novelnext Chapter 195 : The Emperor's Slayer (2)
Chapter 195 : The Emperor's Slayer (2)
“......”There was no way to persuade a fanatic who believed only in the conclusion they had reached.
So Edel shifted her focus elsewhere.
At the very least, it was fortunate that the two of them hadn't formed an alliance.
In the end, one of them would make the first move.
And the target would undoubtedly be Abel Ribenia.
After resolving the turmoil within the Imperial Palace as quickly as possible...
They would hold the coronation ceremony.
Abel understood better than anyone that making the first move placed him at a disadvantage.
Even so...
He had no choice.
He had already made the worst possible decision.
To cover it up, he would resort to any second-best option without hesitation.
'If I accept Rachel's proposal, she'll try to make my forces move first.'
That was only natural.
In a situation where either side could betray the other at any moment, preserving your own strength for as long as possible was the obvious strategy.
“...What if I refuse to support you?”
“Then you'll have no choice but to ally with Abel. Just like now.”
“If I ally with you and remove Abel... then I'll simply become your next target. According to your own logic.”
“Oh, come on. Our situations are completely different.”
“You have overwhelming support from the citizens.”
“I don't.”
“...What if I decide to remove both of you with the support of the people?”
“Then I'd simply fight your ragtag civilian army with my own forces.”
“Even if I have to use the regular army.”
“You'd mobilize the regular army in a crisis like this?”
“At that point, you might as well publicly announce to the entire Empire that you're trying to destroy it yourself.”
“Hah...”
“You really are shameless until the very end.”
Rachel pointed accusingly at Edel.
“Let's be honest.”
“All three of us are ultimately thinking about our own survival.”
“So stop pretending you're the only noble one here.”
“......”
Edel wanted to dismiss those words as complete nonsense.
Yet the tiny question that surfaced deep within her heart instantly silenced that impulse.
Was her sister really talking nonsense?
Was Edel Ribenia truly risking everything solely to save the Empire?
To her...
Was her own life truly worth less than the Empire's?
If that had really been the case...
She wouldn't have hesitated to sacrifice herself for the Empire.
But...
That wasn't true.
What Edel truly desired...
Was for Edel Ribenia herself to be the one who saved the Empire.
That was the ending she had always wanted.
Unable to answer...
Unable to refute Rachel's words...
Edel silently turned and walked away.
“Hey!”
“You're just going to leave without answering?”
“Hey! Edel!”
Rachel's urgent voice echoed from behind her.
But Edel never stopped walking.
Where had everything gone wrong?
No...
How had that absolute branching point been broken in the first place?
'...I can't conclude that Father is truly dead.'
Perhaps Abel and Rachel had staged all of this together in order to manipulate her.
Considering even the Commander of the Imperial Guard was treating Abel as the Emperor...
Even if the death itself were fabricated, the only people who knew the truth would probably be Abel and Rachel.
Even as she desperately searched for every possible explanation...
Her subconscious continued telling her one thing.
Father had been murdered by his own son.
And the absolute branching point had been broken.
“......”
She remembered perfectly when she first became aware of her ability.
August 29, 1477.
As the Beast outbreak steadily intensified, the three remaining members of the Imperial Family each chose different paths in order to uphold their own beliefs.
Abel Ribenia attempted to eliminate all of his political enemies by using the Bernhardts and the Ribenian Orthodox Faith.
Rachel Ribenia gathered the noble factions centered around House Arta to oppose him.
And Edel Ribenia organized a civilian army, integrating it into the Imperial Army to fight the coming catastrophe.
She did so to carry on the will of Brother Luel...
Who had lost his life during the Battle of Elbrak.
Although she wasn't even thirty years old, Edel's achievements rivaled those of Luel Ribenia himself.
Yet the tide of Beasts was so vast and overwhelming that no one could overcome it without a miracle.
Standing upon a land where everyone else had already died...
Edel watched the endless hordes of Beasts approaching.
And she prayed.
Even now...
She couldn't remember whether she had prayed to God...
Or to the Devil.
She only wished for one thing.
Please...
Allow me to protect this land I love with my own hands.
And then...
A miracle happened.
When she opened her eyes...
She had become a four-year-old child once again.
It didn't take her long to understand what had happened.
Immediately, she began struggling to change the future as a Regressor.
And ever since then...
History had continued repeating itself.
Once.
Then again.
And again.
As more than a hundred regressions passed, her emotions gradually became numb.
The countless branching points steadily disappeared.
Age four.
Then age five.
Then six.
Each time, the branching point moved earlier.
Once a branching point could no longer be broken...
Everything before it became immutable history.
Every fixed past narrowed her remaining choices even further.
Even so...
She always believed there was still a path forward.
And so she endured.
It didn't matter if no one else could understand her.
As long as she understood herself...
Then the life she lived couldn't have been wrong.
Sometimes she wondered what would happen once she could no longer regress.
But she always dismissed the thought.
Surely there would be signs before that happened.
Yet...
If events had truly reached this point...
Even Edel couldn't help thinking about it.
“Could... this be that moment?”
The destruction of an absolute branching point.
That meant the disappearance of the very reference point to which she returned every time she regressed.
Without that point...
There could be no regression.
There would be no timeline to return to.
She couldn't be certain.
