Chapter 61
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Friend (4)
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The next morning.
In the center of the royal palace's inner courtyard.
A massive brazier stood in the middle of the vast, majestic garden.
This brazier, passed down through generations of the kingdom, had never once gone out.
Queen Helena Castor read the inscription beneath it with a blank expression.
[Like an unextinguishing lantern at the center of the world, may this nation endure forever.]
"...Endure forever."
It was undoubtedly a benediction, a wish shared by all the kingdom's people.
But right now, to Helena, those words rang like mockery.
This nation had once basked in an era of glory beneath a mere fledgling beast.
'But does it still?'
She couldn't answer.
Not even she herself could hold onto that certainty anymore.
As she sank into her thoughts, a presence stirred behind her.
- Thud.
With a heavy sound, several sturdy retainers barely managed to set down a massive stack of letters in front of the brazier.
"These are the last of the letters from the princess's room."
One of the retainers said.
"What shall we do with them, Your Majesty?"
Helena's gaze slowly turned to the countless sheets of paper the princess had filled.
Innumerable letters piled up to her waist height.
She had read every single one without fail.
They contained all the words her daughter had never spoken aloud.
Thoughts on daily life, things she wanted to do in the future, longing for her brother, guilt over her own actions.
And even her feelings toward the queen herself.
[That woman always tells me it's my fault. She's right. But still, I wish just once she'd hug me like a mom.]
The true heart of her daughter that she'd never once heard.
She spoke in a cold voice.
"Burn them. Don't leave a single one."
"Yes."
For the princess, the greatest danger was any surge of emotion.
To prevent the tragedy from repeating, nothing could be allowed to stimulate her—not anything at all.
Not even the slightest joy.
- Fwoosh.
Hundreds of letters poured into the flames.
Along with the densely packed words, contents, emotions, and hopes the princess had poured into them.
- Roar.
The flames danced mercilessly, devouring the endless cascade of paper.
Then, one letter fluttering into the brazier was caught by the wind and dropped at Helena's feet with a soft thud.
A short phrase on the paper was slowly burning away.
[As your frie...]
Helena's expression twisted at the sight.
Her daughter's wail echoed vividly in her memory, carried on the wind.
- Ahh...!! Eeeuuugh!!!
The image of Elaine sobbing desperately as she was dragged away to punish the imprudent maid flickered before her eyes.
A rare, intense emotional outburst from her daughter.
The queen murmured quietly, as if convincing herself.
"This is something that must be done."
She couldn't allow that tragedy to repeat.
On the day her beloved son died—the day her daughter's power had run rampant and wrought tragedy—the pope had said:
[Even though God bestowed His blessing, the father obstructed the great undertaking of the holy war. This is His wrath descending.]
[But we can soothe His wrath, Your Majesty. With our prayers and blessings, we can suppress the princess's power.]
God's blessing. The outburst of manifested talent.
The two siblings had adored each other terribly.
The prince and princess had never fought since childhood.
The prince always humored her pranks gently, and the princess followed her brother devotedly even as she acted spoiled.
Perhaps, as Escabaor said, this truly was divine wrath.
She still didn't know why Elaine, who had always wielded her power freely, suddenly lost control.
But as the pope claimed, the Holy Church's priests had indeed minimized the princess's power ever since.
She believed in God for one reason alone.
Because the pope had shown her the path.
The only path to prevent this cursed event from repeating.
But now, even that was no longer certain.
It had started with the appearance of one man.
"Central Officer..."
His name alone made her head throb.
The man tied to all of this.
He had confronted the pope head-on, yet was protected by God Himself.
And he was the recipient of every letter her daughter had sent.
The one she called her friend—Central Officer Nathan Kell.
'Everything went awry after that immigration officer showed up.'
Even her own faith.
She recalled the bizarre phenomenon from the trial.
[Pa—Paluva's bracelet...!]
