Chapter 51

The Holy Maiden was there.

Abandoned here for the crime of challenging the traditions and authority of this country, the Holy Kingdom whether she wished it or not, that was her sin.

"Jeanne...."

Suddenly, Charlotte's expression, which had seemed unflappable in the face of the Black Snake, became agitated while Charles, the Bald King, looked as pale as ever.

I said nothing, waiting for her to answer.

"...."

She said nothing, but the silence was not long.

"Chief."

After a long pause, she spoke. Her voice was the same as ever, calm and unwavering.

"Give me your orders."

Calmly, without anger, without agitation, without even a hint of sadness.

"What am I to do now?"

"That depends on what you wish."

"What I wish...."

The woman who had once been called the holy maiden stuttered and after the blur, she just laughed.

"I wanted to shine."

She was still in love with light.

"Not to grow up as a maiden in an unremarkable village, marry a man from the next village, have children, and live an unremarkable life...."

Jeanne said. That was the wish of the girl named Jeanne, who was neither a snake nor a holy maiden.

"I wanted to live a life that was more brilliant and beautiful than anyone else in the world-a life that shone like a star."

I did not answer. No one could answer.

"So when I heard the voice of the Goddess, I thought my prayer had been answered."

There are no such ridiculously seductive, colorful dresses as there were then.

Except for a few jeweled embellishments that shone like stars, like the Milky Way in the night sky, amidst the otherwise black and dark uniform of the Black Snake.

It was a sign of the new light she loved.

The myriad of lights that humans come to love in their own forms as they move through the world.

"It wasn't...."

She smiled as she said it.

"Jeanne-"

Charlotte, Princess of the Holy Kingdom, trailed off but after a short silence, she continued.

"Did you come all this way for revenge? By becoming a member of the Black Snake?"

"...."

"I'm not going to ask you to forgive me now, because I don't deserve it, and I don't have the power."

As if no excuses or rationalizations were needed.

This was the unwavering princess of the country, as she deserved to be.

She was also many times more 'royal' than her foolish father, who looked pale and helpless.

"I never thought that the leader of the Black Snake himself would reach out to you, Jeanne."

Charlotte muttered bitterly.

That was the mistake the Holy Kingdom had not calculated.

The Serpent's Master, there it is again. No matter how much she tries to deny it, no matter how far away she goes, she can never escape him.

Holy Maiden Jeanne did not answer, she merely stared at the black robes she wore, the jewels embroidered on them shining like stars.

Black, dark, blood-red ruby crimson.

-Aaaah!

"...!"

Immediately afterward, the severed head of King Charles the Bald littered the floor. Charlotte's expression hardened and the knights who were supposed to protect the king hastily placed their hands on the hilts of their swords, but it was too late.

"This is no way to warm up!"

At the same time, Sandalfon, who had remained silent, moved, his claws tearing through the knight's breastplate, blood pouring out like a fountain.

Blood splattered everywhere along the throne room where the king of the Holy Kingdom sat.

An annihilation that was nothing short of futile.

Covered in blood, the only surviving princess of the Kingdom bit her lip.

"─Charlotte."

I called the only surviving princess of the kingdom.

"...."

Charlotte did not answer, leaving the corpse of the slain king behind. She showed no sign of grief at her father's murder before her eyes. Instead, there is a "ruler" who calmly assesses the hopelessness of the situation and resigns himself to it.

"This country is finished."

Still, nothing changed. Charlotte bit her lip as I boldly spoke the truth, a red trickle of blood running down her cheek.

"...I suppose so."

After biting down, she answered self-helpfully.

"At the hands of no one but you, the Black Snake."

There was a faint but unmistakable note of hatred in his voice.

"What is your purpose...?"

Charlotte asked, her voice filled with unconcealed hatred.

"If you have the power to destroy an entire nation if you so choose, what are you up to, hiding in the shadows all this time?"

"Am I obligated to answer?"

I asked back.

"You didn't kill me, you let me live."

Charlotte replied.

"Because you think I'm worth it."

"I suppose."

I replied, as if it were no one else's business. And then it happened.

"...."

The holy maiden who had been silent beside me, with blood spattered over her jet-black uniform, approached me.

"Master, master, master...."

Repeating the same words like a baby babbling.

"My chief, no-"

Jeanne dropped to one knee on the blood-spattered floor and assumed a posture of submission. The slave's imprint, carved into her body earlier, glowed once more.

"My...master."

Jeanne said with a smile. It was a smile as innocent as a child's, literally unstained and pure white.

"The one master I truly have to serve."

"Truly, there is only one master I must serve," Jeanne whispered, kneeling before me, no longer holding any of the pride she once did. Her tone was no longer that of someone facing her equal.

"Please forgive me for the disrespect I have shown you."

She caressed the chains that bound her, the crest of submission, lovingly.

"Because of the touch you extended to me that day, I am alive today."

"...."

"Because in a world where there was no place for me, you made a place for me."

As if her place in front of me was the end point reached by this former lover of light.

I can say nothing, knowing only that the blind loyalty she shows me is no different from what the Serpents have shown me so far.

And the Black Snake's blind loyalty to me is all I have left in this world.

Nothing has changed. Nothing.

"Do you want to protect this country?"

I asked Charlotte, as Rain Gray, leader of the Black Snake.

As the leader of a villainous organization, and the man who holds this world in the dark.

"If you want to keep it, you will do as I say from now on."

"What the...!"

"I have no interest in the fate of this country. If you cooperate, I promise to preserve the current system and form of government."

At that, Charlotte bit her lip again. She hadn't really had a choice in the first place.

"Okay...."

She hesitated before answering and I turned my head wordlessly at the answer.

From the beginning, the story of nations like the Holy Kingdom and the Duchy of Germania had been irrelevant to me, but for the purpose I had to fulfill, it no longer mattered.

To throw the world into chaos is, quite simply, to throw a nation into chaos. And the Holy Kingdom and the Duchy were well equipped in that regard.

"After we leave, tell the truth about everything that happened here."

The truth of everything that happened here.

At my words, Charlotte swallowed hard, a look of bewilderment on her face.

"The Holy Maiden, abandoned by your hands, assassinated the Holy King for revenge-"

"!"

"You can say the name of the Black Snake if you need to, she became a member of the Serpents to fulfill her revenge."

"Now, wait a minute! If I reveal such a thing in front of the people...!"

It would be irreparably ruinous but I didn't answer, because I wouldn't even have to.

"Like I said, the decision is yours."

All I want from her is the truth as it is. At the same time, it's only a slice of the truth, manipulated to make it more palatable to me.

The moment it is revealed, irreversible chaos will descend upon this country.

The conditions are in place.

Whether they wanted it or not, the maelstrom of chaos that will engulf the country and the continent is now at hand.

And in the midst of the chaos that will ensue, humans will desire one thing, as they always have.

Peace.