She Wasn't the Tyrant's Daughter, She Was the Tyrant Herself (1)
She Wasn't the Tyrant's Daughter, She Was the Tyrant Herself (1)
Before I knew it, twenty-two years had passed since I died in a hit-and-run accident and reincarnated into a fantasy world.
During that time, due to the single stigma of being a bastard, let alone being treated as proper royalty, I wasn't even treated like a human being.
Fortunately, whether it was given to me so I could adapt a bit better to this new world or not...
Thanks to obtaining quite a versatile set of abilities, finally today...
I could leave this damn kingdom and live quietly, dead as a mouse, at a quiet rural barony in the countryside.
'I can finally stop looking at the faces of those bastards whom I can't even bring myself to call a damn family.'
It was at that very moment, just as I packed all my bags and was about to zip up the bag.
Kkiik-!
Someone, as if it were the most natural thing in the world...
Opened the door without even asking for my permission and revealed themselves.
"Your family is urgently looking for you."
The identity of that arrogant person was—with my half-brother,
Enoch von Harden, the 1st Prince of the Harden Kingdom, as her backing—
one of the scumbags who had relentlessly tormented me like hunting a rat all these years:
the royal castle's head maid.
I blatantly ignored her as I spoke.
"I have already carried out every single task promised for five years. Are you trying to give me orders again?"
"......"
When I reacted with a sharp voice, the head maid's expression, which had been wearing a benevolent smile, completely turned cold.
Her eyes, which instantly sank cold, scanned me up and down.
"...It seems you've already forgotten your position just because I spoke a little nicely. Well... while you won't be able to speak arrogantly like that much longer, please do remember. Arendia is still the property of our royal family."
"......Fucking bitch, you really make things so damn fucking miserable right up to the moment I leave the royal castle."
I stood up in genuine fury.
Kicking away the bag placed at my feet, I headed straight out the room door.
As if she knew I would do that, the head maid followed behind me with an extremely arrogant smile.
On the way to the audience chamber.
'Honestly, if I had my way, I'd beat every single one of them to death.'
For the first time in a long while, I harbored a pure, emotionless killing intent.
Arendia.
The only maid in this hellish Harden Castle who treated me like a human being...
...and helped my younger self practice swordsmanship away from everyone's eyes.
As long as her name was held hostage, I had no choices whatsoever.
'Of course, this is the last time.'
If they try to bargain using Arendia one more time...
Even if I have to sacrifice everything I have, I will drag this kingdom straight into the fires of hell myself.
Making that vow, I opened the door to the audience chamber that I had arrived at before I realized it, and walked in.
Atop the dais, a man draped in a red cloak embroidered with extravagant gold thread was greeting me in an arrogant posture.
The human who gave birth to me... no, who dumped me out, and the King of the Harden Kingdom.
"You have come, my son."
"...As promised, I lent you the strength of a 6-star swordsman—the only one in the kingdom who reached it without any support—and brought immense profits to the kingdom for five years. Did you not promise to set me free after the war that ended two months ago?"
Taking a calm deep breath, I continued in a repressed voice.
"You even made a Mana Covenant."
"Yes, a Mana Covenant. A covenant does not speak falsehoods. However, does there not remain one tiny additional condition in that contract?"
As he lightly waved his hand, a contract created through magic soon revealed itself in midair.
There was a proviso clause written on it in very small, faint letters.
In the event that a critical threat hanging over the kingdom's survival remains...
It was a clause stating that the covenant would only be completed after performing the final mission of eliminating that threat.
In short, that means that despicable slick snake laid a trap in the contract as well.
"......"
Without realizing it, I slightly drew my sword.
I almost failed to contain my boiling disgust and rage, nearly shooting an aura blast to slice the king bastard in two.
Barely, truly barely taking another deep breath, I opened my mouth.
"Fine. Then what is that threat threatening the survival of this damn kingdom?"
"Kidnap the daughter of Kaidel, the tyrant—the master of the Berka Empire and the wild beast threatening our kingdom."
"......Ha!"
At such an absurd order, I let out a hollow laugh.
"I thought you were sly to a certain extent... but wasn't that concluded to be a groundless, wild rumor?"
Rumors that the tyrant had a hidden bloodline spread far and wide across the continent, but its reality had never once been proven.
However, as if the king had known I would ask such a question...
