Behind the Scenes (1)
With this, I must... protect it.
Two weeks had passed since that day, and in the situation where time had flowed by, Elain, the current principal of Palette Academy, slowly looked out and murmured.
In my previous life, without any chance to intervene at all, students died inside the academy, and she fell into despair, not leaving the world for 20 years while hiding in the forest.
But... when she suddenly lost consciousness and opened her eyes, she was wearing the academy clothes from that era 20 years ago that she had discarded.
"I still don't know how this happened... but it seems a chance has come to me once again."
And she was not a weak being who would miss such an opportunity... and she had also completed the investigation of the past two weeks.
Upon detecting such circumstances, she came to think that behind this incident... perhaps something related to this was happening inside the academy.
"I don't want to believe it's not the case... but one must always assume the worst-case scenario. I need to remember these."
Having said that, Elain slowly looked through the window of the principal's office at the exchange students entering this academy, and only strengthened her resolve.
Despite confessing to Professor Erina to some extent about this incident, in the end, she received no investigation for the past two weeks.
{Indeed, just as Master thought, nothing has happened yet.}
"Hah, up until now."
Hearing Pelican's words, Dullahan was in a situation as if these things were natural.
{Hmm... oddly enough. Didn't you say that person was in the battlefield? They must have been sensitive to death... yet they wouldn't do anything.}
Quietly listening to Pelican's outburst of thoughts, I soon saw the row of carriages entering the academy with a huge trumpet sound and slowly murmured.
"...From now on, a story unique to this world, different from the past, is about to begin."
In the original work, it was just an event that gave the opportunity for Karl and Princess Alice's close contact... but now, it was an opportunity to eliminate the empire's garbage that was eating away at the academy.
Through this incident, what I wanted to achieve was the downfall of the 'Beluan Duchy' that held the main positions in the academy.
And recruiting Elain, the principal who possessed considerable power and influence to confront the empire alone, as an ally, or at least turning her into a friendly neutral force.
After organizing such thoughts, I checked the back of a woman approaching the students' line, smiled slightly, and said.
"Already moving, huh. Yeah, you won't be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice... Then, I'll leave that side to you."
"Yes. Then I'll check if there are any suspicious movements."
I immediately told Chris, who had infiltrated the school wearing the same academy uniform, the following words, and she nodded quickly in response.
"By the way, Dullahan-nim, if you see any of Beluan's threads... can I do as I please?"
"Do as you like. I can handle the cleanup on my own, right?"
"Of course. I won't be blinded by revenge to that extent?"
In her words, a quiet anger lay deep inside. And the target was none other than the Beluan Duchy.
With those words, after Chris disappeared, Pelican spat out in a trembling voice.
{The nobles who tried to take over the academy are all nobles' files... Even if I didn't plan to exterminate them, they would have fallen within tens of years anyway?}
"No, they wouldn't fall. In any case... if you hadn't appeared, how would Karl have stopped it."
The entire content in this extra is, none other than the story after Karl defeated all the Demon Kings and became the greatest knight on the continent.
And only then, facing a Demon King who had deeply infiltrated the empire, he heard all the truth from her.
"You were deceived... The empire has already... reached a point of no return. To the nobles you protected so much."
With those words, she left him with all the memories of truth and met her death.
That was the end of Dianne, the human-born Demon King born through the contract with Pelican, who had become her current slave.
...And that meant the end of those who resisted against the corrupt rulers.
"...Dianne."
{There was a human who contracted with me... I've never heard this story? It doesn't exist in my memory...}
"It can't be helped. Unlike the original work, she lived a life completely twisted because of me."
If Dullahan Franz had just gone to the academy normally as in the original work, she wouldn't have died.
Thinking that, he slowly clenched his fist and muttered in a quiet voice.
"Meeting her... was the biggest mistake of my last two lives combined."
If I hadn't tried to save someone like me... if I had been a bit more indifferent to those around me... she wouldn't have died.
[I will definitely save you. So, please endure a little longer.]
If I had known that after those words, I would never see her again... I would have definitely held her.
But no matter how much I regretted, the past that had already passed could not be turned back. What I could know was only that there were traces of torture all over her dead body.
"From now on... six months. Within that, I will exterminate all the germs of the academy. Only that."
Before September when Dianne enters this academy, I must finish all revenge here. Only that.
With that, I and Pelican said nothing, and so I slowly started moving to begin this matter.
**
And who was watching this incident was not only Dullahan's group and Elain.
"Oppa... Did you have to do this much just because power was needed so much?"
It was Alice, the second princess, watching the line of exchange students with a guilty expression, as if she knew some of the truth of the incident.
Although at the time she had been trying to dig into this incident without knowing anything... upon hearing Luipeld's report, she could know that he was involved in this matter.
"Get out of this matter, this is just a process to govern the empire more efficiently."
"What does that mean... Students died for the empire?!"
"Politics is like that originally. To be a true monarch, you must know to sacrifice the small for the great. You won't understand."
The moment her kind older brother showed his first cold reaction, she realized that what she was facing was his true nature.
Clearly... this was an unjust act, and she had to stop it. However...
"All of this is for you and me. So, rule as a kind princess as usual. All blood will be stained by my hands..."
She could not stop her only Luipeld, who showed her a nearly crumbling appearance only for herself.
No... it would have been more appropriate to say that she deliberately did not stop it.
All of this... was something Luipeld did for them... and she had no choice but to follow such an older brother.
So, to convince herself, she hid behind Luipeld as a shield and avoided self-doubt in her actions.
"So... while doing such things... you were always by my side... wearing such a disgusting mask!!"
Rationalizing her own actions, Alice soon turned her gaze to a man chained with chains all over his body next to her.
"You... I thought you were a colleague for 20 years... it's unbearable..."
"How can you say such harsh words? I thought of you as a very precious colleague."
"...Even after doing such things, you thought I would be safe. How long do you think you can hide those facts!!"
"Still has the strength to speak... Calling yourself a hero. Well, that will disappear soon too."
At the end of Alice's words, it was the scene of Karl, Dullahan's only friend and hero, tied up, glaring at her.
"Even though you knew everything... not only ignoring it, but now wanting to stain the dirty blood yourself."
"Well, anyway, I'm already a bad person in your eyes, right? So... what can't I do?"
For Alice, above anyone else, only her family was precious.
It was her only brother Luipeld and her mother, the current empress of the empire, Sierra, who were the most precious to her.
"My older brother decided to become the highest emperor for me and my mother. So, as the only brother, I will only act for my older brother."
"Only brother... Crazy woman... Has the existence of my sister who was sacrificed to Luipeld been erased from memory!!"
For some reason, upon hearing Karl's words that seemed to know about Chris's incident, Alice put on a cold expression and responded to his words.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"...Even after doing such things, you thought you would be safe."
"Well, what then? Right now that you've done this to me... what can you do?"
She was positioned cunningly between the bystander and the perpetrator, and had completely transformed into the perpetrator.
'I must... stop it. I have to contact Dullahan and tell him this fact... but... please, reach out...!!'
And Karl, who contacted her and then got beaten, soon recalled the events from a few days ago and focused his mind as much as possible.
{Are you still alive?}
At that moment, Karl's mind heard a voice of salvation.
It was the voice of Pelican, the Demon God who had been the worst enemy for a while... and had contacted him a few days ago.