The intervention that restored the saintess's holy power and stripped it from the pope.
There was still no word from the pope.
As if a con artist had fled the moment his scam was exposed.
He had cut off all contact even with the kingdom's priests, maintaining utter silence.
'Then what on earth am I supposed to believe?'
Staring into the roaring flames, Helena sank into doubt.
If God sided with the Central Officer and the saintess He Himself deposed, then what meaning did everything I'd done hold?
What were the pope's words and blessings?
A single word flashed through her mind.
'Meaningless.'
Vain effort. Wasted time. Pointless emotions.
The thought she least wanted to acknowledge crept up relentlessly.
- Creak.
She gripped her fan tightly.
"...It's too late to turn back now."
But it already was.
She had tried to kill the Central Officer. That was public knowledge.
She couldn't very well say now that God had chosen him, so help her. Forgiveness was even less likely.
The pope who had helped suppress the princess's power to the utmost had vanished, and her husband, Rio Castor, no longer shared her bed.
The king had regained his senses but had been secluded for days since the trial.
She only heard that he met solely with proxies and received endless documents from the intelligence department.
Everything was unraveling.
The fragile peace she had barely stitched together was coming undone.
Everything felt ominous.
To shake off the anxiety, she asked her retainer.
"How is the princess?"
My daughter.
My one remaining blood kin.
The child who killed my son.
The priest bowed deeply in response.
"We've cast the Blessing of Peace, so she should be fine for the time being."
"Are you certain?"
She could no longer trust them easily.
But they were the only ones she could rely on.
A sandcastle built on contradictions.
That was Helena's current standing.
"Give Elaine a blessing every two days from now on. Monitor her emotional state constantly."
A mix of emotions surged each time she uttered the name.
'But this is all for your sake.'
She had to think that way.
Otherwise, everything she'd done would lose all meaning.
That was when it happened.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
A minister's shout rippled through her already unsteady heart.
Helena snapped her fan open and replied irritably.
"What is it?"
But something was off.
The minister's face was ashen pale.
"The prin—Princess...!"
A foreboding premonition.
Helena prayed desperately that what came next wouldn't be that.
"Her power has started rampaging again!"
The tragedy was far from over.
"..."
When Princess Elaine was young, there was one fairy tale she always begged her brother to read to her.
The tale of "The Princess and the Dragon."
[The princess was trapped in a tower, captured by the dragon.]
[But the hero appeared, defeated the evil dragon, and set the princess free.]
'Why am I thinking of this now?'
At the very moment she'd finally steeled her resolve, her brother's fairy tale came to mind.
Elaine quietly bit her lip hard.
And soon, footsteps approached.
- Creak.
The door opened.
"Princess, it's time for your meal."
Just like yesterday, a new maid entered the room with a curt demeanor.
But this time was different.
Instead of staring at the fireplace, the princess fixed cold, piercing eyes on the maid.
"...Princess?"
She reached out her hand.
And clenched it in the air.
- Crack.
The maid was instantly seized by an invisible force and hoisted into the air.
"Kgh... Ack!!"
Her throat crushed, the maid thrashed wildly.
"P-Pri... cess...!!"
- Crunch.
She tightened her grip further.
'I hate you all.'
You who treat me like a monster and keep everyone away.
'I hate myself.'
Me, the root of all this.
I loathe myself for failing to protect even the most precious person while doing nothing.
I hate myself for just crying when my friend Hannah was dragged away.
'Mother too. Father too.'
The pity, love, and hatred in their eyes when they looked at me hurt so much.
I shouldn't have tried to understand Mother's tearful outbursts.
I shouldn't have felt Father's silent retreat.
'Even Brother.'
I wish you'd resented me instead of comforting me till the end, saying it was okay.
I wanted to protect you above all.
I thought this power existed for that very reason.
But I failed.
'Die, all of you.'
Her hand trembled.
Reality was nothing like a fairy tale.
