Chapter 25: Paranoid/Iris’s apology

'I suppose now is a good time to check how much they paid me?' Arthur commented after his departure from Vienna's expansive room. His now paranoid eyes quickly scanning the extensive corridors around him, checking to make sure he was alone before he pulled himself away from the main centre of passage through the Zepar's almost infinite mansion and into a dead-end similar to that of the one that changed his entire world view hours earlier. The same familiar chill of dread lingering deep within the boy's stoic heart making an abrupt and unwarranted return.

*Gulp* Arthur released an audible gulp upon realising his actions while his heart began to beat in overtime. Was this precaution really necessary? Did he really have to pull himself out of the way just to check how much money he had earnt? Wasn't he just being stupid? Such thoughts began to plague the mind of the terrified boy, all the while his bloodshot eyes remained fixed upon the entrance to this out-of-the-way corridor, his ears honed to the slightest of sounds in preparation for an ambush that would likely never happen.

'Maybe I should just go back to my room and check the amount there?' Arthur half-heartedly commented, a sudden chill running down his spine as from the corner of the boy's agape eyes, the illusory figure of one certain girl began to form. Her snow-white skin and silky golden hair were a treasure comparable to the finest diamonds from Arthur's old world. Her brilliant emerald eyes seemed to enthral all who beheld them; however, that was where the compliments ended. Staining the girl's otherwise otherworldly flesh was a deep horrific crimson that dripped profusely from her open arms that seemingly wished to embrace the shaking boy, her previously bright eyes now a void of inescapable darkness that swirled with madness.

"Arthur~" The demented figure of Charlotte sweetly hummed, a demonic smile present on her captivating face, twisting and contorting her natural features from that of beauty to something horrific.

'What's going on?!' Arthur panicked, his arms instinctively raised to the demonic spirit of Charlotte, two swirling balls of water present in the centre of his outstretched hands.

"Arthur~ Come to me~" The illusory figure continued, her body heading towards the form of the quavering Arthur, whose body began to instinctively retreat in retaliation to Charlotte's adamant approach.

With each step back, Arthur's breaths became increasingly more erratic, while Charlotte's in a similar vein became more and more heated. Arthur's palms shook in repressed fear while cold sweat dripped profusely from the peasant's bare chest, his eyes shaking in denial at the bloody scene before him. 'This isn't real, this isn't the real Charlotte,' Arthur inwardly screamed, his body taking one final step before…bam, he collided with the wall behind him. He had nowhere to run.

'This isn't real, this isn't real! THIS ISN'T REAL!' Arthur furiously screamed, all his senses trained on the phantom-like visage before him. His ears eagerly awaiting the sound of encroaching footsteps, while his eagle-like eyes remained plastered on the contorted face of the girl he would later have to spend his life with. Yet alas, even with such precautions in place, no such stimuli came; Charlotte's ghostly figure soundlessly drifted towards the petrified boy.

"Don't worry, Arthur~ I'd never hurt you~" The apparition softly whispered, a sickly white hue now present on the isolated peasant's face. At the same time, his mind began its futile attempt to make sense of the situation. 'Why? Why is this happening?' Arthur choked, a familiar scorching yet salty sensation tracing its way down from his bloodshot eyes.

However, no matter how much Arthur recited the same mantra, asking the same question of why? Nothing would change. His question was pointless at best and escapism at its worst. Despite having come to terms with Charlotte's true nature, it seems that deep down, Arthur still hadn't come to realise the true depths of the hell such a girl could drag him to, nor the depths of depravity the human mind could inflict upon their own vessel after being corrupted by such overwhelming feelings of paranoia. Arthur knew the answer to his queries, yet he refused to come to accept the existence of the miasma-like being before him. This was the real Charlotte. This was how he viewed the girl he had worked so hard to save. She was a killer, a murderer who held no remorse for the victims she killed in her quest for acceptance.

