Sakura Matou stared blankly at Roland, carefully shifting his head so he could rest against her in a more comfortable position.
She did not understand what was happening to Roland, but since he had given her an order to wait, Sakura Matou would obey.
Thinking things through, questioning them, and making her own decisions-under Zouken Matou's instruction, that way of thinking had gradually been discarded.
Still, her grandfather could not take all the credit for that. After all, Sakura was an abandoned child.
-No one needs me.
That was what Sakura Matou had felt most strongly over the past year. Before she had been sent to the Matou Family, her father had sternly told her that she must no longer call herself a Tohsaka. To avoid any suspicion, she was not to approach her sister or mother, even if she happened to see them.
Because she now belonged to the Matou Family.
After she arrived at the Matou Family's home, cruel reality had swiftly unfolded before her. Though Zouken Matou had promised not to torture her physically, he had spared no means when it came to tormenting her mind.
He had not even needed to invent any monsters. All he had to do was lay out the facts.
Zouken Matou had explained in painstaking detail why the Tohsaka Family had given her up for adoption, and shown her the future awaiting her in the Matou Family.
And the fate she would suffer if she resisted.
No one would come to help her-not her parents, her sister, or anyone else. Back then, Sakura Matou had felt as though she stood on the edge of a cliff, needing only one more push to collapse completely.
And the person who gave her that final push was Kariya Matou, the very man in whom she had previously placed her hopes.
That man said he would give me back to the Tohsakas?
Does he really know what he's saying? The existence known as Sakura Matou had already come into contact with the secrets of the Matou Family's magecraft. For a family of mages, delving into their inherited magecraft itself was grounds for a fight to the death.
Even a little child like her understood that. The Tohsaka Family would never accept her; they would send her straight back. Even if they did not, she would never be able to leave this city to live elsewhere. The Matou Family would keep her under strict surveillance to prevent their secrets from leaking.
She would become a wandering spirit with no future and nowhere to belong.
Yet she could not even voice her refusal. That naive kindness had pushed Sakura Matou all the way into the abyss.
That day, her grandfather had announced a fact to her.
The Matou Family would stop teaching her magecraft. If Uncle Kariya won, she would gain her freedom.
At last, even her final place to belong was gone.
In the Matou Family, Sakura Matou was invisible. No one dared speak to her, no one grew close to her, and no one needed her.
Sakura-aside from that name, she had nothing.
In those first nights, she had still felt resentment, resenting her father for sending her away. Later, she had begun to resent the fact that her sister had not been chosen instead.
In the very end, Sakura Matou had begun to numb herself.
She was not as strong as her sister, nor as kind, nor as forthright. Deep down, she was actually a slightly bad child, but she would act obedient to earn her parents' praise.
Lately, Sakura Matou had even begun to resent herself for not jumping into the Insect Cave. At least then she would have had an identity she could recognize as her own, instead of being unwanted by everyone, as she was now.
Then, suddenly, her grandfather had said he would send her away.
Abandoned for the second time, the last trace of her place in the Matou Family had finally vanished. Still, looking on the bright side, at least he had left her a surname she could use.
It no longer mattered. No one would need Sakura Matou. She would merely live the same life as before in a new place, then be abandoned again.
Until that ray of dawn arrived.
The unfamiliar young man had said, "I need you."
Sakura Matou belonged to him. He would not give her to anyone else.
Such a cruel declaration had nevertheless made Sakura Matou tremble. At last, someone needed her. At last, she saw the hope of salvation.
Whether she would face danger or death, it was nothing compared with entering the Insect Cave. Even if he was merely using her, dying as Sakura Matou, the girl who belonged to Roland, would be enough to satisfy her.
Sakura Matou leaned against Roland's body. What her body felt and her nose caught was the utterly unfamiliar presence of a man.
When Roland had first leaned against her, her body had reflexively wanted to push him away. It was a child's instinctive wariness in unfamiliar surroundings, but her longing had soon overwhelmed it.
