Kindling the Embers
Blood, light, and violet mana collided, shaking the earth itself.
The Witch unleashed overwhelming dark magic, crushing the ranks of the subjugation force.
Yet they pressed forward.
They cleaved through the violet waves of dark magic that surged in to swallow them whole, dodged the razor-sharp dark magic bullets that streaked toward them, and smashed the newly summoned golems and giants to rubble.
No matter how fiercely they fought, the dark magic never ceased. The battle between the subjugation force and the Witch stretched on and on.
The wicked Witch smiled coldly and raised both hands high.
"You fools... Behold this body's true power."
In an instant a dark-purple pillar stabbed into the heavens.
The Witch's dark magic crashed across the battlefield; the entire knight order collapsed as one, and the air grew so heavy it felt as though lungs would burst.
"Guh...! At this rate...!"
Lindel gritted her teeth.
In that moment I endured the crushing pressure that threatened to pulverize me at any second and forced myself forward.
My steps faltered, yet my eyes never wavered.
"For Mister's sake... I can stake everything I have!!"
The white sword erupted with light.
That radiance spilled beyond the blade and wrapped my entire body; with every step I took, monsters screamed and crumbled to dust.
"Seria! You take the center!!"
Uldgar roared.
"I'll focus all my magic on the Hero!"
Lindel fused dozens of magic circles into one and sent the combined power surging toward me.
"May the grace of the gods descend upon the Hero!!"
As Marian's holy power reached its peak, a dazzling light enveloped my body.
The strength of three comrades and the battle cries of hundreds of warriors poured into the red-eyed Hero.
I roared.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
Black lightning and white light collided; the battlefield exploded.
The violet barrier tore apart, and the Witch screamed as she staggered backward.
"Th-This can't be!! A mere human...!!"
"Because of the likes of you, Mister Raon...! I will never forgive you!!"
The white sword blazed one final time and drove straight through the Witch's chest.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
The dark-magic barrier burst open; the fortress crumbled.
The Witch's body scattered into black smoke amid her dying screams.
In that instant—
the twisted sky slowly brightened.
Dark-purple clouds dispersed, and through the rifts the blue heavens reappeared.
White sunlight settled gently over the battlefield.
The subjugation force fell to their knees and wailed.
"The Witch... has fallen!!"
"We wonnnnnnn!!"
In the light I sank to my knees.
The white sword in my hand still glowed faintly, yet tears welled in my eyes.
The sky reclaimed its original color.
"Can I finally meet him now? Mister Raon?"
The heavy doors of the royal palace swung open.
Victory cheers still rang through every corner of the city, yet my footsteps felt leaden as I walked toward the throne.
Queen Aurelia, draped in splendid robes, was already waiting.
She offered a faint smile and idly swirled the golden goblet in her hand.
"You've returned, Hero."
"As promised... I have defeated the Witch."
I drove my sword point-down into the floor and continued in a trembling voice.
"Now release Mister Raon."
The Queen let out a soft snicker at those words.
Her sapphire eyes narrowed with playful malice.
"You mean Han Raon?"
"Yes. You said it yourself. Kill the Witch and you would pardon his crimes and set him free."
A brief silence.
Then the Queen set her goblet down, slowly crossed her legs, and propped her chin on one hand.
Her smile grew sly, then twisted into something far more sinister.
"Ahh, well... I will free him, of course. But I'm afraid things have changed a bit since then."
"What...?"
"That man, Han Raon... is already scheduled to become my husband. A grand wedding is planned for one week from now."
My heart plummeted as if it had stopped beating.
"Mar...riage...?
What on earth are you talking about...?"
I forced the words out through a mind gone blank white.
"You... you promised. If I obeyed you and defeated the Witch... you would free Mister..."
"Puhuhuhuhu—! Freeing him from solitary confinement still counts, doesn't it? I haven't broken my promise."
The Queen rubbed her lips with a fingertip and giggled.
"You were nothing more than a tool to eliminate the Witch who threatened our kingdom. That man you so desperately sought? He will soon be mine—whether he wants it or not.
The real reason I didn't execute a state traitor on the spot?
His face... was simply too handsome. Yes. Exactly my type. And those eyes that refused to look away from mine... they set me on fire."
"W...what?"
"When none of the men proposing to me pleased me... I decided to marry him instead of killing him and locked him away. Understand now, you stupid Hero?
I'm about to miss my marriageable years... so of course I'll marry that cute, handsome man."
She took a sip of the crimson liquid in her golden goblet.
"Looking back, I fell for him at first sight. That beautiful face I saw when they dragged him into the courtroom. Ah, my standards rose so high that every suitor afterward left me cold."
"Mister Raon is not your toy!!!"
I screamed until my throat felt ready to tear.
Tears streamed down my face.
"Why? Isn't it wonderful? I'm filthy rich and a queen—he'll live in luxury for the rest of his life.
