Pyotr scratched his neck vigorously.

“It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault!”

He bumped his knee against the dresser and looked down at his feet.

The servants avoided their master. While a servant trembled, the master dragged his ankles with slow steps.

The servants departed, fleeing from such an ominous aura.

Creak.

Pyotr stepped onto the dirt road outside the mansion. His staggering steps became tangled and twisted that way.

As he dropped his head, a dark shadow loomed over him.

He looked down at the shoe that entered his vision and tilted his head back.

“You look a complete mess.”

It was a man wrapped tightly in a robe. The low voice was that of a middle-aged man, and beside him was a hunchbacked old man. The middle-aged man chided in a low voice.

“It’s quite a sight to see you crawling on the ground having lost everything. The ancient worshippers would laugh if they saw. Any more consumed by darkness and you’ll be crawling like a worm. It’s time.”

“……”

“If the door opens soon, it’s time for you to wake up too.”

The middle-aged man whispered, pressing Pyotr’s shoulder with his cane.

“Wake up.”

From the dark shadow, a skull crawled out with a clacking sound. It bit Pyotr’s ankle with its teeth. As the startled Pyotr flailed, hands from below choked his neck.

“Aaaaargh!”

A piercing scream echoed. This scream did not reach the mansion.

“Is this truly the last worshipper?”

“He’s merely forgotten his true nature, but he has already touched the darkness. While black magic touches the deepest darkness, these worshippers touch the thickest darkness. Even if they forget their true nature, souls infected by darkness tend to follow their essence. They will corrupt, defile, and ultimately perish.”

The old man spoke doubtfully.

“Will this worm suffice?”

“For now, we must borrow even this worm’s hand to pull up the bloodline driven underground a little earlier, mustn’t we?”

Pyotr collapsed, choking.

“Wake up. This current appearance is unsightly.”

“……”

“The ancient covenant has lost its power. The detestable covenant that drove all my bloodline underground has crumbled. Ah… It’s far too late. You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this day.”

The ancient covenant drove black magic underground, and all black magicians were exterminated.

The covenant’s executor placed a ban on black magic, prohibiting its return to the surface.

However,

The shackles of the past ancient covenant have weakened beyond measure, people have forgotten the essence of the ancient covenant, and none remember the covenant’s ban.

The ancient covenant, its essence forgotten, gradually weakened. This was just the beginning.

“Now, let’s break this covenant and call back those who were driven away to the surface.”

[This is the timeline separator]

The New Year’s ceremonial attire was removed one by one.

The maids who peeled off layers of red fabric also undid the hair ornaments.

After finishing preparations for bed, they pressed a towel against the wet hair to dry it.

“Bring me some digestive medicine.”

The head maid looked on with concern.

“Are you feeling unwell, Your Majesty?”

“It’s not serious enough to worry about.”

“Please wait a moment. I’ll summon the imperial physician.”

“It’s fine, don’t make a fuss and just go quietly.”

At the head maid’s signal, one maid left the room.

The wet hair quickly became fluffy.

“Your Majesty. I’ve brought the digestive medicine.”

The maid who was sent on the errand returned with the medicine.

“Just set it down and leave.”

“We’ll take our leave now.”

Charlotte waved her arm to dismiss the maids instead of answering.

She leaned her body askew, resting one arm on the side table. The candlelight flickered, casting a faint yellowish glow.

Her gaze fell on the drawer under the side table.

When she opened the drawer, there was an old paper box. As if the old paper box might crumble, she was about to carefully take it out when-

“Is your stomach bothering you?”

“Just taking it preemptively.”

The bedroom door opened, and Benjamin returned wearing a robe.

Benjamin opened the medicine bottle and offered it from beside her.

“Without showing the imperial physician.”

Charlotte poured the medicine bottle into her mouth. A strong herbal scent wafted from the medicinal water.

“It’s Aaron’s special digestive medicine.”

“You can tell just by looking at the bottle?”

“This grassy taste no better than chewing on weeds is definitely Aaron’s.”

Charlotte took the bottle cap and closed it. A bitter smile appeared.

“You look like you’re reminiscing about something.”

“Perhaps it was a memory.”

A memory I let slip away hopelessly by my own hands.

“What were you about to take out just now?”

“…A childhood drawing.”

All the graphite drawings had worn and faded with the passage of time.

Even the drawing paper had completely lost its color.

Here, traces of childhood from newborn baby to around nineteen years old remained intact.

My appearance from that time was red. As if colored with a deep red color.

“That child troubles me in this life too. Near that child, I feel like I become a terrible person.”

Benjamin stared intently at Charlotte. His deep eyes traced her cheek. Their eyes met in mid-air.

“It’ll catch fire. Be careful.”

This time, he averted his gaze first.

The candle flickered nearby.

“Thank you.”

“Why are you lost in thought again?”

Benjamin pressed Charlotte’s shoulder.

“Is this that?”

“Yes. A childhood drawing.”

“How old are you in this one you’re looking at now?”

“This is from when I was about five years old. There are letters written below.”

“So you had times like this too.”

Benjamin whispered, bending his body languidly.

“Small and delicate.”

“I was a child.”

“Just like now.”

“Is that so?”

“Except more youthful.”

The cheeks are still chubby before the baby fat has disappeared.

