“I’m Leiliya, Small Captain of the 12th Squad of the Fenglin City Forest Patrol Brigade.”
Se La calmly reported the prepared false name, then slowly laid Alvin’s body flat on the dock to show she had no hostility.
“The Forest Patrol… what is the Forest Patrol doing here?”
The guard who was their carriage driver did not lower his guard; his hand still rested on the weapon at his waist.
The Forest Patrol appearing near Mirror Lake wasn’t surprising… after all, their outposts were spread throughout the Sea of Trees.
But at this moment of Land Mutation, anyone suddenly appearing was suspicious.
“I’m a subordinate arranged by Captain General Levianther Nelf in the nearby forest. Our orders are to secretly protect the safety of the Royal Family.”
With that, she lightly whistled a few times, and several dark figures dashed out from the lakeside forest.
The guard stared and saw that all were members wearing Forest Patrol uniforms.
“Secretly protecting…? I think it’s surveillance! When did you start watching?”
“…”
Se La made no response. She just stepped back, letting the guard take charge of the unconscious Alvin.
The guard looked around at the members… after confirming they had no hostility or intention to stop him, he retreated to the carriage with his master.
“Hyah!”
He shook the reins and drove the carriage back along the path they came… but faster than before.
As the carriage disappeared at the end of the forest path, the communication magic item in Se La’s hand flickered.
“Captain General.”
“…Is His Highness the Prince Consort safe?”
After Se La injected magic power into the item, Levianther’s voice came from it.
“Yes. His coachman has already brought him back.”
“Then the Royal Court will soon know… This will be a bit troublesome. Given this change, I’m afraid we’ll have to contact the Family Head.”
Levianther’s voice revealed a hint of anxiety… because she didn’t know that the changes in the lake barrier at this moment were caused by this trusted subordinate she had personally promoted.
But even so, she remained calm and made the most reasonable judgment regarding the sudden situation beyond her control:
“I will go to see the Family Head and organize mages to head to Mirror Lake. Until we arrive, stay on guard around the area and don’t let any suspicious person through.”
“Understood.”
“And…” The Captain General’s voice rarely paused for a moment. “Have Iyue and Nefi really gone inside?”
“I saw them rowing a boat into the mist.”
“…I see.”
After saying this, the flickering light of the magic item vanished.
Even though she tried to hide it, Se La could hear the deep worry in her words.
This surprised her—because in her view, this Captain General was someone who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals… She set traps, threatened, used, and manipulated others, even those who were her blood relatives.
To gain leverage against Nephtalia at the Audience Ceremony, she arranged the recognition scene at the Slope Passage based on the information she had revealed.
And that commotion successfully made Iyue, who originally didn’t want to show her face, appear before the public wearing the Forest Patrol uniform and associated with the Forest Patrol… In this matter, she showed no respect for the will of her loyal subordinate Captain Alexis or her niece Iyue, only cold-hearted calculation.
‘So even someone like the Captain General… can be shaken when family is in danger?’
“Let’s go. The Captain General ordered us to cordon off the area around Mirror Lake until she arrives.”
Pushing aside her feelings, Se La ordered her subordinates and prepared to return to the forest.
But before she could leave the dock, a member raised her longbow, blocking her path.
“What are you doing?”
Se La frowned… alarm bells rang in her heart.
She noticed that not only this member, but also the others were slowly drawing their weapons, surrounding her.
“That’s what I should be asking you!”
The lead member leaning on her longbow raised her head… and in the dim moonlight tinged with the bloody mist, Se La recognized her face—
“Reiya…”
Reiya, who like Se La was a captain of a Ranger Team under the Quiet Wind Forest Region, pulled down her hood… with an expression of disbelief, as if she was about to cry, she looked at her rival and friend.
“Answer me… Se La. Where did you go alone earlier?”
Seeing the tense atmosphere of the surrounding members, Se La knew it was pointless to hide anymore.
At that moment, the voice’s command came again in her mind:
‘Get rid of all these people.’
“Hehe… hahahaha.”
At this command, Se La held her forehead and laughed.
At this movement, all the surrounding members nocked arrows and aimed at her.
“Se La…!”
“I’m sorry, Reiya. But you have to die here today.”
Showing a sad smile, Se La moved swiftly, turning into an afterimage as she charged at the members surrounding her.
…
…
This is just a memory.
Even though Senia kept reminding herself, the devastated forest littered with corpses still vividly appeared before her eyes, unchanged.
“Cough…!”
The human boy standing beside her swung his sword to cut down a magical beast lunging at him.
Judging by his blood-soaked body and unsteady movements, he was heavily injured.
Senia saw his horrifying wounds healing at an equally horrifying speed… but the accompanying intense pain had stained his usually clear eyes blood red.
Looking at his bloodied appearance, Senia felt her own heart bleeding.
But in this memory, she could not use the powerful spells she had learned after becoming queen.
She could neither repel the demons surging forward one after another for him, nor use her undiscovered golden eyes imbued with powerful magic to give him suggestions to ease his pain.
The only thing she could do was support his unsteady body and repeatedly cast healing magic that was only a drop in the bucket compared to his own self-healing.
In this memory, she was a pampered princess, a powerless person who needed her father, subordinates, and this unfamiliar human boy to sacrifice their lives to protect.
Senia hated this powerless self more than anyone… hated the cowardly girl who could only hide behind them, trembling, crying, and watching their lives fade away.
No matter how much time passed, this hatred never diminished.
This hatred supported her through the most difficult times of the war, and together with her gratitude and love for this boy, it sharpened her heart, tempered her will, enabling her to unify the fragmented Sea of Trees region after the war and become a true monarch.
‘It was these feelings… that kept me alive. They are the foundation of my existence, the meaning of my being.’
‘Hero… please focus on fighting. I will protect myself.’
‘So I am not powerless. Now I can make the choice I didn’t have the courage to make back then.’
Senia picked up a fallen sword on the ground and said to the boy guarding her.
The boy looked surprised… but after a moment, he showed Senia a familiar smile.
“Then I’ll leave it to you—”
Before the words faded, a magical beast pounced, tearing off one of the boy’s ears and half his cheek with its fangs and claws.
The spurting blood stained Senia’s vision red.
“Ugh… ah…!”
The boy tore the beast off with his hand… but more beasts surged forward. Senia watched him get tackled by the monsters—
‘What is this?’
Senia stared in shock as his struggling arms fell limply… then were torn apart by the demons.
She let out a voiceless scream… and the sword in her hand clattered to the ground.
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