Reincarnated as the Villain Who Experiments on Orphanage Kids – Why Are the Test Subject Girls Begging Me for "Night Experiments"? - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Side – Priere

[Side: Priere]

I was an unwanted child.

They called me a cursed child. I was born between the king and a servant, and I had lived my whole life with my very existence denied.

In the end, my mother was attacked by someone and lost her life. Whether it was luck or misfortune, I managed to escape and ended up in the slums.

It was a terrible place, but no one looked at me, so it felt easy on my mind. After living under those hateful stares for so long, my body actually felt lighter. Or maybe I was just skin and bones from not having enough to eat.

My life in the slums didn’t last long anyway. After about a month, I was taken in by an orphanage, and that’s where I ended up staying.

But once I got to the orphanage, I couldn’t fit in with the others and was always alone. I didn’t talk to anyone and never met anyone’s eyes.

Before that, if I made eye contact with a servant, I’d get hit. If I tried to speak, I’d be punished right away.

Because that’s how I had lived, the idea of getting close to other people was unthinkable.

But Sai kept talking to me eagerly. He asked all kinds of questions about my background and my life up to then, and he wrote everything down in his notes.

I thought it was strange, but maybe that was normal at the orphanage. I just went along with it without questioning much. That kind of life continued, and exactly one month had passed.

“Tonight, I want you to come to my room.”

That’s what Sai asked me. He had this sly grin on his face, and honestly it didn’t feel great, but I didn’t refuse.

When the promised time came, I headed to his room, and then I was taken somewhere.

It was underground. Apparently there were rooms beneath the orphanage. It was my first time there, and the atmosphere wasn’t nice at all.

“Sit there and stay still for me.”

I was led into a dimly lit room and told to sit on the bed in the center. I did exactly as I was told and waited quietly. Then Sai did something I never expected.

“Eh?”

He reached for the buttons on my pajamas. Before I could even get flustered, he had already stripped them off me in no time.

“……………………”

I stood there frozen in just my underwear. What was going to happen now? I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be anything good.

Because Sai was looking at me with a gaze that was completely different from his usual expression—kind of excited and lewd.

“……………………”

I was probably going to become his plaything. Before coming here, I had lived in the slums, and I had seen plenty of people end up the same way.

In the end, that’s the kind of fate most orphans meet. Still, I had no intention of resisting. No one had ever needed me, no one had ever loved me, so I had no hope left in living anyway.

“You don’t have to be scared. This is an experiment for you.”

Sai smiled gently. It was supposed to be a smile, but for some reason it felt really creepy.

“…Does it… hurt?”

The words slipped out before I could stop them. Sai’s mouth curved up into a smirk.

“It’s fine, there won’t be any pain. You’ll definitely feel good. I’m going to give you pleasure and a sense of power like you’ve never tasted in your life, along with real strength.”

When he said that, Sai’s eyes were burning with heat.

“……………………”

Pleasure and a sense of power like I’d never tasted before. And strength. I had no idea what exactly that meant, but if it meant I could feel at ease, then that was fine with me.

After all, if I kept living like this, it would just be the same cycle of eating and sleeping over and over.

I decided to become a test subject. I didn’t know what would happen, but I was ready to accept the pleasure and the sense of power. That’s when I made up my mind.

“Ugh—”

Suddenly Sai pressed a hand to his forehead. The next moment, his face twisted in pain and he braced himself against the shelf by the wall. After clutching his head for a while, he shouted strongly.

“That’s it! I—”

But he didn’t finish the sentence. He nodded as if he understood something, then dropped the flask he was holding.

“We’re stopping for today.”

“Eh?”

Sai took off his lab coat and gently draped it over my shoulders.

“Aren’t we doing the experiment?”

“Yeah. I’m not in the mood anymore.”

That was all he said before he walked toward the door.

—What on earth is going on?

I didn’t understand. There was no way I could understand.

“……………………”

Left standing there alone, I looked around the room. There were piles of paper on the desk. Were those the notes he had been writing before? Curious, I picked one up.

What was written there was—

“………………Eh?”

It was a huge collection of research materials. The structure of magic power. The ecology of monsters. The magic circuits in the human body. Theories and formulas I had never seen before were packed tightly across the pages.

What was all this? What kind of research was it for?

My questions only grew deeper. What was Sai thinking, and what was he planning these experiments for?

I wanted to know the answer. So I kept digging through the documents until I finally found the information I was looking for.

“This is human experimentation!?”

It said that by extracting the core from a monster, turning it into liquid, and introducing it into the body, the cells would become active. This would allow a person to gain power equal to that of a monster.

That’s what the documents said. I couldn’t understand more than half of it, but I could easily imagine how incredible it was.

“So this is… strength…”

Sai had said he would give me pleasure and a sense of power like I’d never tasted before, along with real strength.

I finally understood what he meant. He must have wanted to give power to orphans like us. The power to survive on our own.

But that wasn’t all. Other documents contained information about a certain organization.

—Rebellion.

I didn’t understand the details, but it seemed to be a group trying to change the way the world worked.

The monster attack in the royal capital the other day was apparently their doing, and they had caused many other incidents, throwing the city into chaos. They were clearly an evil organization.

There were also other interesting documents.

—Research on defeating monsters without using the Holy Sword.

After reading the document with that title, I understood everything.

The liquid for creating enhanced humans, the information about the evil organization operating in the royal capital, the research on defeating monsters, and even running the orphanage—everything connected like dots.

“No way…”

Finally, I looked at the document labeled “Test Subject Candidates.”

It listed the characteristics of the orphanage kids. Quality of magic power. Physical abilities. Adaptability potential. Detailed numbers were carefully recorded. There were even fine details about their personalities and habits, right down to their little gestures.

Of course, my information was there too. My attitude and behavior since coming to the orphanage, my personality, even my food preferences. It felt like the documents knew more about me than I did myself.

“…So that’s what it was.”

I finally understood Sai’s goal. He wanted to stand against the dangerous organization called Rebellion and create true peace without relying on the Holy Sword.

And he wanted to give power to us orphans so we could survive on our own.

“This is definitely an experiment that will save the world.”

At the same time, it was dangerous research. That’s why he couldn’t tell anyone and had to continue it in secret. I also understood why he had stopped the experiment earlier.

“It was because I was scared.”

Sai is a kind person. That’s why he stopped the research so he wouldn’t hurt me. The moment I realized that, a warmth spread deep in my chest.

“Sai…”

This person is surely trying to protect the world without anyone knowing. While living quietly as the head of the orphanage, he’s secretly continuing research to save the world.

—What a lonely fight.
—What a lonely person.

“I have to support him by his side!”

I hugged the documents tightly to my chest and, still wearing the lab coat, brought it closer to my face and breathed in its scent. Strangely, my heart felt at peace.

“I’m going to help him.”

Sai will probably refuse. But that’s okay.

I’ve already made up my mind. Right at this moment, I’ve decided to give everything to Sai.