Volume 8, Chapter 20 – Venex? Or Lucitine?

Fia arrived before the magnificent hall.

Though the outer walls were only gray, the ornate reliefs carved into the stone and pillars, along with the bone dragons flanking the hall, made it utterly unparalleled. If Blossom’s audience hall was resplendent and magnificent, then this place was imposing and majestic.

The thick death energy was truly unpleasant.

The cold sensation brought by death energy wasn’t an actual drop in temperature, but the chill felt when one’s vitality was being drained. Though this death energy could hardly make Fia feel cold, the faint, putrid odor in the air still made her frown repeatedly, as if walking through a sunless, dank slum.

Held by Yulisha’s hand as she stepped down from the carriage, Fia surveyed her surroundings. This was already the interior of the Netherworld. The empty, desolate gray plain was nearly filled to capacity with undead. From massive multi-headed bone dragons slowly exhaling gray mist, to fully armored nightmare knights riding skeletal horses, to things floating mid-air that resembled aggregates of will-o’-the-wisps.

Fia even saw a hundred-eyed giant, its body partially rotted, and a colossal whale-like creature hovering a kilometer high, over five hundred meters in length, its body covered in octopus tentacles. Its strength reached Eighth Rank. Fia guessed it was the Leviathan, a mythical mount of the Queen of Death.

“So this is the Queen of Death’s true strength. I never imagined such legendary beings could become reality. That maid was right—what we faced before were mere ants living on the periphery of the Netherworld.”

Holding Fia’s hand, Yulisha’s tone was extremely low. Forget the massive black shadow hovering a kilometer high; even the multi-headed bone dragon guarding the palace was vastly different from ordinary bone dragons. A typical multi-headed bone dragon reaching eighty meters was impressive, but the one behind the gray palace exceeded a hundred meters in length. Its gaze from on high was full of pressure, daring no one to meet its eyes.

She had to be thankful that the soldiers brought this time were Silvar’s most elite imperial guards. Otherwise, under such pressure, it would be hard to prevent soldiers from trembling, their teeth chattering in shameful displays.

She nodded with satisfaction, leaned close to Fia, and warned in a low voice.

“This is their intimidation tactic, Dofi. Be careful.”

“Mother, don’t worry. You and Claire wait here. I’ll come out once I’ve finished discussing matters.”

“Mm.”

Meanwhile, the handover had also been completed among the undead ahead of the procession. The older maid who had led the way finished speaking with someone dressed as a butler and stepped aside. The butler approached Fia, placed his right hand on his chest, and bowed respectfully.

“Please follow me, Miss Dofilia. Her Majesty awaits you in the palace.”

Though he had a dragon head of bare bones, his black tailcoat and mature, steady voice made Fia half-expect him to suddenly blurt out names like “Sebastian” or “Sebas.”

Fia ascended the long gray stone steps with the butler. Perhaps for the sake of appearances, the steps were built long and high. Fia could clearly feel that the moment she set foot on them, the gazes of all the undead below were fixed on her. Most were appraising and disgusted—undead loathe the living, considering them weak insects.

She frowned and asked the butler walking ahead.

“Is the Queen the only one inside the palace?”

“No. The undead archmage ladies are also in attendance. They are Her Majesty’s attendants and ministers who share her burdens daily. A matter as important as choosing a queen requires witnesses, so that even if Her Majesty decides on an ‘Alternation’ in the future, we servants can explain it to the subsequent Queen. Undead do not violate oaths. Even if an ‘Alternation’ occurs, you will forever be the Queen of Death’s consort, enjoying a status second only to the Queen herself. Please do not worry.”

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“…’Alternation’?”

When uttering “Alternation,” the undead’s pronunciation shifted from elvish to a language Fia had heard but not mastered, somewhat similar to the demonic language Claire used when chanting spells.

It was worth noting that the demonic language Claire used was different from this world’s demonic language. Claire’s demonic language was something outside the system.

The dragon-headed butler’s tone remained humble.

“Yes. Her Majesty’s ‘Alternation’ is not a secret. As our future queen consort, you will eventually learn the truth. To help you better understand Her Majesty, please allow me to presumptuously explain.”

Fia gave a slight nod, uttering a soft “Mm.”

The butler began a lengthy explanation.

“We undead are immortal, unaffected by the living’s troubles of hunger and reproductive urges. In the initial stage after transitioning from living to undead, life unfettered by desire feels exhilarating and unprecedentedly easy. But once that stage passes—around two hundred years—the initial excitement slowly wanes until, by three hundred years, one is surrounded by loneliness and a sense of loss.”

