From Trash to Villain Master of Card: With Harem of Evil women-Chapter 71: Scars and Confessions

Aschenfall Infirmary

Valeria had insisted on walking on her own from the gates.

Upright posture. Measured steps. No complaint.

But Kaito had noticed how her hand subtly pressed against her side. How her breathing was shallower than normal. The bloodstain slowly spreading on her clothes.

"Valeria. To the infirmary. Now."

"Damage is minor. Function at seventy percent remains acceptable."

"This isn’t a request. It’s an order."

Valeria processed that.

"...Accepting order. Proceeding to infirmary."

Aria was already there, preparing medical supplies with efficiency born of experience.

"On the table. Take off your armor."

Valeria obeyed mechanically.

When she removed her armor and underclothes, the extent of the damage became visible.

A deep gash on her side—ten centimeters long, actively bleeding.

Multiple blows causing bruises that were already turning dark purple.

A cut on her arm that she had completely ignored.

Aria whistled through her teeth.

"This isn’t ’minor damage,’ Valeria. This is a serious wound."

"Function continues. Therefore, classification is appropriate."

"Your classification is broken."

Aria began cleaning the wound on her side.

Valeria didn’t flinch. Didn’t make a sound.

Kaito watched from the side, fascinated and concerned.

This was the first time he’d seen Valeria so... exposed. Not just physically, but in a vulnerable state.

Aria worked for thirty minutes.

Cleaning. Stitching. Bandaging.

Valeria remained perfectly still throughout, like a statue being repaired.

But then, as Aria applied the final ointment, something changed.

Valeria’s eyes—normally focused and present—grew distant.

Her breathing became irregular.

"Valeria?" Aria asked. "Are you alright?"

"Function... compromised. System... overheating..."

Her voice sounded different. Less mechanical. More... human.

And scared.

Kaito approached immediately.

"Aria, what’s happening?"

"I don’t know. Maybe she lost more blood than I thought. Or the shock finally caught up with her."

Valeria began to murmur.

"No... don’t want to go back... to the laboratory... please..."

Her hands clutched at the sheets.

"It hurts... everything hurts... why did they design pain?"

Kaito took her hand.

"Valeria. You’re safe. There’s no laboratory. You’re in Aschenfall."

But she didn’t seem to hear him.

"They said... they said it would be an improvement... that I’d be stronger... but it just... it just hurts..."

Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes.

Kaito had never seen Valeria cry or speak in anything other than dry, military terms.

He wasn’t sure it was possible.

But there they were. Small. Crystalline.

Real.

Aria applied a cool cloth to her forehead.

"She’s delirious. Fever from infection or trauma. She needs rest and time."

She looked at Kaito.

"Stay with her. Talk to her. Sometimes it helps."

"What do I tell her?"

"Whatever she needs to hear."

Aria finished securing the bandages.

"Call me if she gets worse. I’m going to prepare more medication."

She left, leaving Kaito alone with Valeria.

---

Kaito pulled a chair close to the table where Valeria lay.

He still held her hand—surprisingly warm, not cold as he’d expected.

"Valeria. Can you hear me?"

She murmured something unintelligible.

Then, clearer.

"Before... before I was human..."

Kaito leaned closer.

"What?"

"I had... a different name. Family. Life."

Her voice was distant, like remembering a dream.

"But they took them... military experiment... they said volunteers but... lies..."

Her eyes opened slightly, looking but not seeing.

"They transformed me. Metal. Magic. Pain. So much pain."

"They said I’d be the perfect soldier. No fear. No doubt. No weakness."

Tears fell more freely now.

"But they didn’t remove pain. They removed choice. They removed... me."

Kaito squeezed her hand.

"Valeria..."

"When they finished... when I looked in the mirror... I didn’t recognize the reflection. I wasn’t human. I was... a thing. A weapon shaped like a person."

Her breathing became more irregular.

"They gave me a choice then. Just one. Continue as a weapon. Or die."

She closed her eyes.

"I chose to continue. Because even as a weapon... even without humanity... I preferred to exist."

"Was I a coward? For choosing to live as a thing instead of dying as a human?"

Kaito felt something tighten in his throat.

