The Broken Ones
After the situation was finally settled, the atmosphere had calmed, and I sat in the chair, speaking.
"Then from now on... Shall we talk in earnest about how to place you on the throne as emperor."
This was to lay out concrete plans for the goals we had to achieve going forward.
"Why place me as emperor... Aren't you trying to reveal power on the surface?"
"Yes, I never cared about people's gazes to begin with... But I have no idea how to rule this country directly. On the other hand, you..."
"I received education to become emperor during the time I was a crown princess... Additionally, I have a justification that Dullahan doesn't have."
"The return of the crown princess who took on an unjust crime... That would make the empire's citizens less resistant... And since we have to deal with those bastards anyway, processing them under the emperor's name would be neat."
We continued the conversation under the assumption that Chris's honor would be restored and she would become the next emperor.
"Then, what is Dullahan's purpose in obtaining power? If it's just me as a slave... Even without power, you could handle the nobles."
"On the contrary, that's why power is needed. My goal is not just to kill them, but to drive them to the very bottom."
"Is the most horrific revenge. To plunge the other party into despair forever... I think our thoughts are somewhat similar."
"Well, you're not far behind me in dealing with the noble faction bastards. So, what do you want to do with those guys?"
"Well... I haven't thought about anything other than gaining power so far... Ah, I want to burn Louis Feld's eyeballs with my own hands."
"Just burning the eyeballs is enough? Cutting off limbs and repeating healing magic to revive them when they try to die?"
"...Haa"
While Dullahan and Chris discussed the disposal of their enemies in a harsh manner, Pelican glanced at the two and quietly sighed, but she couldn't blame them.
After all, the responsibility for this entire rotten world and its power structure lay with them.
'That is karma. They will only face the result of the hatred they themselves provoked. But...'
After these two complete their revenge, can they truly be happy?
The two people Pelican is looking at now are living exactly like living only with anger and hatred towards this world — very unstable structures.
They have steel-like hearts that can endure any pain on the surface, but inside, their situation is already rusty enough to completely collapse with just a small shock.
'For now, there's still time. It's still reversible... Let's watch.'
But I will never want Dullahan to fall, nor will I watch it quietly.
That's why I came such a long way. Thinking this, Pelican watched them with a bitter expression for now.
**
"First, before starting this story, I think I should tell Chris as well."
"...What?"
Before explaining that I had reincarnated as [Palette's Flower] and thus know the major events ahead, I need to explain what I did to her in the previous round.
So, I slowly told Chris the full story of her death, and she made a twisted expression when she heard it.
"So... The reason the hero party could kill me was because they had all the information about me. Because they already knew the history of this world."
"...Aren't you surprised? That this world is originally a story in a book, and that Karl and I are reincarnators."
After a life that has already ended has returned to the past, how can there be more surprises here? And... I don't resent you, Dullahan."
"...Why?"
The reason she could die so miserably was because I had told Karl's party every single detail of her life.
But when she said she didn't resent me, I had no choice but to be suspicious, and soon Chris explained the reason to me.
"According to what Dullahan said... In the end, I was destined to lose to the hero party and die without being able to do anything with Dullahan, right?"
"...That's right."
"My life has no meaning unless I succeed in revenge. I haven't felt like I've been living until now... So, it's fine."
"..."
"Instead, meeting you, Dullahan, and throwing away the predetermined fate... is better? It was quite bleak for me to do revenge alone..."
Only then could I understand her attitude. Chris was also living only for revenge against the crown prince and nobles, just like me.
So, she judged that it was better to boldly discard the attachment to the previous life where death was already scheduled, and team up with the closest path to the goal, herself.
Logically, there was nothing wrong with her thinking, but for some reason, my heart felt uneasy.
Is this truly right?
If it's just for revenge... Is it truly right to cooperate so cleanly with the previous her who killed her?
'...If it weren't right, I wouldn't have given up from the beginning.'
But the delusion that tormented Dullahan soon completely dissipated according to his own will.
'Don't doubt anything. This struggle for revenge between me and her... is never wrong.'
To myself who had already decided to live for revenge, whether it was right or wrong no longer mattered.
Even if I live only for revenge, who can say it's wrong?
If I live quietly without doing anything... Won't they just dirty this world forever by trampling on them?
So, I am doing the right thing. That... is for the people who suffered in the previous world...
Thinking this, Dullahan recalled the memory of someone who still vividly appeared in the fading memories.
'...Diane.'
Slowly recalling her name, I returned from sorrow and began explaining the plan for revenge.
"Two weeks from now, exchange students will enter the academy."
"Exchange students... Now that I think about it, I remember that at the end of March, students from other countries always came."
"And some of them will die. The reason is that they were sacrificed as sacrifices for 'Demon Incarnation'... It will be announced that way."
"...Ah! Now that I think about it, I think I heard about that story. At the time, I was busy and couldn't hear the details, but I heard that it almost led to war due to the aftermath of that incident."
"And the imperial family shifted the responsibility for this to some students who were at the scene at the time. The real culprit, however, escaped unscathed."
This event known to the public was just told as a horrific human sacrifice by demon worshippers, but it was different in reality.
"And even the imperial family knew all the ins and outs of this incident."
"...You knew all the ins and outs?"
"Yes. After all, these events were all a fabricated story to shift the responsibility for this incident to Elain, the president of Palette Academy."
Elain, the current president of Palette Academy, and her true identity was an elf, a legendary species that had lived for hundreds of years.
And she was a righteous being, befitting the elf race. Unlike this academy that had been dirtied to the point of ruin.
"No matter how much the empire's major power figures, it was impossible to control Elain, a being transcending humans at will."
"So, they got rid of her. They made up a plausible reason."
While students in the academy were dying as sacrifices to demon worshippers, what did the president do?
That was what they used to pull down the transcendent being they couldn't control from the academy.
And with her righteousness and valuing life, she took all responsibility herself and resigned from all positions at the academy.
"...But this time, such a thing won't happen. Because... the situation is completely different from then."
"Hmm, thinking about it, she was also a being who satisfied the regression conditions. She would have the memories of the past... and she would definitely try to dig into the truth of the incident."
"Maybe, Elain could notice the conspiracy of the imperial family and nobles. And then, we will approach her at the perfect timing.
Approaching her who was shocked by realizing the reality of the power figures of this empire and academy, and proposing their 'purification' work. That was our plan.
"Indeed... Nothing is more certain than getting the president's cooperation to remove the trash that has infiltrated the academy."
With that, we completed the first plan while promising the events of [Aftermath of the Incident] that would happen two weeks from now.
"First, we start with the academy. This will be the first step towards their destruction."
Everything was just action for the dead.
That was the only thing I and Chris, who had already been broken, could do and had to do.