The memories of her past life came back to her with perfect clarity.
It had been like this back then, too.
The plague—or rather, this terrible disaster……
‘It was created and spread by the Cardel family.’
In her past life, once Odely had married Ludville and become a member of another family, Cardel was forced to achieve great deeds without the purification agent.
But what could people who knew only how to exploit the purification agent, and had no abilities of their own, possibly accomplish?
Gawin’s choice was both vile and classic.
Create and spread a plague, then appear like a hero, cure everyone, and become their savior.
‘Ludville in my past life saw through all of this.’
Their marriage had happened more than once throughout the countless regressions, and Gawin’s actions had always been similar.
Once Ludville realized it was Gawin’s scheme, he purified the evil energy before the disease could spread and completely ruined the whole performance of the “miracle’s arrival.”
The heroic play Gawin had planned came to an end before it even reached the stage.
But this time……
“Burn the entire city.”
Ludville was about to use an extreme and inhumane method before even discovering the cause.
‘Gawin must actually be delighted by now.’
The lockdown order personally issued by the Grand Duke of Exception.
The people dying inside it.
It was the perfect story to manipulate public opinion.
Once Gawin arrived in Bellader, there was no doubt he would take control of public opinion by saying, “If I hadn’t appeared, this city would have been reduced to ashes.”
Then he would solve the disease he himself had spread and act like a savior, saying, “The Grand Duke abandoned you, but Cardel saved you.”
If things continued like this, Ludville would become the villain.
A monster, a madman, a disaster to the empire.
‘……That’s what they’ll call him.’
She had to stop it somehow before Gawin arrived here, before things became irreversible.
‘In my past life, you went out of your way to save these people. Even through thousands of regressions.’
Of course, there were times when he turned a blind eye to them.
There were even some timelines where he abandoned them and simply moved on.
But……
In the last life, when Ludville thought he could no longer regress, he personally saved these people.
The truth was, he must have wanted to save them.
So Odely intended to use Ludville’s memories and follow the traces of the knowledge he had left behind.
She would create the best possible outcome.
Just as you had.
****
“Are we ready?”
The commander of the Dawn Knights, dressed in black armor, asked.
Behind him, the knights who had finished preparing for the operation stood hesitantly with their swords drawn.
The dead bodies had already been burned.
But directly executing infected people who were still breathing was by no means easy, even for those who had fought through countless battlefields.
“……Do we really have to do this?”
The deputy commander hesitantly asked.
“We really haven’t done anything wrong…… Please, sir……”
“Please, at least spare our children!”
“Mom…… I want to go home…… Mom……”
“Heaven has abandoned me…… The gods, the empire, no one……”
The commander briefly squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again.
A complicated expression flickered beneath the black cloth covering his mouth and nose.
But soon, a firm voice followed.
“It is the Grand Duke’s order.”
Those few words erased all “judgment.”
Because that was what the Dawn Knights were.
This disease could not be cured.
No magic or medicine had any effect.
The disease spread rapidly, and every infected person died without exception.
The smoke rising from the corpses and the evil energy settling over every alley proved that this place had already become a “living hell.”
It was horrifying.
Everyone was thinking the same thing deep down.
But their lord’s order was the fastest choice for protecting the empire.
It was also the ‘surest’ method.
“……Just give the order.”
The commander in black armor closed his eyes and made his final decision.
“Execute them, then burn the bodies.”
The decisive order was given.
The knights silently raised their swords.
They were about to send them to their deaths with as little pain as possible when—
“Wait!”
A man dressed in pure white ceremonial robes shouted from among the infected who had been gathered separately.
“Please don’t kill the innocent! This city will soon be saved……!”
His voice trembled, and his breathing was so labored that it sounded as though it might stop at any moment.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his split lips were bleeding.
But he did not stop speaking.
“The descendant of the divine beast and heir to the great Cardel family will come to save us!”
His voice grew louder as he began spewing out words that sounded increasingly like delusions.
But to those trembling with the fear of death, Raonel’s words were a ray of hope.
“A-a savior?”
“If it’s the heir of the Cardel family…… Do you mean Lord Gawin?”
The people looked at one another as if they could hardly believe it.
One woman among them covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
“Really…… Can we survive……?”
“Yes.”
Raonel answered with the mad certainty unique to a fanatic.
“Cardel would never abandon us.”
Then a man holding his frightened child in his arms cried out.
“Hero Gawin will come to save us!”
That cry became the spark.
Having lost their reason, they soon began shouting with voices tangled in anger and hope.
“The Grand Duke was going to lock us up like animals and kill us, even though we begged him to save us!”
“The Grand Duke of Exception is a monster. A mad monster!”
“Lord Gawin should rule this land instead! Instead of a heartless Grand Duke like that!”
The moment someone spoke the Grand Duke’s name, the crowd’s anger exploded.
Some picked up stones, while others pointed at the knights and began hurling insults at them.
Public opinion began to spiral out of control.
Then it happened.
Beyond the street thick with evil energy, a silhouette could be seen slowly walking through the wind.
Someone was approaching them.
The person was wrapped in a shabby robe, but the long silver hair falling beneath it shone brilliantly in the sunlight.
Silver hair as white as snow.
The symbol of Cardel, the family blessed with sacred blood.
“……Ah!”
Raonel’s face filled with joy.
Lord Gawin had not abandoned him!
He had been brainwashing himself into believing that all of this was a trial from God.
Because only then could he forgive himself for spreading the plague, no matter how much he had been threatened with his younger brother’s life.
Beneath the false appearance of Cardel’s savior, he was suffocating under his faith, guilt, and fear.
At last, the person who had approached the group took off their hood.
It was……
Not Gawin Cardel.
Odely Cardel.
It was her.
“Cardel…… Lady Odely?”
The people recognized her.
There was no way they could not. The Cardel family had distributed portraits throughout the empire, claiming they were searching for their missing daughter.
Odely calmly walked to the center of the square and looked at the infected people with their confused faces.
Then she spoke.
“I’m sorry, but Gawin Cardel isn’t coming. Even if he does, it’ll only be after you’re dead.”
Her brief words struck Raonel like a bolt from the blue.
“……What?”
Odely silently looked at Raonel, who had frozen in confusion.
A young priest who had devoted himself to the Cardel family.
A twisted fanatic who had lived under blind faith and distorted beliefs.
But at the same time, he was also a victim who had been thoroughly used by Gawin Cardel.
Odely knew that he was destined to die today.
After becoming infected with the plague he himself had spread, without ever being saved by anyone.
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