Chapter 124: Is the Heart Beating Faster? (Patreon)

Noticing Ivan's gaze, Makima turned her head and picked up the bottle, giving it a little shake.

"Master~ would you like a glass?"

Seeing her radiant smile, Ivan didn't refuse.

Makima poured his drink with great care. The two of them sat there holding their glasses, drinking in silence.

Ivan set his glass down, thought for a moment, and turned to Makima.

"Makima, what are you after in life?"

Her hand stopped. She turned her eyes back to him.

"That's not fair, Master. You still haven't answered my question~"

Ivan scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh.

"Ah, sorry. I was so lost in thought just now..."

He lowered his hand. Thinking of Rebecca, a look of utter tenderness crossed his face.

"Love is a mysterious thing. Those who believe in it think it's a beautiful feeling that words can't describe.

"Some even say it's the most mysterious, most special of all human emotions.

"And those who don't believe scoff at it. To them, love is nothing more than a byproduct that comes once power and status reach a certain level."

Curious, Makima pressed him. Her face was now almost resting against Ivan's shoulder.

"So which kind are you, Master?"

The mellow scent of liquor, mingled with her own pleasant fragrance, drifted across Ivan's face with each breath as she spoke.

To keep things from heading in some unpredictable direction, he had no choice but to turn and face her squarely.

"Neither. I think everything in this world has to be felt with the heart before you can find your own answer."

Hearing that, Makima feigned displeasure.

"Hm? But how is that any different from not answering?"

"Oh, it's different..."

Under Makima's scrutinizing gaze, Ivan could tell she showed far more emotion around him than she did in front of other people.

That gave him a new suspicion. Could she be a newly born Makima?

If so, the difference was no small matter. The former's ideals hadn't yet been warped. The latter was the "Lover Makima" of the original course of events.

No, that wasn't right. Judging by her look, and by her everyday manner, she clearly had that office-drone air Makima picked up after joining the Cabinet.

That was what he thought, but on the surface Ivan simply went on.

"Feeling with the heart isn't an abstract saying. It's a real, tangible experience."

"An experience?"

"That's right. Think about it. Has your heart ever started racing over something you'd have called perfectly ordinary?"

Makima tilted her head back, her pupils flickering.

She was thinking of yesterday. She had held Ivan in her arms, and when he bit her nipple, her heartbeat had clearly quickened.

So much so that her body had even...

"Yes. Master, when you bit my..."

Hearing Makima state last night's lingering intimacy so matter-of-factly, Ivan flushed a little. He really hadn't handled that very well...

But if you got down to it, wasn't Makima the one to blame for how it turned out? Even if he bore 99% of the responsibility, the last 1% belonged to her alone.

Of course, Ivan only grumbled this to himself. Saying it out loud was out of the question.

"So, Master, is that what love feels like?"

"But it seems a little different from what I've seen in human society."

Damn. Ivan realized his earlier words had turned into a boomerang and hit him square in the face.

Admit it, and in Makima's eyes he'd probably been brushing her off. Deny it, and the lines about feeling with the heart and a quickening pulse had come out of his own mouth.

Well, this was just great. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

To keep things from escalating, Ivan immediately activated the Art of Changing the Subject.

The urgent matter wasn't discussing love. It was understanding exactly what state Makima was in. Only then could he treat the problem at its root.

Otherwise, one careless slip and Makima might go berserk. That would be a catastrophe. By then, everyone in the world would probably be forcibly taken over by Makima.

"Makima, the two aren't the same thing."

"Don't be in a hurry. We have plenty of time. In the days ahead, I'll search for that answer together with you."

"Master? Together... with me."

Makima murmured the words softly.

Strangely, it felt rather nice.

With that thought, she stopped agonizing over the question.

She knew that understanding something as vast as human thought and emotion couldn't be done in a short time.

On this point she had every right to speak. Before coming to Ivan, she had ruled the entire world, arranging the lives of all humans and devils in the way she understood best.

But for some reason, even though it was all for their own good, they were never satisfied.

Makima had always considered herself equal to humans and devils alike. In that case, why not see what they actually wanted?

Driven by that thought, she released her authority of control. The result: humans and devils alike wanted to kill her.

So many people in Japan threw themselves in front of the blades meant for her that the whole country died out.

Even then, they didn't stop.

In that moment, the "satisfaction" she had finally gained turned into a "black hole" that could never be filled.

Makima was lost...

She had ruled over death. She had commanded the entire world.

All so she would never be lonely again, so that every existence could live in a beautiful new world.

So why...

While Makima was lost in that confusion, everything went black before her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw Ivan.

In that single instant, she took control of this body, nearly identical to her own.

Instinctively, she then tried to control Ivan, only to find that her power of control got no response at all.

In that moment, Makima suddenly felt the black hole inside her filled, for the first time in ages, by a measure of satisfaction.

She couldn't describe the feeling. Was it "love"?

Was it? Or wasn't it?

She looked at Ivan, just looking, her mind circling that question again and again.

As the one involved, Ivan noticed Makima's odd behavior.

Tying it to how she'd acted earlier, he had already confirmed one of his guesses: Makima couldn't control him.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain her strange behavior.

But a guess was still only a guess. To get a definite answer, Ivan chose to be blunt.

"Makima, can you control me?"

"Huh?"

Ivan's straight pitch caught her completely off guard.

But soon, the corners of Makima's mouth curved into a playful arc.

"Master~ when you asked me that, was your heart beating faster?"

"Yeah, it was. Honestly, I'm pretty nervous right now."

That much wasn't a lie. He'd been perfectly calm, but once the words left his mouth, his heart began to pound on its own.

He could adjust his heart rate through the t-Virus.