How the Regressor Loves the Reincarnated

49. The lost heart

1.

God loves everyone regardless, but we should abandon the expectation that that love will always be fair.

Draig had to realize this with his own body during the time when the 6th emperor of the Barthes Empire was actively expanding his territory and fighting a war.

The war at that time was the first war of conquest since the first emperor of Barthes was crowned emperor. The target was the kingdom of Ritania, a small country in the west that had built up ill feelings by engaging in small and large local wars with each other several times since the days when Bartes was a kingdom.

Unlike the previous war of nerves, when a proper all-out war broke out, Ritania was helplessly pushed away by Bartes, who had gone through constant growth. Realizing the seriousness of the situation belatedly, the royal family of Litania asked for help from Eldnorus, the only hope among neighboring countries, but they demanded a price they couldn’t afford in Litania.

Half of the land and 500 kg of gold.

It was like they openly declared that they had no intention of helping Ritania.

Because the only remaining neighboring country, except for Eldnorus, was a religious state that declared that it would not intervene in conflicts between these countries, Ritania lost its name at the hands of Barthes after about four months of resistance.

Although the territory of Litania came under the rule of the Margrave of Izeria, who made great contributions in the war, and the royal family of Litania were taken captive to the system, and after that, they became ordinary hereditary nobles of the system. It was actually a story from a world far away from Draig. Because he was just a commoner living a normal day-to-day life in Ritania.

Draig’s father was conscripted for the sake of Ritania and held a spear under the banner of Ritania. As Ritania was defeated in the war, even the corpse could not return to its hometown.

Draig’s mother said that Ritania was in trouble, and she turned into a band of bandits.

One very ordinary day, 13-year-old Draig, who realized that he had lost everything, came to hate Barthes and the people of Ritania, which were now destroyed.

God always gives us enough trials to overcome.

Draig killed the priest of the Church of Lumineria, who had been carrying out missionary activities while talking about such things, in a fit of anger, strangling him with his bare hands.

Although Draig was not very tall for his young age, the grip he had developed while doing menial work in the countryside made it possible to kill a skinny priest with his bare body.

The first feelings Draig felt when he killed someone were neither regret nor guilt. What he felt was none other than intense and addictive ecstasy, like blood boiling.

Draig’s hidden tendencies are revealed on the surface due to the events of the day.

This was also an opportunity for him to become famous as the eighth apostle of the zodiac and a notorious murderer of the Margrave of Izeria, which was the territory of Ritania in the past, even though he was not known to the outside world.

It has been about 20 years since Draig came to be known by the public as the purple scorpion of Izeria because he always left a scorpion mark thickly stained with purple poison where he left after killing someone.

The Assassination Brigade, which will become famous throughout the continent for the next 300 years, began with the assassination of Marquis of Izeria, not anyone else.

Since starting his bloody path, Dray he hasn’t opened his heart to anyone. Even his men, if need be, were mercilessly cast out or used as chess pieces, and he continued the life of the Assassination Brigade by raising young children to be monsters like himself.

But even that kind of person eventually opens up to someone. She is a woman I met on a midwinter night night trip that started for an extremely personal reason, unlike usual.

“…Are you going to kill me? If that’s the case, please, please, kill me without getting sick.”

That night, Draig lost her heart to that sickly girl who was about to break with the slightest force.

“How can you kill people so easily?”

“Because the process of reflecting on things that can only be seen on the face of a person at the moment of death is enjoyable.”

She neither rebuked nor hated him. That doesn’t mean she couldn’t understand the woman Draig, though.

“Then why didn’t you kill me?”

“There are countless people who have asked me to save them, but you are the first one to ask me to kill them… Yes. It’s fair to say that I’m interested. Rather, there is something I want to ask you, but why do you want to die?”

“Hmm? Who wants to die? I am also a chimney-like person who wants to live. But if I must die… Wouldn’t it be better to die painlessly?”

The woman’s name is Eleanor Litania. She was the last remaining descendant of the royal family of Ritania, the homeland of Draig, long since perished.

On that day, for the first time since Draig began his nocturnal journey, he finished his nocturnal journey without killing anyone.

It wasn’t that I decided to spare Eleanor. It was only that she thought that she should put off killing her for a while until her own interest had cooled.

At least Draig himself thought so.

Eleanor did not love Draig. However, over time, Draig eventually fell in love with Eleanor.

The girl was clever.

“I don’t love you. How could I love a murderer who is so many years older than me, whose face is always covered, and who knows how many people he may have killed?”

“Yes, I see…”

“But I can accept your love.”

“…What?”

The answer from Eleanor, which was unexpected to be heard even in a dream, was enough to make even the world’s Draig bewildered.

“However, you must swear that you will not kill anyone as long as your love for me remains unchanged.”

It was a poisoned chalice. You shouldn’t even touch him, let alone drink it.

“…You are cocky. What are you like, putting such conditions on me? I will kill you right here and now.”

Draig’s hand wrapped around Eleanor’s neck. The girl’s body was so fragile that even the slightest force would break it.

Eleanor’s expression with her eyes closed and her smile embracing a serenity that was completely contrary to her situation. The girl’s mind was not weak unlike her body.

Dray He couldn’t give strength to his hand.

“Good idea.”

Eleanor, who had completely lost her strength, took his hand and held his head gently in her arms.

2 Years.

It was a period during which external activities of the Assassination Brigade were suspended, and contact between the oldest apostles in the Zodiac and Scorpio, who was in charge of their contact, was cut off.

