Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: EP.15 Epithet (4)
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In the office where the Five Swords of Kalan were chattering away on their own, Duke Lai Pellaosin felt a deep sense of shame at this situation.
It was only natural. Never in his life had the duke been treated this way by anyone.
To his territory's people, he was like the sky itself.
Even the nobles of equal standing would roll over like dogs at a single word from him, performing tricks to please him.
The king of Kalan Kingdom himself couldn't ignore the duke either.
The vast resources pouring from his territory granted him wealth and power that demanded respect.
Yet the reason this arrogant man couldn't even lift his head was that the ones before him were the Kalan Kingdom's greatest force—the Five Swords of Kalan, strong enough to obliterate a territory with just the five of them.
And the reason they'd come was none other than their master.
A being whose existence most nobles didn't even know about, known only to the six who attended the kingdom's highest council.
Their master, who had elevated the once-weak Kalan Kingdom to rival other nations, and the Absolute Ruler of Darkness lurking in the kingdom's shadows—they had ignored her warning and come anyway. That was why he stayed silent.
'Even so, this is...!'
The duke scowled as he glared at the five swords.
Duke Lai Pellaosin knew full well that carelessly handing over that brainwashing poison had been a mistake to some degree.
He was the one who had given it to Lord Malis to colonize neighboring territories without properly explaining the warnings.
However, the duke saw this as an accident.
Who would have thought the lord of Lartania—a territory on the brink of collapse, soon to vanish—would return?
"This was nothing more than an accident. You're blowing it way out of—!"
Thus, as the "accident" began veering in that direction, the duke tried to speak to the five swords, his voice laced with irritation.
But—
He stopped mid-sentence and clamped his mouth shut.
Just moments ago, the Five Swords of Kalan had been speaking leisurely without a change in expression. Now, they all turned to glare at him in unison.
"Hey, Duke. Seems like you're misunderstanding something. You think we're sparing you because we want to?"
"Hng...!"
The killing intent from one of the Five Swords of Kalan—Ruin, who had just been talking about chopping off the duke's head—pressed down on him like a vice. Instinctively, he sealed his lips.
"Don't delude yourself, Duke. We're only this strong thanks to Master's grace. Don't go barking like a mutt."
Ruin stared straight at the duke with eyes gleaming with murderous intent, growling as if he'd kill him any second.
"Enough, Ruin."
But at Loriell's calm voice, Ruin scowled, gave the duke one last glare, and turned without hesitation, storming out of the office.
And Loriell, who had stopped him—
"Duke Lai Pellaosin. This time, Master simply warned us to let it slide, so I'll say nothing more."
—looked at the duke with her signature serene expression as she spoke.
"If something like this happens again, I won't stop Ruin. No, there'll be no need."
"..."
"I will personally sever your head and hang it from the lord's castle flag."
A chill ran down his spine!
Loriell hadn't shown even a shred of emotion.
Yet the duke still felt goosebumps crawling over his skin at her words.
"Remember this, Duke. The reason you climbed that high. And—"
With that,
"—who the swords called the Five Swords of Kalan truly belong to."
The Five Swords of Kalan vanished from the duke's office. For a long time after, the duke could do nothing but sit frozen, his eyes wide with terror, barely breathing.
Thinking back on it, she didn't like the name Absolute Ruler of Darkness.
No, back then, she had despised that epithet with a passion.
The reason was childish, of course.
That epithet had been given to her by the one who took in a half-demon like her—who had to hide her identity her whole life—without discrimination, and raised her without asking for anything in return. But at the time, she found it embarrassing and hateful.
All while oblivious to how undeserving she was of it.
"..."
In the underground castle built in the massive cavern beneath Saint Territory—Kalan Kingdom's key stronghold, where the king himself served as lord—she gazed at the parchment in her hand.
A short note reading, 'Lartania's lord has returned.'
She had received this parchment a week ago, realizing Lartania's lord had entered the game. Three days ago, she confirmed it was real—and that it was him from ten years prior.
Yet even after learning this, the Absolute Ruler of Darkness didn't move.
Because her heart had drifted away?
No.
