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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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Nias walked alone through the snow-falling forest.
Her petite body was swept away by the snowstorm numerous times. However, with her body hunched over and the blanket he had given her wrapped around her like a cloak, she kept moving forward.
The surroundings consisted only of the forest covered in white snow and Nias. Even though the wind and snowstorm blew, Nias felt the forest was tranquil.
It was because there was not a single sound of life. It was similar to the quietness she had lived with all her life before being reborn as the girl Nias when she was the demon king.
‘This quietness is the world I have lived in. Yes. This is my world.’
In the distant past, so long ago that she couldn’t even remember, the being called the demon king was originally an ordinary girl. Just an 8-year-old girl who was born and lived an ordinary life.
But at one point, an inexplicable power began to manifest within her.
The first time she realized that power was when the body of her friend, who had been playing with her happily, suddenly rotted and collapsed. Her very existence began to defile life and distort the earth.
Soon, she could control that power, but people had already noticed Nias’ power. People drove her away, persecuted her, and eventually tried to hunt her down.
Her family was killed by people for giving birth to an ominous demon.
Even when she begged for her life, they wouldn’t listen. They just stared at Nias with cold eyes as if they were doing what they were supposed to do.
It was probably from that moment that Nias became the demon king.
The demon king’s first proactive evil deed was a series of hesitations and reluctance.
She confronted and killed those who had killed her parents and tried to kill her. When she tore people apart, melted them, and made them bleed from every orifice with her innate sorcery, the demon king’s heart felt great pain.
After everything was over, the demon king just wanted to hide herself from the world.
When pursued, she hid her body, and when there was no choice, she harmed them. At first, she was a girl who hesitated to hurt someone even while running away.
But at some point, the girl gradually became accustomed to harming others. And conversely, she began to become emotionless about other things.
The world tormented and chased her, and she fought back. That relationship continued for a long time until she forgot any other way to interact with the world.
And she was filled with despair.
Someone tries to kill her, and she kills them in response, and that was the only relationship she could have with the world.
But at one point, even that sole relationship disappeared. As a long time passed, there was no one left to enter the land of death that the demon king had contaminated with their lives as sacrifices.
No one came to see her anymore, who had destroyed her surroundings with absolute power.
Instead, magical beasts, similarly distorted creatures, gathered around her.
However, the magical beasts were not human. The magical beasts showed absolute loyalty to the demon king. Ironically, that loyalty was filled only with subjugation to power and selfishness.
Complete peace and complete solitude. The sorrow she had longed for all her life and had finally found.
Then, one day, someone suddenly came to the land of death and stood boldly before the demon king made a proposal.
“I will reincarnate you. How about living a new life? In 100 years, you will be reborn on this land again.”
A new life in exchange for death? No one would believe such a proposal. Someone threw one more thing at her, who was about to refuse.
“Not long after you die, heroes will appear in the world. Those chosen by the distant stars. They are different from ordinary people. I think you would know how to use them, Demon King…”
‘Different from ordinary people…? Then…’
Could they understand me?
The demon king couldn’t endure the loneliness that had punctuated her life. She collapsed on her own. Just… becoming an infinitely small black fragment.
And when she was reborn, Nias thought that her life must have been cursed. The emperor destroyed her family, and no one cared for Nias.
“It’s because of you! Our family was ruined after you were born. You brought the curse!”
Nias remembered her father’s shouting. Maybe it was really like that. Even before reincarnating, wasn’t she the demon king who distorted everything around her?
Even after being reborn, Nias couldn’t form relationships with anyone as a human. There was only a world that made her miserable, just like before.
Nias becoming a maid of the Leonhart family wasn’t a desperate attempt to save her life.
They just wanted Nias to earn at least a little money and send it back to the family. She was treated like an object.
But Nias was okay with that. Human joys and such were but frivolous endeavors.
‘I’m the demon king. I have a plan.’
Fortunately, there was a hero candidate in the Deinhart family. She heard that he was chosen by a considerably high-ranking star.
Except for the drawback of having a frail body, he was optimal as a hero, too.
Nias had her own expectations about the existence of heroes that didn’t exist 100 years ago before she died. They might be different from ordinary people.
“You’re like a filthy commoner. You don’t know your place, dirty pig.”
However, the hero was no different from other people. Loathing, hating, and hurting.
Only a sense of betrayal filled Nias’ heart with black. Disappointment soon turned into murderous intent.
‘This person is not it. There must be a better hero in this world. The person I will make my hero must be… a better person.’
She decided to use the only way she used to communicate with the world for the first time in a long while. To confront the attacking opponent. Usually, it ends with death.
But since when?
“Well, I thought it would suit you perfectly. That beggar-like blanket. It makes you look just like a commoner.”
Nias was blankly staring at the boy’s wavering eyes.
“From now on, only I can torment you.”
The hesitation and pain reflected in those eyes.
