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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 11

「What will happen to me when I die? Where will my consciousness go? Will I be reborn? Or will my consciousness will be forever trapped in a fleeting dream between one eternity and the next? 」

「No one knows what happens after death. All we know is that we are all going to die someday. 」

「I am not. I am immortal. As long as the Age of Twilight lasts, I can live forever. 」

「I thought that some things would remain unchanged as well, until they started to change right in front of me. 」

Siluca muttered.

「I guess I was wrong about you. I didn’t think you could betray Artuk, but you were never loyal to it in the first place. 」

Her thinking this time was not shallow, but she definitely was out of luck.

(That’s why I hate relying on luck.)

Siluca muttered to herself in her mind. But in this situation, she cannot escape, and she definitely could never have fought and won against this ultimate Artist like him. Her life is currently completely in the Vampire King’s hands.

Siluca made up her mind. She hated it, but now she has no choice but to leave herself to luck.

「Please tell me one more thing. 」

「What is it? 」

Dimitri looked at Siluca.

「Earlier, you talked about turning the tide. Did you cause that turning of the tides by causing 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral」, or did you merely helped others who caused it? 」

「I was not involved in that incident, if that is what you are asking about. 」

The Vampire King slowly shook his head.

「But I know who summoned the Demon Lord. Only one person should be capable of that: The Black Witch, Yana. She is a witch who lives in the forest, and she is a descendant of the original Black Witch who once fought against the Demon Lord alongside Adele and myself. She was also the one who introduced me to dear Elmer. 」

「Huh…? 」

She asked about it herself, but Siluca’s head went blank for a moment at Dimitri’s reply. Speaking of which, she heard a report from Irvin that Elmer had a female Mage with him, so at least now she knew the perpetrator behind the tragedy that even the Mages Association could not track down.

(But is there any chance I can report this information?)

It was not her problem to deal with, and she was well aware what happened to people like her, people who knew too much about the things they should not know about then the Association would get its hands on them.

* * *

The Werewolf Queen Clara was walking around her mansion in an extremely bad mood, because she noticed that after Theo and Siluca left the village, heryoungest daughters, Emma and Luna, were gone as well. As for their destination, she could probably guess where they were heading: The forest of Eternal Darkness, since the two of them had probably been eavesdropping on Siluca’s story. With their wolf hearing, doing that would be all too easy for them and they must have went out on their own to show that they can be useful as well.

When Emma and Luna are alone, they are quiet, but when they are together, they can get really excited all too easily.

(Stupid girls…)

I thought so, but she couldn’t sleep at night because of the anxiety. If nothing happened to them, they should be back from their trip to the Forest of Eternal Darkness around now. When they will be back, she is going to scold and punish them severely, having them go without any meal for 3 days and 3 nights. Assuming that they will come back, that is.

(Please, come back safely!)

Clara sat down in her chair and covered her face with her hands. Involuntarily, tears started flowing before she even noticed them.

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She has seen many deaths before. Her father, who was a great king, and her husband, who was half-human and half-werewolf, but was wise and kind, and her many companions.

Fortunately, none of her eight children have been lost so far. But how cruel would that be if the first ones to die would be her youngest daughters? Both of them at the same time at that.

Clara had an urge to go outside and howl at the moon. However, at that time, she heard the footsteps of someone running down the highway. She thought it was her daughters, but there was just one sound of the footsteps instead of two.

Clara kicked her chair up and she ran outside. After a while, the youngest daughter in the form of a wolf appeared at the entrance of the village, and she immediately knew that it was Luna from the difference of her appearance.

She seemed to be running as hard as she could, and she was completely out of breath. She even took her clothes off as if she thought that they will hinder her from running faster. In any case, Clara sensed that something happened to her.

Luna also notices Clara and increased her speed even more. And at the last moment she turned back into her human form and she jumped into her mother’s arms.

「Mom! 」

Luna cried. Clara hugged her daughter and she gently stroked her hair.

「I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…! 」
Luna repeated the same words over and over again.

「Shhh, it’s okay, it’s okay. Tell me what happened. 」

Clara spoke softly. It took me a long time, but she heard about everything from her daughter.

「… So if I want to get Emma back, I have to come to the Forest of Eternal Darkness by myself? 」

Luna nodded while crying.

「But if you go, moom, they’ll kill you. They want your Chaos Core. They wanted me to get you to come because ours were not enough for them! 」

「Kill? Me? 」

Clara snorted.

「I’ll be on my way soon. You must be tired, so go rest for a while, get dressed properly, and go find Theo and tell him everything that happened. I will take care of the rest. Don’t worry, mom will get Emma back and we will both come back to you, I promise. 」

After saying that, Clara hugged her daughter once more.

Then she contorts her face in anger and transforms into a wolf, and she ran wild. Her pure white fur reflected the moonlight, leaving an afterimage of light behind her.

Her goal was, of course, The Forest of Eternal Darkness ruled over by the Vampire King.