episode_0100

Episode 100

You must unlock Mystilia.

Absolutely, no matter what happens, I will unlock Mystilia.

I definitely felt it through this incident. As long as Mystilia exists, there will be no happy ending.

It felt like I was soaking in a warm hot spring and then suddenly being dragged out into a cold snowy field.

I never want to feel that way again.

This is the second time. An important moment for Mystilia was interrupted.

Both were in similar situations.

The moment I felt like I connected with Carmel was the moment I felt affection for Carmel.

Maybe that’s the condition for Mystilia to activate.

When the hatred Carmel harbored weakened, or when other emotions took precedence over hatred.

Mystilia casts a curse, infusing black hatred into Carmel’s consciousness.

It is a curse that forces one to live only as an avenger for the Kingdom of Lustier.

Was it really Carmel herself who placed this curse?

Was the inherited hatred really that great? So much so that one can throw away one’s emotions and even one’s life as accessories of hatred.

This is something a normal person would never do. But I think it might have been like that in Carmel.

What Carmel is doing is already incomprehensible to ordinary sensibilities.

She becomes the queen of a country she hates, and lives in a place surrounded by things she doesn’t hate. From that point on, Carmel’s own life would not have been taken into consideration.

Mystilia’s and Carmel’s hatred emits a terribly rotten smell. Like a pile of trash left unattended for a long time. It is a smell that has been concentrated and decayed over a long period of time and pressure.

The reason for the hatred has long since become unimportant, and the hatred remains only as black malice.

Think about where it might have come from.

Carmel’s hatred was inherited from the Black Goat Society. So why does the Black Goat Society hate the Kingdom of Lustier so much?

Some information has been revealed about Mystilia, but little is still known about the Black Goat.

Will… No, I’ve ordered Masker to investigate, but… honestly, I don’t have high expectations.

Well, you might not need to know.

Lifting the curse of Carmel. That’s the most important thing. The pagan groups of the past are probably good. Anyway, if they are discovered within the kingdom, they will be the first to be subjugated.

As I walked, lost in my thoughts, I soon arrived at Changgwan in the forest.

I pulled down the hood and pushed open the door.

“Are you here?”

The Master, recognizing me, bows his head. I took two gold coins out of my pocket and handed them to him.

“You worked hard to take care of her. Please dispose of all the items you have entrusted to us.”

“Yes.”

I passed him and went upstairs. When I opened the familiar door and entered, there was Rika inside, wearing nothing more than underwear.

“Princess Sera…”

Her face when she calls my name is no longer blunt. The rough, unmanned impression I had when I first saw him no longer remained.

It is the face of a flawless female.

I put down the small bag I was carrying in front of her.

“Please change into the clothes included there, Rika.”

“…Yes…”

Rika carefully opened the bag. What came out inside was ordinary clothes that were very ordinary. Something an ordinary village girl would wear.

“This is…”

It seems it was a different item than I thought. But Rika took out the clothes inside without saying anything and put them on her body.

Although she looks a bit stern, Rika is also quite a beauty. In fact, because he was that type, feminine clothes suited him amazingly.

“Follow me. If you have anything to take, you can pack it in that bag.”

“I don’t have anything in particular to take with me…”

“Okay then. Let’s go.”

As I was about to leave the door, Rika spoke with a slightly trembling voice.

“Out… Are you going out?”

“Yes.”

Rika didn’t ask any more questions. Rika, who followed me down the stairs, awkwardly bowed her head towards the Master before leaving the window.

The feel of the soil you step on, the wind blowing without obstruction, and the transparent sunlight. They must have felt quite unfamiliar to Rika.

Rika walked along with me slightly behind me. Rika didn’t ask anything in particular. I didn’t feel like saying anything either.

I walked for a while. After leaving the forest, I continued to walk along the walls of Lurie.

A shabby monastery can be seen in the distance. Orbin Monastery is where the saint resides.

Leelia welcomed us at the entrance to the monastery.

“Welcome, princess. And Rika. I was waiting.”

Reelia greeted gracefully, not in her usual chick mode, but in her pious saint form.

