14 ...Pain

The sound of the minotaur's roar mixed with soldiers' cries echoed throughout the whole city of Kepalta and chaos spread.

The streets overflowed with people who were trying to evacuate to safer places. Yet, one person was focused on a completely different issue.

'Why is she here? Why is Liu, the Frost Queen here?' Randolph thought, looking at the person who appeared in front of him.

Just by hearing Liu's name and her title, many people who were knowledgeable about the balance of power in this world shivered uncontrollably in fear, because there were those who underestimated her and had paid it with their life.

Also, the Frost Queen, Liu, was a member of a clan called 'Heavenly White Lotus' which was an influential faction in the Empire. And the current head was one of the few people who hold the title of Guardian.

The members of this clan were easily identifiable because of their outfits which were quite eye-catching. As such, Randolph concluded that the person in front of him was unmistakably the frost queen.

Her red distinct dress adorned with gold lotus patterns emphasized her perfectly proportioned body, delicate arms, lovely thighs, and long slender legs, accentuating her ephemeral pale skin, long black hair, and her gorgeous flawless face.

However, her crystal blue eyes were cold as ice, and there was no hint of emotion expressed on her face.

'How long has this woman been there?'

Randolph asked himself, understanding what was going to happen to him if he couldn't find a way to explain this situation to this person.

He needed to find a way to convince Liu that he was there to eliminate a traitor and that he had nothing to do with the minotaur as he planned but for that to work, Randolph needed to know when Liu arrived and how long had she been watching. After all, he said many things that he couldn't take back.

'This is bad!' Randolph thought, knowing that he was screwed if this person saw everything, and fighting her was not an option, because even if there were ten thousand of him, Liu would crush them all like bugs.

Randolph needed to choose his words wisely, so even after he noticed something weird about the Frost Queen, he didn't dare to make any comment about it. He was afraid that he will offend this Liu and get instantly crushed.

"Miss Liu, why are you here?" Randolph asked with an almost fading voice while sweating nervously.

"…"

But the beautiful frost queen looked disinterested in Randolph and turned toward the direction of the plaza.

Suddenly, something disrupted the intense atmosphere.

"Gugu.." It was a baby's voice.

Curiously, there was an infant on top of Liu's head but Randolph didn't dare to say anything about it.

The baby was plump and her green hair was tied into buns. The baby's hands and feet were wrapped around Liu's head from behind as she bit into it.

There was drool left on Liu's beautiful black hair, but she looked like she gave up trying to get the baby off of her head.

This combination was indeed bizarre and Randolph was curious about the reason why this Liu had a chubby-looking baby on her head, but he didn't ask such a question.

After a moment of silence, Liu answered Randolph's question with another question.

"You are aware of the consequences of your actions, right?" Liu asked without facing Randolph, but

this one sentence sealed Randolph's fate and sent shivers down his spine.

"D*amn it!" Randolph swore and tried to use his power to run away by jumping off of the building.

He couldn't even dream about winning against the frost queen but at least he thought that he had a higher chance of survival if he ran away as fast as he could and without looking back.

But before Randolph could even move, the atmosphere and all of the area on top of the building froze, and the temperature dropped down far below zero.

Randolph didn't even have the time to use his power and died frozen with an ugly expression on his face

His frozen body could be seen through the thick block of ice that covered his body and white particles floated all around as if it was snowing.

Liu just stood there as if she was in a daze, watching the minotaur going on a rampage, then the baby extended her plump little hands towards the plaza and Liu reacted a bit. "Guuu..."

"The Holy Church..." Liu muttered quietly, and white fog escaped from her mouth.

She saw a huge cross of light striking the minotaur in the chest and also felt the existence of Marcel and Gracia.

"But why do you want to come here?" Liu asked but no one was there with her, so it seemed like she was talking to the baby.

"Baba...?" The baby's words were still incomprehensible.

"Well, let's do something about this first…" Liu didn't expect the baby to talk, but she somehow understood the baby's emotions.

She also knew that Marcel wouldn't be able to beat the minotaur, so she jumped off the building and dashed toward the plaza.

Her power allowed her to control particles that let her stand in mind air and also move around as if she was flying.

The reason why a powerful person such as her had come to this remote planet and why she had a baby on top of her head was a mystery

and when all of these events were happening, Adam was still in the mystical world and was not still aware of what happened on the plaza.

*****

:::[Adam's POV]:::

Time felt like it flowed slowly. I didn't know how long I have been watching the scenes that appeared in my field of view, but I was still inside this dream-like world, and I was still following the story of a naive-looking guy.

At first, I thought that I will witness some kind of romance story, but the fate of the hero was something that I didn't expect.

"Kill the traitor!"

"He deserves to die!"

"How dare he betray the people who trusted him. He is despicable."

"I understand why lady Eva didn't even give a glance at this man, she probably felt his ulterior motives."

The story had taken a dark turn and I wasn't shown the reason why it happened.

The guy who was popular and loved by all was now being persecuted by the crowd as he kneeled in front of them and next to him, a man was holding a huge sword and wearing a grim-looking mask.

'How did it come to this?' I thought.

The hero was placed in the center of the stage which was situated inside a structure that looked like a coliseum and millions of people were there to witness the end of his adventure.

The hatred and contempt that the people who were present there at that moment was apparent and they were directed solely at this hero.

Seriously, what the hell happened? The suffocating atmosphere made me feel like I was present kneeling beside the guy.

"Eva, why? Why did you do that?" The guy muttered under his breath as he looked like he was in his final moments. His face was devoid of human emotions, his mouth was dry, and countless deep wounds covered his naked upper body.

I could see that he was extremely confused and dumbfounded, and I didn't know the reason, but it looked like he was feeling betrayed by the woman he loved, so his heart became cold as a stone. He no longer cared about anything.

The only thing that he wanted to know was the reason why the woman, Eva, was looking at him without even an ounce of remorse on her face as he was about to be killed had betrayed him, considering all of the things that he did for her.

'…'

I didn't know what to think or to feel about it.

It was painful and my entire existence would have screamed in pain too if I was in the shoes of this guy.

As I observed this guy, I remembered that he was a very simple, straightforward, and kind man but this betrayal broke him. He was naive, but he didn't deserve this.

I could feel something dark growing inside of him as he thought about Eva.

I wanted to help him because I saw him genuinely working to improve himself to impress the woman he loved and to be able to protect her.

He poured all of his heart to get a single compliment from Eva, and he trained day and night without rest to not disappoint the people who had great expectations of him.

He was naive. Stupid. But he was happy.

Yet, in the end, this was the recompense for his hard work and devotion.

Only death and persecution awaited him, and the woman he loved looked at him as if he was a piece of trash.

My heart ached because somehow I could relate to this man's situation and I realized that what I experienced in my previous life was a hundred times better than this

I didn't even know if all of this was real or just an illusion but I felt his pain and I was angry.

At that moment I wanted him to take his revenge but...

"Don't interfere. You are inside someone's memory. They will notice your presence. And it's too soon for that."

...A voice echoed unnaturally from somewhere, and suddenly, the scene in front of me disappeared so I couldn't witness what happened to the hero at the end.

Then I turned around and I saw a silhouette that looked just like me but enveloped in a bright golden color.

Everything about him had a golden shade and it was as if he was a moving golden statute.

"Look, that thing shouldn't take control of your body, so you need to go back now,"

the said, pointing at the second ball of light. A silver one.

This sphere of light also tried to take the shape of my body and tried to take my appearance.

"Hey, what the hell? Who are you?" I asked.