Everything Was Just a Game
"This is..." Rotten, who had recalled the past he remembered, could not hide his shock at the contents of the video. Arian Liberin, who had been freed from Terenity's magic power, also covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide with horror.
"S-Seo Moon-jin. Is this video real?"
"Yeah. It's real."
The truth contained within was far too horrifying.
* * *
After Rotten disappeared, Ijina had been determined to find him somehow, apologize, and accept whatever price he demanded. If he wanted, she was willing to offer her own life, and she had even resolved to accept being carved apart and killed by him. Yet no matter how hard she searched, she could not find his whereabouts. She even began to worry that he might have committed suicide, unable to bear the grief of losing his entire family.
Although she had done it to save countless lives, the fact that she had unknowingly sacrificed the family of her childhood friend left her feeling as though she were alive in name only. Even when her daughter, Queen Laura, came to comfort her, Ijina's heart would not ease.
Then, one day, Rotten contacted her. He said he had something to discuss and wanted to meet alone.
'Rotten!'
Ijina went to him immediately, only to be stabbed in the abdomen by a dagger he wielded. Having entered Aeternum Somnium, he had intended not only to take revenge on her but to destroy the entire Restan Ducal House. Queen Laura, her daughter, happened to be staying there after visiting her family home for a few days. It seemed they had been waiting for that exact moment.
"Rotten..."
Even as blood spilled from her lips, she called his name. Yet he dragged her, still held captive, all the way to the Restan Ducal House and forced her to witness the current tragedy unfolding before her eyes. Screams echoed from every corner of the Restan estate. It was a massacre carried out by Aeternum Somnium members.
"How does it feel, Ijina?"
Staring at the scene of carnage, Ijina wept even as blood trickled from her mouth. Overwhelmed by guilt and despair at the thought that this entire tragedy had begun because of her, she still cried out.
"Why? Why do even those people have to die? What did they ever do to deserve this?!"
Ijina sobbed and shouted at Rotten, but he gave no reply. He simply ignored her as though he could not hear. Shocked that he had fallen so far, Ijina felt her heart twist.
'It's all... because of me...'
She wished she had died instead. If she had, perhaps Rotten would never have committed this merciless slaughter of everyone in the Restan Ducal House right before her eyes. The thought crossed her mind.
"Please... Rotten... those people have nothing to do with this! Please, just direct your anger at me... at me alone! Stop this now! Please..."
She begged him to vent his rage only on her, since the people of the Restan Ducal House were innocent. Yet Rotten remained silent, as if he had not heard a word.
"How does it feel, Ijina?"
Finally, he spoke—but it was not an answer to her plea. It was merely a question about her impression of the scene.
And then, at last, an even more horrific situation descended upon Ijina.
"Aaaah!"
Queen Laura—her daughter—was screaming in agony. Villains had mounted her, their filthy breaths audible. Forced to watch her daughter being violated, Ijina pleaded once more.
"Rotten! Laura has nothing to do with this! Why?! I was wrong! It's all my fault! But please... save Laura!"
"I am no longer a knight of the Liberin Kingdom. There is no longer any reason for me to stop them or save her."
At those words, Ijina screamed in despair. The realization that her own unknown sin had brought suffering upon everyone she held dear drove her to the brink of madness. Perhaps she had already gone mad.
"Aaaaaah! Why?! Why?! Because of my mistake... what sin did those people commit to deserve such pain?! Just... just do it to me! Torture me! Make me suffer! Kill me!"
As she wailed, Rotten's gaze turned toward her. Ijina felt a chill run down her spine at the ominous magic power radiating from his entire body.
[Would his thirst for revenge be satisfied with that?]
A strange voice emerged from Rotten's mouth. Realizing he was no longer himself, Ijina spoke with a hardened expression.
"Who... are you?"
[Ijina. To save countless people from the mana bomb's explosion, you drove the blast toward the center. But was it truly a coincidence that the Bendision family members who had not evacuated were there?]
"What?"
[Haha. Since you're going to die anyway, I'll tell you the truth. That day, the explosion you gathered at the center killed the Bendision family, but it was I who sent them there from their originally safe location.]
"?!"
Ijina's eyes widened at the shocking truth she had never imagined. Then...?
[And Rotten here had no idea about that fact. It was quite easy to manipulate this fellow by stirring his desire for revenge and driving him into this rampage. Quite an amusing puppet, isn't he?]
Even as the mockery rang out clearly, Ijina's mind raced. Everything had been a conspiracy, a trap. Rotten Bendision's true enemy was not her. She had not killed the people of the Bendision family. Her childhood friend was being deceived and used by this unknown, malevolent existence!
"Rotten! Can you hear me?"
Ijina urgently called out to Rotten Bendision. If he came to his senses, this manipulated tragedy could end. Thinking this, she shouted in haste as his gaze seemed to return to normal.
"Rotten! Please, just listen for a moment..."
