Volume 5, Chapter 51 – The Showdown

The night-colored hem of her skirt floated gently with the wind. Andrea’s clear, cold voice brought the entire battlefield to a standstill for a moment. Subsequently, the defending side began to converge on the gap, mobilizing sandbags and stones to block it. On the other side, the rebel army halted at the sound of a horn and reformed their ranks on the spot.

Of course, this did not mean the rebel army had given up the attack. On the contrary, after readjusting their formation, they continued their assault on the Royal Capital with even greater momentum. The infantry, under the cover of magic chanters, charged toward the gap, and the city wall, which had lost its protective barrier, was dyed in a myriad of colors by their magic.

Everyone realized that the real siege had begun.

Without immediately returning to the city wall, Boris came to Andrea’s side and knelt on one knee.

“Your Majesty.”

Letting her long pink hair be whipped up by the gale created by the magic, Andrea stopped Boris with her hand.

“Boris, return to the city and command the battle. You are not needed here.”

“But your safety…”

“With the protection of the Alvier Tower, no one can assassinate me. I am here to wait for an important person.”

“Could it be the Augustin you spoke of just now?” Boris frowned. “According to the intelligence I’ve gathered, Augustin has already betrayed you, Your Majesty. You need not waste any more time on him. He has long forgotten the kindness you showed him.”

Andrea held up her palm to Boris, signaling him not to speak further. “I have my own judgment. I will make him admit his defeat here.”

Seeing the serious and firm Andrea for the first time, Boris was stunned. After a long silence, an imperceptible worry appeared on his chiseled face. He placed his left hand on his chest and bowed to her.

“Until you make Augustin admit defeat, I will defend the Royal Capital with my life.”

“No—” Unexpectedly, Andrea waved her hand. “If Augustin does not stop before you can no longer hold out, then it means my plan has failed. At that time, you do not need to defend the capital to the death. You can just take as many people as possible and leave.”

Andrea had changed, but not completely.

But that was fine.

His previous worries turned to relief. Boris puffed out his chest. “Yes, Your Majesty! As long as you do not retreat a single step, I will not retreat a single step either.”

Knowing that Boris would say that, Andrea sighed helplessly and nodded, signaling that he could leave.

Besides the shouts of battle, the battlefield was filled with a gale of magic power. The rebel army in front of the gap desperately bombarded the [Barrier of Aurora] with magic, trying to shatter it and rush into the city. And the City Guard behind the barrier shot arrows from the sides of the broken city wall. The battle had shifted from the initial magic warfare to a war of attrition that was infinitely close to a melee.

“…Just a little longer.”

Hiding the pity in her heart, Andrea withdrew her gaze and abruptly took a small step back.

Then, a streak of white light flashed past the spot where she had been standing.

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“Ah, you dodged it, as expected. I told you, with the protection of the Alvier Tower, an assassination is impossible.”

With a slightly childish voice, a girl with long orange hair tied in a ponytail and a man with medium-long hair appeared in front of Andrea.

Sandra and Augustin.

The former was still dressed in her vibrant attire, while the latter had changed from a magic robe to a military uniform.

Her gaze did not linger on the unfamiliar Sandra for long. Andrea looked directly at Augustin. As she had expected, as long as she called out his name loudly, he would surely come to see her.

“Augustin, have your men stand down. I will not make things difficult for these soldiers who are only following your orders.”

“Alvier, at this point, do you still think I will stop?” Augustin frowned. “Don’t you understand that as long as you sit on the throne for a single day, your suffering will not leave you for a single day? I want you to be able to find happiness.”

“My happiness is for me to decide, not to rely on you, Augustin. Do you think you can free me from my pain through war? This will only make me detest you, reject you. It will bring me no benefit other than to make things more difficult for me.”

“Impossible!” Rejecting Andrea outright, Augustin’s chest heaved unsteadily. “Yes, I know. The deaths and injuries caused by the war will cause Alvier great pain. But that is precisely what I admire about you. To see every single one of your subjects as equally important, what a benevolent monarch! The pain of war is only temporary. As long as the war ends, you can obtain eternal peace. This is what you have always wanted!”

It was better to solve the root of the pain in a short time than to suffer for a long time. This was Augustin’s thought.

A trace of pity appeared in her golden eyes. Andrea said in as relaxed a tone as possible, “Perhaps so… I did once long for the life of an ordinary person. But now I am satisfied. Running away solves no problems. From the moment I was born and given the name of Alvier, I was destined to become king. Even if I flee to a corner of the continent far from the Blood Clan, I will always be concerned about everything in the Blood Clan. This is my destiny.”

