*
The rain continues to pour down from the night sky.
I can’t even remember the last time I saw sunlight.
“Sigh, I… missed Licht…”
As she gazed out the window, a woman wiped her tears away.
The Imperial Palace of the Grancia Empire.
What was once splendidly decorated has disappeared without a trace.
A photo of a man wearing a Black Knight’s helmet.
A small stuffed doll that seems to resemble someone.
Recipes of dishes he loved during his lifetime.
Notes filled with likes and dislikes, and all sorts of small things.
“……”
The once-familiar space turned into a clutter of belongings related to Lee Soo-hyun.
“I promised… I wouldn’t let him slip away this time…”
High up on the throne sat Black-haired Pina Grancia.
She held the pitch-black knight’s helmet close, her expression pained.
What does it matter, being the Empress of the Empire?
She couldn’t even protect the person she wanted to save.
“The gods got in the way…”
Gnash, blood dripped from her hand as she bit her nails.
The face she saw just a little while ago was definitely the Lee Soo-hyun she knew.
A scar on the left side of his face.
“…I thought I’d be okay by now… I thought I’d forgotten…”
To her, who had lost everything, it was a longing so intense.
She started to understand the reason he hid his face behind the helmet after his death.
“Even now, thinking of you hurts so much…”
A sharp pain in her chest.
While recalling the other possibilities she missed right before her eyes, the empress cried.
What on earth did she do for Licht to still be alive?
‘Please don’t be scared of me… don’t look at me with such sad eyes…’
A man had become terrified at the sight of himself, transformed into a Demon God.
She wished he would just call her Mardol again, as he used to.
To crack strange jokes and just be by her side.
She only wanted a mundane happiness.
“……I miss you, Licht.”
Even if she tried to turn back time to save him, it was useless.
As if resurrecting was forbidden, the result was always the same despite countless repeats.
‘Without the Grand Route… it’s impossible.’
Even if she went to the gods, crying and begging, it was the same answer.
They said you couldn’t defy fate without the Grand Route.
What on earth was that?
Could it be that even with her full power as a Demon God, it was impossible?
─Knock knock.
At that moment, a knock echoed, and she sensed someone’s presence.
“Lady Pina. It’s your butler, Dijur. I’m coming in.”
A fully gray-haired butler who seemed to have aged stepped into the Imperial Palace.
“Ah, Dijur. What’s the matter…?”
“I’ve come to request that you stop the rain again today.”
Since it had already been 10 years since the world had become a constant downpour.
“The palace mages are reaching their limits.”
“……..”
Even magic could only temporarily turn the endless rain into vapor or summon the sun.
The pinnacle of Water Magic.
The situation was serious enough that even the famed Dennis shook his head.
“I don’t want to… If the rain stops…”
However, even his straightforward words failed to change her mind.
The world had become a place where she could no longer see a single ray of sunlight since she became a Demon God.
Did she want to let this world drown in a flood?
Or was the world simply cloaked in sorrow?
“I feel like… I might forget Licht…”
It wasn’t all of it.
Her memories.
It was her desperate struggle to not forget the man named Licht.
No matter how many Demon Kings she killed or how high she rose to power as a Demon God.
“My memories are getting hazy… Even though I keep so many things related to Licht…”
Human memory has its limits.
To long for a man who had died for so many years.
“Even when I dream of Licht… now I can only see his face vaguely…”
“But, Lady Pina…”
Whenever she dreamt about him, she hoped that she wouldn’t wake up.
For her, who realized too late that it was love.
“I’m still stopped in that place where it rains…”
Dreams felt like reality, while reality felt like hell.
Black-haired Pina Grancia had fixed the weather.
“I’m scared of everyone changing except for me…”
Fear.
After he died, the world Pina knew completely changed.
The Black Knight, whom she always thought would come to save her, had turned into a cold corpse.
His body a temperature as cold as ice.
Even while life was slipping away, his gaze was filled with worry for Pina.
For her, it still felt vivid as if it were yesterday. Who were they to demand she stop the rain?
“Floods might really happen now….”
“What did you all do when he was struggling…! No one helped him!”
Pounding her chest in frustration, the Black-haired Empress shouted.
“Licht would always come to save me when it rained. Why isn’t he doing that for me…”
The gravestone, where the name Licht was written, her heart ached because she didn’t even know his real name.
