At 8:30, there was a little girl, about twelve years old, running in the palace garden with a happy smile on her face.
She paused for several seconds, before directing her gaze towards a beautiful woman who was approaching her, making her smile widen.
She walked towards her as quickly as she laughed, then hugged her legs while speaking happily:
"Mom, you're back!"
However, her laughter did not last long, as her features turned into anger mixed with longing, and she began to hit her mother's leg, who was laughing while looking at her.
"You spend too much time wandering around the world, leaving me in a silly palace! "I missed you so much, you bad mother!"
The little girl spoke with obvious annoyance, while continuing to hit her mother's leg without stopping.
Her mother sat on the grass, laughing still on her face, while holding her daughter tightly to prevent her from running away.
"So, I'm a bad mother, honey?"
She spoke, feigning sadness, while looking at her as she tried to escape from her grasp.
"Yes, you are bad, very bad!" It has been four months since your last visit, and it is as if you are a stranger to me!"
The girl's tone of voice was full of intense anger, as she crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks to express her anger.
However, her anger quickly turned into intense sadness, and her tears began to flow profusely as she looked at her mother.
"Do you hate me and try to avoid me all the time? I only see you six times a year, as if you were coming to check whether I was alive or dead!"
".........."
Her mother remained silent without saying anything; Her daughter's words were full of sadness and longing.
She sighed deeply, then threw herself on the grass, and hugged her daughter close to her chest, while a faint smile appeared on her face, and she gently patted her head without uttering a single word.
In the end, she had nothing to say to her daughter to refute her words.
She admitted in her heart that she was a bad mother, as she preferred her studies to raising her only daughter.
"I'm sorry, honey. I was very bad. "Your mother apologizes for her indifferent behavior."
She spoke regretfully, while stroking the hair of her daughter, who was burying her face in her chest.
The girl raised her head, showing her swollen eyelids and red cheeks, while looking at her mother for several seconds before speaking with childish arrogance and arrogance:
"Of course, you should be sorry! Neglecting someone like me is not enough for one apology. You have to treat me like a princess all this week! I want you to treat me with the utmost luxury!"
Her mother looked at it for several seconds with obvious annoyance, before raising it with both hands, while speaking annoyedly while swinging it in the air:
"You are taking advantage of the opportunity brilliantly! What a naughty little girl you are!
The girl kept laughing out loud, while enjoying herself swinging in the air like a little bird.
On Saturday, May 30 of the year 675, the day after the war between the Beast Lords and the City of Uspeckers, it was six-thirty in the morning when Beatrice woke up from her sleep, feeling tired and exhausted from the previous battle against the Goblin Lord Cavelior.
Beatrice's gaze was too cold as she stared at the ceiling, ignoring everything happening around her.
Her focus was on that strange dream she had; That girl and that lady who she knew nothing about, even their names. However, she felt very familiar with them, without understanding why.
She got up from her bed and wiped her face, trying to get rid of the remains of sleep that were still clinging to her.
Then she turned her gaze to the clock hanging on the wall of the room, and spoke quietly:
"It's six-thirty in the morning. "This is our last day in Uspeckers City."
After that, Beatrice left her bedroom and went to the bathroom to shower and shake off the fatigue weighing on her body, preparing for the day.
She closed her eyes as the hot water flowed abundantly over her body.
But she felt very cold running through her body, so much so that the hot water seemed cold to her.
She leaned against the wall, then fell to the ground, her eyes devoid of life; Not because she died, but because she lost the will to live for a reason she herself did not know.
There was a burning feeling in her heart telling her that everything happening in this absurd and unjust world was wrong.
She turned her gaze to the ground, while tears flowed abundantly from her eyes for no convincing reason. Her feeling of longing increased with every passing second.
It was as if there was someone absent that she wanted to see again, but she didn't even know who it was, which made her even more confused than before.
