Free Web NovelMagic power?
The jailer’s eyes widened. He had never imagined that such a sloppy-looking doll could actually contain such powerful magic.
How had this woman hidden that magic inside it? There was no medium inside that could store magic power!
Could it be...
“You actually deceived the seal, squeezed out a little magic power every day, hid it inside, and kept it under mental control the entire time?”
The jailer’s expression was horrified.
“For three whole months? Constantly?”
“That’s right. Although it was very hard, since I had to keep my mind tense at all times and couldn’t even sleep, how could I possibly sit around waiting to die?”
The jailer’s reaction no longer mattered, because the magic in Sevier’s hand had already taken shape.
Her movements were too fast. Everything had happened too suddenly. And added to the disguise of dispirited surrender she had maintained for these entire three months, neither the jailer beside her nor the guards outside had predicted such a development.
They could only watch helplessly as Sevier released that precise spell.
“Stupor Curse.”
It was an ordinary spell, but it had been infused with every bit of powerful magic Sevier had accumulated over three whole months. Under her forceful control, the magic instantly spread outward, and soon two thuds came from outside the door as bodies hit the ground.
Those qualified to guard this place certainly could not be weak. Fortunately, they were still within the range she could handle.
“You...”
The only one who lasted slightly longer was the jailer who had brought Sevier here.
His eyes were wide open as he stared fixedly at Sevier in disbelief. His mouth kept opening and closing as he desperately tried to say something, but because his body was paralyzed, he could not utter a word.
“I know you’re shocked. You thought I was nothing more than a pitiful prisoner about to meet a tragic fate. But even someone as pitiful as me doesn’t want to give up that easily.”
“No... no...”
“Don’t run? You think words with no threat behind them are any use on me? Right now, I have nothing left, so I fear nothing.”
Sevier walked over to the jailer, searched his body for the key, and unlocked the shackles that had sealed her battle aura and magic.
Once the restraints were gone, Sevier’s entire body felt light. At last, she experienced something she had not felt in a full two months...
Freedom.
The freedom she longed for.
“Farewell, cage.”
Sevier opened the door. Outside was that corridor. As long as she crossed it, she could leave this place.
She still did not let down her guard. Given her identity and strength, she believed there would definitely be more guards than these few.
But she had already prepared herself. Back then, she had also fought her way through all kinds of ruins. Once the shackles on her body were undone, how could she possibly fail to carve out a bloody path?
She was still that proud child of heaven!
“Come on! Let me see... who exactly can stop me!”
......
......
A few minutes later, Sevier stood on high ground, feeling Belrand’s bone-piercing cold wind, while a helpless tear slid from the corner of her eye.
Hatred.
Unwillingness.
Despair.
Bewilderment.
Countless emotions mingled in her chest, choking her so badly she could hardly breathe. All she could feel was a strange, twisting pain.
She had made her final preparations. She had already staked every last trump card she had. But she never, ever expected this result.
“Someone really came to stop me... I was just saying that...”
Ahead was the road out of the city.
That road was very short. For her, it would only take two minutes on foot.
But between her and that road, several powerful presences had suddenly appeared. Like an uncrossable wall, they completely intercepted her, leaving her unable to advance.
And...
“These are... people from the Kingdom.”
Sevier’s lips trembled.
That was right. She had nearly succeeded in escaping. The Imperial forces who had come to intercept her were not too strong and were still within the range she could handle.
But in that final moment, those powerful presences had taken the initiative to appear, forcing her to stop and thoroughly stripping away all hope of escape.
Most unbelievable of all, those presences were all very familiar to her. That was also why she knew, without even needing to try, that she absolutely could not escape. The people blocking her were not from the Empire she was currently in, but from the Kingdom.
There was her former teacher. There was an elder who had once guided her. She even sensed the presence of companions who had once fought at her side. They blocked the small paths she might take, and that understanding... made her heart ache beyond words.
“Heh heh... In the end, I didn’t die at the Empire’s hands, but at the hands of people from the Kingdom?”
Sevier lifted her head at a forty-five-degree angle, trying to stop the tears from flowing.
