Click click.
Click click.
The gears spun restlessly.
When one moved, all moved, and when all moved, one turned.
With interest, purple pupils sparkled as they stared intently.
[······Huh!?]
Suddenly, a single gear was touched, causing the Clockwork Doll to flinch and bounce up in surprise.
It almost derailed the gears and ruined the whole mechanism.
As if feeling pain, the Clockwork Doll looked at Linda with sorrowful eyes and murmured.
[Lindaaa······.]
[Did you break it again? What’s this? It’s not broken. You just need to tighten the screws. You can do it by yourself now, can’t you?]
[I’m scared. Linda. Please do it.]
The Clockwork Doll shook its head and reached out its arms.
Linda let out a deep sigh, squatting down in front of the Clockwork Doll and adjusting its arms.
At that moment, the Clockwork Doll smiled brightly as if the pain had already faded, without even tightening the screws.
As expected.
It was doing this to intentionally draw attention, even though it could do it alone.
Linda sighed a wry smile, tightened the screws, and covered it up so it couldn’t reach inside anymore.
[······Ugh.]
Then, the Clockwork Doll jumped up from the chair.
It immediately tried to dash somewhere but stumbled over the thick wires hanging from its back, falling down after only a few steps.
The thick wire connected to a huge, shimmering Mana Stone in the corner of the storage area.
The Mana Stone emitted light in a rhythmic pattern, as if it were alive.
The Clockwork Doll roamed the storage area as far as the connected wire allowed.
It checked out various tools, playing with them, and whenever it made a loud noise, it would jump up like a cat, hide far away, and call for Lindaaaa······ for help.
Who would think of this as a machine?
Of course, it was being operated as a body because a soul was trapped in the Mana Stone, so strictly speaking, it wasn’t a machine.
But it was hard to view it as a person either.
You could say… it resembled an intelligent mammal.
[Linda. I’m hungry.]
[Should we eat out today?]
[Eat out?]
[It means eating outside. There are delicious foods outside the storage.]
[Ah······! Eating out! Yay!]
The Clockwork Doll nodded enthusiastically.
Linda smiled proudly and lifted the massive Mana Stone, transferring it to the exclusive carriage.
With just a little extension of the wires, they could go almost anywhere, albeit somewhat inconveniently.
‘Such a strange one.’
Linda chuckled as she gazed at the Clockwork Doll waiting patiently on the carriage for departure.
To think this thing almost brought ruin to the current world once.
Even knowing that, it was hard to believe.
The situation Yoo Jin worried about never happened.
The phenomenon where Draken’s will warped into evil was not seen in this Clockwork Doll.
But what puzzled her somewhat was whether this Clockwork Doll was really that ‘Draken.’
Had it inherited all the memories and identity?
Or had there been so much loss during the process of compressing the soul that it effectively became another existence?
Given the Clockwork Doll’s current lack of verbal ability, there was no way of knowing.
If it had indeed inherited all memories, did that mean Draken was always this low in intelligence and childlike?
It left Linda a little confused.
[Is it tasty?]
[Eating out! Yay!]
Slurp slurp, the Clockwork Doll inhaled pasta like a broth, repeatedly exclaiming it was good every minute.
For a machine, it had quite the appetite.
Whether it was due to the habits from when it was a soul consuming nutrients or it learned from watching people eat, who could say.
Eventually, it stuffed so much food into its machinery that it had no choice but to attach a separate digestion module.
What was completed was its current form.
Through meals, the Clockwork Doll gained energy in small amounts.
Truly, no one had ever heard of or thought of such inefficiency, not a single engineer.
‘Can we really call this Draken?’
In terms of naming, it became extremely cautious.
Of course, one might wonder what power could possibly be behind the words of an artificial soul.
But by naming it, Yoo Jin had established the nameless entity as an individual, not just a fragment of Kali.
What about this child’s name?
What fate would be determined for this child?
All of that would be things to decide once Yoo Jin returned.
[I’m full!]
