Queen of Revenge - Chapter 72

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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 72
Dietrich nodded frantically, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Kairon Winterbark reached out and tore the badge from Dietrich’s uniform.
Dietrich stared blankly as the badge symbolizing his position as Supreme Commander of the Kingdom Army slipped away from him.
His power—nearly everything he possessed—was vanishing before his eyes.
“Ah, right. And this is what you deserve.”
Kairon Winterbark bared his teeth in a grin.
He clenched his fist and swung it toward Dietrich’s head.
Crack—!
“Gahhk!”
The merciless blow sent Dietrich’s massive frame crumpling pathetically to the ground. His skull throbbed, and a sharp ringing erupted in his ears.
Above him, the faint echo of Kairon Winterbark’s tongue clicking reverberated.
“Tsk, even a tool coated in venom has its uses, they say.”
Kairon Winterbark dusted off his hands and walked past him coldly. Dietrich’s mind, pushed to its limit, repeated the same thought like a broken mechanism.
I’m alive.
I’m alive….
Relief flooded through his entire body. He felt something warm and wet beneath him, and his vision spun.
Dietrich lost consciousness.
* * *
The place where humanity becomes most hideous.
From the land that Kairon Winterbark had named thus, Iolet watched the scene unfolding beyond the carriage window.
Though the distance was considerable, it was enough to discern what was happening.
More and more people climbed atop the fortress gates.
Roaaaar!
They erupted in cheers the moment Dietrich knelt before Kairon Winterbark.
Only after the prince lost consciousness did the fortress gates open. The fortress army skillfully subdued the remaining demons outside the gates and caged them. The situation on our side was no different.
Lucian’s voice called out from beyond the carriage.
“Bara, any pursuers?”
[None] [
dogs
]
“Witnesses?”
[Yes] [
dogs
]
“I’ll burn that card someday, I swear it.”
Lucian was wiping blood from his blade.
Bara was securing the corpses of dead men to the carriage roof. They were mercenaries who had promised to escort us until we crossed the Kalande border.
Four of the five fell to Lucian’s blade before they could even draw their swords, and the last one had his skull crushed by Bara’s headbutt.
Iolet leaned her head out the carriage window.
“Are either of you injured?”
“No.”
[No.] [!]
“Thank goodness.”
Bara’s answer was expected, but it struck me as somewhat unusual that Lucian had drawn his sword without hesitation or deliberation.
I regarded Lucian with a measure of unease.
“Perhaps this cold and merciless land withers the soul—enough to transform even someone like you.”
“I couldn’t say.”
Lucian sheathed his cleaned blade with a soft metallic whisper.
“If I have changed, it is not because of this place. It is because of you, Your Highness. I am your knight, after all.”
His tone was measured, yet the moment he spoke my name, his voice gained an unmistakable weight.
Was this truly a change for the better?
It would certainly benefit me, but I doubted it served him well.
I chose not to voice this thought aloud.
Lucian extended his hand toward me inside the carriage.
“Come. We must use the carriage to retrieve the bodies, so it would be better if we rode back on horseback.”
I took his hand without protest and descended from the carriage.
In the distance, a solitary figure stood before the fortress gates. Though too far to discern clearly, he appeared to be watching us.
I smiled in his direction.
The long hunt had finally ended.
* * *
The Fortress Army moved with flawless precision.
The captured Demons were dismembered—some burned, others caged and hung outside the castle walls.
Protocol dictated they be crushed to powder and incinerated to prevent resurrection.
The fact that even a head remained was at my request.
“You again? Epharam?”
I peered down into the iron-barred cage.
[Shut your mouth!]
The Demon with only a head—Epharam—shrieked and wailed.
The familiar appearance confirmed it: this was indeed Epharam.
The companion of the Demon who had toyed with me in the Unregistered Territory before, and the very Demon with whom I had made a contract.
[Why are you here again? Is this connected to you as well? I gave you good land just as you asked, damn it! What kind of cursed year is this?!]
Yet his shrieks lacked the vigor of before—likely because the necklace had been stripped from him.
That necklace now dangled between my fingers.
I swayed it back and forth.
“It seems you have no spare lives left. I’ll return this if you make a deal with me. Interested?”
[Damn it. Why does a non-Demon love to haggle so much?]
“I have no desire to waste words on you either. So let’s exchange one thing for another and be done cleanly. Go to the Unregistered Territory and split the land I designate in half—then I’ll return this to you.”
