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nChapter 96

nNote:

n“” is a song

n“ is a flashback dialogue

n“….” is directly spoken dialogue.

nThe Emperor stepped backwards, but his foot caught on the sofa and he floundered on it.

nAria grabbed his chin and lifted it roughly, smiling brightly.

nAnd she poured out the cursed song she had cherished all her life.

n“Death! And despair!”

nCount Cortez intended to keep Aria by his side for the rest of his life.

nThe war had no end, and the enemy forces brutally slaughtered everyone without mercy.

nIt was a dark time.

nGarcia’s knights, drunken by the madness of war, did not know the extent of the war, and the people’s anger toward the helplessly collapsing empire did not go away easily.

nIn the end, Count Cortez, who once dreamed of establishing a religion around Aria, quickly cut her off.

nThat monster is not my daughter!

n“Then you will not be my daughter anymore:”

nThe Mermaid’s Tears were passed from Count Cortez to the Emperor.

n“Disowned you be forever,”

nThe Emperor held the Mermaid’s Tears in his ears and demanded endlessly from Aria.

n“Sing, sing. My angel.”

n“Sing until your vocal cords are torn to shreds and you die from exhaustion!”

nDoes he know how many times she begged to die at the hands of the angry crowd?

nAria lived. In the hands of the Emperor.

nSo, she will let him live. In her own hands.

n“Abandoned be you forever,

nDestroyed be forever,

nAll the bonds of nature.”

nTo inflict more pain on the Emperor than death. She sang the song she wanted so much.

n“… Kugh! Cough! Cough.”

nThe Emperor vomited blood.

nAt the high-pitched sound, ignoring the limits, blood flowed from his eyes and ears, and engraved on his face.

nHe tried to cover his ears, but to no avail. Each syllable that Aria spit out became a sharp blade, and it pierced his eardrum.

nA terrifying demonic song that bursts one’s anger unobstructed.

n“Huuu…uoohk”

nIt was difficult for him to breathe.

nThe lungs, which had expanded to the limit, felt like they were about to burst while taking a short, hoarse breath. Like a taut bowstring, there was a fear that seemed to be about to break even if one more mistake was made.

nIf it was released, it was clamped again, and if it stopped like this, it was released again.

nWithout end.

nHe would rather die and be freed from this fear.

n“Kill me, kill me…”

nThis was still just the beginning.

nWhy, you’re already crying?

nAria, who smiled briefly, took a deep breath.

n“Hear! Gods of revenge!”

nHer voice resonated like a loud bell signaling the time.

nOn the magic circle engraved on the floor, the purple wave slowly spread like a painting.

nThe wave of the song was amplified even more, hitting the inside hard.

n“Hear the mother’s oath!”

nAnd it finally came to an end.

nAria grabbed the Emperor’s collar, who had fallen motionlessly on the floor.

nThough she seemed to be exhausted by singing the Song of Doom. She painstakingly erased her troubled look perfectly and her eyes gleaming beautifully. Aria engraved the Song of Doom with a soft tone in his ear, who was groaning a little.

nAnd she whispered.

n“There is a saying that I was impressed with when hearing it from Father when I was a little younger than now.”

nFour years ago, Tristan said.

n“I’m really looking forward to how far he’ll fall with futile hopes. I’d rather he be begging me to kill him while rolling in the mud and crawling at my feet.”

nThe moment Aria heard those words, she thought of the Emperor and the Song of Doom throughout. The day when the Emperor will continue to despair while harboring a glimmer of hope, and earnestly beg for his death.

nThe Emperor begged quickly just by her giving him a little bit of pain, but the ruin that was unfolding before him would not stop.

n“I think I can see why Carlin refused to know the future.”

nThe shaman never wondered what was going to happen in the future.

nRather, he cut off Aria’s words in the middle. Never tell the future.

nBecause the foreordained future is more painful than death.

n“You will die. In endless pain. If you can breathe, you will be thrown into the fires of hell, and if you just want to die like this, you will see futile hope.”

nAnd Aria foretold the future of the Emperor.

nHe will fail for the rest of his life, and he will be unhappy for the rest of his life.

nFrom a bottom worse than despair, from which no matter how hard you try, he couldn’t get out.

n***

nLloyd took the earrings off and put them on again and looked anxiously at the door.

nHe could only hear the singing clearly, perhaps because the effect of the song she sang was out of reach.

nA voice full of hate.

nA voice caught in violent passion.

nIt wasn’t a grudge that had just accumulated for a day or two.

n‘Do you ever had anything to do with the Emperor? But there could be no contact…….’

nCome to think of it, she immediately recognized the room engraved with amplification magic. He forgot for a while because the Emperor put him not in a good mood because of the work.

nLloyd made a decision without saying a word, took the earring off and put it in his arms.

nAnd the moment he opened the door,

n“……Aria!”

nAria, who had just left, fell into his arms.

n“It’s okay. I just lost power…”

nShe was just feeling a little dizzy. Now that she’s adept at manipulating magical powers, she doesn’t collapse from singing as much as she used to.

