William's Chapter 0 Story
Yes I bought it... And boy, I like where it's going. I went a little more loose with this translation to try and capture the atmosphere better. As always, I make no guarantees about the accuracy.
Also, this doesn't really spoil anything. It mostly covers only the prologue.
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If life were a fairytale, then achieving happiness would be a simple matter. Keep your hands clean, obey orders, be good and dutiful, and don't stray off safe and well-lit paths. However… if your heart yearns to go down a different road, then would quashing your true desires truly lead to a "happily ever after"? My answer? No.
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William: "Slice your throat. Drag it out for as long as you can."
Not a single person that Crown has set their eye on has ever escaped. Tonight's target was no exception. The man couldn't even scream as his trembling hand raised a knife. I held in my hand an envelope I had found in this mansion, stamped with a "golden butterfly".
(That I'm seeing this once more means…) (Evil is something that cannot be stamped out through punishment alone.) (Not them… and not me.)
If you asked 100 different people what 'evil' was, you would get 100 different answers. Absolute evil does not exist. Rather, if it did, it would be something that lurked in every individual person's heart. Something that they found unforgiveable. Something that, if they forgave, would be betraying the essence of what made them, them.
(To me, that absolute evil is when one tramples over another's freedom.) (And the worst offender would be this "golden butterfly".)
I had no issues with doing harm so that I may pass judgement on those who commit the unforgiveable. If this were a story, that man and I would be painted with the same brush: evil.
Alfons: Quite a pathetic end, isn't it? Being ordered to "keep your mouth shut" so you can't even scream in your final moments.
Elbert: …It's because we'd be in trouble if his neighbors got suspicious.
Roger: Geez, what a convenient ability. I sure as hell wouldn't want you as an enemy.
William: Ahaha, I'll be sure to mark on my calendar if I plan on turning on you so you'll have ample warning.
Exchanging banter in the way only those accustomed to such sights can, I made my way over to the piano in the hall and sat down.
William: Since this is lying around, I suppose we can send him off with a song.
I wasn't thinking of any melody in particular. I simply let my fingers dance around the keys as they pleased.
Ellis: How wonderful. Now he'll be able to die a little bit happy, at least.
Jude: …Like hell he can. You crazy or something?
Everyone in Crown had their own way of facing someone's death. Those who sympathize, those who empathize, the cynics, the mourners, and those who saw such happenings as purely matter of fact.
(But what they all have in common is that they are all here of their own free will.)
However, not everyone has the ability to go where their hearts willed. At that moment, I recalled that desirous gaze I encountered earlier.
(It would be nice if that girl I met today could take a step towards realizing her desires.)
As the knife dug deep into the man's neck, as fresh blood spurted and gushed from his wound, that was what I was thinking.
--And then, the door to the hall slowly swung open.
Alfons: My, my, to think that we would have an audience.
(…That's…)
William: If it isn't the songbird I met this afternoon.
MC: U-um… what…?
I recognized the panicked woman who had grown pale at the gruesome sight before her. She was that postal worker I encountered earlier.
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MC: Excuse me, sir, I need to deliver that.
A calm determination had settled in the gaze of the woman who came up to me, chasing a stray envelope.
William: Of course, my lady.
MC: …T-thank you.
William: My pleasure.
MC: …
I had handed her the envelope already, but she seemed to lose track of herself as she continued to stare at me.
(…Another one.)
People who had that look in their eyes almost always had something they were holding back. Things that they think they shouldn't say. I loved the moment when such people made a decision to voice whatever it was they were hiding. When I simply stared back at her silently, her calm gaze wavered slightly. And in that moment, I saw it: a glimmer of desire burning in her eyes. A surge of emotion, so strong that it was taking everything she had to suppress it.
"Lead me to another world." "Somewhere, anywhere."
Though her lips were pressed tightly together, it was as though I could hear her say those words.
(Ah.) (This won't do.)
I didn't know why, but she wanted change. There was desire burning within her, struggling to be set free. And yet… there was something else in her that was suppressing it.
(If she could freely follow her desires… I'm sure it would be beautiful.)
William: You have two deliveries left?
MC: …What? MC: I'm sorry, I spaced out-
William: You'd better hurry. It'll be dark soon.
(It's a shame, but I can't whisk you away.) (Even if that 'somewhere, anywhere' that you desired was the depths of the abyss.) (But… if you, of your own free will, were to take that first step…) (Perhaps we'll see each other again.)
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(…Still, I didn't think it would be this soon. Or at a place like this.)
Liam: Is she a friend of yours, Will? Does she know about us too?
William: We met on the streets and had a chat, Liam, that's all. She doesn't know a thing about Crown.
Liam: Well, that's an issue. What to do…?
(If I told you to kill her for my sake, then I'm sure you would do it without hesitation.) (Though he'll live with the pain of taking a life even as he does it. What a commendable, lovable cat.)
Harrison: Terribly sorry about the scare, ma'am. But these are just props for a performance we're staging.
(…You never change, Harrison.)
Of course he'd try to give her an escape route. Though he appeared, he was truly strong at his core.
MC: N-no way…
Harrison: …You could have pretended to believe me for your sake, you know.
It was unfortunate, but her last chance to escape had just slipped by.
(Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised) (She came here because she had to, after all.)
Harrison: What do we do, Will?
William: It's obvious, isn't it? We take her to see the "Reaper of the Palace".
Jude: Tch… that's why I told you to lock the damn doors.
Roger: Haha, I didn't think that anyone would trespass into an obviously dark home. You're quite the bad girl, aren't you, little miss?
Ellis: Won't you come closer? It's not like you can escape, anyway.
As soon as she heard the word 'escape', her body stiffened. Her legs began to move.
(Sorry, but I can't let you go.) (You're a witness now, of course. But that's not the only reason.)
That one of her deliveries was to this mansion was surely a coincidence. But that she was standing here now was no coincidence at all.
(Even if the sound of the piano implied that there was still someone awake inside…) (There was no reason for a postal worker to enter an otherwise entirely deserted manor in the middle of the night.) (You chose to come here.) (Even if you haven't consciously realized it yourself…)
She took the first step.
William: Come here, poor little robin.
(Let me see more of it. That burning desire that brought you here.)
At my order, her legs began to walk her forward.
MC: S-stop…!
(Haha, and at last you're voicing her true desire.)
She stopped before me as if she was presenting herself. A splash of red stained her cheek.
(…Beautiful.)
Somehow, the color of deep sin suited her.
(If, of your own volition, you were to be dyed with blood in the future…) (…that would suit you far more than this stain now.)
William: Pardon me.
As I pulled her towards me, her eyes closed in fear.
William: That should do it.
After I wiped her cheek clean and released her, she staggered and collapsed to the floor, as if all her strength had escaped her. Her gaze, once calm and settled, now shook with emotion like a stormy sea. In her eyes I saw fear, confusion… and just a hint of anticipation. Of excitement.
(Yes, you are hiding something inside you.)
Something that made her leap without looking into the dark. Imagining being able to unravel that mystery made my heart race.
(This should be fun.)
William: I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is William. William Rex. William: I'm inviting you to dine with us tonight. Your name, honored guest?
(I'll fill you with love, as much as I can.)
So that you may be a flower that blooms beautifully in the darkness.
