At first, Solacius had assumed Rina’s true identity was something like the disciple of a high-ranking witch killed during the First Subjugation.
‘Even if I was wrong, I was wildly wrong.’
But that was not it.
‘In the game, Rina Reverse, the Grand Witch of Death...... had a hideous appearance.’
Solacius’s gaze shifted to Rina, who was watching his reaction even more anxiously than before.
‘The illustration made her look like a burned undead. That’s why I thought she was a chimera or a lich made by Isabel Reverse.......’
Then, he suddenly looked at the stake to which Rina had been tied until just moments ago.
‘So that’s how it happened?’
She would have eventually been burned at the stake. Later, Isabel must have appeared in fury over her disciple’s death, wiped out the Second Subjugation Force, and turned the burned Rina into a lich.
As he was lost in thought—
“Um...... What are you going to do with me?”
Rina asked from beside him, her eyes full of apprehension.
“......”
Solacius turned to look at Rina, who was still clutching the collar of his clothes tightly.
The apprentice witch who would one day become the Grand Witch of Death was trembling faintly at the shoulders.
***
There was a reason Tae Gwang-hwi had worked his ass off to win the Queen’s favor in the game Luhan’s Royal Consort.
There was a reason all of Luhan’s citizens, nobles, witches, mages, and clergy put aside their grudges and loved Queen Lucifurne with one heart and mind.
In the world of the game, the only being with the potential to stand against the Demon King was Lucifurne, the Grand Witch of the Snowfield.
Ten years ago, Octana—the Evil Empress and Grand Witch of Lies—had sent imperial royals as envoys to sabotage the Succession of the Snowfield for that very reason.
Even though the Succession of the Snowfield had been left only half complete, the Blessing of the Snowfield protected the Kingdom of Luhan from the Dark Empire’s invasion.
While every kingdom on the continent burned, the Kingdom of Luhan bled only along the Margrave’s frontier. It was all thanks to the Blessing of the Snowfield.
To the people of Luhan, Queen Lucifurne was a pitiful and noble Saintess who bore the Curse of the Snowfield and spread the Blessing of the Snowfield.
A Saintess who sacrificed herself to protect Luhan.
That was why the citizens’ and nobles’ loyalty to the Queen was so firm throughout Luhan.
Wintella, the royal capital of the Kingdom of Luhan.
The audience chamber of the Palace of Pure White.
On the red-carpeted floor of the cold audience chamber, exactly seven meters from the throne where Lucifurne sat—
“I heard that there is a wandering knight Your Majesty has recently taken an interest in.”
A woman with ash-gray hair and red eyes asked gently.
She was a beautiful woman in her early thirties. Gentleness filled the corners of her lips, which always wore a smile.
“That is correct, Chancellor.”
But Queen Lucifurne was certain that no smile in the world was as cold as that one. Mindful of the leaf bracelet around her wrist, she struggled to compose her expression and voice.
“You could have simply told me......”
“The Chancellor is busy with state affairs. I did not think I could ask you to indulge my personal curiosity.”
Lucie faced Aria Desmo, the Chancellor of Luhan, a Duchess, and the Witch of Ashes, without betraying any emotion.
‘In the past, I used to wait all week for this moment alone.’
As she inwardly rebuked the foolish, naïve person she had been before her regression.
“I do not know how to repay Your Majesty for such consideration.”
The loathsome traitor bowed her head.
“So, what do you intend to do with that wandering knight of exiled royal blood? From what I have heard, it seems almost like a favor.”
Lucie had ordered them to act discreetly, but it seemed the matter had reached the Chancellor’s ears regardless.
Then again, the number of knights and officials carrying out her orders had already reached double digits.
It would have been stranger if it had not reached the ears of the Chancellor, who oversaw nearly all of Luhan’s administration.
“Though he may have royal blood, talented people are needed in times as bleak as these. I merely made the decision as a Queen concerned for Luhan’s future, not as a woman who lost her mother and was cursed.”
“Could this be related to the Grand Witch’s prophecy?”
The Chancellor’s eyes glinted at the Queen’s answer.
“It has nothing to do with prophecy.”
Lucie firmly shook her head.
“I am merely keeping an eye on him because he is an exiled royal and because of the prowess he has displayed.”
“I see. I have heard of Sir Roan Shalut’s exploits as well. The rumors say that he exterminated the bandits in the eastern part of the Margrave’s territory alone and stabilized security throughout the region. They seem somewhat exaggerated, but if even half of them are true, he will surely bring about Luhan’s revival.”
“Yes. He has been a great help to the outlands, where the Blessing of the Snowfield is weak.”