"No. You weren’t a coward. You were brave. You chose to survive when it would have been easier to give up."

"But what survived? What was left of me?"

Valeria looked directly at him now, eyes focusing.

"What makes me human, Commander? If I was designed to kill. If every part of me was altered. If I don’t remember what I was like before."

"What makes me a person?"

Kaito considered the question seriously.

It was fundamental. Philosophical. And it deserved a true answer.

"Choice. Always choice."

He leaned forward.

"Valeria. Listen to me. You aren’t human because you were born that way. You’re human because you choose to be."

"Every day, you choose to help instead of destroy. You choose to protect instead of terrorize. You choose to stay with us when you could leave."

He touched her forehead tenderly.

"Those choices—every single one of them—are what make you human. Not your body. Not your origin. Your choices."

Valeria processed that for a long moment.

"But... choice implies free will. And I... I only follow orders. Assigned function."

"Do you? Because yesterday, you chose to stay behind to protect us. That wasn’t an order."

"Protection function..."

"No. It was a choice. Because you easily could have fled with us. No one would have blamed you."

Kaito smiled slightly.

"And when Naporia came back for you, you chose to accept help. Another choice."

"Small choices, maybe. But real choices."

Valeria looked at her hands—hands that had killed hundreds, but had also built, protected, helped.

"Choices..."

Her voice became clearer.

"So... I can choose to feel? Choose to be more than function?"

"You’re already doing it. You’ve been doing it since you arrived here."

Kaito squeezed her hand.

"And every day you choose, you become more human. More yourself."

Valeria closed her eyes again.

But this time not in pain but in something like... peace.

"Thank you, Commander. For seeing a person where others only see a weapon."

"Always."

---

Two Hours Later

Valeria had been sleeping—real sleep, not unconsciousness—when Naporia burst in like a whirlwind.

"Valeria!"

Her voice was loud enough to wake half the building.

Valeria opened her eyes slowly.

"Naporia. Excessive volume."

"I don’t care about volume!"

Naporia planted herself by the table, looking at Valeria with a mix of concern and frustration.

"What were you thinking? Holding off that many soldiers alone?"

"Function required..."

"To hell with function!"

Naporia slammed the table (carefully, so as not to hurt Valeria).

"You could have died! Do you understand that? Died!"

Valeria looked at her with genuine confusion.

"Death in fulfillment of function is an acceptable outcome."

"No! It’s not!"

Naporia leaned closer, eyes burning with intensity.

"Your life is not ’acceptable’ to lose. Your life matters. You matter."

"Not as a weapon. As a person."

Valeria processed that.

"But... if I’m not a weapon, what use am I?"

Naporia blinked.

Then she gently tapped Valeria’s forehead with her finger.

"See? That! That way of thinking is exactly the problem!"

"Function: identify problem," Valeria responded automatically.

Naporia almost laughed despite her frustration.

"You’re impossible."

She sat in the chair Kaito had occupied (he had stepped back, watching with fascination).

"Look. I’m going to explain something to you. And you’d better listen."

She took Valeria’s hand.

"You’re not useful only when you fight. You’re useful when you exist. When you’re here. When you’re part of this."

She gestured vaguely toward the outside.

"When you helped organize defenses. When you built that bridge. When you stood beside me in battle not because it was a function but because you chose to."

"That’s what makes you important. Not your damn axe. Not your strength. You."

Valeria looked at Naporia with an expression that was almost... wonder.

"I... I don’t understand. How can I matter without function?"

Naporia sighed dramatically.

"Because you’re our friend, idiot. And friends matter by being friends."

She looked at Kaito.

"Help me here. She doesn’t understand basic friendship concepts."

Kaito approached, smiling despite the seriousness of the moment.

"I’m surprised you do, honestly hahaha."

The dynamic between them was... unexpectedly comical. Naporia scolding like an older sister. Valeria processing everything literally.

But beneath the comedy, there was something real.

Genuine concern.

He sat on the other side of Valeria.

"Naporia is right. Though she could say it more gently."

"Hey!"

"But the point remains: you matter. Not as a weapon. As Valeria."

He took Valeria’s other hand.

