Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 380

380

Counterattack

Baron Curdran had visited the royal palace when Erader was still a prince.

Because of that, he had the chance to see Edgar IV sitting on the throne. The moment he saw him, he was certain that a king was a completely different being from himself.

The feeling emanating from his gestures, expressions, and eyes was entirely different from that of ordinary people.

Even while making light jokes, the inherent dignity never disappeared. The monarch of Hispania seemed truly chosen by the heavens, simply awe-inspiring.

That monarch was now sitting right in front of him.

Though she was sitting on an ordinary chair instead of the splendid throne Curdran remembered, her dignity remained unchanged.

“Y-Your Majesty.”

“How strange.

Why the sudden change in address?

A moment ago, you were trying to overthrow me, unwilling to even acknowledge me as the king, and declaring you would call the original owner of this seat ‘Your Majesty.’

I truly wonder why you suddenly call me ‘Your Majesty.’”

Vanessa’s voice wasn’t cold as she spoke; she even wore a gentle smile.

Anyone seeing them might mistake her for a queen meeting a hidden lover in the dead of night.

However, Baron Curdran, the focal point of this entire situation, was utterly terrified.

Like a thief caught red-handed, Baron Curdran sweated profusely and backed away.

The crimson flames reflected through the window and the pure white moonlight descending from the sky cast an ethereal glow on the woman sitting gracefully before him, making her appear more terrifying than any grim reaper.

“Ugh…”

Even knowing that running away would change nothing, his instincts screamed at him to escape this room.

Please, let me out of here, let me escape this place at any cost.

As his instincts whispered, Baron Curdran barely managed to control his trembling body and continued to back away.

However, he soon felt something poke his back.

Turning his head, Baron Curdran’s face turned ashen as he let out a silent groan.

“…”

There stood Schumacher, the Royal Knights Commander, with a terrifying expression, silently conveying that he would behead him immediately if he made any foolish moves.

Originally holding the position of Vice-Commander, he had been promoted to Commander after the death of the previous king, Edgar IV, and was now faithfully fulfilling his role as Queen Vanessa’s sword.

The fact that the Royal Knights Commander was standing behind him meant that the area was already swarming with Royal Knights, something Baron Curdran had failed to notice.

‘Ah.’

The moment he realized this, Baron Curdran knew there was nowhere to run.

No matter how much he had started as a knight, achieved merits, and even received a noble title, it was only because he had performed reasonably well on the battlefield.

In contrast, those belonging to the Royal Knights were all in the formidable position of being intermediate knights [knights who have mastered basic combat skills and are on their way to becoming high-ranking knights].

As the group responsible for the most important figures in the country, their martial prowess was naturally the highest in the nation.

With them spread all around, there was no chance he could escape.

“Sir Knight Commander, Baron Curdran seems a bit tired from walking so far tonight.

Why don’t you offer the Baron a seat?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Schumacher, who had been wearing an expression that suggested he wanted to tear Baron Curdran to pieces just a moment ago, immediately changed his expression at Vanessa’s words and gestured to the knights behind him.

Soon after, Schumacher received a chair from someone, placed it on the floor, and offered the seat to Baron Curdran, who was standing there blankly.

“Please, sit down, Baron Curdran.”

His expression was still unpleasant, but his voice was filled with courtesy.

It was as if he, as a subject, was naturally following Vanessa’s wishes since the monarch he served was still showing respect.

“Sit down, Baron Curdran.

I have a lot to discuss with you, and it seems like too much to talk about while standing.

“…”

“Sit down.

I won’t say it twice.

If you keep standing, the Knight Commander, concerned about your fatigue, might have to force you to sit.”

Could this be what a polite threat was like?

Baron Curdran felt his back soaked with cold sweat, barely nodded, and sat on the chair that Commander Schumacher had brought.

Seeing him sit, Vanessa turned slightly, feeling the gradually subsiding flames and the roar that had stopped at some point, and slowly opened her mouth.

“I have never treated you carelessly, considering you were someone who supported my brother to the end.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t wary, but that’s only natural as a monarch.

Being wary but not unconditionally hostile. That’s what I learned from the late king.”

“…”

“So, will you tell me?

Why did you try to remove me from this position and seat my poor brother, who had already given up his claim to the throne, on it?”

Perhaps because he thought there was nowhere to retreat or escape.

Baron Curdran, now believing there was no way out, felt that even though he was afraid, he could express his intentions more confidently than ever.

“Queen Vanessa.

It is because you are walking down the wrong path.”

“How dare he!”

“Knight Commander, do not get agitated.

This is a conversation I wish to hear.”