A look of expectation appeared on Augustin’s gentle face.

“Then why not let someone else be king? Someone else can manage the Blood Clan for you, and you can escape your destiny—”

“No. I have already said, no matter where I go, I will always be thinking about the Blood Clan. In the dead of night, or when I see a wheat field on the verge of harvest. Unless I had never known I possessed a royal bloodline, or unless I die, I can never abandon my responsibility. You may not believe what I say, Augustin, but I have indeed already seen my life after becoming an ordinary person—it was indeed very happy, to the point that one would not want to wake from the sweet dream. But it was a dessert mixed with sawdust. Although sweet, it hid something that was hard to swallow.”

Augustin’s eyes widened. He tried to find a trace of a lie on Andrea’s face, but there was nothing there but a reminiscent smile.

“…You’re willing to be the king of the Blood Clan?”

“Yes.”

“You are not suited to be king at all! Your personality, your character, it’s destined that you will only continue to suffer!”

No longer the gentle man from before, Augustin’s face was written with hysteria. Like a marathon runner who was forced to stop the race just as he was about to reach the finish line due to external interference, his long-term efforts had come to nothing, and had even changed Andrea into someone who was no longer herself. This was an outcome Augustin could not accept, not to mention that he was a pathological fanatic to begin with.

“A moment of indecision will become a lifetime of regret for you. Believe me, Alvier. Only I have the right to give you happiness!”

“…Stop, Augustin. Isn’t your purpose to free me from my pain? In the past, I was in a dilemma because I was unwilling to face a choice. Now, I am no longer lost. There may be many challenges waiting for me in the future, but I will not stagnate any longer. I already have a clearer purpose.”

“A clearer purpose?”

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“To manage the Blood Clan well, and then to give the person I like… no, to give the person I like a status that is recognized by others, to let her live a life free from the worries of money, a life where she will no longer be displaced. And then to raise many children together, and let them choose their own paths.”

Although Augustin was mad, he had not yet reached the point where he couldn’t listen to reason. As long as she explained it well, she might be able to make him turn back. This was Andrea’s thought.

However, reality was often the opposite of one’s expectations.

Andrea’s words made Augustin cover his face with his hands. His medium-long blue hair covered most of his cheek. A chilling sneer escaped his lips.

“Hehe… it was that woman who told you, wasn’t it? She is deceiving you, Alvier. In this world, no one cares for you, admires you more than I do. Only I am truly thinking of you!”

“That’s enough, Augustin. I will not allow you to insult Lady Yisi. Even if the purpose of your war is for my sake, I will absolutely not allow a war criminal to speak ill of her.”

His shoulders trembled violently for a moment. Augustin said nothing, only taking two steps back. In a voice that was hard to tell if it was laughing or crying, he tremblingly drew the magic staff from his waist, his features twisted into a savage grin.

“…No, you are not the Alvier I follow… My Alvier would not say no to me. The gentle and kind Alvier, who would only wait for things to end and then accept them, and then feel sad because of them, is gone. A substitute… no, you are just a defective product. The one I admire is the Alvier who saved me from the abyss with her smile!!! Get out of Alvier’s body immediately, you defective product! Do not defile my Alvier!”

He’s unwilling to accept my growth, so he’s descended into madness…

But her so-called growth was just a change from being unwilling to think to being willing to change the status quo.

A trace of sadness rose in her heart. Andrea fell silent. If she could, she didn’t want to see Augustin become like this. If it were the old her, even if she was unwilling in her heart, she would have pretended to be the unchanged her, comforted him, and let him recover.

But she was no longer the her of the past. To choose one side and not the other, even if she let things develop on their own, in the end, it would surely result in one side benefiting and the other suffering. If that was the case, it was better for her to take the lead and make a choice that would ultimately benefit everyone. The process might cause some people to suffer losses, but as long as the final result was that everyone could benefit, she would have a clear conscience.

And most importantly, she had a clearer goal—to create a future where her partner and their descendants would not have to worry. The words “no worries” sounded completely unattainable, like the moon in the water, something to be longed for but never reached. But if you didn’t try to get closer, you would never be able to touch it. Her goal was to get infinitely close to it, and this was a process that required constant improvement over a long period of time.

Of course, Andrea had another plan.

If it was really impossible to accomplish, then she would just wait for the war to subside, then abdicate her position as Queen and live a more relaxed life. Although this thought was both weak and selfish, it was something that remained from her past self. It was foolish to completely abandon the past. Only by acknowledging it could one face oneself. If she were to fail on the path to becoming a queen, choosing to rely on others to live was not a bad option either. For example, letting her partner become the king.

