Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: The One Who Wishes for Destruction
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Lin, who had been listening silently, reached out and stroked Lena's cheek. As if trying at long last to wipe away the tears she had shed in the past, he gently brushed the area beneath her lowered lashes. At that tenderness, Lena smiled in pain.
"I never said it directly, but I really liked Regina."
"I thought so."
Regina had been the only one taking care of Lena in that hellish place.
"I believed she was on my side. Actually, I wanted to believe it. I was too young back then."
Because she needed someone, anyone. Speaking like a sigh, Lena leaned her cheek against Lin's hand. Then she continued with the rest of the story. ***
Lena stared blankly at the hands that had swallowed her. Countless hands gripped her entire body and whispered.
—Save us.
Lena gazed at them with empty eyes. Save us? Who are you begging? Me? Do I look like someone who can save you? Feeling her body sink endlessly, Lena mocked their pleas.
—Save us.
—Please save us....
But they did not stop their begging. Even after hours, or days, or perhaps even longer had passed, it was the same. Lena ignored their voices. She had no idea what was happening, but it didn't matter. She didn't want to think about anything anymore. On the other hand, she imagined Regina coming to find her. Then, if she did that, I would forgive you. But in the end, Regina never appeared. That agony was unbearable, so Lena recited poetry in the silence. But even the poem she recited out of habit no longer comforted or stirred her heart.
We shall meet.
Wiping away the bloodstains from hands that struck and tore at each other, we shall meet again there.
In life, unknowing the truth, I hurt you who were like a gift, but there I shall realize my shame.
And meeting you again, we shall kiss through eternal time, washing away the pain there.
All the abandoned ones and you, the unforgiven, shall laugh together there.
As she repeated the poem, Lena suddenly felt bored. It seemed truly comfortable and foolish. Meet again and laugh together? Does that mean we can shake off everything from life after death? Who decided that? Ah, you wouldn't know. That graves are like this. That the place you imagined doesn't exist, that even in death, humans still devour each other. You who wrote such a poem must have been happy. Loved abundantly without lack. That's why you wrote something so pretty and innocent. How could I blame you? The world has its lucky ones, after all—it's just that blessings are doled out differently to each.
With those thoughts, she could no longer recite the poem. So at last, Lena blankly thought of Regina. Come to think of it, from the first time they met, Regina had tried to kill her, promising peace. On what grounds? To erase her little sister's mistakes? I believed you. At least I thought you were on my side.
"Regina...."
Without realizing it, Lena murmured her friend's name. Then the hands that heard her sigh echoed the name.
—Regina....
—That king did not choose us.
—That king abandoned us too.
And then, the hands that had been repeating the same words like an echo muttered something incomprehensible for the first time.
"That king...?"
As Lena reacted indifferently, the hands covered her eyes and ears. At the same time, an unfamiliar scene formed in her mind.
...Aaaah! With a terrifying scream, a woman plummeted from the red sky. A young woman in white robes, her long, radiant golden hair fluttering as she fell.
'Regina?'
Lena recognized her instinctively. Though it was the first time seeing her full face, she was certain it was Regina. Perhaps the hands enveloping Lena had told her. As Regina fell into the grave, the black earth of the grave split open, and countless hands rose to catch her body. The same hands now holding Lena. The hands said,
—Our king.
—Our king, dressed like us.
The hands exalted Regina earnestly and begged,
—O king cast out without sin.
—Please hear our plea.
—We beseech you to look upon us.
The hands, as if they had waited desperately for their king, held Regina up and pleaded. But Regina, who had just fallen into the grave, seemed not yet aware of her situation, staring blankly at the red sky.
"Am I dead?"
Regina muttered as if to herself. At that moment, her once-still eyes widened. The grave's redness filled her sky-blue irises. The tears welling above her pupils finally spilled over, and at the same time, a deep gash appeared on her white neck. Blood poured from the wound encircling her throat, staining her white clothes red. Then her golden hair rotted off with a snap near her nape, fading white as if a holy flame had bloomed.
"...Yes."
Regina murmured faintly.
"I am dead."
As if recalling the moment of her death, the white-haired Regina whispered in despair. Then, looking down at the blood soaking her chest and hands, she smiled faintly. At that, the hands called to Regina even more fervently.
—Our king.
—Look upon us....
At their call, Regina finally reacted.
"King?"
With the coldest voice imaginable and piercing eyes glaring at them, she shot back.
"After playing king all my life only to die, now they call me king in hell too."
As if it were utterly ridiculous, Regina shook off the hands supporting her.
"What are you, calling me king? What do you want to use me for now?"
—We are....
At that moment, the hands trying to speak scattered all at once. It was because wraiths of horrific forms were swarming from afar.
—Fresh prey has fallen.
—Haven't smelled the living in ages.
—A woman?
—Tear her apart until she can't be put back together.
Eerie voices echoed from shadows of various forms. It was a familiar sight to Lena. When Lena first fell into the grave, the wraith kings had swarmed her just like that. Apparently, Regina had gone through the same. But Regina's reaction was very different from Lena's.
