episode_0117

“… Now it has finally reached. The arrow of condemnation… has traveled a long, long way… and now it has pierced the sinner’s heart…”

It was a life so fragile that it could be called a fetus in the womb, or rather, a fertilized seed.

But the king could hear the stirring of life.

Finally, he was ready to take one of the pillars of the empire with him, but the sound of life woke him up.

He laughed at the pitifulness of the precepts, but he could not abandon them in the end. The precepts that had been carved in the past to protect the people were the only remaining legacy of the ruined country.

But how could one break that commandment and shoot innocent seeds? That would be no different from an empire that trampled its own country.

“No, ghosts. Kings of the past.”

The first one to stand before the king was the emperor.

“As the Emperor of the Empire, I have something to tell you.”

“Yeah… Free speech is the privilege of the victor. Feel free to criticize this tyrant to your heart’s content. ”

“Assel Arvin, the 38th Emperor of the Arvin Empire.”

The emperor looked at him and without a moment’s hesitation,

Kneel down on your left knee.

“I ask for forgiveness on behalf of my foolish and wicked ancestors.”

“… What the heck is going on now?”

“I do not think that this will appease your anger. With this neck, I ask for forgiveness for the Empire’s sins…”

“Don’t do foolish things, Emperor. Such an attitude will only lead you to follow in the same path as me. The roof of the empire will hit the ground, and only your people will be miserable.”

The King of Ghosts patted the Emperor on the shoulder.

Part of his helmet cracked due to the shockwave, revealing his lower body.

His mouth was smiling, as if he was content with just that.

The king continued to walk. There was no longer any trace of resentment or ghostly aura in his footsteps. All he felt was the dignity of a saintly monarch walking through his kingdom.

The king continued walking and stood before the empress.

“O woman who is the pillar of the empire. More trials await you in the future. Do you intend to continue struggling?”

“… If I didn’t have that kind of personality, I wouldn’t have stood before a formidable opponent like you.”

“That’s right.”

Once again, part of his helmet broke, revealing his eyebrows. His eyes, with their gentle curves, exuded a sense of calm.

“Would you like to tell the unborn child that I am sorry that this foolish king pointed his weapon at you, an innocent child?”

“… Yes.”

“And become a saint who surpasses all those in the past. If you become corrupt, this foolish king will come and punish you.”

“… Yes. I will tell you that a king more fearsome than anyone else will come.”

“Yes. May the unborn child be blessed.”

The king went forward again and stood before all the nobles.

He was a descendant of those who hated him endlessly.

In other words, it is their distant ancestors that the king hates.

These were not ancestors, the king finally decided, and these were merely a lineage from the past.

Even if you step on the roots of a protruding tree and fall down, you can’t burn the branches and the nests of birds living on them.

“Leonhard Gardner, the last king of the Garden Kingdom.”

He closed his eyes.

It wasn’t about turning a blind eye. It was about turning a blind eye to the branches of the empire that I hated so much and to those who had grown up nesting on those branches.

He finally figured out the solution. Or maybe he knew it all along, because it was really simple.

It was a matter of simply standing up and turning away. You could kick the roots, but you couldn’t burn the entire tree.

Moreover, unlike that tree, he had even heard of a true apple. He had already killed the people of the empire in abundance. With this, he could settle all the debts and leave.

“Here and now.”

He opened his eyes again. His helmet was completely shattered, revealing his features.

And his face was so startling that everyone who saw it was shocked.

Their appearance, which resembled Raoul and Latri, clearly showed that their bloodline was connected.

It was clearly the blood left behind by his daughter who had desperately tried to escape alive.

In a way, the custom of not allowing the weak-willed hearts of the family that Ratri saw may have originated from that tragic history.

Since the king’s weak heart, which sympathized with the weak, led the country to destruction, his daughter must have disciplined her descendants so that they would not have weak hearts.

“I declare the war between the Kingdom and the Empire over.”

That also meant that he was about to put down his bow.

Finally, I was able to see things through the eyes of someone who loved the weak, not a vengeful ghost.

However, a person whose heart has been pierced cannot live long.

He reached out to the five nobles who had vomited blood and offered their lives.

And he carefully stroked Lizel and Ratri’s hair.

“You mean it wasn’t in vain… Yeah…”

He chastised himself for being so blinded by revenge that he could not even recognize his descendants.

