Chapter 35: Who Are You?

The rain fell. Like a sudden downpour.

Puddles began to form here and there along the road leading to the imperial palace.

…No. That was my mistake.

It wasn’t rain. It was blood.

Puddles of blood pooled along the path to the palace. They were spread out like a red carpet.

Countless corpses adorned it.

A true mountain of bodies, a sea of blood.

All of them wore similar uniforms.

The insignias and ornaments on their attire were familiar to me.

Two knightly orders that symbolized the emperor’s power.

The sword and the shield. Every single one of them bore the badge of the shield.

They were the Imperial Guard.

Why were they lying dead here?

Swords and badges decorated the graves of the fallen.

And I walked among them.

A sword was clutched in my hand. Blood stained its blade.

I didn’t need to ask whose blood it was.

The culprit was me.

Step, step.

With weary footsteps, I moved forward.

The palace interior was silent.

Then, a voice shattered the quiet from behind me.

“Ain!!”

A voice as sharp as a blade.

A huge wave of aura surged toward me.

Clang――!

A clear metallic ring echoed through the air.

Her sword had failed to reach me.

Turning my head slightly, I caught a glimpse of Adele. She was trembling as she held her blade against mine in midair.

“…You’re late, Adele.”

It was the air, yet it wasn’t.

She wouldn’t be able to see it, but I could.

Lilith. Just for a moment, please.

[…Ah, that child. I see. Leave this to me.]

Lilith’s remnant blocked Adele’s sword.

As I resumed walking, she screamed at me.

“Stop right there, Ain! I swear, I’ll be the one to kill you!!”

“…….”

I couldn’t refute Adele’s furious roar.

Just like with so many others, I had left a deep wound in her heart.

So much had happened here as well.

I had faced the Fourth Prince.

Another two years had passed.

Two years spent uncovering secrets I had never known, tearing into the empire’s imperial family.

The Fourth Prince was dead.

I wasn’t the one who killed him, but… he was dead nonetheless.

The commander of the Imperial Guard, the man closest to the title of the empire’s greatest swordsman, was also dead. …That bastard, I did kill.

I had also cleaned up the rats from the Holy See who had managed to track me down.

In the process, an uncountable amount of blood was spilled.

I had earned the hatred of many.

Adele was no exception.

It’s time to bring this to an end.

At last, I had turned nineteen.

The end of the tutorial was approaching.

The day I had to enter the academy was drawing near.

The stage had been set.

The backdrop was complete.

Now, it was time to place the final period.

Ignoring the deafening crashes behind me, I made my way to where the coward was.

***

“…Phew.”

Once more, I straightened my clothes.

Now, it was nothing more than an unnecessary formality, but out of habit, I did it anyway.

Was this effort even worth it for the one beyond this door?

I stood before a grand entrance, hesitating.

Without a doubt, it was the most extravagant door I had ever seen.

A symbol of the occupant’s status.

Should I make a show of force and kick it open?

Or should I start with a polite knock?

Even debating this felt like a luxury when dealing with him, so I simply opened the door and stepped inside.

Creak—Boom.

A single push, followed by the door shutting behind me.

The room beyond was brightly lit.

For the lights to be on at this hour, in the dead of night…

It seemed he had already expected my arrival.

I scanned the room, my gaze drifting from one detail to another.

As I took in my surroundings, my steps naturally carried me forward, and before I knew it, I was standing at the foot of the bed.

Finally, my eyes settled ahead.

An absurdly huge bed.

And lying there, staring at me with open eyes, was a man.

Despite still being in his middle years, his gaunt frame and the coughs he let out betrayed the state of his health.

That was close.

He likely wouldn’t have made it through the night.

If I did nothing, he would die.

And if that happened, this coward would get exactly what he wanted.

I let out a quiet sigh and met his gaze.

“…You’ve done an impressive job avoiding me all this time, Your Majesty.”

“………”

“Are you afraid of me? Or is it the weight of your own sins that keeps you from facing me?”

“………”

There was no response.

He simply remained silent, his gaze the only thing answering me.

Had he lost even the strength to speak?

But that was no excuse.

He had simply shut his mouth out of cowardice.

A pathetic act of defiance.

“I wish for it.”

I summoned my divine power.

And then, I prayed.

To drag him back to life when he was trying to flee into death.

The prayer continued.

The sentences woven into it grew in number.

At last, with the completion of the tenth sentence, my prayer was finished.

Ten sentences.

A tenth-rank divine spell.

A power so almighty that even the Pope himself could not wield it was bestowed upon him.

At this point, it was no longer just a prayer.

Wooong!

A dazzling radiance filled the room.

It spread beyond these walls and engulfed the entire imperial palace.

Then, reaching toward the heavens, the light illuminated the darkened empire for a single fleeting moment.

