[Translator - Kiteretsu]

    [Proofreader - Kyros]

    Chapter 113

    Violet declared that she would overthrow the Bormian royal family and make Kaylen king.

    To do so, she would have to betray the royal family and dethrone her father.

    To anyone else, it might have seemed like words spoken in a moment of desperation.

    But—

    ‘She’s furious.’

    And the target of that fury was not the angel who had taken over her body.

    “......I remember everything now. How my mother died.”

    It was directed at her own royal family.

    “The memory of my mother’s death was never clear. Subconsciously, I must not have wanted to remember. I only ever thought that the House of Oblaine had orchestrated a scheme.”

    “Was that not the case?”

    The conflict had begun when Queen Diana was executed for a grave crime.

    The nature of the crime was never disclosed and remained largely unknown to the public.

    The faction supporting the first prince believed that the queen had been framed and killed by the House of Oblaine.

    Violet, who had been deeply attached to her mother, believed it even more firmly.

    “......It was by my father’s hand, under the orders of Black Skull, that my mother was killed. And like a fool, that memory remained sealed until now.”

    Black Skull Cesar was involved in this?

    Kaylen was perplexed.

    Why would he go out of his way to kill the queen?

    “My mother had an unusual constitution... one that made her a perfect offering for the Demon Realm. That was the only reason. That was why my father abandoned her.”

    Blood vessels stood out in Violet’s eyes as tears welled up.

    “I saw it all. The way my mother healed herself even after enduring brutal torture. The way the mages laughed in fascination as they watched her.”

    The queen possessed a body that regenerated from any wound.

    Because they intended to offer her as a sacrifice, they could not simply sever her limbs.

    So instead, they inflicted grievous wounds upon her.

    But she simply refused to die.

    “When my mother still wouldn’t submit, they took me instead and used me to threaten her. Told her that if she cared about her daughter’s life, she should just die. Hah.”

    Only after taking her young daughter hostage did Black Skull Cesar finally obtain the queen’s corpse.

    ‘A woman who could heal from fatal wounds...’

    To most, it was a story beyond belief.

    But Kaylen had heard of such cases in his past life.

    ‘I can’t remember the details, but I definitely heard about something like this before.’

    He kept the information about the queen in mind as he listened to Violet’s story.

    “After that, Black Skull sealed my memories, so I couldn’t recall any of it... but thanks to the angel’s awakening, I now remember.”

    “I see.”

    Even when the Saintess had examined the entire Bormian royal family, nothing unusual had been found.

    It seemed that even a Saintess couldn’t detect memory tampering that had occurred so long ago.

    “Kaylen. Please, give me a chance for revenge. I will do anything. I will support you as king, and I will help bring down the Bormian royal family.”

    “And... earlier, when I merged with the angel, I was able to read her thoughts. She swore on the spirit Ariel, but even so, she is planning to flee. She has already resigned herself to falling to the ninth rank.”

    Kaylen was taken aback at those words.

    A Celestial Angel... was willing to fall to the lowest rank?@@@@

    ‘......No. If it’s an angel, that’s not surprising.’

    A thousand years ago, Kaylen had fought alongside angels.

    They had always acted arrogantly during the war against the Demon King''s army.

    But when it came to actual battle, they were never as formidable as they made themselves out to be.

    When they appeared, it was always on battlefields where victory was assured, or they arrived only after the fighting was over to claim credit.

    But on unfavorable battlefields, they were the first to spread their wings and flee.

    No one was better at prioritizing their own survival than the angels.

    If that was the case, then, just as Violet said, Ariel was more than capable of running away.

    [Ugh... A mere human dares to try and read my thoughts! Heir of the Dragon God of Swords, she is a member of the corrupt Bormian royal family. How can you trust the bloodline of the royal house? If you truly wish to become king, you must eradicate every last one of them!]

    A voice echoed from the still-glowing Glacia on the opposite side.

    Violet spoke in a cold yet resolute tone.

    “She’ll exhaust herself struggling like that.”

    Kaylen paid it no mind at all.

