Did you know?

Long ago, there was a powerful kingdom. The country was wealthy and strong, and under the rule of a wise king, its people lived happy, fulfilling lives.

The king was young and handsome, and he’d won the people’s hearts at an early age. He loved his people dearly, and they loved him in return. The young king always carried a fervent dream in his heart: that one day, under his leadership, the kingdom would reach even greater heights.

But there was one thing that deeply concerned everyone in the kingdom.

The king was already well into his twenties, yet he still had no queen and no heirs.

His people loved him dearly, and that made them worry. The previous king had also been wise, but he’d died too young from illness. Fortunately, he’d left behind an heir: the king who ruled now.

The ministers had also offered the king similar advice. They hoped their young king would leave an heir soon, so their old bones could rest a little easier.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t where the young king’s ambitions lay. He tactfully said he wouldn’t consider such things for now. His eyes were fixed on loftier goals.

“Heh heh heh. The young king had his sights set higher than the heavens. All he wanted was to accomplish something great, something even his father’s generation had never managed.”

The Black-Clad Lady shrilled with laughter. “Isn’t that impressive? Inspiring? Doesn’t it make you yearn for more?”

“Uh... yeah, it is...”

Leticia leaned back awkwardly and touched the hastily bandaged wound on her neck. On guard, she asked, “But why bring this up all of a sudden?”

What had that woman meant just now by calling her a half-baked maid, and saying the Witch had failed to die?

Was she the Demon Maid the Church preached must be killed on sight?

And was the person in front of her... a Witch?

But what exactly did “half-baked” and “failed to die” mean...?

“Heh heh heh. What’s the rush?”

The Black-Clad Lady’s tone was hard to place—kind, perhaps, or cold. Her hoarse, utterly ruined voice always masked the natural emotion in her words, making it impossible to tell. “What I’m teaching you is useful. If you dare forget it, I’ll bite your whole neck off and tear that pretty little head right off.”

Damn...

Leticia cursed inwardly. Outwardly, though, she chickened out!

“All right, all right. Let’s get back to the story.”

The Black-Clad Lady chuckled darkly. “No, first let me ask you: how do you think this story will end?”

“It definitely...”

The pain in her neck made Leticia frown. Every time she spoke, it tugged at her injury, and it felt awful. “It definitely won’t be a happy story...”

Ha...

She had no idea how to ease the pain, so she could only endure it as best she could. It seemed that if she tensed her body hard enough, the searing ache became just a little easier to bear.

“Ho ho ho... Correct.”

The Black-Clad Lady sneered. “You’re a clever little girl.”

“No,”

Leticia said bluntly, glaring at her. “I just think any story that comes out of your mouth is bound to be awful.”

“Heh heh heh. Quite right, quite right...”

The Black-Clad Lady wasn’t angry. She nodded happily. “Under this king’s rule, the kingdom did prosper for a time. But then they encountered an enemy beyond anything they could have imagined: the Church.”

“The Church? Urgh... That hurts...”

Leticia frowned and let out a small cry. “Why did they end up opposing the Church?”

“Hmm, little girl, you don’t seem very afraid of that giant that is the Church.”

The Black-Clad Lady asked.

“I’m just a country bumpkin who’s never seen the world. To me, the Church is just a place where we can get enough to eat.”

“Ha! Hahahahahaha!”

Leticia’s answer seemed to delight the Black-Clad Lady. She laughed so hard she doubled over, her slender figure trembling. The bloodstained veil shook with her. “Just a place where you can get enough to eat! Just a place where you can get enough to eat!”

“If the people of the Church understood that, then perhaps a lot of things would’ve turned out differently.”

The Black-Clad Lady laughed. “You’re all right, girl. Now, where were we? That country got into trouble with the Church simply because the Church’s efforts to spread its faith there ran into a few obstacles.”

“Huh?”

They’re that domineering?

“Yes. That’s the Church for you.”

The Black-Clad Lady sneered. “Of course, as God’s spokesmen, they couldn’t get their own hands dirty. So they had a powerful empire bordering the kingdom do the job for them. Heh. The empire was also worried the kingdom might threaten its position, so the two sides saw eye to eye—and the empire sent in its troops.”

Now that was...

As someone who’d once lived in the modern world, Leticia couldn’t even imagine something like this. It was as though the history books she’d studied for school were playing out right before her eyes.

“Those poor people...”

As if she hadn’t heard Leticia’s lament, the Black-Clad Lady continued. “The empire paid a price, but successfully swallowed up the kingdom. Still, they failed to capture the young king.”

Could this be one of those legendary tales of a comeback—a revenge story?

Leticia’s interest picked up a little. “What happened next?”

“Heh heh heh. The Church wouldn’t have known at the time. They simply thought the kingdom was in their way, so they knocked it down.”

The Black-Clad Lady answered, “The Church, the empire, even the king’s own kingdom—all of them were in the dark about why the young king refused to take a queen.”

Why?

The Black-Clad Lady looked deeply into Leticia’s eyes, then smiled. “Because that king had a beloved woman—a confidante no one knew about.”

A beloved woman no one knew about?

Leticia’s pupils contracted. There was something strangely familiar about that idea.

Honestly, none of those words meant much on their own. But put together, they gave her an odd sense of dissonance.

If she hadn’t heard it before, then it must have come from her own life—something closely connected to her. She knew this world wasn’t normal.

“That’s right.”

The Black-Clad Lady propped her chin on her hand and smiled at Leticia. “A king who’d experienced life as a woman, who shared a bond with a gentle woman deeper than a simple meeting of minds, and who, after the fall of his kingdom, achieved an unconventional revenge with that woman’s help.”

“So? Isn’t it interesting? And doesn’t it feel strangely familiar?”