Queen of Revenge - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 29
“I’m not asking you to report the truth to the Crown Princess. If you simply pretend none of this ever happened, I’ll keep silent for the rest of my life. Then nothing will have occurred at all.”
“Why are you going to such lengths to accommodate me?”
“I refuse to betray my own sense of justice.”
In that moment, Iolet’s tension dissolved into laughter.
Her face bloomed bright as a flower unfurling, and Lucian was left speechless.
Was this really the time to laugh? In a situation like this?
“Thank you for worrying about me, Lucian. But truly, there’s no need.”
And there she was, splashing about in the basin without a care, responding as though nothing were amiss.
This princess was clearly determined to shatter his composure.
At this point, he felt certain he’d been drawn into her games once more. Genuine anger surged through him.
“When I’m around you, I feel like an absolute fool. Could you not take this seriously, even for a moment?”
“I’ve never been anything but serious. I’ve wagered everything.”
“Is that so? From where I stand, it seems you’re deliberately provoking me and enjoying it. How remarkable.”
“Then what exactly are you hesitating about, Lucian?”
His sarcasm finally drew a response.
Princess Iolet stopped her splashing and fixed him with a piercing gaze.
“I’ve never forced anything upon you. I haven’t seduced you to my side, haven’t tried to convince you of my choices, haven’t begged you to see me. That you’re choosing to stand with me is entirely your decision—so why are you taking out your frustration on me?”
“Precisely because of that!”
Lucian’s voice rose. It was the first time.
“Because you offer nothing—no excuses, no inducements—!”
“….”
“I simply cannot, comprehend it.”
The truth was, Iolet was the one person Lucian truly could not understand.
Despite having her weaknesses laid bare, she remained unflinchingly composed.
She neither pleaded with him, nor attempted to persuade him, nor even tried to seduce him.
She could have had Kairon Winterbark eliminate him, yet she did not.
The princess knew full well that he was conflicted, yet she left him to his torment as though it were none of her concern.
Princess Iolet existed beyond the bounds of his understanding. He needed to drag her back within reason somehow, yet there was no way to reach her without crossing that line himself.
How was this anything but toying with him?
“You still don’t know your Elder Sister well, Lucian. Whether I go to Levia or Alpail or anywhere else in this world, I will die. Whether I stay still or move, someday I’ll die by her hand. She despises me that much.”
“….”
“So everything you offer to do for me holds no value for me. Then why do I keep you by my side? Because I like you. I want you to work for me.”
“Then you’ve failed completely.”
Lucian cut through her hollow hope. He understood now that to avoid being swayed by her, he had to become even more resolute.
“I am a member of the Black Eagle, a knight sworn to loyalty to His Majesty, and the Black Eagle currently answers to the Crown Princess. As long as my roots lie in Elovis, I cannot betray the Royal Family—”
“Is that so?”
Iolet’s lips curved into a slight smile.
“Then go ahead and kill me.”
“….”
“Prove your loyalty to our homeland in that way. That will suffice.”
Undisguised turmoil crashed through Lucian like waves against the shore.
The method to break a righteous man is surprisingly simple. Iolet had already grasped the answer.
Destroy his world.
Tell him the justice he knew was no justice at all, that his god was merely a well-packaged illusion, that his entire world was fundamentally wrong from the start.
Planting seeds of doubt alone would be enough.
By shaking him with pangs of conscience, the rigid man would walk into hell of his own accord, beginning to torment himself with doubts about the path he had walked all this time.
When that conflict reached its zenith, he would shatter of his own volition.
That was how one corrupted a soul.
“Choose, Lucian Perein. Me, or Catherine.”
Iolet rose to her feet, leaving the knight frozen like a plaster statue.
* * *
Two days after Iolet’s arrival at the Command Tower.
Iolet announced the roster for the 113th Guerrilla Dispatch, which she had personally compiled.
“Perein, five knights from the Royal Guard’s Black Eagle, and four soldiers from the Border Guard who were already scheduled for dispatch. Including myself, we’ll form a party of eleven. We depart at dawn tomorrow.”
“Yes, understood.”
Lucian accepted the orders in silence.
Commander Lefebvre offered no objections either. Instead, the commander offered Lucian subtle counsel away from the Princess’s hearing.
“Four will die on this one. Three if we exclude the Princess.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t throw your life away for nothing. It would be a waste for you to perish in this remote corner. I’d have no face to show the Marquis Perein.”
The commander’s hand fell heavily upon his shoulder.
There were no words of advice to serve the Princess well, or warnings about what to watch for on the journey. He merely turned toward the Princess’s retreating figure as she made her way back to her quarters, muttering bitterly.
“It’s not just you whose future would be wasted, but there’s nothing to be done. Politics is a game where cleverness alone won’t ensure survival….”
From the commander’s tone, it seemed he had learned of Catherine’s orders long ago.
Since the Princess had to die anyway, he had not opposed her insistence on going directly to the Unregistered Territory. Both sides were thoroughly rotten.
Instead of answering, Lucian shut his eyelids firmly.
‘Think of nothing, Lucian Perein.’
This was undoubtedly an opportunity.
The Unregistered Territory was the domain of Demons—a lawless zone untouched by the rules or laws of human society.
No human on the Continent, not even a king, could hold anyone accountable for what transpired there.
With no records or evidence left behind, even Kairon Winterbark could not fault him for the Princess’s death.
He had ultimately failed to persuade the Princess. So the direction Lucian’s choice had taken was, in the end, the same as before.
Everything was the result of the Princess’s choice.
* * *
The second night at the Command Tower had passed.
Before dawn broke, all preparations for the journey to the Unregistered Territory were complete.
Iolet descended the quiet staircase. The knights she had personally selected stood in formation, awaiting her.
Bara had been deliberately sent outside the night before. Though no one stood at her side now, Iolet was no longer alone.
She mounted her horse without assistance from anyone, entirely of her own accord.
“We depart.”
The pre-dawn darkness, untouched by sunlight, was twice as bitter as the day. Before long after leaving the Command Tower, an expansive snowy field stretched before us.
Under normal circumstances, I would have glanced back countless times, but I kept my gaze fixed forward as I crossed the snowy expanse. My dark hair hung with an unprecedented coldness.
After following the trail for roughly an hour, a fence and gravestone buried beneath the snow came into view.
They were markers signifying the end of the Elovis Border and the beginning of the Unregistered Territory.
The moment my foot crossed the boundary, the palpably heavier air sent a chill racing down my spine.
A garrison soldier with prior experience in Guerrilla Operations took the lead.
“We’re almost there. Soon now… it will appear.”
The soldier’s muttering revealed a face drained of all color. The remaining garrison soldiers bore the same ashen pallor.
It was fear with a definite target.
A chill crept across Iolet’s skin as well.
‘The garrison soldiers know what happens in this Unregistered Territory.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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