"Let go!"
Snakes bound her limbs and dogs surrounded her, while fiery venomous insects and gaunt wraiths writhed as if ready to pounce, but Regina showed no fear whatsoever.
"Do you know who I am?!"
Far from cowering, Regina tore into the wraiths with her bare hands in rage. The wraiths lunged to slaughter her as well, sparking a brutal fight. Though wraiths of every kind attacked, the fresh king's murderous aura did not yield an inch to them.
—Wait.
The snakes watching suddenly halted.
—A familiar scent from the woman. This is... the smell of ashes, isn't it?
The King with Many Hearts, who controlled the snakes, spoke. At his words, the burning insects also stopped their assault and began swimming through the air.
—Mine? Could it be, Grasha?
One massive insect approached as if to inspect Regina's face. Regina wanted to smash it in an instant, but held back at the mention of Grasha and answered.
"I am Regina Grasha, the seventh king of Grasha."
Right after, the insects spewed flames and moved strangely, as if startled and making a fuss.
—Oh, it can't be. Welcome, granddaughter. You've made it all the way here.
A warm voice suddenly came from the insects. He even said to the other monsters,
—Now, everyone stop. My granddaughter has come to visit.
At the mediation of the insects' king, the other monsters meekly hid their fangs and retreated. So Regina lowered her guard and mulled over his previous words.
'Granddaughter?'
Granddaughter? Of course, if this was hell, meeting other dead was no surprise. But if this one was her grandfather or great-grandfather...
"Who are you? Tell me your name."
Feeling an eerie premonition, Regina swallowed her agitation and asked. Then the venomous insects clumped together to form the crude shape of a person. The being, whose face was not yet fully formed, approached Regina, smiled, and said,
—Child, in this place, you mustn't reveal names lightly.
"Then tell me who your son is."
—There's no need for that. You will know who I am right away. I wore the crown you wrote of before you did. If you are the seventh king, then you received the crown from my grandson, to whom I passed it.
At the shape's whisper, Regina's already tense face froze in an instant. The one who passed the crown to her grandfather. That was Grasha's fifth king.
'Hiems Grasha.'
Realizing his identity, Regina's eyes blazed. But no one noticed. In the next instant, her two hands tore Hiems Grasha's false body in half.
—What...!
Hiems cried out at the unexpected ambush. But Regina didn't stop there; she brutally stomped his crushed body.
"Hiems Grasha!"
This incompetent, repulsive tyrant, the root of all evil, the mad fanatic who made me the scapegoat! Regina erupted like a volcano. The flustered Hiems writhed his mangled body to escape, but Regina did not let him go easily.
—How dare you...!
Finally, Hiems flew into a rage and moved the wraiths. At once, fiery venomous insects from all directions flew at Regina to burn her alive. It was then, as Regina prepared to face them bare-handed in her fury, that the ground split open, and countless hands surged up once more to wrap around her.
"Let go of me!"
As Regina shuddered to shake them off, she was already in a space far removed from where she had stood. There, a voice rang out again.
—King.
The moment she heard it, Regina realized. The hands that had grabbed and dragged her were different from the ones she had seen first. The hands that had supported Lena were pale and frail, but the ones now binding Regina were blood-red, tough, and strong. And the voice calling her was rough beyond measure.
—Take our hands.
—Become king.
Amid the chaotic cries, Regina instinctively understood. What these beings calling her were. They were already dead. In life, they had been maddened by rage, lashing out indiscriminately to vent their grudges. Even now, unable to cool the fireball in their guts, they stamped their feet in vengeance. Unable to discard their venomous fury, they had sunk here instead of passing to the next world, waiting for their king. And the newly appeared Regina burned with a fire no less than theirs. She yearned to pour out this bitter resentment on those who had driven her to this. Thus, sharing the same mind, they recognized each other like tides drawn to the moon.
"...What benefit do I gain by becoming your king?"
—We shall give you power.
—To make the world that killed you submit.
—To breed vengeance and fear.
Regina found the offer tempting. So she reached gladly to take their hands, when a faint voice came from the side.
—Our king....
—Our king, dressed like us.
Turning, she saw another set of hands. Small and delicate—the ones that had first welcomed her.
—Do not abandon us.
—We, like you, were cast aside and unforgiven.
—Please remember us.
The moment Regina looked at them, she realized once more. Who they were. And the instant she knew, her face twisted ferociously.
"How dare you claim to be like me."
Regina turned from them in contempt. No, she tried to. But part of her body was caught by them, immovable. Though she denied it vehemently, part of Regina was like them, to the point she could not shake off their hands carelessly.
—Cut it away.
—If you want power.
—If you would be our king.
At that moment, the vengeful ones urged her on.
—That is unfit for one who wishes for destruction.
They would not tolerate weakness in Regina. And Regina was the same. The freshly dead king did not hesitate long. He severed the pathetically weak part of himself and tossed it to those holding it. Then, without delay, he grasped the hands of those who wished for destruction.