Chương 24: Chapter 23: I Am Sorry

For the past two years, Yuto had done what he could to find out details about the destruction of Velkyne, and the circumstances prior to it. Velkyne had fallen five years ago, when the Yuto Velkyne in this world had been nine. His father and king, Luke Velkyne, had died suddenly of disease, putting Yuto on the throne at a young age. Even as he performed the duties required of him, he had joined the Maria Academy to learn. This had only been possible through the support of the allied nation, the Ristal Kingdom.

The king of Ristal had been close friends with the late Luke Velkyne, and their friendship lived on between their sons as well. Velkyne would probably have become quite unstable under Yuto's rule if the king of Ristal hadn't stepped in to help. Not even the nobles who had dedicated themselves to the royal family could have easily served a naïve nine-year-old as their king otherwise.

With the aid of Ristal's king, Yuto managed to grow past his childhood years, and thanks to the connections and knowledge gained in the Academy, he eventually ruled as a real king of Velkyne. In the process, he investigated his father's death. His father had been a healthy man, and his sudden death from sickness made little sense. In particular, Yuto had learned around that time that Rufus Marigold, the head of House Marigold, had been poisoned.

Yuto suspected that someone might have conspired against his father as well. As he investigated, he discovered a box in a hidden compartment in the office. It contained what looked like a small book, left there by his father, and it wasn't just a diary. The book was an accusation against the Constellations, who observed human history and made it their entertainment. Not all Constellations were dedicated to humans. Some of them regarded human lives as a sort of play.

They selected a protagonist, rained down heavy tribulation on them, and watched them as they struggled in their despair. This gave them joy. Sometimes, there was more than one protagonist. Entire kingdoms could be made to rise or fall at their whim. Human history was a game. Yuto reached his conclusion. His father had learned of this truth and had been in the process of learning more when the Constellations had killed him. He resolved to avenge his father.

He saw the Constellations, who did with the world as they saw fit, as evil, and wished to defeat every Eclipse, who was their agent. Shiro Ristal, a brother in everything but blood, shared Yuto's goal. Yuto and Shiro hunted down every Eclipse, effectively removing the ability of the Constellations to change the world. It made the world a more peaceful place. All that remained after was to kill the wicked Constellations themselves. At the time, Yuto had believed that not all the Constellations were bad.

Yuto now clenched his teeth. I thought the Broken Star was on my side, at least. The Broken Star had been the great being that watched over the Velkyne royal family. Yuto had served them all his life, and the Broken Star had blessed Yuto's purpose, given him strength in every battle. The Broken Star had been Yuto's light, guiding him along every path. But at the last moment, when Yuto had needed the Broken Star the most, they had turned against him.

"Yuto Velkyne, this is where your role ends." Yuto had heard the Broken Star's voice the night Shiro Ristal betrayed him. The lightning had struck Yuto and Flokiro instead of Shiro. My... role... Yuto's eyes flashed. The last two years of research had taught him something about the world he had returned to. In this world, there was no prince in the royal family of Velkyne named Yuto Velkyne. He had guessed vaguely that this might be the case. He had not woken up at Velkyne's castle.

In this world, he was a boy from the slums, with no memory of his parents. Maybe he didn't have any parents at all in this world. He had traveled against the current of time and stranded himself in a timeline where he didn't even exist. That was what he had concluded about himself. And this had allowed him to find the facts behind why the kingdom had fallen—the details of the world he had originally occupied, his father's sudden death, the kingdom, thrown into chaos, and a young, nine-year-old boy king.

It was an obvious turn of events, a story in which a young king accomplished growth through the hardships he faced. As he learned about the gigantic plot against his father, he had resolved to have revenge, pitting himself against powerful enemies—the Eclipses—and slowly became a hero in the eyes of the public. He had met the love of his life, married her, and had a lovely little daughter. And in his happiest moment, the tale had shifted into a tragedy. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road.

Report any occurrences. Yuto's past life had been a show, nothing more, meant for the Constellations' amusement. In this world, however, Yuto didn't even exist, and that was why Velkyne had fallen. The great disaster that had befallen the kingdom five years ago, the lightning and great earthquake, had been no natural phenomena. They had been a divine punishment from the Constellations against the kingdom's ruler. And this punishment had not only destroyed the king, but his entire kingdom with him.

I wasn't there to protect Velkyne. It wasn't Yuto's fault, strictly speaking, but Yuto felt guilty all the same. He also felt angry and hateful. So many subjects had died overnight, screaming, along with the royal family. And it was for no other reason than that their king had figured out the truth. The weight of all this tragedy pressed heavily on Yuto's shoulders. Yuto gritted his teeth and glared at the ashes of the fire, which had gone out. He didn't need the fire anymore.

The ominous night had passed, and morning was coming. * Yuto had gotten almost no sleep at all, but he felt no fatigue. His stamina had been reinforced by the status window.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked Rivian with no trace of tiredness, and Rivian was taken aback. She was chewing an herb to help her recover her energy. She took another one out and offered it carefully to him.

