Chapter 59
Chapter 59
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Spreading the Gospel to the Snobby Bitch (12)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Alicia had been used.
It wasn't as if she felt wronged or had been treated unfairly.
She was the one who had brought up the idea of war, after all.
However...
—Lady Alicia, you can't! It's been less than a year since the Great War ended. Who knows about the future, but starting a war now wouldn't make sense economically, and above all, we'd lose on moral grounds! Declaring war now would just paint the elves as targets for all five kingdoms!
—Just endure for ten years—no, five. There have to be other ways besides war.
—Don't listen to the high elves. They're nothing but arrogant fools who haven't even experienced war themselves.
Around the dictator, there had been plenty of war-mad sycophants. But around Alicia were people who truly cared for her and rationally worried about the elves' future.
They hoped she would make a wise decision and offered endless counsel. Alicia accepted it, quickly extinguishing her zeal for war.
—You're right... My vision narrowed for a moment there. To seriously consider such a foolish choice... Haah, I'm sorry. I've put you all through too much.
Alicia ultimately apologized and vowed never to make such a choice again.
But then...
—Ah, Lady Alicia! This is bad!
—The high elves have gone mad! They're going around exploiting your name without permission!
—...They assassinated a human noble. War... It looks unavoidable now.
...The high elves, those arrogant pricks, had stayed holed up in the forest during the Great War and must have thought war was a walk in the park.
Without consulting Alicia, they killed a human on their own. Declared war on their own. And sold her name for their own gain.
Arrogant and ignorant of the world they might be, but when it came to cowardice, those high elves didn't yield to anyone. And they dumped all the blame on the young high elves.
Shitting everywhere and leaving the cleanup to the kids. Average age: a thousand years.
Proving they'd eaten their age straight down their gullets.
—H-how could you do something like this!!
—Calm down, Alicia. Victory is all that matters, right? As long as we win.
—We can win. No way you'd lose, right! Ehahaha!
—...
Alicia wasn't arrogant enough to be foolish.
Did Leon, the hero, look like a paper doll to them?
Did Valian, the great warrior, seem like some dumb savage?
The church...? The knight orders? The combat legions...!
As she recalled the monsters teeming in the kingdoms, Alicia's head throbbed so badly she felt like vomiting.
They were insane!
No—they were still immature brats who hadn't aged a day despite the passage of time!
Alicia could see the outcome of this war plain as day. And she told her subordinates as much.
—I'll take all the responsibility. Take all the elves, including yourselves, and head to the desert.
—And you, Lady Alicia...?
—...Someone has to stay behind.
—No! Why would you throw in your lot with those fools!
—Run with us instead!
—...I can't. You know that. If I run now, who will hold back the elves' madness...?
Without Alicia, not only would the focal point of the war vanish, but so would the shield protecting the elves from retribution after defeat.
As long as she alone sacrificed herself, the elves could preserve their honor.
By focusing all resentment on one foolish elf named Alicia.
—Th-then what about your honor, Lady Alicia!
—I have to give that up.
—You might even have to give up your life...!!
—...If that's required, then I'll give it.
—!!!
Alicia left her loyal subordinates trying to dissuade her.
To become the sole brake on her war-maddened kin.
And so the war began. Amid the madness, she burned herself to ashes, drawing all hatred and resentment upon her...!!
As Alicia had foreseen, the elves suffered a one-sided defeat. The high elves, realizing the harsh reality of war, fled in terror.
Alicia, who stayed until the end to take responsibility, became a criminal in the eyes of her fellow elves, bearing their resentment in place of the fleeing high elves.
"What an idiot."
"Not denying it, huh."
"Changing the subject."
This was something even Alicia didn't know, but the elves were currently embroiled in a civil war.
It had erupted because the elves who witnessed the high elves' disgrace no longer respected or worshipped them. Above all, the Moon Night elves who followed Alicia were now hunting down the high elves.
In other words, everything Alicia had tried to prevent was futile. The elves were slowly destroying themselves.
"Fucking morons."
A loaded statement.
"In the end, only that Nirver bastard benefits."
From Nirver's perspective, the elves must have been a thorn in his throat.
A race with lifespans rivaling the dwarves, monopolizing the immense power of spirits.
For a jealous king like him, watching their kingdom implode from within must be pure bliss.
"In the end, this bitch did nothing but good deeds for others from start to finish."
If you're going to half-ass it, better to commit fully to one thing.
If she wanted to be a dictator, she should have gone full Hitler or Stalin. If she wanted to be queen, she should have purged all bloodlines like Prince Suyang.
To personally demonstrate how pathetic half-hearted dictators and power-grabbers are... Really...
"What a woman."
Io might lack tact, but even Yuseong could tell that line was pure sarcasm.
"...Spare me."
Those were the first words from Alicia after regaining consciousness.
How pathetic she looked—enough to inspire pity.
Even in her broken state, her elven beauty shone brighter than ever, proving her race.
A pitiful beauty?
The kind that might make a man think, maybe give her a pass once.
"Didn't you want to die—?"
"...".
"And now you wanna live...? Living life's a breeze for you, huh—?"
"...".
After mental and water torture, Yuseong now demonstrated verbal torment, speaking softly and deliberately.
To outsiders, it just looked like he was talking. But those nearby could clearly see the killing intent choking the air.
Alicia trembled violently like a chihuahua.
Not from anger.
...From fear.
Alicia no longer had any will to resist or fight back.
What was this? Learned helplessness?
The experiment done on dogs in America—simply put, inducing a state of despair. More complexly, forcibly implanting helplessness to crush the will to resist.
The past ten days.
Her resistance was already shattered. The water torture had pushed her into full despair.
Her anger and defiance castrated, so to speak.
At least toward Yuseong.
"I-I'll kneel if you say so. P-please... Just don't lock me in that room again...".
"...".
Her lofty pride and arrogance gone, Alicia knelt and shivered—a sight so alien it sent chills down spines.
Especially for her seven-year companions, it was shocking enough to wonder if another soul had possessed her body.
'C-could it be possession? Isn't it someone else?'
'No signs of that.'
'Maybe a head injury...?'
'...Possible.'
Unlike the panicking group, Yuseong remained silent.
Utterly unmoved, as if indifferent even to his own handiwork.
And then he spoke.
—What should I do with you.
"...".
—I considered killing you regardless of Io's objections.
".........".
—I don't have a hobby of sparing 'enemies'.
"━━."
Enemy.
Since starting life as Luke, Yuseong had never spared a single potential enemy.
Reasons? Plenty.
He'd nearly been assassinated, taken hits that cracked his skull.
After all that, could he even trust people?
Beyond distrust—it was pure suspicion ingrained like a mental disorder.
The obsession etched in his brain had softened slightly over ten years in modern life, but it wasn't cured.
He wanted to snap that slender neck right now, eliminating the elf bitch as a future threat.
He made no effort to hide it—his materialized killing intent visibly filled the room.
Even without direct exposure, Leon recoiled in horror. Sylvia wavered on whether to intervene.
Mirni played dumb. Valian left it to Yuseong, having done all he could. Luxy just observed.
And the goddess.
Watched his choice in silence.
.........
.........
"For now, let's beat her a bit more first. Fuck, just looking at her face makes me wanna punch it!"
Yuseong settled for violence over murder.