She understood. She understood the reason behind all of this. The Kingdom must have used her to make some exchange of benefits with the Empire. So now, she was already destined to die in the Empire. For the sake of so-called “greater justice,” that fate absolutely could not be changed. That was why, when she began to flee, the people of the Kingdom instead stepped in to stop her.
After all, if she escaped, how could they sell her for a good price?
Truly... pitiful and ridiculous.
They would even sell her off just like that. No wonder the grand Kingdom had lost so miserably!
“Do you still want to run?”
At some point, the jailer had come behind Sevier again. There was no anger on his face from the sudden attack, only heartfelt emotion.
“I never imagined you would resist this firmly.”
“Of course... Why wouldn’t I resist? Was I supposed to just let you take away the most important thing I have?” Sevier gave a contemptuous sneer. Saying this kind of thing at this point—had this man come to mock her?
“I didn’t expect you to care so much about freedom. Unfortunately, that matter has already been announced to the world. You no longer have the qualification to refuse,” the jailer said regretfully.
That matter?
Ah, they must have exchanged something and turned it into some high-ranking Kingdom figure’s achievement.
She had seen plenty of things like that. There was nothing strange about it.
“There’s no point saying this. They’re here.”
Sevier looked not far away.
In the shadows of the night, a procession slowly approached.
Occasionally, firelight flickered past, and one could see the Kingdom’s flag waving above them, but most of it remained unclear.
“Heh...”
Had these people all come to personally witness her death?
She would die.
Then they would naturally take away whatever had been exchanged for her.
Sevier laughed bitterly and miserably. The reality before her eyes was both ridiculous and helpless.
“Can I make one final request?”
“Of course. You have that qualification.”
“Good. Then let me indulge myself one last time.”
Sevier took a deep breath and gathered every last trace of battle aura she had left. Then, facing those people from the Kingdom who had blocked her, she vented all the gloom, unwillingness, and anger from these days completely and utterly.
“The Kingdom—is dogshit!!!”
“The King of the Kingdom—is also dogshit!!!”
“You pieces of dogshit—go die!!!”
“Die die die die!!!”
“......”
Her furious roars echoed across all of Belrand.
The entire sleeping city was jolted awake. Countless people stuck their heads out of windows, wanting to see who was so heroic as to curse so loudly in front of an entire city.
Even that jailer was completely stunned. He had thought the woman before him might try to run again in pursuit of her so-called freedom. But he had never imagined...
She would actually do this?
Wasn’t she...
“Ah... that felt good.”
After finishing her shouting, Sevier straightened up and casually extended both hands.
“Come on, you Kingdom bastards. Tie me back up. Kill me, sell me, whatever. I don’t care anymore. I’ve already cursed everything I needed to curse. I’ll let you handle me however you want.”
“......”
The entire world was silent. No one answered.
It was as if everyone had been shocked by Sevier’s heroic spirit, especially the Kingdom procession.
“Hm?”
Sevier tilted her head in confusion. She did not understand. They had already forced her to this point, so why were these people not moving?
Could it be they still wanted to watch her make a fool of herself?
“In that case, then watch!”
Sevier burst into laughter, spread her arms, and faced everyone.
“Watch, watch! Let everyone see clearly what kind of dogshit the Kingdom, and the King of the Kingdom, really are—”
“Your Majesty, why go this far?!”
Suddenly, a grief-stricken cry interrupted Sevier.
Sevier froze. Before she could react, she saw a trembling old man suddenly rush in front of her and drop to his knees with a thud, hugging her leg tightly.
“Why go this far, why go this far! Although I know Your Majesty has suffered bitterly during this time and has grief and anger in your heart, although I also know the previous king was incompetent, cold, and heartless, causing you to suffer such injustice, how could you... how could you belittle yourself like this?”
“If Your Majesty wants to curse, then curse this old minister. Please, you must not curse yourself... and with such harsh words too, saying something like dog... thing? If Your Majesty is a dog thing, then what are the rest of us?”
The old man wept bitterly, looking extremely pained.
As if, at this moment, because of Sevier’s one sentence, he had suffered immense agony and wished he could truly transform into a dog thing, bark twice, and bear this humiliation in Sevier’s place.
“...Huh?”
But in the face of the old man’s earnest concern, Sevier showed no intention of appreciating it at all.
Because right now, she really did not understand...
