I Am Not a Robot. Beep-bop

Chapter 78: Baroness Sabrina 5

-Wooong

The silent room was entirely painted over with white and dark red blood.

Perhaps because it hadn’t been used by anyone for a long time, the dried blood on the ceiling and walls made it look like a massacre had taken place here.

-Hoo.

The smell of blood mixed with my exhalation and spread into the air.

“This is a face I’ve never seen before.”

The Sabrina who met my gaze looked surprisingly young for someone with the title of Baroness.

Her hair, which should have shone brilliantly under the blessing of mana, now bore a foreboding shade resembling faded blood.

I picked up a chair nearby, placed it in front of Sabrina, and sat down.

‘Hamar and other demons seemed to have lived for at least hundreds of years, but she… Maybe just a few decades. She might even be the age her appearance suggests.’

Although I lacked solid evidence, my experiences as a Demon King allowed me to easily estimate Sabrina’s age.

“…Not human, and not wearing a white coat either.”

Sabrina, who had been bowing her head while restrained, finally raised her gaze to meet mine.

“So, what are you? A new experiment professor? A human officer? Or perhaps one of Earnest Rail’s senior officials? Did you come to squeeze something new out of me?”

Blood flowed down one of Sabrina’s cheeks like a waterfall from her injured eye.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that one of her eyes had been completely crushed.

I couldn’t tell whether it had been struck or forcibly removed, but blood had pooled like a puddle where her pupil should have been.

“Or did you never intend to keep your promises in the first place?”

No, it wasn’t just her eye that had been destroyed.

Her restraining suit was soaked with blood, and her body bore the marks of amputations, fractures, and depressions—evidence of countless injuries.

The blood scattered throughout this laboratory all belonged to Sabrina.

“Does it hurt?”
“…What?”

At my words, Sabrina gave me a look that asked if I was spouting nonsense.

Demons possessed bodies materialized from mana, allowing them to regenerate as long as they had sufficient mana.

However, due to the lack of mana in this place, it seemed Sabrina’s crushed eye wasn’t recovering properly.

Even considering that demons’ ages didn’t always align with their appearances, Sabrina seemed to belong to the younger generation of demons.

“Your eye.”
“…What about it? Are you asking if it hurts?”
“It looks like it hurts a lot. Are you okay?”
“If that’s your opening line when meeting someone for the first time, what am I supposed to say? Thank you for your concern? You’re so kind. I’m deeply moved by your thoughtfulness. Is that enough? Honestly, what I want to say is, ‘Can’t you see I’m battered from torture and experiments? What kind of stupid question is that, you bastard?’ But I’ll hold back.”

Sabrina chuckled, her body shaking with laughter.

The chains on her neck and ankles rattled violently with her every movement.

“So, human… No, a doll? A golem? What’s your reason for seeking me out? If you came to mock or humiliate me, you’ve picked the wrong person.”
“Honestly, you just looked like you were in a lot of pain.”
“Hah…”

At my response, Sabrina let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Yes, it hurts like hell, but I only have one eye to flip, so I can manage.”

Sabrina looked up at me with a sneering expression.

It was easy to guess what she had endured here based on her condition and the blood scattered around the area.

As she had said, she must have undergone horrible torture or experiments, to the point that blood was splattered everywhere.

For most demons, this level of suffering would have broken their spirits, but Sabrina hadn’t lost her composure or confidence.

Even though her hair and skin had faded, she neither feared Earnest Rail nor yielded to him.

“Sabrina, let me ask you one thing. Why are you here?”

At my question, Sabrina initially gave me a look that seemed to say, “What nonsense are you spouting?”

But then, as if realizing something, she opened her mouth with an “Ah.”

“Ha, what is this… Now I get it. You’re not one of Earnest Rail’s people, are you?”

“That’s right.”

It seemed Sabrina recognized the identity of the dolls behind me.

“I thought you might be one of Earnest Rail’s senior officers, considering you brought dolls with you.”

“Answer my question. I have to judge you now without any material evidence.”

