The Second Coming of Gluttony Chapter 218:
Chapter 218
The interior of the golden palace truly boasted the pinnacle of flamboyance . Golden symbols were engraved on a lustrous marble background, and even the windowsills had a gold outline .
And with all sorts of decorative items placed everywhere, the palace reminded everyone of France’s Palace of Versailles, which was known for its marvelous beauty .
“I am very pleased that you think so highly of this poor palace . ”
A soprano-tone voice, like that of a skylark, rang out in everyone’s ears, and their eyes naturally headed forward .
A throne made of gold was standing at the end of the vast hallway, which extended like a corridor . And there was a woman slowly standing up from this throne, looking down amiably at the expedition team .
The figure looked young and frail, and didn’t seem to even reach 150 centimeters . Her blue hair was slicked back and tied into a bun, emphasizing her small, white face even more .
Indeed, rather than a woman, it seemed more proper to call her a young lady .
Clack… clack…
Seol Jihu snapped out of his daze hearing the clacking of heels . The young lady was walking down the stairs with modest steps, her hands clasped over her bellybutton .
As she came closer, her attire became easier to see . The top of her clothing was a black, gothic lolita-style dress, which stuck to her body and outlined her alluring curves, and the bottom was a wide, bell-shaped skirt that reached her ankles .
“Thank you accepting my invitation . ”
After reaching the bottom of the stairs, she lightly held the hem of her skirt up and bowed politely .
“Welcome to the Pagoda of Dreams, Legitimate Visitors . ”
She scanned the expedition team briefly . Then…
“And Awaited Experts . ”
She smiled at Seol Jihu and Teresa . Her smile was so captivating that she grabbed everyone’s attention instantly .
However, Seol Jihu didn’t let his guard down . The young lady’s mouth was curled into a smile, but her clear, ocean-like blue pupils were serene like ice .
In the first place, Seol Jihu felt a strong sense of incongruity the moment he entered the place . A single young lady was the only one in such a huge palace? He felt like he was dreaming .
“You’re right . My reception hasn’t been the best, even though such honored guests accepted my invitation . Please forgive this lady’s lack of thought with magnanimity . ”
Seol Jihu was taken aback . He hadn’t said anything, yet the young lady seemed to have read his thoughts .
Her eyes then gently curled into a crescent shape as she raised both her hands .
Clap!
She clapped .
Tutururu~!
Seol Jihu almost fell backward in shock . It wasn’t just him, but everyone in the expedition team .
People filled up the palace instantly . They circled around the expedition team, sang, played music, and threw flower petals into the air .
“Don’t be so surprised . ”
A muffled giggle rang out .
“This is the world of my mind . ”
A dreamy voice flowed out rhythmically .
“Since this is a dream world, everything I wish for comes true . ”
Roselle flicked her hand like the conductor of a symphonic orchestra, and the people disappeared in an instant . The palace regained its serenity .
“Did you like my welcoming show?”
She asked, her head slightly tilted .
Seol Jihu couldn’t say anything, setting aside whether he liked it or not . He had experienced all sorts of things thus far, but this was the first time he was experiencing anything similar to what he was experiencing today .
“Now . ”
Roselle clapped again, and the scenery changed . The expedition team was now standing in the middle of a beautiful garden .
A white, round table was placed in front of them, with pretty steaming tea cups placed on top of it .
“Though it’s a little late, let me introduce myself . ”
The young lady gently placed her hand over her chest .
“My name is Roselle La Grazia . ”
Seol Jihu barely managed to eke out a few words .
“The Witch of Dreams…”[1]
“Yes, I was once called by that insignificant name . ”
Roselle smiled brightly before sitting down on a chair elegantly . She then opened her palm and pointed at the other chairs .
“Please, sit . ”
Seol Jihu hesitated for a moment, but soon steeled his resolve . The Witch of Dreams was treating them properly both as the master of this place and as the one who had invited them .
As such, it was only proper that they treat her with the same level of respect as her guests .
‘Do unto others as they do unto you . ’
“Thank you!”
Once Seol Jihu sat down, his comrades began to sit one by one . But when everyone sat down, there was one seat left open .
“Will the lady inside the pendant not sit?”
Roselle spoke with a dreamy voice .
[!?]
‘She knows?’
Seol Jihu opened his mouth in a fluster .
“Ah, she’s not good with strangers… she gets a little shy . ”
“Eh? The esteemed daughter of the Rothschear House is… shy?”
Roselle looked surprised .
“I see… I was hoping to talk about all sorts of things with her…”
Just as she reached out to the table with a slightly disappointed look—
[Did Grandpa come here?]
Flone hurriedly asked . Roselle didn’t say anything . She only stared at the pendant with a smile on her face .
[Ah, um…]
Flone must have made a mistake as she stuttered . She continued hesitantly .
[Excuse me… I subconsciously blurted out…]
Flone spoke with an elegant mannerism, which wasn’t like her normal self .
“No, it’s completely fine . ”
Roselle spoke without losing her smile .
“Both you and I are already dead . There’s no reason to upkeep customs from when we were alive . ”
[… . ]
“Also, I heard that the youngest daughter of the Rothschear House is a pampered tomboy . ”
[!]
‘Pampered? Tomboy?’
The pendant shook like a flailing flounder . Roselle stared at it as if it was cute before clearing her throat .
“To answer your question, yes, the head of the Rothschear House has indeed visited the Pagoda of Dreams . Realizing the greedy emperor was eyeing him, he requested that I hold onto a portion of the Rothschear’s inheritance . Although this happened hundreds of years ago, I remember it clearly . ”
Seol Jihu didn’t miss Roselle’s eyebrows turning sharp when she mentioned the emperor .
