Free Web Novel[You? How?]
Jeti still had not withdrawn that dissatisfied look. From what he had heard, the bastard was an exemplary student with an unusually good reputation among the people around him.
No matter how much Camilla went around shouting that he was a murderer, without evidence, no one would believe her.
“I’ll make him confess himself.”
[That’s what I’m asking. How? Are you going to torture him or something?]
“What a terrifying thing to say. How could someone as fainthearted as me ever torture anyone?”
[...Fainthearted?]
You, who warned a ghost with its neck dangling loose to hold its head properly so it would not fall on the floor... fainthearted?
[That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard all year, hey!]
“Enough.”
Ignoring Jeti’s incredulous reaction, Camilla looked down at the bracelet fastened around her wrist. It was the bracelet Ravi had upgraded for her recently.
“I happen to be a specialist in this sort of thing.”
I’ll make sure your sins are exposed to the whole world.
The smile that slowly pulled at the corners of Camilla’s mouth was darker than ever.
[...Doesn’t she seem kind of excited?]
[.......]
[And she calls herself fainthearted.]
Jeti shuddered briefly as he looked at Camilla, then sidled closer to Luna and sought agreement. That girl looked brightest when she was punishing someone else.
[Kyu!]
[What? How is this talking behind her back? I’m telling the truth.]
[Grrr.......]
[...Rude little brat.]
In the end, faced with King growling at him not to badmouth Camilla, Jeti had no choice but to quietly shut his mouth.
*****
“Kennel, is something wrong?”
“Hm? No.”
“You look really pale.”
“You’re not still sick, are you? You were absent for more than a week last time too. You scared us so much then.”
“Haha, no. I’m not hurting anywhere now. I just haven’t been sleeping well lately. Thanks for worrying about me.”
Kennel, who had been rising from his seat after class ended, gave the classmates gathering around him with worried questions a bright smile.
“I’ll go first. See you tomorrow.”
“Okay. Get home safely.”
After exchanging farewells with the children in his usual kind tone and smile, Kennel quickly left the classroom.
But the moment he stepped out, his face rapidly soured.
Annoying things.
Their disgustingly useless meddling.
“Haa.”
A long sigh leaked from his mouth as he cursed inwardly again and again. After going through strange incidents three times, Kennel found everything confusing.
What were those things, really?
Whine......
“......!”
At that moment, a small cry came from somewhere.
“Ugh... uugh!”
It was a kitten. Kennel’s face turned white when he spotted the cat curled up to one side.
Meow—
“Uaaaaaagh!”
At that small cry that held no strength at all, Kennel screamed and fled on the spot.
Now, even hearing an animal cry made his heart drop and cold sweat pour down his entire body.
Even the sight of an animal’s tail made his mind go blank, leaving him unable to do anything.
“Haa... haa.......”
Only when he could barely breathe did Kennel stop running, and he spat out a small curse.
“...Damn it.”
Why me! Why do I have to be afraid of something like that!
They were only toys to play with!
Things that should be caught in his hands, powerless to do anything, looking at him while trembling in fear! They were the ones who °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° should be like that, not him!
And yet......
“What the hell were those things......!”
“Isn’t it a curse?”
“Me too, me too! I thought the same thing. A curse!”
“After killing all those little ones every time. Now I get chills whenever I see the young master.”
“Haa, at this rate, won’t everyone in this house get cursed?”
“Should we start looking for other jobs too?”
Those were the things the people working in the house had been saying about him lately. That he had gone mad because he had been cursed......
Could it really be... that the things I killed all this time cursed me?
Kennel’s body started trembling anew as he remembered the fear and pain he had felt then. He kept dragging his hands down his face as he let out a long sigh.
How long do I have to stay like this?
What did I do that was so wrong! Was he unable to kill them anymore? Would he never again see those eyes trembling as they looked at him like he was a god?
...No.
Animals were not the only things he could kill.
Kennel’s eyes flashed. If he could not kill animals, then could he not simply kill something else?
“Hello.”
“......?”
Just as he realized something new and a faint smile formed on his face, an unfamiliar voice reached him.
Flinching, Kennel hurriedly lifted his head and saw a woman standing in front of him.
Late teens? Early twenties? She looked somewhere around that age... an unfamiliar woman with black hair and black eyes.
“Who are you?”
“Me?”
The woman smiled and took another step closer to Kennel. She leaned her face slowly toward him and spoke in a whisper.
“Someone who has watched you for a long time.”
“...What?”
At those words, Kennel flinched again despite himself. She had watched him for a long time? Since when? Why?
No way.......
She could not have seen that too, could she?
At the words watched you, something immediately came to mind. Something that must never be discovered by anyone else.
“Why would you watch me?”
“Because it was fun.”
“Fun?”
“It was my first time meeting someone with the same hobby as me.”
“Hobby?”
Kennel could not understand the woman’s words at all. The same hobby? What was she talking about?
“You know. That.”
“What do you mean, that......!”
Kennel could not finish speaking. The woman’s face had come even closer.
“Killing living things.”
“......!”
At the woman’s low words seeping into his ear, Kennel could not react at all for a moment.
Did she really.......
Did she really see everything he had done?
Impossible!
When he killed animals, he always did it at home. And when he had killed a person, he had checked over and over that no one was around.
“Living things? Me?”
Kennel burst into an incredulous laugh and stepped back from the woman.
“I think you have the wrong person. I’m not the kind of person who kills anyth—”
“A month and one week ago. The alley by that intersection over there.”
“......!”
Kennel, who had been shaking his head as if to ask what nonsense she was talking about, could not finish his sentence.
The day the woman mentioned was......
“A girl who looked about ten years old, dark brown hair and violet eyes. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing yellow clothes.”
As if enjoying the way Kennel’s face slowly stiffened, the woman continued speaking.
“The place you dragged the child to was an empty house in an alley where no one had lived for a long time. After killing the child there, you dismemb—”
“What the hell are you!”
For the first time, a rough voice burst from Kennel’s mouth. His expression was also horribly vicious. He looked ready to lunge at the woman at any moment.
“I told you. I was happy to meet someone with the same hobby as me, so I watched.”
“What kind of......!”
No way......
Kennel, who had been about to shout again, asking what nonsense she was spouting, stopped short. The same hobby? What that meant was......
“You......”
“That’s right.”
The corners of the woman’s mouth slowly lifted. But her eyes were chillingly cold.
The strange madness dwelling inside them! It was a very familiar gaze. Was it not the very look he met in the mirror every time after he killed an animal?
“I like it too. Watching a living thing disappear inside my hands.”
“.......”
Kennel’s suspicious gaze did not easily fade, but his expression slowly began to change.
Now that I think about it.
If she had witnessed him killing a person, an ordinary person would have reported him immediately. They would not come directly to the person involved like this.
It’s real.
Those eyes, that expression. That was... truly the face of someone who had killed.
A smile slowly began spreading over Kennel’s mouth as well.
“Was that your first time?”
“What was?”
“Killing a person. You were fairly skilled.”
“No.”
“...No?”
Kennel giggled and raised three fingers.
“Three people?”
“Yes. What you saw was my third murder.”
Kennel continued speaking with a relaxed face, as if he was happy to have met someone he could discuss this with. Things he had not been able to tell even his parents.
“The first two bodies still haven’t been found. I hid them very, very well. The last one, hmm... somehow, I got caught. Of course, no one still knows I did it.”
“Oh, where did you hide those two bodies? Won’t you teach me too? I want to try copying you. Cleaning up afterward is always a headache.”
“Well, where that is......”