Lucie nodded, wishing for the audience to end even one second sooner.
“I hear that a Second Subjugation is being prepared to eliminate Necromancer Isabel.”
The Chancellor, however, did not appear to have any intention of leaving the audience chamber just yet.
“That is correct. I heard the Church will join us this time. They should have finished gathering by now.”
“Shall I lead it myself, Your Majesty?”
Lucie narrowed her eyes slightly at Aria’s words.
‘Before my regression, I was the one who asked her.’
The Necromancer’s rampage had been a massive incident. It had occurred in the Margrave’s territory, on the outer fringes where the Blessing of the Snowfield was weak, but the Blessing had failed to activate even after such a large-scale massacre.
‘I found out later. It was because of the Shadow Core, which could resist the Blessing of the Snowfield.’
Before her regression, Lucie had personally asked the Chancellor to lead the Second Subjugation. But the Chancellor had said that state affairs kept her too busy and suggested that they trust the Second Subjugation Force instead.
And the Second Subjugation had failed.
‘You had been toying with me.’
Lucie ground her teeth inwardly.
“No. The Chancellor has too much work, so there is no need.”
She felt quietly pleased by how completely opposite the situation had become from before her regression.
‘As I thought, Necromancer Isabel and the Grand Witch of Death were connected to the Chancellor.’
When the Second Subjugation ultimately failed, the Lucie from before her regression had once again asked Aria to eliminate the Necromancer.
Aria pretended to be reluctant as she obeyed the Queen’s command.
But when the Chancellor returned from there, she reported that there had been nothing.
Then, several years later, Rina Reverse, the Grand Witch of Death, who wielded necromancy similar to Isabel’s, appeared in the Empire.
“I understand. I can only hope the Second Subjugation succeeds.”
“The Second Subjugation will certainly succeed.”
The Queen spoke with absolute certainty in response to the Chancellor.
“......?”
Aria looked puzzled by the Queen’s confident attitude.
‘The Shadow Core’s condition was still disappointing, though. It will need to devour the Second Subjugation Force as well to ripen properly. If the Second Subjugation fails, I will harvest it then.’
As she made her own plans inwardly.
“Then, Your Majesty, regrettably, I believe I must end this audience now.”
With a voice thick with regret, the Chancellor asked the Queen for leave to depart.
“Yes, you must be busy. Go at once.”
As though she had been waiting for it, Lucie welcomed the Chancellor’s departure.
“......?”
Aria’s expression became even more puzzled.
Until only recently, the Queen had eagerly awaited audiences with her. Whenever she tried to leave, Lucie openly showed her disappointment.
That was because the Chancellor was the only witch in the royal capital who could remain closest to the Queen.
She was also a witch who could endure being before her for nearly an hour.
For Lucie, who had always been alone and lonely, being able to face someone for a long time and converse with them had been a great joy.
‘What is this?’
But at some point, the Queen had changed.
Chancellor Aria Desmo left the audience chamber with an unsettling question in her mind.
The Chancellor departed, and the audience chamber was empty once more.
“Huuuu......”
Lucie let out a long breath.
Instinctively, she fiddled with her mother’s bracelet. The scent of grass—the only scent she could smell—soothed the Queen’s weary heart.
Before her regression, she had hated the sight of the empty audience chamber. Now, she found it easier to look at when it was empty like this.
‘She must have noticed that I have changed.’
This was the third time she had received an audience with the Chancellor since her regression.
‘But I truly cannot cling to her as I did before while she is right in front of me.’
Lucie shuddered. Whenever she recalled what the Chancellor had done to her before her regression, she wanted to kill her on the spot.
Even with the Curse of the Snowfield, Lucie’s mana would have made it easy to kill a Witch of Ashes like her.
Moreover, the Grand Magic Formation Innocentia had not yet been created.
‘But that is the inferior move.’
Even so, Lucie had continued to endure and keep the Chancellor alive.
‘The Chancellor is a subordinate of Evil Empress Octana. I will turn that to my advantage.’
Lucifurne smiled faintly.
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
The Queen muttered to herself.
It was also what the Chancellor had told Lucie when she accepted Solacius’s defection before her regression.
About thirty minutes after the Chancellor had left—
“Your Majesty! Sir Haimar, Commander of the Royal Knights, requests an audience!”
The head maid Vanessa’s cry came from the entrance to the audience chamber.
“Let him in at once!”
Lucie welcomed Haimar’s audience with a delighted expression.
Commander Haimar of the Royal Knights entered the audience chamber. He stood ten meters away. Unlike Chancellor Aria, his neck and shoulders trembled faintly from the cold.