On the bed he'll be pinned under me, panting and getting hard down there, right? Puhuhuhuhu...♡"
"You... you disgusting—"
The Queen's expression turned ice-cold.
"You're the disgusting one, Hero.
Falling in love with the man who cared for you like a father when you were a child? There's more than a ten-year age gap, isn't there?
Does he even like you in the first place? He spent over a decade rotting in prison just to protect you."
"...!"
"Well... at the very least he doesn't like you. He must hate you fiercely. He might even have a fit the moment he sees you. He probably spent every day in that cell regretting that he ever shielded you.
Even after he marries me, I'll never let him meet you. Because that man will despise you.
If it hadn't been for you, he would have been far—"
"No! No! No no no no!!!!"
I lost all reason and screamed.
"That's... that's... that's... absolutely not true—"
"That man hates you."
Thud.
The Queen's flat declaration crushed my heart.
"An unchanging fact. He must be filled with hatred for you. Puhuhuhuhu—"
At Uldgar's house the leaders of the subjugation force—myself, Uldgar, Lindel, and Marian—had gathered for a small drinking party.
After hearing my story, Lindel and Marian raised their voices in fury.
"What?? The Mister Raon that Hero Seria loves so much?!"
Lindel cried out, clearly shaken.
"That's absurd. Hero, you still carry that coat every day and caress the embroidery he stitched for you!"
Marian slammed the table, equally outraged.
"That can't be!! Do you know how much Seria loves that man...!"
"Exactly! I'm so angry I can hardly—"
"Hic... sob... hic..."
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
The lively atmosphere froze in an instant.
"Sob... Does Mister... resent me...?"
"No! Absolutely not! Even if he did, we must stop that forced marriage to that trash Queen Aurelia...!"
"Precisely! If the gods saw him wed to that woman, they would clutch their necks and collapse...!"
I gulped down the strong liquor.
"Pwah— hah... From now on, both of you drop the formal speech with me. We already killed the Witch."
Lindel and Marian were older than I, yet they had always spoken to me with the utmost respect—out of courtesy toward the Hero, they claimed.
"I cannot...! Hero Seria Luciel will forever remain my Hero...!"
"That's right! Even after the war with the Witch ended, Seria will always be the courageous, powerful Hero I revere!"
The liquor in my cup was neither bitter nor sweet.
It simply slid down my throat and filled my insides with heat.
"But... it's all over now."
My voice trembled, soaked in alcohol.
"To save Mister Raon... I obediently followed every word of that vermin of a queen who cut off his legs and decreed the slaughter of all red-eyed people. For five whole years. I suffered like a dog, covered myself in blood... and even saved the world."
My breath caught. The tip of my throat burned.
"All of it... was for Mister Raon. And yet... and yet..."
I laughed hollowly.
The cup in my hand shook so hard that liquor spilled over the rim.
"It's finished. Mister, the promise—everything is finished.
I have no reason left to live.
Every night I swore to myself that I would free him no matter what..."
Despair slowly, yet thoroughly, swallowed my entire body as if mocking me.
Even a single drop of spilled liquor on the floor looked heavier than my heart.
That was the moment.
Thud—!
Uldgar's thick hand slammed his cup onto the table.
The wooden surface shuddered; liquor leaped into the air.
"Seria."
A deep, hoarse voice.
Uldgar broke the silence for the first time.
His bloodshot eyes pinned me in place.
"I've never spoken of myself before.
Hmm... Five years ago, when the queen decreed that every red-eyed person must die—"
Uldgar stroked his graying beard and continued.
"My only son, eight years old, had red eyes."
"What?"
"Yes. Red eyes just like yours.
The precious boy I loved more than anything in the world was brutally executed simply because of the color of his eyes. And my wife, trying to protect him, was branded a traitor and executed alongside him.
Just like that... I was left alone."
Uldgar's hand clenched the cup so hard it seemed ready to shatter.
"The reason I joined the Witch subjugation force and fought like a madman for five years... was because I wanted to see the Witch with my own eyes. To know if she truly had red eyes.
But the moment I saw that her eyes were black... I couldn't stop the tears.
I realized that the deaths of my only son and my wife... had been nothing more than the prejudice of fools."
Uldgar drained his cup in great gulps, then slammed it down again.
"Are you going to end this on your knees, still obeying that bitch queen's dog-like orders?"
His voice was as heavy as iron.
"If you want that man Raon so badly... then protect him. Snatch him away.
If it enrages you that the world you saved has fallen beneath that woman's feet— then stage a coup. Overturn the throne."
The drinking party fell utterly silent.
Lindel and Marian held their breath, listening to every word.
My heart pounded violently.
I had thought the flame had died completely, yet Uldgar's single sentence rekindled the embers.
"A coup..."
That word became the spark that set my heart ablaze once more.