“Master Kaito is fleeing? How wonderful! Then I shall buy him as much time as he needs!”
The metallic clang of blade against blade rang out. All the while, Kaito continued crawling around. He dragged streaks of blood across the ground, and as he connected line to line, he let out a small laugh.
“But man… I guess we did have one thing in common after all. Like…birds of a feather, they say.”
It was just as Clueless had said. There was one area in which Kaito and Elisabeth resembled each other quite a bit. Kaito extended his arm a little more. Straining his exposed innards as he worked, he wrote a glyph.
“I’m already dead…and back when I was alive, I never did manage to get in a solid hit. But you’re still alive, so…while you still can…go give your ‘dad’ one good punch.”
Kaito connected the beginning and end of the circle with his finger. His work finally done, he collapsed. He could feel the blood burn with magical energy. Vlad, finally realizing what was going on, shouted.
“…That’s—”
In front of Kaito, Elisabeth’s summoning circle had been completed.
Over the course of his first life, he’d developed a certain skill—he never forgot any information he’d learned through pain. He’d taken advantage of that by carving a map of the castle’s underground tunnels in his skin so he wouldn’t get lost.
And he’d once gotten Elisabeth to carve a teleportation circle on his chest.
He’d drawn the teleportation circle just as he remembered it, and it began undulating wildly. The blood flowed, full of Elisabeth’s magical energy. It glimmered, its vivid crimson hue resembling melted rubies.
Aided by the light of the circle, Kaito could finally make out what was going on in the room. Vlad was firing off attacks, his face full of impatience, but Hina was somehow holding him at bay. Kaito coughed up blood as he let out a scream.
“And then, once you’ve cleaned up this mess, you can go straight to Hell like you swore! ELISABEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETH!”
As Kaito screamed, darkness exploded from the circle. Crimson flower petals spiraled around the room like a blood-soaked hurricane.
A long dress fluttered amid the tempest of darkness and petals. Its scarlet interior swirled across his view. A fair woman appeared, puffing out her buxom leather-bound bust. Her sleek black hair wafted behind her, and her crimson gaze settled on Kaito.
She landed atop Kaito’s blood and guts sporting her bondage-style dress and devilishly good looks.
It made for a beautiful, warped image.
In her hand, she held the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal.
“Hello there, Vlad.”
Elisabeth, immediately grasping the situation, laughed a dark laugh. Her lips twisted in the most wicked yet sublime way imaginable. Vlad recoiled a step.
Elisabeth, drenched in blood, was currently free of the Church’s shackles. Not only was Vlad shackled, but the Kaiser wasn’t by his side. She licked her lips as she eyed her prey.
She raised the Executioner’s Sword of Frankenthal aloft. Crimson flower petals and darkness spiraled around the blade. She then brought the shining sword down, as if conducting an execution.
“Now die alone—forsaken by heaven and earth and all of creation!”
Chains appeared from every direction and quickly filled the room. Hina was lying on the ground, and they flew over her head, shredded the maids, and twined around Vlad like a serpent. He struggled and fought, trying to break the chains with his own darkness and azure petals. But the chains wound around him faster than he could cut. His bones creaked as they bore down on his skin.
“Tch… Ah, rrrgh…”
He hung in the air, suspended by chains as Elisabeth had once been. Crimson petals piled up around him, like a massive bouquet for the dead. Then, in an instant, they melted and transformed into a platform with a stake. The chains bound Vlad to it. Elisabeth swung her sword again, and crimson flames burned in its wake. It was not a demonic flame but a mortal one.
He burned in the flames of man, as if he was being judged by the people.
“To think I would be done in…by something like this… This is a cruel joke, Elisabeth…”
Heavy darkness and azure petals whirled around Vlad. But the chains remained unbroken, and the fire spread to the tail of his elegant coat. His flesh began to burn. He opened his eyes in disbelief.
His sapphire stare was trained on Elisabeth. She returned it with a smile that seemed almost kind. Vlad frantically looked about, as if he’d only just grasped his situation.
Suddenly, he’d found himself trapped within the jaws of death for the very first time.
A bleak murmur dribbled from his mouth, as if imploring her.
“Elisabeth… Elisabeth… Elisabeth… Elisabeth…”
“Despots are killed, tyrants are hung, and slaughterers are slaughtered. Such are the ways of the world. The demise of torturers should be garnished with their own screams as they sink to Hell with no chance for salvation. Only at such a time is a torturer’s life truly complete—so meet your fate, you vile man. I have no intention of fleeing. I shall follow you shortly.”
The tips of Vlad’s long hair caught ablaze. No longer keeping up appearances, his body convulsed. The platform creaked a little. Then his skin burst into flames. He burned like an ordinary man, and Elisabeth made her declaration.
