Episode 109
He was the darkest among the darkness.
Eora looked down at the soul and asked,
“It is a path of loneliness, solitude, and being misunderstood, like walking through a field of pebbles. Despite that, will you still do it?”
As evidence, the remaining darkness behind him was already resenting him greatly.
“Are you going to abandon us?”
“After all, you said you would seek revenge from the gods.”
“I cannot forgive you. I cannot forgive you. I will kill you.”
Even hearing their protests, the strongest darkness only burst into laughter and disregarded all the blame pouring onto him.
The sight of him completely ignoring the accusations was quite impressive.
“I must say, I’m already living like that.”
“But why would you help me then?”
“Because I hate you.”
“…And?”
“I will show you that no matter what you do, it will be of no use. Just like I was considered worthless and discarded, I will make you realize that your world is also worthless.”
The other darkness behind him became excited and restless.
“That’s what it was?”
“Then we will support you with our power.”
“Yes! I will bring this world to its destruction!”
Eora closed her eyes quietly as she looked at them.
“I have never abandoned any of you. I have never hated you or considered you worthless.”
The darkness raged and shouted recklessly.
“Lies! They’re all lies! Look! Even those kids hate us!”
The strongest darkness looked at the souls standing behind Eora. They were the souls who would live in the new world.
They all looked at the darkness with a mixture of contempt and fear. The darkness taunted them, looking each one of them in the eye.
“Is that what you say even when you see them? I heard that even the dragons realized that they were becoming equal to them and tried to rebel.”
Eora calmly replied.
“That’s why they were exterminated. Unlike the sealed ancient races, they were annihilated and left only in our memories.”
“Even so, look at them. In the next world, we will be treated just as miserably.”
“In that case, I will give you what the humans in the new world desire most. You will be the humans who rule above humans, absolved of any crime, always abundant, noble, and powerful.”
Throughout Eora’s words, the expressions of the other souls gradually turned sour, in contrast to the cheering darkness.
The strongest darkness smirked, pleased with their reaction.
“That’s an unexpectedly welcome message.”
Eora looked down at them and whispered.
“However, there is one thing you will never obtain. Only one person will ever teach you to love. And through that, I will control you.”
“Huh, love? That’s absurd… Do as you please.”
The darkness shook with anger. Fury burned in its eyes. Finally, Eora was certain of her choice, witnessing the deep-seated deprivation within the darkness.
Those who firmly believed they were abandoned were soaked in hatred, self-loathing, and a yearning for affection. A form of existence that would rather see everything perish.
It was too late to differentiate between right and wrong, and there was no turning back. Perhaps it would be the same in the new world.
Therefore, Eora gave the strongest darkness the final clue. It was the key to unlocking the grievances of him and the other darkness.
“You are weaker than all the darkness gathered together. They will undoubtedly shake you and lead you to destroy the world.”
“I also have my eyes on him.”
“Then, according to your words, you will be born worthless and end as a worthless existence. Your sins will be absolved as long as you destroy the world. You will never have a chance for change or anyone to care for you. You will wander through the universe until the day the universe ends and tragically disappear… Then you will truly become a worthless existence.”
The darkness writhed in anger. Eora spoke to him in a strong tone for the first time.
“Are you curious about the reason for your existence? Do you want to know why you are treated like this? You will find out on the day when you can rule over yourself and them. Only then will you finally understand love.”
The darkness was an expression that could never be understood. Instead of further explanation, Eora simply clasped her hands together.
“I have never once hated you. The one who comes to you is someone shaped by such feelings.”
At that moment, a glimmer of light appeared above Eora’s hands.
As soon as the darkness saw that light, it realized that it had fallen into a trap set by Eora.
* * *
As soon as I left the office, I woke up Hierian. Fortunately, Hierian had only briefly lost consciousness and was not seriously injured.
‘It’s strange. I thought you had used some kind of power to do something terrible, but it wasn’t that at all.’
I couldn’t hide my curiosity as I looked around. The surroundings were calm.
If Dianel had decided to pressure me, he could have mobilized the military or threatened my family… But he didn’t.
‘What could have happened?’
First, I needed to make sure my family was safe. I took Hierian to Adandito and told him about the healers in the underground.