She covered her face with her hands, while an aura emanated from her that combined an overwhelming darkness resembling the auras of demons in fantasy worlds, and an overwhelming holiness resembling the auras of angels in fantasy worlds.
However, it did not last long, as she automatically sealed her power again, then wiped away her tears and turned her gaze towards the ceiling again.
Her gaze was cold and devoid of any emotion, as if she was inactive in the deepest part of herself.
Then she turned her gaze to her reflection in the mirror.
To find a girl whose face was half carved, while blood and stuffing flowed down her shoulder, and she looked at her with an empty, lifeless look.
Her reflection's lips moved very slowly, as she said:
"Why did you do this to me?"
Beatrice's pupils shrunk until they were the size of pinheads, while drops of cold sweat flowed copiously from her body, and her heartbeat accelerated alarmingly.
The pain, sadness, and despair burned inside her, more than they had before.
She screamed loudly, hitting the mirror with tremendous force.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I didn't do anything! Do you hear me? I didn't do anything! I didn't kill anyone! I didn't kill anyone!
She continued to scream and hit the mirror, which was several meters long and, thanks to its special design, served as an aid to clean one's back or to check if someone had sneaked into the bathroom.
Then she heard a faint sound, the source of which she did not know, but she realized one thing: her mind was making it But she didn't know why.
"You have killed me countless times."
Beatrice was silent, as she placed her head on the surface of the mirror, the signs of shock still attached to her facial features, refusing to disappear.
Then she automatically fell back, leaning her back against the wall for several seconds.
Then she came out of the bathroom dressed, with a calm face, or rather an artificial coldness.
Once she arrived in the kitchen, she found several various plates of food placed on a beautiful wooden table.
She sat at the table and began to eat, while speaking in a calm tone after she realized the identity of the person who prepared it:
"It's Yuta Caseral... but how did he get the keys to my room? What a..."
Beatrice could not complete her sentence, because of the tears that began to flow from her eyes; Her longing for that person suddenly increased.
She spoke tremblingly, as if saying that person's name was the hardest thing she could do:
"Allie... Allie... Allie... Damn it! Who the hell are you? Who are you?
Beatrice spoke angrily, while looking at the food.
However, she found herself eating it; The longing was stronger than the anger, and she wanted to feel a memory that happened in a past she had never experienced.
Each bite was a mixture of bliss and agony, longing and forgetfulness, and memory.
Half an hour later, Beatrice put the spoon on the table and drank the orange juice that was next to her.
Her feelings at that moment were a strange mixture of happiness, sadness, gratitude, hatred, and longing, along with denial of everything that had happened to her.
She left her temporary home, after hiding the traces of her intense crying from her facial features using the kōno.
Beatrice kept wandering around the city of Euspikers, where traces of the chaos caused by its residents were still evident, as the residents tried to flee from it.
However, she did not comment on anything; The city of Uspeckers was destroyed, although no monster had entered it.
Fear, desire to live, fear of death; These are all things that make people monsters against each other.
Their desire to save themselves caused the death of 2,346 people and the injury of about 345 others, ranging from superficial to serious injuries.
If a monster had attacked the city, all these deaths wouldn't have happened. But the reason was the residents themselves; The lack of cooperation and rational thinking made them act like raging donkeys running wildly to escape from a lion, even though the lion was inside a cage.
Beatrice continued on her way, ignoring the bodies that had not yet been collected; Officials were still collecting them and classifying them according to gender, injury, and cause.
She continued on her way without saying anything. Again, everything was clear and needed no criticism.
A mother left her daughter to live alone, and a father sacrificed his child to stay alive. Relationships, such as love, friendship, family, and partnership, if death enters them, destroys them all, like continental plates that constantly diverge and converge without one passing over the other, while humans do this; As they trample each other.
As Beatrice was wandering around the city of Uspeckers without a clear goal, she heard a familiar voice that she had heard long before the Beast Lords' attack, when she was with Lucy.
