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Volume 5 Vampire Tea Party Epilogue Part 3

The right hand that she used to cover her face got wet with tears. But unlike before, when she was dreaming about the bygone days of her past, these were not the tears of sorrow. These were the tears of regret. That was the strongest emotion that Leticia was feeling right now, and the only shape that she could give to them was the shape of tears that were now flowing down her cheeks like an unstoppable river.

The regret she was feeling right now was something that could not be described with simple words alone. She regretted allowing all of that to happen, and she regretted not being able to do anything to prevent it. She was feeling so much regret for so many things at once that she did not even know what she should be apologizing for, how she should apologize, how much and to who. If only she could make up for everything that has happened because of her with her death, then she would have gladly died one hundred thousand times if need be, as long as that could have set at least some of her mistakes right. But that is only her selfish wishful thinking. Considering the scale of the casualties that her transformation into a Demon Lord has caused, she doubted that she would ever be able to make amends for it by herself.

Right now, more than anything else in the world she wanted someone to accuse her. She wanted someone to point their finger at her and blame her for everything that happened because of her, listing the long list of her sins and their consequences one by one. Someone who would pass down judgement on her for all the crimes that she committed. But then, almost as if she knew exactly what Leticia was thinking about, she interrupted her self-wallowing by saying:

「Unfortunately for you, there are no laws in this world tat can possibly judge you for what you have done. No one can punish your sins. . . . because the country and the people who could have done that for you are no longer present in this world.」

「. . . . . 」

That was another thing that Leticia understood while she was watching the events of the past play out before her eyes during that Gift Game. When the Community gets disbanded or destroyed in its entirety, its name disappears from Little Garden’s past and present. That is probably why the name of the Community that Leticia originally belonged to has been missing from the black Geass Rolls that were raining down from the sky when she was massacring the rebels during her own Gift Game that she dragged them into as punishment for their rebellion.

「. . .  You really were an idiot. You should not have desired revenge. You should not have given in to your dark desires, for they were responsible for your transformation into a Demon Lord. Even if your family and your people ended up getting killed because of the rebellion, you should have thwarted your desires of getting back at those who did that to you, and instead focus on those of your subjects and companions that managed to survive the rebellion. If only you did that. . . . then maybe you would have been able to guide the Vampire clan towards the realization of their final legend.」

You should have thwarted your desires of getting back at those who did that to you, and instead focus on those of your subjects and companions that managed to survive the rebellion. Yes, thinking about it now, that is exactly what she should have done back then. But she did not choose that path, and willingly plunged herself head-first into the dark abyss of murder and revenge. The one who was able to do that was not Leticia Drakulea, The Vampire Queen, but Lamia Draculea, the second princess who was never meant to be anything else than a political tool. But she accepted all of the grudges directed towards Leticia into herself, and when there was no other way to handle it anymore, she willingly sealed herself away and fell asleep.

「. . .  What should I do now?」

「That I do not know, but let me ask your own question back at you: what do you want to do now?」

「Eh. . . . . . . ?」

Not knowing how to answer that, Leticia just raised her face and stared at Canaria in confusion, which caused her to be just as surprised as Leticia was right now.

「What. . .  what do I want to do?」

「Yes. As for me, I can say that I have already achieved half of the things that I wanted to do while I was exploring the tomb of the royal family to confirm some of my suspicions. . .  ah, but please, do not misunderstand! I did not go to the royal tomb so that I could do some old-fashioned grave robbing! I just went there to pay my respects before the remains of your father and mother. . . .  」

「Father and mother. . . .but from what I have been told they have been burned to ash by the sunlight.」

「Yes, that is indeed the fate that has befallen them. That is why I have performed a memorial service for the, after gathering the remnants of the ashes that have been embedded into the castle walls. I know that it will probably not mean much right now, but what happened to them was such a pity. Regrettably, I am not too familiar with the members of the Vampire royal family from that far in the past, so I had no choice but to engrave only the simplified names, or rather, their titles, onto the graves where I placed their ashes . . .  or perhaps that was something that I should not have done? 」

She asked while feeling a little uneasy. She was probably thinking if maybe she did something that she was not supposed to do. But Leticia’s eyes opened widely from an altogether different kind of shock.

Her father and mother were staked to the castle walls and left out to die while being burned alive by the sunlight, and their ashes got stuck to the walls in the places where they died, meant to be left there forever. It was the kind of death more fitting for a monster rather than a member of the royal family, and they were surely subjected to it so that they could be stripped of the last remaining vestiges of their dignity as the Vampire royalty. . . . or at least, that is how Leticia thought about it until now.

But this woman. . .  she not only gathered the scattered remains of the ashes of Leticia’s parents, but she also mourned them and placed them back where they rightfully belonged: in the royal tomb, together with the rest of their ancestors, and that means that now Leticia’s parents were ultimately buried not as the monsters that others were taking them for, but as the members of the proud and noble race that they really were. That alone made her realize that even though she was one of the Storytellers, she was different from the Poets and Storytellers of old, who used the Vampire race as their playthings and stepping stones so that their songs filled with falsehoods could bring them money and fame.

It also made her realize the true extent of her own foolishness. For all this time she has spent sleeping and drowning in the depths of her own despair, and she did not think about going to the site of her parent’s death in order to collect their ashes and give them a proper burial that they deserved. Acknowledging all of that, Leticia nodded to herself and then quietly stood up from her throne.