“Death by Burning—a fitting end for you and me.”
“ELISABEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETH!”
As Vlad let out a resentful scream, the blaze swallowed him.
The flames caused his face to bulge and sizzle. His skin turned to carbon. And eventually, his entire body burned away. All that remained were bones, and the chains mercilessly shattered them. He became white ash, then scattered into the air and vanished on the wind. Vlad Le Fanu had become nothing more than another victim claimed by the Torture Princess, Elisabeth Le Fanu.
* * *
And that was how the man who had served as the Kaiser and created the Torture Princess met his end.
All that remained was Elisabeth, standing alone, ever the picture of regality.
Amid the heat from the flames still lingering in the room, she closed her eyes and looked up at the sky. Her black hair drifted behind her, and a crimson flower petal fell from her skin.
Having defeated her lifelong foe, Elisabeth took a short breath, exhaled, and opened her eyes.
“How weak!”
She thrust her fist skyward as she shouted in pure satisfaction.
Out of all the things she could have chosen to say, that’s what she went with?
As he lamented her choice of words, Kaito’s consciousness slipped away.
Epilogue
“Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!”
Elisabeth gripped her fork and knife as she shouted with glee.
Laid out before her were jellied beef tongue, gizzard rillettes, kidney pie with a blue-cheese sauce, and tripe cutlets.
“I am grateful for your praise, Lady Elisabeth.”
“Man, your reactions are always way over-the-top when it comes to food.”
Hina smiled and gave a tidy bow. Kaito stood next to her, holding a wine bottle with both hands. Each time Elisabeth emptied her glass, he mechanically moved to refill it.
His task hardly took his humanity into account. His poured the wine with dead eyes, not giving a damn about the wine’s flavor. Apparently, though, as long as the food was good, Elisabeth didn’t much care about the quality of the liquor. She happily drained her glass. At least my job is easy, he thought. He looked down at his clothes and sighed.
He would have really appreciated it if she got him something nicer to wear than his butler uniform.
Ignoring his complaints, Elisabeth devoured the spread. But as she finished her final plate and Kaito moved to refill her glass, she suddenly spoke.
“Have you no misgivings?”
“
About what?”
He immediately returned her question. Still holding the wine bottle, he waited for her reply.
A few days had passed since they’d purged the Kaiser and returned to the stone castle.
This was the first time Elisabeth had spoken on the matter.
That night, after being carried back to the castle, Kaito had confessed that he’d temporarily accepted Vlad’s invitation. But Elisabeth had simply treated his wounds, then tossed him into bed. He’d immediately slipped into a comatose state, and Hina had held his hand through the night while Elisabeth delivered her report to the Church.
The following day, his usual warped yet not-unpleasant lifestyle awaited him. He’d decided not to mention prior events, so when Elisabeth broached the subject on her own, he was taken by surprise. There were too many possible answers to her question about his “misgivings,” so he simply tilted his head.
Elisabeth raised a slender finger.
“First, the matter of the Church’s custody.”
“Oh, well, misgivings or not, people from other worlds are still rare, right? And that place seems full of holes, so if there was anyone else like Clueless there, I’d be done for. It’s not like I’d have any way to resist, so because I can’t guarantee that I’m not gonna become a lab rat, I have no plans of fleeing to the Church at the moment.”
“At the moment, eh?”
“Well, yeah. If I really felt like you were gonna die and I was gonna follow shortly after, then who knows. I might well go sobbing to the Church and beg them for help.”
“Ah, how very like you.”
“Yeah, I’d rather not accompany you to Hell.”
“And I would rather not have you.”
Elisabeth responded in a muted tone, then shook her empty glass. Obeying her unvoiced order, Kaito filled it to the brim. Spinning the glass as she spoke, Elisabeth asked her next question.
“Second, then. Are you truly okay with that?”
“Oh…yeah. That. Yeah, I’m fine with that as it is.”
“I see. Well, if you say so, then that is that.”
Unlike Kaito, who had survived due to Elisabeth giving him a blood transfusion, his father’s doll body had lost all its blood, and his soul had disappeared. Elisabeth could have summoned it again, but Kaito had turned her down. On his request, though, she’d recovered the doll’s body, and Kaito had buried it behind the castle.
The burial had had no meaning. Yet, for some reason, Kaito had wanted to do it anyway.
And so he did.
Kaito had no plans to visit his father’s grave. In time, it would grow over with weeds or flowers as they sprouted naturally. That was for the best.
That thought alone had allowed him to sort out his feelings.
