It felt like my thoughts had stopped. Leaving behind, Eileens continued to speak at her own pace.
"The Empire wants to believe that magic ca from the gods. They want to prove that Carpea is the country chosen by those gods and stand tall in the world."
I barely managed to lift my head. Eileens, who had approached before I realized it, burst into a childlike, innocent smile.
"But the truth is, that's not it. There are no gods in this world, and damn magic was created by a single human."
She blew air over her hand. The small breeze grew into a massive current, and a vivid illusion unfolded before my eyes.
〈Among the people, Eileens' prestige is growing day by day!〉
〈At this rate, we’re bound to lose the country to that woman.〉
〈Magic, you say? This is nothing but the power of demons she created!〉
Waaaaaah!
People cheered for Eileens as she entered the palace on horseback. But it didn’t take long for those cheers to turn into screams.
〈Eileens, admit your treason.〉
Soon, I saw Eileens kneeling before the Emperor, whose face was obscured.
〈If you abandon your na and surrender, I will make you an eternal hero.〉
Then, Eileens’ face suddenly popped out of the illusion.
"This is all I got out of it!"
"……."
"I ended up being sealed in Drimokan, having my magic power extracted for the comfort of others!"
Eileens grabbed my shoulders roughly and shook back and forth.
"And now, afraid I might gain a na again, they’ve hidden even Drimokan's existence and created a new religion?"
She cackled as if she had gone mad.
In that mont, I realized one thing.
The curse of Drimokan was real.
Its depth was beyond what I could ever comprehend.
The imperial family clearly knew that Eileens would vent her anger on the House of Roygin.
‘And yet they handed her over to Grandpa……’
After laughing for a while holding her belly, Eileens let go of . Then she sneered.
"You just weighed your own misfortune against my tragedy, didn’t you?"
"I didn’t think that."
What’s the point of comparing soone else's misery to yours anyway?
I tightly closed my eyes.
"……If I made a promise with you, that ans there’s a way to end your tragedy, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
Eileens lightly shrugged her shoulders.
"Before that, I have sothing I’m curious about."
"Go ahead. I’ll answer honestly, since it’s you."
"You knew I wasn’t Bianca. How did you know that?"
At my words, Eileens fell silent for a mont. In her silence, I faintly realized.
My possession wasn’t a coincidence.
Perhaps finding it hard to explain, Eileens furrowed and then relaxed her brows several tis.
"You know, I hated Blua."
Her words grew stronger as she continued.
"If Carpea had lost the Magic War, I could have been free."
"……!"
"But Blua and Harnen ruined everything."
I had a rebuttal.
The Magic War lasted ten years, and many people died or were injured. The pain of war still lingered in the Empire.
But it wasn’t sothing I could say to Eileens, who had her magic power exploited for a ti I couldn't even fathom.
"It’s karma. That’s why I don’t regret it."
But could this really be called karma?
……No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what Grandpa had done wrong.
Was I just being selfish?
"Then one day, I t Bianca."
She seed to be talking about the original Bianca.
"Hmm, it was by chance."
……By chance?
Didn’t they et in Drimokan?
Her words were vague, but I decided to listen for now.
"But that kid said this. There’s this boy she hates, but she wishes he would like her. She said it’s been her long-ti wish."
……No way.
As if confirming my suspicion, Eileens gave a deep smile.
"She asked if I was a mage, and if I was, she begged to grant her wish."
"……What did you do?"
"Of course, I ignored her. But as you can see, my body has been dragged around by magic against my will, hasn’t it?"
I grew anxious.
"Magic must’ve wanted to grant that child's wish. But Bianca died not long after, and then you ended up in her body."
"……."
"So? Do you think her wish ca true?"
I couldn't answer.
Because if I did, I might start to understand Ricardo.
As if she could already see my silent thoughts, Eileens lifted one corner of her mouth.
"Yeah, it was just Bianca’s obsession."
……So, is that really the reason I ended up in this world?
Everything I couldn’t understand about his actions—
All for sothing so trivial.
Because of one lingering desire to be loved by soone, my pitiful self had struggled through every mont.
I felt like I could collapse at any second, but I barely held onto my senses.
"Why ?"
"Accident. So there's no reason. You were just unlucky."
It was sothing I used to tell myself. But hearing it from soone else made it sound far more cruel.
"Maybe you received an even worse curse than Blua."
……Trying to undo Grandpa’s curse, I ended up discovering a much bigger secret.
I always wondered why. What kind of reason could possibly justify all that I had gone through?
But now that I heard the reason, not even a hollow laugh would co out.
"But don’t worry. There is a way."
"……Haha, thank goodness."
Even I didn’t know what I’d say next, but I forced a laugh. I hoped it would make feel at least a little better.
Eileens chuckled lightly and tapped the chains with her hand.
"My seal just needs to be broken."
What on earth does that have to do with anything…?
"There’s a bunch of magic that’s been recklessly used even though I didn’t want it, right? If I get my na back, all that magic will return to where it belongs."
I blinked blankly.
Eileens spread both arms proudly.
"The world will be thrown into chaos. I’ve been here for a very long ti, so there's a ton of magic that’s been used!"
"……."
"Even you coming to this place will be undone. As if nothing ever happened."
That was exactly what I had desperately wished for.
If Eileens' seal were to be broken, the world would truly fall into ruins.
I didn’t even want to think about it.
"And then what?"
"Hm? What do you an?"
"If the seal is broken, there must be sothing you want to do most, right?"
As soon as I finished speaking, Eileens’ expression turned cold.
"I don’t know what you’re trying to say."
"I, I’m just curious. You said you’d answer honestly if I asked anything……"
As she suddenly turned serious, I beca timid again.
"You already know."
"……."
"What I’d want to do first."
Yeah, I did know.
If I listened to what Eileens had to say, it wouldn’t be hard to guess what was coming next.
……It was probably revenge.
But what worried now was that I couldn’t imagine how far her revenge would go.
"If my seal is broken, Blua will get better. He’ll die peacefully, just like you wanted!"
Eileens started listing the things I supposedly wanted. But they were all aningless if I were to return ho.
After so thought, I opened my mouth.
"What exactly do I need to do?"
"Do nothing."
It was an unexpected answer.
No—it wasn’t. I had heard those words before.
〈No matter what you learn from now on, please don’t do anything.〉
Brandon had said the sa thing.
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