Beatrice Alighieri Spero was a promising princess.
The first princess of a rich, magic-fueled kingdom.
A great magician princess who had already made a name for herself as an archmage at a young age, and the next in line for the throne with her wisdom, beauty, and intelligence.
Her kingdom was prosperous and peaceful, and though there were disputes over power and territory, the royal family was at peace.
"Good morning, Beatrice."
She had parents who loved her,
"Sister—!"
"Big sister!"
And younger siblings who adored her,
"Queen, we will serve you well today."
She had loyal knights.
Her life had been stable, peaceful, and promising since day one.
It must have been.
"Ma'am?"
Her father, the King, had been erratic lately but her mother, the queen, was trying her best not to notice, but rumors were swirling around the palace.
He's been living with a woman and taking drugs.
It is not uncommon for royalty and high officials to pursue luxury and pleasure but Beatrice's father was a brilliant magician who got along well with the queen and was often hailed as a wise man.
Yet he had an affair and used drugs.
It was unbelievable, but it turned out to be true.
"——you have not seen anything."
He invited a royal maid to his bed and had an orgy of drugs with his friends. Everyone was shocked by the sordidness, but the queen decided to sweep it under the rug.
She knew what a royal scandal would do to the court and the kingdom.
Sometimes ugly truths must be buried, she said, and she looked away.
* * * *
After the crack in the royal couple, the queen devoted herself to state affairs. Her seat was empty, and Beatrice, barely twelve years old, had taken it.
The queen claimed to be educating the next queen, but everyone in the court knew that her father had fallen.
"Your Majesty," she said, "the kingdom of Romagna has been acting very badly lately, and it is said that the king has been slashing at his subjects and people."
The neighboring kingdom of Romagna was known for its hardy warriors.
Their land was barren and mountainous, so their main source of income was exporting mercenaries, and they called their king the King of Mercenaries.
He was not a wise man, but he was a man who could balance his rule with his subjects. He had the wisdom to recognize what he was good at and what he was not, and he was a man with a short temper, but he was responsible as a king.
"If the king of Romagna gets out of hand, he could threaten our kingdom of Spero. Why don't you send an envoy to find out their intentions?"
"It is said that something disturbing has happened in the Rostava estates in the south: the lord has transgressed the honor of the Knights of the Horsemen and brutally murdered them. Please show your royal majesty by meting out punishment."
"Recently, it is said that there are those who preach strange doctrines among the people, and their behavior is so bizarre that it disturbs the order of the kingdom. They must be captured and brought to justice."
During this time, there was no place in the kingdom that was free of bizarre behavior, from kings and nobles to the people themselves.
This much was known, but how much was hidden and practiced in the shadows?
The queen had them thoroughly labeled and punished, but the kingdom, and the world, was decaying at an unusually rapid pace.
"Your Majesty—! The kingdom of Romagna! The royal castle of Romagna has been burned!"
"Have the people rebelled?"
"No! It is said that the king himself has burned the city and slaughtered the people!"
This is strange. How can a king burn his own palace and slaughter his own people? His subjects watched, and his soldiers followed suit.
The kingdom of Spero, fearing the flames of the call would spread, hastened to send messengers to see what was happening in the city.
But half of those who returned were insane, half committed suicide, and only a handful managed to report from the royal castle.
"Hell, hell, it was–it was no man's world."
"Mothers were roasting their children, and children were committing crimes against their elders."
"There was endless indulgence and depravity going on."
Ganja, who witnessed the scene, shuddered and delivered the most shocking truth.
"They were not human beings. They wore human skins, but they were not necessarily of this world."
Everyone said in unison.
""Demons.""
In Beatrice's world, fallen magicians often made pacts with demons to perform black magic, making them a target for vigilance.
Now, as contractors, they've taken over a neighboring kingdom.
Horrified, the neighboring kingdoms rallied to attack the Romagna, as did the magician queen of the time, Beatrice's mother.
But Romagna wasn't the only place where demons lurked, as a rebellion broke out while the army set out to stop the demons from pouring out of the fallen kingdom's castle.
"Oh, my God! What are you doing?"
Beatrice screamed in horror as the King led his soldiers to take over the castle.
"Oh my daughter, how beautifully you have grown."
Realizing that the touch was not her father's usual loving stroke, but that of a creepy man, Beatrice slapped the hand away.
Fear came before disgust and the realization that her father was staring at her like he was licking his lips and that she was facing an ugly need she could never have imagined.
"Daughter, what is it?"
"Stop. Don't come any closer!"
"Don't. If you were–yes, if you were, you might have his favor. Do you know how many men have lusted after you? Every man in the palace has fantasized about holding you."
The dirty, horrible words made her dizzy. Beatrice was confused by the unbelievable lewdness of her father.
"Are there no men who wish to violate my daughter? Hmph, now would be a good time. Perhaps we should marinate her before offering her to him."
Where was the father who loved his mother and children?
Where are the loyal knights, soldiers, and nobles?
Now thirteen years old, she could no longer bear the sight of the ugly nakedness.
That day when the queen died in a war against demons unleashed by the Kingdom of Romagna Beatrice killed her father and the soldiers who rebelled with her own hands.