But Rotten Bendision's hand seized her throat, cutting off her words. Even as she struggled in suffocating pain, Ijina desperately tried to convey everything to him. Yet with his other hand, he twisted the neck of Queen Laura, who was still being violated, and killed her.
'Laura!'
Watching her own daughter die, Ijina's face twisted in agony. She cursed the entire situation—not only Rotten Bendision's wrong choice, but the unknown evil existence that had orchestrated everything and toyed with them.
"It seems you finally understand how I feel."
As he spoke, Rotten Bendision's blade pierced her neck. Ijina slowly died.
'No... I have to tell him the truth somehow...'
She could never forgive the things Rotten Bendision had done. But at the very least, she had to tell her childhood friend the truth—that he was being deceived. He could not be fooled by that evil existence any longer.
'If only... I had kept talking back then...'
If she had corrected things from the beginning, perhaps everything would have turned out differently. Regret washed over her. But it was already too late. With that thought, Ijina's consciousness faded.
* * *
"Terenity's magic power had been preventing you from feeling any sense of wrongness. It also guided you with occasional suggestions and made sure you couldn't hear Ijina's words at the critical moment."
At my explanation, Rotten Bendision wore a dazed, shocked expression. His revenge had been entirely manipulated, and he had unleashed it in the wrong place. As a result, his hands were stained with the blood of innocents.
"This can't be... Then my revenge..."
Rotten Bendision realized that everything he had done was a massacre of innocent people. Instead of his true enemy, he had been led astray by trivial manipulations and had killed his childhood friend Ijina, along with Queen Laura and the innocent people of the Restan Ducal House. He was both a victim who had become a perpetrator and someone who had been used. But that was no excuse to defend him.
"Although Terenity's magic power hid part of the truth, it was your own will that chose revenge. You must bear the consequences."
Arian Liberin no longer had any reason to suffer from guilt as she had in the original story. She had escaped the guilt that tormented her and now stood in the position of an innocent victim. And I stood in the position of her savior—not only by saving her life, but by uncovering the truth and freeing her from the guilt and responsibility that had plagued her. Everything had gone according to plan.
"Arian, I'll leave him to you. Whether you kill him or spare him is your decision. You're the one who lost your mother, grandmother, and the rest of your maternal family because of this man."
I deliberately emphasized the word "victim" as I spoke, then retrieved a sword from my dimensional storage and handed it to her. Arian Liberin's expression trembled slightly as she accepted the blade. She must still be confused. Because of her grandmother's mistake, innocent people had died, and her maternal family had been dragged into the resulting revenge and wiped out. Not long after learning that, it was revealed that the people of the Restan Ducal House and Ijina, whom Rotten Bendision had killed, were also innocent. Yet the fact that Ijina was innocent was still unknown even to the Liberin royal family.
"Is all of this true?"
"Yeah. This video stone was in the possession of the Aeternum Somnium organization. They probably intended to mock you once you learned the full truth in the end."
In truth, I had created it, but it was also true that the Aeternum Somnium organization had possessed it. I had captured one of their members, had Satan hand it over to him, then taken it back and given it to myself. So it wasn't a lie. Above all, the contents of the video were all true.
"I don't want to believe it. But... the memories that had been cut off... now that I've seen the video, they're slowly coming back..."
Terenity had only temporarily obscured Rotten's memories, not erased them completely. This had been a scheme to make him realize the full truth at the very last moment. But even if he was a puppet, the time had come for him to pay the price for the sins he had committed of his own will.
"Rotten Bendision."
Arian Liberin stood with her sword raised, her expression filled with firm resolve.
"As the princess of the Liberin Kingdom, I will execute you—the mastermind behind the assassination of the queen, the murder of the Duke and Duchess of Restan, the terrorist attack on the Restan family, and the assault on the National Hero Academy that endangered the students."
Arian Liberin's sword was pointed at Rotten Bendision's neck.
"Do you have any last words?"
"...No. I don't."
Arian Liberin's sword severed Rotten Bendision's neck.
* * *
Rotten Bendision remembered everything. The burns on his face had not been inflicted by Ijina. They were merely an accident caused by the aftershock of the explosion when he had rushed to the scene. Everything had been manipulated.
'If I go to the afterlife... I suppose I must apologize to everyone.'
Though he had been a victim who lost his family, he had become a perpetrator who killed innocents. The only fitting end for him was execution. He was being punished as a villain. Even though there had been instigation, blinded by revenge, he had easily fallen for it and committed all sorts of crimes of his own will. The attack on the students had been no different. He had paid the price for disregarding the harm to innocents. He had crossed the line and was no longer worthy of living. Only now did he realize that fact.
'Ijina.'
If he met Ijina in the afterlife, he wondered how he could possibly apologize. She would probably never forgive him, no matter how long he lived. Even so, he would spend eternity atoning and accept whatever punishment awaited him in the afterlife. With that thought, Rotten Bendision's consciousness faded.
* * *
'It's over.'
This marked the end of Rotten Bendision, the first villain. All that remained was to make Arian Liberin completely mine.