I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 4.3

Aside: Murelia

THE LAST THING I remember is a blinding white light, as divine as it was dreadful. I had seen this light once before. The light of the gods’ retribution.

It felt oddly nostalgic, as though I were back where I was five hundred years ago. And things had turned out the same now as they had then: I had failed.

I was so close to fulfilling my desire. My heart swelled with despair as I felt the Evil One tighten his grip on my soul, but a small ray of hope stopped it from swallowing me.

Linford told me that the Magnolias had survived. They even kept my name in their annals, even though their legends were so riddled with errors that it was almost laughable.

The love I’d felt for their ancestor had grown cold long ago. He abandoned me in my time of need, giving in to the demands of the beastmen, and I was never the kind of woman who could love a man despite his flaws. It was never love at all. I was just attracted to the power of his blood and wanted to keep this strange human for myself.

When I lost him, I’d lost all interest in the world. I lived a life of debauchery, but I would’ve been married off to a stranger if things had played out differently. It was all so pointless.

But then I found my lover’s son. The boy he’d fathered with the slave girl they’d married him off to. In that moment, everything changed.

I hadn’t known that I was capable of a mother’s love. But the boy was so perfect that it felt like a command. I’d never felt this way for a child before. It was truly strange. His happiness became the only thing that mattered. He was the only reason I didn’t kill his so-called family. As blind as I was with hatred, every child needs their parents. And so, I let the slave girl and her family live, if only so they wouldn’t kill their child out of their fear of me.

Even so, things continued to get worse. My father was losing his wits, and the whole kingdom was outraged that I dared get engaged to a human. Our nation was close to civil war. That was when my father approached forbidden powers to secure his reign. He broke the seal on the Evil One’s tomb, which had always been under our family’s protection, in the hopes of securing his reign. And, since I was the one who’d brought our family into disrepute, I was the one chosen to be his sacrifice. And yet, I survived. I became a Fiend and gained powers that I’d never even wanted.

Was I still myself then? Or was the Evil One pulling my strings? I didn’t know the answer. All I knew was that I had power enough to fulfill my solitary longing.

Hesitation was futile at this point, so I acted: making a deal with my father to repeal the anti-human laws so the child could live in peace. After that, we began reforming the whole nation.

The other Black Cats had called me a filthy rat mere weeks ago, but they were lining up to shake my hand. It was ridiculous. The power from the Evil One had changed everything.

But, once again, I was betrayed. My former lover’s family escaped to Basharl and was busily plotting against me. He even used his own son as hostage to gain leverage over me and, by extension, the whole of the Beastman Nation.

I had no choice but to comply. In exchange for the child’s safety, I told them all about the beastman forces infiltrating Basharl and ordered our troops across the border to meet their doom. By this point, my father was completely brainwashed by the Evil One’s power. I was free to claim whatever territory I wanted.

The anti-human party had been greatly diminished in the war, and I had offered their souls to the Evil One. I was at the height of my power. All I had to do was take that child back. My dreams of living with him in peace were about to come true.

That’s when the light of divine retribution shone upon me. As punishment for using the Evil One’s powers, I was killed and sealed away. At least I wasn’t alone in that. Any Black Cat who’d been tainted with Malice joined me in death, and the survivors were stripped of their ability to Evolve. Given the way they had treated me, it seemed like the least they deserved.

Aha ha ha! And they say the gods aren’t just! If anything, they were still too merciful. The Black Cats deserved to die. Every last one of them.

But that was that. At least until five hundred years later, when Linford awakened me and brought me under his control. It was humiliating to be under the sway of such a man, but he piqued my interest when he told me the child’s bloodline still lived on in Basharl.

I would never see that child again. But what had become of his kin?

The Magnolias were descended directly from Linford, and indeed, they possessed the same power to command Fiends. It had grown weak with time, but there was no denying their heritage. And yet, I felt a sense of foreboding as I travelled to see him. His power to command Fiends would surely cause him to reject me. The skill might even trigger without any ill will on his part. He would reject me, and that would be the end of the story. And yet, I went to see him anyway.

