Chapter 11
Chapter: 11
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 011
>Chapter Title: Red Battlefield (2)
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>The anomaly on the battlefield occurred abruptly. It was a clear day before noon, without a single cloud in the sky.
Suddenly, the sun vanished from the heavens, and a red light began to spread from beyond the horizon. It was a bizarre sight, as if blood were seeping into the empty air.
Under the unrealistically darkened sky, the momentum of the clashing soldiers gradually waned. In the heavy, oppressive air, the strength slowly drained from the weapons pressed against one another. The agitation that began this way spread across the entire plain in an instant, and the battle came to a complete standstill, as if by magic.
Beneath that crimson sky stood the Holy Emperor.
He had appeared in the center of the battlefield and was walking slowly. Clad in light silver armor with a long robe draped like a mantle, he held his beloved sword Nutcracker in his right hand and a severed human head in his left.
The bloodstains splattered across his faintly glowing white robe were eerily vivid.
The knights who had been defending Amelia and Mores stepped back hesitantly as the Holy Emperor approached. At the same moment, Mores's body collapsed limply to the side. He was already dead.
"……!"
Mores. Mores. Mores!
Amelia could only roll her eyes desperately, gazing endlessly at her brother's face as he lay fallen beside her. Instead of his name, only blood bubbled from his mouth.
The Holy Emperor approached them and slowly knelt down.
Thud. The head he casually tossed aside tangled in long silver hair and rolled away.
He reached out and gently stroked his blood-soaked son's head.
Father, Father. Mores...!
Seeing the desperate plea in Amelia's eyes, the Holy Emperor shook his head.
"I was a little late."
The knights who had been anxiously standing guard until then dropped to their knees.
"It can't be...!"
Some shed tears in a daze, others collapsed to the ground wailing, and still others stared blankly into space. It was a scene that clearly showed how much they had cherished the crown prince.
The Holy Emperor glanced at them briefly before reaching for the hilt of the dagger embedded in Amelia's chest. To heal her, he needed to remove the blade first.
Amelia gritted her teeth and shook her head furiously from side to side.
She could never live like this. A life where she sacrificed her brother and survived alone. It had been agonizing enough until now, and she had no confidence she could endure the suffering that lay ahead.
Even if it meant committing the gravest sin of abandoning her father, who would be left alone.
It was then. In her thrashing, the small pendant around her neck bounced out to the side.
It was a necklace with a teardrop-shaped gem, a memento from her mother that Amelia never removed.
The pure white gem rolled across her bloodstained dress, shimmering brilliantly.
The Holy Emperor flinched in surprise and picked up the gem. A flurry of emotions flashed through his usually impassive eyes: doubt, understanding, relief, and sorrow.
He looked back and forth between the small pendant and Amelia's pleading gaze, then finally closed his eyes.
"Your Majesty, the princess's condition..."
One of the knights, unable to bear watching, urged him, but with the dagger still lodged in her chest, the Holy Emperor took Amelia's hand in one of his and gently stroked her forehead with the other.
Amelia squeezed her eyes shut as his hand touched her, but realizing no holy power emanated from it, she finally relaxed and surrendered her body.
Her father's hand felt incredibly warm, even without divine power.
Father, I'm sorry.
"You've suffered so much until now, Amelia."
Father, thank you.
"Rest now, my daughter."
Her vision began to blur.
The sky sank into an ever-heavier crimson hue, as if blood might drip from it at any moment. Or was it already falling? Her sight went completely dark.
The murmurs around her faded into the distance.
What is this? What's happening in the sky? What's going on? Aaaah! Uwaaaaaah!
And her father's final voice.
"Rest easy, Amelia. You don't have to go through this."
Thus, Delcross's 1st Princess Amelia met her death.
* * *
Amelia blinked vacantly for a moment after rubbing her eyes against the morning sunlight streaming in, still lying in bed.
'What? Morning? I just died, didn't I? Why am I perfectly fine, lying in bed...'
Terror flooded her face, turning it pale in an instant.
I'm still alive!
"No... no! I don't want to live like this again! I... I!"
"Princess? What's wrong?"
"Aah! Mores... Mores! Father! Father! Father!"
"Amelia!"
Chaos erupted in the Silver Rose Palace from the morning. The 1st Princess Amelia had suddenly burst into tears and begun thrashing about.
The princess wailed and screamed, collapsed from exhaustion only to rise again and sob for hours, until finally her energy drained and she lay quietly in bed.
The servants, bewildered by the usually demure princess's bizarre behavior, hurriedly summoned the palace physician.
"Oh dear. Such pretty eyes, all puffy like this. Did you have a nightmare?"
Her exclusive maid, Mirabel, asked kindly as she replaced the lukewarm cloth on Amelia's forehead.
"Mirabel..."
Amelia murmured her name weakly, and Mirabel smiled broadly, brushing back the stray hair from her forehead.
"Yes, my beautiful princess. Why do you keep calling my name today?"
'Because you died at Leonard's hands before I was even confined to the tower.'
Mirabel was a warm-hearted maid who had cared for Amelia ever since she entered the palace. She had genuinely loved and cherished the shy, doll-like princess from the start.
In the end, she followed Amelia to Rohan and met a gruesome death in the underground dungeon under Leonard's brutal torture. As far as Amelia remembered, there was no special reason. Leonard had done it purely to torment Amelia.
In Amelia's mind, it was already years in the past. A distant memory now so dry that sand would spill instead of tears.
Feeling Mirabel's touch, as nostalgic as a dream, Amelia closed her eyes.
A little late, but Amelia was gradually realizing her current state.
Not the raggedly cropped hair, but rose-gold locks cascading to her waist, glossy and wavy. Not the rough, emaciated hands, but soft, white ones plump with health.