No hero came to save her. There was no princess.
Only the dragon, trapped in its tower, raging at the world with cries of anguish.
And that dragon now yearned for freedom.
Freedom from life and the world.
Wishing for the tower to crumble completely.
And it would begin with this maid.
- Crunch.
Slowly, she tightened her grip on the throat even more.
But then,
"It... hurts...!"
The moment her eyes met the maid's—tears streaming as she struggled—her brother's image overlapped.
- Elaine... Brother's... fine...
"Eek...!"
Unknowingly, she released her grip.
- Thump!
The maid tumbled from the air to the floor.
"Cough, cough! Hngh, cough!"
Elaine looked down at her in bewilderment.
Despite steeling her heart so firmly.
A deep revulsion welled up from within.
'I... I...'
Is this what Brother wanted?
I don't know.
If I do this, won't I change into something else?
I don't know.
'But it feels like I'm about to cross an irreversible river.'
The thought struck her suddenly.
One more step forward from here, and she'd become a monster.
'...I'm not a monster.'
Even in rage, she was human.
She wanted to remain human.
So instead, Elaine swung her hand to the side.
In an instant, the massive door crumpled and hurtled into the wall.
- Boom!
With a deafening crash, brilliant sunlight flooded the room.
She turned and pointed down the corridor at the maid.
"Ah..."
'Get out.'
Before my heart changes.
The maid fled the room in terror.
And screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Th-the princess's power is rampaging!!!"
Elaine followed with determined steps.
- Step, step.
Leaving the dark room where she'd been confined for so long, toward the radiant light illuminating the corridor.
Soon, guards and servants appeared from far down the hall.
"Call the priests!"
"Inform the queen! Hurry!"
Voices thick with fear.
They stared at the princess in horror.
And one of them uttered the words he shouldn't have.
"Monster..."
The short word pierced her like a dagger.
"Ah..."
In that instant, Elaine felt it.
To them, she wasn't some pitiable soul.
She was nothing more than a monster kept chained.
'So that's how it is.'
Her heart shifted once more.
Not as a human, but as the dragon trapped in its tower.
'If that's what you fear...'
Then I'll become it.
She slowly extended her right hand forward.
And clenched it into a fist.
- Crack! Shatter!
With an eerie sound, the corridor's pillars began to crumble.
"M-My god...!"
"The spells—the Blessing of Peace isn't working!?"
"The palace is collapsing! Run, run!!"
The spells the priests had boasted of were useless.
Elaine had already become a coldly burning flame.
"Uh... Woo..."
No need for words anymore.
She didn't have to speak.
Just destroy everything and leave.
To a place no one could find.
'To a place with neither hope nor despair... to Brother's side...'
That was when it happened.
"No, Princess!!!"
A bold yet youthful shout rang in her ears.
A familiar voice.
"...Ah."
She turned slowly.
And saw.
"Haa, haa... You can't... do this..."
Her personal maid.
The girl who, unlike her, was always emotional and lively, always by her side.
The red-haired girl.
Hannah Meyer was panting as she stared at her.
And,
"Princess Elaine."
Another voice joined.
A calm yet weary male tone.
"...It's been a while."
Her friend.
Her sole understanding soul.
The man with black hair and black eyes.
"First time since we met at the royal mausoleum."
The Central Officer stood beside her.
He must have run full tilt—his clothes and hair disheveled, breathing ragged.
But it was unmistakably Nathan Kell, the man she'd seen before.
Two precious people.
The two she'd thought she'd never see again were now right before her.
"...Ah."
The strength drained gently from her hand.
The vibrations shaking the corridor slowly subsided.
Am I dreaming?
I don't know.
If this is a dream, I hope it never ends.
I want to forget the cruel reality and live forever in this moment.
The Central Officer spoke.
"No letters came no matter how long I waited, so I got worried and came."
There are no heroes in this heartless world.
But a friend did exist.