episode_0002

Aria Floris.

She has the background of being the daughter of a noble family with a high reputation for magic, and the qualities of a talented woman that she has accumulated thanks to receiving a high-level education since childhood.

Above all, she has a beautiful appearance that is enough to make the admiration of those around her a daily occurrence, and is worthy of the title of everyone’s first love.

She was worthy of being called the flower of high society.

Since I was born and lived a life without knowing the word tribe, I couldn’t help but become arrogant. So I lived my life ignoring countless people.

Those who simply did not like me, those who went against my will, those who were jealous and envious. I did not feel particularly guilty about those actions. I did not expect any understanding.

That arrogance extended to her fiancé as well.

She was initially dissatisfied with the engagement, which was entered into against her will.

And that discontent grew uncontrollably the day she finally met her fiancé in person.

A huge, intimidating physique with a fierce appearance that lacks any trace of guilt.

Her fiancé had such a rough appearance and air that it was hard to tell if he was a noble or a barbarian.

Some might like that kind of appearance as manly, but at least it was the exact opposite of her taste, having grown up seeing numerous noblemen in the capital.

But I endured it, thinking that it would get better with time… but as my hair grew thicker, only negative emotions piled up.

I felt like meeting my fiancé and spending time with him was a waste, so I deliberately avoided meeting him and refused to progress in our relationship.

So, I thought that one day I would cut off my relationship with that person with my own hands.

-Let’s break off the engagement.

I never imagined that her fiancé would be the one to announce the breakup first.

***

One day, Aria received an invitation to a party hosted by the royal family and attended it, where she found the one destined for her.

He was the crown prince of the empire, and the one who would one day become the emperor who would lead all the people of this country.

Even a child living in the marketplace knew that the person who would occupy the seat next to her and become the future empress would become the greatest woman in the empire.

In other words, the crown prince was nothing more than a trophy that could prove that she was the best. Her appearance and abilities were not particularly lacking.

Previously, I couldn’t approach her actively because she had a fiancee.

However, after the breakup, Aria, who had nothing left to hide, continued to create encounters with the crown prince by pretending they were coincidences.

He figured out the Crown Prince’s movements in advance and consistently showed up at places where he was likely to be, and he even followed the Crown Prince into the academy, which he had no intention of entering originally.

Maybe because I thought it was a good opportunity.

Within the confined space of the academy, you must do whatever it takes to win the crown prince’s heart.

And her plan was to get engaged as soon as she graduated and take the position of crown princess.

Until the beginning of my studies, I thought that it wouldn’t be that difficult to achieve that goal.

Because there has never been anything she set her mind to that she couldn’t accomplish.

But… all of that was ruined by the appearance of a girl.

Why are all these powerful men, including the crown prince, hanging around that girl and trying to get her attention?

Like an animal desperately courting a female.

In fact, it didn’t matter to other men whether they bit or sucked or whatever… but the crown prince couldn’t do that. It wasn’t just a matter of status.

She had to be the one to show him affection and get his hands on him, so he thought he would get rid of the obstacle that was bothering him.

They spread malicious rumors and harassed her from behind with their followers.

Sometimes, he would do things like publicly embarrass others.

But it was all useless.

Rather, the men around her became even more obsessed with protecting the girl, their eyes burning with desire.

One day, while watching that scene and growing increasingly anxious, I happened to find a suspicious magic book in the library.

It was a forbidden book about black magic, especially brainwashing.

Black magic is officially banned from use by both the Empire and the Cult, and studying it is considered a serious crime… so why is such a forbidden book openly displayed in the Academy’s library?

If you could only think about it calmly, it was such a suspicious thing.

In fact, if she were in her right mind, this would have been a method she would not have even looked at, and rather, would have hated since she was born into a family of magicians… .

At the time, she was so driven by a reality that wasn’t going as she had hoped. She was so desperate that she even wanted to borrow a cat’s paw.

In the end, she casted the spell as written in the grimoire to brainwash the crown prince into loving her, the girl who had been a thorn in his side.

She was confident in her magical abilities, and there was no room for any shortcomings, as she had poured money into the necessary preparatory work.

… one thing, if there was something I overlooked.

-Gyaaaak―!!