The Knight Commander Schumacher sheathed the sword that had been half-drawn and merely glared at Baron Curdran with flames blazing in his eyes.

“I apologize.

The Knight Commander is just very loyal to his duty.

He’s a knight who draws his sword immediately if he judges someone to be harmful to the royal family and the nation.”

“…How could you turn the teachings of light, how could you turn the descendants of light into enemies?”

“Because they are not right.”

“They are right.

That is why they are the light!

If they were not right, why would they fight the demons and create the teachings of light, serving the continent for hundreds of years!”

“Everyone does things because they want something.

It’s no different for them.”

“Your Majesty!

This is ultimately an unwinnable battle.

Sacred Prussia, Nudia, and the people of Hispania all consider light to be right and darkness to be wrong.

Deviating from that, no matter how eloquent you are, it will only be seen as the whisperings of evil.

If the justification becomes even slightly blurred, they will immediately turn their backs, and you will collapse in an instant!”

It was difficult to say that Baron Curdran’s words were entirely wrong.

As he said, if Hispania were to lose ground in justification in this situation where they had turned their swords against the celestials, they could be branded as demon worshippers, whom people had hated the most and still distanced themselves from in their hearts.

Right now, Zion Claussen had stepped forward, and all situations were turning perfectly in Hispania’s favor, so the people of the kingdom were enthusiastically following.

However, if they lost the war and Hispania began to suffer from Sacred Prussia’s fierce attacks, such things would be shattered in an instant, and the certainty they had held until now would return as an even greater doubt.

“Certainly, there is some truth in your words.”

“If Your Majesty also thinks so, then why do you insist on the wrong path…”

“However, it is only partially true, and you are leaning too far in one direction.”

“Yes?”

“Why do you only think that we are wrong, and never once have the obvious doubt that they might be wrong?

Are you not a person of Hispania, a knight, and a noble?

Why do you value Sacred Prussia and the descendants of light more than that?”

“Isn’t it obvious!

They are…”

“Saying that what is obvious is too ‘obvious.’

That is the problem.”

Baron Curdran reacted as if he could not understand Vanessa’s words.

Why would they turn against and fight those who called light light and believed in them as light when there were still so many of them in the world?

Eventually, that foolish act would act as a hidden dagger for those who harbored doubts deep in their hearts while watching the situation.

Right now, the situation was ambiguous, so they were biding their time, but if things ever turned unfavorable, they would immediately shout for light and brand Hispania as a group that followed evil!

“Do you think I don’t know what you’re worried about?

You are not the only one who thinks of this country.

This country, this Hispania, is a sacred land that I rule and must take responsibility for.

What kind of tendencies those who live within it have, how to handle them, and how to make this country run better is not something for you, a subject, to think about.

It is something for me, the owner of Hispania, the rightful ruler, and the head of the royal family who must take responsibility for everything, to think about.”

A foolish person, a person who only complicates things with pointless actions.

That was Vanessa’s assessment of Baron Curdran.

He spoke as if he had some good intentions or great will, but in the end, what he chose to do was to bring in foreign forces to the capital, the heart of the country, causing chaos and shaking those who had some internal conflicts, creating internal division.

Baron Curdran seemed to believe that this was loyalty to the country and his master, and that it was truly the way to serve the country, but there were already plenty of good examples of what would happen to the country if he did so.

“Foolish one.

What can you possibly gain by doing that?

Are you just going to follow the light without knowing anything?

Are you going to follow even if the path that light illuminates leads to a cliff?

Is it right for a rational being to blindly believe without even once doubting?

Pitiable one.

To think that you will live and die like that, truly a pitiable one.”

After saying that, Princess Vanessa gestured lightly.

Then, Knight Commander Schumacher, who had been standing quietly beside her, quickly approached the queen.

Immediately, he took out a letter from his chest and respectfully offered it to Vanessa.

“Baron Curdran.

You said it.

Why follow the wrong path?

Then, in reverse, let me ask you one thing.

Is this path right or wrong?

What determines that?”

“Of course, it is the light…”

“Wrong.

You still cannot abandon that biased thinking.

It is not divided because this path is bright and that path is dark.

The path that the world says is right is the right path.

The path that the world says is wrong is the wrong path.

No matter how brilliantly the light shines, if the world says no, it is not, and even if it is dark and you cannot see an inch ahead, if the world says it is right, then it is right.

That is how the world is.”

Thud.

Vanessa shook the letter that Knight Commander Schumacher had handed her for a moment before lightly throwing it towards Baron Curdran.

The letter rolled across the floor before stopping in front of Baron Curdran with a thud.

“…?”

Baron Curdran looked as if he was asking what this was.