Here in front of him sat Elisabeth again. It was her egotism that had set all of this in motion. It was the Torture Princess who had thrust herself into this insane situation and she who had forced this second life upon him.
Kaito shrugged, then spoke to her casually.
“And hey, you bringing me back to life and summoning me here must have been some kind of fate… So until you start walking the road to Hell, I’ll try and stick by your side for as long as I can, even if I’m the only one.”
Elisabeth would die alone. Not even a demon would be by her side then.
But perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad for one human to stay by her side until that fateful day arrived.
Throughout Elisabeth Le Fanu’s bloody life, she was accompanied by a single foolish servant.
Kaito thought that sounded just fine.
Elisabeth cast a sidelong glance at him. She then shrugged and gave a catlike laugh.
“And what of it? Am I supposed to be overjoyed at the prospect of being served till death by an unfaithful servant like you? One who can’t even cook?”
“Man, you ask a lot for someone who can only summon people from other worlds who can’t cook organs worth a damn.”
“I’ll kill you for that. Painfully. But…very well. Bring me that thing, that one talent you possess.”
“Aye aye, cap’n. It’s been a while.”
He obeyed her command and returned the wine bottle to its bowl. He then picked up the earthenware pot from the tub of ice it was chilling in. Hina, unable to restrain herself, bubbled with excitement as she peered at it.
Watching the other two crane their necks, Kaito whipped off the lid.
“Ah, so that’s what Master Kaito’s special purin is like! How splendid!”
“Indeed, it jiggles so wonderfully. I crave it from time to time. Now, without further ado…”
Kaito gazed at them, Elisabeth readying her spoon and Hina unable to contain her excitement. It was then that he realized something. He felt around his face with caution.
Sure enough, a natural smile had spread across it.
…Oh, so that’s what that feels like.
He thought back to the promise he’d made Neue. Then he calmly surveyed the scene before him.
Elisabeth was there, and so was Hina. He hoped these chaotic, happy days would continue. For the first time in his life, he prayed that he wouldn’t lose them, even as the battles heated up. And to that end, he planned to do everything in his power.
To fulfill his promise to Neue and to keep the promise he’d just made to Elisabeth.
The Torture Princess, Elisabeth Le Fanu, had summoned him from another world.
She would one day die alone, forsaken by all of creation, and descend to Hell.
But they still had some time before then.
Afterword
Good day, and to those of you I haven’t met before, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Keishi Ayasato.
Thank you all very much for purchasing Torture Princess. Some of you will say, “But I’m just skimming it at the bookstore!” To those people, this is the part where I cling to your leg and beg you not to leave it behind. My grandpa said that something good will happen if you take it to the register with you. More specifically, you could get a +3 bonus to Luck. As far as the accuracy of that statement goes, I have no comment.
Torture Princess is the first book I had the honor of writing for MF Bunko J. Because it was the first, I was pretty nervous. I sincerely hope you liked it, even if only a little.
The idea of the Torture Princess, a wicked, beautiful woman of noble birth who commands countless torture devices, was one that I’d wanted to write about for a while. However, I’d never been able to come up with a reason for the protagonist to be with her or why he would continue serving her, so the story never really took form. It was when my editor suggested I write a story combining dark elements with the isekai genre that a light went on in my mind. Ah, I thought, the premise can be that she summons him after he dies and forces him to work for her! After that, I was able to write Kaito and Elisabeth’s story without a hitch.
If you don’t mind, I would be thrilled to tell you what happens next in the tale of the sinner who awaits death by burning at her own hands and the boy who gets a second chance at life. Incidentally, I wrote a limited-edition booklet that you can find at animate, describing a day in the life of the aforementioned two, as well as Hina, the doting maid who showers the protagonist with all the love of a blushing bride. As a bonus, the Butcher shows up, too. Skipping it won’t affect your enjoyment of the sequel, but if you’re interested, please check it out (I’m the type to toss in advertisements at key moments like this). Please take a look, even if all you do is admire the beautiful cover Saki Ukai drew for it. But most of all, I hope from the bottom of my heart that if I successfully manage a sequel, it will catch your eye. Oh, that would make me so happy.
Please, I beg of you.
I’m almost out of room in the afterword, so I guess this is the part where I start thanking people.
Saki Ukai, thank you so much for your beautiful character designs and illustrations. When I first saw Elisabeth’s design, it took my breath away. To my designer and my publisher, your suggestions w
ere invaluable, and to my editor O, I wish to extend my deepest gratitude.
And finally, to my readers, my sincerest thanks. There is no greater pleasure for an author than to have people read their work. I will put everything I have into making my next story entertaining, so it would bring me great joy if you all looked forward to it.
And with that, I hope we will meet again.
Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On.
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Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 1 Page 20