“In the time that follows, being unable to taste food, unable to clearly feel hot or cold, pain or comfort, the former ease becomes a shackle. Doing the same things year after year brings endless suffering to the undead. Even if we seek novelty, our rich life experience deprives us of the experience of ‘newness.’ Things that startle outsiders are merely daily life to us, who have lived long enough. Add to that the friends we know dying off one by one, and even seeking death becomes a distant wish. Most undead lose their humanity in this process, their sense of self, becoming numb and indifferent skeletons.”

“As for the remaining undead, they often cling to strong desires—seeking power, seeking supreme status—and become extremely paranoid. Isn’t it the same for the living? Once consciousness is left with only a single desire, one gradually loses conscience and humanity, becoming willing to do anything to achieve their goal. Hence, undead active in the outside world are often extremely paranoid. Those numb and indifferent skeletons slumber underground, achieving a state of suspended animation.”

The butler’s logic was understandable to Fia. It was like in her world, where people living too long gradually lost their emotions. Except in her world, people could experience a rich variety of emotions through many channels, while the undead could not. Not only could they not, they lacked many things: unable to sleep, unable to taste, unable to unite and produce offspring. The monotony of life was easy to imagine.

As for long-lived elves living eight or nine hundred years, that was because they retained the functions of the living. The world was ever-changing; they could always experience new emotions. The undead, confined to the Netherworld, couldn’t go to places with vigorous vitality. Especially powerful undead, even wearing accessories, couldn’t alter this fate.

Seeing Fia calmly accept this explanation, the butler’s empty eye sockets flickered with surprised flames. But he hadn’t forgotten his mission, still leading Fia step by step up the stairs.

“This is the inescapable fate of us undead. Even Her Majesty cannot be exempt from it. However, Her Majesty bears the responsibility of governing the entire kingdom of the dead. She can neither slumber eternally like ordinary undead, nor become paranoid and insane. So the first Queen conceived a method: by stripping her memories from her soul and storing them separately in a vessel, the remaining body would possess a pure, unadorned soul, allowing her to continue exercising the Queen’s authority while avoiding paranoia and insanity. This ritual of stripping memories from the soul is called ‘Alternation.'”

“Hmm…”

Fia was silent for a moment.

Combined with the butler’s earlier statement, what he initially meant was: even if the Queen of Death’s body changed souls, she would still remain as the queen consort, accompanying the new Queen of Death and enjoying her privileges.

If the chosen queen consort were an ordinary commoner, the treatment offered by the undead could be considered quite generous.

However, she was not here for the position of queen consort.

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Furthermore, there was another issue. Setting aside undetermined genetic factors, a person’s character is shaped by their later experiences, including family environment, education, friends, and the knowledge gained from various places. The accumulation of these things molds the shape of one’s character. It can be understood as character, qualities, or life experience. But whichever aspect you emphasize, it’s inseparable from memory.

And if memory were wiped clean, whether that person was still the original person became quite mysterious.

In short, according to the butler, they recognized the Queen based on the soul still being the original Queen of Death’s soul. The current Queen was the result of who knew how many generations of alternation.

“So which generation is the current Queen?”

“Which generation? We don’t have such a concept. Her Majesty is Her Majesty. Also, you seem to misunderstand. Each time Her Majesty undergoes Alternation, she doesn’t take all memories. The most fundamental parts—common sense, how to use magic, her mission—these remain in the soul.”

In other words, through the Alternation ritual, a person of a hundred could lose most of their memories and return to being eighteen.

Magic is truly convenient.

Even in the Radiant Era, stripping vast, trivial memories from the brain was troublesome. Precisely discarding everything one wished to forget was difficult.

Come to think of it, am I somewhat similar?

No, that’s a stretch. The First Princess left me nothing. Even basic common sense of this world, I learned through the [Witch’s Secret History] and from others.

Fia shook her head, dispelling the daydreams.

She finally arrived before the palace doors. They were open, but due to the layer of gray death energy floating within the spacious hall, she couldn’t see inside clearly.

She quietly used [Wind of Exploration]. The results showed thirteen undead with mana reactions standing inside the hall, their strengths ranging from Sixth to Eighth Rank. The only undead on the elevated platform showed as deep crimson, representing Ninth Rank.

Definitely the Queen of Death.

She switched to [Mana Vision], then tilted her neck at a subtle angle.

The thirteen undead beside the Queen uniformly appeared gray with flecks of color. Gray represented death energy, and the colors represented their specialized elements—a unique reaction of undead in [Mana Vision]. But with the Queen of Death, the gray only clung to her surface; internally, she was entirely multi-colored.

It’s hard to call her undead. It’s more accurate to say she’s a powerful living person with death energy covering her surface.

Is this a special fetish of the Queen of Death?

