A Villainess Should Be Strong

"Why am I alone?" The Ruler repeated Estelle's question, not knowing how to reply. "What do you mean by that?"

Estelle calmed down her nerves as she was somewhat frightened to ask this question all along. She formulated her speech in order to lay the matter down carefully. She was still afraid that she might trigger something off.

"Well.. how.. did you become the Ruler of Eterna?" Estelle asked, prying into the matter.

It was a logical question. A lot of things didn't make sense for the Estelle who had tried to find out more about the Eterna.

With each piece of information she unraveled, the more the displeasure and shock she amassed.

Within her knowledge, there were some ways in which one could become a Ruler.

First, if you were born into royalty, you could go through the succession process.

Second, if you could conquer a kingdom, you may choose to sit on the throne's position.

Third was a bit out of the norm. It was when creatures like Heine were born with the duty to rule. There were no specific bloodline, and they would have no direct family. But they would still have the title [Ruler] attached to themselves without having to battle over it.

Estelle wondered which category applied to the Ruler. In Estelle's perspective, she would never voluntarily rule over this place.

It was dry, silent, and without any sparks of excitement. Everything was blank white, mirroring the theme of 'nothingness' that covered the entire place.

Estelle was certain that she would go crazy in no time if she was left inside this place to rot for an eternity.

The Ruler was wise. Whenever it spoke to her, it would always bring words of knowledge, showing his many years of experience living and overseeing the world.

But why? In such a place, why would the Ruler choose to be restrained here if it had power to begin with?

There were no lifeforms. Then, what prevented him from leaving and going on his own path? It was very confusing for Estelle, who valued freedom.

Right. She was always free in her choices.

Although rules were placed onto her as a human being inside the Surface, she followed little out of the astounding amount of both written and unwritten rules she had.

For example, she frequently knew that what she was doing was not the best thing, but she would still end up doing the deed because she wished to do so and felt an urge to accomplish her wants.

It was selfish, but Estelle did prefer herself more than anybody else. She was confident in herself, confident in her ability to take on the world. She believed that her judgement was good enough to carry her in life.

Because she was nurtured to think this way in her previous life. Not to mention, the betrayal that she ended up facing caused her to dislike trusting people easily.

Even then, she still ended up being influenced by her emotions and taking rash actions at times. She admits that she had a tendency to perform dumb acts from time to time.

Freedom.

The main topic was the aspect of freedom.

She, who was weaker than the Ruler could obtain freedom with no problem at all.

The matter of conditions had to be considered as well, but if everything was laid down and put into perspective, the Ruler should have a higher chance of obtaining the desired freedom.

Estelle was undoubtedly strong in the category of normal human beings.

Estelle couldn't understand why a much stronger being like the Ruler couldn't even obtain freedom for itself.

If Estelle had to say something, she would dare to proclaim that the Ruler was omnipotent.

Like a True God who had a complete awareness and judgement over the entire universe. It was her first time meeting with such a complex being. The Ruler's intentions always amazed her in one way or another because of its peculiar way of thinking.

The only shortcoming it had was that it couldn't separate itself from being just a fleeting voice and having to do a certain set of duty that it couldn't refuse.

How strong do you need to gain separation from this cursed position? From being the Ruler of Eterna?

The Ruler itself never expressed a particular fondness towards the realm it governed over. The Ruler did its duty, but it didn't mean that it did it with happiness.

Sometimes, the Ruler would sound strained, and that made Estelle grew even more curious on what was tugging the Ruler down.

Was it the tasks? Why couldn't it throw away all its duties and set a fate for itself?

Why was its fate this gloomy and low? Or was Estelle the only one who thought of the Ruler's life as this way?

Waiting for its answer with patience, Estelle rubbed her fingers together. It was her first time in a while feeling this anxious. The last time this happened was a few years back, when she tried to talk about her decisions to her parents.

She was once again reminded of Alan, who she had entered a probable cold war with as of the current moment.

She wondered what happened now that her consciousness was here. Her body, would it enter a coma? What would Alan's reaction be?

Would he regret everything because he didn't stop Estelle and didn't force her to stay? That he let her go when he clearly knew that she was definitely going to aim for the storm?

Usually, the Ruler would answer her with high speed and precision. However, this time, it was much slower and with constant pauses.

The Ruler hummed. "I guess...it's because my existence is necessary in order for this realm to stay...?"

With an uncertain tone, the Ruler answered.

It was an answer Estelle didn't expect.

"Necessary? What do you mean?" Estelle questioned.

"If I'm not here, Eterna will fall apart. I don't have a physical body anyway, so I can't go anywhere. I like to watch other realms, though. They are pretty interesting," The Ruler commented.

Estelle repeatedly blinked at the Ruler's answer. What was it all about?

A realm of nothingness. The realm itself was mixed with nothing but freedom because of its abstract element. However, the Ruler that governed over it was the complete opposite of the element.

Estelle wondered what the Ruler thought every time it looked at the other realms, which were supposed to be much more restrictive than the Eterna, and yet had denizens that lived a life filled by colorful emotions.

Was Estelle the one who looked at the world with rose-tinted glasses?

Why did Eterna need a Ruler if all there is inside the realm was nothingness?

Estelle was curious to see the inner realms of the Eterna, but she couldn't wager her soul power for it. She felt regretful that she arrived in Eterna with low power digits.

"Is the Eterna needed?" Estelle almost wanted to take this pitiful consciousness away from its shackles.

"It is. It definitely is. For creatures that managed to get their value down to 0, there would be no place other than the Eterna for them. Their remnants will be stored here, fused with the realm itself. It's the last straw before they are considered 'deleted' by the universe itself. If the Eterna collapses, countless remnants will disappear as well,"

Estelle thought of the Ruler as a selfless being. She didn't completely understand this whole 'remnant' thing, but she knew that what he did was basically guarding over a huge pile of meaningless fragments.

Fragments with no consciousness that served as nothing more than memory. Fragments that didn't even matter anymore.

"I am bound to the realm. Eterna is indirectly myself, as I can simultaneously observe everything going inside the Eterna in one go," The Ruler said, complications showing up in its speech.

Estelle's brows creased as she digested the Ruler's reasoning.

The Ruler was the Eterna itself.

Then, wouldn't it mean that the Ruler was a 'Value 0' being too? Because the Eterna held nothingness.

"..You must be worried for me. For that I thank you," The Ruler said, chuckling amidst his words because Estelle's expressions were changing at a rapid pace.

Estelle was covered with deep emotions.

"Don't worry about it. Better yet, why don't you start prying open your powers to get the things going? If you don't hurry, there's no telling when a disaster could occur once again in the Surface," The Ruler advised.

"I'm just baffled," Estelle said, not sure on how to convey her mixed up thoughts.

"Don't be. You'd be better off using that time on yourself. You have a very high potential, but your enemy would naturally have the same for balance. I know what happened on your side, and your stay in Eterna is the perfect chance to overcome that disadvantageous difference,"

"By that, you mean?" Estelle tilted her head.

"You discovered how to 'play' with the element of nothingness, but you haven't truly 'used' it yet. This is only the beginning, you can go so much farther than this. Use your time here wisely before you return to the Surface, because you might not have another chance to come back here,"

Estelle realized that the Ruler meant the phenomenon she experienced while experimenting with the element. She was able to get it to work, but the combination between her Creation Magic and Nothingness couldn't be fully completed.

There was still room to work with, room that might land her the chance to get a ticket back home.

"..I got it," Estelle nodded in acknowledgement, accepting her imperfections and wanting to fix it.

However, inside her mind, she wondered.

What would become of this realm and the Ruler if she left for good?