Chapter 209

The Widow Queen Aida was in mourning clothes.

It had been that way ever since she was known to have lost her husband 14 years ago.

Jet-black hair, jet-black mourning clothes, and above all, jet-black eyes.

Though entirely black, there was a nobility to them that was qualitatively different from the darkness that filled the prison corridor.

I spoke with a smirk.

“To think Her Majesty the Queen, who imprisoned us, would come to such a place.”

“I will not apologize.”

She did not back down in the slightest.

“Without doing this, I could not have created an opportunity to speak quietly.”

“You imprisoned someone for the sake of a conversation? From the perspective of the imprisoned, it’s hard to feel good about that, Your Majesty.”

“As the ruler of a nation, I had no choice but to be cautious.”

“Wouldn’t the conversation be easier if you just apologized?”

I maintained a rude attitude.

There was no reason to be polite.

Instead of answering further, the Widow Queen lifted her chin haughtily.

It was a sign that she had no intention of bickering with me any longer.

“Well, anyway, you wish to speak with me.”

“That’s right.”

Aida gave a small nod.

“I have been watching you all along. You refused both Adrak and Belrsasal. Only now am I convinced that you are the real Shion of Merion.”

“Did you think I was a fake until now?”

“I couldn’t be sure.”

She wore a bitter smile.

“In this country, it’s a matter of course……”

The golden snow that has fallen every day for 14 years, ‘Mimic Crumb’.

No matter how accustomed one becomes, there is a limit.

With snow that creates replicas falling, it cannot be easy to trust people.

“So, what would you have me do, Your Majesty?”

“Come out at once.”

At her chin gesture, the knight standing behind her stepped forward and opened the prison door.

A creaking sound was made.

“From now on, I will treat you as a state guest. Let us have our talk.”

“Since Your Majesty insists, I find it impossible to refuse.”

At my words, Amethus lay down.

Without hearing any more, it was obvious what I was going to say.

“But I refuse.”

So it’s this development again, Yulan, too, laid his body down next to Amethus.

He was thinking of just getting more sleep.

The situation to come was also obvious. Now, the queen would get angry.

“……You refuse?”

Aida bit her lip firmly.

“Think carefully. I can take your lives, you know.”

“You know that’s impossible, don’t you?”

The rumors about me had reached Schmeizen.

I had single-handedly defeated Niko Nereyades and driven out three Cordis legions.

Schmeizen could not kill me.

They themselves must have known that.

“…I will not speak further. Think again, for the last time, Shion of Merion.”

“Please leave, Your Majesty.”

“……”

Aida did not hide her blatant hostility.

“……You will regret this.”

***

I did not leave the prison for three whole days.

Over those three days, a visitor came each day.

The first day was a minister, the second day was the prime minister, and on the last day, it was the queen.

All three asked me to come out of the prison and talk, and I rejected all three flatly and what they said was so surprisingly similar.

“So many things to regret. My life is already full of regrets as it is.”

The Widow Queen Aida left without hiding her anger.

Just as Adrak and Belrsasal had. Amethus asked cautiously.

“Why did you refuse?”

“I don’t know either.”

I let out a smirk.

My objective was to make the Widow Queen Aida a hero, just as she was before the regression.

If so, there was no reason to refuse, since Aida had come in person. Yet, I refused.

“It hasn’t been three days yet. If she had come tomorrow and said that, I would have followed her out.”

“Foolishly steadfast.”

“This is the strength of rationality, Amethus. It’s not soft like trust born from the heart.”

“Isn’t it also a weakness?”

“You see correctly.”

I chuckled.

I stared intently at the spot where the Widow Queen had disappeared.

Anyone could see it was her.

Her appearance and her manner of speaking were unmistakably the Widow Queen herself.

At least, on the surface.

“Ah, there was one other thing that bothered me……”

I continued.

I lowered my voice so Yulan couldn’t hear.

“Aida, you see… Her tone is polite, but she is not polite at all in reality. Her personality is a complete wreck. She’s in the top three of the most wrecked personalities among people I know.”

“That’s a rather rude expression.”

“Surprisingly, that’s me putting it quite nicely, Amethus.”

The sound of chuckles echoed inside the prison.

“Three days will pass soon. Let’s see what happens.”

***

In the morning after three days had passed, Amethus and I discussed methods of escape.

Whether we could escape or not was not important; what was important was whether to do it quietly or loudly.

As we were discussing this for a while, we sensed another visitor approaching.

“Footsteps.”

“…Footsteps again.”

Yulan was sound asleep, breathing softly. We didn’t bother to wake him. Amethus pricked up his ears.

“A woman’s footsteps.”

“A woman’s footsteps.”

Three people appeared from the corridor.

The one in the lead was a woman, and the two following were men.

The woman approached them and revealed her face. Black hair, mourning clothes, and eyes.

The Widow Queen Aida, looking exactly the same as yesterday. I spoke with a smirk.

“A lowly person in such a precious place…. What brings you here, Your Majesty?”

“Come out.”

Aida said imperiously.

“I am now certain that you are the real Shion of Merion. Let us talk.”