"W-why?" Arthur mumbled through closed lips. His shaky gaze forced away from the ghastly figure of Charlotte, who towered over his childish stature like a god gazing down at a mere mortal.

"Why what, honey~? Why do I look like this?" Charlotte replied, a chilling aura of cold suddenly erupting from her hollow body and enveloping the frozen figure of Arthur. "I look like this because I have to protect you, Arthur. I did this all for you." The spectral figure stated with a hollow smile that caused every hair on Arthur's childish body to stand on end. He knew she would answer like this, Arthur knew, yet he still had to ask. He still had to get confirmation from his delusional pursuer, as harrowing as the answer was.

"Look at me, Arthur~" Charlotte called, her phantasmal hand clasping the boy's stiff jaw that prior to this had been directing his head firmly to the monotonous carpet of the Zepar estate in a fruitless attempt to avoid looking at the apocryphal girl.

"No…" Arthur's low voice of resentment echoed in the empty corridor, agitating the spectral visage of the bloody girl whose firm grip on the boy's dainty jaw proceeded to tighten in retaliation.

"I said~, LOOK AT ME, Arthur!" The girl angrily replied, firmly lifting the clenched jaw of the panicked boy, whose pupils proceeded to shrink at the harrowing sight that greeted him. Charlotte's face, as devilish as it previously was, had turned into something unrecognisable, something horrific. Blood poured profusely from the girl's hollowed eyes like a waterfall with seemingly no end in sight, her previously snow-white skin no longer coated Charlotte's exterior, instead being replaced by the exposed company of muscles and blood. At the same time, the hand that clutched at the boy's frozen jaw had eroded into nothing more than bone, every joint, every ligament, everything. Arthur could see it all. Maggots crawled around the girl's exposed flesh, corrupting Charlotte's previously near-perfect body and festering in every exposed orifice presented to them.

"I did all of this for you, and yet you won't even look me in the eye." The demoness furiously screamed, her nub of an exposed tongue sputtering deep crimson bile against the boy's soft skin. "At least give me some sort of validation, tell me you love me, whisper sweet nothings into my ear, isn't that the least you could do to repay the devotion I willingly give you." The demented figure of Charlotte whispered, her figure growing increasingly more grotesque with every second passed in silence.

Yet, no such words spilt forth from the traumatised boy's lips. Arthur couldn't say it, not yet, not after what he had seen in the dungeon. "I-I'm sorry," Arthur tearfully said, sure he could have lied and graced the girl with his validation…However, Arthur had a hunch such a thing wouldn't work. Charlotte would call him out on it and turn the situation even direr than it already was. He was like an open book to the spectral girl.

"What?" The malformed figure of Charlotte indignantly blurted, her muscular jaw now thoroughly chewed through from the inhabitants that plagued the girl's body, only hanging on by a slender thread of flesh. "Why? Why can't you say it? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, ARTHUR!!!" Charlotte began to scream, her voice a monstrous tone of indignation that seemingly mirrored her horrific appearance in sound.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry….." Arthur began to ritualistically apologise through rapid hushed breaths that would make any spectator wonder if the boy was even getting any oxygen at all. A faint illusory outline of two older humans making their presence once again known from the corner of Arthur's view.

'No…not again…I can't…I've had enough,' Arthur mournfully commented, the forms of the figures becoming more defined in retaliation to the boy's anguish, thriving on his apparent despair. 'Please…just stop,' Arthur hollowly claimed, the jets of water that swirled in his palms coming to an abrupt halt before disappearing into nothingness. Arthur had given up on trying to fight. He just wanted this scenario to end. Arthur didn't want to see them again, not so soon after their last unceremonious meeting. He wasn't ready for a rematch after his previous crushing defeat.

And it was in this moment when Arthur was about to give in to the despair that plagued his mind like the previous miasma that he heard it…from the entrance of the corridor erupted a melodic tune of footsteps, someone was coming, someone was here…He wasn't alone anymore.

