Maouyome Chapter 29.1 - Corpse Princess, Belladone

Chapter 29.1 : Corpse Princess, Belladone

The Dead Parade《Deadman Walking》 .

An overflow of the dead that came out from the labyrinth of the dead, and was swallowing down all the living being, while simultaneously adding more walking corpse into their ranks.

Squashing every house it pa.s.sed by.

Filling the highway to the brim.

Even a rampart couldn't stop it.

The Deadman Walking was unstoppable.

What was that, so scary?

It happened several times across history, and once it happened, it'd leave a catastrophic damage in its wake, and this country was not excluded.

It seems to have happened  right before I was born.

At that time, there was a brave who had stepped out, and stopped the Deadman Walking catastrophe. He pushed the dead back into the labyrinth it dwelled.

And the name of that brave was Shiki Hisaka.

The matriach of Hisaka house, one of the four Archdemon, and the mother of that Delusional-Sorry-Beauty. Archdemon of Illusion, Shiki Hisaka.

Otherwise known as The Corpse Princess.

Along with her skill that could manipulate Non-Living life forms, Puppet Arts《The Marionette》. And combined with the fighting style of Shiki Hisaka who could pull off such terrifying arts, seemingly made her the exact definition of Princess of Hades.

「Hiccup. I couldn't make it that fa'.」

So you could say that Shiki Hisaka was the brave of this country. And the youngest daughter of that brave was currently doing her best to fix her broken doll while crying.

It's the doll made with transparent crystal, wearing a kimono with vivid red Licorice on a black background.

I remembered that kimono. It's the one worn by Belladone a while ago. But, right now the one who was wearing that was the doll, not the real Belladone.

As for the real Belladone, she was currently wearing something that resembled a kimono with slightly darker tone from the waist above and skirt-like things that made you feel cool, from waist below. She told me later that such apparel was called Hakama.

「Uu~h. I don't ‘ave 'nough material. And ‘et my pocket mone' is too li'l.」

On the  crystal doll was this large crack that spread from the neck above, apparently she was not able to fix it.

Everytime she replaced the cracked parts, it looked like the crack turned even bigger.

「What should I do? Mama is going to kill me. Guzuu. That idiot tigerman. 」

Belladone pretended to not see me and just kept working, desperately trying to fix the doll while wiping the tears and snot on her face.

She's the genius girl of Hisaka who inherited the t.i.tle Corpse Princess from the brave of this country, Shiki Hisaka. ……… Or so it seems, her desperate figure while trying to fix the doll seemed too pitiful.

I looked around the room, desperately trying to find something that would allow me to help her..

Belladone's private room was different from the other rooms in the demon king castle.

It gave the impression of wood and paper. If the other room was made from stone and cloth, hers felt like a s.p.a.ce that was made from timber and paper.

The ceiling was made by pasting together smoked plank, their repressed hues emanated elegance.

Furthermore, the paper was adorned with beautiful patterns that would undoubtedly attract people's eyes while also giving the refreshing feeling of coming from the hands of a humble artisan.

There were some places that made me slightly surprised though. Like the window panels, sliding door, and lamps. Those parts were also pasted with paper and linked up together with the wooden frame. So despite the fact that there's wall all around, it didn't hinder the light from coming in. Rather, one would feel just the right amount of gentle sunlight inside the room.

So despite the fact that there's nothing to see inside, I didn't hate such room.

Somehow, it calmed one's own mind.

The floor of the room was raised one step higher and then there's something like woven gra.s.s…in fact 12 such were put together to act as the tile floor. One of those gra.s.s tiles was around the size enough for one person to lay down. [TL : Tatami]  [TL : 1 Tatami, Belladone room is 12 tatami mat sized room, quite a big room]

In front of the short table that was put on top of that sort of floor, there's a chair-like-thing-which-has-its-feet-removed. Of course, one could put on something to pad it over, which was what I did. I put on a flat cushion on there, then sat comfortably on it.

I didn't really know how to sit on it at first, but I figured it out soon enough. It just…fit together properly when I tried to sit on it. So, I just kept enjoying my time sitting there whilst snacking on the tea cakes.

What was this cake? it's soo soft.

The lamp-like thing which was made from wooden frame and paper, emitted a soft light, neither too bright nor too dim. It illuminated the room to have a pleasant brightness that didn't hurt one's eyes, the kind of brightness that could be seen from the other side of a thick paper. I wanted this kind of room too.

Come to think of it, the owner of this room had completely immersed herself in her works. She even failed to notice me who was guided here by her attendant and was completely making myself at home in her place here.

She kept her focus as she sat down on a place that was around one step lower than the place that was covered with 12 gra.s.s-like mat.

「UWAAAAAAAAAAN. I COULDN'T FIX IT! It's IMPOSSIBLE' FOR ME! Guzuu. Aguuu~.」

As a matter of fact, I was here to give her a piece of my mind, but that feeling was somehow dampened by the soothing atmosphere of this room and the pitiable state of its owner.

It's not supposed to only be me. Maou-sama was supposed to come along with me, but for some reason he changed his mind and went back to his office instead. Maybe that was just how shocked he was due to the fact his fully naked figure was displayed fully before my eyes for around 2 weeks.

Though I had given him a follow up with “Even if I didn't want to see it, there's no need for you to worry since it seemed Belladone made that part's size 'Bigger Than Your Average Joe'."

When he heard my follow up, he turned around and walked back to his office, dejected. He's in a difficult age huh.

「DAAAAAAAAAAH! ! I CAN'T DO ANYTHING AT ALL! 」

Giving up on trying to fix the crystal doll, Belladone threw her tools, and laid face up on the floor.

Her wet line of sight then met mine.

Zzuzuzuzu.

The slightly bitter tea matched very well with the sweet confectionery.

「EH. WAAAH. W-What are you doing here! ? S-Since when did! ? 」

Belladone got up in a flash, panicked. She turned around to face me.

Though I felt anxious since I was only able to see her back all this while, but now I had confirmed that she was in fact the girl I saw in the corridor before. Yeah. Yup, the person herself. She was the owner of a beautiful face but right now her beauty was covered with tears and snot. ……. What a waste of her beauty.

「If you ask, since when. Well, let's see…….. Maybe it was around the time you wiped your tears with your sleeve while saying 『Even though I finally managed to make one after saving my pocket money for many years.』 with your nasal voice. 」

「Aren't cha' basically been there since the very beginning! ! ? ? 」

「By the way. What's with that strange tone? 」

「HA! ? 」

Belladone covered her mouth with her hands in panic.

Iya~, it's too late you know. Though I was perplexed when I heard it for the first time, I'm used to it right now. Though by now, I didn't even care about her strange accent anymore. Yeah.

Her accent was really a sight to hear.

「M-My folding fan! ! Where did I place my folding fan! ? 」

Belladone started to look for something around the room with a panicked expression. Rather than something, it's her folding fan huh. Why folding fan?

When I looked at the short legged table in front of me, I found the folding fan that she used to cover her mouth there.

「Is this the one you're looking for? 」

「Why did cha' have thaaaat! ? Pwease give it back to me~! ! 」

Kachin.

I just pointed out the thing that you're looking for though.

Why was she being so rushed like this? To the point of biting her own tongue? Even then she still rushed in a hurry to secure her folding fan, and spread it out to hide her mouth.