[Tch!]
The deal was struck.
I retrieved Epharam’s necklace from my pocket and placed it back inside. Then I reached into the opposite pocket.
The Demons trapped in their separate cages flinched in succession.
A handful of crimson-glowing crystals emerged from my pocket—the very ones Kairon Winterbark had personally collected and pressed into my hands.
I gestured dismissively.
“Next is you over there. I’ll return these to you—won’t you strike a deal with me?”
* * *
After concluding my negotiations with the Demons, I descended from the Castle Walls.
The Fortress was recovering to its original state with remarkable speed.
Everyone was occupied restoring the structures that Dietrich and Emeric had recklessly altered over the past several months.
I spotted a familiar face among them—Franz—and called him over.
“Franz. Where is the Commander?”
“Ah! He said he would stop by the Quarters briefly and then leave. He asked me to tell you, should you see him, to wait a moment and not go anywhere.”
“I see. We’re departing tomorrow morning anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
We needed to discuss our subsequent plans regardless. I would also need to review the report to be submitted to the Kalande Royal Court with him.
Franz seized both of my hands eagerly.
“It’s all thanks to you, Your Highness. We’re truly grateful!”
“Me?”
I was somewhat taken aback.
“I didn’t really do anything. The credit belongs to the Fortress Army and the people of Winterbark.”
“Oh, what are you saying! Everyone knows! You have no idea how much they all wish to see you… If the Commander hadn’t threatened them to stop bothering you, you’d likely be surrounded by now. Hehehehe.”
Now that he mentioned it, the people of the Fortress kept stealing glances at me.
I finally understood why Lucian and Bara had been so attentive from both sides.
Such intense attention felt burdensome. I couldn’t fathom why their eyes sparkled so brightly…
I decided to alter my plans and take a walk instead.
As I wandered aimlessly, I found myself in a familiar place—the Common Cemetery of the Winterbark region.
The White-Bearded Elder was already there.
I observed him standing before a gravestone in silence before speaking.
“Village Elder Neiman.”
The old man turned around slowly.
When I first arrived here, he had been elderly, yet his posture was upright and his build robust.
But in the months since losing his grandson, wrinkles had deepened and his shoulders had stooped. He seemed to have aged a decade in that span.
“I heard you were taken to the Mining Site. I hope you didn’t suffer any hardship there?”
“How long was I even there? Merely two days. Nothing of consequence occurred.”
“I’m relieved to hear that. I was worried.”
Neiman offered a warm smile. His expression had grown far more at ease than it had been immediately after losing his grandson, and my heart found solace in that.
“Does this old man still perform the tasks you’ve assigned adequately?”
“Far better than I anticipated. I’m grateful to you.”
I clasped my hands together and bowed respectfully to him.
It was Neiman’s doing that the Castle Gate had been securely locked to prevent Dietrich and Emeric from returning to the Fortress.
Before that, it was also his work to have incited the villagers and organized the mob according to Prince Emeric’s instructions.
“What are you talking about? I simply followed every single instruction the Princess gave me.”
Neiman grasped Iolet’s hand and gave her shoulder a gentle pat.
“If anything, I should be thanking you. The people here would never dare devise such schemes against the princes. They lack familiarity with such methods.”
Dietrich and Emeric.
Which one should be eliminated first to secure the most advantageous position in the coming struggle?
My mind had already leaned toward one answer ever since Kairon Winterbark first spoke of them.
I had decided on my first day at the Fortress, and the moment I faced Prince Emeric, I was certain. It was him.
‘Too dangerous as an enemy, and even more dangerous as an ally.’
Dietrich was simple and transparent compared to the violence that dwelled within him.
An openly wicked man is far easier to handle. But the opposite was not true.
I had spent my entire life watching Catherine, who excelled at wearing masks and concealing her true nature. Compared to Catherine, Emeric showed his hand more readily.
Malice wrapped in the guise of thoughtless mischief.
The cruel bloodlust felt in his sneering smile, his cheeks, and the cold emptiness of his gaze.
Such a man wielded information and won the people’s hearts through clever manipulation.
Prince Emeric was the one who had to be disposed of as an accident, without the slightest trace of suspicion.
But catching a snake with bare hands is never easy.
So I would use Dietrich’s hands to eliminate Emeric. If possible, I would also weaken Dietrich’s own strength in the process.
That was the beginning of my snake hunt.

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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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