Regina Lena – To the Unforgiven - Chapter 48

— Hmm.

 

Rena sat blankly while stroking her neck, and Regina came down and gently touched her collar.

 

“Ugh!”

 

Rena was frightened and shook her hand away. Regina asked casually at her overreaction.

 

— Did you die of strangulation again?

 

“I’m not dead yet.”

 

Rena gritted her teeth and answered. She tried to pretend to be strong, but her face was pale.

 

— How long has it been since you fell last time?

 

“One month…”

 

― It was a full moon before that. Is there a bounty somewhere?

 

“Say something that makes sense.”

 

It was Rena, who lived a close life while running for her life. To say that there was a bounty for such a girl was not even funny.

 

― Otherwise, how could you be killed so often? Even if one were to blame the security of the city once or twice…

 

But Regina was serious.

 

— Or, if your father found you…

 

“That’s not it.”

 

― How are you sure?

 

“Because they didn’t seem like people running an errand.”

 

Rena said with a slightly miserable feeling.

 

“Those people who came after me were all out of their minds.”

 

Last five raids. Three times it was the same person and twice it was a different person. But all of them were insane.

 

Their focus was blurred as if possessed by something, and there was no response even when Rena hit and bit them.

 

― Any other characteristics?

 

“They continued to wheeze. Like a snake.”

 

— That crazy…

 

Regina sighed harshly. Rena’s shoulders shrank at the sudden rough voice. Regina clicked her tongue and explained.

 

― I knew that jerk had his eyes on you.

 

That jerk? Had his eyes on me?

 

— Do you remember? The day you first fell, the guy who promised to make you his concubine.

 

Rena opened her eyes round and nodded.

 

Of course she remembered. A particularly disgusting person among the kings of the dead who said that he would cut off her face if he couldn’t take her as a concubine.

 

― It seems that he used his trick.

 

“What do you mean…”

 

— It’s that jerk’s talent. Controlling by taking control of other beings. He used it on humans to bring you down to the Tomb.

 

***

 

“Is that possible?”

 

Rena nodded calmly at Lynn’s question.

 

“The kings of the dead have a lot of influence on the Empire. It’s just that people don’t know.”

 

Then she added to him, who was still having doubts.

 

“Think about it. Isn’t it strange? Why are the altars rolling around the back alleys of the Empire?”

 

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“Other than that, there’s no way such a bizarre thing can go around. In the border area, the war with the dead is in full swing, but in the city, altars are wandering. Isn’t it unnatural?”

 

Lynn’s face grew more serious. While he was agonizing, Rena went back to the topic.

 

“Anyway, the king used people to bring me down to the Tomb.”

 

“So what did you do?”

 

“I spent some effort.”

 

“Effort?”

 

Rena summed up those days with the word “effort” and laughed.

 

It was a pity she couldn’t tell Lynn about Regina’s story. Then she could go into more detail about those hellish days.

 

But Regina’s matter was a secret, so she could only tell him a little bit as before.

 

***

 

“Nonsense…”

 

Rena felt like the sky was falling. How long has it been since her father abandoned her and now such a strange thing has stuck to her again.

 

“What did I do that was so wrong…”

 

— The world won’t care much about your good or bad.

 

“Shut up!”

 

Rena shouted at Regina, who was muttering naturally. Then she cried all over.

 

― If you want to make a choice even now, tell me. Either die in peace, or become a king of the dead. Either way would be better than now.

 

Regina said while lying in the air.

 

― Of course, you won’t be dragged around by him since I’m here, but life on earth would be very difficult at this rate.

 

Rena grew more resentful and looked at Regina. But after a while, her tears dripped down again in the sadness that had risen again.

 

“I don’t want to die…”

 

Death is death, no matter how well-packaged it is. She’d have to face it someday, but not now. Rena wanted to live more of her own time.

 

― If you really want to live, there is only one way.

 

As Rena continued to cry, Regina sighed and said. At the same time, something fell in front of Rena.

 

It was a sharp-edged sword.

 

— Be stronger than those bastards.

 

“Do you want me to stab someone with this?”

 

― No, it would be difficult if you’re taught by me and fight only with humans.

 

Rena looked at her anxiously, and Regina grinned with her half face.

 

— I will make you stronger. Enough to tear the kings of the dead apart.

 

At that moment, Rena had a strange hunch. For some reason, she had an ominous premonition that accepting this proposal will lead to a major setback.

 

But Rena had no alternative. So she accepted Regina’s proposal and regretted it to death.

 

Still, speaking of the result, three years later in the time of the Tomb, Rena succeeded in defeating the King with Many Hearts.

