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Chapter 31: Rebecca (1)
Beatrice’s eyes trembled.
She wanted to say it wasn’t like that.
But no further words came to her.
Before she could even make up an excuse, Yuren's scorn came first.
“Of all people, you should know best why demon summoning is considered forbidden, and how it could’ve completely destroyed the system. And after stopping all that, what? You want to die? Do you even hear yourself?”
Wrinkles formed on the bridge of Yuren’s nose.
“Isn’t it just that you don’t want to take responsibility? You just want to escape and make things easier for yourself.”
“No… khk…!”
Beatrice jumped to her feet to protest, but the attempt ended in failure.
Her lips shut tight.
Her eyes welled with a sense of injustice.
But Yuren was not someone to be swayed by sentiment.
“Am I wrong? Execution if caught? Of course. If it ended there, fine, I could kill you right here. But what about the Magic Tower? The imperial prestige that took a hit on Foundation Day because of the mess you made? Who’s going to take responsibility for that? Should we dig up your grave and put the blame on that? Will that solve anything?”
Every word, every point, was true.
Beatrice knew it.
The taboo wasn’t just a human taboo — it was one shared by all races that did not worship demons.
The chaos demons had caused in the past proved the necessity of such taboos.
She had attempted to summon one, and actually succeeded, almost causing disaster.
If not for Yuren’s intervention, all the foreign dignitaries who had come for Foundation Day could have been endangered.
That it was stopped?
It was a miracle.
If not for Yuren’s strange abilities, not even the Sword Master, Sir Drenor, could have resolved the crisis.
Knowing that, she had tried to take responsibility with her life.
Was that wrong?
Then what?
“…Then what should I do?”
How was she supposed to atone?
It might have sounded like a rebellious question, but Beatrice’s expression showed it was a plea for an answer.
Yuren looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said,
“You pay it back with your life.”
His voice held no room for argument.
“Live, and pay it back. With everything you have, protect the things you tried to destroy. Live a life for the Empire.”
“You…”
“What’s with all this dying nonsense? That’s the real escape. On the battlefield, you know who the cowards are? The ones who kill themselves. The ones who charge into enemy lines to take down one more bastard with them — those are the ones with real guts.”
Tsk, Yuren clicked his tongue.
It was strange.
It didn’t feel like just a metaphor — it sounded like he was recounting something he’d actually experienced.
But before she could dwell on that, a different thought surfaced.
“…But I already committed the crime. Do you really think redemption is possible?”
Yuren told her to live and pay it back, but to Beatrice, that sounded like a convenient excuse to ignore the evil she had done.
The guilt of what she’d done wouldn’t go away.
So she asked, and Yuren answered as if she were being ridiculous.
“Wow. I’ve seen my share of weirdos.”
“…What?”
“You hit your head or something? Let me ask — did anyone die from your demon summoning?”
“…!”
“Anyone get hurt? Oh, well, I got hurt, but aside from me. Wasn’t it just that some people passed out downstairs? And do those people even know you summoned a demon?”
“That’s…”
Beatrice was at a loss for words.
Yuren scoffed.
“They don’t, huh? So I’m the only one who knows what really happened.”
And then it hit her.
‘…Ah?’
She had been in agony, fused with the demon.
She wasn’t in her right mind when the summoning ended.
From start to finish, she had been in that state, so she hadn’t considered this one fact.
The demon was summoned, and then expelled by Yuren.
Which meant…
‘No one…’
No one had died.
It was a moment of realization.
Beatrice, stunned, eventually let out a shaky laugh.
“Ha, haha…”
The emotion swelling inside her was relief.
She couldn’t understand why.
She had never particularly liked or cared for those people — yet the fact that they were alive filled her with overwhelming gratitude.
Even though she’d lost an arm and her eyes had been burned, tears of joy flowed.
“Khk…!”
She clamped a hand over her mouth.
Her eyes squeezed shut.
Whether it was laughter or sobs, a sound leaked through her fingers.
Then, at some point, trembling, she whispered in a near-mumble,
“I’m sorry… thank you…”
So many things to be sorry for.
And immense gratitude to Yuren, who had set her straight.
Gratitude that no one had died because of her.
Yuren coughed with a metallic rasp but said nothing.
Then, after a long moment,
“Don’t forget.”
“Kh….”
“I know everything. What you did. What you might have done. And everything I went through to stop it.”
He fiddled with the pendant hanging from his neck.
“The actual victim here is me. So you owe me.”
