Chapter 195 …

Ethan and Hannah escaped through the garden’s side gate without encountering a single demonic beast.

Hannah looked around in confusion, then sent a communication to Lilietta.

$W-w-whathappened?Mylady,justhowonearth\dots ?$

“I’ll explain later. You see the bell tower nearby, right? Come this way.”

Rita replied calmly as she formed a new bullet.
An explosive round packed full of Od.

Then she stood up, roughly aimed the barrel, fired it, and turned before jumping down beneath the bell tower.

$Casting:FallPreventionMagicactivated.$

At the same moment she landed, an explosion sounded in the distance.

It was the Black Joker detonating.

* * *

Dozens of jet-black cannons were positioned across Ramkard’s central plaza.

In an age ruled by knights, mages, and priests, cannons were weapons that people ignored.

Like guns, their stability was poor due to insufficient technology.

Because they were disregarded, proper development and investment never happened. Naturally, technological progress was slow. Hardly anyone even researched cannons.

That created a vicious cycle of poor performance.

The one who broke that cycle was Crown Prince Gideon four years ago.

Almost simultaneously with the founding of the Special Mission Knights, he began research and development on cannons. As soon as usable prototypes appeared, he ordered them mass-produced.

Every one of those cannons was supplied to the Capital Guard.

Knights capable of properly using aura joined knight orders, not the Guard. Real battles and major crimes were handled by the Royal Knights, so the Guard’s main job was catching petty thieves under the banner of maintaining the capital’s peace.

Because of that, they had originally been an unmotivated group that barely trained.

The Crown Prince transformed that group in four years.

Following his orders—stating that cannons would someday play an important role—they learned how to operate the cannons stationed in the capital. The Crown Prince even held artillery competitions every quarter and personally funded rewards to encourage them.

More than half of the Capital Guard thus became skilled artillerymen.

And the Crown Prince’s preparation shone in the face of sudden disaster.

Once the Special Mission Knights had mostly finished rescuing civilians and formed ranks in the plaza, the Capital Guard immediately began operating the cannons.

The citizens were uneasy at the strange sight of rows of black cannon barrels.

But gradually, their fear turned into admiration and relief.

Every time a cannon roared, swarms of charging demonic beasts collapsed.

Most of them were card soldiers with paper bodies, making them even more vulnerable to explosive shells.

The guards themselves were astonished and encouraged by the results.

Creatures that even aura-using knights and tower mages struggled against were being defeated by cannons that others had mocked as the Crown Prince’s toys.

Filled with pride and loyalty to the Crown Prince, the guards fought with even greater fervor.

A few monsters that endured the shells were quickly dealt with by Tritoma agents who had been waiting nearby.

The injured were carried back by blue deer or birds of prey, then quickly treated by Saintess Seraphina and sent straight back to the battlefield.

The card soldiers that had endlessly resurrected began to visibly decrease after the Red Queen’s death.

Without infinite resurrection, they were gradually pushed back by the artillery barrage.

The city was stabilizing.

Olivia and Ethan, who had rescued Lucas, and Lilietta, who had rescued Hannah, arrived at the plaza around the same time the cannons began firing in succession.

Lucas had been locked in a desperate battle against the Jack of Hearts, who kept resurrecting no matter how many times he was killed. At some point the Jack lost his resurrection ability, and Lucas barely managed to bite him to death before collapsing unconscious.

“They’re both in tatters.”

Olivia clicked her tongue as she looked back and forth between the ragged Lucas and Ethan, then shoved both of them toward Seraphina. Soon, a hail of Seraphina’s scolding rained down on them.

Hannah, who had fainted from exhaustion, was also left with Seraphina.

Then Lilietta handed the bundle of documents Ethan had given her to Olivia.

“Ethan and Hannah found these at Archduke Adicle’s residence.”

Olivia flipped through them quickly and let out an impressed whistle.

“Wow. Once this mess is over, we can hang that damn Archduke Adicle by the neck immediately. Gide’s going to love this.”

But in front of Olivia’s chuckling, Lilietta’s expression darkened rapidly.

Only then did Olivia notice and ask,

“What’s wrong with you?”

“……”

Rita opened her mouth—then closed it again.

What on earth was she supposed to say?

That Gide had gone berserk and turned into a monster?

Why?

Because she saw his memories?