n“It’ll get better with a little rest.”

nAria had to calm Lloyd, who was spewing ferocious murderous energy towards the motionless, collapsed Emperor.

n‘No, that’s not the way it was…….’

nAnyone who sees it would think that the Emperor was trying to harm Aria.

nLloyd lifted her in his arms before she could even grab her center and walk properly. He checked the inside of the room and gave Carlin a chin gesture, giving a brief order.

n“Put it away.”

n“In this situation where I’m avoiding the pursuit of the Magic Tower the Grand Prince is giving me overlapping, overlapping, overlapping chores….”

nBut Carlin, who received Lloyd’s cold gaze from the front, immediately agreed.

n‘Yes! That’s my situation, right!’

nCarlin squatted down, wiped the blood of the fainted Emperor, laid him down on the sofa, and made him seemingly normal.

nEven the knights and employees too.

nIt was a pretty plausible destruction of evidence.

n***

nAria looked up at Vincent, with a face full of things to say.

n“Why don’t you talk?”

n“It must have been Sister-in-law who didn’t say anything.”

nWell. He’s coming at her again like this.

n“I am contemplating whether I should express my sadness to Sister-in-law first or deal with urgent matters first.”

n“Maybe the latter.”

n“Again, you’re speaking to your advantage! It’s usually the former!”

nNo…… he said it was urgent.

nAria was also quite flustered.

nBecause she never meant to reveal that she could speak in this way. In a more serious mood, she was going to reveal her sincere apologies for what she had kept hidden from him.

nWhy did this happen?

n“No matter how much I think about it, I think your song is wrong.”

n“Yes, yes. No matter what, it’s definitely Vincent’s fault.”

nIt felt that he just got more offended.

nAria felt a deep sense of regret in her heart, and she lowered the tip of her eyebrows and grabbed Vincent’s hand with both hands.

nAnd she said with a warm gaze.

n“I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

n“……”

n“And thank you as always.”

nShe thought Vincent was going to be a little more rambunctious.

nVincent quickly softened his momentum and said,

n“Do you think I’m going to get over it with just one word?”

nYes, of course.

nAs soon as Aria answered that deep inside her, he began to explain what he had found out.

n“At that time the map to Atlantis, which you obtained from the one who claimed to be a descendant of the royal family…..no, the madman.”

n“The conch pearl?”

n“Yes, that’s it.”

nHe nodded his head.

n“Have you ever headed back to Atlantis with that pearl?”

n“No, that was the first and last time I saw Atlantis in my dreams.”

nNo matter how much she fell asleep with the conch pearl in her arms, that was the end of it.

n“Can you tell me more about the dream?”

nIt was such a vivid dream that she remembered it clearly.

nAria traced her memories of that time and explained them almost accurately. Except where she hit the rubble of a building and injured her arm.

n‘Then it becomes difficult to explain how I was treated.’

nShe also has to explain Veronica’s necklace.

nIn the part where she said that ‘I picked up the storage box and the building collapsed.’ Vincent had a more confident expression on his face.

n“As expected…….”

nWhat. Don’t realize it on your own and tell me.

nAria turned her head towards Vincent and focused.

n“The Song of Dawn in this storage box seems to have been prepared for the Siren seeking their hometown.”

nWhat was he talking about?

n“Please explain in a more understandable way.”

n“No, if I’ve said this far, shouldn’t you understand?”

nThere he goes again?

nHas Vincent ever heard that you can pay off a debt of 100 million chars with a single word?

nHe helped her in both ways, both physically and mentally, but it was also a talent to be nice to him.

n‘…… Even if you’re in debt, you’ll want to pretend you don’t know.’

nAs Aria’s expression turned sullen, Vincent sighed and continued his explanation.

n“Atlantis appears to be designed so that no one can enter it.”

n“No one?”

n“Yes. Sirens only.”

nShe has to sing this song. He said so, and delivered the storage box that he was holding to Aria.

n“Only the Siren can do it, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t sing at all.”

nWhile he added words that Aria could never agree with.

n“In other words, if you come into contact with the map in the dream and bring this storage box, then the Siren sings the sheet music, so that she can head to Atlantis.”

n“Can I really go there?”

n“I’m not quite sure about that… at least you got a clue.”

nThe place is just an imaginary space created to store this object. That was Vincent’s explanation.

n‘Real Atlantis.’

nThe Siren’s hometown.

n“That’s why when I heard Sister-in-law’s song at that time and immediately came running. There will be a lot of preparation to go to Atlantis right now.”

n“That’s right. Once in the sea…”

nShe didn’t even know if she needed some kind of magic to be able to breathe underwater. And since she can’t sing in the sea, she won’t be able to use the Siren’s powers…….

nAria pondered for a moment before continuing her thoughts, then raised her head and asked.

n“But how did you find out about that without any real clue?”

n“Well, it’s obvious just looking at the sheet music. Why are you asking something obvious?”

nAria just decided to stop him.

nSong Quote: ‘Der Hölle Rache’ from Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte.

n(or Queen of the Night aria from Mozart’s the Magic Flute)

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