Chapter 120

“You haven't forgotten our destiny, have you, Amethus?”

I knew he hadn't.

Amethus was still an Aretion.

No, he was even more of an Aretion now.

So he held a destiny deep within his soul.

To topple the Cordis Empire.

We shared the same hatred.

“Merion is only the beginning.”

I said.

“Beyond it, we'll seize the Bururade Peninsula, and even all of the West beyond that.”

Before my Regression, I had been the Vice-Commander of the Western Alliance.

I was one of the three heroes representing the West.

However, I died without toppling the Empire or reaching the Imperial Throne.

Therefore, this time, I had to climb even higher.

I had to become even stronger.

“But that doesn't mean Merion is insignificant.”

The great city of Merion.

Among the city-states that made up the Bururade Peninsula Alliance, it was one of the top three in terms of size.

Since it had a long history, its foundation was solid and prosperous, but none of that was important.

Merion had no idea what value it held for us.

“It will be our foothold. So we must be extremely cautious. We have to make it completely ours, without a single crack for a needle to poke through.”

What good would a shaky foundation be?

How could we contend with the Great Empire if our footing was unstable?

“I understand your frustration. We could take Merion by force right now if we wanted to.”

Merion at this moment belonged to no one.

If one had to say, the Del Conti family had the greatest influence, but they were not free from the checks of the Original Ladder Church or the Guild Alliance.

If I were to eliminate Del Contis with a few slashes of my sword and threaten the city council, Merion would submit to us.

“But we can’t topple the Empire with individual strength alone.”

I gritted my teeth.

A vein on my neck swelled, climbing all the way to my cheek.

The 'Heated Iron Bloodline' was so damn heavy it clutched and pulled at my chest.

It was also so damn hot that the breath I exhaled was like a scorching inferno.

“I had enough strength back then.”

Septem Arcana existed before the Regression as well.

I was a man who could single-handedly defeat a legion and was also skilled in military strategy.

There were two other heroes in the West at a similar level to me.

“But I failed.”

Hadn't I failed and lost my life, leading to the Regression?

Strength alone was not enough.

If someone asked if more strength would suffice, well, I would want to ask if they were trying to become one of the Eight Gods of Hotus.

Even my teacher, Sen Sorti, the 'Last Mage,' could not topple the Empire alone.

“We have to consume the entire West. Without it spoiling and with it growing even larger.”

I had to stop the Four disasters in the West.

My greatest failure before the Regression was that the West had allied too late.

They had no idea that the disasters were Cordis's doing and they squandered all their strength fighting among themselves.

“Then... there might be a chance.”

The opponent was Cordis, an empire a thousand years old.

I swallowed the sigh I was about to let out without realizing it.

The West looked down on the Empire.

They looked down on it far too much.

Cordis was several times more powerful than the West imagined.

As the son of the Great Emperor Continua, I couldn’t possibly not know.

“If there’s even a small chance, I will naturally burn my life away. What about you, Amethus?”

“If Your Highness commands it, I will naturally burn my life away as well.”

“Good. We’re one step away from taking Merion.”

I smiled pleasantly.

The Diviner with jade eyes never disappointed me.

Before the Regression, he was my natural enemy, but now he was a subordinate.

It was more than satisfying.

“When the Harvest Festival ends, everything will be revealed. That will be our time.”

The darkness had grown thick.

The moonlight was a clear blue.

“So that no one can find fault, so that no one can resist…”

Only my heart was blood-red.

“We have to make everyone know about Shion of Merion.”

***

I had another dream.

[Poesia, Poesia, my beautiful chano flower…]

The woman cried with empty eye sockets.

[Where have you gone, my child? Where are you? I can't see you?]

The sound of her crying was sorrowful.

It was a piercing ache that reached deep into my marrow.

The woman wept tears like blood.

No, she wept blood like tears.

Either way, it didn't matter.

[Shion, my Shion…]

A sob.

[...Where did our Poesia go? My Shion, how long are you not going to answer me? Our child has disappeared. She’s become invisible forever…]

“…”

I looked at the woman.

I peered into the empty eye sockets that were streaming with blood.

It was the place where her strawberry-colored eyes, once more beautiful than anything, had been.

A flame rose from deep within me.

My body, as I looked at the woman, gradually bent.

I bent and twisted, emitting heat.

I turned black, my chest and neck fused into one mass, and my waist and head bent as if they could never straighten again, but my body grew bigger.

“It was them.”

I sobbed.

“They took her.”

A melted heart flowed from my melted eye sockets.

It was too heavy to be called mere tears.

Every single drop held my life.

A beauty that had melted away, never to return.

“The child who made me, who hated my bloodline, want to love my bloodline again, our Poesia…”

The Screaming Hunchback.

“…You took her, Cordis-!!!”

I became a complete hunchback and screamed.

The hunchback was me.

It was the real me inside.

It was a heart so rotten that I couldn't live without covering it with a liar's smile.

'How shameless you are.'

Scoffs followed.

The only thing that was clear was the sound of ridicule filling my ears, though I didn't know whose voice it was.

'And yet, you are a Cordis too.'

'The son of the Great Emperor Continua, a Cordis of Cordis!'

'Isn't that right, Fifth Prince Zionis?'