“I am not qualified to enter the hall. Please proceed the rest of the way alone. Rest assured, the death energy in the air will not corrode your body. Her Majesty, though dignified and powerful, is merciful. If you dislike it, she surely will not turn you into an undead. We undead suffer greatly from our condition, so we cherish even more the times when we can feel.”

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This butler is a decent person.

Fia abandoned her plan to use [Intimidate] combined with [Art of the Sage].

She nodded and, as if walking through her own Twilight Palace, confidently followed the red carpet into the great hall.

As the distance closed, Fia could vaguely discern fourteen figures in the gray mist. Besides the Queen, the rest were mostly dressed as butlers and maids. Even the shortest among them was half a head taller than her.

Anastasia had said rumors described the Queen of Death as petite in stature but mature in character—someone around her and Liti’s size, a little girl. All the servants were tall, perhaps harboring the Queen’s wish to be taller.

Thinking of it that way, the Queen of Death is kinda cute.

Suppressing the playful thought, Fia stopped at an appropriate distance—close enough to almost see the Queen’s face, but not quite. She was here to discuss cooperation, not play house. Her side had given the Queen ample face. Now it was time to see the Queen’s sincerity.

After a one-second pause, Fia’s clear, sonorous voice echoed through the hall.

“I am the First Princess of Silvar, Dofilia Alexia Yushir. You went to the trouble of inviting me here, yet you hide in the mist without showing yourself. Have you forgotten, Queen of the Kingdom of Death, Lady Venex?”

“…”

Lucitine, lounging lazily on her throne, twitched the corner of her mouth. At this moment, she desperately wanted to defend herself: it wasn’t that she was unwilling to show herself, but with her servants present, she couldn’t reveal her true feelings. She was also extremely anxious. She knew Fia had met her. If Fia told her servants about the stupid thing she did, jumping off a cliff onto the ground, the dignity she’d inherited from her predecessor would be swept away.

She glanced at her thirteen attendants, then sat up straight.

“Don’t be insolent! You are not yet the queen consort. Even you cannot casually utter Her Majesty’s former name!”

Before Lucitine could speak, a maid nearest to her opened her mouth. This made Lucitine’s already twitching eyelids twitch even more noticeably. Feigning calm, she raised her right hand, signaling the servant to be silent. Then she removed the black robe draped over her, rose from the throne, and stepped toward Fia, vaguely visible through the gray mist.

“She is my guest. I permit it.”

“Yes.”

Good. It seems this level of permission is acceptable to everyone.

Lucitine breathed a sigh of relief. With a nervous heart, she walked up to Fia.

Then, both froze simultaneously.

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Especially Fia. Surprise was written all over her delicate, doll-like features. Of course she hadn’t forgotten this body she herself had created. Back in the magic training ground, when she had crafted this mature, nearly perfect body, rivaling Anastasia’s, Anastasia had even worn an expression that seemed slightly hostile.

Wasn’t this the Lucitine who, despite being a ghost, still tried jumping off a cliff onto the ground? I even gave her the name Lucitine to distinguish her from the Queen of Death.

[t/n] ¹ huh? When? Did I skip a chap? no… uh… oh… its at the very end of ch2… sorry to break the immersion but this is glossed over… tsk.

Suspecting she was mistaken, Fia checked again with [Wind of Exploration] and [Mana Vision]. The result confirmed Lucitine was indeed a Ninth-Rank practitioner.

Had the Queen of Death stolen Lucitine’s body? But why would the Queen of Death want a living person’s body?

Various questions emerged in Fia’s mind. Lucitine, with her back to her servants, desperately signaled Fia with her eyes, while still managing to speak in a tone filled with emotion.

“It has been days since we parted in the south. I missed you too much and could resort to this extreme measure. I hope you don’t mind.”

So… Lucitine used the queen consort pretext to invite me here? But she had better options. She didn’t need to go this far, creating such misunderstandings.

Fia was quite puzzled. Lucitine continued, her tone cooling slightly.

“All of you, withdraw. Let me speak with Dofilia alone.”

“B-but, Your Majesty, she hasn’t undergone the ritual to become undead. Even if you’ve decided to make her your queen consort, you should wait until the ritual is complete.”

“You—”

“Haven’t you all misunderstood something?”

Lucitine seemed about to speak, but Fia no longer wished to let these undead’s misunderstandings continue. Her purpose was to meet the Queen of the Kingdom of Death. Once she met her, they could discuss cooperation against the Chaos. Being unilaterally misunderstood as accepting the queen consort invitation was one thing, but now they were going too far. It was time to wake them up.

Her words dripped with disdain.

“I came here only to discuss cooperation with your Queen. Yet you servants repeatedly interfere with the conversation between host and guest. Don’t you think this is overstepping your bounds?”