Volume 2 - CH 12.1

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Volume 2 Epilogue of Part 1

When Zana first met Uzermart, she was a young girl and her mother was still alive.

Back then the countries of Himuro and Sahara were not hostile to each other, and the interactions between the royal families were plentiful.

The two met by chance at one of the joint parties organized by the two countries.

Even though they were young, she thought that he looked fearless and noble, and his muscled, brown-skinned body radiated vitality and confidence.

However, the thing that attracted her to him the most, were his eyes.

Strong and filled with ambition, they were not trying to hide anything from the world. Like a vortex of white and black, like snakes with deadly poison, like hawks controlling the skies.

So dangerous and handsome, Zana was so captivated by him that it was frightening. But she soon noticed that he had not much interest in her. But even so, she tried her best to appeal to him to the best of her abilities. She took proper care of her skin and combed her air every day, and perfected herself both as an ice magic user and a shrine maiden.

And when Uzermart finally invited her to his room one day, she felt as if her heart was soaring.

But, unknown to everyone, Uzermart was sent to Himuro to kidnap Zana’s sister, Eldav.

The country lost its head shrine maiden, was plagued by blizzards and chilling snow, people were starving, and Zana’s mother, the queen who tried to deal with all of that by herself finally succumbed to illness and departed this world, leaving the young Zana to become the next ruler.

Stripped of everything that she held dear, she was left with a deep, deep hatred.

Hatred towards Uzermart who toyed with her heart and betrayed her.

Hatred towards Eldav for being chosen by Uzermart instead of her.

And most importantly, hatred towards herself for being unable to cast that mentality aside even after everything that’s happened.

But she was fortunate enough to be blessed with kind-hearted citizens who followed after their foolish queen even if it meant being dragged into misfortune. And for that loyalty, for their warm-heartedness in the midst of this snow-covered lands, she thought that she needed to reward them.

Zana failed as a woman, but she hoped to be a good queen.

Borrowing the powers of the Moon Goddess and the Demon Lord, she was able to take back her sister and kill Uzermart, but sacrificed herself in the process. Even so, she thought that it was for the best.

Hopes and hatred were all mixed inside of her, and those were the only feeling she had left.

Some of them came true, and some of them were to forever remain outside of her reach.

And so, Zana awoken form her long dream.

Opening her eyes, Zana slowly raised her body back up.

She felt as if she was watching a dream, but she could not remember what that dream was about at all. But she must’ve cried, because her cheeks were all wet.

Also…

「Oh, now I’ve done it.」

She saw Aur sleeping next to her, and grabbed her head with her hands.

She couldn’t remember her dream at all, but ironically she remembered last knight very clearly.

She drank a lot while she was taking a bath in an outdoor bath, she complained a lot about Aur and him being an “insensitive donkey”, then she cried, complained some more, cried a few more times, and finally she was brought to this room because she was unable to get there by herself.

(Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!)

She did a lot of embarrassing stuff, and worse yet, Aur probably witnessed most of it.

(There is no choice, I must kill myself now.)

Zana judged that if she was to do it, now was her only chance to do so. It was her original intention anyway.

But before she could do anything, the Moon Goddess took control over her body.

「Looks like someone is very energetic this early in the morning.」

When she regained consciousness, she had her mouth completely glued to Aur’s mouth.

「Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you were awake?!」

「I’ve woken up when I heard loud noises in my head. Maybe you should try to tone them down a bit since we share them, you know?」

Zana quickly separated herself from Aur and covered herself with a blanket.

「Geez, Lady Marina, what were you thinking?!」

While being possessed by the Goddess, Zana was unable to retain her consciousness, so she had no way of knowing what Marina was doing, and she was unable to prevent it in any way. Sometimes she could anticipate her actions to some degree with recognition ability, but this time she was completely in the dark.

「Looks like you still don’t understand yourself at all.」

Aur said so, looking quite amazed.

「What do you mean?」

「No, it’s okay if you still don’t understand it yourself.」

The Goddess was quite overprotective of her, it would seem, but thanks to that there was no need for him to worry about her himself.

「What on earth are you going on about?!」

「Ahh, so noisy, I’m going back to sleep.」

Now that the matter with Uzermart has been resolved, Aur’s work has piled up.

He had to oversee the reconstruction of the Dungeon destroyed during the invasion of the Immortal Sand Army.

He had to deal with Mari’s and Eldav’s collars and look for Hoseli who disappeared from the pyramid.

And there was the issue of governing Sahara now that they’ve lost their ruler. He might’ve been a tyrant, but he was a king nonetheless. If this issue does not get resolved quickly, then the whole country will fall into anarchy.

But the most important matter was still getting enough sleep to function properly. After all, he has been working for seven days and nights straight without getting any sleep at all.

「Just let me get some more sleep, and I’ll make sure to listen to your complaints when I wake up.」

As he was drifting back to sleep, Aur used Zana’s naked body as a hugging pillow.

「Hey, what are you…?!」

「It’s the least you can do for waking me up.」

Hugging the soft body, his eyes quickly closed.

「… Stop hugging me like I’m your girlfriend or something, geez.」

But she heard no reply, so she just stroked his hair for a bit. They were so glossy and pleasant to the touch. Just the simple act of touching them filled Zana up with an indescribable feeling of calmness and comfort.

Through their connection, Aur’s soul tells Zana many more things than his mouth would ever do.

「Well, I guess it can’t be helped.」

Zana just sights to herself.

Seeing that he had a wrinkle which made him look angry even when he was asleep made Zana chuckle uncontrollably.

Just how long has it been since she’s been able to laugh like that without a care in the world?

Maybe it won’t be so bad to keep on living after all.

With such a thought, Zana also drifted into a peaceful sleep.