Because Pascal’s scheme forced her to witness the things he wanted to hide until the day he died?

What kind of memories were they, that simply being seen by her made him…

“Do you know whose blood this is?”

“It’s Oli Pascal’s blood.”

“Do you understand? I killed Oli Pascal.”

She remembered him crouching there, soaked in Oli’s blood, making animal-like groaning sounds.

Her breath caught.

How much could she even say?

No—could she say any of it at all?

But how could she explain why he became a monster without saying it?

The things she had been suppressing during the battle now crawled up her throat.

Show me.
I want to see.
I died early just to see this.
It’s been broken for a long time anyway.
Ever since you disappeared, everything keeps getting stranger.
You’re like a curse.
This makes me an accomplice to the world’s destruction.
I feel like I’m going insane.
Or maybe I already am.
I wish someone would kill me permanently.
Disgusting.
If I regress, none of this will have happened anyway.
So does it matter what I do?

The last image she saw of him was smiling.

Won’t you forget?

Right.

There was no turning back.

The black dragon that had erupted through him.

She felt like she might vomit.

Lilietta covered her mouth and kept thinking.

No… there is a way back.

I wasn’t punished by Od.

He didn’t attack me.

He killed monsters instead.

So… there’s a possibility.

A possibility…

At the same time, something else that had been suppressed deep in her heart lifted its head.

Do you really have to bring him back?

He’s already crossed the line.

Far beyond it.

What’s the difference between Pascal and Gide?

Pascal spent centuries committing madness just to return to a time when his family was alive.

How is that different from Gide trying to resurrect you?

Haven’t they already become the same thing?

And you still want to save him?

Why?

Because he’s your friend?

No.

If he were truly your friend, you would cry and kill him.

He’s already that broken.

If it were you—if you became like that—you’d want a friend to kill you and end it, wouldn’t you?

Didn’t he himself wish someone would kill him?

You know what the best choice is.

You don’t like it?

Why?

Because you fell into Pascal’s trap?

Then you should take revenge on Pascal—not try to save someone who’s already become a monster.

Guilt?

Because you think it’s your fault he became like that?

No.

That’s your misunderstanding.

You never once wished for him to become like that.

Not even once.

And he knew that.

That’s why he tried to hide it from you until the end.

So what excuse do you have left now?

Because he loves you?

Because you think you love him too?

But you saw everything.

You saw how heavy and twisted his heart is.

You can’t handle him.

You don’t even know how to face him now.

You don’t love him that much.

Your feelings were light—like whipped cream.

Just a desire that felt nice.
Wanting to touch his face.
Spend time together.
Keep him to yourself.

Just strange little impulses.

Not the kind of emotion that would destroy yourself—or the world—like he did.

Your feelings are ordinary.

Soft.

And yet you say you’ll save him?

How?

Do you think that small, light heart of yours can descend into the abyss of his?

The weight of your hearts is too different.

Give up.

Be grateful he left on his own before something worse happened.

Forget him.

Protect the family and comrades you still have.

You’ll be sad for a while.

But eventually, you’ll forget.

Didn’t you think so yourself?

Even if you lived and he died, you would have accepted the grief and moved on.

You wouldn’t have become like him.

That hypothetical just became reality.

Gide is dead.

There’s no way to save him.

He’s no different from the monsters wearing human clothes that you shot.

Your oath didn’t react?

That just means you refuse to admit he’s a monster.

Possibility? Hope?

There’s no such thing.

Didn’t Gide already show you exactly what happens when someone clings to that?

Deep down, you already know the truth.

So just accept that he’s dead and keep living.

That’s the best choice.

That’s the right choice.

Your heart was never that deep anyway.

So it’s fine, isn’t it?

Isn’t it?

…And yet?

Why?

“Rita?”

Olivia grabbed her shoulder.

“What are you doing? What’s wrong with you?”

A ragged breath burst out.

Only then did Lilietta realize she had been holding her breath the entire time.

Still dazed, she opened her mouth.

“Oli, Gide…”

At that moment, someone rode in from the direction of the imperial palace, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“By order of His Highness Archduke Adicle! Hear this proclamation! His Majesty the Emperor has passed away after being attacked by a vile monster!”

June 28, 1770. Midnight.

With the end of the Founding Festival, the sound of history violently shifting echoed across the world.

—End of Part 1