With her own hands, she killed her father, the knights and soldiers she had known all her life, and before the blood on the throne could dry, she was forced to take the seat herself.
"Your Majesty——"
The kingdom and the world were torn apart as demons continued to multiply, and the fallen, like her father, were rising in every nation.
As queen at the age of thirteen, she must fight the demons outwardly and seek out and purify the Fallen inwardly.
The endless battle began as the young queen mobilized her legions of magicians to slay the demons endlessly, putting herself on the front lines.
At the same time, she vigilantly searched for the Fallen within. Those who showed signs of corruption were burned to death, warning them with horror.
"Your Majesty— that demon is——."
"Androzin— the Archdemon you defeated."
It was during the third year of the war that the despairing truth was realized.
The mighty Archdemon that the Queen and the knights had defeated reappeared.
[Cackle, do you realize the futility of your efforts? We are immortal. We have no mortal limitations like you. You will eventually be defeated]
Demons do not die.
The body you think you've slain is only a shell.
We resurrect and return endlessly.
"So— our fight was pointless."
The young queen, a woman of extraordinary beauty, was unable to stave off the contagious despair.
One by one, the kingdom and its allies crumbled.
"Hee hee hee– Your Majesty, what is the point of this fight?"
Fighting.
"Let's surrender! Let's surrender to them and──!"
More fighting.
"How dare you hide the demons immortality, forcing us into a pointless war?"
Another fight.
"Those demons drove my sister insane, and I'm the only one in my family left alive."
Losing it.
"Sister— kill me before I sell my soul to the demons——."
Losing.
"Fucking demons, I'll bite you to death."
Lost.
Only those who fought, only those who lost, remained.
Looking back, there were only those like her left.
"Revenge."
"Blood vengeance."
"Worse pain."
Becoming a madman.
It had reached the point where those who were not mad could not fight.
"We have a high-level demon today. I've got a special cauldron for you today."
How do you like the heat?
She too had gone mad. Once the high flower of the kingdom, she became the magician queen of the Spero kingdom and the object of the demons' fear but in the end, when they had been driven back, and only the last of the royal castle remained, it whispered.
[Queen, make a deal with me]
A deal with the demon, even though she knew how dangerous it was—it was a deal she had no choice but to accept.
Thus began a hundred years of depravity, the essence of corruption planted to awaken her as the Lord of Pleasure, repeating the history of her destruction.
One by one, even her most loyal knights were corrupted by her natural talent for manipulation and corruption.
Captain Ricardo and his knights, who had become Death Knights themselves, believed in her until the very end, but the Magician Queen knew that she would not endure.
And when she was once again trapped in a world that epitomized corruption, Beatrice despaired.
The darkness she thought she had escaped lurked in her womb, ready to consume her at any moment.
"Beatrice, my daughter."
Happy days.
"Sis!"
Even though she knew those passing worlds were false after all.
'I'm——'
She couldn't resist the sweet temptation.
It was natural to want to go back to the past, to wish it had never happened.
'His Majesty would have gotten over it.'
He would have snorted and told him to get lost but she is not a hero with a strong will and noble convictions like him.
For unlike her, who is but a mortal, he is a true knight of the gods, immortal and eternal.
[Do you really think so?]
The unreachable voice reaches out, it was a voice of divinity that could not reach even the Lionheart King.
[Who art thou?]
"I am——."
"Daughter, what is it?"
She looked back and saw the things she lost.
"Sis, what are you doing? Come on, let's go. We were supposed to go out together."
There was a lost family member.
"At your service, Your Highness."
A knight left for dead.
"It's the Queen!"
"You look beautiful today!"
There were people she tried to protect.
[Who are you?]
How could she turn a blind eye to all this—
[Beatrice Alighieri Spero! Who art thou!]
"——The magician queen of Spero."
[And then!]
"The High Priestess of Dreams and— Death."
[Who is he next to thee!]
"The Lionheart— Leon Dragonia Lionheart."
[Yes, thou art the magician queen whom the demons fear, and thou art the ally of Leon Dragonia Lionheart, the Lionheart King, the magician queen and my priestess, and thy partner in slaying the demons and establishing the righteous way!]
So wake up from your dreams, for you are the dreamer of dreams, never the one who is consumed by them.
"——"
For once, no, for a moment, Beatrice thought. Just for a moment, she looked back at what she had lost.
It was a beautiful memory, one she wished to hold on to, and a bitter one at that but she was no longer a magician queen on a meaningless battlefield.
Now she was a priestess in the service of the Goddess of Dreams and Death, an ally of King Lionheart on the front lines against the demons.
"Let it remain a memory."
"Sister?"
As she turned completely around and stepped forward, she heard a familiar voice.
"You were a monarch I was honored to serve."
The old general waved her off with pride and Beatrice made a promise to the loyal knight.
"I will prove it to you now."
She is a magician queen, a companion to the knight-king with the heart of a lion to slay the demons.
A dream, a vision of the very essence of corruption, scattered, with Leon staring at her and the Demon Archduke stumbling back in disbelief.
[Nonsense— this was not your destiny——]
The Queen's hand reached out to the Archduke of the Fallen. It was a cold touch of death.
"Fate is not for the likes of you to decide."
Death rained down on the cunning demon.