 

***

 

“… Is that possible?”

 

“Anything is possible.”

 

Lynn was dazed and asked the same question as before, and Rena looked into the distance and answered.

 

Rena’s smiling face was full of unknown remorse.

 

Regina kept her promise to make her stronger. Although the method was very violent, it made Rena crazy strong.

 

So she succeeded in crushing the King with Many Hearts by force.

 

And for about half a year, whenever he was resurrected, she chased after him and killed him again.

 

The reason, of course, was resentment.

 

She lavishly poured out the grudge that had been done to her, from Regina because of him, and to the things that had happened to her because of her father.

 

Rena, who had accumulated a lot, pursued him very tenaciously, and when the number of times she killed him exceeded 20, she didn’t count anymore.

 

Meanwhile, the king of the dead was terribly perplexed by Rena, who suddenly went crazy.

 

The day he was first murdered by Rena, the king, writhing in his pain, shouted loudly that he would return this humiliation doubled.

 

However, on the third time, he prayed for a while and cried on the seventh time of death.

 

Then, after he died about 30 times, he had a strange change of heart, and he began to obey Rena more and more.

 

And he finally confessed like this.

 

— I only knew the pleasure of killing in my lifetime, but now I learned the pleasure of being killed through you.

 

The king said so and rather enjoyed seeing Rena come to kill. However, this did not mean that his essence had disappeared, so he tried to kill Rena from time to time.

 

So Rena thought as she looked at him dying with an ecstatic face.

 

I should stop doing this.

 

Rena, who lost interest in him, returned to the land again. It was the first time in three and a half years in the time of the Tomb.

 

“The pleasure of being killed…”

 

Lynn ruminated over Rena’s words in a complicated mood.

 

It was a mess in every part, but Lynn was shocked that the story of the kind who dominated the East was like this.

 

He didn’t have any sense of solidarity with him, but the fact that the nemesis of the Eastern region was such a bizarre pervert was deeply embarrassing.

 

“Is that the case with every king of the dead?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Weird, but surprisingly easygoing…”

 

Lynn chose a suitable word and eventually gave up. Then he complained with a headache.

 

“I didn’t know we could communicate with them normally.”

 

“Why, it also appears in Her Majesty’s biography.”

 

“That…”

 

“There is nothing complicated about it. The dead were once human. No, they are still human, just dead.”

 

Lynn reluctantly agreed with Rena’s explanation.

 

Even so, the feeling of being stabbed in the back was still there.

 

He thought it was strange how Rena knew well about the Tomb, he didn’t expect that she’d lived here for years.

 

Lynn thought so and suddenly asked.

 

“Then how old are you now?”

 

“Me?”

 

When Lynn asked seriously, Rena pretended to be surprised. Then she answered proudly.

 

“Now I am a legal adult.”

 

“Other than that, including the time spent in the Tomb.”

 

“Well…”

 

But Lynn wasn’t fooled by the joke-like answer, and Rena closed her eyes again.

 

I can’t believe you’re asking the age of a lady. Usually she would have slapped the person in the mouth, but Rena showed generosity for the first time in a long time.

 

“I spent 7 years in the Tomb.”

 

7 years. Then Rena’s age should’ve been considered not 18, but 25, maybe more.

 

This was also surprising, but Lynn was rather easily convinced. It was because of Rena’s usual appearance.

 

Rena sometimes… No. Quite often… felt like an older person.

 

Lynn, who inherited the dukeship at a young age, was also mature for his age. Even so, when he was with Rena, he often followed rather than led.

 

It didn’t mean he didn’t like it.

 

It was the first time he’d ever had someone lead him since he was very young, so Lynn was able to lay down more than half of his usual burdens when he was with Rena.

 

It was comfortable, so it was a good thing. There were many times when he felt it was amazing that this happened.

 

Sure enough.

 

‘She’s older.’

 

Lynn, who understood so, secretly sighed at his shallowness.

 

‘No wonder…’

 

Truly no wonder.

 

In fact, Lynn felt a little strange with Rena.

 

He had never told anyone, but Lynn’s favorite opposite sex so far had been all older.

 

Of course he didn’t deliberately look at the age. However, so far he was only attracted to older women without fail.

 

So he was wondering what was going on this time, and sure enough.

 

Lynn was dumbfounded by his unnecessarily direct taste.

 

So when he shut up for a moment, Rena, who misunderstood the meaning, drew her face close to his and asked.

 

“So what if I’m older? Do you want to call me big sister?”

 

At Rena’s whisper, Lynn’s eyebrows were knitted and he stepped back slightly.

