A Shadow Cast in Paradise - Chapter 26

“A traitor…?”

Louise’s voice trembled as she looked at Sched, who was lying motionless.

She knew how devoted Sched had been to House Ideana. He had gone to the battlefield and used all his abilities to protect Ideana countless times.

And yet, he was accused of treason.

“That ungrateful Lupus, seeing himself in that state, would try to kill me, wouldn’t he?”

Felix clicked his tongue in displeasure and glared at Sched.

Louise suddenly remembered Sched’s words about finding his sworn brother Parmen.

So, Sched had gone to find Parmen and witnessed the mountain of Lupus corpses.

One-sided slaughter and massacre.

He was enraged and, losing his reason, picked up a sword.

And he rushed to kill Felix, the head of House Ideana, who was responsible for the slaughter.

But unfortunately, his revenge failed.

“How dare a slave try to oppose Ideana. This is an insult and treason against our family.”

Attempting to kill the lord of this land was a serious crime, punishable by death.

Although the massacre of the Lupus was not a serious crime.

“You must feel deeply betrayed, having cared for this fellow.”

Felix looked at his daughter, who was too shocked to speak, and tightened his lips.

Then he quietly stepped back, allowing Sched to stand in front of Louise.

The knights threw the limp Sched onto the ground.

“Will you carry out the execution?”

Felix’s voice rang out nobly.

Execution… what?

She shook her aching head.

She couldn’t accept it.

That the father she loved so much had done this, that she possessed that strange power, that Sched… had come to hate Ideana.

Then Felix drew his sword himself.

“If you won’t execute him, I’ll have to do it myself.”

Felix raised his sword demonstratively.

Killing one Lupus was nothing to him.

The metal blade gleamed coldly as it rose into the air.

Her eyes, which had been lost in confusion, grew wide.

The blade fell without hesitation towards Sched’s nape.

At the same time, Louise’s heart plummeted.

“No!”

At that moment, black light burst from her body, blocking Felix’s sword.

The sword was deflected, and Felix’s body staggered greatly.

His eyes were tinged with bewilderment, but soon a smile spread across his face.

“Yes. You’ve finally realized your power!”

He looked at her with a delighted expression.

Suddenly, Louise realized she was enveloped in dark energy. Very familiar and natural.

The girl shook her head at the black magic flowing out as skillfully as her own limbs.

“No, this can’t be…!”

Louise hurriedly concealed the black light.

Her head felt like it was about to split open.

Nightmare mixed with reality.

The memories she believed to be happiness sank into a blood-soaked muddy floor.

“It seems you can now unleash and conceal your power at will. I truly feel that you’ve become perfect now.”

Felix spoke, overcome with emotion, as if experiencing something extraordinary.

“Now we won’t have to rely on mind-control spells anymore.”

Until now, they had to use other spells like hypnosis, brainwashing, and control to deal with Louise’s unstable condition.

But now, after the final experiment, things were different.

He had sacrificed as many people as a city’s population to complete Louise.

The constant wars and bringing in the Lupus were all for this purpose.

And when he turned even the Lupus mercenary slaves into sacrifices, Louise became perfect.

“Now the era of Ideana has arrived. Soon this empire will fall into our family’s hands.”

Felix muttered, clenching his fist.

“We’ll cut off the head of that Chepvolden family and seize this empire.”

Felix spoke in a dreamy voice.

Seize the empire…?

“The Chepvolden family has monopolized the imperial throne for generations. Even though traditionally, it’s a position given by the election of our Prince-Elector houses.”

The Prince-Electors’ ‘right to elect the Emperor’ remained only in name, with no real effect.

Among them, Ideana was the weakest of the Prince-Elector houses.

Ideana was prosperous but located on the frontier.

It was far from the Dunames Island where the Great Temple was located, and also distant from the imperial territory.

Because of this, they had less power and influence over the central government compared to other Prince-Elector houses and were often disregarded.

“With your power, it’s possible to take over the central government. It would be easy to eliminate the priests with holy power.”

Only then did Louise recall her father’s decision to expel the priests from Ideana.

At the time, she thought he was angry at the priests for being unable to cure her illness.

But…

“Then… my illness…”

“It was a kind of trial and error.”

Not an incurable disease, but trial and error?

“It couldn’t have been perfect from the beginning.”

Felix explained about his daughter’s illness.

The pain she experienced was a side effect of the process of injecting black magic.

