Chapter 71: Interlude: The Girl Named Julia

Ever since I was little, I felt like I was looking at a different world from everyone else.

I knew Father and Mother loved me, but somehow, our gears never meshed.

Perhaps even back then, I vaguely understood that the Kingdom of Yaranli had fallen into stagnation. I only truly realized it after everything was taken from me and I became a candidate for the Spear King.

"I want to learn the spear."

"So you wish to study the spear? Very well. I'll find you an excellent teacher."

"Will Julia become Lord Spear King's aide someday? Perhaps even a minister of the kingdom?"

"As expected of Lady Julia."

"The future of House ■■■■ is secure!"

Father indulged my selfish request and allowed me to learn the spear. Mother watched me with a smile, convinced my future would be bright. The servants never contradicted me either, offering nothing but praise and flattery.

I thought they were insane.

This country's situation. A nation where people felt no guilt about taking from others. A system that encouraged such behavior. A king who might as well have been proclaiming that the weak should die and become food for the strong.

"I refuse to be the one who gets devoured...!!"

That was why I trained with the spear.

I mastered the weapon that symbolized this country and served as its greatest military asset. Because of my small stature, I would always lose in contests of pure strength. So I wielded twin spears, compensating with numbers and technique.

No matter how much I trained, the anxiety never disappeared.

I couldn't defeat everything that threatened me.

Even knowing that, doing nothing was never an option.

No—more accurately, the very idea of choosing inaction did not exist within me.

And yet... I suppose I was already too late.

That was what I thought as I watched my home burn.

"This is punishment for everything they took from us!"

"Get the money out before it all burns down!!"

"Where did you sell my daughter?! Tell me! Tell me before you die!!!"

"You expect us to starve to death?!"

"You've been hoarding food, haven't you?!"

"These supplies were stolen from us! They belong to us!!!"

"What do you mean you can't pay our wages?!"

"You fired us without warning! How are we supposed to live?!"

"You die before I do, you bastards!!!!"

"We're taking back everything you've stolen from us!!!!"

It happened when our family's finances began to collapse.

We reduced the number of people under our employment and attempted to launch a new business.

Then a drought struck.

The slum dwellers driven to famine, together with former employees, attacked my family's estate—the source of all their grievances—and took everything.

Father and Mother stayed behind in the burning mansion so I could escape.

They died together.

The servants who had once showered me with praise stole what little wealth remained and fled.

I stood before the burning house and watched.

"Father... Mother..."

I had thought they were foolish.

I had pitied them for being unable to change.

But that didn't mean there was no love.

They loved me.

And I loved them.

It's true they hadn't always done work they could proudly show the world.

Unlike Swordria, Yaranli still practiced slavery.

Human trafficking existed.

My family had been involved in it.

I understood why people hated us.

Even so, I couldn't agree with everything our attackers said.

Some accusations missed the mark entirely.

Others had probably joined the looting simply because they saw an opportunity to steal.

"I won't forgive them. I'll kill every last one of them."

I would kill everyone who took what was mine.

Turning away from the burning house, I engraved every face in that frenzied mob into my memory.

No matter how long it took, I wouldn't let a single one escape.

I would hunt them all down.

Even if they had legitimate reasons.

I didn't care.

I didn't want to know.

"Hey, isn't that brat the daughter of this family?"

With that single sentence, I fell into the hands of the people who had burned my home.

They tormented me.

They did whatever they wanted.

Even then, I never begged.

Whether they cut off my arm or took my legs, all I could think about was that one day I would kill them.

Then everything changed.

"She has talent. Therefore, we will take her to Lord Spear King. This is the duty and responsibility of every citizen. You have no right to refuse."

With those words, both my hell and my revenge came to an end.

Everyone who tormented me died.

Everyone who planned to sell me died.

Everyone I had sworn to kill was killed.

The inorganic aide of the Spear King who came for me stole away my reason for living.

Did I hate those spearmen?

Of course not.

They had merely done their jobs.

They came to bring me to the Spear King and eliminated anyone who stood in their way.

To resent them would make me no different from those who burned my home.

I could never accept that.

Then should I simply die and find peace?

That was never an option either.

Father and Mother had given their lives so I could live.

How could I throw that life away?

They never truly understood me, but they cherished me.

At the very least, I wanted to fulfill their final wish.

"Julia, be happy."

"Fall in love. Laugh together with someone precious to you."

I didn't know how to obtain that happiness.

If their words described the destination, I couldn't see the road leading there.

