"Echidna has told me a lot about you." Ayanokouji then recounted Roswaal's past interactions with Echidna to provoke him.
"Be quiet!" Roswaal warned sternly.
"To be honest, even though you have certain value to me, it's not necessary. If you can use it to the best of your ability, it's not impossible to leave you if you can't use it. You should know that yourself." Ayanokouji said expressionlessly, completely ignoring what the other party said.
"Are you threatening me?" Roswaal gritted his teeth and stared at him, his eyes full of anger, as the other party directly took and destroyed the Gospel without him realizing.
He never expected Ayanokouji to have such abilities.
"I'm just stating its importance." Ayanokouji said slowly, "But if you want to call it a threat, it's not wrong to interpret it that way."
Even in this tense moment, his expression remained unchanged. Roswaal couldn't remove any flaws from his face.
And as Ayanokouji suspected, Roswaal didn't know how to trigger the Return by Death. If he truly killed him, he might lose all advantages and not be able to achieve his own goals.
Although Roswaal was filled with anger, he didn't dare to attack.
"And if you refuse to fulfill the contract, I will continue to use my ability to stop your plans." Ayanokouji continued, "If necessary, I will also handle Emilia and let you stop everything."
"You..."
"I don't care at all about your life or death, I only care if you can be useful."
"Is this your true face?" Roswaal looked at him seriously.
Initially, he wanted to use Ayanokouji as his pawn to fulfill his plan to revive Echidna, but now he realized that he couldn't control the person in front of him at all.
He was the pawn used by the opponent.
This made Roswaal feel a little scared in his heart. What kind of contract did Ayanokouji and Echidna sign?
"In that case, let's make a contract?" Ayanokouji asked again, "I don't want to waste too much time, give me your answer immediately."
Using time to put pressure on the other party could make it easier for them to make decisions as expected.
"I promise you..." Roswaal swallowed and finally nodded.
Now he had no right to refuse at all. As long as he could revive Echidna, he would pay for it.
But he didn't know that Ayanokouji didn't intend to revive Echidna. For him, reviving Echidna was a big threat, bound in a dream city like this.
So he played a word game when signing the contract. The conditions he agreed to were to help Emilia ascend the throne, and he didn't mention the revival of Echidna.
Not to mention Roswaal would be able to live to witness this solution.
For Ayanokouji, Roswaal had great value at this stage. His status and abilities were very useful if he could be controlled. Ram could also be used, but his own existence was just a threat. Even without the knowledge of the Gospel, Roswaal might still be a threat in the future.
So, Ayanokouji would exhaust all the value from Roswaal and then get rid of him.
Although he didn't have any special feelings about the past and death he had experienced before, because the other party drew the Great Rabbit in the last regression and caused a series of consequences.
Then in the future, please use his life to repay him.
After signing the contract, Ayanokouji temporarily resolved the issue with Roswaal, and he would also help him temporarily hide his little secret.
But now that the contract was signed, his main goal now was to enable Emilia to break through the trial.
But Ayanokouji knew that Emilia would need time to break through the trial, and Rome couldn't be built in a day, so he had to prepare to face the Great Rabbit.
Now Ayanokouji had learned from Daphne how to deal with the Great Rabbit, and as the head mage of the kingdom, Roswaal could release various kinds of magic, and he had a huge reserve of magic in his body that could attract the Great Rabbit. With his help, combined with Beatrice's power, it shouldn't be difficult to destroy the Great Rabbit.
"Ayanokouji-sama, how can you let Emilia break through the trial?" Roswaal narrowed his eyes and asked.
"It's my business." Ayanokouji said calmly, "And now you have to find a way to deal with the Great Rabbit that will come in the future."
"I obey, Ayanokouji-sama." Although somewhat reluctant in his heart, due to the constraints of the contract, Roswaal could only obey.
Now he had become Ayanokouji's slave, and to revive Echidna, Roswaal could only do this.
After assigning Roswaal, Ayanokouji came to Emilia's room.
Emilia hadn't woken up yet, but Ayanokouji remembered that Emilia had woken up once in the middle of the last regression, so he chose not to repeat the same trick and pretend to hurt Emilia to provoke Puck to appear.
After a while, Ayanokouji walked to the side, took out some sleep aid spice from the aromatherapy, then brought a chair and sat next to Emilia's bed.
Then he stomped on the ground loudly, creating a loud noise.