“Who are you to judge me?”

“So I can decide whether to kill you here or save you.”

At my words, Sabrina’s gaze turned sharp.

“Kill me? Should I beg you? Would begging save me?”

“Maybe. After all, I came here assuming you were a traitor.”

“…Traitor? What do you mean?”

At the mention of “traitor,” Sabrina’s eyebrows twitched.

“Just to be clear, I’m neither on Earnest Rail’s side nor on Dawn’s side.”

“Then what are you?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

Not when I don’t even know whether you’re a trustworthy demon or not.

“To put it simply, I came here to stir things up.”

“What a noble and impressive purpose.”

“Simply put… My goal is to make sure no one claims the land known as the Baron’s Domain. My employer doesn’t want Mega Corp taking over this place. To do that, it’s best for me to cooperate with the demons.”

“What, are you some lowly Hunter working for money?”

“You know about Hunters too? You seem to know a lot about the human world.”

“When your limbs and head are torn apart here, you end up learning a lot of things you didn’t want to know.”

Sabrina slowly straightened her body.

As she lifted her upper body, the blood pooled in her restraints dripped down, but she paid no mind and stared straight at me.

“You’re right. I betrayed them.”

She spoke with unwavering eyes.

It was true.

She admitted to betraying them.

If this was all, I could have followed Hamar’s advice and killed her without further conversation.

If Sabrina died, a new Baron would be chosen or born, and the Demon Territory would regain its strength to resist Mega Corp.

But that was only from the perspective of a Hunter.

My instincts, honed during my life as a Demon King, told me this wasn’t the end of the story.

“This isn’t the whole truth, is it?”

“……”

“Let me guess. Sabrina, didn’t you try to incorporate the demons into humanity and Ark?”

“…….!”

At those words, Sabrina’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“You consider yourself a traitor. The demons stake their lives on this land and their kin. It’s obvious what’s going on. But for someone who betrayed them, you’re here being tortured and experimented on. Why is that?”

“…Are you really a Hunter? What does a mere Hunter—or a mere human—know about us?”

“I know plenty. Maybe not as much as someone like you who’s lived their whole life in the Baron’s Domain, but I’ve learned a lot about the demons’ habits and lives.”

“Ha, hearing a human say ‘demon’ and ‘Baron’s Domain’ is…”

At that moment, the chains and restraints binding Sabrina ripped apart.

The torn chains and fibers wove themselves anew and adhered to her body.

Baroness Sabrina.

She could have freed herself from such restraints at any time.

Even so, she had voluntarily become Earnest Rail’s prisoner, endured the torture and experiments, and contributed to the creation of the masterpiece weapon—the dolls.

“What is your true purpose?”

“To an outsider like you…”

“Then I might abandon my mission, side with Earnest Rail, and annihilate the Demon Territory.”

“…..”

“When people meet and don’t know each other, they need to communicate. If you refuse to talk, I can only act based on that refusal.”

Sabrina was visibly shaken when I mentioned annihilating the Demon Territory.

“By the way, my name is Alice. I’m an enemy of Earnest Rail, and since you’re the enemy of my enemy, we might even become friends.”

Though she tried to maintain a poker face, she was still a young demon.

To my eyes, her inner turmoil was plainly visible.

“…You’re right.”

In the end, Sabrina shrugged as if resigned and began to speak.

“I wanted to hand over the Demon Territory to Ark in exchange for integrating our people into humanity. They called me a traitor. They said I abandoned my duty, forsaking the memories and glory of the ancestors tied to this land.”

The reason the demons, including Hamar, called Sabrina a traitor must be this.

“But what’s the point of all that if you die?”

Sabrina, raising her head, clenched her teeth.

“I’ve lived long enough to bury my umbilical cord in this land. I know how precious this land is to us. I know the blood of our ancestors and kin has soaked this land to its core. I also know that my actions seem like treachery and defection to my kin… Yes, I know. I know all of that…!”

Sabrina cried out, her voice filled with resentment.

