Chapter 206
Chapter 206
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Fragments of Memory (3)
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“Captain of the Princess's Guard, Veil Mikhail. I'll ask you one more time.”
Imperial knights encircled the collapsed imperial palace.
Their leader stepped forward silently into the center.
He walked quietly among the corpses of the first knight order captains to fall.
“Even now, if you surrender, I will acknowledge your martial prowess and bring you into the imperial knights.”
Tall stature and a manly build.
A blond man in a white uniform extended his hand.
“So, step aside and tell us the escape route of Princess Irina.”
Rozanna stared fixedly at the imperial knight order captain making the offer.
And she realized he was Richard, from Lea's Order of Light Knights.
Only then did she understand.
That this situation was the future.
“Assuming you do that, Emperor Leon will surely bestow great rewards.”
The news that Leon had become emperor.
Satisfied by this, Rozanna closed her eyes as if listening to a beautiful melody.
Her son becoming emperor, purging the princesses.
Destroying all the empire's alliances to revive her homeland, Ekina.
That vision shone brilliantly like a masterpiece painting.
However, at that moment.
「Ridiculous.」
As if mocking Rozanna's plan, the blood-soaked Veil opened his mouth.
「When I returned from the northern front as an official knight after earning merits, it was you who appointed me here.」
The princess's escort knight, blood dripping from his forehead.
He gave a hollow, bitter laugh.
「And now you tell me to side with the crown prince...?」
His lips were all swollen and stained black.
「Be honest. From the start, you attached me as guard to the princess you planned to purge soon and intended to kill us together, right?」
Veil straightened his waist in his torn uniform.
Then, he pointed his sword at Richard, who had switched from Lea's knights to the crown prince's side.
「You expect me to believe that now?」
Even after cutting down dozens of elite knights, the man's voice boomed strong.
At that resounding voice, the imperial knights hesitated.
Only their vice-captain, Richard, remained relaxed.
“Well... It seems serving as Irina's guard has left you quite dissatisfied.”
The guard of the discarded princess.
Knowing the hardships of that duty, Richard nodded.
“So, aren't we giving you a chance even now?”
The vice-captain's fierce blue eyes glinted.
Ten years later, Richard's gaze was no longer that of a knight but sly like a snake.
“As a final courtesy from a fellow knight order graduate.”
At his leisurely attitude, Veil wiped his forehead with the back of his sword hand.
Then, he slowly shook his head.
「No, that will never happen.」
In a life-or-death situation, anyone would kneel.
Yet, even with this last chance, he refused resolutely.
Rozanna watched this with interest.
「I fought my whole life on the northern front to become an official knight. But if that's the kind of promotion...」
At this time, the aura flowing over Veil's body was golden.
Rozanna stared blankly at how strong he was even before attaining grand aura.
「...if it's just being a puppet to kill an innocent princess...」
The auras gained from killing numerous swordmasters.
As they intertwined repeatedly, his mana began to shine like diamond.
She was witnessing the process of him ascending to grandmaster right before her eyes.
「I'd rather die honorably.」
The princess's guard raised his sword high.
Behind the raised sword, his black pupils held a bright light.
“Quite heroic for complaints from the discarded one.”
In truth, Richard knew too.
That Irina had done nothing wrong.
Even after the emperor's death, she had been pressured with curses and assassination attempts.
Yet, every time, Escort Captain Veil Mikhail had blocked them.
While other princesses couldn't endure the pressure and fled to their homelands or foreign countries.
Irina alone had all pressure blocked thanks to Veil.
Thus, she became a purge target instead, facing even greater danger.
Knowing this well, Richard gave a bitter smile.
“If only he were weaker, he might have survived by fleeing.”
Richard drew his greatsword.
Then, pointing it at Veil, he said.
“We'll break through. When I create an opening, you stab him with spears.”
The imperial knight captain believed only he, another swordmaster, could face him.
He stood at the front with his greatsword, expressionless.
「Come on, then...」
Veil gripped Irina's sword tightly.
Afterward, he confronted the charging imperial knights alone.
――――――!!
The two captains' swords clashed fiercely.
Sparks flew menacingly everywhere.
Veil was clearly covered in sword wounds, his uniform in tatters.
Yet.
He matched evenly with Richard, who was at full condition.
“How can you still have this much power...!!”
Richard gripped his sword with both hands, trying to block Veil's onslaught.
But the more their blades met.
The more he realized the miserable gap in their skills.
“Y-You bastard...!!”
He activated his own golden aura.
However, he soon realized.
“...!”
The knight from commoner origins he had so despised.
One of them had reached brilliant white aura.
The realm achieved by killing countless knights sent chills down his spine.
“P-Prepare the spears!!”
Richard swung his sword repeatedly, leaving afterimages.
Finally, he locked swords with Veil, restricting his movements.
“Now!!”
At the captain's command, the knights thrust their spears from behind.
「...!!」
Veil violently pushed away Richard's locked sword.
Then, he unleashed white sword energy, snapping the charging knights' spear tips.