What the hell was this old bastard talking about?
“What are you... talking about?” Sevier lifted her head blankly.
......And at that moment.
Amid the long silence, dawn broke through the darkness. Morning light spilled down, illuminating the street.
Everything was bathed in faint light.
Sevier’s eyelid twitched. Only now did she discover that the approaching procession did not look like a guard unit specially sent to escort her.
Banners fluttered. The carriage was magnificent.
Combined with the richly dressed soldiers clearing the way at front and back...
It looked more like...
A ceremonial procession?
If they were a ceremonial procession, then the people who had stopped her were...
“Your Majesty, forgive us.”
The people who had blocked Sevier earlier quickly swept over and all half-knelt before her.
“After the Empire sent word that Your Majesty had escaped, we were beside ourselves with worry. We knew Your Majesty was extremely skilled in this area, and that your escape techniques always received full marks at the academy. We also knew that once Your Majesty successfully escaped Belrand, we might truly never find you again. Only then did we have no choice but to directly pressure you with our presences. It was truly an act of necessity, without the slightest intent to offend.”
“Huh? Th-th-this...”
Looking at these former companions, teachers, and elders all respectfully saluting before her, Sevier’s mind became a tangled mess. She stood dazed for a long time before finally coming back around.
“Who are you calling Your Majesty?”
“Why, you, of course!”
The first old man directly prostrated himself, looking as though he desperately wanted to kiss the tip of Sevier’s shoe.
“The great Saint Peron IV’s granddaughter, the Kingdom’s rightful heir... is none other than Your Majesty!”
“......”
The Kingdom’s dog thing... no, the King, is actually me?
Why?
Sevier blinked, feeling that the ways of the world were truly bizarre.
She had done nothing, just stayed in prison for a few months, and now she had become king?
“Is this real?”
“Of course! Look at this king-scale ceremonial procession. Could it be fake? This matter has already been announced across the entire continent!”
“But why?”
“Because of Your Majesty’s bloodline! So pure!”
“Me? Pure?”
Sevier felt this was the first time that word had ever been used to describe her.
“His Majesty... Saint Peron V?”
“That muddleheaded king has already stepped down!”
“Elder Brother Aurier?”
“He sacrificed himself on the front line.”
“Elder Brother Buluosiwei?”
“Dead. Died in an accident.”
“Tebulado...”
“Died in an accident...”
“Anfo...”
“Died in an accident...”
“Julifeya...”
“Died in an accident...”
Sevier named several people in succession, all names familiar to her, princes she believed had hopes of inheriting that position.
But unexpectedly...
They were all dead?
In just a few months, all dead?
Dozens of princes, not a single one left?
In other words...
Sevier pointed stupidly at herself.
“I can really inherit the throne?”
“It is not a matter of whether you can. You already have.”
The old man nodded solemnly.
“Right now, Your Majesty is only one coronation ceremony away from completely sitting in that position!”
“......”
Oh my God.
Sevier could only sigh in amazement. She felt she no longer had any other emotions left.
No, there was still...
“If I really have become the King of the Kingdom...”
Then those words she had just said were...
A blush suddenly colored Sevier’s face.
“Ahem, those words just now...”
“We heard nothing.”
The old man’s expression was solemn, and his eyes were full of the gleam of ambition.
“We only know that Your Majesty is the future great ruler who will lead our Kingdom out of darkness and back into the light!”
“......”
At this point, no matter how bizarre it was, Sevier had no choice but to believe it.
After all, this enormous crowd was right in front of her face, and they were publicizing it with such fanfare. Since the Empire had not jumped out to object, that meant the Empire had known about this matter from the start... or perhaps had arranged it.
So what the jailer had wanted to say back then was this...
That had not been some execution meal. It was merely a meal the jailer had used to curry favor with her, the future king.
Sevier gave a self-mocking heh and once again sighed at fate’s wonder.
However, what she cared about most right now was not the old man’s talk of leading the Kingdom out of darkness and back into the light, nor any so-called great ruler.
It was...
“Does this mean that now, I also have a chance to compete...”
She looked into the distance, and that handsome face she had longed for day and night surfaced in her mind. On her pretty face, already covered in blush, another trace of expectation... and shyness appeared.