“-Shut up!!!”

The hunchbacked me rampaged, shattering my own dream.

When I shattered my own dream, I was the one who felt the pain.

But I couldn't stop. That's just how foolish anger is.

“I am not Zionis!”

The woman with the empty eye sockets was still sobbing.

She didn't care that the hunchback was trampling all over the world, she just kept weeping, asking, 'Poesia, Poesia, where are you?'

That was right.

After losing Poesia, she never looked at me again.

No matter what she saw in the world, she couldn't see it properly and just kept sobbing.

That's why I shouted. I cried out, 'I'm here, please rely on me, please don't be in so much pain.'

But the woman didn't look back.

“I am Shion.”

It was a futile cry, but I couldn't stop.

“Shion, Pollinglight-!!!”

***

When I woke up, I was drenched in sweat.

The blanket stuck to me unpleasantly.

“Damn it…”

I ran a hand through my hair.

Drops of sweat fell.

My side ached as if it had been stabbed with a knife, and my heart was so sore I couldn't bear it.

I bowed my head and muttered.

“…Just wait, please just wait…”

There were things screaming inside me.

They circled and circled.

‘It's been seven years, Shion, seven years!’

‘What are you still doing?!’

‘What will you accomplish by hiding it all away by yourself?’

‘Who will know your heart? Who will know your plan?’

‘It's too much. The secrecy is excessive.’

It was all my own heart.

My heart chided me.

It asked if I had hidden too much. It asked who would follow me like this.

Although secrets should be kept as secrets, it was still too much.

I gritted my teeth and muttered.

“…If I rush, I'll only ruin it.”

I had piled and piled.

I prepared with a pathological obsession.

So that there would be no mistakes, so that I could topple the Empire.

Now was the time to reveal it. Yes, now all I had to do was reveal what I had prepared.

But what if I let my guard down and all my preparations were thwarted?

I had to be more cautious.

“One failure is enough.”

Before the Regression, I was a hero.

I had experienced many, many victories, but one defeat took everything away.

I was given the opportunity of Regression, but this was only a miracle.

I could not afford to fail a second time. I couldn't tolerate even a small defeat, unless it was part of my plan to lose on purpose, never.

“Shion, are you up?”

Amethus's voice came from outside the door.

“Yeah, I’m up.”

“We have a guest.”

“A guest? Who?”

“The person you’ve been waiting for.”

I smiled sheepishly.

There was only one person I was waiting for.

The heir of Verchello, the woman with the beautiful strawberry-colored eyes.

“Has Miss Serena arrived? She must want to talk about the Harvest Festival.”

I chuckled.

The sorrow still twisted my side, but I tried hard to cover it with a liar's smile.

“Show her to the reception room. Tell her I'll be right up!”

***

“Wow, I thought my neck was going to fall off from waiting, Miss.”

“It hasn’t been that long since we last saw each other.”

“It’s been a whole week, hasn’t it?”

I smiled suavely.

Serena de Verchello held out a bag as if I were a ridiculous person.

A savory smell.

It was bread she had made herself.

Along with the bread, Serena offered a question.

“Did you have a good trip to the sewers?”

“Don't even mention it. I can still smell it.”

I waved my hand.

“That’s why I came out completely scrubbed clean. I am truly sorry for making you wait, though.”

I had washed up because I was sweating from the nightmare, but I didn't feel the need to say so.

A new lie to cover a lie.

It was an everyday thing for me.

Serena tilted her head.

“Weren’t you staying and sleeping at the Art Gallery Lamponé?”

“Yes, that's right.”

“You have a bathroom here?”

“Not exactly a bathroom, but I brought a large tub and put it next to the kitchen.”

“I see.”

If that's what he said, then that's what it was.

Serena had no intention of interfering in the structure of someone else's house, so she didn't give it any more thought.

“But more importantly, Miss. You’ve thought about it, haven't you? You should start preparing soon.”

“I already came prepared.”

She placed the large bag that was next to the bread bag on the table.

It was heavy enough to make her groan, so I used the 'Fantasy Finger' to help her.

Serena wondered why the bag had suddenly become lighter, but she didn’t think an invisible hand was helping her.

She just assumed it was her imagination.

The bag made a thump as it was placed on the table.

It was full of silver and copper coins.

“That’s a considerable amount.”

“Thanks to you introducing us to Dussell and Yeni, the mill is running well again.”

“Even so, an amount like this seems like all the money you’ve earned recently.”

“That’s right. I scraped it all together in a hurry.”

I nodded.

“It is urgent. The Harvest Festival is really just around the corner. We need to hurry and prepare the carriage submission with this money…”

“No, Shion.”

Serena said firmly.

Her strawberry-colored eyes shone with determination.

“The Verchello family won't be submitting a carriage to this year’s Merion Harvest Festival.”

“…Hmm?”

I tried hard to hide my dismay.

“Are you rejecting my proposal?”

“Yes. I appreciate the thought, but I must refuse.”

“Then what is this money for?”

“I told you, didn’t I?”

Serena de Verchello, the head of the prestigious Verchello family, spoke in a clear voice with not a hint of wavering.

“That I would repay my debt for helping the Verchello family, no matter what.”

“…”

My blue eyes trembled slightly.

“This is the first payment.”