“I’ll kill you!” As soon as I had made that announcement, the dark Fairy Queen flew into a rage, dark power swirling all around her.

I pulled back with the other girls. Only Karr seemed calm. Even though all of her ire was centered on him, he seemed the least bothered by her presence. Well, he was a powerful adventurer in his day. Maybe he was strong enough to fight back? When I summoned him, my desire was to reveal the truth and then allow her to exact her vengeance on him. With that, the dungeon should be able to finish its curse.

After all, the problem seemed to be that the Queen never got her proper vengeance. He had died before she could express her anger against him. That had to be why the dungeon was incomplete.

A moment later, Karr raised his hand. The Fairy Queen reached for her chest as an emblem began to shine. I made a noise of shock. It was the slave bond! That was right! Karr had enslaved the Fairy Queen. This bond would have broken when he died, but now that he was back, it had somehow been restored. The Fairy Queen let out a cry and then collapsed down to the ground.

“Stop this!” Karr cried out.

“I hate you!” She screamed.

“I said, stop it! You need to listen to me!”

“Karr… you’re hurting her.” I warned.

“You… bastard… you took everything! Everything from me!”

“And I lost everything as well!” He shot back. “Please… hear me out!”

“I refuse… ahhhhh… I… will… never… be… your slave again!” She screeched, her hand slowly raising.

It looked like she was in extreme pain, but she was determined to attack him. That final attack might very well kill her. Isn’t that for the best? A dark voice inside me told me that if the pair destroyed themselves, it would be for the best. Then, we could all go home. Then, my eyes landed on Celeste. She was holding her hands against her heart, with a look of deep worry on her face. It was clear that she still saw these two as her parents. I remembered her when I tried to force her to follow my slave command that first day. The pain and defiance were the same as the Fairy Queen now.

“W-wait!” I shouted, stepping forward. “Wait! Stop! I’ll take the slave bond!”

The two people, Karr and Astria, turned their eyes to me. I instantly felt a deep pressure from both of them, but I stood defiantly.

“Astria… you need to hear what he has to say. Even if you don’t owe it to him, you owe it to your daughter. You don’t want to be his slave? Fine… then I will take control. As long as you promise not to attack us, I’ll even release you from it!”

“You lie!”

I immediately activated the slave taker skill. Both Karr and Astria gasp as they feel the bond between them being tugged away.

“E-even if you take my bond, you’re still a human!”

“Then… I’ll destroy it!”

Karr was still weak from being resurrected. There was no way he could stop me from taking the slave bond. As soon as it ended up in my grasp, I pulled out one of the runes Figuro gave me and activated it, unraveling the slave bond.

“No!” Karr cried out.

Astria looked stunned for a moment, touching the spot where the bond had just been. Then, she laughed.

“Foolish human!” She raised her hand, “Now, I will-“

“Enough!” A shout caused Astria to be stunned into stopping.

Celeste stood up next to me, her hand finding mine and holding it.

“My… child…?”

“It’s enough, Mom,” Celeste said. “You need to stop punishing everyone. You need to stop punishing me! It’s time you just listened. It’s time you understood and moved on!”

Astria looked down confused. “Punished… I’m… protecting you… Trying…”

Celeste shook her head, “No, mother… you only hurt me. You killed a part of me, and to this day it still hurts.”

I looked over at Celeste with shock in my eyes. I had already guessed most of this, but she really had a part of her die. I didn’t know the kind of pain she had been in. Then again, I had seen the state she was in when I came to this mansion. She was confused and lost. She was scared and alone.

“Celeste… I’m so sorry…” I reached out and touched her cheek.

She looked over at me and pressed her cheek against my palm, smiling. “Deek… Thank you.”

Astria watched this exchange, her expression turning strange. Finally, like a balloon losing air, she fell back down to the ground.

“My daughter… for you… I’ll listen.” She turned to Karr and crossed her arms. “You read your journal. How will you explain what you did?”