After dinner Arnold excused himself without speaking to anyone further. It wasn't that he didn't want to. On the contrary, there were many things he wanted to know but he was too tired to stay any longer. His body, as well as his soul, was exhausted.
He headed up to his room. When he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed that his bedroom door was open.
'That's weird. I'm sure every room is locked unless the one it belongs to is inside.'
"Ah…" He remembered that he told Lauran to come to his room.
Without further delay, he opened the door and was given an unexpected surprise.
No, original Arnold might've found it to be the norm.
"Lauran?" Arnold frowned when he saw Lauran sitting on his bed. What bothered him was the fact that she was wearing nightwear that was completely see-through. He could see her nipples and her maturing modest breasts. She was wearing a matching black panty and a black hairband with cat ears. There was even a tail behind her.
"Nyaa~ master Arnold has returned~" She said in a cute voice. Anyone could see that she hated the way she said it.
'Where is that tail plugged into?'
Arnold shook his head. That wasn't important.
"Why are you dressed like this?" He averted his eyes instead of looking at her directly. Lauran looked at him in confusion.
"But this is the routine I have to do every single night. Did sir Sebastian's blow to your head cause memory loss, master?"
'Arnold seriously forces this girl to act like a catkin!?'
Although it was cute, it was still wrong. He forced her to do something she didn't want to do.
"Shall I start with mouth service first, nya?"
'Stop talking like that…'
Arnold tried his best not to take a peek.
"No, Lauran. Cover yourself."
"Eh?"
"I said: cover yourself. Take that white gown over there." He pointed to a chair.
"…" Lauran didn't understand why he had to do it but she did as he said. "Done."
Arnold finally looked back at her. "Good. Now we can get to the point of my calling you here."
"We're not having sex?"
"No. I'm not in the mood." He said immediately after she asked.
She looked at him strangely. That was something she never thought she'd hear. He was a tyrant with insatiable lust. Most of the maids in this household had already landed in his clutches. It was like Lauran wasn't enough.
When he wasn't bringing her to bed, it was one of the other female servants in the household. Or even girls from other households.
Arnold walked over to his cabinet and pulled out a piece of paper. Lauran was taken aback when she saw what it was.
It was her slave contract.
"W-What are you doing?" She became anxious at the thought of what he was about to do.
"Freeing you."
"Eh?"
The scroll released a bright light at that moment. The slave tattoo that was on her chest began vanishing.
Lauran's eyes widened.
The light died down a few moments later.
Arnold went to go sit on his office chair. The fire created a mysterious haze across the left half of his face. His blue eyes shined in the light of the fire. It perfectly blended with his dark blue hair.
"From this moment forth, you are no longer my slave." He said calmly.
"W-Why did you do that…?" Although Lauran should've felt happy, she questioned his motive for doing so.
"The new heir of the household will need a personal maid by his side. Sebastian doesn't need to search for a new maid, right? We have one right here." He pointed at her. "I already have Victoria by my side so I don't need you to serve me anymore."
"What…" Lauran still didn't understand.
"I'm leaving the manor in a week to become the new lord of Whitage city. Wouldn't it reflect poorly on me if the residents saw me walk around with a slave?"
"…."
"After that fight, I realized something…" Arnold stared into the pit of fire that burned and the wood that creaked. "…no matter how special I think I am, there is always someone out there better than me. That is Luke. Although it is untamed power, with the right training, he might surpass me in a few years. That power would probably far surpass father as well. For some reason, I think father feels the same way."
Arnold looked back at Lauran. "The head of the Berkley household must be a strong individual. Able to compete with the other four great houses of the empire of Eulia. He or she must have both a heart of compassion for their people and ferociousness for their enemies."
Arnold bent forward. "As everyone else says: I only have the latter. Besides my family, I do not hold compassion for any of the people who work for us or the vassals who pledged allegiance to our household. If I wanted to, I would've destroyed them as there is a possibility they can turn hostile towards us in the future. Such is the world at the top. The ones beneath you always plot your demise." A strange smile appeared on his face. One of absolute malice. It was the kind of smile murderers had on their faces after killing.