Rika seemed like she didn’t understand the whole situation right now.

“Princess… What is this…”

“You will stay here at Orbin Monastery from now on. As long as you follow the rules, you won’t have to worry about eating or sleeping. Nothing holds you back here. You are free now, Rika.”

“Freedom…?”

Rika was looking at me like she didn’t know what those words meant. The situation of freedom may seem unfamiliar to him due to his long confinement in Changgwan.

I’m thinking of letting Rika go.

If you lead a healthy and regular life here at the monastery, you will gradually be able to escape from the influence of hypnotic incense.

Originally, the reason I locked Rika in the window was to use her as a hidden card. I planned to use it as a decisive blow when I wanted to completely destroy Carmel.

But I have no intention of completely breaking Carmel’s heart right now.

Now and before, Carmel is a ‘precious’ person to me. However, the meaning of its preciousness has been gradually changing recently.

And Rika is also a precious person to Carmel. That was the biggest reason for my decision.

Now this decision may work against me. I couldn’t deny the possibility that Rika, who had found freedom and escaped the influence of hypnotic incense, would return to Carmel or vow revenge on me.

But I plan to take it all.

Even if Rika reveals everything I did to Carmel, even if Carmel burns even more intense hatred towards me as a result.

This time, I plan to face it instead of avoiding it with lies or making it up like it never happened.

“I’m doing well, Rika. …I was sorry.”

I just turned around. If you leave the rest to Leelia, she will do a good job. Because she is a good saint. People from other ethnic groups will also be taken good care of.

At that time, someone grabbed my sleeve. With two fingers, with very, very weak force.

It was Rika.

She spoke in a voice that sank to the floor.

“Princess, are you… trying to abandon me?”

“Throwing it away… No. You are free here…”

“I have never wished for something like freedom.”

“…Yes…?”

“Do you know how I felt as I spent every day in that narrow, dark room? I spent my time thinking only about the princess. Only the princess, not Carmel… When I eat, even in my dreams… I only think of and rely on the memories of the princess… Even when I console myself… Why, why me… Are you trying to throw it away?”

“Lee, Rika?”

Rika’s eyes were extremely serious. The hand holding my sleeve was also shaking. The reason he didn’t grab my body directly might be because he didn’t want to scare me.

The reason Rika reacts like this is ultimately the effect of the hypnotic scent. This is the result of leading me to recognize myself as a person more important than anything else and as my own master. Looking at that, I couldn’t help but feel even more guilty.

“That mind will change. When you stay here, you will definitely reminisce about the times when you were free. Obviously…”

“I don’t like it.”

Rika said firmly. Should I say that this is the only part where the unmanned aspect remains?

“I don’t want to be free if I can’t meet the princess. Please send me back there. Didn’t the princess clearly say that she would make me her dog?”

“…that’s…”

I glanced towards Leelia. Reelia had already given up on looking like a saint and was listening to our conversation with interest, covering her wide-open mouth and blushing.

“This is what I only heard about…!”

…I don’t know where or what I heard, but it’s probably not true, Leelia.

Rika was not paying attention to Reelia or anywhere else around her, but was only directing her passionate gaze towards me.

If you don’t get the answer you want from me, you won’t move from this position forever. There was only one way that came to mind to move Rika.

“…Okay, Rika.”

Rika’s ears seem to perk up, perhaps because she is conscious of the word dog. I continued, doubting whether this was the right way to do it.

“This is an order from the owner. Until further orders, please remain in this monastery. Just like when I stayed there… I’ll come visit you sometimes.”

I don’t know if it was a good method in the long run, but at least it was effective.

Rika’s expression finally changed from that of an abandoned dog to one of relief.

“…Okay. Thank you, princess.”

Only then did Rika let go of my sleeve. Actually, I could have just given up and gone, but I didn’t want to.

It was fortunate that I was able to convince Rika, but there was one more big problem left for me.

“Wow, princess… What’s going on? What on earth is your relationship with that person?!”

…It’s a fierce day. If you look at the fact that you only have to deal with types that are difficult to deal with in succession.