Chapter 60
To this day, I can't forget the first time I saw the man called Roland as a child.
The strongest knight in the Holy Kingdom, seemingly unbeatable, Sir Roland was said to be the most virtuous, upright, and most beloved man in the world.
He was the first love of Charlotte, the young princess of the Kingdom.
Of course, like all women in the kingdom, it was a fleeting and bitter childhood crush, something she could only secretly admire.
But apart from that, Sir Roland's loyalty to his country has been a sword and spear of unparalleled reliability.
More than anyone else, Sir Roland has given his all to protect this country.
This fact made the young princess more proud than anything.
It would be no different when she became the de facto ruler of the country and was in a position to lead the kingdom.
The value of the man she had longed for as a young girl, Roland, never faded from her mind.
─The World Military Exposition in the Breton Empire was certainly a risky endeavor for the Holy Kingdom.
At the same time, it was also inevitable in order to consolidate their position and maintain their supremacy on this harsh international stage.
No one in the world could have predicted the outcome, not even their wisest princess, Charlotte.
Princess Charlotte, who was there on behalf of the king, was also present.
On that day, the Black Snake made its appearance and turned the Crystal Palace into a field of wormwood.
It was there that the seemingly undefeatable Sir Roland fell to his death, defeated by their leader.
The strongest knight in the kingdom, the favorite of the stars, fell to the man who had defeated him.
The man who was the object of her childhood crush, the noblest knight in the world, oxidized like a fleeting petal.
It was a shock, like a god defeated by the devil.
No, it wasn't a metaphor or anything. It was just the truth as it was.
On that day, God was defeated by evil.
Rain Gray was evil.
At the same time, he was an irresistible evil.
Charlotte knows only one word in the world to describe such evil, absolute evil.
The man she saw there was literally an enemy she could not defeat.
The fight against the Black Snake, led by such a man, was an unwinnable battle.
That's why when the holy maiden she abandoned became one of the man's subordinates, a member of the Black Snake, and returned to seek revenge.
"This country is finished."
The man said so and he was right.
Charlotte thought it was all over.
"...I suppose so."
"At the hands of no one but you, the Black Snake."
The thought of resisting didn't cross her mind. It's not like she could resist so she could only resign herself and accept the tyranny of an irresistible evil.
An enemy that can't be defeated is just that.
"If you want to protect this country, you must follow my words from now on."
At the same time, when such an unconquerable enemy extended a hand of mercy, Charlotte vowed in the deepest recesses of her heart to kneel, to surrender, to submit.
It didn't matter how harsh and painful the price she had to pay to earn that mercy.
Just as they were willing to suffer and die for God, they would bear the cross like martyrs.
At this very moment, her kingdom is burning with the madness of revolution, and this is but a suffering she must endure.
And so Charlotte, the new queen of the Holy Kingdom, bravely endures.
She didn't mind that Charlemagne's 12 knights, the pillars of the kingdom, were leaving one by one.
"Your Majesty...!"
"It's all right, Sir Bridamante."
Charlotte, the queen on the throne, smiles quietly.
"There's nothing to worry about."
"Of course, Your Majesty, as long as we have Quixote of this La Mancha, as long as we have the ideals we hold for the stars, we have nothing to fear!"
"Aigooooo, my lord, please get a grip on reality, this is going to get us all killed!"
"As the flower fades, so must the leaf–Alas, there is no bard to praise this body's shedding."
The two fools who insisted on staying to the end were the narcissist with the head of a flower and La Mancha.
"It's not too late, Charlotte, to take refuge in the Duchy of Burgundy in the north, which supports the royal family, and to organize your forces and fight back now."
Last but not least is Sir Bridamante, who, though reliable, is no match for Sir Roland.
From them, nothing was expected in the first place. There was no point in expecting anything.
For, with the defeat of the man who had once been the brightest star of Charlemagne's Twelfth Knights, the man they called Sir Roland, they could expect nothing more.
-thud!
"Here it is! Here is the enemy of the revolution!"
"Let's hang the incarnation of the old regime on the guillotine!"
In the distance, they heard the shouts of the enemies, blind voices, doubting nothing, with absolute conviction.
"Damn it, they've come this far... already!"
"No way, Sancho! Those who are coming now are only boys!"
"The Crusader Knights' guard was breached by mere boys-?"
"Not just any boys. They are men who have undergone extreme enhancement procedures."
The desperate exchanges between Charlemagne's twelve knights, once the glory of the Holy Kingdom, now down to four of the dumbest, sounded hollow.
So Charlotte turned away from them with emotionless eyes. The sound of voices passes from one ear to the other.
The knights, the shouts of the boys who claimed to be the horsemen of the revolution.
"Make a way! The enemy of the country who betrayed the Holy Maiden, the evil of all oppression and unjust systems is there!"
But there was one word that could not be ignored.
Evil in herself.
Charlotte laughed in vain. She didn't mean it in an unfair way, for she believed it was a virtue of a leader to be as evil as necessary.
She merely mocked their naiveté, their inability to recognize true evil.
"Guard the gates! Do not allow the traitors to reach her Majesty!"
"Hold your positions! In Sagittarius formation-"
"By the stars...!"
"Revolution or death!"
"Let us drive out the Sphere's weightlifters!"
The shouts of the crusaders desperately guarding the outside of the throne room are interspersed with the cries of the boys, who likewise shout the ideals of the revolution. Screams intermingle with the clash of metal, the clang of spears and swords.
"...."
Through it all, Charlotte, seated on her throne, waits patiently.
That's what faith does.
It's not a matter of picking and choosing when you need it, when it's convenient.
It is only meaningful when it is the most difficult and painful, when it is carried to the cross, when it is suffered, and when it is defended to the end.
That was her faith.
Even now, when her kingdom was burning, her castle was falling, and those who wanted her guillotined were right under her nose. Faith is to remain silent and unwavering.
─That was the moment.
The sounds that had been echoing from the outside stopped like a lie.
No screams, no shouts, no voices calling for empty and fleeting ideologies or loyalties, suddenly all sounds ceased.
"What's going on...?"
Sir Bridamante's eyes widened in alarm at the sudden change and the rest of the knights were not much different.
"Alas...."
Only one, Queen Charlotte, was not.
"You've finally shown up."
"Showed up...."
Lord Bridamante questioned her as she opened her mouth.
"Are they enemies?"
"Hoo-hoo, of course not."
"Then-"
So Charlotte shook her head and replied kindly.
"An enemy that can never be defeated."
─There is only one thing to do in the face of an enemy that can never be defeated.
Only then did Charlotte rise from her throne.
In the silence that followed, the door to the throne room opened.
"!"
"Alas, I knew you would come."
Charlotte whispered in a voice without a hint of doubt. It was sweet and ecstatic, like a girl in love for the first time.
"...I have come to fulfill my promise."
In front of the door leading to the throne room, the leader of the Black Snake stood.
With a black bandage covering her eyes, a female swordswoman stood at his side and a blonde girl in a gothic dress, smiling innocently as if they were out on a picnic.
All the turmoil is swallowed up by the pitch-black swords and shadows of the women who assist the leader.