The Tables Have Turned
On the way back to the Academy, I recalled my conversation with the Saintess and murmured to myself.
“She said I was living in pain....”
She was right. As time passed, my guilt only grew heavier. I kept telling myself I wanted to escape this situation, yet the moment real danger appeared I committed the sin without hesitation. That contradiction was rotting my mind from the inside, polluting my sense of self. I was barely holding on. One slip and I would shatter completely.
“Thanks to that, I almost made a mistake.”
When the Saintess realized who I was, burst out of the confessional, and grabbed the doorknob, I didn’t run. I simply stood there. If it was the Saintess, maybe she would understand. No—I convinced myself she would definitely understand and help me even after learning the truth. Beyond seeking forgiveness, I had shamelessly tried to force her to share this pain with me. It was truly ungrateful.
Suppose I confessed everything and she kept the secret. What if someone else later discovered the truth? If that cost her the position of Saintess, could I take responsibility? The answer was obviously no. I couldn’t even guarantee my own safety—how dare I talk about protecting anyone else?
“So I must never be found out.”
It had to remain a secret forever. I repeated the resolution several times in my mind, then suddenly sensed something wrong.
‘What is it?’
Not a single presence could be felt around me. Even for a deserted back alley, the silence was unnatural. Right then, as if answering my doubt, Regina stepped out from around the corner.
“What a coincidence. Running into each other in a place like this.”
“...What brings Your Highness to a place like this?”
“Why? Am I not allowed to come here?”
Regina’s eyes were openly hostile. I realized at once that the entire situation was her scheme.
‘I don’t understand.’
Our relationship was bad, but I couldn’t fathom why she felt the need to resort to such underhanded tactics. I decided not to drag things out.
“What business do you have with me?”
“Business?”
“Stop pretending. I doubt Your Highness wants to waste time either. Let’s get straight to the point.”
My blunt words sharpened her previously languid gaze. She twisted her lips into a smile.
“Ah… as expected, this really isn’t my style. Then I’ll ask directly. During the vacation, when you went home—what exactly did you do with Isis?”
“...During the vacation?”
“Yes. You were trapped in the snowy mountains, weren’t you? What did you do inside that hideout? Tell me!”
Her golden eyes burned with intensity. Those were not eyes of mere suspicion; they held unshakable conviction. Lying in front of them would be foolish.
That left two options: fight or flee. My choice naturally leaned toward the latter. Setting status aside, Regina’s level was nearly equal to Isis’s, making victory impossible without Hwasin-hwa or Rape Declaration. Taking on the risk would also create far too much cleanup.
‘I have to run after all.’
As I scanned for an escape route, Regina noticed and warned me.
“I suggest you abandon any thoughts of running. The moment you turn your back, my arrow will pierce your heart. Besides, this entire area is surrounded. Just answer my questions obediently.”
A bow made of flames had already formed in her hands. A blazing arrow nocked on the string gleamed with golden light.
“...And if I refuse to answer?”
“Then I’ll torment you until you’re on death’s door. Surely you don’t want that?”
The arrow she aimed slid from my heart down to my groin. She was threatening to castrate me.
‘This crazy bitch.’
I had planned to let it slide, but her attitude made it impossible to hold back my anger. The way she acted like she had already won was extremely irritating. I decided to play along.
“You’re curious what I did in the snowy mountains?”
“Yes. Tell me right—wait. What’s with that tone?”
“Why? You can speak casually, but I can’t?”
“You dare…”
Regina ground her teeth and released the string.
Bang!
The arrow broke the sound barrier instantly. The flame arrow shot forward, grazing my cheek before disappearing into the sky. I breathed a sigh of relief inside.
‘Good thing it’s fire attribute.’
If it had been any other element, I might have truly felt my life was in danger.
“Watch your mouth. One more time and the next arrow takes a limb.”
“...Understood.”
“So what did you do in the snowy mountains? Stop stalling and speak. No one’s coming to help you. And don’t even think about sending a signal. You’ll die if you do.”
It was absurd that she would say such things when she had never intended to let me live from the start. Still, I didn’t resist. The words about to leave my mouth would do the job for me.
“Your Highness. Did you know?”
“I told you not to spout useless nonsense!”
“Useless? This is about Isis.”
“...What?”
“Isis is surprisingly good at sucking cock. She has real talent. You didn’t know?”
I whispered with a vile smile. Regina’s eyes widened like saucers. Her whole body began to tremble.
“What… the hell are you saying.”
“You heard correctly. Inside the hideout, Isis sucked my cock. And that wasn’t all. She even offered her breasts. Do you know how soft they felt? I still remember it clearly.”
I made a vulgar grabbing motion in the air as if reliving the memory. Regina’s eyes grew increasingly bloodshot.
“By the way, I’m asking out of curiosity—does Your Highness love Isis?”
“......”
“No answer? Are you that shocked? But you already knew there was no hope for you. Still, I suppose you never imagined the person would turn out to be her younger brother, right? Puhaha!”
Honestly, even I hadn’t realized it at first. But after everything that had happened and the plan I carried out today, I finally understood that Regina harbored homosexual feelings for Isis. It had been nothing more than a hypothesis until a moment ago, but her current reaction made it certain.
When I burst into loud laughter, Regina’s body shook violently before her rage exploded.
“How dare you! How dare a filthy man like you touch Isis?! I’ll kill you! Die right now!!”
Baaaaang!