    As he dismissed the summoned Sword of Light, the blade vanished and was once again engraved onto his back.

    ‘For an angel to be subdued so easily...’

    Violet knew well the extent of an angel’s power.

    After all, she had experienced Ariel’s overwhelming strength firsthand in the mental world after her body had been taken over.

    If Kaylen had not drawn his Dark Sword, Violet wouldn’t have even had the chance to speak a single word.

    It had been an utterly one-sided display of power.

    A glimmer of hope flickered in Violet’s once-empty eyes.

    ‘He’s the only one.’

    Now that she had regained control of her body, Violet knelt before Kaylen.

    “Thank you for sparing me. And... thank you for giving me a chance for revenge, Kaylen.”

    “There’s no need to kneel.”

    With a flick of his hand, Kaylen raised her back to her feet.

    This time, she bowed her head deeply.

    “As I told you, I will do everything in my power to help you ascend to the throne, Kaylen.”

    “No. The throne? You’re getting ahead of yourself. I haven’t made a firm decision to become king yet. The current king’s misdeeds don’t necessarily mean the entire Bormian royal family is corrupt.”

    “They conspired with Kaiten and aided the Demon Realm’s followers—how can you say this isn’t a problem with the entire royal family?”

    Violet no longer referred to the king as her father.

    “Even within the angel’s lies, there was truth. In these perilous times, someone as powerful as you must take the throne and lead humanity, Kaylen.”

    “Of course, overthrowing the Thousand-Year Kingdom of Bormian would require a solid justification... but as a member of the royal family, I will create that justification.”

    The memory of her mother’s death had been so horrifying that it had completely reshaped Violet’s resolve.

    Even though Kaylen himself had yet to decide whether he wanted the throne, she was already leading the charge to persuade him.

    “I failed to make Diether Hart my king... but this time, I’m certain I’ll succeed.”

    “For now, I still have my own faction, and you, Kaylen, are a Sword Master—the first to appear in centuries. That’s more than enough to—”

    She was already drafting a plan for Kaylen to ascend the throne.

    It was said that she had been the strategist of the First Prince’s faction, and she was proving that reputation true by forming a plan in an instant.

    At that moment, Kaylen narrowed his eyes slightly.

    “Calm down. The Saintess is coming.”

    “Ah... I see.”

    “For now, act normal.”

    “Heh. Understood.”

    At dawn, Saintess Theresia was approaching with a grim expression.

    Unlike yesterday, she was accompanied by several Holy Knights.

    Upon seeing Violet, her gaze sharpened.

    Her eyes immediately locked onto the newly engraved white wing on Glacia.

    “Princess Violet. It seems Glacia has changed form. Did something happen last night?”

    “......Who knows?”

    “Hm. I suppose it hasn’t reached the awakening stage yet. What a shame. If it had awakened and that presence had emerged, it would have been a great asset...”

    “That presence?”

    “Well... it’s actually a secret. But since the awakening is nearly complete, I suppose I can tell you now. That presence is an angel! Every S-Class mana suit has an angel sealed within it.”

    As if revealing a grand secret, Theresia lowered her voice to a whisper.

    “If the angel had fully awakened and been summoned, it would have been a tremendous help right now. Such a pity.”

    She had no idea that the Archangel Ariel had been planning to flee the entire time.

    Genuinely disappointed, Theresia let out a sigh.

    “But since Glacia has now manifested wings, it must mean the power of light has strengthened. I suppose I should be content with that for now.”

    Completely unaware that Violet had nearly lost her body due to the angel’s awakening, Theresia once again lamented the failure of the process—right in front of the victim.

    “Ah... if we only had a few more days, the awakening might have happened. But of all times, the enemy just had to attack now. The timing is truly unfortunate.”

    “The enemy has attacked?”

    “Yes.”

    With a hardened expression, Theresia nodded.

    “Two Demon Generals have surrounded the fortress from both the front and the rear, approaching from a great distance.”

    [Translator - Kiteretsu]

    [Proofreader - Kyros]