It felt like my thoughts had stopped. Leaving me behind, Eileens continued to speak at her own pace.
"The Empire wants to believe that magic came from the gods. They want to prove that Carpea is the country chosen by those gods and stand tall in the world."
I barely managed to lift my head. Eileens, who had approached me before I realized it, burst into a childlike, innocent smile.
"But the truth is, that's not it. There are no gods in this world, and damn magic was created by a single human."
She blew air over her hand. The small breeze grew into a massive current, and a vivid illusion unfolded before my eyes.
〈Among the people, Eileens' prestige is growing day by day!〉
〈At this rate, we’re bound to lose the country to that woman.〉
〈Magic, you say? This is nothing but the power of demons she created!〉
Waaaaaah!
People cheered for Eileens as she entered the palace on horseback. But it didn’t take long for those cheers to turn into screams.
〈Eileens, admit your treason.〉
Soon, I saw Eileens kneeling before the Emperor, whose face was obscured.
〈If you abandon your name and surrender, I will make you an eternal hero.〉
Then, Eileens’ face suddenly popped out of the illusion.
"This is all I got out of it!"
"……."
"I ended up being sealed in Drimokan, having my magic power extracted for the comfort of others!"
Eileens grabbed my shoulders roughly and shook me back and forth.
"And now, afraid I might gain a name again, they’ve hidden even Drimokan's existence and created a new religion?"
She cackled as if she had gone mad.
In that moment, I realized one thing.
The curse of Drimokan was real.
Its depth was beyond what I could ever comprehend.
The imperial family clearly knew that Eileens would vent her anger on the House of Roygin.
‘And yet they handed her over to Grandpa……’
After laughing for a while holding her belly, Eileens let go of me. Then she sneered.
"You just weighed your own misfortune against my tragedy, didn’t you?"
"I didn’t think that."
What’s the point of comparing someone else's misery to yours anyway?
I tightly closed my eyes.
"……If I made a promise with you, that means there’s a way to end your tragedy, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
Eileens lightly shrugged her shoulders.
"Before that, I have something I’m curious about."
"Go ahead. I’ll answer honestly, since it’s you."
"You knew I wasn’t Bianca. How did you know that?"
At my words, Eileens fell silent for a moment. In her silence, I faintly realized.
My possession wasn’t a coincidence.
Perhaps finding it hard to explain, Eileens furrowed and then relaxed her brows several times.
"You know, I hated Blua."
Her words grew stronger as she continued.
"If Carpea had lost the Magic War, I could have been free."
"……!"
"But Blua and Harnen ruined everything."
I had a rebuttal.
The Magic War lasted ten years, and many people died or were injured. The pain of war still lingered in the Empire.
But it wasn’t something I could say to Eileens, who had her magic power exploited for a time I couldn't even fathom.
"It’s karma. That’s why I don’t regret it."
But could this really be called karma?
……No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what Grandpa had done wrong.
Was I just being selfish?
"Then one day, I met Bianca."
She seemed to be talking about the original Bianca.
"Hmm, it was by chance."
……By chance?
Didn’t they meet in Drimokan?
Her words were vague, but I decided to listen for now.
"But that kid said this. There’s this boy she hates, but she wishes he would like her. She said it’s been her long-time wish."
……No way.
As if confirming my suspicion, Eileens gave a deep smile.
"She asked me if I was a mage, and if I was, she begged me to grant her wish."
"……What did you do?"
"Of course, I ignored her. But as you can see, my body has been dragged around by magic against my will, hasn’t it?"
I grew anxious.
"Magic must’ve wanted to grant that child's wish. But Bianca died not long after, and then you ended up in her body."
"……."
"So? Do you think her wish came true?"
I couldn't answer.
Because if I did, I might start to understand Ricardo.
As if she could already see my silent thoughts, Eileens lifted one corner of her mouth.
"Yeah, it was just Bianca’s obsession."
……So, is that really the reason I ended up in this world?
Everything I couldn’t understand about his actions—
All for something so trivial.
Because of one lingering desire to be loved by someone, my pitiful self had struggled through every moment.
I felt like I could collapse at any second, but I barely held onto my senses.
"Why me?"
"Accident. So there's no reason. You were just unlucky."
It was something I used to tell myself. But hearing it from someone else made it sound far more cruel.
"Maybe you received an even worse curse than Blua."
……Trying to undo Grandpa’s curse, I ended up discovering a much bigger secret.
I always wondered why. What kind of reason could possibly justify all that I had gone through?
But now that I heard the reason, not even a hollow laugh would come out.
"But don’t worry. There is a way."
"……Haha, thank goodness."
Even I didn’t know what I’d say next, but I forced a laugh. I hoped it would make me feel at least a little better.
Eileens chuckled lightly and tapped the chains with her hand.
"My seal just needs to be broken."
What on earth does that have to do with anything…?
"There’s a bunch of magic that’s been recklessly used even though I didn’t want it, right? If I get my name back, all that magic will return to where it belongs."
I blinked blankly.
Eileens spread both arms proudly.
"The world will be thrown into chaos. I’ve been here for a very long time, so there's a ton of magic that’s been used!"
"……."
"Even you coming to this place will be undone. As if nothing ever happened."
That was exactly what I had desperately wished for.
If Eileens' seal were to be broken, the world would truly fall into ruins.
I didn’t even want to think about it.
"And then what?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"If the seal is broken, there must be something you want to do most, right?"
As soon as I finished speaking, Eileens’ expression turned cold.
"I don’t know what you’re trying to say."
"I, I’m just curious. You said you’d answer honestly if I asked anything……"
As she suddenly turned serious, I became timid again.
"You already know."
"……."
"What I’d want to do first."
Yeah, I did know.
If I listened to what Eileens had to say, it wouldn’t be hard to guess what was coming next.
……It was probably revenge.
But what worried me now was that I couldn’t imagine how far her revenge would go.
"If my seal is broken, Blua will get better. He’ll die peacefully, just like you wanted!"
Eileens started listing the things I supposedly wanted. But they were all meaningless if I were to return home.
After some thought, I opened my mouth.
"What exactly do I need to do?"
"Do nothing."
It was an unexpected answer.
No—it wasn’t. I had heard those words before.
〈No matter what you learn from now on, please don’t do anything.〉
Brandon had said the same thing.