The Heroines Who Framed Me Are Clinging to Me

Chapter 13 - The Deposed Emperor

— "At last, we can finally talk, kid."

The voice rang clearly and vividly in Lloyd\'s mind.

As soon as he listened to the voice, his vision began to spin.

— Thud!

Lloyd collapsed, falling to the cold, damp ground beneath him.

The sensation at his fingertips was chilling and clammy.

Gone were the wooden furniture and the neatly arranged room; instead, a cold, hard stone floor greeted him.

"Where am I?"

Lloyd glanced around, bewildered.

The dim light made it difficult to see clearly.

Damn it.

He was undoubtedly caught up in something troublesome.

‘Was it a trap spell?’

The environment had shifted from the personal room in the mansion to a dark, dank cave. Lloyd quickly assessed the possible scenarios and concluded that whatever this was, it didn’t matter anymore.

If someone could change the surroundings so seamlessly and without warning, it meant they were using magic far more powerful and sophisticated than anything Lloyd had ever encountered.

— Step.

He moved forward cautiously. There was no need to be overly careful; whatever the situation, he was already caught in it. In such cases, confidence often helps. He would deal with whatever came next when it happened. Lloyd strode forward without hesitation.

— Squelch.

The further he walked, the wetter the surroundings became. Was there a river flowing through the cave? He could hear the faint sound of running water. Using that as a guide, Lloyd continued to move.

As he walked, something crunched underfoot.

He looked down.

"Bones?"

There were two large holes in the bones at his feet.

Skulls, more accurately.

Lloyd scanned the area in front of him.

The ground was littered with bones, stretching out endlessly. There were thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of them.

And then—

"......"

Lloyd slowly closed and opened his eyes.

A giant, familiar insect lay dead before him.

It was the Gu worm he had swallowed.

The creature had withered, its massive body curled up as if it had died in agony.

It felt unsettling. Everything about this place was bizarre, from the absurd size of the Gu worm to the overall atmosphere of this space. At the same time, it felt oddly familiar. But why?

"You\'ve arrived."

A voice, eerily familiar, spoke from behind him.

The mere fact that it came from behind him made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Swallowing a dry gulp, Lloyd slowly turned around.

An ornate chair came into view.

It sat atop an island made of red blood and piles of bones, stacked so densely they formed a flat surface.

Seated on the chair was a man.

Faded golden hair.

Eyes that burned like fire.

A posture half-reclined against the armrest, legs lazily crossed.

He was a figure who exuded no particular grace, yet his presence was suffocating—a being who looked as though he regarded the entire world with contempt.

His gaze swept over Lloyd as if appraising him.

"Hmm. You’re different from what I imagined. I expected you to be more slender."

The man smirked, as if a painter had casually drawn a confident stroke across his face.

But within the rolling eyes that flickered with madness, there was a boredom that oozed from his fingertips, as if everything in the world was dreadfully dull.

Lloyd struggled to force his rigid vocal cords to produce sound.

"...Who are you?"

"Oh? Can you sense the presence of my being? I thought I had concealed all traces."

It was only then that Lloyd noticed the man\'s strangeness.

His instincts were screaming that this man was powerful.

But his senses felt nothing.

There was no mana—a force that should be detectable in any mage or knight.

The man lacked it entirely.

An unsettling, eerie void.

"As expected, a human with a heavenly vessel like yours can perceive my presence."

"…Heavenly vessel?"

"You are a vessel that can contain anything—unbreakable. Not bad for a mere human."

The man smiled greedily.

With every movement, the surroundings seemed to be stained with a crimson hue, the air quivering as if it had a will of its own.

"Please, reveal your identity."

"Identity, you say."

Click, click, click.

The man tapped the armrest with his fingers before speaking again.

"Ortega. That was my name when I was human. You might have heard of it, if you studied history diligently."

Lloyd had indeed heard of that name.

The Britannia Empire, which ruled over more than half of the continent.

If you traced the thousand-year history of the Empire, there was only one blank space in the lineage of Emperors.

The only Emperor in the Empire’s history to be deposed.

The only blemish in a millennium of history.

The tyrant, Ortega.

— Step.

Ortega stood up.

Bones crunched underfoot.

For an Emperor of an Empire to be deposed, something extraordinary must have happened.

[The Rochester Incident]

Ortega, the Emperor, orchestrated a massacre in the Capital.

Tens of thousands of commoners perished in the slaughter.

At the hands of the Emperor himself.

Ortega stretched out his hand.

"Ah, if there is one fact that differs from history, it is that I was never deposed."

A crown materialized in Ortega\'s hand, which he then tossed carelessly behind him.

"I simply lost interest in ruling over humans."

— Step.

Suddenly, he was standing right next to Lloyd.

It was a movement too swift for human perception.

He spoke again.

"Kid, you and I are in similar situations."

"What do you mean?"

"I\'m asking how it feels to use someone else\'s body."

Ortega jerked his head in a rough motion.

Just that simple action made the air grow unbearably heavy. It wasn’t magic; it felt as natural as the air itself, like breathing underwater.