“That’s not the face of someone reminiscing about childhood.”

“It wasn’t a time of good memories for me.”

“Why is that?”

“The reason……”

Charlotte flipped through the childhood drawings one by one.

“Have you ever nursed a sick person for a long time?”

At nineteen. It was a time when even I had reached my limit. With the darkest and most sunken eyes I’ve ever had…

“I begged for death. It was too horrific to watch my mother slowly crumble, writhing in seizures. Please stop the pain. Take her away quickly, stop tormenting her, please let her go. Please just kill her. The sight of my mother begging like that… Crying out in search of painkillers became too frightening to watch.”

“……”

“I wonder what my feelings were back then.”

Charlotte folded up the drawing.

‘You remembered.’

Benjamin stroked Charlotte’s cheek once and asked.

“You look like you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have.”

“According to plan, this drawing shouldn’t have come into my hands.”

In this life, it’s in my possession.

‘It must be Mother’s last drawing.’

It was a drawing from the day before she died. I didn’t even want to remember it.

“I had forgotten everything. I thought I had forgotten almost everything, but now that I recall, it seems I hadn’t forgotten completely after all.”

Charlotte closed the box. As she caressed the box lid, he sat down across from her, wearing a robe.

“I hear your father is ill.”

“You mean Duke Tuteur?”

“I was just thinking it had been too quiet lately… That child didn’t give me details, but if it’s at a level to report to me, it must mean something.”

At night he sweats and groans, wanders the mansion alone in a daze, seems possessed somewhere.

‘Did I see this in my previous life too?’

I have no such memory. Perhaps by making different choices from my previous life, the flow of this life has been turned upside down.

[This is the timeline separator]

A young cleric ran down the corridor of the Grand Temple.

“Is High Cleric Hanelli not here?”

“Why are you looking for him here?”

“He’s not anywhere to be found. What should we do? His Holiness the Pope is looking for him.”

“Where has he gone off alone again… Is he drinking somewhere?”

Outside the cathedral, the bell tolled. The day was ending to match the time when the New Year’s festival ended. It was dark, and the time when all the New Year’s visitors would have left.

At that time,

Quiet footsteps trod on the grass.

“The taste of alcohol is all gone too.”

The ordinary cleric’s hunch was correct.

“These fellows follow me around like a string of carp, so bothersome that I can’t even chase them out tied together.”

If the Pope heard this, he would grab his nape and faint.

“The alcohol’s all gone and there are no devotees left to fleece either.”

Hanelli, who had been swinging the liquor bottle, dropped his arm.

He sought out the prayer room alone. The prayer room, deserted by all the devotees, was lit only by candles.

The white clerical robes rustled with each step.

The clerical robes were embroidered with the symbol of the ancient covenant in gold thread,

When the candlelight in the prayer room flickered, the gold thread embroidery shimmered sporadically in the dim light.

“Again! The smell of alcohol is overwhelming! Do you have any awareness that you’re a High Cleric? It’s not just any day, but the New Year’s festival. I told you to show your face in the prayer room! I’ve said this time and again!”

“Oh my. I was just about to come see you, Your Holiness, knowing you would react this way. Watch your blood pressure. You must take care of your health. This disciple is so concerned for Your Holiness’s well-being.”

The Pope suppressed a groan.

“…You, what did you see?”

“I cannot speak of it.”

There, Hanelli whispered alone.

“I saw another soul burning away like a candle. I merely saw an unfortunate soul who sets fire to their own body to shine light again, saving others but unable to save themselves.”

The Pope swallowed and groaned.

“You will walk a lonely path again.”

Those who were driven away scratch at the covenant’s taboos,

Those who craved life and living and did not die have begun to tread this land.

[This is the timeline separator]

The earth’s energy traced her nape. It choked her neck and slowly strangled her.

Her breath became stifled.

Charlotte bit her lip roughly. She who had been clutching at the blanket rolled off the bed.

“Ah……”

Her vision flipped. Her body, buried in the blanket and rolling on the carpet, ached with pain. She could have woken up gently.

Her waist throbbed. As she groaned and brushed back her hair, dawn was breaking.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door from outside.

“Are you alright, Your Majesty?”

It was dawn the next day.

Her eyes opened on their own. When she raised her head, her surroundings were quiet.

Charlotte, fumbling for the bedding, realized the chill that had settled beside her.

“Where did you go……”

A cold chill had settled.

Draping the shawl hung on the sofa over her shoulders, she came out of the bedroom.

A white ball of fur rubbed its head against her feet. It followed, pressing its sleepy eyelids with its front paws.

As she walked down the dim corridor, a candle flickered in the distance.

“Where are you going?”

Catarina emerged from the shadows. Her presence settled quietly.

“It’s too quiet… Where is His Majesty?”

“He’s out at the training grounds.”

“From this early hour?”

Charlotte turned her steps. Slow steps continued.

Though her back was straight, there was no one walking beside her.

“Where are you going?”

“Outside.”

“It’s still cold out. Are you going out like that?”

She wrapped a thick coat around herself.

As she stepped onto the dry dirt ground, small pebbles crumbled.

The training grounds, still dark in the early dawn.

Rough friction sounds were heard in the distance.

Her steps drew closer to the training grounds.

Sword energy spread in all directions, and raw killing intent surged.