Even so, I refused to give up.

And so, I chose to live.

I followed the Spear King's aides into the special district, a place only those permitted by the king could enter.

Girls my age had been gathered there.

I watched them with cold eyes.

And then, at the end of that path, I came face-to-face with a monster.

"So, you have gathered before me. Those who will become the next Spear King after me."

Those words alone nearly crushed me.

I never knew mere words could possess such power.

The shattered eyes that seemed to see nothing reminded me of the men who had captured, abused, and violated me.

Those eyes reflected nothing.

Saw nothing.

The only thing I understood was how completely broken they were.

The years that followed were hell.

A hell where we constantly dragged one another down.

Yet that was normal in this country.

The weak were robbed.

The strong were allowed to rob.

At least here, results were determined by effort.

Those who failed to understand that were expelled while begging pitifully for mercy.

Everyone around me was an enemy.

If we survived until the final examination five years later, we would become aides to the Spear King and earn permanent residency within the district.

"I have to do this... for Mother's sake...!!"

Every time Shion ran ahead of me while saying that, I felt a surge of resentment.

At the same time, I knew it was simply jealousy.

What she possessed was something precious that had been stolen from me.

I also sensed something unsettling.

The aides looked at us with pity.

Thinking it dangerous to stand out, I deliberately allowed Shion to take first place again and again.

I knew using her as a shield was wrong.

But I soon learned my decision had been correct.

"The next Spear King's vessel has been chosen. It will be Shion. You've all done well to survive this long."

After the final examination ended, one of the aides announced it.

The truth revealed to everyone except Shion was horrifying.

Never in my life had I been more grateful that my instincts had been right.

The next Spear King was nothing more than a sacrifice.

Becoming a puppet whose body would be stolen and whose mind erased by the remnants of that king?

What a sick joke.

But that future was no longer mine.

I had successfully pushed it onto Shion.

My relief didn't last long.

Shion's mother died.

Having lost her sole reason for living, Shion began to falter.

At this rate, she would fall behind, and as the runner-up, I would become the next vessel.

The future I desperately wanted to avoid was rapidly approaching.

Then—

"My name is Ciel. I'll be acting as Shion's mother. It's nice to meet you."

I hadn't realized the Spear King would never simply sit back and watch.

Somehow, they found a younger girl with dead eyes and assigned her the role of Shion's mother.

Perhaps magic was involved.

Whatever the method, it worked.

Shion recovered and continued growing stronger.

Watching her smile beside that fake mother filled me with pity.

Unlike me, she would never even realize what had been stolen from her.

She would continue living until the day the Spear King stole her body.

Or perhaps...

Considering that despair was required before the body could be taken...

Maybe Shion's mother had been...

Such pointless speculation crossed my mind.

"I'm going to kill the Spear King."

"Julia, but—"

"Laila, are you satisfied? Living in a country ruled by that king? The rest of you too. If you've survived this long, you should at least know how to throw your lives away properly."

"...A coup d'état?"

"It'll take time. Even so, I'll do it. I'm not the only one dissatisfied with the Spear King. If we do this right, others will join us. We'll recruit our fellow candidates, gather troops, and kill that monster."

The Spear King's body was reaching its limit.

The moment they targeted Swordria's Saint of Healing, who possessed light magic, my suspicions became certainty.

Shion's body wasn't fully matured yet.

The Spear King was likely waiting for the perfect moment to take it.

Then we would strike first.

We would gather allies and kill that weakened monster.

Many of us would die.

But if we wanted to kill it, we had to do so before Shion's body was stolen.

If Shion truly became the Spear King...

Then all hope would be lost.

I knew all too well that the gap in power between us would become impossible to overcome.

I approached fellow survivors like Laila and Leila.

I contacted aides who still retained some measure of free will.

Piece by piece, we built our plan.

When the time came to decide who would sit on the throne after the Spear King died, everyone unanimously chose me.

I had intended to manipulate the outcome myself.

The fact that everyone independently reached the same conclusion was strange.

In the end, I decided they probably just wanted to avoid the responsibility.

"Shion is entering the King's War?"

"Yes. It seems a new Sword King has been appointed in Swordria. A King's War will be held over the Saint. If we lose, the magic stone mines and Shion herself will be handed over."

"Don't be ridiculous!?"

The mines could be recovered eventually.

Territory changed hands all the time.

The real problem was Shion.

If she were handed over, there was no telling what the Spear King would do.