"Do you... need this?"

"I see no reason not to eat it," Yuto said, taking it from her. He wasn't tired, but that didn't mean he was in an ideal condition, either. They would be entering Velkyne in earnest today, which meant they had to be fully prepared. They ate the same meal as they had done yesterday, washed their faces, then got into the horseman's seat. * The carriage made its way across the Rashia Plains, which had been reduced to a red wasteland. They rode for several hours before reaching the gate of Velkyne.

The once-mighty kingdom had ruled the east, and the huge gate and high walls had never been breached. Unfortunately, they no longer had any of their past glory. The night of the disaster five years ago, widely regarded as a punishment from the Constellations, had left ugly scars all across the walls. The walls, which were dozens of meters high, had crumbled here and there. The lookout towers placed along the walls had collapsed. Yuto gazed coldly at the gate.

It was so heavy that it usually took dozens of men using a pulley to open it. Rivian hesitated.

"Why don't we look for another way to get in?" she asked. The gate would not open from the outside.

"The grave robbers and criminals got in somehow. There has to be another entrance," she said. The disaster had left very visible, permanent traces. If they went around the walls, they would be able to find an opening they could pass through. Besides, if they opened the gate and went in that way, everyone who was hiding in the ruined cityscape would see them. Rivian's suggestion was reasonable. There was no reason to insist on using a gate they could not even open, and risk attracting attention.

But Yuto shook his head.

"No," he said. He couldn't agree with her even though he saw she was being logical.

"We use the main entrance," he said. He got off the horseman's seat and walked to the great steel gate.

"W-wait, Yuto, you're going to use the gate? But how will you even get it open?"

"I..." Yuto said quietly, his voice echoing off the walls.

"I will not go in by some hole in the wall." It did not matter if there had never been a Yuto Velkyne in this world. It didn't change who he was—Velkyne's last king. Rivian stared blankly at his back. The words he had just muttered seemed to have been intended only for himself, but she sensed a sadness and determination in them. Yuto slowly reached for the door, and tendrils of darkness exploded from behind him. Two Void Hands formed in no time at all and touched the gate.

His core vibrated at his heart, and the Void Hands, enhanced with ether, grew even darker and swelled. The hands shoved the gate. The metal screamed, and the gates, sealed by death and destruction, were forced open, making noises that seemed to spread across the entire wasteland. The gate opened slowly, and Yuto sensed powerful hatred leaking out through the opening. The same kinds of resentful spirits that had been betrayed by the Constellations, made to despair, as in the Penalty Zone were here as well.

Yuto gritted his teeth at the wailing of the dead, those who had not survived the disaster from half a decade ago. The hands grew more forceful as Yuto's emotions flared. They didn't just open the gate. They blew it off the hinges and tossed it far away.

"That's... not possible..." Rivian muttered dully. She was well aware of how strong the mysterious power was, of course. But this gate was massive. She would never have imagined he could be capable of doing this.

"Let's go in," Yuto said. He took a deep breath and returned to the carriage. He felt a rush of emotion at the fact that he was now back in Velkyne, but he couldn't let Rivian see that.

"Right..." Rivian said, nodding and swallowing nervously. The Iron Horses pulled the carriage through the opening where the gate had been. Rivian gasped at what she saw next. Everything she had learned at the Maria Academy about this kingdom seemed to fall short of the reality. She clamped a hand over her mouth and winced. The scene that unfolded before her felt like hell itself, only frozen in time. The city, swept by disaster, was nothing but a collection of ruins scattered like bones. The stink was horrible.

It smelled of rotting bodies. Maybe there were actual rotting bodies here. Rivian flinched and turned her head. She had heard a distant noise. Faint figures appeared and vanished repeatedly in the purple fog. They looked human, but their arms and legs didn't look whole. Their empty eye sockets were contorted with pain.

"Why... Why did this happen to us?"

"So hot..."

"Can't... breathe..." They were the vengeful spirits of those who had died helplessly on the night of the disaster. They did not actively hurt the living, but they had been unable to find rest, and they wandered through the fog, crying out about their suffering. Yuto stopped the carriage and stared at them. He soon bit his lip, jumped down, and approached the fog.

"Ah..." He tried to touch them, but they mixed with the fog at the last moment and vanished. Yuto's shoulders trembled slightly. He closed the hand he had extended into a fist.

"I... I'm sorry..." Yuto said in a shaky voice. Rivian, who had gotten off with him, stopped short when she heard him speak. Flokiro went to Yuto and took his hand as he stood there, watching. Rivian sensed a deep connection between Yuto and Flokiro that she could never understand, and something told her that this bond was not all beautiful and desirable. Yuto, perhaps you are... Rivian thought, a guess beginning to form in her mind. But she was unable to ask him about it.