“But we need to survive. We have to survive to do anything…!”

“………”

“To me, this precious land isn’t more important than the lives of my kin and the citizens of this territory.”

Even though Sabrina endured the pain of being vivisected alive by Earnest Rail and suffered countless inhumane experiments without any semblance of human rights, her eyes still had not lost their light.

“I know! Mega Corp is strong and relentless. If we’re lucky, we might endure this time. But Earnest Rail will eventually return with mountains of weapons and armies. Maybe even Ark’s leadership will try to wipe out my land and people entirely!”

“So you made a deal with Earnest Rail?”

“Yes! I tried to negotiate with Earnest Rail! I offered to hand over the Demon Territory in exchange for accepting us as citizens of Ark. If we were lucky, we might have been able to continue living here while securing some autonomy, as long as we guaranteed certain corporate interests!”

Sabrina spoke in a voice that seemed to take a break from all the weight it carried.

“But then I realized I was betrayed on both sides.”

Sabrina burst into laughter, shrugging as if it wasn’t even her problem.

“A supervisor from Ark’s leadership came, claiming to conduct an assessment for integrating us into humanity. But as soon as that supervisor arrived, they restrained and neutralized me. Then they neatly packaged me and handed me over to Earnest Rail.”

Sabrina had been betrayed by both Earnest Rail and the demons.

“I still remember what that damn supervisor said. ‘Thanks for the good deal. Keep fulfilling your corporate obligations for Ark from now on.’ Ha, what a joke…!”

On top of that, the supervisor had colluded with Earnest Rail to attack Sabrina.

“My kin betrayed me too. Hamar… I didn’t think my steward would betray me so easily. I never expected so many fools who couldn’t even understand how vulnerable a territory becomes without a noble.”

“Did you never think about escaping?”

Sabrina, who had just dismantled her restraints and chains with ease, seemed capable of escaping anytime.

“Ha! The first to notice if I left the Demon Territory and got captured by the corporations would be Earnest Rail! Some of the people on the board told me that if I didn’t cooperate, my territory and kin would be burned to the ground. But if I cooperated with their experiments, they’d guarantee my people’s survival.”

Covering her mangled eye with her hand, Sabrina chuckled bitterly.

She wasn’t laughing because it was funny.

She was laughing because the absurdity and squalor of her situation were too much to bear.

The moment Sabrina was captured by Earnest Rail likely coincided with the alliance between Dawn and Earnest Rail.

It was probably because of Sabrina’s capture that Earnest Rail quickly betrayed Dawn and seized control of the northern front.

I looked around the blood-soaked laboratory.

The blood Sabrina had shed.

It was obvious what kind of experiments had taken place here, and what Earnest Rail had done to Sabrina, even without seeing it.

Sabrina probably didn’t even know that the dolls were being used as weapons to kill demons.

“But what can I do here?

Even if I escape on my own, by the time I return to the Demon Territory, everyone would already be dead.”

“So you endured it here?”

“What else could I do? I couldn’t betray or defect. Even though they betrayed me, I had to protect my kin…”

Looking at Sabrina, I suddenly felt deeply ashamed of myself.

For me, this mission was something I treated almost like a vacation.

Causing chaos wasn’t hard, and I treated stealing supplies from Mega Corp like a picnic while playing with the Undead Girls.

I dismissed the mission as easy and treated it lightly.

But on the other side, Sabrina was fighting a desperate battle, shedding tears of blood.

Even with the stigma of being a traitor among her kin, Sabrina remained steadfast in fulfilling her duties and responsibilities.

And without realizing it, I found myself smiling.

‘She’s really different from the demons I used to know.’

Even Hamar, the one who betrayed her, was different from the demons I knew.

And Sabrina, who sought a better future only to be betrayed by both sides, shattered my preconceptions entirely.

Now it was my turn to help her.

“Don’t worry.”

I showed Sabrina the choker around my neck as I spoke.

“I’m a pardak.”

“…What?”

Sabrina didn’t seem to understand what I meant.