She turned her gaze to an old man from whom she had bought two glasses of iced orange juice.
Beatrice kept looking at his miserable, pitiful appearance; His clothes were torn, several parts of his body were swollen, and he was leaning heavily against the wall, unable to do anything.
Remnants of tears were still visible on his face, however, he was smiling slightly as he looked at her.
His smile was strangely warm to her, causing her to turn towards him with a look of some curiosity, wondering about his facial expressions.
She sat next to him and began drawing several lines of varying shapes and sizes with her finger.
Then she spoke in a tone that combined calm and amazement:
"Why do you smile, old master, even though you have lost what you used to feed on, and you are so wounded that you can no longer walk?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. "My name is Beatrice Azwassen, granddaughter of the former Magic Emperor Boswell Azwassen."
The old man remained silent for several seconds, before speaking in a calm tone:
"My name is Ahmed bin Abd Iyab, from the Western continent. "I traveled to the Central Continent about two hundred years ago."
Then he added:
"Moreover, thank you for worrying about me. I am a weak servant. My Lord afflicts me with countless trials, but He will not forget His servants. He brought me to comfort you in your pain in your moment of sadness and confusion, and he brought you to comfort me in my pain and sadness, and so that my Lord might compensate me with something better than what He deprived me of."
Beatrice looked at him for several seconds, before speaking in a calm voice, examining his body inch by inch:
"Didn't Islam recommend being kind to parents? But I see you working. Don't you have children who take care of you and manage your affairs despite your weakness and helplessness?
Sadness appeared on his face after hearing Beatrice's words, then he broke the silence and said:
"My sons died several years ago, and my wife died during the chaos that befell Uspeckers City. "I have lost a lot in a short time, and yet, I am still a patient and thankful servant."
Then he added:
"I know that this seems illogical to you, since you are an infidel who believes in Jesus Christ. Isn't what I said true?"
Beatrice looked at him for a long time, trying to understand the direction the discussion would take, then spoke confidently, surprising Ahmed with her answer:
"No, I am not a Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist, or a Hindu. However, my religion is not important."
Then she added:
"However, life is not fair, and you need to think about your life. I'm not saying that I object to your religion, but at the same time you have to persevere. Nothing comes for free in this world, and you know that best.
She took out a storage ring from her dimensional space, then handed it to him, with a slight smile on her face.
"You were right, though. God has brought me to comfort your loneliness, and to give you what God has decreed for you of provision."
Beatrice left immediately without saying anything else, with a slight smile on her face, but it disappeared after several minutes.
She returned her gaze to the place where Ahmed was sitting, to find him praising his Lord with tears in his eyes, immersed in indescribable joy and happiness.
Then she continued straight on.
While Beatrice was wandering around the city of Euspikers, she met Peota, who was looking at the corpses with an expression even colder than hers, while a tear fell from his eyes uncontrollably.
He remembered his weakness in his previous life, the bodies of civilians, and the bodies of his comrades, friends, and family members that he had lost in his previous life, when he had been an easy fool to deceive.
However, he hid his tears before Beatrice noticed them; It was a very serious weakness, and it might cause him to suffer many losses in the future.
He spoke in a calm tone, while looking at the corpses, having lost the emotion he felt before. He was not pretending to be fine, but his psychological state had become indifferent.
"How are you, my dear Beatrice? You look happy today. "Was that old man impressive?"
Beatrice looked at him for several seconds in surprise, before standing next to him, looking at the corpses with a coldness similar to his own.
"Thank you, Yuta, for the meal. "It was delicious as usual."
"No thanks necessary. Consider it a reward for your previous efforts.
Beatrice looked at him for a long time out of the corner of her gray eyes, using her real eye to try to understand the actions of the person standing in front of her.
I found an overwhelming dark aura and a light golden aura, interspersed with an aura that had no color or shape. It was not even a aura in the usual sense. It was something that emerged from the merging of two overpowering auras.
