Blood-soaked laughs seeped out of Eugene's lips. The very sight of Kaiser completely destroying the demons with a single punch sent shivers down his spine.
Power.
Unfathomable power.
The power to do anything and everything one wanted.
Eugene wanted it.
Just being the strongest didn't cut it after all. Just bringing down the taller towers didn't satisfy him.
Even as his body screamed. Even as his veins burned. Even his heart ached.
His soul yearned.
A yearning that made him forget all his pain, all his discomforts. A yearning that left only desire in his being.
Not enough. The demons he had killed were not enough.
The strength he had amassed was not enough.
More. More.
Right then, Eugene felt a soft tug at his chest.
He turned his gaze up and saw a veiled woman hugging from the back. She slowly leaned ahead and rested her head on his shoulder, just enough to make him feel her presence, but not enough to discomfort him in any way.
"What are you thinking?" she said in a soft voice.
Eugene's head cooled down at once. Her voice was like a thread pulling him out of the depths of his head.
Strength left his body as he leaned back.
Almost involuntarily, he stopped holding himself up any longer.
"You're safe with me," she said. "Don't think about anything, guard."
Eugene's eyes closed on their own.
Even though his body was at its weakest.
"Just leave things to me."
Her words had filled his head with strength.
***
The lady smiled as she noticed Eugene getting knocked out.
He held on for days on end just for her. Now, it was her turn.
Even if he forgets about her.
She could just remind him all over again.
Even if he losses all their memories together.
She could just make new ones all over again.
No matter how many times she would have to. She wanted her guard to know of her.
Whatever this feeling was, it wasn't so bad.
The lady was exhausted. Going to hell and being in the presence of all the monsters she had seen, on top of it, killing a whole bunch of them on her own. It wasn't easy, especially for someone who had no strength to rely on. Even if she used the Acacia duchy's unique skill and seeped out the strength of others, her body had a limit to what it could handle.
Normally, she would have fainted long ago. But thinking of her guard had kept her going.
The gates of hell flickered.
As Kaiser unleashed his abilities in Hell, even the space that connected the two places were distorted heavily.
The lady thought it a good time to get a move on when the walls of the secret room suddenly barged through.
"Those guys! Get them!!"
A bandage covered the eyes of Princess Anatolia as she barked her orders at the knights. At once, the well-trained knights of the empire surrounded the lady and her guard before they could even react.
"Tsk. Who is this annoying bitch? Why is she not dead yet?" Titania muttered.
The lady smiled and looked at Anatolia. She was surprised to see the princess remember her again.
"You came again?" the lady said. "I told you I'll come to get you myself. I guess no matter how much you try, a dog's tail can't be straightened up."
Anatolia's face was distorted heavily. The lady did not miss her gaze locked on her guard. The princess was heaving while glaring at him as if he had murdered her entire family and then revived them and murdered them once again just to mess with her. It was a hatred that seemingly had no bottom.
Amusing, the lady thought.
She was about to lift her veil, when more people came rushing in through the walls.
The Emperor, the princes and the princesses, some ministers, all of the shadows, and even some more knights had entered the place.
"That woman! She's the one who was here before!"
One of them screamed.
The lady was quite shocked herself.
Did people not forget her anymore? What was going on?
Behind those thoughts, the plans to escape filled her mind. She gently bit her lips as she thought about what she could do.
Even if she used the power of the curse, she couldn't affect so many of them all at once. And even if she tried to sap their strength and run away, it would be impossible in this space.
Should she buy time till Kaiser comes back?
That seemed to be the most logical route.
"What are you looking at?" a scream resounded. "Capture that woman now!"
It was the crown prince who had spoken up.
Just her luck. The bastard who never had the guts to oppose their marriage was now speaking a lot.
"Are you sure—"
"CAPTURE WHO?!"
Once more, the walls of the secret room distorted.
With short white hair neatly pulled to the back, a man in a matching white suit stepped in. He donned a black overclock on top of his suit at held a staff in one hand,.
Engraved on those robes, was the emblem of the Acacia duchy.
The knights all stopped in their tracks.
Even the nobles and the ministers were unable to move.
"Hades?" the Emperor called out.
"Who are you trying to capture?" the man, the current head of the Acacia Duchy. Duke Hades von der Acacia had appeared.
"You should stand back, Hades," the Emperor spoke as if he was regarding his old friend. "That woman is a criminal that has harmed Anatolia. She's dangerous and can control people, you are not safe either—"
"Watch it, your majesty." Hades turned to the Emperor.
The lady finally realized the situation.
With Balam's defeat at the hands of her guard, the spell that constantly made people forget about her had disappeared. But instead, the memories that they had already lost did not come back.
"F-" the lady spoke, her words slipped out beyond her control. "Father!"
Hades turned to the veiled lady. His eyes were filled with guilt as he heard his daughter's desperate call.
"Father...?" someone muttered.
"You mean, that woman is the lady of Acacia duchy?"
"No way... Hades! You are being controlled—"
Hades turned to the emperor.
"Step back, your majesty. I am not going to let any of you touch a hair on my daughter anymore."
"Do you understand what you're doing?" the Emperor asked. "That woman is a criminal that not only threatened all of the Imperial Family, she also mortally wounded the princess. For all we know the chaos outside is here because of her as well."
The lady wanted to shrug. When one put it that way, what that was in fact what had happened.
"I do not care," Hades said. Clacks rang out in the room as he ignored all the knights and moved over to his daughter.
"Hades!"
"Your Majesty," the duke spoke. He knelt in front of the lady. "Turn back."
The Emperor frowned.
He did not understand how this criminal had suddenly become the daughter of his old friend and one of the pillars of the Empire. But his daughter was harmed too, and his parental instincts were raging.
"You're helping a criminal that threatened the Imperial Family," the Emperor said. "Is this mutiny?"
Hades laughed.
His cackles filled the room.
Slowly, he turned to face the Emperor.
His cold gaze, much like the lady's, pierced through the souls of everyone in the place.
"Do you want it to?" Hades said. "Speak more, and we'll go to war! Right here and now! I'll take down this fucking Empire you're so proud of."
The Emperor bit his lips and shrunk back.
The ducal houses both had great power not incomparable to that of the Imperial Family's. If he went to war here, the result would be ugly.
The Emperor looked around.
"Take my word as an old friend," Hades said. "Be a wise ruler before being an emotional parent. Because if we're talking about crimes done against our children, then I should have already taken all your heads by now."
The Emperor had no retort to those words.
He slowly waved his hands, and the knights hesitatingly shrunk back.
Hades looked at his daughter, ignoring the people around him.
"Father..."
It was the weakest he had ever heard his daughter's voice.
Memories of her were lacking. Guilt filled his eyes and choked his throat.
What kind of parent would forget about their own children?
He wanted to beg for forgiveness right away, when the lady spoke up.
"Can you please lift both of us? I am very tired. Ask for a doctor and some food as we get back too, please."
"Heh? Shouldn't you be crying and blaming me for forgetting you right now, daughter?"
"What the heck? Do you want to be chaired?"
Hades instinctively shook his head.
The lacking memories still had the trauma of being chaired by his daughter over and over seeped deep into his body. He even felt a sliver of pity for the princess that had to face it.
"So..." he spoke, suppressing the desire for a heartfelt reunion. The suppressed emotions took a different form as he noticed his daughter tightly embracing what looked like a human-shaped blood bag. "Who's this man?"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