With a glint of hope in Arthur's otherwise lifeless eyes, the boy forcefully turned his defeated gaze away from his tormentors over to the angelic tune that filled his ears only to find…her.

The girl's silky brown hair draped over her dress like the most wondrous of waterfalls, while her emerald green eyes seemed to sparkle with repressed joy at the sight of the lonesome peasant. Her golden night dress glided gracefully across the Zepar family's monotonous carpet, exuding an aura of pure elegance that matched the girl's overly prideful demeanour.

"Arthur? What are you doing here?" The girl called, bringing Arthur's full attention away from his current situation, the faint pressure that previously pressed against his sore jaw seemingly dissipating into nothingness. All the while, the visions of the dead seemed to retreat from the corners of Arthur's gaze. He didn't know whether they were still there, but at least the boy could find solace in the fact that they weren't actively tormenting him anymore.

"Iris?" Arthur blankly stated, his rapid breaths coming to a gradual slow. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? What are you doing walking around the estate dressed like…that?" Arthur prodded, his shaky finger raised to the girl's elegant dress in a futile attempt to tease or instead distract the young mistress from his otherwise harrowing visage.

{+2 Love (Iris Zepar)}

{+400 Affection points}

"W-what?" Iris blushingly stated her face now a deep, almost blood-like crimson. "W-why can't I walk around my own home like this," The girl continued, her body wriggling in suppressed embarrassment while her bowed head presented Arthur with the perfect opportunity to hurriedly turn around in such a rapid motion that it was a miracle his head didn't twist cleanly off his frail body. His target of observation, the spectral figure of Charlotte.

However, what filled the shaking eyes of Arthur wasn't the ghostly and otherwise monstrous figure of the girl he still couldn't help but support nor the hateful visage of his previous life's tormentors, but rather the barren dead end of the corridor he had once thought to be a safe place of respite from the hell that was this home. They had vanished, with no trace of their ghostly apparitions to be found.

'What's going on with me?' Arthur soundlessly remarked, his shaky hand trailing his creaky jaw and daintily caressing it. There should have been blood here. Yet Arthur felt nothing except the dry texture of skin and the previous residue of parted tears. 'Have I gone insane from all the stress,' The boy cynically appraised.

Turning back to the furiously panicking heiress to the Zepar household, Arthur waited with eager anticipation for the young girl to finally cool her steaming head and return to the now derailed conversation.

"It doesn't matter," The girl huffed, her previously eager eyes turning fiery in retribution against the young boy's teasing. However, her crimson cheeks, in tandem with her elated smile, betrayed her feigned ferocity. She was enjoying this…Or rather, she was enjoying the act of simply speaking to the boy she had previously held so much resignation towards.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you since earlier….but because you ran off in such a panic, I never got the chance to speak with you," Iris indignantly claimed, her voice gradually turning softer with each syllable that spewed forth from her rose-red lips, until eventually, her words became nothing more than hushed indecipherable whispers.

"I-I-I!" Iris stammered, her face flushed with embarrassment while her fists clenched tightly as a final hoorah to the girl's shattered pride. "...I'm sorry," And for the second time in Iris's ten years of life, she muttered an apology, one which erupted from the depths of the girl's furiously beating heart, a wave of relief washing over the beet-red Iris as she stared down the stunned boy, ardently awaiting his acceptance.

'Huh? Why is she apologising to me?' Arthur dumbly questioned. As haughty as she was, Iris had never gone out of her way to spite the boy nor make his life more of a chore than it already was in this god-forsaken household. So then, why did she feel the need to so adamantly atone for a sin she had never really committed? 'Is this because of what she said about Charlotte?' Arthur inwardly blurted, 'Does she not realise how long ago that argument was? I'm already over it…I only played up the scene to get what I wanted, and now that our spar's ended, I really couldn't care less,' The boy continued, his absent expression remaining a permanent fixture upon his otherwise hollow face.

