“Sooooo! Do you dare to explain the situation? I believe that I was clear on what your end would be if you ever touched her. How can you make an oath to take her virginity, breaking per se the one you’ve made to me.”

  “… Because she asked for it.”

  “So what? Didn’t I ask you, too? Moreover, stop me if I'm wrong, but it was with great kindness and a promise of reward. You already know Aurélia is not in real danger. You are only doing it for yourself. I just don't know yet if you are driven by hypocrisy or an idiotic sense of duty. Is life such a joke to you that you are ready to throw it away for a useless endeavor?”

  “Still, I would do it, even if the threat isn't real. I won’t let her have even the slightest negative thought. I can't bring myself to let her think she could have been defiled by someone other than me. She may not be endangered anymore, but that wasn’t the case before. I won’t betray her expectations, unlike you did.”

  “Indeed, I’ve been too lenient toward her. That's precisely why I am making sure to discipline her, and I’m currently teaching her a lesson that you force yourself to ruin.

  I’m only planning to instill some fear in her mind before picking her up. If she is to be mistreated, so be it. If she is to be raped, I would let her experience it in a dream while I take care of your peers.

  She is no mere human; you can’t understand, but if fate allows her to do as she pleases, she must at least understand that it is not her own good will.”

  “I maintain that this is far too extreme. And who knows, with this fleeting responsibility of yours, you might even fail at your duty and look elsewhere at the worst inopportune moment. So I might as well try my luck.”

  “Do you want a quick death right away? Or a slow torture when it's all over? I’ll let you choose out of respect for her.”

  “Neither. I would very much prefer to have you both in a threesome.”

  “… A very slow and painful death, therefore. How can you be so sure that I’m a girl anyway? Don’t you fear the possibility that I might be an old man into youngsters? Anyway, anything else?”

  “Could you choke me with your thighs? Ah, and I reiterate my suggestion: if she could agree to give me a hand, or rather, a leg, while I’m on my last breath, that would be awesome. Could you try convincing her for my sake?”

  “... You’re an idiot, aren’t you? Does making me angry amuse you? Seriously, as if you would waste your time trying to get from us what any girls you’ve helped would be more than happy to give. I really can't understand you… Let alone me; you don’t even love her, right?”

  “Nope, well, kinda, I like her as I like the many women I met so far, a little more, maybe? If our relationship were to deepen, I would likely fall for her charm later, but not yet. I definitely prefer older and mature women. In fact, I think I consider her more as a sister or a daughter. Who knows. ”

  “You have a very particular concept of those. Wouldn’t that make you a criminal? In most kingdom law, incest is not very well seen. Impure thoughts are enough to make you guilty, so what you did… I don't even know why I'm trying to converse with you. Bah, coming from you, I shouldn’t care less.”

  “Because she is the first, she was the trigger that changed my mind and made me overcome my childish fears. Why else? I don't need another reason. She needed help as much as the other, but while I had already turned a blind eye to anybody else, she was lucky enough to be there when I decided otherwise.

  It doesn't matter if she influenced me, neither does it if the said effect was stronger than that of others. In front of the others, only the fact that she was the last straw allows her this privilege, but she still earned it. That's enough for me.”

  “You underestimate yourself, but I acknowledge and admire your resolve. Be sure to keep your word. Your two oaths would be null and void as long as you succeed in your endeavor before I step in.”

  “I will!!”

  “I’m starting to like you, kid. Keep going, and perhaps I will consider granting you a wish other than fulfilling your fantasy, of course.”

  …

  Childish fears? Were they really that easy? Did you truly overcome them, or are you just planning to face them afterward?

  You are not afraid of death? Giving up your life at the first worthwhile opportunity is your only desire.

  You are completely diminishing yourself; you have already saved those girls, in a sense. This is how each one perceives it and still perceives it. All of them, without exception. Even the one from the research center fell this way until their death.

  And that’s not everything…

  I understand now why those ones are into you as well. It almost makes me want to grant your first request to get your attention, too… but one is already kinda scary, so I’d better refrain.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  ***

  It doesn’t matter; nothing matters anymore. I would succeed, or I would die. Either way, I didn’t deserve to live. It’s been 3 weeks since the devil made his first appearance. Well, I call it the devil because it made me think of it. Its acts and way of speaking look exactly the same as the image I have of it.

  But I’m pretty sure it’s a girl under it, a gut feeling.

  She first hid herself, or rather, acted as if she didn’t exist, and took possession of my princess’ body. Luckily, I didn’t need much time and attention to notice something was wrong. She used her body, but still, she was a different entity.

  Aurelia had been caught a month before this event, and I didn’t stay idle this whole time. You know me well. I mean, I have already established a deep relationship with her. Not a physical one!A simple and regular friendship.

  Completely normal, save that I bathed her, fed her, and dressed her while touching her skin out of duty, inadvertently fondling a bit. As long as you don’t stop on small details and look beyond… Okay, okay, maybe I took every opportunity to please my eyes, too. But again, I could not do otherwise.