There was only one way to confirm it.
Death.
If she died and regressed again...
Then her conclusion would be wrong.
If she died and never returned...
Then she had been right.
It was a simple proposition.
“...In that case.”
Then she simply had to survive.
There would be plenty of time to give up after exhausting every possible option.
It didn't matter how much worse the situation became.
Everything she possessed.
The future she longed for.
And the people who stood beside her.
She only needed to trust them...
And do everything she possibly could.
That had always been both her guiding principle...
And her reason for continuing forward.
Steeling her resolve once more, she continued walking until she reached Queen Diane's residence.
If there was anyone capable of becoming a variable in the current three-way struggle among the Imperial Family...
She needed to recruit them first.
The moment she stepped inside...
The residence was in complete chaos.
Ordinarily, numerous attendants would have gathered to receive a princess's arrival.
“...Alix!”
A terrible premonition hastened Edel's steps.
“Princess Edel!”
One of the busy maids noticed her, bowed hurriedly, and ran over.
“What brings you here...?”
“Where's Alix?”
“Take me to her. Now!”
Fortunately...
The news wasn't that Alix Ribenia had disappeared.
Nor that she had died.
Instead...
It was someone else's death.
Queen Diane's chronic illness had suddenly worsened.
She had passed away three hours earlier.
“Sister...”
“......”
“How could... this happen...”
“Alix!”
After laying the unconscious Alix on a bed in the adjoining room...
Edel spoke with the royal physician who had just finished preparing Queen Diane's body.
Oberun, physician to the Imperial Family, concluded that the cause of death was the worsening of her chronic illness brought about by excessive drug consumption.
“As Your Highness knows, Her Majesty had relied on numerous medications for many years.”
“Some of those included narcotic painkillers.”
“The Queen knew her own condition better than anyone.”
“She also knew better than anyone what excessive drug use would lead to.”
“W-Well... that's true.”
“And yet you're telling me she died because of the medication?”
“Are you absolutely certain?”
“......”
After Empress Eleonore's death...
Diane's life as Queen had become even more miserable than before.
People branded her a shameless opportunist who had seized the vacant position the moment the Empress died.
Unable to criticize the Emperor for choosing her...
They instead vented all their resentment toward the Queen.
It was unimaginably petty.
Yet despite all that...
She continued supporting the Empire's internal affairs without ever wavering.
However...
After Emperor Ludwig fell into his endless slumber...
Even her unwavering spirit gradually crumbled.
The greater her stress became...
The worse her chronic illness grew.
When her existing medication could no longer suppress the pain...
Her physician changed her painkillers.
And the one who had recommended doing so...
Was Abel.
The risks had been well known.
Yet there had been no reason to refuse.
Not only had his reasoning made sense...
There was also the future to consider.
The Emperor had long since become a vegetable.
The First Crown Prince had died in battle.
The First Princess had already married into another nation.
Under those circumstances...
There was little reason not to obey the words of the Second Prince, who now stood first in the line of succession.
“...Actually, Princess.”
Even so...
Something still didn't add up.
“There is something I must tell Your Highness in private.”
Lowering his voice even further...
Oberun began recounting everything he had witnessed.
Without omitting a single detail.
.
.
.
For Oberun...
Who had been making his final house call of the day to examine the Queen...
It had all begun with a sudden commotion.
“...What did you just say?”
“You heard me.”
“Emperor Ludwig is dead.”
“I killed him with these very hands.”
“N-No... N-No...!”
“With you gone... every remnant of the old generation remaining in the Imperial Family will be erased completely.”
“...Are you going to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“But I do feel a little guilty toward you.”
“So I'd rather not kill you myself.”
“......”
“So how about this?”
“Would you mind taking your own life instead?”
“Why...”
“Why should I?”
“You expect me to obey the words of the wretch who murdered his own father?”
“You'd better.”
“If you resist...”
“Your daughter becomes the next target.”
“You...!”
Raised voices.
The uproar inside.
Screams.
Groans.
Furniture crashing to the floor.
And the ominous aura overflowing with murderous intent and malice from beyond the room.
“Nothing binds me anymore.”
“I'm the Emperor now.”
“I can do whatever I want.”
“And take whatever I desire.”
“Ah...!”
“Well...”
“There's nothing wrong with step-siblings enjoying a little love together, is there?”
“Y-You...”
“Are you even human?”
“How can any human do something like this...?!”
“No.”
“Precisely because I'm human...”
“I can do things like this.”
“Urgh...!”
“Enough.”
“Make your choice.”
“You can die here with dignity...”
“Or hand over your daughter and prolong your miserable life.”
“...Promise me.”
“You won't touch Alix.”
“Of course.”
“I swear upon the glory and honor of House Ribenia's founder.”
That...
Was the end of the conversation.
Once complete silence fell—
So silent that not even breathing could be heard—
Oberun hurriedly backed away.
'I-I have to report this... quickly...!'
But to whom?
Princess Rachel?
Princess Edel?
Or Georg, the Head Butler?
Whoever it was...
He absolutely couldn't let anyone discover that he had been present.
The moment Crown Prince Abel learned that...
His life would be over.
Just as he turned to leave—
“Mmph...!”
Someone suddenly seized him...
And violently dragged him backward.