I’m engineering!
Heh heh heh… It frightens me how quickly I think up vile schemes like this on the fly.
”…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…! I — I don’t have the right to be treated kindly by Lord Veret…!”
“You don’t need qualifications to be friendly with someone.”
“But I betrayed you, Lord Veret… If I’d only trusted you, you wouldn’t have been hurt…!”
This girl… so troublesome…!
I just told her it’s fine, so this matter should be over.
Maybe it’s the noble/commoner station gap warping her perception. Or maybe Liche is just a fundamentally over-responsible kid.
…No, it’s both.
“I… I have to be punished…!”
“Then live by my side. Live for me.”
”…Eh…”
“You said it yourself back then, didn’t you? Called me an incompetent.”
I gently wiped away her tears with the same handkerchief I’d lent her that day.
In Liche’s eyes, which had been dim and clouded for so long, light began to settle in.
“Then stay by this incompetent’s side forever. Don’t you dare leave. Hanging around an incompetent is exhausting, I’m sure. — This is your punishment. I won’t accept any objections.”
I rose, cutting off any reply.
“Follow me, Mashiro! Our hegemonic path begins from here on! Bwahahaha!”
I was honestly surprised at how smoothly the words came out, but… that’s not bad!?
I slipped in a casual “you belong to me” declaration. If Liche agrees, the verbal contract is made.
Alice will serve as witness. There’s no way Liche refuses.
So — what’s Liche’s reaction?
“L-Lord Vereeett!!”
“Wha—!?”
I was caught off-guard as she launched herself at me, and got tackled to the ground.
Wh-what!? Sudden rebellion!?
Just because you cling to me and press your, b-boobs against me, I’m not taking it back!
But, since I’d like to enjoy this a bit longer — please stay like that for a while!
”…How kind of you, Lord Ouga.”
Eh? Where?
If anything, I’m the villain who’s just exploited a vulnerable moment to steal Mashiro’s life…
Alice really does have a screw loose, I think.
Her thinking is fundamentally different from a normal person’s.
After that, I enjoyed the blissful sensation until Mashiro stopped crying and let go.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Let me summarize what happened next.
Ruark and his friends were expelled together.
Naturally.
House Bolbond apparently tried to move on the matter, but Father shut them down.
They’ll spend the rest of their lives with the unflattering title of “pervert” hanging on them.
As a stain on House Bolbond, their very existence may be loathed.
It’s all self-inflicted, so there’s no room for sympathy.
Alice’s loyalty to me seems to have deepened further, too. All said and done, this turned out to be all benefit.
And the greatest gain of all is — ah, speak of the devil.
A figure was waiting at the dorm entrance, fiddling with her hair.
“G-good morn— wait no, good morning. O-Ouga!”
Mashiro noticed me and ran over.
…You know, I always dreamed of a life with a cute childhood-friend type, too.
So I forbade her use of polite speech. The “Lord” honorific was also banned.
She’s still awkward with it, but she’ll get used to it gradually.
I’ll graduate her from small requests to bigger ones over time.
Heh heh heh — smiling so peacefully, not knowing she’s being tamed.
How long can that peaceful time last…?
“Morning. Did I make you wait?”
“N-no, I just got here too…”
Aaah, this exchange! Yes! Splendid!
A development I never had access to in my past life — I almost smiled in spite of myself.
There’s a special satisfaction in moments when effort pays off.
“U-um, Ouga. I wanted to give this back to you.”
She took something out of her bag — the handkerchief, now intimately familiar to us.
Come to think of it… that day, with her face such a mess from crying, I’d let her keep it…
I reached for it — then withdrew my hand.
“Ouga?”
“You should keep it, Mashiro.”
“Eh? But this is precious — it’s embroidered with the Veret crest, isn’t it…?”
“It’s fine. I want you to have it.”
Every time Mashiro sees this handkerchief, she’ll remember that incident.
The guilt toward me will be ground in, day after day.
What a despicable scheme…!
“Ouga…”
Mashiro pressed the handkerchief against her chest.
“——Thank you.”
Her voice bounced with sincere joy.
“I’ll cherish it for the rest of my life!”
A smile, brimming with happiness, bloomed.