Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Dawn Has Broken
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Kill him.
Lena was a little surprised at her own words. She hadn’t expected declaring she’d kill someone to come so easily. At the same time, spitting out what she’d been brooding over brought her some inner relief.
—Lena.
As Lena turned back with a darkened expression, Regina came down beside her and blocked her path.
—Are you serious?
“Does it sound like a joke?”
—Stop it.
“Why?”
Lena asked back expressionlessly.
“He’s someone who deserves to die.”
As she said that, Lena stepped firmly on the rod lying on the floor. It was a royal scepter adorned with gold and jewels. It was the heart of the Snake King that had just crumbled into dust. Lena muttered as she dragged the scepter with her foot.
“This kind of doll play is useless no matter how many times you do it.”
Yes, this was doll play. Endlessly fiddling with things that neither died nor vanished, repeating the same thing over and over. The people who had pushed her into hell were living fine out in the world, while she was stuck playing in the dirt like this, and it burned her up inside.
“I’m going to kill him. The ones who sold me off, and the ones who dropped me here.”
—That’s not why I taught you how to fight.
“I’m grateful to you for it.”
Lena said that as she picked up the scepter she’d been nudging with her toe. As long as this scepter existed, the King with Many Hearts would revive once more. On the other hand, if she destroyed it, the Snake King would vanish forever. Lena hated even looking at the Snake King, but she didn’t destroy the scepter. Because Regina had opposed it.
The Kings of the Dead currently in the tomb had already been defeated by the Emperor. That was why they were clinging to life pathetically with these fake hearts instead of their true ones. So Regina had said they needed to be kept alive. If they vanished, a new king with an intact heart would be born, and that would plunge both the surface world and the tomb into far greater chaos than now. So Lena had left the Snake King’s heart intact, as Regina advised. Because of that, she’d had to fight this repulsive bastard dozens of times, and in the end, she’d even endured his absurd marriage proposal. Because it was Regina’s request. Because Regina was the only one who had ever protected her.
“But not this time.”
Even Regina couldn’t stop Lena now.
“It’s too unfair. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Lena bit her lip as she said that. Memories suddenly flooded back. When she was being dragged to the Western Castle, when she stood before the red rift, when she first fell into the tomb, when she was locked in the brothel attic waiting. Lena had begged for forgiveness. She hadn’t done anything wrong—no matter how much she thought about it, there was no fault—yet she begged for forgiveness. More than anything, she couldn’t bear that. As Lena clenched her jaw and ground her teeth, Regina, who had been watching, whispered lowly.
—I know. How you feel.
“Then don’t stop me.”
—That’s exactly why I have to. I can’t let you become like that.
But those words only drove Lena madder.
“You can’t let me become like that?”
—Yes, you can’t become like them.
“Why?”
Lena forced a smile, her eyes nearly tearing up as she shot back.
“Why can’t I? Why stop only me? You just stood by when those humans did all that shit!”
Lena glared at Regina with fierce eyes and yelled.
“No one stopped them! No one! No one cared when it was happening to me! So why stop only me? Why now, what right do you have to hold me back, why!”
Lena erupted like a volcano. But it wasn’t directed at Regina. It was more like a cry shouted at the world. Knowing that, Regina answered even more softly.
—Because you still have a chance.
“What chance.”
—The chance not to do wrong.
A blatant sneer curled at Lena’s lips at Regina’s words.
“What about you then?”
Lena asked with laughing lips and angry eyes.
“What did you do when you had the chance?”
—I threw it away.
“Then why only me……!”
—That’s why. So you won’t become like me.
At Regina’s confession, Lena momentarily lost her words. As Lena faltered, Regina reached out and cupped her still youthful cheek, scarred and pitted. She whispered, hoping this rage-filled girl would collapse and cry instead.
—I couldn’t bear to see you become like me.
Regina’s sincerity made Lena’s eyes flicker once. Her cracked lips trembled too. But Lena’s despair was too deep to be filled by Regina’s voice.
“……Don’t demand of me what you couldn’t do.”
In the end, Lena shook off Regina’s hand. Then she hurled the scepter she held with all her might and turned away. As Lena acted like she’d leave right then, Regina grabbed her arm.
—No, Lena.
“This time I won’t. Not even for your request.”
—It’s not a request.
“Then what?”
—……An order.
The air froze rapidly at Regina’s single word. As chill rose between the shattered statue and the girl, Hiems Grasha, who had been watching, chuckled lowly.
‘So that’s it.’
The reason the Unforgiven King in the tomb had vanished. The Unforgiven King, public enemy of all kings, had suddenly disappeared one day. And the King Robbed of Blessing was born. The tomb’s history was as long as humanity’s, so kingly successions had of course occurred. But a king’s name changing like this was unprecedented. A living being becoming a King of the Dead was also unheard of. Hiems Grasha, who had always wondered about the truth behind that upheaval, watched Lena Rubel’s unfolding memories with interest.
Lena and Regina clashed. Despite their affection for each other, they exchanged fierce blows. One of Regina’s arms shattered and flew off. Blood spurted from Lena’s shoulder. The evenly matched fight gradually tilted, and unexpectedly, Regina was gaining the upper hand.
‘Why?’
In the end, it was Regina who vanished, and Lena who became king. So why did it turn out like that? What twist happened? Hiems observed them, puzzled. The young Lena was brutally thrown aside. Already covered in blood, her eyes still blazed with venom. The faceless Regina showed no emotion and surrounded Lena with formless blades. Hiems widened his eyes, anticipating the final blow.