 

His chest ached inside and outside, and it was not like he could say anything about how excited he was about a woman who broke her ribs.

 

Lynn struggled to calm down and found something to say.

 

“Big sister…”

 

[T/N: Lynn isn’t trying to call Rena “big sister” here. He is probably trying to refute, but because the Korean language puts the subject in front of the sentence, it comes out like this.]

 

Before he could finish, Rena sighed and raised herself.

 

Afterwards, Lynn also felt suspicious signs.

 

The bushes around the trees were swaying. And when he noticed that, the two were surrounded again.

 

“Do we have to keep being chased like this?”

 

“There is another way. Or exterminate the dead in this space first.”

 

Lynn also got up with a sigh.

 

Snakes, large and small, were swarming everywhere.

 

But Rena did not falter in the slightest. She really seemed to think of exterminating them in the first place.

 

This was why he had no choice but to like her.

 

Lynn thought so and left his back to Rena. They took care of each other as they did earlier.

 

In the breath of the two, the snakes were cut helplessly.

 

‘What is it?’

 

But Lynn felt something was wrong.

 

‘It’s no different from before…’

 

Since they had been dealt with like that before, the snakes should have changed their method or come up with an alternative to attack the two, but they rushed in the same way as before.

 

In fact, this was the appearance of the dead he had seen on earth.

 

But if there was a king of the dead here, and if that king had intelligence, there had to be something different.

 

‘Is he going to dry our blood slowly? Or is there anything else he’s aiming for?’

 

When Lynn was still doubting the king’s intention…

 

“Kugh…!”

 

A sudden shock pressed Lynn’s shoulder down.

 

Lynn, who was beating the dead, dropped his sword and bent his knee.

 

Rena heard the sound and looked back at Lynn. Rena looked bewildered as Lynn’s gaze looked lustful once more.

 

‘No…’

 

Lynn realized what had happened to him. Again. He was losing his mind again.

 

“Mr. Lynn…!”

 

Rena’s voice seemed infinitely distant. Instead, an unfamiliar laughter hit his ears.

 

Snake-like laughter.

 

At that moment, some of the doubts were resolved. What is the target number of the snake king? It was Lynn, himself.

 

At the same time, a new question arose. How can the snake king…

 

At that time, the eye level, which had been lowered as if it was about to touch the floor, gradually rose again.

 

He was afraid. His body seemed to be trying to do something else.

 

The snakes continued to pour out, and Rena Ruber, who was placed between them, was seen panicking.

 

It was already a crisis enough, but something happened again.

 

A huge snake like a spire was approaching this way.

 

Lynn thought that it would fly like this and devour them.

 

But right after that, something strange happened with a roar.

 

The huge snake hit his head and crushed all the other snakes.

 

‘What…’

 

Rena and Lynn were both bewildered by the unexpected situation. Did it fall because its head was too heavy? That being said, the momentum of that big snake was fierce.

 

The large snake immediately swept away the snakes that surrounded Rena and Lynn, and then it was biting the air, revealing huge venomous teeth.

 

Then, the lush garden was torn apart, creating a crack. It was an exit, a crack that illuminated the red sky.

 

“Mr. Lynn! Wake up!”

 

Rena, who saw the exit, pulled Lynn as if she was going to drag him away by force.

 

But Lynn was already sane.

 

The moment the snake ripped through the air, his mind came back. The reason was still unknown, but Lynn and Rena ran to the crack for now.

 

— How dare you!

 

Then a roar echoed from behind. It was the voice of the King with Many Hearts.

 

Rena and Lynn looked back for a moment.

 

The snakes collided with each other, and the large snake that had helped Rena and Lynn was ripped to pieces. Then, black smoke rose from its body.

 

Rena and Lynn threw themselves out of the crack to avoid the poison.

 

And Lynn looked back again with a strange hunch.

 

Something was seen standing between the torn snakes. It was a person and a woman.

 

At that moment, Lynn’s heart sank. At the same time, a voice came to mind, like a lie.

 

— If I had known you were alive…

 

A voice, like a nightmare from which he could never escape, echoed in Lynn’s head as if welcoming its master.

 

“Nonsense…”

 

Lynn groaned as he watched the crack gradually healing.

 

There was no way he could not recognize the woman, who appeared in the narrowing gap.

 

She was Lynn’s biological mother and former Eastern Duke.

 

It was Naja Aetherner Gracia.

 

 

 

The author’s words:

Naja Aetherner Gracia. Lynn’s mother, ex-Eastern Duke, and invader of the Empire.