Her heart, silent for ten years, pounded fiercely just from reading those words on the parchment.
Recalling his voice—whose face she could no longer clearly remember—made her tremble.
And on days when she remembered the day she realized he was gone... tears flowed endlessly.
But still, the reason the Absolute Ruler of Darkness didn't seek out her one and only light was the sin she had committed.
"..."
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness recalled a certain day after he left.
It was exactly one month since her flawless light of a lord had vanished.
Looking back now, she saw how utterly idiotic she had been—frustrated at the lord who never returned.
No, perhaps it was anxiety.
The fear that he might never come back.
To suppress that anxiety, she convinced herself he was just playing mind games.
He had gone missing long-term a few times before, though never this long.
So she brainwashed herself.
The lord was locked in a battle of wills with them.
He wasn't returning to break his own pride.
Repeating this like a mantra, as time passed, the half-demon began believing he truly wasn't coming back to win that petty standoff.
On the second month since his disappearance, she smashed every gift he had given her.
She shattered the jewelry he gave her.
She broke the weapons he gave her.
She tore the clothes he gave her.
Even the small trinkets—he trampled them all.
To get revenge on the lord tormenting her heart like this.
To spite the lord who couldn't even properly indulge her petty complaints.
Clinging to the idiotic lie she told herself—that he wasn't returning because of some pride contest—she vented her pent-up frustration.
The lord would surely return.
He would never abandon her.
...
But another month passed.
Then half a year.
And a full year.
Then she realized it.
The lord wasn't coming back.
Sitting in his usual seat, the half-demon who grasped this truth wept for days on end.
A cycle of crying until exhausted, sleeping, waking to cry again until sleep claimed her.
After days in that broken state, she staggered to her room.
She wanted to escape.
From the fact that her lord wasn't returning.
From the fact that his voice and face were fading from her memory.
So she headed there.
To her room, where the gifts from her lord were kept.
And then.
When the half-demon returned to her room, what she saw was the shattered remnants of her lord's gifts—the only light in her life.
The moment she saw them, she remembered her past self.
The idiotic her who had smashed every gift in sight.
The half-demon sobbed uncontrollably.
Gathering the self-destroyed remnants of her lord's gifts.
Clutching the now-worthless scraps of memories, tears streaming down her face.
Sharp metal shards cut her skin, covering her in blood, but she didn't care.
The pain of flesh tearing and bleeding paled against the agony ripping through her heart.
She cursed herself pathetically amid her sobs.
In the end, all that remained for her was the epithet Absolute Ruler of Darkness he had bestowed.
Yes, just that.
...That was all the bond and memories with her lord had left her.
From then on, the epithet became her reverse scale.
And so another year passed.
The half-demon left the territory.
To replace the gifts she had destroyed herself.
So that when her lord someday returned, he wouldn't be disappointed—everything restored as it was.
She was afraid.
Of the cold gaze he might give her upon seeing the wreckage.
'If, even if just by chance, I receive such a look from my lord—'
"Ah... haa—hng... guh!"
Just imagining it choked her breath. She forced the thought away.
Her breathing wouldn't steady. Her heart thrashed as if about to burst. Tears welled in her eyes.
'No, no—that must never... happen...!'
She didn't want to be hated.
Didn't want to be rejected.
She couldn't lose again the sole light in her life who had reached out to a half-demon like her and saved her.
That was why.
'I must gather them all, every last one—'
She couldn't return.
Not until she collected every gift from her lord.
Absolutely not.
"...Just two more, and it's done."
Fortunately, her situation wasn't bad.
She disliked it, but that arrogant wolf bitch was protecting her lord. And only two gifts remained to collect.
"Just two more—"
Collecting the last two was only a matter of time, too.
"—and I can receive forgiveness."
She couldn't help imagining it.
Gathering all the gifts.
Returning nonchalantly, prostrating before her light, begging forgiveness.
And her lord smiling as he forgave her.
"Haa—"
Lost in that dreamy hope—uncertain if it could come true—she felt inexplicable joy.
But to escape the ever-creeping anxiety, as always, she—
"Ngh—"
—surrendered to ecstasy alone, as she always had.
Calling her lord's name.