  The fact is that the evil spirit, whose intentions were unknown, pretended to be this same person at her expense. An attempt that was doomed to fail, as her adaptation time and behavior change did not go unnoticed.

  I already knew she was not the real Aurélia from the start. It pains me to say it, but she wasn’t that smart. She took control first while Aurelia was sleeping and acted so unnaturally and strangely that the opposite would’ve been strange.

  Especially since she didn’t stop there, I might misapprehend if it only happened once, but when she started having abrupt personality changes after simply dozing off…

  Bah, the deception ended after I took her hand in the face because she couldn't hold on any longer and cracked. It was worth the teasing that I made her undergo to force her to reveal herself, making her let out a moan and leaving her breathless.

  She wouldn’t even have fooled my blind grandmother!… Okay, she would have if only I didn’t spy on my princess’ angelic sleeping face. She was cut, and a simple glance was enough to heal and lift my spirit.

  To catch her off guard in the act, I took a little advantage of her, in the literal sense. This wasn’t the original owner, so I allowed myself to play a bit.

  “That doesn't change the fact that you wanted to take advantage of Aurelia at all, you disgusting pervert! I may not be her, but It’s still her body! You deserve death, and if it was not because I can’t at the moment, you would already be a pile of ashes!!”

  That was the nonsense the devil served me, trying to fog my mind after I had laid out the naked truth about discovering her presence and wanting to force her to make a mistake. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of this? Aurelia was 100% okay with that already, and she let me touch her, although just a little, without reluctance. I just used the most pleasant way available to me.

  Am I contradicting myself? Well, innocent contact can’t be called a physical relationship, right?

  Later, the devilish presence stopped acting and just came out into the open wherever she was. She explained a lot of things: that she was here to ensure the girl's safety, that she was her guardian or something like that, and that if I ever crossed the line, I would burn in hell for eternity.

  She then forced me to take an oath and put my soul at stake. According to her, I wasn't trustworthy. If the girl made it safely, I would be rewarded for taking care of her, and my perverted deed would be partially forgiven.

  Sounds like a deal with the devil, isn’t it? But who cares? If she was a girl, like my male intuition yelled at me, I was ready to bet my soul away if it meant having a chance to make a deal with her.

  Maybe I would ask for one night? Nah, that was too greedy. A signed sexy poster instead? That was not too much to ask, wasn't it? I should also request an explicit dakimakura. But without giving me more than a few days to ponder my possible reward. She revised her words, which were no longer about a guardian angel or safety issue.

  Aurelia had made a serious mistake, running away from home on a whim for some trivial reason. She had put herself in serious danger and caused trouble for the people responsible for her.

  She was then taken captive and has been lost since then. I was greatly thanked for calming down the game and eliminating the dangers, but her current situation was now a simple punishment.

  “She’s deserving of what happens to her, and she needs to suffer a little more if I want to discipline her a bit. That’s why I’d be grateful if you did not intervene any more than that. Let things run their course, will you? She just needs to taste the consequences of her actions. At worst, I will make her have a nightmare.”

  Yup, It was all bullshit. Want to scare her so she learns the lesson? And use the opportunity to discard my effort to save her, my will, and my reason to exist? Never! And my reward, then? Would I be able to ask for more? You won't have me like that. I won't let it happen!

  That’s how we made another agreement. If I could save Aurelia before something happened, I would be rewarded and set free. Otherwise, I would be punished and tortured just right for what I did, and I would have to surrender myself to the authorities and pay for my crimes.

  Of course, if I were to commit the irreparable, I would immediately be disposed of without Aurelia knowing.

  As for the other residents, for some reason, the devil couldn’t take care of them anyway, bandit and innocent alike, unless they made a move on Aurélia. In that case, the bad guys would all be murdered mercilessly and tormented in the afterlife, while the girl would be left untouched but left to themselves.

  This all sums up the situation until now.

  “Say, Finn, if everything works as expected, and if you save my life like you keep shouting. Can’t you come with me? I mean, after everything is over.

  You don’t have anywhere to go, don’t you? I will ask those guarding me to let you work at their estate. Their family is very powerful, and what you did in the past doesn't matter. As long as I give my word, they will take you in.

  If you don’t want to work, I can even let you in as a permanent guest.”

  How cute… she doesn't dare say she didn’t want to separate from me.

  “No, I don’t think so. I have my own predicament that I can’t draw towards you or your family.”

  And you know that I wouldn’t stay still either. I would lust after your body or after the maid and girls in town.

  I was hopeless after all. You wouldn’t like this, as you wouldn’t be able to give me what I want. And as much as I was irredeemable, I didn’t want to make you sad. Not you, especially you. Or I would no longer be a knight, and my redemption would lose its purpose.

  “Now, go to sleep. I have work to do. Tomorrow evening, you will be free.” Or I will no longer be at your side.