“There, done. Don’t do anything stupid from now on and be careful. It’s really bothersome.”
The sincere concern melted into his tormenting tone.
“Next time, call for me.”
Nias remembered the warmth that seemed to still linger on her neck.
He was definitely different from other people. As if he had come from another world.
His difference changed something inside Nias like ink spreading on cloth.
Nias began to enjoy the time she spent with him for some reason. Even when tormented, she began to expect the candy-like sweetness he would give her.
Little by little, she was starting to like that person.
“Cluak! Are you here?! Come out quickly!”
In the snowstorm, Nias shouted, looking around the forest.
Having wandered around the forest this much, that magical beast must have caught the scent.
“Cluak!”
After a long silence passed, Nias searched for her subordinate again.
Amidst the snowstorm, a monster revealed itself.
It had an eagle-like head, and its four-legged beast-like body was covered in white feathers, with the tips dyed in a color resembling red blood.
The monster’s appearance, which seemed to easily exceed 7 meters, was sudden, as if peeling away the world’s veil, but Nias was not surprised.
Unique ability, natural assimilation. Thoroughly blending into nature, matching its color and texture. That was one of Cluak’s abilities.
“I am in the presence of the ruler of all magical beasts. You look quite different from when I last saw you.”
Cluak bowed his head politely and spoke.
“Yes. Cluak. It’s been a while.”
Nias walked towards the monster. The footprints left by Nias disappeared, covered by snow, as soon as she lifted her foot.
“For what reason have you come to see a lowly being like me?”
Nias exhaled once. Recalling the image of that child once, Nias lifted her head.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“Hmm… As long as it is your command, Demon King.”
“Soon, a little boy will come to this forest to find me. I want to kill that little boy. I want you to take care of him. Definitely.”
At Nias’ request, Cluak laughed, clacking his beak.
“I see. But you also said it, Demon King. That the world is ruled solely by power…”
Cluak slowly lifted one foot. The snow piled on the monster’s foot, pouring onto the snowy field like hail.
Nias immediately noticed that ominous sign.
“Do you still think you are the ruler? It’s been 100 years already! You are now just a powerless little brat!”
Cluak struck his foot towards Nias. Nias reflexively threw her body to avoid the foot. The spot where Nias had been was filled with snow, shooting upward like a water spray.
“It’s not a betrayal. It’s just that if I devour the Demon King’s soul, I might be able to aim for the demon king’s position instead of the fake demon king you have set up, right?”
Cluak looked at Nias with cruel, glowing eyes. Nias’ body froze colder now that it was under those spine-chilling eyes.
It was her blunder.
She thought she understood the evil nature of magical beasts better than anyone else. She should have known about their desire for power and selfishness. She should have waited until her body had grown sufficiently and her mana had recovered…!
“If you hadn’t appeared before me, I wouldn’t have known that your power had weakened! You came too early!”
Cluak struck his foot down again. The impact created by that blow caused the blanket covering Nias like a cloak to fly into the air and disappear into the snowstorm.
Ah, it’s flying away. Nias reached out towards the blanket, fluttering and moving away, torn in places, but she couldn’t catch it anymore.
Cluak’s foot stomped down on Nias so she couldn’t move.
Her lower body crushed by the claws and internal organs being pressed down caused extreme pain to rush through Nias’ body. Nias struggled and tried to resist, but her body wouldn’t move at all.
Cluak looked down at Nias with a gleeful look in his eyes.
“I didn’t know playing with the Demon King would be this fun.”
Cluak slowly lowered his head towards Nias’ upper body, exposed between his claws.
“This is quite fun too, right? Ah, come to think of it, you mentioned a little boy who would come later? I’ll play with him like I did with you and kill him too.”
Cluak opened his beak. All Nias saw was a terribly deep abyss.
A world with no light at all. A space of perfect solitude.
Nias was not afraid of such a space. From her previous life, the world of Nias was a lonely space. So, death was also just returning to that place.
However, as the darkness gradually approached, Nias felt fear. She was afraid of death. She was scared of solitude. Nias couldn’t understand the reason.
Nias tightly closed her eyes.
Bang!
Nias opened her eyes with a loud sound. The weight pressing down on her disappeared. It was because Cluak’s huge body had collapsed as if hit by a large, shapeless battering ram.
“Young Master…”
In the fierce snowstorm, Nias spotted the boy flying in the sky.
The boy slightly lowered his eyes and made eye contact with Nias.
Nias’ lips quivered. She wanted to say something. Sorry? I was wrong? However, the words she wanted to say well at the tip of her lips but didn’t form into words.
But the boy’s single sentence made all of Nias’ hesitation insignificant.
“Hey, pig. How dare you run away? Know that I will never forgive you after this is all over.”
Nias couldn’t react to that reprimand either. She was blankly looking at her savior, who had appeared for the first time, in both of her lives.
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