Is this leaving a way out for myself?

A strange thought welled up in her heart. Andrea couldn’t help but smile.

She really had changed.

In two years, she had become as cunning as Yisi.

Taking out her staff from her storage space, Andrea silently chanted an incantation.

Even with the Alvier Tower supplying her with magic, she could not underestimate Augustin.

“In the name of Alvier, I offer my pure, praying body to my ancestors—[Curse of Envy].”

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The ultimate magic of a pureblood, a taboo that could only be used once in a lifetime. But this was only for ordinary purebloods. As the Queen of the Blood Clan, Andrea was not bound by the once in a lifetime restriction. As long as she remained a virgin, she could use it without limit.

Her pink pigtails instantly came undone, and her golden eyes turned cherry-blossom pink. Andrea spread her wings, and the staff in her hand, which had transformed into a jet-black parasol, pointed directly at Augustin.

“It’s time to part with the past.”

◇

After sending Andrea to the range of the Alvier Tower, Yisi immediately returned to her companions. Fortunately, Boris had taken special care of Camilla’s group as Yisi’s family, arranging for them to be on a section of the city wall at the edge, so no one was injured in the rebel attack.

Seeing Yisi appear, the worried Camilla and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hmph, you’re back, Onee-sama.”

“Master~!”

Giving Yisi a big hug as soon as she arrived, Yisi enjoyed the feeling of Mary rubbing against her clothes while stroking her head.

Then her gaze shifted to Camilla, whose golden hair was tied back with a large white ribbon.

“You didn’t run into any danger, did you?”

“No. Captain Boris arranged for us to be in a place that was rarely affected by the war. And you, Onee-sama? We haven’t seen you for two days.”

“I slept with our dear queen for a night, and then took a stroll through the Lost Lands.”

Yisi threw up her hands helplessly. Due to a lack of magic, Tiffany had already turned into liquid and had crawled into her clothes through Mary—it felt a little cold, but she was behaving herself.

“You slept with the queen?! Onee-sama, did you… did you make a move on her!?”

“Didn’t you always refuse Miss Camilla because of her age, Master? Her Majesty is even younger than me, you know?”

Mary’s innocent purple eyes made Yisi’s body stiffen. “The ‘slept with’ is not what you’re thinking, Camilla. I just lay on the floor. Andrea was sleeping in her own bed.”

“To make you sleep on the floor while she slept comfortably in her bed, even for the Queen, that’s too much!”

Eh?

She had thought Camilla would show a relieved expression, but instead, she was angry over such a small thing.

However, more than this, Yisi actually had something she felt even more guilty about.

Although Andrea’s dream was guided by her own consciousness, and everything that happened—including the characters, scenery, and historical events—was a product of amplifying her subconscious, this did not mean that Yisi could not see her dream. For two years, she had been observing everything Andrea had experienced from the perspective of a bystander, so she had naturally also seen the intimate acts Andrea had performed with “herself.”

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If she were to tell Camilla about this too, she would surely be unhappy.

It was better to tell her after she had come of age. Yes.

“Onee-sama, was there something you were trying to hide from me just now?”

A puzzled look on her beautiful face, Camilla, who smelled faintly of flowers, took a step closer.

Is this the legendary woman’s intuition?

Yisi tried her best to put on a knowing smile.

“Of course not.”

For some reason, Yisi felt the Tiffany that was pressed against her skin begin to tighten. If she didn’t tense her body, she would be having trouble breathing now.

She felt like a wife who had been caught cheating.

It must just be a coincidence.

Although Tiffany’s behavior had always made her suspect she could read minds, there was nothing like that in her skill list.

It must be her own overthinking.

Yisi changed the subject without leaving a trace.

“Where are Edith and Refina?”

“Edith is assisting Boris in fending off the rebels. Refina is also near her.”

“That’s good.”

“Should we call Edith back? The city of Alvier is about to fall.”

Camilla’s words made Mary look at Yisi with a worried expression again. Yisi glanced at the [Omniscient Map], then patted Mary’s shoulder, signaling for her to step back a little.

“There’s no need. Augustin will be defeated soon. But before this war ends, let’s deal with the enemies at our doorstep first, shall we?”

As she spoke, Yisi made a pulling motion at the sky. Instantly, with a loud bang and a cloud of dust, a wyvern that had been silently approaching Mary and Camilla was pulled onto the city wall.

Stepping on the back of the struggling wyvern—which went limp like a deflated ball—Yisi smiled and waved at the gaping Mary, whose face was filled with surprise and admiration.

“Want to try riding a wyvern, Mary?”