With that overwhelming strength, some knights were flung into the air.
Rozanna watched the scene, her lips parting in awe.
“The power of the empire's strongest, absorbed while fighting for life and death... Yes, that was the secret....”
Veil, who had absorbed the power of all the empire's knight order captains she had recruited.
At his beast-like form, the imperial consort's heart pounded.
But.
「...!!」
No matter how strong, as a human, he couldn't break dozens of spears.
Some spears began piercing his battered body.
“His movements are slowing. Press harder!!”
Richard shouted loudly.
Feeling it was time to behead him himself, he grinned sinisterly.
The man whom even General Valderian and Camille couldn't defeat.
Excited at the thought of boasting he killed him personally, he raised his sword to the sky.
「Kuh...!!」
Veil, stabbed in the side, chest, and many places.
He mustered his last strength and lifted his head.
「It's not over yet...!!」
The escort captain didn't let go of his sword even impaled.
With superhuman mental fortitude, he gripped the sword again.
One hand on the hilt, the other on the blade.
Thus, he could wield it short and fast.
「You think I'll clear a path for scum like you!!」
“...!!”
Richard, who had raised his sword to the sky.
He tried to bring it down first to cleave him.
But already, red blood surged from his chest.
Richard's blue pupils shook madly at the crimson.
“C-Captain...!!”
The knights hesitated at the staggering Richard.
Then, Veil unleashed white sword energy repeatedly.
――――――!!
Numerous knights fell to the unexpected counterattack.
Claw-like sword marks tore them apart, littering the collapsing palace entrance.
“Retreat...!! Retreat for now!”
Richard's personal guard shouted loudly.
They barely dragged their gravely wounded captain out of the chaos.
Thick dust swirled.
Veil's figure vanished in it, leading to a momentary lull.
“...”
Rozanna slipped into the smoke during the gap.
She watched Veil staggering into the palace.
“Pitiful thing.”
The imperial consort gazed at the man riddled with wounds with sympathetic eyes.
His blue eyes resembled Lea's greatly.
“With such talent, yet unable to bloom.”
Rozanna thought of her relatives sent to the emperor out of fear of her power.
Thanks to them, the imperial consort often spent lonely times alone.
“To die here, all alone and lonely.”
The imperial consort exhaled deeply.
Placing a hand on her ample bosom, she watched Veil's end.
His back was utterly wretched.
However, the mana forged from the power of enemies he had slain shone brilliantly.
Rozanna stared at that ironic sight.
Finally, as Veil collapsed onto the vast palace floor, she gently closed her eyes.
“So that was the secret behind the power he showed in the arena.”
Rozanna fell silent humbly, as if in mourning.
However, soon feeling something off, she lifted her golden eyelids.
“Wait...”
If his power was gained here, it didn't make sense.
This was ten years in the future.
Yet, when they first met ten years ago, he had already used grand aura.
“With that power, did he... turn back time...?”
The empire's First Imperial Consort watched his deathbed with an incredulous expression.
At that moment.
“Veil...!!”
――――――.
Precarious footsteps.
With that sound, a graceful woman ran to him.
The empire's Second Imperial Princess, Irina.
The one thought to have fled had returned to Veil.
「Why did you come back...?」
In response to the escort captain's words, the princess seated his face on her lap.
With teary eyes, she answered.
“While fleeing, I thought about it countless times....”
Irina caressed his face.
Then, whispering.
“But in the world I'm trying to create....”
Finally, tears traced down her cheek.
The tear fell onto Veil's coldly rigid face.
“...I can't do without you....”
The thick smoke cleared, making Irina and Veil's figures clearer.
Her pure white dress was stained vivid red with blood.
A short dagger embedded in her abdomen.
Blood foam bubbled from within the dagger.
“Why...!”
Veil's voice, anguished for the first time in his life.
Startled by it, Rozanna's lips parted.
“How did you protect it...”
Then, as movement vanished completely from his hand.
Irina clasped her hands in prayer.
More desperately than anyone.
She, already dying from losing too much blood.
Her body touched Veil's fading grand aura.
At that moment.
“Ugh...!”
Brilliant light emanated beside the two.
“W-What's happening...?”
The empire's First Imperial Consort witnessed the miracle created by grand aura and the daughter of its possessor.
“Could it be... Was turning back time really possible?”
Rozanna tried desperately to keep her eyes open to witness the miracle.
But at the excessively brilliant light, she closed them briefly, then opened.
「――――――」
She felt the cold tile floor against her cheek.
「Had a good dream?」
A familiar voice.
At that voice, Rozanna slowly lifted her elegant eyelids.
“...!”
Soon, the imperial consort realized she was lying face-down on the Lustium waiting room floor.
“Ugh....”
A black-haired man straddling her waist.
Just moments ago, he had been like a wild fox with distant eyes, dying.
Now, he looked healthier than anyone.
“Lord Veil...? What's going on?”
Her arms bound tightly with his necktie.
