I Became the Teacher of the Imperial Family’s Bastard

031. Rebecca (1)

Beatrice’s eyes trembled.

She wanted to say that it wasn’t like that.

But, no other words came to mind.

Yuren’s reproach was faster than her fabricating words.

“You’re the one who knows best that summoning demons is considered taboo, and you know well that this one summoning could have turned the system into chaos. And after stopping that, what? You want to be killed? Is this a joke?”

Wrinkles formed on Yuren’s nose.

“Isn’t it just that you don’t want to take responsibility and are running away? You just want to be comfortable.”

“No… Khh…”

Beatrice’s attempt to stand up and refute ended in failure.

Her lips were tightly shut.

Her eyes were filled with injustice.

But, Yuren was not the type to be swayed by such things.

“Isn’t it true? Execution if caught? Of course. If it ends with that, sure, I can kill you here. But what about the Magic Tower? The empire’s prestige that was tarnished on the day of the founding festival because of the mess you made? Who will take responsibility for that? Should we dig up your grave after you’re dead? Will that solve the problem?”

Every single word was true.

Beatrice knew it too.

The taboo was not just a human taboo, but a taboo for all races that do not worship demons.

The history of chaos they brought to this land proved the necessity of the taboo.

She had tried to summon it, and actually almost caused an accident.

If she had been careless, she would have endangered all the foreign dignitaries who came here for the founding festival.

Blocked it?

A miracle.

If it weren’t for Yuren’s strange ability, even if Sir Drenor, the Sword Master, had come, he wouldn’t have been able to resolve this situation.

Knowing that, he tried to take responsibility with his life.

Was that wrong?

If so.

“…Then what should I do?”

How should I take responsibility?

It was a question that might have seemed like a rebellion at first glance, but Beatrice’s expression showed that it was a longing for an answer.

Yuren looked at her for a long time.

Then he spoke.

“Repay it by living.”

It was a statement without a hint of wavering.

“Repay it by living. Until the moment your life ends, fiercely protect what you tried to destroy with your own hands. Live a life for the Empire.”

“You…”

“Talking about dying and whatnot. That’s running away. On the battlefield, the one who commits suicide is the one who runs away. The one who charges into the enemy’s midst until the end, taking down as many enemy heads as possible to accompany him to the afterlife, is the one with responsibility.”

Tsk, Yuren clicked his tongue.

It was strange.

Those words seemed to convey something he had experienced himself, rather than just a metaphor.

But before such sentiments, there was something that came to mind first.

“…I’ve already committed a sin. Do you think that’s possible?”

Yuren said to repay it by living, but from Beatrice’s perspective, it was just a plausible indulgence to avoid facing what she had done.

The guilt for what she had done wouldn’t easily be erased.

So when she asked the question, Yuren answered as if he didn’t understand what she was talking about.

“I’ve seen all sorts of strange people.”

“…What?”

“Is your head a bit messed up? Hey, let me ask. Has anyone died from summoning the demon?”

“…!”

“Anyone got hurt? Ah, I did get hurt, but let’s exclude that. Isn’t it just that the humans below fell asleep? Do those humans even know you summoned the demon?”

“That is…”

Beatrice was at a loss for words.

Then Yuren snorted.

“They don’t know. So, I’m the only one who knows about this properly.”

Only then did something come to mind.

‘…Ah?’

She was soaked in pain while merging with the demon.

She wasn’t in her right mind when she was falling apart.

Since she had been in that state ever since the summoning, there was something she hadn’t thought of.

She was summoned, endured, and Yuren drove out the demon.

That means,

‘No one…’

**Not dead.**

**It was the moment of realization.**

**Beatrice, who had been dazed, finally reacted.**

**“Ha, haha…”**

**The rising emotion was relief.**

**Beatrice couldn’t understand her own feelings.**

**Despite never liking or caring for those people in her lifetime, an overwhelming gratitude for being alive surged within her.**

**Even as her arm fell off and her eyes burned, tears of joy flowed.**

**“Kkeuh…!”**

**She covered her mouth with her one remaining hand.**

**Her eyes squeezed shut.**

**Something that could be either laughter or sobbing leaked through her fingers.**

**Then, at some point, trembling close to a murmur, she uttered those words.**

**“Sorry… Thank you…”**

**There was so much to apologize for.**

**And she was immensely grateful to Yuren for setting her on the right path.**

**She was so thankful that no one had died because of her.**

**Yuren, with a cough mixed with a metallic sound, had kept silent all this time.**

**It was after that.**

**“But don’t forget.”**

**“Kkeuh…”**

**“I know everything. What you did. What you might have done. And the trouble I went through to stop it.”**

Yuren fiddled with the necklace hanging around his neck.

