Disposal
“D-Dammit! How did we end up being forced into hiding like this…?!”
“It’s all because of that weirdo woman in the mask!”
The three male students who came into Elizalina’s view sat around a table, deep in conversation.
Whether she had entered so quietly or their minds were so frayed they couldn’t sense her presence, none of the three noticed her arrival… Although “that weirdo woman in the mask” caught Elizalina’s attention, one of them immediately spoke again.
“And that guy… If only we hadn’t messed with Lux Rodwell…”
Hearing the name of the one who meant so much to her, Elizalina leaned in and listened more intently.
“Yeah… Things really started spiraling after we went after him, didn’t they?”
As two of them murmured to each other, the third suddenly raised his voice.
“Hey! What the hell are you saying?! Just because we lost our titles doesn’t mean we’ve thrown away our pride as a marquis family, right?!”
“Z-Zolma…”
“Losing to some slow-witted brat from a count’s family is the greatest disgrace to our house! That’s why going after him wasn’t a mistake! The only mistake was that we lost to him.”
“Y-Yeah… You’re right.”
Hearing Zolma Zordan’s words, the other two finally nodded in agreement.
Listening to their conversation, Elizalina felt her own inadequacy keenly. She had mediated domestic disputes and ensured fairness in business, but she had done nothing to uproot the hidden rot within the nobility.
Even achieving what most countries could not, suppressing internal noble strife, meant nothing if it put Lux, the one she cherished most, in danger.
However… she knew exactly what must be done now, and she rose to approach the three students.
“For now, we need to rebuild… Even if we’ve lost our titles, our—”
“You know, I’m really tired of listening to this. Can I go ahead and dispose of you now?”
Cutting off Zolma Zordan’s speech, Elizalina addressed them directly. All three spun toward her in alarm.
Zolma, visibly flustered, shouted out.
“W-Who the hell are you?!”
“I don’t have a name to give to the people I’m about to dispose of.”
“D-Dispose of us?!”
When Elizalina spoke in that flat, mechanical voice. All three, including Zolma, visibly faltered.
“W-Why do we have to be disposed of?!”
“Honestly, I wouldn’t bother speaking to you, but I’ll tell you anyway… Because the three of you did something disgusting. That’s all.”
“D-Disgusting…? If it’s about the cheating scandal, we’ve already been expelled from the noble academy and stripped of our titles—”
“Your little cheating scandal means nothing to me. You only lost to Lux because you were stupid and lazy. Yet instead of accepting it, you resented him and tried to hurt him. It’s lucky Lux can defend himself with a sword. If he hadn’t been able to… no matter. The fact is you intended to injure him, maybe worse. That alone is reason enough for disposal.”
One of the boys dared to speak.
“L-Lux, again…? That guy—”
“Could you be quiet?”
At that, Elizalina loosed an arrow so fast it could not be tracked and disposed of him without hesitation.
She continued in the same emotionless tone.
“Now it’s one less noise to deal with. Just hearing Lux’s name come from trash like you makes me sick… Not that someone like you could ever taint him. I’d never let that happen.”
The remaining two were visibly shaken. Zolma Zordan tried to shout in defiance.
“Y-You…! Do you even realize what you’ve just—”
“Do you even realize what you did?”
Her words carried such weight that Zolma fell silent, trembling. Elizalina pressed on.
“You tried to hurt someone who gave me something I’d never known before, something truly precious. You could have stolen Lux’s smile, that bright, gentle smile that makes me happy just by seeing it. And now you justify your actions because he didn’t make a scene? You think that makes it right? There’s nothing I could do to you that would count as wrongdoing.”
“S-Screw this…! You’re all obsessed with Lux this, Lux that! He’s just a damn idiot!”
Panic, fear, and rage robbed Zolma Zordan of reason. In his desperation, he blurted out the one thing he shouldn’t have. Without a word, Elizalina disposed of the last boy with another arrow.
“Hiik…!”
Zolma’s face twisted in terror. His legs gave out, and he collapsed.
Elizalina leveled her bow at the cowering boy.
“I ended the last two with a single shot… But you, I think I’ll let you suffer a little first.”
“What?!”
“You laid a hand on Lux. This is only fair.”
Then she shifted her aim, targeting a spot that would prolong his suffering rather than end him instantly.
In that moment, she recalled a voice, that of the blue-haired woman in the masquerade mask.
“If you truly care for that person, shouldn’t you respect their wishes?”
The words echoed in her mind, and Elizalina whispered.
“You might be right… If it were Lux, he probably wouldn’t want anyone to suffer. No matter how awful they were, in the end…”
But if respecting his wishes meant putting him at risk, she could not accept it. That meant she would not stop this disposal.
Still, if she was to do this for the person she loved above all, she would at least honor his wishes in the method.
She realigned her aim to the lethal spot and released the arrow.
Left behind were the bodies of three boys and of Elizalina herself, the woman in the pink hood.
Without so much as a glance at the corpses, Elizalina’s eyes brightened.
“Lux, everything’s okay now! So let’s keep spending lots of happy moments together, okay?”