For the first time in her life, the imperial consort was restrained by a man.
「That's what I want to ask.」
Straddling her, he thoroughly checked the knots on her arms.
Then, he got off her body.
「Whether Princess Lea or Consort... You're not just similar in appearance, it seems.」
He picked up the hourglass from the desk.
And stopped the falling sand with grand aura.
「An artifact that stops time. And even peeking into my memories with sorcery-.」
I grinned slyly with fox-like eyes.
Like the picture of a fox riding a lion on the tarot card.
「I let you do whatever, but thankfully you just watched quietly.」
Rozanna blinked her blue eyes through her disheveled golden hair.
She looked disheveled, like Lea just woken up.
“You mean... you knew all along...?”
She recalled Lea muttering in the past that her mother's hypnosis couldn't fail.
Honestly, without the cute mole under her lip and on her chest, they looked too alike.
“No way.... My homeland's treasure couldn't fail....」
「When we first met, did you think I couldn't counter simply because I was weak?」
I approached her slowly.
Then, knelt to match eye level.
「Far from it. I merely showed respect considering your high position.」
Rozanna swallowed deeply.
The mole under her lip twisted too.
“Then, why did you let me peek into your memories?”
As expected of the empire's First Imperial Consort.
Even cornered, she asked calmly, seeking knowledge.
“It could have been unpleasant, yet you deliberately showed me. Why?”
「....」
I looked down silently at the emperor's first wife.
Then, with a meaningful gaze, I parted my lips.
「Before that, I'd like your impressions of my memories first.」
“Impressions...?”
I stepped back from the tightly bound imperial consort.
Then, Rozanna lowered her lifted dress with her bound arms.
Thanks to that, her taut black stockings were hidden.
「You know there's no tampering in the memories, since I can't use sorcery like you, Consort.」
“Yes, I'm not particularly suspicious.”
「Then you must have realized I came from the future to the past.」
“...”
Rozanna couldn't answer that hastily.
Even if she saw the memories herself, it was too unrealistic.
“Yes, without that much backstory, your power wouldn't make sense.”
I nodded calmly.
Then, I emphasized the word 'backstory' she mentioned.
「Exactly. Everyone has their backstory.」
I walked slowly, avoiding her lavish dress spread on the floor.
Then, I stopped abruptly and asked her.
「Just as I have circumstances I can't tell others, have you ever thought His Majesty the Emperor might have secrets too?」
The emperor mentioned suddenly.
Rozanna showed displeasure at it.
“Why bring him up out of nowhere?”
「In the past, I heard His Majesty cruelly killed Your Highness's relatives before your eyes. That made you hate him.」
As her sad past was dredged up, Rozanna's eyes grew icy.
The waiting room's temperature felt strangely lower.
「But the His Majesty I met wasn't like that. He loved his children and truly worried about you, Consort.」
“Binding me doesn't stop your nonsense, Mikhail.”
Rozanna spoke in a chilling voice, as if she didn't want to hear it.
As if ready to freeze the entire space.
“Too far-fetched.”
「What an incredible magic power...!」
「It's not nonsense. If it were, why would I give Consort the leisure to show my memories?」
I approached her with serious eyes.
Kneeling, I said.
「You know the reason I grew strong. I want to tell you His Majesty has circumstances too unbelievable.」
I met Rozanna's eyes.
With a meaningful tone, I requested.
「So, let's have an honest conversation together. I'll help you.」
The empire's First Imperial Consort heard my words and momentarily scowled coldly.
“No.”
The gaze of the woman her homeland feared, who once swallowed the empire.
Any ordinary person would freeze at that look.
But perhaps because I'd already experienced it through her daughter.
I smiled brightly at Rozanna.
「If not, no choice.」
Like a sly fox.
「I'll have to drag you, still bound by my necktie, to the center of the arena.」
“What...?”
Rozanna let out a scoff of disbelief.
Her lip mole twisted along.
「I'll report that Consort entered a strange man's room, stopped time, and groped his body.」
I made a pitiful expression like a guard knight from a tragic novel.
Shaking the hourglass with a wistful smile.
「All a weak man like me can do is report it.」
“Ha....”
Rozanna let out an involuntary hollow laugh in disbelief.
Her chest mole shook with it.
“So strong in the arena, yet now so sly.”
The imperial consort shook her bound arms in frustration.
「Whether remembered as a consort unable to suppress youthful urges and seducing another man. Or having an honest talk with Emperor. It's up to you, Your Highness.」
I clasped my hands, tilting my head like a pitiable girl.
To the side of me who was a grandmaster moments ago, Rozanna said in a scary voice.
“Someday, I'll make you beg to let you live....”
The imperial consort exhaled deeply.
“Hoo....”
Then, she pondered why I was going this far.
After organizing her thoughts, she muttered quietly.
“Fine, untie this first.”
Rozanna politely extended her bound hands to me.
Her ample flesh beautifully gathered from clasped hands.
「A wise choice indeed.」
Only then did I grin widely and untie the necktie binding her.