Paul gritted his teeth and glared at the Queen.
"I— won't."
His bones snapped.
However, he did not heed her words.
The pressure suddenly disappeared and the Queen stared at him.
Worry and anxiety were hidden deep in her eyes.
Her gaze was focused on his bleeding body.
But her face remained impassive.
The doors of the hall opened.
Amelia, along with several her personal guards, rushed inside.
"Mom! Are you okay?! What was that!?"
"Don't go there, princess! The Queen has gone berserk due to the curse!"
The guards stopped her.
They silently placed a sword behind Amelia's back, warning the Queen to stop, or there would be consequences.
The Queen realized Amelia had not betrayed her.
…A wave of relief washed over her heart.
She could crush the guards with a snap.
But…
Her gaze returned to Paul.
They must've killed Neo or imprisoned him.
There was a high chance Neo was dead; the Tyrant Queen never believed he was immortal, she only threatened him back then to see how he would react.
With Neo dead and Clara in hiding, there was no way for the Queen to save herself.
After her death, Amelia would suffer.
Because she was a tyrant's daughter.
"What are you doing!?"
Paul glared at the guard who had placed a hidden sword behind Amelia without her knowledge.
While he was against the Queen's tyranny, he knew Amelia was innocent.
His words cleared the Queen's thoughts.
She knew what she had to do.
"Get out."
She waved her hand and a powerful gust of wind threw all of them out of the audience hall.
The doors closed behind them.
Amelia stammered to her feet and banged her wrists on the door.
"Mom! Open the doors! Open… i-it! Hic! Hic! P-please!"
Tears flowed out of her eyes.
She turned to Paul and held his shoulder with trembling hands.
"W-we need to find, Neo. He can save Mom! We have to hurry!"
Paul looked away.
Amelia did not know about Clara's ability to use curses.
In fact, even among the rebels, only the Queen's personal guards knew about it after they decided to rebel.
Curses were frowned upon.
In the past, the Tyrant Queen told Clara to keep it a secret for her safety.
Without knowing anything, Amelia was in the dark and requested for help from the rebels.
"We can't find Neo. He went missing few hours ago. Sis is searching for him," Paul spoke.
"What?"
The despair in Amelia's eyes was slowly replaced by anger.
"Did the rebels kidnap him?" she asked with seething rage.
"…I don't know. But, before sis left, she told me his disappearance was strange. He wouldn't have been kidnapped if he listened to sis.
"Sis said he kept wandering in the palace. Almost as if… as if he wanted to be kidnapped."
"…I see."
Amelia's expression darkened.
Thinking that the Queen might come after them at any moment, Paul hurried,
"Amelia, you need to evacuate. The Queen has gone berserk. I'm worried she might harm you too."
"But—"
"Amelia! Stop hesitating! Face it that we can't save the Queen now!"
Paul shouted.
He spoke his next words in a low voice,
"You are this kingdom's future. If you die, we would lose everything."
Amelia knew what Paul meant.
The Tremor-ranked Spell of the Mermaid Country could be inherited by two people at a time.
With the Queen on death's door, Amelia was the last possessor of the Spell.
If she died, the Spell that protected the kingdom would disappear forever.
"I promise you, Amelia. I will do my best to save… Mother. So, leave it to me and go."
Listening to his words, Amelia broke down into tears.
…
Underworld
Neo's back rested against the sandy beach.
His clothes were ripped and dried blood was stuck on his body.
"I feel like shit."
The beach was filled with corpses of Gulwaks.
Some were slashed in half, some had crumbled into dust, and some had been brutally bashed with fists.
He absentmindedly stared at the sky.
[Time Remaining: 00 hour: 30 minutes]
He had been fighting for only 12 hours?
"Wow, fuck."
It felt like days to him.
"I'll kill myself if the growth I felt was also an illusion," Saying so pulled up the status screen.
[Neo Hargraves]
[Rank: Grade 5 Awakened]
[Divine Energy Purity: Grade 1 Awakened]
[Stats]
﹂Strength: 19
﹂Speed: 21
﹂Dexterity: 17
﹂Constitution: 14
﹂Luck: 0
[Affinity: Death, Shadow, Darkness, Void]
﹂Magic Spell: Necrotic Touch
[Bloodline: Monarch of Death]
﹂Unique Skill: Death, Immortal
[Quest: Save the Queen (In Progress)]
His strength and constitution increased by three.
It was a massive increase.
Normally, a demigod needed to train for a few weeks to increase the stat by 3.
Neo felt his growth speed was justified.
His training intensity, unlike normal people, was beyond Nightmare difficulty.
He could not remember how many times he broke his bones and was nearly decapitated.
These sick Gulwaks were perverts who liked to behead their enemies!
…
Audience Hall
The Tyrant Queen stared in the air absentmindedly.
Where did things go wrong?
She never experienced love.
She trained until her hands bled.
She stood against the countries trying to exploit the Mermaid Nation alone.
Why was she being turned into the 'evil'?
Hadn't she always put the country before her own wellbeing?
To be honest, she did not care about the rebellion, being called 'evil' or how others called her a Tyrant.
It happened because of her own choices.
She wouldn't deny them.
But watching her own children leading the rebellion broke her heart.
She covered her face with her palms.
Tears slipped from in-between her fingers.
They were the tears of a mother.
She could barely maintain the countenance of a Tyrant.
How could she care about dignity after what she saw?
Time passed.
Elizabeth wiped her tears and stood up.
She left the audience hall.
Her steps carried the grandeur of a Queen, her gaze was cold and confident like a Tyrant, and the feeble mother was no longer to be seen.
The palace was empty.
The Tyrant Queen returned to her room.
To rest.
Forever.
…
Azure Spire Palace
Paul carried Neo's corpse towards the Queen's location.
It was for an important task.
Neo, an Awakened Demigod, could cure Queen's curse.
He was capable and thus might have someone powerful as a backer.
If Neo's backer found out he was killed by the rebels, they would be thrown from fire into frying pan.
Paul planned to pin the death of Neo on the Tyrant Queen.
This way, the rebels would not be blamed.
And they might be able to befriend Neo's backer.
"Where did she go?" Paul thought.
The Queen was not inside the audience hall.
He searched the palace and did not find her anywhere.
"She is not in the office, not in the treasury, and not in the weapon's barrack. Where is she?"
"Don't tell me…!?"
He rushed towards her room.
Opening the door, he found her inside.
A hollow laugh left his mouth.
"This fucking bitch…"