Abnormal Alliance (1)
"You... what exactly are you...!"
Soon after, Chris was dragged to the corner of the banquet hall by Dullahan's hand, released from his grip, and immediately unleashed a fierce killing intent while snarling at the man before her.
'He said he'd do it again... But how?'
With the question of how the man in front of her knew she had died in her previous life, she slowly observed his appearance and tried to infer his identity.
"Even if you look at it that way, it's useless. After all, I'm a person you don't remember."
"... You, what is your identity. How do you know my past...!"
Still glaring at her with extreme caution, I slowly told her the truth.
"It's because you were reborn thanks to me."
"W-what...?"
{······Master, that wasn't me, was it?}
'Because I rewound time to meet you again, it's because of me.'
{Th-that's right? Anyway... If I see any nonsense, I'll eliminate it right away.}
Chris, who heard my words, immediately showed a shocked expression and stared blankly at herself, and Pelican, who was listening to it in the form of a gem, immediately expressed her intention to warn Chris.
Hearing their reactions, I slowly began to judge the value of the woman in front of me.
'Chris... no, Chris von Philias, the First Princess of the Empire. The half-sister born from the relationship between the current Emperor Maximius and a commoner mother...'
She lost her mother and two eyes to her half-brother, the current Crown Prince.
She also created the Black Dawn organization to overthrow the imperial family, which was none other than the result of her half-brother, the First Prince Luipeld von Philias, and the current Empress's enemy.
'Although she was born from a slave mother... She showed tremendous talent from childhood and finally received recognition as a princess and rose to the position of next Crown Princess.'
However, her rapid rise was soon followed by a tragedy centered around her half-brother, the Crown Prince, and the Empress, led by the noble faction.
Specifically, the nobles' slander and the assassination attempt on the current Emperor Maximius, which was the most decisive factor.
It was, of course, the nobles' plan to turn Chris into a traitor from the royal family... and of course, in the assassination attempt they committed, evidence that Chris was involved was soon discovered.
'And they... mobilized all political power to incite Chris and her mother to be seen as witches, and charged them with crimes.
In the process, Chris, who had been tortured by the nobles, had her eyes burned by magic thanks to Luipeld, and her mother had her legs cut off.
Originally, with the manipulated evidence, Chris and her mother were supposed to be sentenced to death and disappear from the world without a trace.
However, the variable they didn't expect was that Chris's mother was truly the strongest black mage ever called [Black Magic] in history.
So, her mother used all her life force and power to escape Chris from the palace.
'Our daughter... Mom is sorry... Live without being caught by them... I'm sorry.'
So, the princess who was capable but naive became a true black mage who devoted everything to revenge after that day.
'I'm sorry, Mom. I don't think I can fulfill that request."
Later, when Chris faced her mother, who was buried in the cemetery under Maximius's mercy, for the first and last time, she vowed revenge against Luipeld and the nobles.
After that, she gathered black mages who were in similar situations and created the Black Dawn organization to destroy their order.
'This is the truth about her and Black Dawn. Of course... Karl didn't know about that fact.'
{What? Clearly... Those facts weren't in the original work, were they? The hero was definitely a reincarnator, right?}
'That guy just read the main story. All this content was written in the side stories.'
However, in the main story, the death of that princess was set as just another obstacle for Karl's success. The tragedy of Chris and her mother was forgotten forever.
If even those side stories hadn't come out, her tragedy would have been remembered only as a villain by anyone.
'Of course... In the end, I, who knew all those facts, chose to help her and then discard her.'
Perhaps, it was me, who had suffered persecution due to power more than anyone else, who drove her into death, who was in the most similar situation to me.
At that time, I had already lost my emotions and was just proceeding with the story as in the original work, indifferent to anything.
In the end, Karl, who was connected to Alice, had no choice but to fight Chris... and in that situation, I chose to help my friend Karl.
{So, what do you plan to do this time?}
At the moment when I was recalling the past memories related to Chris, I presented the answer I had already decided to the Chris in front of me in response to Pelican's question.
"Chris von Philias, the former First Princess of the Empire and current leader of Black Dawn, who was slandered by the nobles and lost her eyes to the Crown Prince."
"...!"
"You must be curious how I know this fact. But... it's not the time to care about that now, is it?"
So saying that, I slowly began to observe her reaction. As expected, Chris showed surprise at first, but soon regained composure.
Despite me revealing all the secrets about her that she didn't know, she had calmed her agitation and showed her initial caution towards me.
'She's usable.'
That was my overall evaluation of her.
She was a bit weaker than Pelican but could use quite powerful black magic, and she was a leader leading those who use black magic.
Moreover, my and Chris's goals had some overlap, so I needed to redefine my relationship with her in this life.
"I know why you came here. You wanted to eliminate the hero party that killed you."
"... So? Are you planning to capture me and show it to Luipeld to take a seat? I'll tell you in advance, I will kill you all right away...
"Die? Then go ahead and try."
"... "
I just looked at her with a nonchalant expression, mocking her bold words.
Then Chris gritted her teeth again, with a hateful expression, and muttered coldly while looking at me.
"Y-you... bastard...
"Thinking about it now, you can't do it? Even if you kill the Crown Prince here...
"Your revenge won't end with that."
"... "
"At the very least, you need to completely exterminate the nobles... You can call it true revenge. Right?"
"... "
"What do you want from me."
After I said that, she finally realized my other intention and said quietly to me with a calm expression.
Seeing that, I smiled faintly and slowly approached her, leaned close to her ear, and whispered.
"I can help you become Emperor."
"Ha... There's a bigger bastard than me here... Who are you exactly?"
Chris laughed in disbelief and slowly asked me about my identity again, and I slowly smiled and said to her.
"... The strongest human ever contributed by the Demon God, Dullahan Franz."
"Demon God... Is that a legendary being? Are you telling me to believe that?"
After I said that, she started doubting my words again, and I coldly spat back, mocking her intention.
"It seems like you're mistaken... It's not about whether you believe my words or not, but about how to satisfy me."
"Hearing that I regressed suddenly is already unbelievable, and you're picking out more and more nonsense. Do you think I'll keep listening to that nonsense?"
"Since you've already exposed your identity to me, I won't capture you here... No, I don't need to capture you. Even if you die for the Crown Prince, you're meaningless."
And to her who again expressed caution to my words, I began to force my words on her by explaining her current reality.
"I don't care if you don't exist. The only difference is whether the imperial family is included in what I eliminate or not."
"... "
"Rather, if I capture you here, I can at least gain some trust from the Crown Prince. That's not a bad situation for me."
"... "
"You bastard."
And Chris, who realized the situation, spat curses at me, but her attack intent towards me had long been dropped.
Looking at her, I continued my 'proposal' to her.
"You, who have a grudge against the Crown Prince and the nobles, and I, who have a grudge against the corrupt power class that wielded all power over me before."
"... "
"Both of us... are abandoned by the world in the same way, but isn't it okay to cooperate at least once in this life?"
"Cooperation? It's going to freeze to death... It's obvious that you're going to command me from above... Is this cooperation?!"
"Then, won't you? I don't care if you exist or not?"
"... You bastard."
In the end, Chris grabbed my hand with an annoyed expression and clenched it, and thus our abnormal alliance relationship was established.