Chapter 169: Chapter 167

The Orion Empire was the last land to retain its name within the human territory.

Although it was said to be in crisis, the capital and the Imperial Family were so well protected that the crisis was not felt, which meant there would be no obstruction to the leader’s plans to be implemented with the empire at its core.

This meant that the future she prophesied was highly likely to be implemented.

Therefore, before that future would come, there was one thing she had to do: meet and persuade the witch.

“Oh, found you, Airi~”

She encountered a familiar face just before heading to the library where she was waiting.

As she stopped for a moment and turned to the side, Airi spotted a woman with short white hair approaching, wearing a black cloak.

“Merilyn?”

“Hehe. I heard about it, but you really came to the Imperial Family~ Do you know how much I looked for you as soon as I heard the news?”

As soon as she appeared, Merilyn expressed her joy.

Although she usually found her rival annoying and bothersome, when Airi actually faced her, she felt a sense of anticipation.

She thought that maybe the person in front of her had come here for her sake.

“Could it be that you came all the way here to rescue me?”

“No, I came here on my own.”

“I knew it, you damn demon!”

No matter how much she fell in love with a human, her nature was still that of a demon.

She wouldn’t act out of an altruistic heart to help someone, would she?

“…Merilyn, what on earth were you thinking coming here?”

“Hehe, who knows? I think you, Airi, would understand without me having to explain…”

Merilyn just responded with her characteristic sly smile to her question.

Although it grated on her nerves, Airi didn’t care and focused on reading her movements.

Before parting with her partner, she met another of the Four Heavenly Kings and was led to the Imperial Family.

“The Demon King… Are you serious?”

The look of shock on Airi’s face as she recalled all those events was an expected reaction.

Merilyn just shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly despite the reaction.

“Well, I don’t know either. What was I thinking getting involved in this?”

“Don’t dodge the question; answer properly. What you’re trying to do now is…”

“It’s a necessary task.”

A single word that cut off emotional questioning.

As Airi felt at a loss for words and stared at her fixedly, Merilyn gave a bitter smile and quietly placed her fingers on the strings of the lute she was holding.

“To test how strong my love is… I should be prepared to jump into the fire myself, shouldn’t I?”

“…Even if that decision turns this land into a sea of fire?”

“Honestly, there are things that bother me. I don’t care what happens to humanity or the world… but it would be sad if the place he returns to is burned down.”

Merilyn also knew what would happen on this land in the future.

Still, the reason she had given in to her deceitful kin and joined this plan was simple.

“But it turns out that much of it was already in motion by the time I realized it. And it seems the Crown Prince has made up his mind, too.”

Even if she didn’t take action, it was something that would eventually happen.

Feeling that one of the people who caused this was watching the conversation, Merilyn drew a bitter smile and plucked the strings.

“If it is a fate destined to flow uncontrollably, then perhaps it is right to ride the current rather than resist it…”

Dding~

“Airi, isn’t that why you voluntarily came here?”

As if to say that Airi was no different from her and had no right to criticize, Merrilyn’s gaze pierced her.

Just as Airi placed her hands over her pregnant belly, Seis, who had been watching the situation unfold, intervened between the two.

“Shall we stop the conversation here?”

“Hehe, of course. The great leader shouldn’t waste time with a lowly jester. Then, I shall excuse myself.”

With a light bow, Merilyn left Seis’s side.

Then she brought her lips to her rival’s ear and whispered softly.

“Hyo-sung will be sad when he returns.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Even without the gift of prophecy, she knew.

She already knew what she had come here for and what she had prepared for.

Indeed, just as Merrilyn had said, the world they knew was heading toward destruction.

The Crown Prince’s plan was to prepare for such destruction, and Airi had already decided to participate in it.

If she had truly received all of her clan’s power for that purpose and if it was meant to lead to a future connected with him…

‘But not this child.’

Yes, not the child in her womb.

She, as the last descendant of the Goddess of Destruction, was the one who should bear that burden—not her child, who would inherit the future.

This was the reason she sought to meet the witch.

By meeting the central figure in person, she hoped to rewrite the future she did not want.

“Wh-who are you?”

But what she encountered when she steeled herself was not what she expected—a shabby-looking woman in pajamas, trembling amidst piles of books in the library.

“…Vivian.”

“Wh-where am I? I… I…”

“Vivian, can you hear me?”

“Uh… uh… ah…”

Vivian looked around with trembling eyes even at Seis’s call.

No, even that was only for a moment.

What flowed from her mouth as she collapsed to the floor was deep despair.

“Wh-what is this? Where am I? Wh-why am I here…? M-Mom… Wh-where are you?”

To some, she was a mass murderer who had slaughtered people like they were trash. To others, she was a symbol of hope who could save humanity. To those who knew the distant past, she was the most terrible disaster of all.

But now, there was no trace of any of those aspects in her current state.

“M-Mom? Did I have a mom? N-no…”

“Who was I to begin with?”

Her voice was as empty as her mind.

Unable to bear it, the woman grabbed her head and began to sob deeply.

“N-nothing comes to m-mind. N-nothing comes to m-mind…!”

She wanted someone, anyone, to give her a clear answer.

As her desperate cry echoed in the library, Airi’s face, listening to her sobs, began to turn pale.

“Your Highness, is that person…?”

“If I say it’s the curse of forgetfulness, does that make sense?”

Forgetfulness.

The word itself perfectly described her state.

“It’s a type of magic used by vampires. To vampires who treat their subordinates like livestock, human memories are unnecessary.”

“You mean they used that on her?”

“She was once the most dangerous being in the world, but a witch with erased memories can be a convenient tool to control as desired…”

Seis the Crown Prince paused after saying that.