“The real victim is me. So, you owe me.”

Their eyes met.

Beatrice unconsciously bit her lip at that moment.

“…Ah, I can’t find the words. I’ll just be blunt. Come when called, go when told. Do as you’re told and die if ordered. That’s for the Empire and the way to atone for what you’ve done.”

Despite the harsh words, Yuren’s face was devoid of malice.

For some reason, there was no sign of resentment.

“Do you understand?”

Beatrice, unable to remove the hand covering her mouth, finally answered.

“…Yes.”

As he said, she had incurred a debt that could not be repaid with thousands of words or tens of thousands of gold coins.

Even that was not enough.

More than anyone, she knew that she could not resist those words.

It was a moment when tears would not stop.

Boom―!

A man appeared, breaking through the collapsed entrance of the celestial garden.

A handsome man with blond hair, drenched in sweat and bewilderment.

At the sight of him, Yuren clicked his tongue.

“You’ve come quite quickly.”

It was Kallios.

He looked at the state of the Celestial Garden, then asked Yuren with a bewildered expression.

“…What happened here?”

His voice was choked with emotion.

Yuren replied,

“I saw the signs of a demon summoning. So I stopped the summoning. With me…”

Yuren’s finger pointed at Beatrice.

“…and this woman.”

Beatrice, who had become a hero despite being the one who summoned the demon, shuddered.

Kallios finally noticed her and sighed.

Then, trembling with clenched fists and a devastated expression, he said,

“…I was too late.”

“Do you realize that?”

“I’m sorry. I dropped everything and came running…”

“Yes, yes, and ruined everything. You could have at least sent Sir Drenor.”

“…I did. He is tending to the fallen wizards below. He must have been too preoccupied to notice the traces up here. He’s not one with a broad view.”

“Damned old man.”

“…Are you alright?”

“Just help me up. I have somewhere to be.”

Kallios lifted Yuren with a sorrowful expression.

Something was being sorted out.

Yuren was about to leave.

It was only at that moment of realization that Beatrice, overwhelmed with emotion, recalled the words she had failed to convey.

“Wa, wait!”

Rebecca.

She had to convey something about her as soon as possible.

But,

“Rebe…”

“I know.”

The response that came back made Beatrice flinch.

“Now I understand. I was an idiot.”

A chill ran down her spine.

‘…Murderous intent.’

The aura Yuren exuded as he spoke was so filled with murderous intent that it took her breath away.

* * *

The body felt like it could break at any moment.

Somehow, he gathered the remaining mana to heal such a body.

When it seemed impossible, he borrowed the prince’s mana.

The healing power of the necklace, combined with the potion the Crown Prince carried, indeed restored his body to a level where he could fight.

In that process, a thought came to mind.

‘It still doesn’t make sense.’

No matter how much he thought about it, everything about that commoner girl didn’t make sense from start to finish.

At first, he let it slide.

He thought the country was just going crazy because of a woman.

And after getting closer to the Crown Prince, he thought,

Maybe that woman used some kind of sorcery.

After the regression, he thought,

There must be something suspicious about that woman.

But everything was just suspicion.

It was circumstantial suspicion, so he couldn’t act rashly.

Above all, he thought about the backlash that would come if he touched that girl without even knowing her true identity.

Yes, thinking like that,

‘I was too complacent.’

He even felt resentful.

He caressed the switch.

And he reviewed the previous battle.

‘Demon.’

My eyes cannot see the demon.

Only when I infuse mana into this switch, their true form becomes faintly visible.

Realizing this, a possibility I hadn’t considered, a possibility I dismissed as ‘no way,’ comes to the forefront.

‘What if that woman is a demon’s contractor?’

Then everything makes sense.

The reason she appeared ordinary even when scanned with mana.

The reason she produced such bizarre results despite that.

The reason she felt so unsettling.

Let’s think again.

‘A demon could do it.’

A woman who appears ordinary to others, yet inexplicably ensnares and captivates only the influential figures of the empire.

A woman who, when involved, causes everyone to lose their rational judgment and go berserk.

The abilities of the Golden Knights?

No matter how exceptional they are, they cannot escape the laws of demons.

They are transcendent beings from another dimension that existed before the gods created this land.

Beyond that, the hypothesis that the woman is a demon explains one contradiction that has existed since the previous life.

-They say she is living well. She met an ordinary man and started a family.

It was something the Crown Prince said one day before the regression.

Yes, that could happen.

It’s entirely possible.

Enchanting the influential and marrying a commoner? How romantic.

But you see.

‘That was during the war. The era of Aria’s reign of destruction.’

We heard those words a year before we were released from prison, when the front lines had collapsed, the treasury was dry, and everyone was dying together.

