Chapter 70

Sep 05, 2023

The entire castle was being consumed by the fire. Even the icy, snow-covered walls were being swallowed by huge, billowing flames. The sound of metal clashing against metal disrupted the silence of the night.

Meanwhile, the ensuing agonized screams of those who were pitted against each other in the battle rained down like a meteor shower.

Fwooom!

Roxana quietly watched as the home she had never once left on her own since being reborn into this story world burned to ruin. Her sight had gone a bit dim due to the pain relievers and sedatives she had taken, but her hearing had become more acute than normal. With that sense sharpened, she was able to hear the very moment that the battle began to die down as the intruders gave the signal to retreat.

Flutter, flutter.

One by one, the butterflies she had sent out began to make their return to her.

“Thanks for all your hard work.”

She was indeed pleased with how admirably they had completed their task of using their hallucinatory powers to confuse and lead the Agrece clan members away as Roxana had ordered. Hurting bystanders was never part of her plan to overthrow her father. Her only goal had been to initiate the fall of their clan. That was the very reason she had disposed of most of the armed personnel prior to the invasion, and why she had instructed the caretakers and servants to gather in the annex building.

And as she had made especially certain to get rid of all of Lante’s loyal boot-licking warriors long before revealing her true intentions, the toll of her efforts caused her to cough up the darkest blood she had yet. She had been spewing up the grim liquid ever since she had beckoned her first butterfly into action that day. But even so, she still could not rest just yet. For whatever reason, Roxana felt it was her duty to watch the end of the Agrece clan until the bitter end.

As she continued to watch the growing destruction, she wondered if Lante had been killed yet. After all, the Pedelians were unlikely to launch a retreat unless they had achieved their goal. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t considered where the remaining members of her clan would go as the brilliance of the burning castle lit the night sky.

Is this the end then? Is this really the end?

After wiping the blood away from the corner of her mouth, she began to walk again. With her every step, the exposed grass beneath her feet blackened then died. She had become so frail by that point that her body was unable to tolerate even the slightest additional exertion it took to suppress the toxins in her blood.

The poisonous atmosphere that literally surrounded her was threatening every living thing she encountered. Not only was her own poison wreaking havoc, but her killer poison butterflies had become increasingly dangerous as well. Lately, she had been experiencing increasing difficulty in trying to properly control them, so they would run amok at every chance they sensed.

One notable instance when that had last occurred was when her joint mission with Deon had ended in failure the previous year. Her killer butterflies had gotten so out of her control that they had eaten almost everyone in her vicinity. In truth, it would have been quite easy for her to kill Lante by letting her butterflies have at him like common livestock, but his death needed to officially be an execution for all the evil deeds he had committed. Thus, the role fell to the righteous judge of the Pedelians.

“Xana!”

Upon hearing Jeremy call her, Roxana turned toward his voice. After spotting the crimson butterflies, he ran after them as soon as the dark fog lifted from around the compound. Thanks to her little hallucinatory helpers, the death toll had been much lower than anticipated. Especially compared to the devastation the majority of the compound had endured.

Even so, Jeremy could not help worrying about his sister. While Roxana was loath to show any weakness in front of him, Jeremy was already well aware of her condition. After all, he had stuck by her side almost all of his life. Having attuned himself to track her well-being, he had become wary of how noticeably weak she appeared earlier since they had launched the coup. But just the mere sight of her managed to put him somewhat at ease. Although there was blood on her clothes, she was standing up straight without appearing to rely on anything for support.

“There you are, Sis. Did you get hurt or anything?”

Although she was intent on going in the opposite direction, Roxana had willingly stopped her advance in order to look back at him.

“What are you doing out here all alone? And why are you heading in that direction? There’s nothing over th—” Upon seeing the expression on his sister’s face up close, Jeremy felt compelled to stop. “W-What’s going on?”

At first glance, she had appeared to be the same Roxana he had always known, but as they stood there, he detected an unfamiliar glint in her eyes. Then he clenched his jaw as a strange thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He sensed an ominous foreboding, so he decided to chance asking her outright.