The next moment, a massive iron plate fell from the sky with a roar. Boom! Crash! Crash! Its unreal bulk filled the sky, the ground, and even Hiems’s vision. He was used to distorted laws by now, but the plate’s existence still surprised him somewhat. Suddenly plunged into the ground, it was larger than most castles. Hiems stared at the iron plate in bewilderment. It had a padlock on it. A door? No. Similar, but not. It was a book.
“You thought I’d show you everything?”
Hiems, who had been flustered, startled at the sudden voice and turned his head. Atop that massive book, the present-day Lena Rubel—not a memory—grinned mischievously at him.
“How…….”
“It’s a trick snakes are good at, this.”
Burrowing into the opponent’s mind and working mischief. It was a technique the King with Many Hearts especially excelled at. The girl Lena had endured all sorts of mental attacks while fighting the Snake King. So with Regina’s help, she devised countermeasures, and after countless trials and errors, succeeded in locking the core of her memories with a padlock.
“Honestly, a bit unexpected. I didn’t think there’d be another petty thief digging into minds besides the snake.”
“Thief, you say.”
Hiems smiled bitterly at Lena’s cheap dismissal. Then he looked back at the firmly locked book.
“You truly are an astonishing person. If we’d been allies, I’d have loved it.”
“Meaningless hypothetical.”
“Indeed.”
Hiems shook his head as if he couldn’t win. Then his already half-collapsed body scattered into particles. It meant time was up. Feeling the approach of silence, Hiems asked Lena one last thing.
“Was it you who made the Unforgiven King vanish?”
Lena didn’t answer. Hiems gazed bitterly at the unflinching Lena to the end and said.
“You reveal nothing in the end.”
“You’ll know soon enough.”
“When it’s all over?”
“When it’s all over.”
Hiems laughed as if he couldn’t win at Lena’s reply. Then he wiped the smile away and muttered lowly.
“Don’t get cocky, little girl. I’ve been burning bitches like you alive before you were even born. You think lucking into power hides your lowborn filth?”
Hiems spewed vulgar abuse at Lena, unworthy of his fine looks. It should have been surprising, but Lena didn’t flinch and retorted with a smile.
“Cornered, and your true colors show. Mr. Hiems Grasha.”
At the name he’d never heard before, Hiems’s brow twisted. He glared ferociously at Lena, then bared his fangs and growled.
“You’re the one cornered, insolent bitch.”
With that, dazzling light burst from Hiems’s crumbling body.
“The game’s over. Wander in your tightly wrapped secrets until you die!”
With that cry, Hiems’s cracked shell blazed red like lava. Lena reflexively shielded her face from the intense light.
“Ugh!”
Hiems spat out his final light and heat like a candle about to go out. Lena felt the space warping and struggled not to get swept into the flame storm. But the ground beneath her feet flew away, the sky melted down, and inevitably, she was sucked into it.
***
At the same time, Lin was staring in confusion at the scene before him. Just moments ago, he’d been calling out to Lena inside her memories. But a sudden shock had flung him out, and upon emerging, he had no time to collect his wits before having to steady his body.
“Urk……!”
He couldn’t brace himself against the gale that assailed from somewhere. The study was a total mess. Bookshelves and books whirled in the air, while the walls and floor twisted and rippled like they’d lost their foundations.
‘What the hell just happened?’
Lin looked around with bewildered eyes. He soon pinpointed the source of the chaos. The unidentified vibrations and gale were pouring from the bookshelf with the padlocked book. In one corner of the study were books that couldn’t be opened due to their locks. A powerful force raged from within that book. As if trying to break the lock—or destroy everything around it if it couldn’t.
‘No.’
Seeing it, Lin felt a chill down his spine. Everything here was part of Lena. He didn’t know what damage might cause. Sensing the crisis, Lin crouched lower, pushed against the raging force, and approached the padlocked book. Finally reaching the shelf, he gritted his teeth. Then he gathered every bit of the power inherited from his birth mother, which he’d never resented in his life. Lin’s eyes turned blood-red. Murderous impulse spread through his veins, but Lin desperately held it back and thrust his arm toward the storm’s center. Sparks flew as his hand touched the book, friction erupting. The exploding power clashed with the force suppressing it in midair. His body felt like it was being torn apart, but Lin endured. Then the pushing and pulling force detonated, and the locked memories spilled out chaotically. Memories flooded. All fragmented, indistinguishable. But among them, one familiar face remained intact, drawing Lin’s gaze.
‘Nihil?’
In pain, Lin’s eyes flew wide. What burst from Lena’s memories was none other than Emperor Nihil’s face. No, it looked exactly like Nihil but seemed another person. The woman had long golden hair. Above all, she was smiling. Nihil would never smile like that. Lin thought it impossible and stared endlessly at the face. Then the world seemed to bleach white, and finally, the explosion happened.
***
“Ah!”
At Uni’s exclamation, the Southern Duke, dozing in his chair, snapped his eyes open.
“What is it?”
“He moved!”
Uni pointed at the bed in response to the Southern Duke’s question. Eastern Duke Rig-nan Aiterner lay there. The Southern Duke rushed to the bedside. But contrary to the young maid’s claim, the young man lay with eyes peacefully closed.
“Did you see it clearly?”
“I did, he moved for a moment.”
As Uni protested indignantly, the Southern Duke just sighed.
“Must’ve been a brief convulsion.”
The Southern Duke muttered bitterly and turned his head. Beside the bed where the Eastern Duke lay was another bed. And another unconscious person lay there. A full day had passed since Lena lost consciousness. And half a day since the Eastern Duke followed suit.
‘I told him to leave within the hour.’
Far from leaving, he’d collapsed. It was absurd, but no laughter came. With a heart like drying blood, the Southern Duke gazed out the window. Dawn had already broken.