Romeo was nothing like the child I had known. He had different hair and different eyes, but the impact he had on me was the same. Romeo, the newborn heir to House Magnolia. Did I love him for the blood that flowed in his veins, or just because of his powerful ability to command Fiends as he wished? Either way, I loved him all the same.

That day, I gained a new purpose. I knew those Basharlian bastards would sacrifice him to revive the Evil One, and I could not let that happen. I was little more than Linford’s servant, but I still had some degree of autonomy. And so, I carried out my wishes under the guise of fulfilling his.

The first thing I did was negotiate for Romeo’s life with the Basharlian King and offer my services and cooperation in return. However, I knew that asking for Romeo directly would only mean they took him hostage. Instead, I told them that I needed Magnolia blood to summon the spirit of my dead lover, that an innocent soul would be best, and that a newborn would be best of all. I was quite pleased with that. It sounded like exactly the sort of thing that a priestess of the Evil One would say.

Of course, the king swallowed the whole thing, thinking me the mad specter of a woman scorned, who wanted nothing more than to sacrifice babies in my dark and twisted rituals. As far as I know, he still believes it. Either way, I had Romeo for myself.

The king wanted to conquer the Beastman Nation and free Basharl from the fear of invasion. He didn’t care how it was accomplished, as long as it succeeded. Meanwhile, I made a deal with the Magnolias in secret. If the war against the beastmen failed, I would get Romeo out of the country. In return, Johann would sacrifice himself in his son’s place. None of them knew my true intentions—they just thought I wanted to get my hands on Johann’s blood. And just as well. I couldn’t risk an information leak, not from anywhere.

Linford, Basharl, House Magnolia, and I all had our own goals. They just happened to intersect on attacking the Beastman Nation. That would give Linford his souls, give Basharl its victory, and ensure that Romeo was safe.

At first, it all went swimmingly. Basharl lured the beastman army south, leaving the north vulnerable to attack from the dungeon. For a moment, it looked as though there would be no need to sacrifice Romeo. I would only need to claim him and get out of the country.

I even worked out a place to send him afterward. An A-Rank adventurer runs an orphanage in the neighboring continent. Try as I might to find a dark underbelly to it, I failed. She ran an honest orphanage, even in this day and age. Romeo would be far safer there than in the greatest fort in Basharl.

Then these freaks turned up with that meddling Godsword user, and I had to abandon my plans. I was still bound by Bolgarth’s orders and couldn’t get out of this battle if I tried. And so I would be forced to face Urslars and die in vain. My life was all over. Again.

Theraclede was my only hope. Somehow, he had betrayed Linford and consumed every Fiend in his path. He might be a traitor, but he was a useful one. And one that I could negotiate with. So I made him an offer: my life, and all the power he could gain from consuming it. In exchange, I made three requests.

First, he would kill Bolgarth and release me from the dungeon master’s control. After that, I would be free to act in whatever way I chose, no matter how reckless. Urslars would still kill me, but at least my last few moments would be free from Bolgarth’s prying eyes, and I could speak to the adventurers freely. I’d told them that I had a few days of life left in me, but that was a lie. At most, I had an hour. An hour that I couldn’t spend with Romeo.

My second request was that Theraclede would intervene and kill me at the most opportune moment. He would do so just after I asked the adventures to look after Romeo. Why? Because people like them were weak. They wouldn’t refuse a pitiful plea from the lips of a dying woman. I wanted to give Romeo the best possible chance of escape, and these adventurers were just powerful enough to pull it off.

As for my third request, well…I wasn’t even certain Theraclede would bother with it. Either way, I did hope these adventurers managed to escape. They might be my enemies, but I trusted them with Romeo’s life.

“Please…make Romeo…happy…”

“Poor girl,” Theraclede gloated. “I know Malice makes you crazy, but I never thought it would make a servant of the Evil One wish for the happiness of a child.”

Did these adventurers pity me? They had to.

“Ah…”

Thank you, Theraclede. You have been…a most unexpected benefactor.