It was a time when commoners couldn’t hope to build a happy family, let alone have the luxury to track and observe the life of a single commoner.

Yet, the prince, having heard those words from somewhere, firmly believed them and told me.

From one to ten.

Everything related to that woman was a bundle of contradictions.

It had to be uncovered.

I had to see her again and confirm her identity.

So I asked the prince and found her residence.

Thus, my suspicion was confirmed.

“We’re here. This is where she lives. But Yuren, do we really have to go this far?”

The prince, though apologetic, asked as if he wasn’t pleased with my request.

I ignored his words and looked again at the scene before me.

No matter how much I looked, nothing changed.

With that, I felt a rising sense of futility and asked the prince again.

There was no other way.

“···Your Highness.”

“Why, what do you want to say this time?”

“Isn’t it strange, Your Highness?”

“What exactly?”

“A common woman who travels between the capital and here, living in a cave outside the castle. Doesn’t Your Highness find this even a little strange?”

The place the Crown Prince led me to, claiming it was her home, was the entrance to a cave outside the castle walls.

This was not a place where a powerless woman could live alone.

Yet, the Crown Prince tilted his head and innocently asked back.

“What’s strange about it?”

His unclouded eyes sent chills down my spine.

What a terrible curse this must be.

Even during our brief encounter in the street, I had a vague sense of it, but now, even after giving up on the woman, the underlying perception remains twisted.

Didn’t that tell you?

‘···Demon.’

That is not human.

* * *

Kallios couldn’t understand this situation at all.

Of course, summoning a demon is a serious matter.

But even after explaining it so thoroughly, why do they still consider Rebecca a monster?

Why, in the deep of night, with such a wounded body, do they insist on causing a disturbance at the house where a woman lives alone?

It was a distressing matter.

No matter what the world called her, Kallios himself knew best that Rebecca was not a witch.

So he tried to persuade Yuren once more…

“Stop. Please?”

“Just, follow me.”

Yuren wouldn’t listen.

He even considered using force.

But Yuren’s demeanor was too fierce; it wouldn’t end well.

In the end, the only choice left for Kallios was to become a mediator.

Before that fierce Yuren caused any trouble, he had to stand in the middle and clear up the misunderstanding once and for all.

With that thought, Kallios stepped ahead of Yuren.

Thus, they reached the end of the ‘house,’ Rebecca’s dwelling within the commune.

“Your Highness?”

Rebecca looked at him with wide eyes.

At that sight, Kallios couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

Rebecca was in her pajamas.

Clothes hung on the wall, and other girlish living items were neatly arranged.

How could she be a witch?

She was just a cute girl.

Kallios spoke with a heart full of regret.

“It’s too late to come here, I’m sorry. That’s…”

At that moment, Rebecca discovered Euren.

She seemed to swallow her fear, her body shrinking back.

Calios tried to persuade Euren quickly.

But,

“Ah, damn…”

As soon as Euren heard his words, nothing came out of Calios’ mouth.

Euren’s expression, seeing Rebecca, was twisted into a grotesque grimace.

The look on his face was undoubtedly a revulsion of the utmost degree towards Rebecca’s very existence.

At that moment, his body stiffened in extreme reaction.

Calios’ eyes saw the ensuing change clearly.

Snap!

Euren suddenly jumped out without warning.

So,

Ggak-ggak–

He hacked off Rebecca’s head.

Plink-plink, Rebecca’s head flew through the air, spattering blood everywhere.

Calios’ breath was cut off.

What filled his field of vision was the greenish gaze of Rebecca’s eyes, losing their light.

The brain, unable to accept reality, stiffened with a jolt.

Soon, the teeth parted.

“…Rebecca?”

Her name wandered aimlessly in the void.

Why.

That thought alone filled his mind.

More than anything else, it felt like his insides were being torn apart, ready to burst.

The boiling emotions soon transformed into anger, murderous intent, directed at Yuren.

The change in emotions was so rapid that he couldn’t control it himself.

His hand went to the sword.

But,

“You…!”

“Your Highness, please come to your senses.”

Kallios felt something strange in Yuren’s reaction.

“Does Your Highness truly see that as human?”

“…?”

Yuren was still pointing at Rebecca’s severed head, his face twisted in disgust.

…No, it was an expression of revulsion that couldn’t be fully described by the word disgust.

At the same time, he looked extremely rational.

Just like those days when he would point out his own mistakes, it was a refined demeanor.

That awakened his thoughts.

There is something in the direction the switch is pointing.

With that certainty, Kallios creaked his head towards Rebecca.

At that moment, what Kallios saw was just that.

Hee-jook—

[Ah, caught me.]

Rebecca, with only her head remaining, was laughing with her facial muscles grotesquely twisted.

End

ⓒ papapa.

—-