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 of 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.
While Amelia remained unaware, they silently placed a sword behind Amelia's back, warning the Queen to stop, or they would kill Amelia.
The Queen realized Amelia had not betrayed her, unlike Clara and Paul.
A wave of relief washed over her heart.
She looked at the guards.
She could crush them with a snap before they could harm Amelia.
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, and they came to know the fact 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 help from the rebels.
"We can't find Neo. He went missing a few hours ago. Sis is searching for him," Paul spoke. "We believe he ran away because he had no way to cure mother."
"What?" The despair in Amelia's eyes was slowly replaced by anger. With seething rage, she asked, "Did the rebels kidnap him?"
"Yes, he might've been kidnapped. Sis said he kept wandering in the palace even though she told him not to, and then suddenly, he disappeared."
"I see." Amelia's expression darkened.
She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms.
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 the Que— Mother. So, leave it to me and go."
Listening to his words, Amelia broke down into tears, and nodded.
…
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 had passed to him.
"I'll kill myself if the growth I felt was also an illusion," Saying so, he 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 at the air absentmindedly. Where did things go wrong?
She had trained until her hands bled.
The position of Queen demanded strength.
Unlike the countries on the continent, Mermaid Country was surrounded by the Blood Sea on three sides, and the resources available to it were scarce.
If one ignored Elizabeth, the military strength of Mermaid Country was low compared to other countries.
Since they had weak heritage, unlike other countries that were supported by God Clans, they had always been weak and poor.
There was no wonder the countries wanted to exploit Mermaid Country which had no one to defend them.
Elizabeth had stood against those countries for years alone.
She might've been called one of the strongest demigods, but even for her, fighting and stopping armies that were sent to threaten her country was a tall task.
She had no one to depend upon.
Still, she always did her best.
When someone came to force and exploit her country, she retaliated in kind. So where had she gone wrong?
Why was she being turned into the 'evil'?
Hadn't she always put the country before her own wellbeing?
If Elizabeth was being honest, she did not care about the rebellion, or about being called 'evil' and 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 she saw Paul, the child she raised with her own hands, point a sword at her?
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. There was no one to stop her.
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 the Queen's curse.
Someone as capable as him must have a powerful backer.
If Neo's backer found out he was killed by the rebels, they would be thrown from the frying pan into the fire.
Paul planned to pin the death of Neo on the Tyrant Queen.
They would say the Queen went mad during her last moments, and killed him because he couldn't save her.
This way, the rebels would not be blamed for his death, 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…"