Chapter 43
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The memories of her past life flooded back vividly.
It was the same then.
The epidemic, no, this terrible disaster...
'The Cardel family created and spread it.'
In her previous life, after Odelia married Ludville and became a member of another family, Cardel was left in a situation where they had to achieve accomplishments without a Purifier.
But all they knew was how to exploit Purifiers. How could they, with no ability of their own, achieve anything?
Gawain's choice was despicable and classic.
Create and spread an epidemic, then appear like a hero to cure them and become their savior.
'Ludville knew all this in his past life.'
In the repeated regressions, their marriage wasn't the first, and Gawain's actions were always similar.
Realizing it was Gawain's scheme, he purified the Demonic Energy before the disease could spread, completely thwarting the "miraculous appearance" performance.
The heroic drama Gawain had planned was shut down before it could even begin.
But now...
"Burn the entire city."
Ludville was trying to use drastic and inhumane methods before even identifying the cause.
'Gawain must be rejoicing right now.'
The Grand Duke Excepcion's direct order of blockade.
The people dying inside.
It was too obvious of a frame.
When Gawain arrived in Bellader, he would seize public opinion by saying, "If I hadn't appeared, this city would have been reduced to ashes."
And while solving the disease he spread, he would act as a savior, saying, "The Grand Duke abandoned you, but Cardel saved you."
If things continued this way, Ludville would become the villain.
A monster, a madman, the empire's disaster.
'...That's what he'd be called.'
Before Gawain arrived here, before it became irreversible, she had to stop it somehow.
'In your past lives, you always saved them. Even through thousands of regressions.'
Of course, sometimes he ignored them, and in some iterations, he even abandoned them and moved on.
But...
In the last life where Ludville thought he could no longer regress, he saved them himself.
He must have wanted to save them, deep down.
So Odelia would use Ludville's memories, follow the traces of knowledge he left behind.
She intended to create the best possible outcome.
Just as you did.
"Is everything ready?"
The captain of the Order of the Glimmering Dawn, clad in black armor, asked.
Behind him, knights who had finished preparing for the operation stood with their swords drawn, hesitating.
The dead bodies had already been burned.
But directly executing the infected who were still alive was not an easy task, even for those who had fought through countless battlefields.
"...Do we really have to do this?"
The adjutant, after a moment of hesitation, asked cautiously.
"We've done nothing wrong... Please, sir..."
"Please save at least my children!"
"Mommy... I want to go home... Mommy..."
"Heaven has forsaken me... Neither God, nor the empire, no one..."
The captain of the royal guard briefly closed his eyes and then opened them.
Beneath the face covered with a black cloth, a complex expression flickered.
But soon, a resolute voice followed.
"It is His Highness the Grand Duke's order."
That one sentence erased all 'judgment'.
That was the Order of the Glimmering Dawn.
This disease was not cured.
No magic, no medicine worked.
The disease spread rapidly, and all those infected died without exception.
The smoke rising from the corpses and the Demonic Energy settling in every alley proved that this place had already become a 'living hell'.
Terrible.
Everyone thought the same thing in their hearts.
But their lord's order was the fastest choice to protect the empire.
It was also the 'most certain' method.
"...Just give the order."
The captain of the royal guard in black armor closed his eyes and made his final decision.
"Kill them and burn the bodies."
A resolute order was given.
The knights silently raised their swords.
They were about to send them off with as little pain as possible when.
"Wait!"
Among the infected who had been gathered separately, a man wearing pure white vestments shouted.
"Don't kill the innocent! This city will soon be saved...!"
His voice was trembling, and his breath was ragged, as if it would break at any moment.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his lips were torn and bleeding.
But he didn't stop speaking.
"The descendant of the Divine Beast, the heir of the great Cardel, will come to save us!"
His voice grew louder and louder, and he began to spew out delusional words without stopping.
But to those who were terrified of death, Raonel's words were a ray of hope.
"A, a savior?"
"If it's the heir of the Cardel family... are you talking about Gawain?"
People looked at each other as if they couldn't believe it.
One woman covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
"Can we really... be saved...?"
"Yes."
Raonel replied with the fanatical conviction unique to zealots.
"Cardel would never abandon us."
Then a man holding a frightened child in his arms cried out as if wailing.
"Hero Gawain is coming to save us!"
That cry became a fuse.
Losing their reason, they soon let out a cry mixed with anger and hope.
"His Highness the Grand Duke was trying to lock us up and kill us like animals, even though we begged him to save us!"
"Grand Duke Excepcion is a monster. A crazy monster!"
"Gawain should rule this land instead! Instead of a Grand Duke with no blood or tears!"
The moment someone mentioned the Grand Duke's name, the crowd's anger exploded.
Someone picked up a stone, and someone began to point fingers at the knights and curse at them.
Public opinion began to tilt uncontrollably.
It was then.
Beyond the Demonic Energy-filled street, a silhouette slowly walking against the wind could be seen.
Someone was approaching them.
The person was wearing a ragged robe, but the long silver hair that stretched out from under the robe shone brilliantly in the sunlight.
Snow-white silver hair.
The symbol of Cardel, where sacred blood flowed.
"...Ah!"
Raonel's face was filled with joy.
Gawain didn't abandon me!
He was brainwashing himself that all of this was a test from God.
That was the only way he could forgive himself for spreading the epidemic, even though he had been threatened with his brother's life.
Under the guise of Cardel's savior, he was suffocating from faith, guilt, and fear.
Finally, the person who had approached their group took off their hood.
That person was...
Not Gawain Cardel.
Odelia Cardel.
It was her.
"Princess Cardel...?"
People recognized her.
They couldn't not know her because the Cardel family had plastered portraits all over the country to find her after she went missing.
Odelia, who had walked to the center of the square with a calm step, looked at the confused faces of the infected.
And opened her mouth.
"I'm sorry, but Gawain Cardel isn't coming. Even if he does come, it will be after you're dead."
Her short words fell on Raonel like a bolt from the blue.
"...What?"
Odelia silently looked at Raonel, who had stiffened in embarrassment.
A young priest who had sworn allegiance to the Cardel family.
A somewhat twisted fanatic who had lived in blind faith and distorted beliefs.
But at the same time, he was also a victim who had been thoroughly used by Gawain Cardel.
Odelia knew that he was destined to die today.
He would die from the epidemic he had spread, never being saved by anyone.