“He was foolish. He was just a fool to the end.”

After realizing what disaster his foolishness had brought upon him, he took a deep breath and said:

“This tyrant will now retract all curses he has brought upon the empire.”

Words are like arrows; once they are shot, they cannot be returned, but today he returned the arrow he shot at the empress.

So today, it seemed like he might be able to reverse the curse he had cast long ago.

“…… and.”

He turned his head this time to where Camilla was and said:

“Descendant of Argos. I entrust you to that child who was crushed by the disaster that my foolishness brought about. He will surely be like me and will not be able to speak.”

“… I didn’t know I’d hear nagging that wasn’t even in my fortune.”

“This tyrant doesn’t have the talent to see one, but he does have the talent to see two. I’m saying this out of concern, because I think they’ll make a pretty good pair.”

“How did you know that…!”

“I just said that because I thought we’d be good friends, but how could you misinterpret it?”

“Should I just kill this old man now…?”

“Please hurry. He’s already a corpse that’s going to die soon.”

The last person he approached and spoke to was Raoul.

A man who is the head of the hateful Bergé family, but is also his own blood.

He was a man close to the pinnacle of irony.

“Raoul Bergé.”

The king thought for a moment about what to say.

“I have caused you indelible pain. I have contributed to the death of Leila Nevermore, whom you loved so much. It is only natural that you hate me.”

He spread his arms, indicating that he had no intention of resisting.

“Even if I die by your hand before I die by my own arrows, I will not resent you. You have the right to hate this tyrant and seek revenge.”

“I’m sick of it. I’m really sick of stories of hatred and revenge.”

The king’s daughter turned her family into cold-blooded thugs out of hatred for losing their country, and as a result, Ratri lost his warm heart.

Ratri abused Raoul out of hatred and revenge towards the man who defiled her.

After losing his wife, the Demon King started a war out of revenge and hatred.

He himself killed countless lives out of revenge and hatred immediately after losing Leila.

And that ancestor king also caused today’s tragedy with revenge and hatred.

It was a really boring story that was so disgusting that it made me want to throw up.

“I’m sick of it. All these stories tangled and intertwined because of justified revenge…”

Raoul was getting irritated by the reality of all these stories being mixed up.

“It’s just fucking…!!!”

Everyone couldn’t help but be surprised, since Raul rarely cursed.

“… I see. That too is the tyrant’s lack of virtue. That lack of virtue has become a curse and has spread to his descendants. ”

Now, the hatreds that had become entangled like a knot were not something that could be easily unraveled.

But there was another, more efficient way to untangle the intricate knot.

“Empire.”

The most efficient way to untangle a complicated knot.

“I forgive you.”

It was like cutting one end of a tangled knot.

That is why the king forgave the empire that committed such a terrible atrocity.

So that we can untie this terrible knot of hatred and revenge.

He decided to take the lead and cut the strings of revenge.

The king finally patted Raoul’s head, who was startled.

“Looking at it this way, they really do look alike.”

It wasn’t just a story about appearance.

The foolishness of trying to shoulder everything alone. The foolishness of thinking that if you sacrifice yourself, everyone will be happy. The clumsy way of loving those around you. The stiff and rigid way of speaking.

It all resembled the king.

“Raoul Bergé…”

I felt death getting closer and closer.

“Look at it clearly with your own two eyes. This is… the miserable words of one who tried to shoulder everything alone…”

I had to show what the end result of that attitude of trying to sacrifice alone would be.

“The end of the one who tried to sacrifice himself alone… The end of the blind who could not see those connected to me…”

Please make sure that your descendants do not walk the same path as you.

“Please, after seeing the death of this foolish tyrant…may you come to a realization…”

The king closed his eyes after using up his last breath like that.

The king’s body, which had endured for many years, was transformed into purple flowers and scattered by the wind.

Raoul, holding one of the petals, had a very bitter expression on his face.

He had been an enemy he hated, but now there was no reason for him to do so. The reason he had endured for hundreds of years was not simple vanity, but atonement and devotion to his lost people.

“Ipayon… Indeed… This is a flower that suits you.”

The petals carried by the wind scattered, forgetting all the favors.

The ghost’s shots always flew straight to their target.

But now, the flower petals he had made were just falling without anyone knowing where they would go.

“Rest in peace.”