“You make the same offer as yesterday.”

“The same as yesterday……”

The Widow Queen’s eyes turned sharp.

“Are you saying I came yesterday as well?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I have no memory of that, how strange.”

“Is it strange? Don’t you already know the reason?”

“Hmph.”

The queen snorted, and I smiled.

“Yesterday, I refused. I said I would not leave. What will you do if I give the same answer today?”

“What if I have you dragged out?”

“Can you have me dragged out?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“If you resist, there would be no way to drag you out. But I have other means as well.”

The Widow Queen Aida raised her hand.

She pointed her finger.

It was not me.

Nor was it at Amethus or Yulan.

She pointed toward the prison wall behind them and said, as if chanting.

“Collapse.”

The prison wall collapsed.

There was no such sound as a crash.

The wall crumbled as if it were only natural to obey her command, and a cold wind rushed in.

Beyond the wall was a cliff.

They were at a height of at least five stories from the ground.

The cold wind was so fierce that Yulan woke from his sleep with a dazed expression.

“…Uh, huh?”

Yulan shivered from bewilderment and the cold wind.

“We were in the basement when we came in……?”

“It’s her specialty. She can manipulate the land she rules with a single word.”

To be precise, it was the power of the ancient weapon she harbored.

Amethus and I had already felt the presence of her using her power during the night.

It meant we had felt the cell they were in slowly rising from the basement to the ground level.

Even without a single window, we could notice that much.

Beyond the collapsed wall is a cliff.

The ground is far below.

As the Widow Queen gestured, the floor began to tilt.

It was as if she intended to spill them out onto the distant ground right now.

“What will you do, Shion of Merion. Shall I destroy all the walls so you have no way to resist leaving?”

“You put me in a difficult position, Your Majesty.”

I shook my head.

For the first time, I felt a sense of welcome.

It was because I was now certain that the woman before my eyes was the real Widow Queen.

“Now I have no way to stay… and it just so happens that three days have passed……”

I glanced at Aida and smiled.

“Besides, seeing that dirty temper of yours, it must be you, Your Majesty.”

“The crime of insulting the monarch is severely punished, you know.”

“Unfortunately, I am not a citizen of Schmeizen.”

“In Schmeizen, is it not the law to follow Schmeizen law?”

“Aha, I shall be careful next time.”

I kicked out with my foot.

The reclining Amethus grumbled about whether it was really necessary to kick him, but I didn’t listen.

“Get up, Amethus. It’s time to go.”

***

Exiting the prison door and passing through the corridor led to another corridor with a lavish carpet.

As I, Amethus, and Yulan left the prison, the prison sank with a grrrr sound.

It was returning to its original location in the basement.

At the end of the carpeted corridor, the Widow Queen turned her head.

“This is as far as you go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

One might have asked if she would be alright without an escort, but the knights silently bowed their heads and disappeared.

The Widow Queen led me, Amethus, and Yulan, and walked deeper.

“……”

The silence was thick.

Winding and turning, without knowing where they were headed, just deeper, and deeper still.

“Yulan.”

“…Yes? Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Widow Queen raised her eyes and looked at Yulan.

“Are you the real Yulan?”

“…I, I believe so. Though I have no memories.”

“Why did you lose your memories?”

“In the underworld, there is a snake called the ‘Name-eater’……”

Yulan told her the story of the underworld.

He laid bare every detail of how terrible the other dimension where he had been trapped for 14 years was.

The Widow Queen listened attentively to every part of his story.

“Yulan Etgendorher.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how surprised I was when I saw you?”

“Well……?”

Yulan tilted his head like a child.

“Why were you surprised?”

“Because you died 14 years ago, Yulan.”

I cut in.

“Eh? But I’m alive?”

“You were trapped in the underworld. Everyone believed you were dead.”

“Goodness! Then Her Majesty the Queen too?”

The Widow Queen Aida shook her head.

“No, I never believed in your death. That’s why I was even more surprised……”

Her footsteps stopped.

She stood before a wall and snapped her fingers.

The wall flowed away and a door was revealed.

It was a door that could not possibly be opened by anyone other than her, who could manipulate the earth and things that came from it at will.

How could one open a door buried within a wall?

“…Inside here lies my deepest secret.”

The door opened.

Very carefully, as if even the creaking sound was holding its breath.

“Keep that in mind, and enter.”

I stepped forward without hesitation.

Amethus and Yulan had no reason to hesitate either.

They saw.

In a small room, there was a bed, and a man was lying on it.

He had been lying there for so long that he was emaciated in a truly wretched state.

Yulan let out a groan.

“……Oh, my goodness.”

He saw the face of the man lying down.

A straight nose bridge and curly hair.

An appearance that exuded grace even in his emaciated state.

It felt as if he were looking in a mirror.

“…This is me……?”

Yulan Etgendorher recognized that the man lying down was Yulan Etgendorher.

There were two of the same man.

Yulan could not understand what was going on at all.

I, too, now understanding the situation, gave a bitter smile.

The Widow Queen asked.

“Do you see now why I was so cautious?”

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