Their eyes met.
Beatrice instinctively bit her lip.
“…Ah, I’m out of words. Fine, I’ll make it simple. If I call, you come. If I tell you to go, you go. If I say shut up, you shut up. If I say die, you die. That’s how you atone for what you did. That’s what serving the Empire means.”
Despite his harsh words, Yuren’s face had lost its venom.
There was no trace of resentment.
“Got it?”
Beatrice still couldn’t take her hand away from her mouth as she answered,
“…Yes.”
Just as he said, she owed a debt no amount of words or gold could repay.
And she knew it better than anyone.
So she couldn’t defy his words.
Tears continued to fall.
Boom—!
A man appeared, breaking through the shattered entrance of the Celestial Garden.
A handsome blond man, drenched in sweat and looking stunned.
At the sight of him, Yuren clicked his tongue.
“Well, look who finally decided to show up.”
It was Callios.
He looked around the ruins of the Celestial Garden and then turned to Yuren with a devastated expression.
“…What happened here?”
His voice was choked with emotion.
Yuren replied,
“I saw signs of a demon summoning. So I stopped it. With…”
He pointed to Beatrice.
“…this woman.”
Beatrice flinched.
Though she had been the summoner, now she was being treated like a hero.
Callios only then noticed her and let out a sigh.
Then, with a clenched fist and a pained look, he said,
“…I was too late.”
“You think?”
“I’m sorry. I dropped everything and came right away…”
“Yeah, yeah, and now you’re going to screw up the construction too. Should’ve sent Sir Drenor at least.”
“…I did. He’s down below tending to the mages who passed out. I guess he didn’t notice what happened up here — he’s not exactly the observant type.”
“That geezer’s hopeless, really.”
“…Are you alright?”
“Forget it. Just help me up. I’ve got somewhere to be.”
Callios, looking distraught, helped Yuren to his feet.
Things were settling down.
Yuren was about to leave.
Realizing this, Beatrice suddenly remembered something she hadn’t yet said, and emotion welled up once more.
“W-Wait!”
Rebecca.
She had to say something about her, immediately.
But—
“Rebe—”
“I know.”
The answer made Beatrice freeze.
“I get it now. I’ve been a damn fool.”
A chill ran down her spine.
‘…Killing intent.’
As Yuren spoke, the aura he gave off was suffocating, filled with deadly intent.
* * *
My body felt like it was about to shatter.
I gathered what little mana remained and forced my body to recover.
When that didn’t work, I borrowed the crown prince’s mana.
I gave up trying and borrowed the Crown Prince’s mana.
With the healing power of the necklace, plus drinking the potion the prince always carried with him, my body recovered enough to be able to fight again.
And in that process, a thought came to mind.
‘This really doesn’t make sense.’
No matter how I looked at it, nothing about that commoner woman made any sense from beginning to end.
At first, I brushed it off.
Just figured the country had gone mad over a woman.
And after I got close to the Crown Prince, I started thinking—
Maybe she used some kind of sorcery.
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Then, after returning in time, I thought:
There had to be something suspicious about her.
But all I had were suspicions.
Circumstantial suspicions, not enough to act recklessly.
Above all, I didn’t even know her true identity. What if I moved against her and caused a storm I couldn’t contain?
Yeah, and so I thought—
‘I was too complacent.’
I was angry at myself.
I gripped my rod.
And reviewed the recent battle.
‘A demon.’
My eyes can’t see demons.
Only when I channel mana into this rod do their true forms become faintly visible.
Realizing that, a possibility I had dismissed as “no way” suddenly came roaring to the forefront.
‘What if that woman is a demon’s contractor?’
Then everything makes sense.
Why she appeared normal even under mana scrutiny.
Why she still produced such bizarre results.
Why she always made me feel uneasy.
Let’s think again.
‘A demon could do it.’
A woman who appears ordinary to everyone else but inexplicably seduces and ensnares only the Empire’s most powerful?
Who makes everyone act irrationally the moment she gets involved?
The Golden Cadre’s powers?
No matter how gifted they are, they can't escape a demon’s influence.
Those things are transcendent spirits from an outer dimension, existing before even the gods shaped this world.
Beyond all that, if the hypothesis that she’s a demon is true, it would finally explain one long-standing contradiction that existed since my previous life.
— She’s doing well, I hear. Married a regular man and settled down.
That’s what the Crown Prince told me one day, back in the prison.
Sure, that could happen.
Totally plausible.
Enchant the elite, then marry a commoner?