"And every time you feel like just an object or just a function..."

He squeezed her hand.

"...remember you have us. To remind you that you’re a person."

Naporia nodded vigorously.

"Exactly. And if you forget, I’ll hit you until you remember."

"That’s counterproductive," Kaito observed.

"But effective."

Valeria looked at her hands—one held by Kaito, one by Naporia.

Physical connection. Tangible.

Proof that she was more than a weapon alone.

"You... you really care? About me?"

Naporia looked at her as if she’d asked if the sky was blue.

"Of course we do. Why do you think I came back for you?"

"Because... strategically..."

"No! Because you’re my friend. And I don’t leave friends behind."

Valeria turned to Kaito.

"And you, Commander?"

"I care about every person under my command. But you... you’re more than a subordinate."

He paused, searching for the right words.

"You’re my queen, which makes you part of the family we’re building. And family protects each other. Family cares."

"Family..."

Valeria tried the word in her mouth.

"I never had a family. Not that I remember."

Naporia smiled.

"Now you do. You’re stuck with us."

Valeria looked at both of them—Kaito on her right, Naporia on her left. Both holding her hands.

Something moved in her chest. A sensation she couldn’t fully name.

Warm. Strange. Almost painful in its intensity.

"This... this feeling. What is it?"

Kaito and Naporia exchanged glances.

Kaito answered gently.

"That’s human connection. Feeling like you belong."

"Belonging..."

Valeria squeezed both hands—first Kaito’s, then Naporia’s.

Physical anchors to something greater than function.

"Then... I choose this. I choose to belong."

Tears forming again—but different this time.

Not from pain but from something like... relief.

"I choose to be more than a weapon. I choose to be Valeria. I choose to be... family."

Naporia wiped her own eyes quickly.

"Damn it. You’re making me cry. This is unacceptable."

Kaito smiled.

"Too late."

Naporia hit his arm.

"Shut up."

But she was smiling too.

The three remained like that for a long moment.

Hands intertwined. Comfortable silence.

Valeria processing new emotions.

Naporia proud but trying not to show it too much.

Kaito feeling something warm and right about this moment.

Finally, Valeria spoke in a voice softer than usual.

"Commander. Naporia. Thank you."

"For seeing a person. For choosing to remind me when I forget."

She paused.

"For being family."

Naporia leaned in and—in a completely unexpected movement—kissed Valeria’s forehead.

"You’re welcome, sister."

Valeria blinked, surprised.

"Sister. Yes. I like that term."

She looked at Kaito.

"And you, Commander? What relationship has appropriate term?"

Kaito considered.

"Friend. Protector. Family too."

"Brother?"

"If you want. Though technically I’m your king and you’re my queen, which technically makes us a couple..."

"Spouse function and sibling function can coexist."

"Stop listening to Lilith’s stories about her era."

Naporia laughed.

"Look at that. She’s already understanding complex concepts."

"Progress is evident," Valeria confirmed with a hint of pride.

Kaito stood.

"You should rest more. Your body needs recovery."

"Accepting recommendation. But... can you stay? Just... a little longer?"

Naporia settled into her chair.

"I’m not going anywhere."

Kaito nodded.

"Me neither."

And so they remained.

Shared vigil.

Family protecting family.

Valeria slept—real sleep, peaceful—with hands still held by people who saw her not as a weapon but as a sister.

And in that sleep, for the first time in years, she didn’t dream of laboratories or pain.

She dreamed of a home.

---

The Next Day

Valeria woke with sunlight streaming through the window.

The pain had diminished. Bandages clean. Mind clear.

Aria was checking her wounds.

"Much better. Recovery faster than expected."

"Healing function: optimized."

Aria raised an eyebrow.

"Or maybe you had a reason to live that accelerated your healing."

Valeria considered that.

"Possible. Emotional variable affecting physical recovery is documented."

"And how do you feel? Emotionally."

Valeria processed the question seriously.

"Different. Less... empty. As if something that was missing has been filled."

"And is that good?"

For the first time, Valeria smiled genuinely.

Not a grimace. Not a mechanical attempt at imitation.

A real smile.

"Yes. It’s very good."