[You should eat less and study conversational skills. By the time Yoo Jin returns, you should at least be able to communicate smoothly.]
[S, sleepy······.]
[A Clockwork Doll can’t be sleepy. If it gets too hot, I’ll cool you down.]
[Ugh······. Linda. You’re mean.]
But well.
It didn’t seem like there was much to worry about.
*
Haaah…
A cold, frozen lake.
The reflection of Alicia’s face appeared on it.
A face marred by ugliness and desire.
In Alicia’s eyes, her face looked just like that.
She coveted her sister’s.
She had harbored feelings for her ruler’s man.
It was a dastardly crime for which she could have no words if pierced by a sword, yet Yerina readily forgave her.
But that wasn’t all.
She even encouraged her to confront her feelings directly.
“How could you…”
Yerina said that, but the more she did, the more Alicia lost her motivation.
As her ruler displayed such great forbearance, her own greed appeared all the more hideous and filthy, causing her distress.
Once she received permission, she found herself unable to take another step.
In her twenty years of life, Alicia had never experienced a rational affection.
Of course, she had felt lust since reaching puberty.
The intense desire unique to Rabbit Demihumans that she so despised and felt embarrassed about constantly tortured her.
Thus, she learned to separate lust from emotion long ago.
After acquiring a Libido Suppressor, the world began to appear clear and vivid.
Only then did Alicia realize.
She didn’t have much interest in others.
Her only interest was in her ruler, Yerina.
Other than her loyalty towards her, and the reverence for the Frost Duchess who took her in, any other emotion held no meaning.
She firmly believed that.
…Until she met Yoo Jin.
“The rotten bastard…”
That was her first impression.
An ignorant, rude man.
He resembled many of the men she had met until now.
Those who looked down on her simply because she was a Rabbit Demihuman and would approach her in hopes that she might lose control of her lust.
He was different from those scummy creeps.
Similar yet different.
Yoo Jin’s rudeness stemmed purely from ignorance.
He neither looked down on Demihumans as creatures nor was he trapped in prejudice.
He was just rude as a person.
Knowing that left her feeling hollow.
But that rudeness and his lack of prejudice didn’t lead to disasters.
He shook hands with murderers without hesitation.
He tamed centipede monsters and made them his subordinates.
In Alicia’s case…
She was, in essence, used like a tool.
Yet, she didn’t despise it.
From Yoo Jin, she saw similarities with Yerina.
He pursued his goals by whatever means necessary.
He ran endlessly, disregarding the wear of his body and the drain on his mind.
Until that point, she hadn’t realized much.
But when he barely returned after overcoming the brink of death.
In that moment, she met his face again for the first time in a while, and Alicia felt a stirring of emotion along with the realization.
This was not merely reverence or respect.
It was not just filthy lust.
Alicia had, for the first time, recognized a Human being, not a Demihuman, as a potential romantic interest.
“I’m going crazy…”
Alicia groaned, tangling her hair.
Her heart raced wildly.
She wanted to pounce on Yoo Jin right away.
It seemed better to quickly confess her feelings and get rejected.
On the other hand, the fear of heartache if she were to be rejected made her want to bury these feelings deep inside her forever.
Although her sister had permitted her, was it really okay to confess?
Did she have the right to hold such feelings?
No, did Yoo Jin even see her as a romantic interest?
Wouldn’t it be fortunate if he thought of her as nothing more than a clumsy little girl who wet herself?
A myriad of thoughts raced through her mind.
All of them were merely excuses for not confessing her feelings.
Her thoughts were solidifying increasingly.
Using her loyalty to her sister as the last excuse, Alicia made her decision and stood up abruptly.
“Eh…?”
At that moment.
Alicia’s long ears perked up.
She heard a sound coming from quite a distance.
“Wait… Ugh… Ahhh… Yoo Jin…”
[…]
A sound she had never heard before.
It was the sound of Mia, the Priestess of the World Tree, moaning.
At that, Alicia suddenly felt something break in her mind.