Without the Saint's healing, the Spear King might abandon patience and immediately come for my body instead.

And I knew I wouldn't be able to resist.

That thing was a genuine monster.

Our preparations for the coup weren't finished.

Even if we succeeded in killing the Spear King, we still lacked the groundwork necessary to prevent the kingdom from descending into chaos.

There was only one solution.

Take Shion back.

"We never know who's watching in the castle. So until then, I'll play the role of a selfish opportunist."

A greedy woman willing to sacrifice Shion for her own benefit.

That would be the mask I wore.

I would hide my true intentions until the moment my spear reached the Spear King.

Kill the monster.

Then become happy.

If that meant dragging back a Shion deceived by that foolish and pitiful woman pretending to be her mother, so be it.

With that resolve, I headed to the King's War.

And there, I met the overly naive Sword King.

My first impression was simple.

"He's nothing like the Spear King."

His soft, gentle presence reminded me of Mother.

But the fact that he was a man made my body recoil.

He blended together precious memories I cherished and hateful memories I wanted to forget.

My emotions became hopelessly tangled.

That was why I ended our conversation quickly.

Normally, I would have planted seeds of discord and maneuvered politically.

But I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Then the King's War began.

We were separated and forced to fight individually.

As I desperately struggled to survive, everything else became secondary.

All I could think about was saving myself.

If Shion didn't inherit the Spear King, I would be next.

The coup.

The preparations.

The plans.

Everything would become meaningless.

Yet even that seemed preferable to having no chance at all.

I unleashed the power hidden within the spear granted by the Spear King and directed it toward Shion.

The darkness wrapped around her.

Together with despair, it seeped into her.

She was supposed to become the next Spear King.

That was how it was supposed to happen.

"SHION!!!!!"

Out of nowhere, Shion's "mother" came running.

Her clothes were torn from catching on branches.

She threw her arms around Shion from behind.

Crying.

Shouting not for herself, but for the girl she loved.

They looked like a real family.

Watching them felt like being forced to stare at everything I had lost.

It was unpleasant.

I wanted it to end.

Then—

"It's okay, Mom. I'm okay now. Because I know your love is real. My heart will never break again."

I screamed that I couldn't accept such an ending.

I shouted that forgiveness couldn't possibly be that simple.

Looking back, I must have looked pathetic.

But I couldn't accept it.

If such a happy ending was possible...

Then why couldn't I have one too?

The reality of defeat, combined with the feeling that my entire life had been invalidated, weighed heavily on both my body and soul.

The despair that surpassed even the day my home and family burned consumed me.

That was why the darkness emerging from the Spear King's spear moved toward me.

It swallowed me whole.

Everything vanished.

My heart sank into an abyss of darkness.

"So this is my end."

My reason to struggle was gone.

My reason to live was gone.

I hated both lives—the life of taking from others and the life of being robbed.

So I tried to change things.

And failed.

In the end, I really was my parents' daughter.

A life where effort bore no fruit.

A life where everything was taken away in the end.

Unlike Shion, nobody loved me enough to save me.

And so I sank alone into the darkness.

Then—

"Oh, you're awake? I know you probably don't like being carried by me, but bear with it a little longer. I don't think you can move yet."

When I opened my eyes, I was shocked to see his face illuminated by light.

Even within the darkness, I had heard someone shouting.

I knew someone was fighting.

I just never believed it would amount to anything.

I saw Laila running toward me while calling my name.

Her body was covered in wounds.

The fact that she could barely run told me how desperately she had fought.

Even Leila, who lived for battle, couldn't stand without using her spear as a crutch.

Yet she was staring directly at me, breathing out in relief.

Then the boy smiled.

"You did well. You really did. You've done more than enough. Everything's okay now. You're not alone anymore."

Those words affirmed everything I had been.

They acknowledged me.

This boy probably had no idea how much that saved me.

I had friends.

I had comrades.

People willing to help me.

People who relied on me.

I simply hadn't noticed.

I was so focused on using others that I never thought to ask for help.

That was probably the difference between Shion and me.

The Sword King didn't even realize that the promise he once made to me had finally come true.

And that was fine.

Better that way.

I didn't want to show weakness.

My pride would never allow me to cling to someone else.

Nor could I accept being unable to repay the debt I owed him.

And I refused to remain someone who only needed protection.

I had obtained ownership of the King's Spear.

That meant I was destined to become the next Spear King.

So I would do something no one else could.

I would stand as this carefree boy's true equal.

That was the moment I found a reason to live.