Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Dark Side
In the living room.
Kasumigaoka Utaha and Aizaka sat by the table, their ears filled with the suggestive sounds drifting from the nearby bedroom.
Aizaka sat rigidly, her back straight, eyes focused forward, her slender legs wrapped in white stockings pressed tightly together.
Utaha, on the other hand, had a blush creeping up her cheeks. Her shapely legs, clad in black stockings, crossed and uncrossed restlessly.
Though both girls kept up appearances, the subtle tension in the air betrayed their discomfort.
Seriously, if you're going to do that, at least soundproof the room.
It was torture.
"What's really going on here?" Utaha asked, her voice tinged with concern.
Despite the sounds continuing in the background, her mind flashed back to the scene earlier when Aozaki Touko had rushed Roy into the bedroom.
It had only been a quick glance, but Roy had seemed to be in immense pain.
It was the first time Utaha had seen him like that—something was clearly wrong.
"Could what they're doing in there... have some kind of special purpose?" Aizaka whispered, her tone filled with shock.
Whatever Utaha was thinking, Aizaka had clearly thought the same.
The moment Roy had collapsed, Miss Touko had carried him to the bedroom and… well, started singing.
Surely it wasn't just Touko losing her mind.
Could it be that doing that had some kind of healing effect?
Aizaka didn't get it, but she was definitely stunned.
"Don't ask me! How would I know?" Utaha hissed, shooting Aizaka a sidelong glare.
The sounds from the bedroom continued to gnaw at her nerves.
Fortunately, the noises eventually ceased.
The two girls waited a little longer before Aozaki Touko finally emerged from the room, her long orange hair loose around her shoulders, wearing a robe and looking as relaxed as could be.
Touko was breathtakingly beautiful, her slightly disheveled appearance adding a mature allure to her. There was even a faint flush to her cheeks, giving off a suggestive warmth.
It might have been a tantalizing scene, but for Utaha and Aizaka, it was nothing short of nerve-wracking.
Because Touko's body wasn't just marked with the aftermath of pleasure—it was covered in bruises and wounds, stark against her pale, snow-white skin.
"You two are still here, huh?"
Touko glanced at them, her expression indifferent, so unlike her friendly demeanor from earlier in the day.
"Roy's asleep now. Don't disturb him."
With that, she walked off toward the bathroom, paying no further attention to the girls.
The two maids exchanged a quick look, suppressing their urge to check on Roy, and resigned themselves to waiting in the living room.
It was half an hour later when Touko finally reappeared, her hair still damp, wrapped in a bathrobe. Her long, perfectly shaped legs peeked out as she moved about the room with complete ease, as if the strange events earlier were nothing of consequence.
"Ah, that bath felt amazing," Touko said as she sat at the table, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.
Aizaka watched her in quiet amazement.
Touko had her glasses back on now.
The difference in her demeanor was stark.
Earlier in the day, she had exuded the warmth of a senior colleague, someone who looked out for her juniors. The moment the glasses were off, she'd become an unapproachable ice queen, as though nothing in the world could touch her.
Could she be like Lord Roy, someone with a split personality?
"I can tell what you're thinking just by looking at your face."
Noticing Aizaka's gaze, Touko chuckled lightly.
"But it's not a split personality. It's a dual nature. Sometimes in life, you have to act against your true self, especially in business. That's where this personality switch comes in handy—it makes negotiations a lot smoother."
"Oh, and these glasses?" She tapped them lightly. "They don't have a prescription. Roy wears the same kind. No one in our family actually needs glasses."
Aizaka nodded in understanding.
It was similar to a routine, a form of self-suggestion, switching to the right personality for dealing with different situations, especially ones that were outside her comfort zone.
But even as she grasped this, Aizaka felt a chill run through her.
She prided herself on her poker face, but this magus had seen through her thoughts with terrifying ease. The insight of a magus was truly frightening!
"But more importantly, what exactly happened to Lord Roy?" Utaha's black-stockinged legs had been shaking under the table for a while now, and seeing them avoid the topic for so long, she couldn't help but blurt out the question.
"It's nothing new."
Touko didn't seem bothered by her impatience.
Her eyes glinted with amusement as she glanced between the two girls.
It was clear that Kasumigaoka Utaha, in particular, was genuinely worried about Roy. That kid really knew how to attract women.
"Nothing new? So this has happened before?" Utaha's expression grew uneasy.
"Mhm. It's not the first time."
"What exactly is wrong with him?" Utaha couldn't help but raise her voice slightly.
"In simple terms, it's a curse."
Touko waggled her finger, signaling her to lower her voice.
Utaha quickly complied, remembering that Roy had just fallen asleep.
"Roy was cursed a long time ago. It's the kind of curse that can't be completely broken and flares up repeatedly."
Touko's face remained calm as she continued, "He has a remarkably strong will, so each time the curse erupts, he manages to suppress it on his own. But today was different—the situation was unusual, and his mental state was already a bit unstable. This time, it was much harder for him to endure. In the end, he fought against the curse's destructive impulses, refusing to let it take over, which left him in this state."
Left him needing this kind of release.
Touko didn't explicitly say it, but her meaning was clear enough.
She had brought Roy to the bedroom to help him release the destructive urges brought on by the curse.
As for why it had to be done that way…
Well, it was certainly better than having him kill indiscriminately. Apart from murder, sexual release was one of the most effective ways to vent negative emotions.
"He might wear the same glasses as I do—oh, I'm the one who taught him this method, by the way."
Touko laughed nonchalantly, clearly accustomed to the situation.
"But Roy is different from me. I switch personalities to handle different situations, using whichever side of me is more suited to solving the problem at hand. Roy, on the other hand, uses the glasses to suppress his destructive impulses."
By wearing the glasses, he gives himself the subconscious suggestion that he's not the kind of person who wants to destroy everything, helping him keep his darker side in check.
"Lord Roy's mental state was already… unstable? Why is that?" Utaha hesitated for a moment before asking, her resolve firm.
Even as his servant, she had a right to know.
She refused to believe Roy was someone who craved destruction.
Even if it was just self-suggestion, Roy had saved her, freed her from her chains, and helped her rescue her old friends. That kind of kindness couldn't be the product of mere self-deception.
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