Virgin Knight Who Is the Frontier Lord in the Gender Switched World - Chapter 208

I entered the private quarters bestowed upon me by Sabine.

Should my persuasion fail, Martina is close at hand, and a guest is also prepared.

Everything is set.

I will stop Sabine from evolving—no, from awakening to a human heart.

The plan is titled “Mashing the B Button.”

“…What do you want, Lord Polydoro?”

“What’s the matter, Sabine? You had said you’d have me call you Faust from now on, had you not? I won’t mind and will continue to address you by your title.”

The way she refers to me has become distant.

Her change of heart.

Should I delve into the reason? Perhaps there’s no need, given I somewhat understand.

Regardless, I started the conversation.

“Sabine, I bring unfortunate news. About the matter where you sold your brother to masquerade as a cleric—it seems the Pope was aware of it all along. I received a thorough explanation directly from him, as if to say I should have used a better method.”

“—!”

Sabine, who had been gazing out at the rain, turned with a startled look, her expression shifting to disbelief.

Then, with a voice heavy with defeat, she asked,

“…Lord Polydoro, have you also come to know of my betrayal of my brother? You must despise me deeply.”

Eh, I don’t really care, but—

I nearly spoke my true thoughts but held back.

It’s not about having enviable values from a previous life.

In this world, men are essentially treated as furniture or means for reproduction.

Being bought and sold under financial agreements is hardly unusual.

It’s not as if he was abandoned outright; if it’s a crisis concerning one’s house, selling one’s body should suffice—that would be the duty.

Being a noble and the head of a house tasked with the dirty work doesn’t ruin a lifetime—well, to put it simply.

“Even if Sabine had said, ‘I kinda sold my brother into male prostitution and killed the cleric I bought to swap places with! Got all the info too!!’ I wouldn’t have scorned her.”

Sabine is truly despicable, but I’d end on a cheerful note.

Rather, it’s that her scheme didn’t succeed that troubles me.

But.

To say that plainly would make Sabine suspicious of me now.

Truth can sometimes be harmful.

What I should say is:

“Sabine—”

Just calling her name.

I sat down beside Sabine on the bed, placing a hand on her shoulder to offer support in her instability.

“Lord Polydoro. I no longer understand anything. I know what you want to say.”

“Sabine-san, you must be misunderstanding something. You—”

The words to speak aren’t ones of sympathy.

“You might be under the misapprehension that you’re hideous, that you’ve done filthy deeds, that you’ve finally come to understand human hearts.”

How to hinder her budding sense of goodness as a human.

Our eyes met, each trying to peer into the other’s heart.

“Wrong? I pushed responsibilities onto my sister not knowing of my home’s hardships, sold my brother for a scheme, and looked down on other miserable souls like trash. Is this what humans do?”

Sabine grew emotional, her long blonde hair whipping as she shook herself.

Stop, don’t speak like you’re human!

You’re a chimpanzee.

In my agitation, I cried out.

“Wrong!”

Nothing is wrong, but let’s pretend it is.

“Sabine! What you’re feeling isn’t guilt. You must be mistaken.”

Surely it’s guilt, and she’s mistaken about nothing, I think.

Martina gave me a cold look.

I returned a look that said, I know that!

“Mistake? What mistake? I am scum. I must take responsibility for my sister and brother. I have lived selfishly, hurting everyone for my own gain!”

“That’s not true, Sabine!”

No, everything is true, but it’s too late for such revelations.

What we need now is not her goodness but the ruthless wickedness she’s known for.

Discard that goodness.

“I was scum. Just a hideous, selfish monster. The situation now is just the aftermath of the mess the monster I was left behind. I wish I could disappear.”

There must be some way to revert Sabine to her former self.

There’s only one way.

“Sabine has always lived for His Highness Valiere. How can such actions be selfish?”

That’s all I can think of.

The only thing that might convince Sabine is to affirm everything about the person she idolizes.

“…That’s because His Highness Valiere was precious to me. It was still my desire. I wanted to satisfy my own spirit and had to obtain approval from my own actions for my psyche. It’s just that kind of self-desire. I lacked a human heart.”

Bad, this is no good!

Sabine’s wickedness is starting to mutate into some Greek philosophical mechanical human theory.

Philosophy won’t feed us; stop it.

“I intend to reflect and live as a true human from now on—”

Since Sabine was about to make such a declaration, I had no choice.

I decided to mash the B button.

“His Highness Valiere von Anhalt! Please, come in!”

“I mean, okay, but…”

Peeking through the door, His Highness Valiere von Anhalt appeared, looking utterly bewildered.

“Valiere-sama, why are you here?”

“Well, I was busy, but Faust said it was a serious request. And I was a bit worried about how things were going with Sabine… It’s not really a problem.”

I couldn’t hear well because of the rain at the door, but what’s the story?

