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As if to confirm Harald's terrifying premonition, the light curtain's scene suddenly cut, and the setting changed.
Harald recognized it at a glance—this was the hometown of Loki's birth mother, the brewing village of Elbaf…
The atmosphere was completely different from the worried heaviness of the fishing village. Here, a dark, oppressive air permeated everything, even carrying a trace of malicious, gloating delight.
The now-grown Loki, his face grim and shadowed, was somehow standing in front of a group of giants from the brewing village, shouldering his iron hammer.
Leading them was an ugly old giant whose eyes glinted with calculation and jealousy.
The two seemed to exchange some words. Then Loki's expression shifted—from initial confusion, gradually to incredulous shock, and finally to overwhelming fury!
"Hah?! What did you just… say?!"
Loki's voice distorted from extreme rage, sounding like the roar of a wounded beast.
That ugly old giant, with a mix of smugness, venom, and self-righteous "justice," grinned hideously as he repeated their despicable plan: "I said… that outsider woman Ida isn't sick at all! We… poisoned her!
This poison has no cure—she's doomed to die! Haha! Who told her to not know her place!
A mere outsider dares to try replacing Prince Loki's birth mother and become His Majesty Harald's legitimate wife?! She's unworthy!
We're just protecting the purity of the royal bloodline and upholding the dignity of your birth mother!"
As this vicious confession echoed through the brewing village, the scene instantly cut back to Ida's wooden house in the fishing village!
"No! Ida's condition… it seems to have worsened!"
"Respiratory failure?! Quick! Hurry and inform His Majesty Harald! Hurry!!"
"Ida! Hold on!!"
…
The doctors' alarmed cries and desperate shouts intertwined.
On the sickbed, Ida's face suddenly turned even paler, her body beginning to convulse unconsciously…
The breath of life faded rapidly, like a candle in the wind.
At that moment, as if something occurred to her, Ida used the last sliver of her strength to speak in broken, faint words: "Even without blood ties… so what? Just like Hajrudin… Loki-kun… is also my… beloved child…"
Before her words finished, outside the light curtain, Harald was struck as if by a bolt of lightning—his towering body swayed violently.
Then the massive sword in his hand fell with a "bang," crashing heavily to the ground with a deafening roar!
All color drained from his face, his enormous pupils shrinking to pinpoints as he stared fixedly at Ida's image on the light curtain.
So… it wasn't overthinking!
It wasn't a minor illness!
It was murder!
It was despicable poisoning…
All because of these fools' laughable notions of "legitimacy" and their jealousy—his beloved wife, the gentle mother of his children, was about to have her life taken away like this!
This giant warrior, who hadn't shed a single tear even when his horn was broken, now had tears pouring from his eyes like a bursting dam.
A torrent of endless grief, rage, and self-reproach washed over his resolute face.
He let out a choked, soul-shattering whimper from the deepest part of his being, his massive shoulders trembling violently.
Family and friends were the weakest part of Harald's heart. Seeing Ida like this, his tears fell uncontrollably once more…
Rocks wanted to step forward to comfort him at this moment, but Eris quickly held him back with sharp eyes and swift hands.
Dorry and Brogy—the legendary warriors of Elbaf—silently lowered their heads, gripping their weapons tightly. Their eyes burned with fury toward their disgraceful kin, while also sharing in their friend's pain.
All of God Valley fell into a heavy, suffocating silence because of this revealed tragedy.
Everyone could feel Harald's heart-rending agony.
The light curtain returned to the brewing village.
The instant he learned the truth and confirmed the worst possibility, the string called "reason" in Loki's mind snapped completely.
"Pshhh!!!"
The warhammer, carrying all of Loki's strength and wrath, smashed straight into the still-grinning ugly old giant's face without any flourish!
The sound of shattering bones rang out clearly. The old bastard let out a miserable scream before flying backward like a broken sack!
He crashed through the walls of several wine cellars behind him and was buried under rubble and flowing liquor.
But this was only the beginning.
"Ida won't die, right? Right… tell me… she won't die… right?!"
Loki's voice rose from a murmur to a hoarse roar. It was as if he were interrogating these vile kin before him—or begging for a miracle that didn't exist.
Yet all that answered him were the giants' expressions shifting from smugness to terror, and their fleeing backs.
"I remember it clearly… my birth mother… threw me into the underworld in disgust…"
While swinging his warhammer like a madman, smashing houses, barrels, statues—everything in the brewing village to pieces!
With a hoarse voice, as if in a delirium, he muttered: "To hell with treasure! To hell with that bullshit family legacy!!
"Ida won't die because of scum like you, right?! Answer me!!!"
No one could answer Loki's questions. Only flames began to rise and spread between the destroyed houses.
Against the backdrop of raging fire, Loki looked like a vengeful demon returned from hell.
He strode after the half-dead old giant still trying to crawl away, seized him from the ruins with one massive hand like an iron clamp, and lifted him to his face.
Though he already knew the answer, though the rage nearly consumed him, as Loki stared at the fear-twisted face in his grip…
A final, fragile glimmer of "pleading" flashed in his eyes. He didn't want to, didn't dare admit it, but reality was exactly this…
At that moment, Ida's gentle words overlapped with the cold, piercing memory in Loki's mind…
The young him, coldly abandoned by his birth mother into the abyss of the underworld…
While Ida, smiling, reached out to him: "You must feel so lonely, Loki-kun. Would you like to come to my home?"
"She is my only mother!!!"
That final blood-curdling roar completely ignited the last remnants of Loki's reason.
He no longer needed answers—only destruction!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"
The heavy warhammer, bearing all of Loki's grief and fury, slammed down again and again!
That day, the sky over Elbaf was dyed crimson by the towering flames rising from the brewing village.
That day, the Giant Prince Loki's rage and wails devoured the entire village!
It also completely incinerated the last illusions he held about so-called "blood ties" and "legitimacy."
The light curtain slowly dimmed on the silhouette of Loki standing alone amid flames and ruins.
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