“In the process of achieving perfection, an imperfect state is inevitable. It’s an unavoidable ordeal to gain great power.”

Felix spoke kindly.

As if now that he had achieved what he wanted, past failures could be left as memories.

As if all the pain she had endured was just an unavoidable mistake.

Her pale lips trembled, bleached white from shock.

An unavoidable ordeal?

All that pain I had to endure?

Those days when I couldn’t go outside due to my weak body, spent nights in nightmares, and screamed in pain that felt like my whole body was crumbling…

In her mind, warm memories with her father mixed with the suffocating nightmares and the reality before her eyes.

“You’re lying, aren’t you, Father?”

Louise’s eyes reddened.

She wanted to deny it.

If it’s not a dream, then reality must be a lie, right?

You can’t be this cruel to me, can you?

But Felix Ideana spoke calmly.

“It’s for the glory of the great Ideana.”

The count’s voice was filled with conviction, as if anything could be justified for this grand goal.

“Louise, don’t you desire the glory of our family?”

He believed that Louise, who inherited the blood of Ideana, would understand all of this.

But the young daughter he believed in shook her head.

“None of this can be forgiven.”

Just for the sake of that so-called glory, so many people had to die?

That’s not right. It’s wrong.

“Louise.”

The moment Felix furrowed his brow, Louise picked up the sword her father had dropped.

“…Stop everything.”

Louise pointed the sword towards her father.

She didn’t know how to deal with what had happened until now.

But what was certain was that she had to prevent what was about to happen.

At this, Felix’s eyes widened.

He seemed somewhat surprised by Louise’s firm decision.

But he soon smiled leisurely.

The sword in his young daughter’s hand was trembling pitifully.

He knew. Louise Ideana could never kill her father.

Felix was her only family and the guardian who had warmly cared for her until now.

For her, who had difficulty going outside since childhood, Felix was her world.

That’s why even just now, she couldn’t harm him with black magic and only managed to deflect the sword.

“Louise, you don’t need to wield a sword. You yourself are a weapon that shines brighter than any famous blade.”

Felix gestured for her to put down the sword.

A teardrop fell from Louise’s reddened eyes.

And soon, she turned the sword’s point towards her own chest.

“Stop this, Father.”

Louise spoke with trembling lips.

As he expected, she couldn’t kill her father.

With just the immediate anger and shock, she couldn’t erase the long-accumulated affection and love.

That’s why she turned the sword’s point towards herself.

If Felix valued her, at least as a successful experimental subject of ancient magic, he wouldn’t want to lose her.

Her guess seemed correct as bewilderment flashed across Felix’s face.

But soon he returned to his usual kind and calm expression.

“Louise. I told you, didn’t I? You’ve become the strongest human in the world.”

A benevolent smile spread across his lips.

At the same time, he gently overlapped his hand on Louise’s, which was gripping the sword hilt.

The warm touch from her father’s hand, and then…

Thud! The sound of something being deeply stabbed was heard.

For a moment, Louise couldn’t understand what had happened.

“Cough!”

Before she could grasp the situation, blood spurted from her mouth.

Lowering her head to look at her chest, she saw the sword embedded in her body.

‘Fa…ther…?’

Her father had plunged the sword into her heart.

Raising her trembling head again, she saw her father standing before her with a calm expression.

At that moment, as if all the disconnected nerves suddenly reconnected, a terrible, searing pain engulfed her.

“Cough!”

She spat blood once more and collapsed to the floor.

She couldn’t breathe as if her lungs were filled with blood.

She couldn’t even scream.

Her mouth, open and soaked in blood, only let out animal-like gasps and death rattles.

Her body twisted in unbearable pain.

With each heartbeat, the cold blade lodged in her chest tightened, and her vision flickered with pain.

Blood-mixed saliva dripped from the corners of her mouth.

Yet her father stood still, watching her die painfully on the floor.

Then, stepping on his daughter’s trembling body, he forcefully pulled out the sword from her chest.

With pain as if her soul was being torn apart, her body convulsed violently.

“Kkeuk… kkeu-euk!”

The knights turned their heads away, unable to bear the sight of the girl writhing like a beast on the floor.

As bright red blood spread, Louise was trapped in endless agony.

Unable to feel resentment, anger, sadness, or despair, she was buried only in physical pain.

She couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything.

In her world, only the sensation of her heart being pierced, bones crushed, flesh torn, and blood pouring out existed.

It must have been then.

When Louise Ideana realized that she herself was a demon.