And Mirabel's face, younger than before, smiling gently.
She had undoubtedly returned to the past.
"Just lie still a bit longer, Amelia. The palace physician will be here soon. Whatever hurts, you'll feel better in no time."
-Father's coming. Just hold on a little longer, Amelia. Endure just a bit more...
Over Mirabel's voice, she heard her brother's voice, one that couldn't possibly be there.
Tears began to well up and spill from Amelia's eyes again. Mirabel clicked her tongue and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.
"Oh my. What's all this? Just the other day, the 3rd Prince collapsed and the whole palace was in an uproar. If even you fall ill now, I dread to think what commotion it'll cause."
Amelia startled and murmured.
"3rd Prince?"
"Yes, Prince Mores."
"The crown prince... isn't it?"
"Pardon? What do you mean? It's Mores, isn't it? The crown prince?"
Mirabel's face went slack as if she'd heard the most absurd thing in the world, but it wasn't important to Amelia. She bolted upright in bed.
Mores.
"...Mores is alive!"
Yes, did you want him to die while he's sick?
That pig of a wastrel may have tormented you harshly, Princess, but surely not that much? My kind-hearted princess?
Undeterred by Mirabel's flustered expression, Amelia shoved the cloth aside and got out of bed.
"I'm going to the Pearl Palace. Prepare me, Mirabel. I need to see him."
"But the palace physi—"
Mirabel trailed after the princess marching resolutely to the dressing room, trying to dissuade her, but suddenly hesitated and stepped back.
She felt an odd pressure from the princess, who spoke each word firmly with an unprecedented resolve in her eyes.
"I need to see Mores. Right now!"
And that's how this situation came about.
The two, who had always been on distant terms, now sat facing each other on the sofas in the reception room, enveloped in awkward silence.
The moment she saw Mores's unharmed face, Amelia's emotions had overwhelmed her—she had hugged him and burst into tears. Now, she sat blushing, sipping bitter tea.
Seongjin, caught off guard into an unplanned tea time, didn't know what to say and just rolled his eyes.
"Um... so, you had a nightmare where I died...?"
"Y-Yeah. That's why I..."
Amelia bowed her head in embarrassment.
She had returned from death to the past, but she couldn't just blurt out the truth. Well, claiming it was a nightmare wasn't all that convincing either.
See? Mores even tilted his head, looking a bit puzzled.
But Seongjin's situation differed slightly from Amelia's assumption. He was mentally berating the Demon King.
'Hey, what's going on? Weren't they on terrible terms? Why does she look like a normal big sister worried about her sick little brother to me?'
[What do you take me for, a person—no, the Demon King! Even the day before I collapsed, I met that wench in the garden and cursed her out? Lowly bitch, disgrace of the Holy Imperial family, vulgar slut, and... want more?]
'......'
Wow, Mores, you bastard.
Calling someone else a disgrace to the Holy Imperial family when you're the palace's most reviled wastrel?
Seongjin cleared his throat and scratched his head.
"Ahem! W-Well, anyway, thank you, big sis. Uh... so you were worried because of my fever?"
She worried about me, so at least say thanks. Seongjin's thinking was straightforward.
But Amelia focused on something else.
"You're calling me 'big sis' now."
Seongjin flinched and averted his gaze, but Amelia caressed her teacup briefly and smiled faintly, as if reminiscing about a distant past.
"Yeah. Come to think of it, it was around this time."
The wastrel, a disgrace to the Holy Imperial family, had suddenly seemed to come to his senses—lost weight, started training in swordsmanship...
And at the same time, his attitude toward Amelia had become remarkably gentler. But in her previous life, she hadn't accepted the change.
Because the image of Mores glaring at her venomously since childhood was etched in her mind.
When he occasionally tried to speak first, she would turn away or leave the room. In the end, they never properly reconciled, and soon after, she fell for Leonard and left for Rohan.
Amelia smiled bitterly.
"If I'd just opened my heart a little more back then, our relationship would surely have been so different."
The family I longed for wasn't far away at all.
And now, at last, she could say what she truly wanted to tell Mores.
"I'm sorry for ignoring you all this time, Mores. That's what I wanted to say."
"Uh......"
Seongjin was utterly flustered.
What? Is she an angel?
Mores was the one who did wrong, so why is she apologizing?
The Demon King whispered.
[Hey, the mood's good right now? Since it's like this, why not improve your relationship?]
'How?'
[Apologize too! Say you've been wrong until now. When will you get another chance?]
'Y-Yeah.'
It seemed like perfect timing to Seongjin. Afraid to miss the opportunity, he bowed deeply to Amelia and quickly apologized.
"No, I'm the one who's sorry, big sis! You might not have heard, but after I got sick, I can't remember much from before. But I know I was childish and made things hard for you. I really want to apologize!"
Amelia gazed quietly at Mores. At her little brother, head bowed shyly, his round crown exposed.
The sight of that soft-looking pale gold hair soaked in blood was still vivid in her mind.
His still chubby build and fluffy round face overlapped with the young man, pierced by arrows, growing cold.
-While I'm at it, maybe apologize roughly. Sorry for trash-talking and bullying you when I was a kid.
'Ah......'
She thought she'd cried out all her tears today, enough to drain her body dry, yet more remained. Amelia's eyes welled up again, tears falling in drops.
The Demon King scolded Seongjin incredulously.
[Hey, I said apologize. Why'd you make her cry again?]
'No, what did I do!'
Flustered, Seongjin stood awkwardly and apologized once more.
"I'm really, truly sorry, big sis."
"It's okay, Mores."
Her tear-streaked cheeks gleamed white.
"You've already apologized to me."
She was smiling through her tears.
A smile brighter and more radiant than anything in the world.