"Ayanokouji? Why are you here?" The voice just woke Emilia up. After seeing him, she was stunned for a few seconds before her consciousness gradually became clear.
"Forgive me, Emilia, I accidentally fell asleep earlier." Ayanokouji deliberately rubbed his eyes and lazily said, pretending to have been sitting for a long time.
"No, no, I'm the one who made you worry too much!" Emilia sat up and said quickly, "It's already very late, you must go back and rest!"
"No need, there's still plenty of rest time tomorrow. I saw Emilia working hard today, so I want to spend more time with you."
Emilia blushed and quickly shook her head: "Clearly, Ayanokouji is the one working hard, risking injury to come to the ruins to save me..."
"I feel Emilia looks very worried." Ayanokouji said slowly, "If Emilia doesn't like my presence, I can leave..."
"No, no, no! I like it!" Emilia raised her head and said quickly, and even unconsciously reached out and grabbed Ayanokouji's hand. But after realizing what she said, her face immediately turned redder, and she even felt her body getting a little warm, and she quickly let go of his hand out of embarrassment.
All of this was within Ayanokouji's calculations.
He remembered in the last regression, Emilia expressed her desire for him to stay with her that night, but at that time he had more pressing matters to attend to, so he chose the more important thing and ignored Emilia's point.
This might be the initial reason for Emilia's emotional breakdown.
So in this life, Ayanokouji changed the deadlock. For Emilia's growth, he needed to show his care for her and guide her behavior.
Only with a stronger spirit and psychology, Emilia could have value to continue being his tool.
"Ah... I mean... but..." Emilia's face became even redder, and she was a little confused, not knowing what to say.
"It's okay, I'll stay with you." Ayanokouji said, and Emilia also smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
"How did the trial go today?" Ayanokouji asked.
"Failed... But I don't remember the scenes during the trial..." Emilia showed an awkward smile, "Ayanokouji must be very disappointed in me."
"No, why do I feel disappointed?" Ayanokouji stood up from his seat, then sat next to Emilia's bed, closing the distance between them, "Because the Sanctuary barrier has been there for a long time, it means no one else can break the trial, so Emilia, don't take it to heart. If you feel tired or uncomfortable, take a break. It's okay to rest."
"How is that possible? The other village residents are waiting for us to free the Sanctuary!" Emilia said immediately.
"Emilia, don't burden yourself too much, we still have plenty of time."
"But... But can I do it?" Emilia's eyes became slightly hesitant again. Her conviction to break the trial was indeed correct, but at the same time, she wasn't sure if she could do it, but she didn't have confidence.
With her memories sealed, she had no choice but to remember the past. She could feel the endless pain and torment, so Emilia's heart slowly crumbled.
"I believe in you." Ayanokouji reached out his hand, grabbed hers, and said slowly.
Emilia's face that had just answered directly turned red, but she didn't withdraw her hand, instead feeling the warmth of her fingertips with her heart. It was a touch she had never felt before.
Although Emilia had never shown it, she actually had a good impression of Ayanokouji, and she also had some kind of dependence on him. In the last regression, Emilia became a yandere, fully expressing those emotions, and Ayanokouji was able to understand Emilia's thoughts and was ready to use them.
To make Emilia's spirit stronger, he needed to utilize the feelings in her heart, not just for himself, but for other things.
"Emilia, don't forget your dreams." Ayanokouji continued, "You want to bring equality to the people of this country, and you also want to use the power of the dragon to melt the ice in the forest, right? So I believe you can do it."
Emilia thought after hearing those words, but she felt a push and inspiration from Ayanokouji's words.
"Mm, I will definitely work hard!" Emilia's eyes became determined again.
They chatted for a while. Ayanokouji looked at the wall clock and said to Emilia, "It's already late. Emilia, you must rest well."
"No way!" Emilia immediately said, "Clearly Ayanokouji and you have stayed with me... Thank you, Ayanokouji, I'm much better now! Please go back to your room and rest quickly."
"It's okay, I'm not sleepy. I'll stay here for a while, then I'll leave after you fall asleep." Ayanokouji replied, then sat back in the chair.
"In that case, you've worked too hard!"
"It's okay, but if you don't want me to accompany you, Emilia..."
"I want to." Emilia said immediately without hesitation. As she spoke, she almost buried her face in the blanket, only showing her eyes and staring at Ayanokouji carefully.
And because she was very shy, she could feel her heart beating faster, afraid that Ayanokouji could hear her heartbeat.