The Queen felt sorry for him, but at the same time, she anticipated the news he had brought.
“Has the former Royal Consort not sent a reply?”
“My apologies, Your Majesty.”
“Is that so? It cannot be helped.”
Lucie looked disappointed.
“Th-that...... Has Knight Roan Shalut joined the Church safely?”
She quickly composed herself and asked for the news she had longed to hear most.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Haimar immediately answered Lucie’s question.
Unlike in the original history, Solacius had joined the Subjugation Force.
‘Did it change because I showed him favor?’
Lucie felt both guilty and relieved.
If he had not joined the Subjugation Force, she had been prepared to risk danger and go herself. She had no intention of entrusting such an unsettling matter to the Chancellor.
“Tell me the details.”
“Yes. To summarize the contents received through the communication orb......”
Commander Haimar relayed to the Queen the message sent through the communication orb from the Margrave’s territory to the royal palace.
The Curse of the Snowfield was so powerful that magical devices malfunctioned whenever they came near her, so he had to report in person like this.
Lucie listened intently to news of Solacius from Haimar, like a devoted listener enjoying an interesting radio story.
“......And so, he has currently joined forces with a witch named Carrier Whisen Air Conditioner. They say she comes from the Air Conditioner School of the now-vanished Empire.”
“......?”
Lucie’s expression gradually hardened as she listened to Haimar’s report.
“The two seem quite close...... There are stories that she was his personal attendant in the Empire, and others that she is his lover. However, neither has been confirmed yet.”
“......!”
Tremble, tremble, tremble......
The more the report continued, the more Lucie’s hands and feet shook.
‘There is a woman beside Solacius?!’
Then her heart sank.
“She appeared to be around fifteen years old, with gray hair and gray eyes......”
Watching Lucie’s reaction, Haimar continued the report.
“Is she pretty?”
Unable to listen to the report any longer, Lucie asked briefly.
“Pardon?”
“I asked if she is pretty.”
“......I heard that she has a cute appearance.”
THUD!
Her heart sank once more.
‘Were cute girls Solacius’s type?’
Lucie glanced at her reflection in the crystal mirror. She seriously considered whether she should put an ice-carved flower in her hair.
“I understand....... Use every means necessary...... Find out about that witch...... Haaah...... See to it......”
Feeling faint and dizzy at the same time, Lucie barely managed to give Haimar the order.
“Understood.”
The Commander of the Royal Knights had also noticed the Queen’s mood, so he immediately bowed his head without offering any objection.
WHOOOOOSH.
Perhaps because of the Queen’s state of mind, it felt as though an even fiercer cold wind swept through the audience chamber.
“I will take my leave, Your Majesty.”
After paying his respects, Haimar hurriedly left the audience chamber.
“......”
Alone in the audience chamber again, Lucie opened the door to her bedroom behind it and entered.
‘A woman! There is another woman beside Solacius!’
Inside her bedroom, she paced about in a daze.
‘There were only two women I needed to be wary of! I thought I only had to watch out for Yuria, the Margrave’s daughter, and Lyria of the Fairy Forest!’
A romantic rival had appeared from a place she had never expected.
‘That’s right....... Someone like Solacius could not possibly be unpopular with women.’
He was handsome. His status was good. His abilities were outstanding.
Above all, she had personally experienced his character and loyalty.
Because he was that kind of man, there had naturally been women who showed affection for Solacius even before her regression.
Of course, Solacius had chosen her over them until the very end.
‘Rather, he is too good for me. Compared to someone like me......’
Lucie looked at herself reflected in the crystal.
How did Lucifurne compare to Solacius?
Though she had turned over a new leaf after her regression, her original personality had not been good. She had been so obtuse and foolish that she was an incompetent ruler to the core.
More than anything, she bore the Curse of the Snowfield.
‘Solacius is too good for a filthy, dangerous woman like me. Far too good.’
In an instant, her self-esteem plummeted.
Guilt and self-loathing washed over her once again.
Uuuugh.
Lucie hunched her shoulders and trembled slightly.
Drip, drip, drip.......
A few tears began to fall, then became snowflakes and piled up on the floor.
She tightly gripped her late mother’s bracelet. The scent of grass was stronger than ever, but it did not calm her confused heart.
How long had she wept soundlessly?
“No! I cannot give up yet! M-more than anything, it is not confirmed that they are lovers! It is only speculation, is it not? That is right!”
Lucie gritted her teeth and sprang to her feet.
Then, using her mana, she began drawing a magic circle on the floor of her bedroom.