He pulled a letter from his breast pocket, showed it, and continued.
"It has already been confirmed as fact. And since she is said to be the spitting image of the Emperor, you will have no problem telling her apart either."
"......You've really properly made up your mind to do this, haven't you?"
"Arendia must be waiting for you quite a bit. If your task is delayed, the temperature of the dungeon she'll be staying in might drop a bit lower."
"Keuh...!!"
Pwudeudeuk—! Hwareuk!
This time was really dangerous.
The sword was drawn almost halfway out, and a flame of blue aura flickered briefly around my body.
Even so, since there was only one thing I could do in the current situation...
Struggling to take my hand off the hilt of the sword, I spat out a repressed voice.
"Fine. Instead, remember this one thing. If you start making excuses and pulling bullshit again this time, my sword will without fail target the heart of this kingdom—you."
Even though a killing intent so thick it was suffocating filled the audience chamber...
The man sitting on the throne actually clapped as if satisfied.
"As expected, you are a truly magnificent hunting dog, Ian."
"Do not speak that name with your mouth."
Leaving that disgusting praise behind my back, I exited the audience chamber.
The imperial palace, the heart of the empire, was shining brightly even in the darkness of the night, fitting its title as the sun of the continent.
The mana barrier surrounding the castle walls was dense like a spiderweb.
The movements of the imperial guard knights on patrol were regular without the slightest margin of error.
But no matter how impregnable the vigilance was, it was useless before me.
'Colorless and Odorless.'
One of the abilities I obtained as a reincarnation privilege.
Going beyond simply making my body invisible...
It was a cheat power that completely erased breathing, body temperature, heartbeat, and even mana fluctuations from the world's causality.
On top of that, when combined with the physical capabilities of a 6-star swordsman who ranked within the top ten in the entire continent...
The empire's proud high-level magic and sorcery arrays degenerated into mere annoying decorations.
I immediately scaled the castle wall and stepped on the shadows, infiltrating deep into the imperial palace.
And soon, I crossed the window frame of the most secret, hidden detached palace and landed on a soft carpet.
On the bed, under the faint moonlight, there was a young girl sleeping softly.
Light purple hair.
It matched the characteristics of the tyrant Karhen perfectly.
After taking out a magic tool emitting sleeping incense from my pocket and lighting it...
I slung the body of the unconscious girl over my shoulder and threw myself out the window.
'...That was easier than I thought.'
I felt bad for the young child, but... people had their own circumstances.
Running all night toward the border of Harden, I arrived at an abandoned cabin in a secluded forest.
And around the time dawn broke and sunlight seeped through the cracks in the window...
The fingers of the girl I had laid on the floor twitched.
Soon after, the young girl's two eyes opened.
Seureureuk.
Crimson eyes deeper than blood looked around the room for a long moment, then soon turned toward me.
"......"
"......"
What's this?
If it were a kidnapped 14-year-old kid, it would be normal to scream, tremble, or burst into tears.
However, the girl in front of my eyes was far too calm.
Lightly dusting off the dirt on the floor as she slowly got up, she rested her head on her arms and stared intently up at me.
No matter how I looked at it, rather than being scared... should I say she was excited to have found a very interesting toy?
Whatever it was, she was so calm that it couldn't be seen as the reaction of a kidnapped child.
And seeing that appearance, I felt it instinctively.
That the girl in front of me was no ordinary royal.
'Something has gone horribly wrong.'
Judgment was fast, and action was even faster.
A cheat ability that could only be used ten times in a lifetime, drawn out only at the most crucial moments after reincarnation.
Having already consumed five charges, a final trump card of which only half remained.
'Observer's Eye.'
As I activated that trait which had saved my life multiple times up until now...
Translucent blue screens floated up one after another before my eyes.
[Name: Karhen Eirn Berka]
[Age: 24 years old (Physical age: 14 years old)]
[Occupation: Emperor of the Berka Empire]
[Status: Curse of Eternal Childhood (Active)]
[Special Note: Extremely astonished by the fact that she was kidnapped; finds her kidnapper highly intriguing. Currently gauging the target's ability.]
"......"
Having read all the information, I froze solid right then and there.
The girl in front of my eyes wasn't the tyrant's daughter... She was the continent's strongest monster and the very person called the tyrant of the Berka Empire.