For her, the man wearing the Black Knight’s helmet had always been a hero who came to rescue her.
“I’m managing things too…”
If the rain kept pouring, she could still hope he might appear along with her Mind Sword.
“I understand. Then let’s talk about something else.”
“Something else…?”
Dijur, unable to break her stubbornness, introduced another topic he had prepared.
Requesting to stop the rain would undoubtedly be turned down, as always.
“I received news that a strange person appeared at the Academy.”
“…Drake?”
He began to tell Pina Grancia about the shocking news he heard from Drake.
“A man with burn scars on his face…”
Someone had been spotted at the Grand Hertz Academy.
*
“You can’t be here.”
Nex hurriedly locked the door.
Click, clack. The sound of the lock echoed through the president’s office.
“Damn, even if it’s the Phoenix’s Nest, can I buy some time…?”
He bit his lower lip tightly, sweating cold beads.
Having created barriers using spirits, what the hell was happening?
As Nex closed all the curtains in the room.
“Pina has gone mad? What do you mean…?”
I asked him the meaning of his words.
Our Pina has gone insane since becoming a Demon God.
“Damn, she really came from another world…”
Seeing my confused face, the man narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
“…How do you know that?”
“You know the princess’s real name. Wait, should I be calling her Empress now?”
As he mentioned the name Pina Grancia, he rubbed his face in disbelief.
Not many knew her real name back when we attended the Academy. I always called her Mardol back then.
“And the burn scars are the same…”
Nex pointed to my face.
That distinctive scar would be known to anyone close to Pina.
“It’s strange that a person who’s already dead is here right in front of me.”
“…….”
Already dead.
I realized this place was a different world line.
Could it be that he truly died fighting the Demon King?
“What happened to the president of the Academy?”
“Simple. He failed to convince the Lord.”
If Nex couldn’t assist with his engagement to Schartines, that was bound to happen.
He removed the golden phoenix seal and smiled bitterly.
“Why did you ask about the princess going mad earlier?”
“Ah, yes…”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. Normally she’d be fine, but… when it comes to juniors, people go nuts.”
Nex sighed bitterly.
He realized she was no longer who he knew.
“If a hero from another world is found, they typically try to torture them.”
I doubted that Pina would be such a person.
My ears perked up in disbelief.
“Wait, why is Pina torturing perfectly normal people…?”
“Out of frustration. She can’t let it out unless she does something.”
If a hero from another world were found, the imperial guard would show up to take them away.
“Since the current ruler is Lady Pina Grancia…”
Unfettered power.
After Emperor Rock retired, what she did was oppose heroes.
“She hates heroes who killed those she loves.”
“……”
Not every hero is evil.
There can also be completely good people, like Dennis and me.
“How does she torture them…?”
“She rummages through their memories, trying to take away any related memories they have about her.”
Taking away memories that might relate to me.
Could it be, just maybe.
“No way… that can’t be it.”
“But that’s the power of ignorance.”
“…Anyone who goes through that would end up entirely forgetful.”
That was the only capability tied to that.
“She doesn’t harm or kill them…”
She wouldn’t hurt life or cause them damage.
“The Academy’s uniforms changed to black around that time.”
“It’s to gain the memories of others…”
It was her last-ditch effort to search for me,
And a way to exact revenge on the Demon King of All Knowledge, who shot me.
“Yes, they say that in your world, when someone dies, you wear black.”
Mourning clothes.
The reason the Academy’s once-white uniforms changed to pitch black.
“Ten years ago, Licht of this world died. He fell while fighting the Demon King of All Knowledge.”
“……..”
“And now it’s a world that has been ten years since you died. A world filled with nothing but dark clouds.”
That’s why it kept raining non-stop.
Nex spoke calmly.
I couldn’t believe that Pina had completely shattered.
“Princess Pina became a Demon King the very moment you died.”
“…Please, tell me that’s a lie.”
My hands trembled.
A chill rushed in, making my entire body feel cold.
Even dear friends turned out the same.
If one were to lose their beloved, it was the fate of a Hero to become a Demon King.
“The Demon God of Envy, contrasting affection.”
Nex, now realizing the situation, lowered his gaze.
“……The princess you remember is no longer in this world. Junior.”
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