Romantic, even.
But here’s the thing.
‘That was during the war. During the empire’s downfall, under Aria’s rule.’
The prince said that about a year before we were released.
A time when the frontlines were collapsing, the treasury was empty, and everyone was dying.
No one had the luxury to dream of a happy family—least of all commoners.
No one had the time or resources to track and verify the life of a single civilian.
And yet, the Crown Prince had heard that.
And firmly believed it.
Everything about that woman was a contradiction.
I had to get to the bottom of it.
I had to see her again, find out her true nature.
So I asked the Crown Prince where she lived.
And so, my suspicions reached their conclusion.
“We’re here. This is where she lives. But Yuren, do we really have to go this far?”
The Crown Prince asked, clearly uncomfortable with my request.
I ignored his question, staring hard at the sight before me.
No matter how many times I looked, nothing changed.
I felt an emptiness welling up as I turned to the prince and asked again.
I couldn’t help it.
“…Your Highness.”
“What? What now?”
“Don’t you find it strange?”
“What do you mean?”
“That a supposedly ordinary woman travels back and forth from the capital, yet lives in a cave outside the walls? Your Highness, do you not find this the least bit odd?”
The place he guided me to was the entrance of a cave outside the city walls.
No powerless woman could possibly live here alone.
But the Crown Prince tilted his head, confused.
“What’s strange about that?”
His innocent eyes gave me chills.
What kind of horrific curse was this?
Even during that brief encounter on the road, I had sensed something was wrong.
And even now, after supposedly letting her go, the perception lingering beneath his thoughts was still twisted.
Didn’t that say it all?
‘…A demon.’
She’s not human.
* * *
Callios couldn’t understand the situation at all.
Yes, summoning a demon was a serious crime.
But even after explaining everything, why was Yuren still convinced that Rebecca was some evil entity?
Why come all this way, in the dead of night, wounded and exhausted, just to confront a lone woman?
It was heartbreaking.
No matter what others said, Callios knew better than anyone that Rebecca wasn’t a witch.
He wanted to try persuading Yuren again…
“Please, stop. Hm?”
“Just come with me.”
…but Yuren wouldn’t listen.
Callios even considered using force.
But Yuren’s aura was so intense, it felt like things wouldn’t end well if he tried.
In the end, all Callios could do was step in as a mediator.
He had to prevent Yuren from doing something irreversible.
With that thought, he moved ahead of Yuren.
And finally reached the back of the cave—Rebecca’s dwelling.
“Your Highness?”
Rebecca looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.
Seeing her like that, Callios couldn’t help but chuckle.
She was in pajamas.
Clothes hung neatly on the wall, and the rest of the space was decorated with girlish charm.
How could this be a witch?
She was just a sweet, ordinary girl.
Feeling guilty, Callios spoke.
“Sorry to visit so late. It’s just…”
Then Rebecca suddenly flinched—she saw Yuren.
She shrank back in fear.
Callios quickly tried to calm Yuren down.
But—
“Ah, fuck…”
Yuren’s curse froze him.
Because Yuren’s expression as he looked at Rebecca was twisted into something monstrous.
His face was filled with sheer loathing, as if her very existence was repulsive.
The intensity of that reaction left Callios frozen.
And then, in that moment, he saw it.
Thwack!
Yuren struck without warning.
Slice—
He cut off Rebecca’s head.
Her severed head spun through the air, spraying blood as it went.
Callios’s breath caught.
His vision filled with Rebecca’s green eyes, now devoid of life.
His brain refused to process what had just happened.
Then, at last, he whispered:
“…Rebecca?”
Her name hung hollow in the air.
Why?
That question consumed him.
The pain in his heart became unbearable.
And then, fury.
Hatred.
Rage toward Yuren.
His hand moved to his sword.
But—
“You…!”
“Your Highness, please. Look carefully.”
Yuren’s words stopped him.
“Do you really see a human there?”
“…?”
Yuren pointed to Rebecca’s severed head, his face contorted with revulsion—
No, with a disgust so deep even "revulsion" seemed too weak a word.
And yet, he looked disturbingly calm.
Composed, even.
Like a man who had just done what he knew had to be done.
That stirred Callios’s thoughts.
The rod in Yuren’s hand pointed somewhere.
And that certainty led Callios to slowly turn toward Rebecca’s severed head.
What he saw—
Hee-hee—
[Ah, I’ve been found out.]
Rebecca’s severed head twisted into a grotesque grin.
She was smiling.
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