Ch.41Rest?

I was also bowing my head to the ground, but unlike the people around me who were completely prostrated and unable to breathe, I was able to slightly lift my head enough to observe Charlotte and Serena.

Well, the others might get their heads chopped off if they made a wrong move, but not me.

Serena, who had been walking through the central plaza with a happy smile until just moments ago, was now glaring at Charlotte with fierce eyes, while Charlotte was casually meeting that gaze and looking at me.

Behind her, the dark blue transfer gate emitted a humming noise.

If anyone had been standing there while the gate was opening, they would have been torn to pieces, but Charlotte didn’t seem to have considered that possibility at all.

Of course, when coming to meet me, one person dying wouldn’t be much of an issue for her.

Why would she suddenly come here in the first place?

Even though Serena had refused Charlotte’s summons, it was practically a given that we would visit the palace soon anyway since I was with her.

I had planned to stay here for at most a day and then go to meet Charlotte either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Instead, she suddenly came looking for Serena and me, leaving me wondering what was going on.

When Charlotte’s gaze on me was confirmed, Serena’s eyes grew even more menacing, and she positioned herself in front of me as if to shield me with her body.

Her right hand gripped the handle of World Eater, ready to draw it at any moment.

Charlotte’s gaze shifted from me to Serena. The faint warmth that had been on her face completely disappeared.

Charlotte met Serena’s murderous glare with an equally intimidating aura of her own.

The only fortunate thing was that both of them were still holding onto their reason enough not to emanate mana from their bodies.

If those two did that, everyone here would foam at the mouth and faint. Perhaps fainting would be fortunate—it would be far better than losing their lives.

Charlotte was the first to break the standoff.

“It’s been a while, Royal First Knight Commander Serena Elizabeth. No, I should say I’m glad to see you again so soon, since it’s only been a day.”

“What brings you all the way here?”

When Serena immediately spoke informally, the royal knights lined up on either side of Charlotte visibly tensed.

Since Serena was nominally part of the Royal Knights and therefore a subject of King Charlotte, they clearly didn’t appreciate her speaking so disrespectfully to the monarch.

Though I couldn’t see their expressions beneath their helmets, they certainly weren’t pleased.

After all, Serena had abandoned her armor by sending it back to the palace, forced Charlotte to come looking for her, and was now displaying such behavior—their reaction was natural.

Charlotte herself looked as if she hadn’t expected formal speech in the first place.

Considering that from their first meeting when I brought Serena to the palace, they had exchanged insults, and had continued to be at each other’s throats since then, informal speech was probably the least of her concerns.

I couldn’t imagine Serena getting along well with Charlotte, so how much worse must it be for them?

If I forced a command on Serena, she would probably use formal speech with Charlotte, but that wouldn’t improve their relationship.

“Are you saying a king needs a reason to move about in their own territory?”

“Don’t twist my words. I didn’t ask for some sophistry as an answer.”

“Sophistry? That’s rather what you’re doing. Such words shouldn’t come from someone who openly refused my orders.”

“Why should I listen to you?”

“I’ll return the question—why don’t you obey me? As a member of the Royal Knights, you should absolutely obey my commands.”

“I have only one lord. Stop spouting nonsense.”

Their conversation was escalating to a level inappropriate for a place with so many listening ears.

In fact, among the citizens lying flat on the ground, some were even lifting their faces slightly out of curiosity.

Besides, even without visual confirmation, their ears were still open even while prostrated. If unnecessary rumors were to spread, it was clear that another bloodbath would ensue.

As I was debating whether to secretly signal Serena, Charlotte beat me to it.

“How insolent.”

The body of a man Charlotte had glanced at burst like a balloon.

With a popping sound, only a few pieces of flesh and internal organs remained, while the rest exploded from within, spraying blood in all directions. The people nearby trembled and curled up tightly.

The pungent smell of blood began to spread through the central plaza. After seeing this example of someone who paid with his life for a bit of curiosity, no one else dared to lift their heads.

But Charlotte didn’t stop there.

Four more bodies burst. All were people who had lifted their heads even for a moment. Those splattered with the blood and organ fragments began to retch.

Charlotte then burst even those who were retching. The central plaza was instantly filled with the stench of blood.

Blood spread through the grooves between the tiles lining the main street.

Now there was no one left who dared to retch or succumb to curiosity. There were only humans desperately curling their bodies, afraid of offending the Blood Queen before them.

Charlotte swept her surroundings with sharp eyes.

“It seems I’ve been taken too lightly, so I’ve made an example. If you have something to say, speak.”

Naturally, no one opened their mouth.

If anyone took those words at face value and said anything, whether praise or complaint, no one’s life in this place could be guaranteed.

No, perhaps the lives of the entire city couldn’t be guaranteed.

When I shook my head a few times to signal that was enough, Charlotte looked at me with narrowed eyes, then extended her left hand toward me and created a magic circle that covered the entire central plaza.

A magic circle identical to the one covering the plaza appeared on Charlotte’s palm.

With a snap, Charlotte created a slight wave with her right thumb and middle finger. The air rippled like water, and the wave spread in all directions from Charlotte.

The magic circle glowed blue where the wave passed.

Everyone in the central plaza rose simultaneously. The movements of well over a hundred people matched perfectly without the slightest error, creating an eerie spectacle.

Some were even covered in the internal organs from the burst bodies.

And all had vacant, unfocused eyes. When Charlotte waved her arm, their faces contorted grotesquely.

Intermittent groans of pain—”kkeok, kkeok”—leaked out.

“What are you doing, Charlotte?”

“I must strip away all their memories. Our relationship must not be revealed.”

The contorted faces soon returned to their vacant state. When Charlotte clenched her fist, something seemed to crumple in the air.

—Begone.

Her voice, infused with mana, echoed throughout the central plaza. All the people there began to move in unison.

Over a hundred right legs were raised simultaneously and then stepped down, followed by the same number of left legs rising and falling in perfect synchronization.

Before long, the central plaza was completely empty. The glowing blue magic circle gradually faded.

In its place, a translucent spherical barrier enveloped the entire plaza.

Even the Royal Knights were not exempt. They abruptly turned and re-entered the still humming dark blue transfer gate.

Every knight moved with exactly the same motion, just like the citizens who had left.

After the last knight disappeared into the transfer gate, the dark blue circle gradually diminished in size and dispersed weakly.

With the noise of the transfer gate completely gone, the central plaza was eerily quiet.

With everyone except me, Serena, and Charlotte gone, a different kind of silence descended.

Now with nothing to hold them back, the two women openly glared at each other as if ready to kill. I too stood up, as kneeling no longer served any purpose.

The people were gone, but traces remained. Blood filled the spaces between tiles, and human bodily remnants were stuck everywhere, showing a faint crimson color.

I wondered how many had been transformed from humans into pieces of organs. It seemed like at least more than ten.

My eyes met Charlotte’s over Serena’s shoulder.

“I’ve ensured our relationship remains hidden, as you wished. How is it?”

“…You could have just taken their memories.”

“They caused you potential worry. That alone is reason enough for them to die, I think. And…”

“And?”

“If you and I are to spend time intimately together here, just the two of us… wouldn’t fewer people be better?”

Charlotte emphasized the words “just the two of us” and “intimately.” Serena’s hand holding World Eater trembled.

I didn’t need to see Serena’s face to know what expression she was making.