Lauran silently listened.
Was it really because of the fight from earlier today. Wasn't that change a bit too fast? Or had he been acting this entire time as the usual Arnold in order for the duke to remove him as head?
If so, what was the reason?
'Is it because he sees that he is not qualified to become the duke?' Lauran came to her own conclusion.
"…Are you saying you hold no compassion for the lives of others?" Lauran looked at him and forced out those words.
"That is correct. People who I do not acknowledge are trash. They are merely bugs in my eyes." Arnold said expressionlessly. His eyes didn't even waver.
"What about me…? Did you make me suffer because I was the same way?" Lauran tried her best to hold in her tears. "I was only a frail girl with no experience of the outside world. I would've married the one I loved and worked in my family's shop until I die of old age. Then they had to come and ruin it. Your people ruined my entire life!"
"So?" Arnold asked with a raised brow. "All of that is in the past. Your father should've just given the money to those scoundrels without resisting. And just because I let those gangsters rule the underground of this city, doesn't mean they are my people."
"…But you could've stopped them. You were there that day! I cried on my knees for you to save him! They beat him until his kneecaps were completely destroyed…" Tears finally fell out of Lauran's eyes. She looked at Arnold as if he was her worst enemy. In a sense, he was.
She was expecting a little sympathy from Arnold. Did he feel nothing for his wrongdoings?
All Lauran heard was a cold, cynical laughter.
"Stop whining about the past, Lauran. You're free to leave or become Luke's maid. I won't force you since I'm done with you."
"…Done with me? So, to you, a woman is just a piece of cloth that should be thrown away after its dirty?" Arnold could feel the mana in her body going berserk. However, she seemed able to control it without letting it go violent. She had been able to do so for quite a while, after all.
"…." Arnold smiled silently. His smirk made her blood boil.
"I want you and Luke ready by tomorrow morning. After tomorrow, you can do what you want. Now get out."
Lauran gritted her teeth.
She slammed the door shut in a fit of anger. Her small footsteps vanished after a while.
*
Arnold sighed and held his head.
He didn't want to make her hate him forever. Just enough for her to not think about coming back. Her being close to him wouldn't benefit anyone.
Although Lauran did indeed fall for the hero, there was still a sort of desire in her to be with Arnold. He thought she had Stockholm Syndrome at first but it was actually her genuine feelings. Liam remembered a certain scene so vividly.
If I say I want to come back to you, would you accept me?
That was the day she let her feelings be known. Through all the abuse, violence, and pain she went through, she never forgot about Arnold.
It was like she wanted to fix him. To show him what a good person he could be. However, that was her mistake.
Her mistake nearly caused her death during her fight with Arnold. After losing Victoria, he had become the true villain he was destined to be. He held no compassion for Lauran, nor did he have quarrels about killing others.
"I don't want her to go through the same thing again."
She was an important character in the game's story. That was why Arnold had to let her go. He sent her to Luke because of her importance to the story. Without her there was no Hero Party to begin with since she was one of the founding members.
As long as he made sure the original Hero Party got together then that would be enough. His involvement wouldn't be needed afterwards. The Hero Party would handle any threats that may come in the future. His actions now would make that future come true.
Arnold, no, Liam looked at himself in the mirror. It was a face that wasn't his. Despite the fact that he was a completely different person, he had to now be Arnold.
There were no instruction manuals on how to be a tyrant. Could he do it?
Could he crush the lives of those beneath him to advance the storyline to the correct path? In order for that to happen, many had to die.
'Even those precious to Luke…'
Arnold still felt disgruntled about the lives that would result from his actions.
What scared him the most was that he never finished the game. He probably had five years of knowledge at best. A majority of the endgame story he knew of was from reading spoilers online.
"Is it truly okay to change the outcome of the story?" Arnold sighed. "Let's sleep for now. I can't think anymore."
He hadn't done much but his body felt completely drained. After taking off his clothes, he jumped into bed.
"Maybe when I wake up, this'll all be a dream…"
Thus, he embraced sleep.