When he took off his mask, his bare face showed the complex emotions he felt towards her.

“Although I learned all that after I grew up.”

Did he mean that he had nothing to do with it?

Even though he had already prepared to inherit the empire and was working with the vampires to utilize her powers?

‘No, that’s not enough.’

But what Airi was concerned about wasn’t the dark side of the empire or the Crown Prince’s psychology, but that Vivian’s past, which she needed to read, was unclear.

‘The past is the traces that person left behind… Individual memories are just part of the expression of those traces.’

Even if someone’s personal memories are lost, the memories of others who witnessed them remain.

Likewise, the memories she read from others were not something that could be easily erased by a simple curse of forgetfulness.

If she couldn’t read the past of the person in front of her, it meant that something even more complex was entwined.

“Vivian.”

Seis, the Crown Prince, passed by Airi, who was trying to gauge what it was, and began to close the distance to Vivian, calling her name.

“Vi-Vivi…?”

“Do you remember the name Woo Hyo-sung?”

And then he spoke another name.

For someone suffering from the curse of forgetfulness, it was a name she should have forgotten even at this moment.

“W-Woo Hyo…?”

But was there something that caught her with that name?

Vivian tilted her head and then began to look up at the Crown Prince with wide eyes.

“W-Woo Hyo, th-the housekeeper…”

“…You seem to remember.”

“Yes. I remember. I’ve never forgotten.”

Yes, it was a name she had never forgotten, even for a moment.

As Vivian realized this and began to smile, the Crown Prince put on his mask again and prepared to leave the library.

And quietly looked back at Airi and said.

“Handle the rest yourself.”

He was leaving her without any further control.

Was it because he trusted her that much? Or did he believe she wouldn’t interfere with his plans since she had come this far anyway?

“Thank you.”

No matter what, he had given her the opportunity to lead the future straight.

Airi, who expressed her minimal gratitude, then faced Vivian, who was sitting in the library after the Crown Prince had left.

“Nice to meet you, Vivian. My name is Airi… I’m the wife of the person you’re indebted to.”

“The wife… of Woo Hyo?”

“Yes. The child inside me is his.”

Airi cautiously showed her belly to her.

Now, nearly half a year after conceiving life, her belly was visibly swollen.

“The housekeeper’s child.”

Vivian stared blankly at her belly.

As she watched her nervously, a bright smile began to form on Vivian’s lips.

“Can I… touch it?”

“Yes, of course.”

The prophecy hadn’t shown itself yet.

Not yet.

“Something, something’s moving…”

“It’s fetal movement. The child in my belly is happy to see you.”

“Really? Happy to see me?”

“Yes. Really.”

Gradually, there was a glimpse of tenderness in her gaze at her belly.

Airi’s expression, hinting that this feeling might be forgotten again due to the curse of forgetfulness, began to darken.

‘Don’t worry, Hyo-sung…’

But it was still too early for that time to come.

During the remaining period, she had the duty to persuade her, who relied on his memory, and lead her to a straight future.

‘No matter what, I will protect this child.’

Everything was for the path where love and mission coexisted.

Airi, who had resolved that again, firmly grasped the back of Vivian’s hand, which was stroking her belly.

And, half a year later.

Roooooooaaaarrr!!!

The Linnea Great Forest located in the west of the empire.

At the fierce roar that echoed through the vast forest, the expedition members traversing the area began to tremble in fear.

“Hero! It’s finally appeared!”

“The ruler of the Great Forest, Linnea Saurus… It’s the monster listed on the wanted poster.”

The expedition members guarding the surroundings cried out in tension.

Their attention was focused on a giant reptilian monster with a long neck that could not be hidden by the forest trees.

As its name suggested, it was a creature beyond a mere monster, fitting the name ‘dinosaur.’

There must have been a reason why a wanted poster was issued for a monster created by the distortion of dimensions.

“Wow… I thought it was just a rumor, but there really is a dinosaur living in the forest.”

While all the expedition members hid upon recognizing the great monster, only one hero in black armor quietly advanced toward it.

Despite facing a creature dozens of times larger than himself, he showed no fear.

“B-be careful! Hero! They say the breath from that monster’s mouth is powerful enough to turn everything to dust!”

“Haha, that’s perfect.”

As the monster began to inhale, the hero leisurely raised his spear in front of it.

Soon, he sharpened his gaze and focused all his attention on the monster’s mouth, which was about to launch an attack at him.

“The fact that the opponent is strong means there’s a lot to take advantage of.”

The weak’s way of fighting starts by using the opponent’s strength against them.

Kwaaahhh!!

As he recalled that teaching, compressed air began to burst out of the monster’s mouth towards him.

The compressed air, equal to the height of the monster’s neck rising above the trees, was released.

Its power was so formidable that it swept away everything in its path, but the hero swung his spear fiercely along its trajectory without hesitation.

Calmly, without a hint of wavering.

He created a path for the incoming attack with the mana flowing through his body, channeling the flow from himself to the opponent. He prepared to return the attack precisely.

Swiiish!!

The stronger the attack he intended to return, the more dangerous the skill, as even the slightest mistake could result in his body being shattered.

But he didn’t worry.

The spirits that followed his presence would guide the power he couldn’t fully control to a straight path.

Kwaaaah!!!

The pressure cannon that returned along the trajectory of the swung spear hit the monster’s neck along with the full-force thrown spear.

When its neck was torn and its body separated from its head, the expedition members cheered.

“H-he did it! The hero did it!!!”

Hero Woo Hyo-sung.

The hero who made the most contributions during the subjugation mission ahead of the Crown Prince’s succession ceremony.

His achievements would be highlighted today by taking the head of the tyrant who ruled the Great Forest.