One second. Perhaps even less than that.

For just an instant, the empire shrouded in night was bathed in the light of morning.

And then, a miracle occurred.

“Now, won’t you speak? Thanks to my prayer, you’re quite lively now. You can’t run away any longer.”

The emperor’s appearance remained unchanged as the light faded.

But the pallor of his emaciated body had given way to vitality. His labored breaths had settled into quiet ease.

He was no longer being pursued by death.

“…Truly, a power akin to a miracle.”

“You flatter me.”

He assessed the situation in a calm voice, as if nothing had happened.

I, too, responded just as casually.

Of course, the price had not been small.

A tenth-rank divine spell.

A level of holy magic that no longer existed in the current Holy See.

For a mere mortal to invoke such power, the accumulated deeds required were far beyond reach.

It was not a spell someone like me should have been able to use.

But—

What if it were a Hero?

The First Demon King deemed the strongest among all Demon Kings in history—

There had been a Hero who had slain him.

With the power from that time—

It was a miracle that could be recreated.

A power I no longer possessed.

But with a bit of trickery, there was no reason I couldn’t summon it once more.

A small price. A little deception.

That was the bare minimum required to pull off something like this.

Only with such measures could a coward who sought to twist fate be forced back into place.

Enduring an agony that felt as if I might shatter—

I continued speaking as if nothing was wrong.

“My prayer does not come cheap.”

“…I suppose not.”

“But before we even discuss that, shouldn’t we first address something more pressing?”

“………”

At my question, he glanced sideways and gestured toward the clock.

I too checked the time …There wasn’t much left.

We needed to get straight to the point.

Zeleon. That bastard had spoken.

The Fourth Prince had spoken with certainty.

And the one who had revealed this secret to him was the Emperor.

Then, where had the Emperor obtained such information?

“I’ll get straight to the point.”

—Who was it?

The one who told you about fate.

“…….”

“Silence is not an answer. Speak—”

“I don’t know the details myself.”

At last, he spoke.

His voice carried the weight of resignation, as if he had given up entirely.

“It happened a long time ago.”

One day, someone had come to him.

A figure cloaked from head to toe, holding a book in their hand.

And they had spoken.

—Do you wish to change your fate?

Their voice had been sweet.

Like the whisper of a devil.

Drawn in by their offer, he had uncovered the secret.

“…The downfall of the empire I rule. A fate that would inevitably come to pass. I saw the future of the empire.”

“…….”

A book.

It was clear what that meant.

Because I too carried a book.

…A fragment.

The book in my possession.

This relic was only half of a whole.

No. It was one of four pieces, to be exact.

A key to the Akashic Records, where all things in the world were written.

A key to the very origin of all fate and destiny.

Someone, like me, possessed a piece of it.

Who?

Why?

For what purpose?

What scheme did that person have in approaching the Emperor?

Doubts overflowed.

But there were no questions the Emperor could answer.

So, I moved on to another.

In truth, it was the one I wanted to ask the most.

“So, why did you do that to Hela?”

“…….”

“The one who killed Hela’s mother… Turns out it was you.”

“That was—”

“Was it because you couldn’t bear the jealousy of the other consorts? Or did you see her as the root of misfortune? Was it an act of spite? Was it because she gave birth to Hela?”

I had always believed one thing.

That being born was never a sin.

Sin was born from misguided judgment, tainted by fear. Just like this coward before me.

The coward spat out his fury.

“It was because of that child…! And because of the woman who gave birth to her! If only they had been eliminated sooner… the empire could have lasted longer!”

“Then why didn’t you end it from the start? Wasn’t it you who pursued her first?”

“If she was a seed of disaster, I never would have met her in the first place…!”

The coward’s trembling fingers clutched the blanket.

I gazed at him in silence.

Pathetic. This man… is he really the ruler of the empire that represents the entire continent?

And yet, all he ever did was stand by and watch.

Even knowing fate, this was all he amounted to.

All he did was give fate a little push.

Zeleon. Another member of the imperial family.

Cutting off Hela, his own festering wound, just to struggle against destiny for a little longer.

Was the problem that he had glimpsed his fate?

Or had he simply been this kind of man from the very beginning?

There must have been a better choice.

If he had just thought a little more, he would have realized how foolish his actions were.

Was that cloaked bastard hoping for this outcome?

I let out a sigh.

Expecting anything from this coward had been foolish of me.

There was no point in continuing the conversation.

Time was running out.

“…Let’s end this discussion here. All that’s left is the price for your prayers. The price of your life.”

One way or another—

He had to survive.

Now that his lifespan had been extended, he would surely want to live again.

In exchange for overlooking this coward’s sins,

I offered him a deal.

Ella Academy.

That name left my lips.