A Villainess Should Be Strong

"You.. what did you do?" Heine was surprised, but Estelle was just as surprised as him.

"Did I... do anything wrong?" Estelle worried that she might've not known about some rules and accidentally broke them.

[Was it the Spirits? Was I not supposed to befriend them?] Estelle worried and was about to clear things up and cover for the lower - ranked Spirits.

"No.. More like, you did something right.. but," Heine crossed his arms. He thought that he had gotten used to Estelle's miracles, but it seemed like he was still miles away from attaining perfect peace.

He once pledged to never show a huge reaction to Estelle's casual miracles with the basis that he had gotten used to it, but the girl went ahead and destroyed another part of his common sense.

"The Strays you brought.."

"Did they do something? They're not that bad, they followed me quietly after I released them from the cage, uh- the corruption, right? It has lessened, although I don't know why! Their thinking has-" Estelle felt that it was a shame for the monsters to be misunderstood. She didn't know if Heine was aware about the corruption in their core, but her short interactions with the monsters intrigued her.

She wanted to see if the monsters could be cured. If so, she would be able to potentially gain a powerful ally, an army. The monsters were strong, too strong for her liking. If she could spar with them everyday... her mind was going off to the outer space.

"I got it, I got it! That's exactly what's strange here! They weren't supposed to recover!" Heine raised his voice to overpower Estelle's mindless rambling.

"Huh?" Estelle tilted her head in confusion.

"Do you still remember your first contact with black magic?"

"The maid who tried to assassinate my mother, Helen..?" Estelle recalled her very first meeting with Heine, which also marked the first kill she achieved after reincarnating as Estelle Clareste.

"Yeah. You ended up having to snatch her life. Do you know why?" Heine facepalmed. The study of black magic was something that was hidden. Estelle has never had contact with it, and her surroundings didn't provide her with the materials needed to learn more about it, so she naturally wasn't aware of what she just did.

"Could it be.. once a core is corrupted, you can't purify them..?" Estelle deduced.

"Exactly," Heine replied. "The way a core corruption works is just like a poison without antidote. If left alone, it would still impact the consumer. If amplified, it will worsen. But there's no cure for it. Once your core is corrupted, no matter how little it is, you can't revert back to your untouched core," Heine continued, explaining the concept of corruption.

"So.."

"I don't know how you managed to do it, but the monsters that are alive has significantly less corruption than the corpses. Just to clarify, were they all in the same state before you took them in?" Heine asked.

"Yeah.." Estelle began to realize how big of a thing she just did. At the same time, her mind began wondering if she could've purified the rest of the monsters.

"What did you do after that?"

"Well.. I put them in a cage, fed them, gave them good treatment, and treated them as pets.. I guess?" Estelle recalled.

"Pets.. Dear God, your common sense is so broken," Heine sighed in distress. He covered his eyes with his palm and groaned.

"..I did it unconsciously, so I don't know!" Justifying herself, Estelle put her hands on her hips as she protested.

"It's not exactly a bad thing, though. Your 'accident' could bring a breakthrough in our problem," Heine's expression changed. "It might be because of your absurdly high core purity, it might've affected your surroundings.."

"If you truly have the power to purify corrupted beings, then I must ask for your help," Heine made a low bow to Estelle, shocking her immensely.

"Get back up, what are you doing?!" Estelle straightened his posture.

"Please.. Please save the spirits. I'm using my chance, the chance we talked about when we made a contract," Heine hugged Estelle tightly. Unbeknownst to him, tears were falling down his cheeks, wetting Estelle's shoulder.

His face didn't distort, but the overflowing tears were evidence to the turmoil he experienced. He tried to keep a straight face, in which he succeeded in. However, the constant stream of tears made a huge contrast to the peace he displayed.

"H-Heine.." Estelle didn't know how to soothe the older man. She stroke his head, then went lower to pat his back. They stayed in the same position until Heine calmed down.

She didn't expect the man to show such a heavy reaction.

She understood how he felt just a little bit. He was not only tasked with the role of leading the Spirits, but also as the Spirit Tree's messenger. Now that the Tree was in danger and without a known solution, he must've felt so anxious to the point of despair.

"Are you okay now?" Estelle was surprised by Heine's sudden outburst. She knew that Heine has been preoccupied over the last year, ever since a new Fae King was elected. The pent up stress that was accumulated throughout the year must've impacted him and shook his emotional stability.

"Yeah.. Sorry," Heine pursed his lips as he took a deep breath in and out.

"No, it's fine. You have to explain what happened, though. I won't let you leave before explaining,"

"..It's a long story. Sit down. Sui, retreat," Heine cleared the vicinity from people and began speaking up.