After observing it for no more than two seconds, something resembling a crown appeared inside the golden aura, and something resembling a skull appeared inside the overwhelming black aura.
It was like the Ruler and Death colliding together to create something she did not yet understand, and did not want to understand; Some things must remain unknown to preserve her life.
She knew Yuuta's dark side, after observing him over the past months, even though he treated her very kindly.
She looked directly at him for several minutes, before raising both her hands towards him, while speaking:
"Can you carry me?"
Yuta looked at her for several seconds, as if trying to understand her true intention or what she was getting at.
Still, he picked her up, and she laid her head on his chest.
Although he had carried her many times before, while she slept here and there, this time she felt an inexplicable feeling of protection from someone like Yuta.
She couldn't understand why, but she couldn't stop herself from asking the question that had been on her mind since their first meeting:
"I want to ask you something. Why are you doing all this? "I'm not saying that I don't deserve it, or that I'm just a cold, foolish girl who isolates herself from people."
Then I continued:
"But on the other hand, you kill people if they serve your goals, as happened when you killed Volger, even though you helped Fatima. However, it is still suspicious; "You could have just left her, but you put one of your followers to protect her."
"And on top of that, even her behavior was suspicious. She was not affected by his death; She didn't appear afraid or anything that would happen to a normal person when they see someone die like that. "In addition, you took the place of Kazumaru, the leader of the terrorist organization, and pretended to be injured even though nothing happened to you."
"All your actions are based on hidden goals, and I doubt that you even belong to the Caseral family. "Yet you acted with me as if I wasn't part of your plan, even though I felt that way from our first meeting, when you looked at me like I was a part you didn't want to be there."
Yuta looked at her with astonishment that he didn't show on his face, and he realized that she was watching him.
After all, she was stronger than the Goblin Ruler Cafleur, and close to the level of the Yulven Wolf Ruler and the Nagazis Snake Ruler, based on the strength she had shown so far.
Therefore, it was impossible for the Kono Isolator to act on her. Moreover, she was highly suspicious of everyone, so it wasn't unusual for her to watch him.
She had been watching him from the beginning, before he erased her memory and the memory of both Lucy and Tom during their first days at the academy.
This happened after they discovered information about the body's original owner, information that would have ruined his plans; The Black and White Scorpion was responsible for the experiment that made the original body's owner a combination of a demon, angel, and dragon, and their presence was important to his future plans. Beatrice was no exception to this.
Yuta smiled slightly, looking at her acting like a kitten, half of her face pressed to his chest, so much so that she seemed to have forgotten her main goal, which was to prove her suspicions.
However, a part of her felt lonely, finding being by Yuta's side a safety, a warmth, a protection she couldn't understand why, as if she was next to someone she couldn't understand.
"You weren't part of my plan. This is what you wanted to hear, isn't it? My goal in the academy is to prove myself and get beautiful wives! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I'm kidding you. "I came to Vrselkin Academy because I was bored, nothing more, and I wanted to see some idiots improve."
Yuta spoke calmly, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Then he lowered Beatrice to the ground again, while leaning his back against the fence, looking up at the sky.
"You have to understand the past in order to know the future."
Beatrice kept looking at him, before leaving the place, with a slight smile at the corner of her lips.
"Well, we should head to the student gathering place, it's almost time to return to the academy. Tomorrow, preparations will begin to celebrate the thousand-year anniversary of the defeat of the demon world, and we must be present."
Yuta headed towards her with steady steps, continuing their way to the center of the gathering of students heading to Versalkin Academy.
Thus ended a battle that smelled of blood, sweat, and corpses, and was filled with the sounds of intense crying and screaming for help.
In its place has been replaced by a world that smells of perfume, and its surroundings are adorned with stunning views that are comforting to the hearts, while the laughter of hypocrites is loud, and the machinations of selfish politicians are being hatched.