“Sis... tell me where you’re heading.” Even as the words left his lips, Jeremy recognized that he wasn’t effectively expressing his genuine concern. “Why are you just standing there and looking at me like that? You’re acting as if this is the last...”

He was obviously talking so much due to his anxiety and worry, but as he said the final line, a sudden revelation came to him.

Roxana, in turn, merely continued to stare at him in silence. The answer was written all over her face. Without a single word she seemed to be saying that the truth lied in his unfinished statement.

“But Sis...” At last, he seemed to realize that his half-sister was abandoning the Agrece clan, and that her final goal had always been to do so.

Wait... Have I always known? He couldn’t help questioning whether he had not once suspected her true wish in the ten years he had stuck by her side. But that hardly mattered since he intended to always remain at her side, regardless of what she did or where she went. Yet the look in her eyes was...

As much as he wished not to, he found himself wondering if she had also intended to leave him behind as well. “Sis, are you... abandoning me now, too?”

Despite the flames raging toward them, the two continued to stare into each other’s eyes. Jeremy looked as if he had been stabbed clean through the heart, while Roxana looked on quietly until a small laugh eventually escaped from her lips.

“I never should have reached out to you for help.” In truth, she had only thought of him as a tool at first, which meant she should remain impartial toward her younger brother until the very end. No matter how often she had uttered warm encouragements and sweet comforts to him, she knew it would prove unwise to forget that they were merely lies she needed to feed him in order to fulfill her purpose. Still, knowing it and sticking to it had been easier said than done. “I shouldn’t have kept you so close all this time.”

If she were honest with herself, Roxana had to acknowledge that not all the time she had spent with Jeremy had been truthful, but it hadn’t all been false pretenses either. In fact, much like dew that settles in silence on even the most arid lands overnight, she had found herself worrying and caring about him before she had realized it. That was precisely why she had hesitated in including him in her plans.

“Jeremy... I don’t wish to take anything from the Agreces with me, so this is goodbye.”

She knew it was best to part there and then, but Jeremy only stood before her in a stupor. He appeared to be malfunctioning, but she could neither approach nor console him.

“Take care.” And so she bid farewell to the only person she had considered family apart from her mother and late brother. Jeremy did not attempt to go after her, but instead cried out.

“Si—Roxanaaa!” His plaintive voice almost stopped her forward motion, but she kept her back straight and trudged on. “I know you’ve never sincerely laughed in your life, so... w-what if I could make the Agrece clan into a place where you could?”

The tone in Jeremy’s voice possessed something entirely unfamiliar to Roxana. Despite her better judgment, she turned to look at her brother one last time. As she watched him through the strands of her hair that had become tangled in the frosty breeze, she seemed to be looking further away than he actually stood.

Although the flames illuminated his background, Jeremy’s face was hidden in darkness, which made it all but impossible for Roxana to gauge his expression. But she soon imagined that it may have been for the best. She offered one last smile to her unfortunate little brother before turning to leave. It was the same kind, warm, benevolent smile that never failed to cheer him up. But soon after, she was moving away from him again. As she could not promise him anything, there was nothing left for her to say.

She walked farther and farther away leaving the destroyed Agrece land in her wake. With each step, she pondered if the desolate ash heap could serve to usher the clan into a new beginning.

As the saying went, “the coldest winters eventually give way to the warmest springs,” but she couldn’t imagine it happening in the Black territory where she had personally experienced cold weather even in the spring.

But all Roxana wanted was to leave and be free without worry. Although she had only spent 19 years at the compound, she felt as though she had been tethered to far too many things. To her shock, she actually felt odd finally stepping out of the bog she had been destined to drown in since her rebirth. It wasn’t a feeling of absolute freedom nor disappointment, but something in between that soaked her heart like the melting snow at her feet.

Her vision became misty as a white flurry blew across her face. As if the wind had actually thrown her, she staggered sideways.

I can’t stay here like this. The severity of her condition finally dawned on her as her consciousness rapidly faded. But just as she fainted, a pair of strong arms managed to catch her before she collapsed to the ground.

As her vision had already become blurry, she couldn’t make out who it was, but just before her eyes closed for good... she imagined she had seen a glint of gold aimed in her direction.