It was common sense that an important figure, such as the crown prince of an empire, would not have prepared a means to prepare for a mental attack.

Her plans were thwarted by the cult’s sacred relics that the crown prince always carried with him.

-Why is my body like this!

On the contrary, perhaps due to the side effects of using black magic, she herself was subjected to a suspicious curse, and her magical circuits were burned beyond repair.

I wish it had just ended there… .

-I traced the ominous energy back and came here… It was your doing, after all! Listen! Arrest this wicked woman immediately!

In the end, the sins of the enraged crown prince and his entourage were revealed one by one.

As a result, he was in danger of being put on the gallows… but in exchange for his father offering a huge sum of money to the imperial family that could have shaken his family, he was expelled from the academy.

She was barely able to avoid the death penalty by being sentenced to spend the rest of her life confined to her parents’ home, Floris.

***

Time passed quickly after that.

As the days passed, the curse weakened her.

Her hair, which was always shiny, became as dry as desert sand.

The body that had been maintained for a long time had bones that were like withered tree branches.

The face that seemed to have been carefully sculpted by God was now horribly distorted.

Anyone who remembers her as a beautiful person in the past will not be able to recognize her now because she has changed so much.

No matter how many famous priests and wizards came, they could not lift the mysterious curse that afflicted her.

At the same time, the world was turning so fast that her personal problems received no attention at all.

The return of the Demon King and the war that has once again revealed itself to the continent.

Her father and her older brother, who was the successor, were forcibly taken to the front lines and died there, having been forced to submit to the imperial family due to the crimes committed by their daughter.

The mother, who could not bear to accept the harsh reality, hung herself, and in that situation, the servant who remained took all the valuable items from the mansion and carried them away.

By that time, her condition had deteriorated to the point where she could not even move on her own.

After barely moving my body and eating stagnant water and moldy bread, I hadn’t eaten anything for several days.

Her body, which had not been able to sleep properly due to long periods of fasting and the pain that came at every moment without painkillers, had reached its predetermined limit.

Eventually, I felt dizzy and fainted.

***

Aria’s eyes opened in pain as if her entire body was going to break apart.

“Ugh… .”

What came out of his mouth was a dry, cracked voice that seemed ready to burst at any moment.

My head felt like it was spinning, and every time I took a breath, my chest hurt so much that it felt like my insides were twisting.

A body in the worst possible condition, without needing any further explanation.

What on earth is going on?

With her mind still half-asleep, she recalled her memories and turned her head, which was still moving, a little to look around.

‘This is….’

Aria rolled her eyes and looked around, and soon she felt goosebumps all over her body. The space she was lying in was not her dusty room.

Why on earth did I wake up in a place like this?

‘…hijacking.’

Because of the karma she had accumulated over time, there were many people throughout the empire who wanted to harm her.

If they had gotten information that she was left alone and defenseless in the mansion… it wouldn’t have been strange if she had been kidnapped.

Squeak-

At that moment, the door to the room she was lying in began to slowly open.

Aria stared through the crack in the door with a sinking fear, knowing that she was in no position to put up any resistance.

What came after that moment that felt like eternity?

‘…Who is it?’

The man was a large man, his face covered with a helmet so that his identity could not be recognized, and his pitch-black armor was covered in blood and flesh.

With every step he took, his long, unkempt black hair, which had been stuck out of the helmet’s seams, swayed along with him.

While I was looking at him, an unidentified man came within a stone’s throw of the bed Aria was lying on.

He woke up, and when his eyes met with hers, who was looking at him, he froze for a moment… .

“Are you up?”

A voice, cracked and yet somehow familiar, came out of the helmet and reached her.

Ouch!

Aria’s body trembled when she heard that voice.

It was a much rougher voice than she had known… but it was definitely a voice she remembered.

But that’s nonsense.

Because I thought that even if the whole world was looking for her, this one would never find her.

Because she would never have been a good memory to him.

Even while denying it.

“Yu, Jin… ?”

Aria called his name with trembling lips.

The man nodded in response to the question he asked without any certainty.

It was revealed behind the helmet that he had taken off by raising both hands.

“Long time no see.”

Her ex-fiance.

“Aria.”

Eugene Eberhart was there.