[Translator - Kiteretsu]

    [Proofreader - Kyros]

    Chapter 123

    Violet had a dream.

    In her dream, she was a fragile young girl.

    She lay bound on a dark underground platform, surrounded by sorcerers draped in black robes, chanting incantations toward her.

    Wiiiiiing—

    “Ugh... Aah... It hurts... It hurts...”

    “Just endure it a little longer. This is all because your blood has been tainted by that woman.”

    “This is a rite that any direct descendant of the Bormian royal family must undergo.”

    Klklkl—

    Black Skull, Cesar, laughed as he infused more dark energy into the magic circle drawn beneath Violet.

    As Violet struggled more violently, a woman bound in chains screamed in fury.

    “You wretched bastards! If you must take a life, take mine! What are you doing to an innocent child?!”

    “Silence, Diana! It pains me as well.”

    Chiiiiik—

    The dark energy coiled around the girl''s body, etching a sigil onto her forehead.

    “Your firstborn, Diether Hart, was already too late to save, so I had no choice but to turn him into a Black Skull. But this child... she will be different. Hahaha!”

    As the dark energy swirling around the magic circle intensified, Violet felt an unbearable pain piercing through her entire body.

    Even though she knew this was just a dream, the pain was overwhelming.

    ‘This dream... I’m sick of it.’

    She lost consciousness from the pain. As her vision slowly blurred, the sound of her mother’s sobs and the Black Skull’s laughter intertwined and echoed.

    “It is done! The Blood Curse has settled!”

    “Violet, welcome back as a true heir of Bormian. The memory of today... I shall bury it deep within you...”

    Gasp.

    Violet bolted upright from where she had been slumped over her desk.

    A dream that always ended with Cesar’s whisper.

    She had already had this dream more than ten times.

    “That damned Blood Curse...”

    Violet’s expression hardened.

    Blood Curse.

    She didn’t know exactly what it was.

    Cesar had claimed it was something all direct descendants of the Bormian royal family should have.

    ‘But when Her Holiness examined the royal family, nothing was found.’

    After the Black Skull had been eradicated, Saintess Theresia had thoroughly examined the royal lineage, yet no trace of the Blood Curse had been discovered.

    Even the Holy See couldn’t detect it.

    Violet rubbed her forehead.

    It felt as though the brand imprinted in her dream still remained.

    ‘No, it’s just my imagination... But the Blood Curse and the brand are definitely real.’

    An angel from Glacia had once purified her body, and even when Kaylen examined her, he had found nothing unusual.

    Yet, Violet was certain—somewhere within her, the brand of the demons still lingered.

    That thought wasn’t just a suspicion anymore; it was closer to conviction.

    Sigh...

    She was now fully awake.

    Violet looked down at her desk with clearer eyes.

    A mountain of documents piled high before her.

    Seeing them, she recalled something Kaylen had said a month ago.

    —You can’t die yet. There’s a mountain of work, and you have to help me. Where do you think you’re going first?

    At first, she thought he was just making up excuses to keep her alive.

    "...To think that was actually one hundred percent true."

    The millennia-old royal palace of Bormian, split in half.

    A month had passed since Kaylen’s simple coronation, yet he still resided in this fractured palace.

    The shattered walls had been crudely reinforced with earthen barriers, hastily constructed with the help of laborers and Earth Meisters.

    "Your Majesty, if there is a budget for land compensation, then I believe it should first be used to rebuild the royal palace and restore the dignity of House Meier."

    Count Leoric, who was present at the meeting, spoke sternly.

    The elderly count, with his hair and beard completely white, had once served as the palace chancellor under the previous reign—a seasoned statesman with extensive experience.

    Most of the officials responsible for the palace’s internal affairs had resigned from their positions when the royal family fell, choosing to take responsibility for its downfall.

    But Leoric had returned to the palace, even at over seventy years of age.

    "If the new king turns into a tyrant, I will stake my life to stop him."

    That was the resolve he had made.

    Yet now, after a month had passed—

    It was Leoric himself who was urging Kaylen to spend the budget on restoring the dignity of House Meier.

    "The new king spends almost nothing on himself."

    Did he truly not care about appearances?

    Instead of reconstructing the palace, which he had split in half, he was content with patching it up and using minimal staff.

    Compared to how Kaitan indulged in luxury and pleasure, this king was a complete contrast.

    "With a new royal house established, if the kingdom continues to be run in such a manner... it will not reflect well in the eyes of other nations."

    "Our interactions with foreign nations are nearly nonexistent due to the dungeon portals, are they not?"

    "...Even so, the royal family must stand above all noble houses within the kingdom. It must be grander, more splendid, and greater than them."

    Kaylen dismissed Leoric’s argument without much thought.

    "That is unnecessary. The dignity of the royal house will be established by me, not by some palace."

    It wasn’t because he lacked the funds to rebuild.

    There were plenty of resources available.

    Cesar’s stockpile of mana stones, as well as the mana suits collected from the evolution zones of the Seven Great Mage Towers, were still intact.

    But spending such resources on constructing a palace was nothing short of wasteful.

    "I indulged in luxury more than enough in the past."

    Back in the days of the unified empire, the newly built imperial palace had been as large as the entire capital region of Bormian’s Alzass.

    No matter how grand they built a palace here, it would be nothing more than a glorified villa compared to that.

    "Your Majesty, I do understand your grand vision. However, the world places great importance on appearances."

    "Count Leoric, I am well aware of that. That is precisely why I erected the Sword Throne outside."

    "...Hrm."

    Leoric found himself at a loss for words.

    On his way to the palace this morning, he had once again laid eyes on the Sword Throne.

    "Even today, knights were training before it."

    A massive throne of swords, standing between the split halves of the palace.

    It was an enormous structure, symbolizing Kaylen as the founding king of the Meier Kingdom.

    The open space before the Sword Throne had naturally turned into a training ground, drawing knights from across the kingdom to practice there in groups.

    From morning till night, those who trained before the Sword Throne could distinctly feel their stagnating skills breaking through barriers—something they had never experienced in years.

    "More than anyone else, the knights are completely loyal to His Majesty."

    Kaylen was already known by the public as the "Knight King," a title earned through the overwhelming support he received from the kingdom’s knights.

    Leoric let out a small sigh before speaking again.

    "...I was short-sighted in my thinking."

    "Good. I’m glad you realized that."

    "However, there is still a matter of greater importance."

    "And what would that be?"

    "Now that House Meier has been established, and with the kingdom regaining stability, the royal family requires a queen to solidify its foundation. A selection must be made as soon as possible."

    Kaylen frowned at those words.

    "I was wondering when this topic would come up."

    [Translator - Kiteretsu]

    [Proofreader - Kyros]