Elizabeth retorted.
"...How could that be? Why would I feel regret? Looking at my ignorant past self, all I wanted was to point at that naive face of yours and laugh my head off..."
"Stop being so stubborn, 'Elizabeth Báthory.' We are essentially the same person, aren't we?"
Dragon Maiden raised her voice. Even if she could not possibly persuade "herself," she still had to openly express what she thought at this very moment. That was what it meant to be a Heroic Spirit remembered for all eternity.
"...That's right.
You are my true nature. My end.
The embodiment of the sins I cannot change, no matter how much I cry and scream.
To deny you is the same as turning my eyes away from my own sins.
But even so, I cannot simply ignore my own impropriety!
No matter how ugly this self-deception may be, I will still say it out loud!
—I... I absolutely do not want to become like you!"
"Hmph~~~"
Camilla snorted disdainfully. "How foolish. We are merely lingering remnants of the dead from the past. Isn't the future already an 'inevitable' fact?"
"I know that better than anyone. Even so, I have to say this now! I will deny you! Lend me your strength, little one!"
Hearing Elizabeth say that, Jeanne d'Arc (Lily) gave Dragon Maiden and Camilla a serious look.
Although Dragon Maiden was pretty awful too—her temperament was even more mischievous than that of an eight- or nine-year-old little girl like her, practically like a little girl who would never grow up—Camilla was naturally far more unpleasant by comparison.
"Understood. We are all Lianye's Servants now, right? Then turning enemies into friends and fighting side by side is only natural."
Lily nodded her little head and spoke with a solemn expression.
"Tch, that