"Don’t look away. I can see everything. It’s been about a year now, hasn’t it? Just when I was about to take control of this body, a pebble rolled in."

A chill ran down Lloyd\'s spine.

This man knew that he, ‘Lloyd’, was not the original.

Were they two souls tangled within one body? The voice that had occasionally spoken in his mind had been Ortega\'s whispers.

Lloyd locked eyes with the man.

There was a flicker of rage in Ortega\'s previously lazy eyes. A rage that spoke of wanting to crush the one who had taken what was his.

Lloyd clenched his fists tightly.

A sense of wariness washed over him.

Ortega.

Lloyd realized that Ortega was no longer human. He had transcended the limits of humanity. Worst of all, he seemed to lack any restraint or self-control.

If he displeased him in the slightest, he would die.

A primal fear began to rise within him.

"Oh, don’t be so tense."

Ortega’s gaze softened as he dramatically raised both hands.

"I seek your cooperation, after all."

Cooperation?

Even while maintaining a poker face, Lloyd’s mind raced. Ortega. This was a man who looked down on everyone. And now he was asking for cooperation?

\'He can’t kill me.\'

There had to be a reason Ortega couldn’t kill him. It would have been ideal to figure out that reason, but knowing this much was enough for now.

"I don’t ask much of you. Just let me take control of the body occasionally."

"…Control?"

"Yes. I must admit, your willpower is impressive, to the point of absurdity. Even when your mind wavered, I couldn’t seize control."

A realization struck Lloyd.

The voice he had heard had appeared when he was in agony, tormented by the sound of clapping.

"So, what do you say? Will you join forces with me?"

Ortega smiled and extended his hand.

It was a smile that would have made anyone instinctively trust him.

"If you do, I will destroy the world for you."

Lloyd didn’t move.

There was something suspicious about Ortega\'s behavior.

He wasn’t someone who would make requests like this.

So instead of taking his hand, Lloyd decided to extract information.

"You."

Lloyd took a deep breath before continuing.

"Are you really that powerful? Stronger than the Demon King, for example?"

Ortega shrugged.

"The Demon King? Are you talking about the ruler of the Demon Realm?"

"Yes."

"The Demon Realm is just a fragment of chaos. I came from chaos, so I am far beyond the Demon King. Look."

Suddenly, Ortega’s hand appeared in front of Lloyd\'s face.

It wasn’t magic.

It was a strange, almost natural distortion of space.

"What do you say? Will you take my hand?"

He extended his hand once more.

Lloyd swallowed hard.

Then he stared directly into Ortega’s crimson eyes.

"No."

"…What?"

"I refuse."

At the same time, Lloyd stepped back.

He wasn’t trying to escape.

But he felt it clearly.

Ortega had ulterior motives.

If he took that hand, he would undoubtedly relinquish some of his control over his body.

It was a form of "contract," akin to a spell.

"Do you think you can escape from me?"

"No. But."

"But?"

"This is my mental realm. To be precise, it’s Lloyd’s mental realm."

…Step.

Ortega’s steps, which had been following Lloyd, came to an abrupt halt.

"Impressive, for a human."

"Your power is limited to this place. Apart from whispering in my head, you haven’t taken any direct action."

"Hah."

"I have no intention of giving you my body."

"Don’t you desire revenge?"

"That’s for me to handle."

Ortega’s smile twisted.

A malevolent aura flickered behind him.

This was his true nature.

"Heh... Fine."

Ortega raised both hands.

Lloyd quickly prepared himself.

No matter what happened, he would resist.

He had briefly circulated his mana and confirmed that his mana circuits were functioning in this space.

But Ortega simply clapped his hands together.

— Clap, clap, clap, clap.

The sound of clapping echoed emptily through the cave.

Ortega grinned.

"Indeed. I have no reason to cause you physical harm. But your mental suffering benefits me. Since you’ve figured it out, I’ll give you a gift."

"…Stop."

"What’s the matter? Where’s that superior attitude now? Why are you trembling?"

"……Stop it."

— Clap, clap, clap, clap.

The endless clapping echoed, reverberating through the cave.

Lloyd’s sanity began to unravel.

— Swoosh.

The clapping suddenly stopped with the sound of something slicing through the air.

Ortega looked down curiously.

Black blood dripped from his severed hand.

"...Oh?"

He examined his severed arm with interest.

"Heh. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt the sensation of being cut."

A smirk crept across his face.

His laughter filled the cave.

"Kuhahaha...ha...ha!"

Plop.

Suddenly, the cave fell silent.

Lloyd instinctively stepped back.

"How dare you."

Ortega\'s voice pierced Lloyd’s mind.

At the same time, everything froze.

Was it time-stopping magic?

Lloyd stared blankly at the blood suspended in mid-air. He couldn’t move his eyes.

— Step, step.

The sole ruler of this space continued to walk.

All Lloyd could do was listen as the footsteps grew louder.

It was a magic unlike anything he had ever experienced.

Even the Demon King couldn’t perform such a feat.

"Die."

In an instant, Lloyd’s vision was filled with countless slashes of blood drawn in diagonal lines.