Vanessa gestured for him to pick it up and read it quickly, and in response, Curdran stared at it for a moment before getting up, moving forward, and picking up the letter that had been rolling on the ground.

Then, he carefully unfolded the letter and began to read the contents inside.

“…?”

After a while, he was startled and looked at Vanessa as if asking if this was real.

Vanessa, noticing the surprise, bewilderment, and embarrassment mixed in his eyes, opened her mouth with a gentle smile.

“Some might say this.

Isn’t this ultimately our lonely battle, Hispania’s battle?

Isn’t this a war where we will eventually fight and lose?

Whether we are the light or they are the light, regardless of that, isn’t the one who survives in the end and stands on the earth the light, justice, and good?”

Those who are anxious and doubtful have other reasons, but what they are most concerned about is that Hispania is trying to resolve this situation solely with their own strength.

How strong is Sacred Prussia, how powerful is the power that fairies have on the battlefield, even if they are few in number, and how incomparable are the celestials to any other being in the world.

How can they directly confront them with force and prove that they are right?

“In reality, the soldiers of Hispania were the only ones who went out to fight them directly on this land.

Until now, that is.

Yes, until now.”

Listening to Vanessa’s words, Baron Curdran trembled and read the contents of the letter once again.

If this was true, even those who had worries, doubts, or something else would change ‘no way’ to ‘maybe?’

He thought they were just shouting that they were right, that they would fight alone and die, and that they would be remembered forever as foolish and ignorant.

“If everything in the world denies that the descendants of light are the descendants of light, what would happen?”

Queen Vanessa whispered that and got up from her seat as if it was enough.

Then, she slowly moved and said to Baron Curdran, who was holding the letter and unable to move.

“Those who want to do what is right should be prepared to give up their lives.”

“…”

“I believe you are also prepared for that.”

The queen left the room after saying those words.

Immediately, Knight Commander Schumacher escorted her with precise movements, and the Royal Knights who entered a moment later began to bind Baron Curdran.

Completely넋이 나가버린 [넋이 나가버린 is a Korean expression that means ‘to be stunned’ or ‘to be in a daze’], he was led away to the castle without much resistance.

―

“Reel!

Shah!”

Horn screamed and tried to rush towards them.

However, Kim Yoo-hyun was not about to let the enemies he had just dealt with be recovered by other enemies.

Soon, Horn was horrified by the cold energy flying towards him and hurriedly moved his wings.

If he had been even a little late, not only his wings but also his arms would have been cut off.

He wondered where such a human had come from and why they had known so little about such a strong person until now.

‘Damn it!’

He wanted to punish that detestable sinner right away, but Horn thought that he would have a hard time alone against someone who had pushed Reel, who was no different from him in terms of combat, so hard.

The top celestials deployed to this front line numbered three, including himself.

He thought that would be enough to handle any skilled person, so the remaining five rays of light were focusing on driving out the remaining darkness.

However, two rays of light had already crumbled on this battlefield.

Furthermore, if he were to fall here, only five rays would remain.

At a moment when each and every force was important and precious, he could not be swayed by a moment of revenge and put the remaining allies in danger.

“…Hmm?”

Kim Yoo-hyun let out a sigh that was close to a lament.

The celestial who had launched a massive magical attack as if to fight him to the death used the gap to soar into the air like the wind and disappear.

It might seem like an act of abandoning allies, but Kim Yoo-hyun slowly turned his head, thinking that it might be better to preserve their strength.

Kim Yoo-hyun, who was thinking of going to the place where the two celestial women had fallen a moment ago, one of whom was definitely dead and the other likely still alive, soon had to frown.

“Uwaaa!”

“Kill, kill!”

The surrounding Sacred Prussia soldiers were now rushing towards him almost as if they had lost their minds.

They were just a handful of dust to him, those who would all be cut in half and fall apart with a single swing of his sword, but he was not a madman who was addicted to killing, and it was true that he was a little hesitant to kill all the thousands, no, over ten thousand people in this place.

‘It’s about time they came.’

Just as Kim Yoo-hyun thought that, a whirlwind of blood blew from far away, completely sweeping away the soldiers of Sacred Prussia.

Amidst the miserable screams, the gruesome appearances, and the woman covered in blood revealed herself.

“What took you so long?

You know I’ve been waiting a lot, right?”

“…”

Ekaterina muttered that with a face that seemed to say she was so happy she was going crazy.

Kim Yoo-hyun glanced around, saying inwardly, ‘I was wondering why you weren’t showing up at this scene of carnage.’

“I’m not telling you to hold back.”

“Oh?”

“Go wild.”

As Kim Yoo-hyun’s permission, not permission, fell, Ekaterina’s mouth tore open hideously.