Though Arthur had already progressed past such a petty dispute, the same couldn't be said for the enchanted girl who latched onto the visage of the heroic boy who so boldly staked his life on the line to protect the dignity of her sister. Even if she was the cause for such a rash declaration.

"Eh," Arthur childishly exclaimed, "What for?" The boy dumbly continued. Yep, this was the play he was going with. Arthur was going to act oblivious as if every action he had taken in the buildup to his spar with Iris was nothing more than the pure selfless acts of a hero rather than the painstakingly prepared antics of a schemer. "You've already apologised to Charlotte, and that's all I wanted."

"W-w-what for?" Iris absentmindedly stammered, her heart beating at such a rapid pace that she began to question the possibility that her most prized organ would leave her body or simply tire out and stop beating altogether. "D-don't tell me you already forgot what- never mind, just accept it for what it is…ok~" The girl momentarily exploded, her pride getting the better of her for a split second before her newly found rationality came to reel her in, explaining to her the benefits of such an outcome. This was a good thing. Arthur had graced her with a chance to start anew. Whether or not he was aware of it mattered little to the elated girl. She had a chance.

{+2 Love (Iris Zepar)}

{+400 Affection points}

"O…k", Arthur sceptically nodded. "Is that all?"

"I-um-....yes, I guess," Iris bashfully answered, a weird creeping sense of embarrassment grabbing hold of the little girl's heart upon realising the supposed nature of their meeting.

Arthur had been previously alone. His reason for being in this corridor was a mystery, though Iris could assume that he had probably just left her mother's room judging from the possible routes to which this place connected. Most likely, he was in a rush to return to his own quarters to sleep after a likely exhausting training session with her mother. And she had interrupted him. Pulled him aside and practically forced him to accept her apology for a crime the boy hadn't even realised she had committed.

"Then I'll be going now. I'm pretty tired after our spar and all," Arthur awkwardly commented, excusing himself from the stale conversation between himself and an overly self-conscious Iris before beginning his trek back to his room. "Night," Arthur waved just before he left the presumed earshot of the lone girl who remained stationary in the lonesome dead end.

With her heart now a flutter, Iris's eyes remained fixed on the shrinking back of the boy she had despised so much only mere hours ago, her head filled with the sole image of the victorious Arthur. The latter stood over her wrecked body, not with a cocky grin of victory but with an encompassing warm smile that merely demanded an admittance of guilt.

'Arthur,' Iris solemnly thought, her heart aching as images of her sister with the boy began to overwhelm her mind. 'Why? Why does it hurt to see you with her? What's going on with me?'

'It seems like the hot and cold approach is still working as intended,' Arthur inwardly monologued, his silent footsteps coming to an abrupt halt as his eyes directed themselves towards the sizeable dark wood door that stood like an unmoving monolith between him and whatever devil resided on the other side of it.

'She's here,' Arthur chillingly thought, his eyes momentarily losing their gleam while his body began to tremble with a repressed instinctual fear. He was frozen, incapable of movement. No matter how much Arthur willed his body to move, to place his open palm against the hardwood door, it refused his orders and lay paralysed, prey to the world around him.

'Move, god damn it,' Arthur inwardly berated, putting up a tough front as if the inherent fear that plagued his body hadn't already consumed his mind and soul. Yet no matter how much Arthur willed his body, no, begged it to move, it simply lay there, dormant and unresponsive to his call.

Despair once again grasped hold of the boy's frantically beating heart as visions of the future began to plague his angst-ridden mind. What if he couldn't overcome it? What if he couldn't move past this plague of apprehension towards the girl he really ought to be seducing? Would he even be able to live in this world claiming all the possible heroines, or would he be forced to submit to the horrific wiles of Charlotte and later have his broken soul tortured for all eternity? And amid this panic attack erupted from the door, a harrowing cry as its hinges smoothly opened, revealing the elated smile of the blonde-haired demoness, A broad obsessed smile plastered on her otherwise beautiful face.

"Arthur~"