His Highness Valiere tilted his head, knowing nothing—just that Sabine was trying to become a real human.

I don’t say anything because if I were honest, Valiere-sama might actually be pleased.

“Sabine, look carefully. Your lord and mine too. Innocent and pure, the world is tainted with evil, overflowing with crude violence. If only he could peel off his skin to turn into a gold brooch to give to others—”

That’s what he thinks.

I spoke in a low voice, audible only to Sabine.

She responded quietly, acknowledging she knew.

“Are you planning to abandon him?”

“What did you say?”

Sabine looked at me incredulously.

“I’m asking if you intend to abandon Valiere-sama. Think about it carefully. It’s true that you’ve done terrible things. You’ve acted selfishly, but those were things that had to be done. Without them, His Highness Valiere might not have been before us anymore.”

Consider the meaning of Sabine’s existence.

Think carefully about the significance of her being evil.

And consider why she has played the villain, committing numerous misdeeds up until now.

In a burst of energy, I just blurted it all out.

I haven’t spoken a single untruth.

“Think of it as a puzzle. Think carefully about why you were born into this world as a vile and wicked knight.”

I do my best to amplify Sabine’s image.

Literally scale it up.

“Weren’t you born to serve under Valiere-sama!?”

“To serve under Valiere-sama!?”

Sabine expressed shock as if this was a revelation to her.

“Exactly. Think about it and realize. Maybe Sabine was…”

I paused dramatically.

And then released the words.

“…the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle named ‘malice’ that was lost when Valiere-sama was born!”

I pushed forward with momentum!

“Is that so!?”

Valiere-sama, caught in the flow of the conversation, reacted as if this might actually be true.

This person really is quite naive.

Once, when I asked what he had been praying to after not missing a day of prayers, he answered with a straight face, “The God of Ponponpain.”

I honestly thought he might have lost his mind from stress.

“Was that so!?”

Sabine, for her part, has a habit of interpreting everything Valiere-sama says in a way that suits her.

It’s not exactly animism, but she feels a kind of fetishism for everything related to the existence of Valiere von Anhalt.

If Valiere-sama approves, she possesses absolutely no function to deny it.

“Perhaps, even the excitement I felt when Valiere-sama hit me!”

Being hit is good!

“And the times I intentionally committed misdeeds to be kicked by Valiere-sama, sticking out my rear!”

Being kicked is good!

“Could it be, the ecstasy I feel when all sorts of vain people worship Valiere-sama is because I am a part of him and spreading his sadistic pleasure, which I then receive!?”

That’s ridiculous, you fool.

I was about to say this but forcibly kept my mouth shut.

Anyway, Sabine was gradually returning to her old self.

Keep going.

Valiere-sama, being easily swayed, is unknowingly helping.

“Valiere-sama, please be clear. It’s true that Sabine has done many bad things, but not everything she did was bad for His Highness, right?”

“Well, uh…”

Honestly, it felt like it was mostly bad.

And I’ve always thought it would be better if Sabine were more of a real human.

But that look in her eyes… well, it’s typical of Valiere-sama.

He will definitely go with the flow.

“No, well… Indeed, Sabine is a bad girl, but also an incorrigible pervert who says she could drink my pee even if it had blood in it, and really, she says some utterly hopeless things. A worthless chimpanzee, but—”

Valiere-sama sighed.

“I don’t know why you’re feeling down, but yes. A lot has happened—feeling down, praying to the God of Ponponpain, producing pink urine—it has indeed been tough. But if the hardships result in the happiness of my subordinates, then I don’t think the path walked was a mistake.”

Valiere-sama is really too kind-hearted, to the point it seems he’s missing a screw.

But he gets carried away by the atmosphere.

“So, I don’t know what’s troubling you or why you’re feeling down. As Faust said, Sabine has been my subordinate and my right hand, and I won’t fault her for what she’s done up to now. Don’t look down; stand up, Sabine.”

His face seemed to hold many complaints.

But Valiere-sama, reading the room, pressed Sabine’s B button.

Sabine paused as if time had stopped.

Then she craned her neck, eyes sparkling, and screamed loud enough to fill the room.

“That’s right! Ah, actually, I was just thinking that might be the case! I’m fine just as I am!!”

Her recent pangs of conscience seemed like a lie.

Throwing away any evolution towards human goodness.

Sabine laughed and shrieked like a chimpanzee.

“There was nothing wrong with what I’ve done for Valiere-sama and for my own pleasure! I’ll continue to live as I please!!”

She stood up, threw her hands in the air, and shouted.

Valiere-sama, still not fully grasping the situation, looked puzzled.

“What’s going on? But anyway, did I comfort Sabine? Is this okay?”

“Perfectly fine.”

With that, I answered the somewhat bewildered Valiere-sama.

I resigned myself to the utter absurdity of everyone here and turned to Martina, who looked aghast, and tried to explain, “It was the only way.”