An arrow flew from Regina’s bow. Having predicted it, I leaped aside to dodge and declared.
RAPE DECLARATION
Target: Regina Solias
All stats multiplied by 7 due to the target’s extreme hatred and murderous intent.
Infinite power surged through me. As I adjusted to my changing body, Regina—who had just received the Rape Declaration—flushed crimson, then turned pale, her face twisting in fury. Her eyes burned with hatred and disgust far beyond simple anger.
“What? You’ll rape me? You filthy piece of trash. So you finally show your true colors. You must have raped Isis too. Violating your own blood relative? You have no right to live!!”
Bang!
Regina immediately drew and fired another arrow. The force was terrifying, but unfortunately the shot went wildly off target and flew into the sky. She was too agitated to account for her suddenly amplified physical abilities.
“Wh-what is this!”
Regina stared at her hands in confusion, clenching and unclenching her fingers to adapt to the new sensations. I gave her no breathing room and activated Moon Shadow Step.
Swish—
My proficiency had risen enough that my movements now rivaled Kain’s. Like a ghost I made no sound, advancing faster than a shadow.
Seeing this, Regina quickly leaped backward and drew her bow again.
“Die!”
Babababang!
Perhaps to reduce forward momentum, she switched to rapid fire, filling the air with countless flame arrows. The scene looked like a fireworks display.
With the mindset of threading through rain, I slipped through the gaps and knocked away the arrows I couldn’t avoid. The form was similar to my usual training, but the power was on an entirely different level. The training room’s mana orbs only required a touch, so matching speed had been enough. Regina’s arrows demanded real strength to deflect—and they were even faster. Comparing the two almost felt unfair.
Still, the saving grace was that an archer without a vanguard was vulnerable.
‘If I can just close the distance, I win.’
Regina wasn’t slow either; if she chose to flee with everything she had it would be troublesome. But I was certain the current her would never make that choice. To her, I was the worst scum alive—the man who had raped the person she loved.
“Die! Die! Dieeee!”
Regina attacked mindlessly. She made no effort to conserve stamina, driving me into a corner while exhausting herself at an alarming rate.
I smiled viciously and continued provoking her.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding. I didn’t force Isis to suck my cock. She offered first. She even said she’d do it by force if I refused.”
“Shut up! Shut your mouth! Isis would never do that!”
“Puhaha! What would you know about Isis? I’ve spent far more time with her than you have!”
“Don’t make me laugh! Even if the time is short, I know her far better than trash like you ever could. Isis isn’t that kind of person!!”
The provocation seemed to have struck perfectly. Regina screamed in anguish. She was doubting it herself—wondering whether Isis might have shown me a lewd side she had never seen, whether Isis had truly offered herself first. Because those thoughts refused to leave her head, her outward resistance grew even more violent.
Regina gnashed her teeth and compressed a terrifying flame before releasing it.
Screeeech!
The arrow flew in the shape of a phoenix. The power contained within was on a completely different scale from before. As a result, Regina’s openings were larger than ever.
“Perfect.”
With a triumphant smile, I charged straight into the phoenix instead of dodging. Regina laughed at the sight.
“Fool! Turn to ashes!”
Her face was filled with absolute certainty that I could never survive. Unfortunately for her, such an attack meant nothing to me.
‘Hwasin-hwa.’
I unraveled the Taegeuk coiled in my middle dantian. Two streams of flame swirled and instantly engulfed my entire body. The power to instantly annihilate the fake phoenix before my eyes stirred within me.
However, I did not use the flames.
‘I need to hide my Hwasin-hwa.’
There was no need to borrow the power of fire. My near-immune resistance could block it without significant damage. Finally I activated the Iron Wall Fortress to eliminate even the slightest possibility of harm and threw myself into the phoenix.
Whoosh!
Intense flames covered my entire body. The phoenix went berserk trying to tear into me, but it was first stopped by the Iron Wall Fortress and then by my powerful resistance, unable to exert any real force.
I finally broke through the phoenix.
“H-how…?”
Regina cried out in shock at the sight of me emerging from the flames. She shook her head in disbelief but instinctively aimed her bow. By then, however, I was already right in front of her.
“Hup!”
Kwaaaaang!
Sevenfold amplification from the Rape Declaration brought it to 1204. When factoring in the increased stat efficiency from my level, the punch carried a tremendous force equivalent to 2408.
Regina couldn’t withstand it at all. She flew backward like a toy and slammed into a building. Had she taken the hit without any protection, her body might have exploded. However, Regina was an imperial princess. The artifacts covering her body rendered the impact meaningless.
“I’ll kill you. I will definitely kill you!”
Regina stood up as if nothing had happened. She nervously ripped the buttons from her uniform and threw them aside before firing another arrow.
‘As expected, one hit won’t be enough.’
Regina was not a character who appeared often in the game. She only showed up in episodes involving Isis, so information on her was limited. But judging from her actions, every part of that uniform—every button and decoration—appeared to be an artifact. As expected of imperial blood.
The one advantage for me was that, perhaps because they never assumed royalty would fight directly, she possessed few combat-related artifacts. Of course, “few” did not mean zero.
“Dodge and get hit in moderation, damn it!”
Woooong!
Along with her shout, her necklace emitted a mana vibration. Tree roots burst from the ground and bound my feet for an instant. In that opening the arrow came flying.
Thud!
The arrow pierced straight through my flesh.