“Ah, the child’s name is… Aria if it’s a girl, Blake if it’s a boy.”

“…Giving up a child is-“

“That will never happen!”

“Ellie, when you die, I too will be free from the oath I made that day. Wasn’t he accepting the heart of a wicked person like me so that I wouldn’t be able to kill anyone anymore?”

“It will be fine. No, it has to be okay.”

‘Because this child is an opportunity for you, whom I have fallen in love with, to change.’

Where is the end of God’s ordeal?

Within minutes of giving birth, Eleanor passed away.

Eleanor suffered from an illness that caused her to suffer from pangs of fire running through her veins from time to time. The truth is that the day she first met Draig, she intended to die by his hand. But after she heard why Dray was killing her people, her mind changed.

I hope no more people will die at the hands of this man. If that’s difficult, at least she’ll do it while she’s alive. Eleanor had such a wish.

Eleanor, who was the last descendant of a fallen royal family without any power or power, from the moment she realized that Draig had a crush on her, she subtly made every effort to buy his heart. .

When Drayg confessed her love to her, Eleanor offered her conditions and accepted her heart, but she didn’t hesitate at all.

If there was something unexpected for Eleanor, it would have been that during her two years with Draig, she too would fall in love with her.

“Your name is number 0.”

The harmonious family where Draig was born and raised remained only a memory from a long time ago. And with the death of Eleanor, who was the only one who could open Dray’s heart, the person who would teach him the meaning of her family also disappeared.

Draig did not hate children. But she was a sore finger to him that reminded him of her Eleanor, and she did not receive his love. Not only her love, but also the name Eleanor wanted to give her.

[For a fleeting entertainment, it seems that he was quite sincere.]

“…She was no entertainment.”

[Do you want to get it back?]

“…”

[If my apostle wants it, it will be like that in the newly opened world.]

“Do you dare to ask forgiveness for your servant’s self-indulgence?”

[Forgive me.]

Deus deduce me ad cor meum.

Where is the lost heart?

2.

With the child whose face remains in his memory as a shield, he watched the actions of Scorpio, who saved his life from Adele’s sword, and suppressed the desire to intervene for a while. Finally, at Adele’s signal, she prepares magic by moving her magic power.

There are two things I need to do in the current situation. First of all, to protect those children from the aftermath of the battle between Adele and Scorpio. And a third party, to be precise, to support Adele while being wary of the intervention of her most threatening apostle, Libra.

Unlike the appearance of the purple scorpions, which look like they will not end to the point of being a little painful at first glance, they rush at Adele with considerable speed. According to Adele, Scorpio’s power, the shadow of miasma, is a power specialized in combat, capable of both one-on-one and one-on-many. By the way, it is said that the name of the miasma shadow was given by Adele.

“Breath of eternal winter.”

Actually, I don’t think that Scorpio’s attacks will pose a threat to Adele… But anyway, since she asked me for help, I was definitely going to support Adele.

As soon as the implementation of the magic is finished, a haze of frost begins to spread from beneath my feet.

The situation is different from when I faced Julius alone. The me at that time and the me now are incomparable in terms of absolute amount and power.

And it wasn’t just that. It is safe to say that the current situation, where you can focus only on fully implementing magic without being disturbed by the veil of night, is indeed the most ideal battlefield for a wizard.

“What… Magic?!”

Unlike Scorpio, who expressed bewilderment, Adele had already been waiting for my magic from the moment I sent her signal. Just before the frost fog reached Adele and the purple scorpions that surrounded her, Adele disappeared.

Soon, white and purple collided.

Bad-!

The purple scorpions swallowed up by the white frost fog are completely frozen in an instant and transformed into scorpion statues covered in ice armor.

At the same time, Adele, who had disappeared, appears in front of Scorpio, and she splits Scorpio in half with a single swing of her sword.

No, it looked like it had split. Until Scorpio, transformed into a purple liquid, disappears as if sucked into his shadow.

“Tsk, anyway, I’m good at running away like a rat.”

Having said that, Adele slightly twisted his body and lightly avoided the purple scorpion tail protruding from her shadow.

“I’m not good at running away, but is it okay for a lady who has grown up to be a noble person to tease me so harshly?”

Scorpio reappeared on top of a pole far behind and grinned.

“…My head isn’t a flower garden enough to be polite even to a scumbag like you.”

“Is that so? But I thought you came here alone. Why don’t you reveal yourself now, Ophiuchus? Now that I’m back, I want you to return my things.”

You’re not really saying that, are you? I don’t even know what you’re asking for back in the first place. From the moment it came into my hands, it was my thing.

It lightly ignores Scorpio’s request and manifests the magic he had been preparing for right after casting his first spell.

Since I had plenty of time to prepare, my second and third spells took effect without warning.

A protective shield made of magic is erected to surround the children Adele knocked out. Right after that, the light in the entire space where we are is fading and complete darkness descends heavily.

“…Not like that- keuugh!”

In a space without light, shadows cannot exist either. As soon as the versatility of using the shadow, which is part of Scorpio’s power, disappears, the battle becomes overwhelmingly in favor of Adele.

The senses of an assassin sharpened over a long period of time cannot be ignored, but the senses of a master do not yield to it at all. In a battle of pure force, it is also a composition that Adele cannot lose unless she loses. In other words, it was the key goal that sealed victory.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m a body that shouldn’t die yet…!”

…Maybe.