In a Female-Dominant World with a 5:1 Gender Ratio, I Saved a Girl as a Kid, and She Said She Wanted to Be My Bride—Who Would’ve Thought She Was a Princess… - 57

Chapter 57: The Hollow King and the Smiling Doll

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(Leonardo’s POV)

The night over the royal capital was wrapped in an unprecedented stillness, along with a pleasant sense of superiority.

I stood on the vast balcony at the very top floor of the House of Duke Falkenberg, gazing down at the nighttime cityscape spread out below. When I looked up at the sky, I saw a gigantic canopy shimmering faintly in iridescent colors. The『Firewall』 that I had deployed by exercising 『Administrator Code』, completely covering the entire city. Physical interference, magical interference, spatial transfer. An absolute defensive wall that rejected all forms of intrusion.

Now that I had eliminated that “bug” called Alto, this world was entirely under my control.

“…It’s a beautiful night. Don’t you think so, Lilianna?”

I turned around and spoke to Lilianna, who was sitting on the sofa. She was dressed in a deep crimson gown that I had chosen, staring at me intently with jewel-like eyes. Once, those eyes had held contempt and resistance toward me, but now, they were different. What filled them now was bottomless reverence and unconditional acceptance alone.

“Yes, Leonardo-sama. This world that you rule shines more brilliantly than any gemstone.”

Lilianna answered instantly in a voice like tinkling bells. There was not the slightest cloudiness in her words.

『Marionette』. This was the result of me rewriting her mental structure, essentially her Mind Code and “optimizing” her into an existence convenient for me. I nodded in satisfaction and sat down beside her. On the side table were an aged red wine and polished crystal glasses. I picked up a glass and inhaled the rich aroma deeply.

“Tomorrow, I will go to the castle. Father… No, the current king. I intend to demand his abdication. There’s no longer any need to leave this country in the hands of that decrepit old man.”

I spoke fervently while tilting the glass.

“I will become the new king and remake this country…. Along with the world into a more efficient and beautiful place. No one will deny me. No one will look down on me. A perfect world where everything goes exactly as I wish.”

I placed my hand on Lilianna’s knee and peered into her face.

“You only need to smile beside me as my queen. …What I’ve done isn’t wrong, is it?”

Somewhere deep inside, there was still a part of me seeking approval. But the current Lilianna was nothing more than a “mirror” that reflected only the answers I desired.

“Of course, Leonardo-sama. You alone are the one and only king destined to guide this world. The path you walk is justice itself. No matter what anyone says, I alone will accept everything about you.”

She placed her hand over mine and rubbed her cheek against it in rapture. Perfect. This was the shape of “love” I had been seeking. No troublesome bargaining. No painful rejection. Absolute peace of mind.

—Throb.

Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed deep behind my left eye. A strange pain. It was burning hot, yet at the same time like ice pressed against it.

“…?”

I frowned and shook my head as if to cast off the discomfort. Again. Ever since obtaining this power, this pain struck from time to time. 

It seems the power hasn’t fully settled in yet.

Telling myself that, I tried to set the glass back onto the table. I intended to place it gently, but at that moment…

Crash!!

A sharp shattering sound tore through the silence. In my hand, the finest crystal glass had shattered into countless pieces. Scattered shards pierced my fingers, and red wine spread across the carpet like blood.

“…Huh?”

I stared at my hand. I hadn’t put any strength into it. I hadn’t even circulated magic to my fingertips. I had simply performed the action of “placing it down.” And yet, my fingers had crushed the delicate glass with uncontrollable, vise-like strength.

“Leonardo-sama!? Oh no, you’re injured!”

Lilianna cried out in a near scream and hurriedly pulled a handkerchief from her bosom. She knelt before me, stretching out her slender white fingers to wipe the wine and blood from my hand.

“I’m so sorry, I’ll tend to it right away—”

The instant her fingertips were about to touch my arm…

Jolt!!

My right arm jerked upward as if struck by electricity.

“Wha—!?”

Contrary to my thoughts, my right hand thrust forward sharply. Its trajectory wasn’t meant to receive the handkerchief. It was a trajectory precisely aimed at seizing Lilianna’s slender neck.

“Stop it!!”

I instinctively grabbed my own right wrist with my left hand and forced it down. Bones creaked violently 

My right arm thrashed like a separate living creature, trying to attack Lilianna.

“Leonardo-sama…?”

Lilianna froze, eyes wide with shock. Cold sweat poured down my back as I struggled against my own arm.

What is this!? What’s happening!? I didn’t give any order!

My heart pounded wildly. There had been no killing intent. I had meant to cherish her. And yet, my body had recognized her as a “hostile entity” or an “unnecessary object” and had begun an elimination action.

『—Optimization process in progress』

『Emotional value toward target “Lilianna” has exceeded the permitted error rate. …Judgment capacity noise detected』

The cold, merciless voice echoed inside my head. It wasn’t the supportive tone from before. It sounded more arrogant, like an absolute being trampling directly into my thoughts.

『This is a waste of resources. Contact will be restricted』

“…Huh? Waste? Restricted?”

While desperately pressing my trembling right arm into the floor, I glared into empty space.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing, Administrator!? This is my body! Don’t move it without permission!”

The voice did not answer. Instead, my vision in the left eye turned red. At the edge of my sight, incomprehensible strings of code streamed downward like a waterfall. Hot. My left eye burned intensely. In inverse proportion, sensation faded from the fingertips of my right hand.

The sensation of my body no longer belonging to me… An eerie sense of disconnection… It was as if I were touching the world through thick leather gloves.

“G-gh… Stop it! Stop it already!!”

I screamed without regard for dignity, reversing my magic flow to forcibly wrest control back from my right arm. Several seconds of deadlock went on. Then, suddenly, the strength drained from my right arm, and the spasms subsided.

“…Hah… hah… hah…”

I collapsed onto the sofa, breathing heavily. My entire body was drenched in sweat. Stopping just one arm felt as exhausting as expending all my strength.

“Leonardo-sama…? You don’t look well. Are you perhaps overexerted?”

Lilianna peered at me with concern. She couldn’t see the “abnormality” within me. Even the sight of me fighting my own arm was being positively reinterpreted in her mind as nothing more than a minor ailment caused by overwhelming power.

“…It’s fine. My hand just slipped a little.”

“Yes. Leonardo-sama’s power is simply too great for the vessel to keep up with. …How wonderful.”

Lilianna smiled like a broken record. That smile suddenly carried an unfathomable terror. She was a doll. I had made her that way. But…

Wasn’t I myself now becoming a doll as well, suspended by invisible strings? Had I truly “gained power,” or was I merely a convenient “vessel” for this unidentified system? I caught sight of my reflection in the window glass.

A well-proportioned face stared back at me, but only the left eye… My left eye was stained in a murky crimson, flickering ominously and mockingly, as if savoring my fear. With a trembling hand, I picked up a shard of the shattered glass.

I felt no pain… And that terrified me more than anything.

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