"The Spirit Tree... The world's heart," Heine sighed. "Although it was just a small nick, a corruption effect has been placed upon it. Corrupting the Spirit Tree is the same as poisoning the entire world from within! Whoever was stupid enough to perform such actions... No, forget their stupidity, their strength must be terribly high as well, to be able to inflict corruption upon the being that could be presumed as the 'God' of this world," Anger had been brewing inside the former King's heart ever since the things started going downhill.

No one suspected anything.

To think that the Spirit Tree could be damaged in such a way was an idea that would never cross any spirit's mind.

Just like how the elves viewed their royals as the envoys of God, the Spirit Tree, to the Spirits, was their deity.

"It began.. no, we don't even know when it begun. I was dethroned from my spot, so the Spirit Tree couldn't contact me.. As you know, only the vassal, the King, could communicate with the sacred tree. Therefore, the tree should've contacted the current King for a meeting. But.. it didn't, and when we discovered the strange disturbance, it was too late,"

Upon hearing the information, Estelle's suspicion immediately went towards the new King.

She was a witness to Heine's contact with the Tree. When she was born, Heine went back and forth about how he supposedly got informed of her arrival by the Tree. The speed of which the Tree contacted its King was fast, very fast.

Heine also performed his duties and went to the Dukedom in a flash.

Now, this new King didn't do that.

"..I'm not implying anything, but do you trust the new King?" Estelle questioned. Everything seemed too convenient. Heine was still alive, but a new King was born. Then, the timeline for the incidents coincided almost in a linear path, from the first time the mansion was attacked to the present.

"There are mixed feelings, of course. The decree that stated the King's identity was mandated by the tree's consciousness itself. Even so, a lot of spirits chose to side with me after seeing how imbalanced the situation was under his reign. Personally, I trust him for the Tree's sake. No matter how far we stretch it, he is a Fae King. That can't be denied,"

"Are there really no records about two Kings being born in the same period?"

"None. Even if there is, I reckon they won't note it down,"

"Why?"

"Because us spirits can only follow one ruler. To us, the ruler is like the channel between the Spirit Tree and our race. This also became one of the proof that the new King is real. I can't feel the channel between me and the tree no more,"

"Then, how did you know that the tree has been harmed?"

"The tree is this world's heart. Us spirits are very sensitive to the world's changes. The disaster with the monsters.. it's not only thanks to the humans, but also the tree's damages,"

"...I understand. Then, what can I do to help? And, can I meet the current King?"

Heine looked troubled. It was then that Estelle realized that the internal affairs within the Spirit Kingdom was not yet settled.

Heine didn't say anything and directed Estelle to a path. From there, they started delving into the deepest part of the castle as Heine continued his story.

"His name is Kalis. A young spirit who knows nothing about the world,"

"I was similar to him at first. When I was born, my growth was sped up, and I was crowned the King within less than a year,"

"I was fortunate to meet Minerva, that fiery woman. She taught me, a Fae King that didn't know anything about the outside world and guided me through the wide skies," Heine reminisced about his past encounters.

"But he.. he knows nothing,"

"I should've kept him cradled inside the castle for the first few years, but I didn't. It's possible that he was influenced by an external force.. that's why, Kalis is now being imprisoned inside the castle, whilst a trusted subordinate of mine who has the same mana wavelength as him plays his role," Heine's gaze was cold as they descended down the secret staircase hidden behind a complex mechanism.

"..And you didn't plan on telling me about all this?" If Estelle wasn't discovered to be possessing a purification power, the 'King' she met would probably be the vassal and not the real one.

"Yeah. Figured it'd be worse to involve unrelated parties,"

"..Mm," Estelle hummed in agreement, passing through the hidden rooms with ease thanks to her height.

The spirits' castle actually held this much structure underneath the bare ground. It made her wonder who designed the place, as it must've taken much effort to successfully build it without any disasters occurring with the current technology and knowledge.

They soon reached a humongous gate.

"Lord," A spirit emerged from within the sealed dungeons and handed Heine a rock plate with strange engravings on it.

Estelle squinted.

[Huh? Un..seal.] Even weirder, she understood the text which was in a language she had never interacted with.

[Unseal as in a spell for opening the gate.. Written magic? What is that?] Estelle raised a brow.

Written magic wasn't a foreign concept, but the language the unsealing spell before her was something she hadn't seen before. Not even once.

Just like before, she was able to understand the monsters' tongue.

[The Spirit's ancient language or something? Strange.] She thought.

Alas, Heine's magic power acted like a switch for the door. The gates opened to reveal another sealed door.

"We're going," Heine waved his hand for the servant to retreat and entered the room with Estelle.