Chapter 728

Chapter 728

"Shall we go on a picnic tomorrow, Aider?"

When was this?

Aider, exhausted from playing the fake prince, was completely drained and sitting on the sofa. Ariel, who had brought refreshments and sat in front of him, asked this.

Aider, with wide eyes, asked,

"A picnic?"

"Yes. There's a hill in the outskirts where I often played with my brother when I was young. There's a big zelkova tree, and in summer, flowers bloom..."

Ariel smiled awkwardly.

"Because you're working hard for me and the Imperial Family. There's no schedule for tomorrow... Hmm, you can refuse if you don't want to or are tired."

"No, no! I don't mind at all!"

Aider hurriedly waved his hands and smiled clumsily.

"Thank you for the invitation, princess. I'll look forward to it tomorrow!"

However, the next day, the two couldn't go on the picnic.

Because it suddenly rained.

So instead of going on a picnic, they sat side by side in a pavilion in the King's Castle courtyard...

And watched the falling rain together.

The memory of that ordinary, not-so-special day remained deeply in their hearts.

Why was that?

***

"Ha! Cough, cough, cough!"

At the moment the Lake Kingdom was sinking. By the lakeside.

Aider, who was under the first curse - the curse of immortality.

Due to the princess's expulsion order, he was ejected out of the Lake Kingdom, avoiding the second and third curses placed on the Lake Kingdom.

He had to watch as the entire Lake Kingdom sank, with no one but himself escaping.

"..."

Aider, a mere human, was overwhelmed in the face of a world's destruction.

The vast kingdom disappeared under the lake like bubbles. Aider could do nothing but stare blankly at this sight.

After the entire kingdom sank and the shaking and noise that shook the heavens and earth subsided.

Finally, a thought came to Aider's mind.

‘What should I do now?’

Upon reflection, there was nothing he needed to do for the Lake Kingdom.

He was just a slave driven by the Lake Kingdom, not even a citizen. He was dragged in to impersonate the prince because he looked like him, having done dirty and rough work all his life.

He had no family, no friends. No connections or ties.

He could just leave everything behind and go.

At that moment.

Clink.

Something made a sound in Aider's pocket. He curiously put his hand in his pocket and took it out.

It was a plaque made of black wood.

‘This is...?’

It was Princess Ariel's plaque.

Her name and identity were engraved on it, and as befits a royal plaque, it was luxuriously made from the blackwood Everblack.

‘When...’

It seemed Ariel had given it to Aider at the moment she issued the expulsion order.

Why?

Why did the princess pull him out of the Lake Kingdom and give him the most precious thing she had at that moment?

- Aider.

Suddenly, Ariel's smiling face flashed before his eyes.

The person who gave him a name.

And the first to treat him as a ‘person’.

- Shall we go on a picnic tomorrow?

"..."

He knew.

That warmth was not entirely directed at him.

The princess had projected the image of her amicable brother from her childhood onto him.

Royalty and slave, citizen and non-citizen...

There was a distance between her and himself wider than the sky and the earth.

But, even so.

‘I want to save her.’

Even if the whole world perished, only you.

‘Only you, I want to save...’

After carefully putting the plaque given by the princess into his bosom.

Aider staggered and stood up.

"I don't know what I need to do..."

Renewing his resolve on his delicate face,

"I will try anything, princess."

Aider quietly looked down at the surface of the lake, gradually turning black and turbid.

"So... please wait a little longer."

Thus.

To save the perished kingdom, the fake prince began a long journey.

***

I asked cautiously.

"Then what about now?"

"...I don't know."

Aider fiddled with the empty teacup.

"I am curious too. The first emotion when I decided to save her was definitely love. But now..."

After mumbling as if trying to articulate something, he finally gave up and laughed weakly.

"What is this feeling of mine? Why did I want to save her for such a long time?"

"..."

"Well, the reason no longer matters. I just want to see it. The true ending we will reach."

A brief silence ensued.

Thud.

Placing down the teacup and intertwining his fingers, Aider took a deep breath.

"So, I've talked enough about old stories... Shall we talk about what's to come?"

He changed the subject.

Perhaps to the main topic we were supposed to discuss here.

"The path to the Lake Kingdom has been blocked, but now it is open."

"Yes. So I was just about to send a free exploration team."

The next stage is 45.

It's a boss stage. We need to scout who the opponent is.

"Let me tell you first."

But Aider talked about something else.

"Once you enter the Lake Kingdom dungeon, you can encounter the final boss in the deepest part."

"...?!"

"In the ‘game’, it was the same, wasn't it? You could encounter it from this point."

I swallowed dryly.

"The final boss..."

"‘The Sleepless Lake Princess’."

Aider nodded.

"Yes. Nameless."

"...!"

"The reason the path to the Lake Kingdom has been blocked so far is clear, isn't it?"

Aider calmly recited the cruel truth.

"It was the process of her transformation into a monster. The entire Lake Kingdom was covered in darkness. And the mutation is already complete."

The person he had unrequited love for.

The person he had fought for eons to save.

In this final round, she had already lost her humanity and become a monster. He told this story so calmly.

"She has become the embodiment of all the nightmares of the Lake Kingdom's people and now, she is the strongest being among any monster in this world."

"..."

"And when Stage 50 begins, she will leave the Lake Kingdom and head to the human world."

Aider, with cold eyes, was now staring directly at me.

"In the ‘game’, to prevent the monster invasion and achieve victory, you had to kill her before Stage 50 started."

"...!"

"In other words."

With a voice as cold as his eyes.

Aider uttered the victory condition from the game.

"To ‘win’, from now until the start of Stage 50, we must kill Nameless, who has transformed into a monster."

"..."

"Of course."

Immediately, Aider smiled brightly.

"This is not the ending I desire. And it's not the method you have in mind either, is it?"

That's right.

I had my own strategy to save Nameless and spectacularly overturn this round.

And Aider said he was leaving this place to prepare for ‘something’ now.

"The final move I will prepare from now on, combined with the strategy you have in mind."

Aider, who smiled slyly like a villain, made a gesture.

"Shall we pull off something spectacular together?"

"..."

"The grandest finale of the ‘end-of-the-world game’ that will astonish the entire universe."

Oh man...

Who in the world could refuse that?

I smirked and reached out my hand.

"Alright! Let's do it, accomplice!"

Aider also took my hand.

We shook hands firmly and laughed wickedly.

"The grandest finale to wrap up our grueling joint venture...!"

--TL Notes--

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