Ever since leaving the Tohsaka Family, she had never been in such intimate contact with anyone else.
"Lord Roland... is trembling?"
With their bodies pressed together, Sakura Matou noticed something unusual about him.
Even unconscious, his body faithfully reflected the drastic transformation Roland was undergoing.
This was a miracle surpassing true magic, an ascension of the soul.
Though she knew nothing about it, Sakura Matou still understood that Roland was in a weakened state.
Earlier, he had even made that frightening grandfather speak pleasantly to him. Only now, seeing the hint of childishness and helplessness on Roland's face, did Sakura Matou realize that, just as he had said, he was not some mature adult.
He was someone weakened, someone who needed her care.
That enormous contrast with her earlier impression, together with the realization that she had found her own worth, struck her with such force that it fully awakened Sakura Matou's true nature and overturned all her past emotions.
To Sakura Matou, Roland's waiting and his closeness were both silent invitations.
Looking at Roland now, the gratitude, reverence, and faint fear in Sakura Matou's heart all transformed into a strange emotion.
-I want to take care of him.
"So Lord Roland needs me too."
Sakura Matou's face flushed. Even supporting only part of Roland's weight left her small body aching and numb, but she remained perfectly still.
She looked at Roland's face, so close to her own, and reached out to gently brush her fingers through his hair. Seeing her own strange behavior, Sakura Matou let out a soft laugh, though she did not know why.
"Lord Roland needs me."
That thought took root in Sakura Matou's mind. Her face shone with an almost maternal glow, brimming with a tender urge to protect him.
"Sakura?"
Roland slowly opened his eyes and regained consciousness. His unfocused gaze settled on the beautiful face of the girl before him, overflowing with tenderness, while a soothing sensation ran through his hair. The back of his head rested in Sakura Matou's arms.
"I'm sorry, Lord Roland. Did I wake you?"
"It's all right. How long was I unconscious?"
Roland's words cut off Sakura Matou's apology. He realized what had happened earlier, and his gaze held a measure of genuine affection as he looked at her. Though he did not know what had happened, Roland could still sense that the last little barrier between him and Sakura Matou had vanished.
Though he was rather puzzled by how this strange increase in affection had come about, he had something more important to do right now.
"Sakura?"
Roland pushed himself upright, but the well-behaved Sakura did not answer his question immediately. Instead, she stared at his face in a daze.
"Ah." Only when Roland called to her did Sakura Matou come back to her senses. She studied his face again, as though confirming something, before answering.
"Probably a little under two minutes."
"Is that so?"
A thoughtful expression crossed Roland's face. He rose from the sofa and walked over to the mirror at the side of the living room. It was a half-body-length Western-style mirror left behind by the previous owner.
Then he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked into it.
Tasteful, understated clothing, pale and beautiful hands-as his gaze gradually moved upward, Roland saw his face clearly.
It was no longer his face. It did not even belong to a human. Instead, it was a noble, majestic dragon's head, crowned with imposing horns and exuding an ancient, mysterious air.
Within its slightly darkened eye sockets burned a blood-red glow like fire, cold and eerily beautiful.
He knew that appearance well, because it was identical to the contract spirit that had coiled around the scabbard earlier.
Roland tilted his head slightly, and the demon in the mirror, with its dragon's head and human body, perfectly mirrored the movement. He touched his face. It felt just as it always had, without any change, yet the image in the mirror was utterly different.
That obvious fact made Roland understand that the power of the soul of the Holy Lord now belonged to him.
[Contract spirit · Soul of the Holy Lord] Manifestation: Your reflection in a mirror will reveal the form of your soul.
I really shouldn't be posting extra updates while the book is still new, but seeing everyone's enthusiastic votes and tips, this chubby bird felt too embarrassed not to. Here's another extra update today. Please keep supporting me! More votes! More of everything!
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