“…Given the situation, is there a place where he could hide for a while? I hope Hierian can rest in a safe place.”
Adandito nodded kindly.
“Fortunately, there is a suitable place. Don’t worry about it and go see your family first.”
As soon as he finished speaking, I rushed out without looking back.
Fortunately, my family was unharmed. Seeing them well-fed with all the things Dianel had provided, I became even more suspicious.
‘Is he trying to make me feel safe and then betray me?’
There was no need for him to go to such lengths and even take care of my family. Therid, my brother, even mentioned that he had praised Dianel after sparring with him yesterday.
“He’s reached an incredible level of skill. His sword was flying all over the place…”
“I know, I know. That’s not important right now.”
“You’ve never seen it before, so what do you know? But why are you so busy?”
“I’ll tell you later. For now, take our parents and go to the territory. No, just stay here…”
“Why?”
Therid was frustrated and almost out of breath, but I couldn’t say anything.
I didn’t want to speak without being sure of anything.
But there was a bigger problem.
‘Why does my chest feel so suffocating?’
A chilling feeling I had been sensing for a while now. It felt like I was missing something important. That’s why I ran to my family.
But even though I saw that they were safe, the uncomfortable feeling didn’t disappear.
‘Am I missing something?’
I carefully examined the situation.
First, it was true that Dianel had imprisoned the healers. The place where the healers were held captive was the North Palace and the knights who were guarding them also bore the symbol of the Crown Prince.
I touched the symbol in my hand and absentmindedly took it out. Then Therid quickly grabbed it and asked.
“Why do you have this? Are you the Crown Prince’s lover or something?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Well, if not, then someone should take him away with that personality.”
“Stop joking and give it to me. It’s important.”
“So, why do you have something important?”
Therid held the symbol up high, out of my reach. Then he frowned as if he had noticed something strange.
“Huh? …This is fake.”
“Fake?”
“The angles here are a little different.”
Therid showed me his symbol. Indeed, the angles of the star-shaped marks were slightly different.
“Isn’t it possible to make a mistake like this?”
In response to my question, Therid quickly became more serious and said,
“This is something made by only one craftsman, painstakingly by hand. He doesn’t leave imperfect marks as they are because if the Crown Prince’s symbol is misused, it would be a big problem. In reality, imperfect symbols don’t even have legal effect.”
“…Where is that craftsman now?”
“I don’t know either. All I know is that he hides under the protection of our knight order. Only a few tens of thousands might know about him. Even the emperor, he probably wouldn’t know the craftsman’s whereabouts.”
Seeing him speak confidently only deepened my suspicions.
‘Could it be that the knights guarding the underground were pretending to be members of the Crown Prince’s knight order?’
But then again, Dianel knew that he would be framed, so it didn’t make sense for him to leave such obvious clues.
No, I didn’t think he would leave them. That’s why I initially thought Dianel would know about this incident and went to the office, and afterward, I naturally thought it was something Dianel had done and became angry.
But now, it’s possible that Dianel is not the culprit.
Then why did Dianel allow himself to be falsely accused without defending himself?
Amid my contemplation, the words I had said to him before came to mind like a bolt of lightning.
‘It doesn’t matter if you don’t help. I’ll find a way somehow.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe a solution will arise if we kill the Demon King.’
‘…Kill the Demon King.’
‘Yeah, then maybe my curse will be lifted.’
‘…Is that your intention?’
“…Of course not. You’re being foolish.”
It was an impulsive remark made out of anger at the fact that I couldn’t lift the curse. I didn’t wish for Dianel’s death.
‘Yeah, there’s no reason for you to receive hate from me just because of such words. It’s not like anything will change because of it.’
Why did Dianel go to such lengths to make me think that he was someone remarkable and that there would be some benefit for him to be hated by me?
But still, I couldn’t just do nothing.
I turned to Therid and asked,
“Brother, do you know all the members of the Crown Prince’s knight order?”
“…Huh? Yeah, I do.”
“Then let’s go down to the underground right away. There was a fallen knight there who had this symbol. Please check if that knight is really a member of the Crown Prince’s knight order.”
Therid’s eyes lit up, and he nodded his head.
“Leave it to me!”