“To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Spear of the Empire either, but since I hated the emperor more, I accepted the Rothschear Head’s request . ”
“Then—”
“Yes, I am still safekeeping the inheritance . ”
Roselle answered as if she knew what Seol Jihu would ask . Then, she paused in the middle of elegantly raising her teacup . An intrigued smile bloomed on her face .
Roselle opened her mouth .
“Ah, **** . ”
Seol Jihu doubted his ears .
“This is getting boring . Just give us our **** and let us go . Why did this **** even invite us in the first place?”
Roselle spoke monotonously .
“Hiiiiiik!?”
Maria screamed .
Seol Jihu exclaimed inwardly .
‘No way . ’
Maria slammed her head down and pleaded .
“I’m sorry! Please don’t kill me!”
“No . ”
Roselle covered her mouth, smiled, then shook her head .
“I would have picked fault with it if you said it out loud, but you only thought it . It’s my fault for reading your mind without permission . It’s a bad habit of mine, you see . ”
Maria stealthily raised her head .
“I can give you the Rothschear House’s inheritance whenever . If you’d like, I can give it to you this instant . ”
Roselle took a sip of her tea, then carefully put the teacup down .
“But I would be extremely grateful if you all would listen to why I invited you . ”
Seol Jihu opened his mouth .
“Of course . By the way…”
“Yes, as I said before, I am someone who died hundreds of years ago . My body most likely turned to ash and scattered away, so not a single piece of it should remain in the world . The person you are talking to now is—”
Seol Jihu closed his mouth, not being able to finish saying ‘You said you died in the past . ’
“An existence that is a mere remnant thought . ”
For some reason, this woman…
“…is full of herself . It’s something I heard a lot when I was alive because of my habit of reading other people’s thoughts . Please excuse my behavior . ”
“…Ah, yes . ”
“You don’t have to worry about it now . I can hold myself back if it’s just for a little bit . ”
Seol Jihu let out a dry cough .
“When I looked at the historical records, everything regarding the Pagoda of Infection, or rather Dreams, was erased . ”
“Yes, it was a rather effective measure . ”
Roselle replied firmly .
“I dearly wished that the dream infection would reach the emperor, but I never imagined he would respond so strongly as soon as it began to spread . ”
Roselle then added, “He had many enemies, so he was always in a hurry to protect himself . ”
“There wasn’t much I could do back then . I formed a powerful curse around the pagoda so no one could approach it, but I also couldn’t step a foot outside of it . ”
Seol Jihu examined Roselle closely . This witch had once planned to overthrow the Empire . But setting aside how incredible she was, he questioned her methods . Strictly speaking, the Pagoda of Dreams’ infection would have negatively affected the Empire’s innocent civilians .
“You’re right . Because of my pagoda, countless good, law-abiding citizens died . ”
Roselle admitted without reserve .
“But I don’t regret it . Because many followers of the emperor also died . And those people all deserved death . ”
Seol Jihu became a bit afraid, hearing how she made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal . He interlocked his fingers and asked .
“I’d like to know why you went so far . ”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Roselle spoke in a singing tone .
“To eliminate the war-crazed emperor…”
Her tiny shoulders trembled faintly as she clutched her hands .
“And the tyrannous followers, who support him in his madness…!”
Seol Jihu instinctively shrunk back as chills suddenly ran down his spine and goosebumps spread around his entire body .
A bitter coldness shot out of Roselle’s body like thorns . It was so cold that Seol Jihu imagined himself being in a large -40 degrees freezer . That was how enraged Roselle was .
‘What power…’
The energy she was giving off far surpassed that of Flone . Seol Jihu finally caught a glimpse of how powerful this witch was . She might be evenly matched even against a Parasite Army Commander .
Roselle took a deep breath, then soothed her energy .
“Excuse me . ”
Gasps flowed out from all directions .
“Anyway, after this decision by the emperor, I made every effort to strengthen the curse . But there was an undeniable limit with a mortal body . Even after painstaking effort, all I obtained was the qualification to pursue the origin…”
Roselle blurred the end of her speech, trailing into a hard-to-understand concept .
“There is one reason why I invited you all . ”
After a brief moment of silence, Roselle took a sip of tea and spoke again .
“Although the curse’s power has weakened immensely due to the passage of time, I spent my lifetime creating it . Since two of you were able to escape this curse through your own power, you must have strong willpower . ”
‘That’s not really it . ’
Seol Jihu scratched his head .
“I will be open and honest . I am looking for someone who can fulfill the wish I failed to achieve in my lifetime . ”
Seol Jihu furrowed his brows . Roselle’s wish had to be the collapse of the Empire .
“I know . The tyrannous emperor and his followers must have all died, and many things must have changed from the passage of time . Still— my desire to get revenge has not changed nor has it diminished . Going back to its founding, the Empire took root on a rotten ground, so it ought to be overthrown . Even if hundreds of years have passed since then . ”
She must have misunderstood Seol Jihu’s expression .
“Of course, I don’t plan to force this task onto you . ”
And she really must have stopped reading others’ minds .
“And I am not requesting that you do something about it either . ”
Or perhaps she didn’t know anything about the outside situation due to being stuck in this place .
“But if you do accept my request, I will also help you to the best of my abilities . ”
No matter the case, she definitely had a huge misunderstanding .
“This Pagoda of Dreams also has my inheritance . Its scale and importance are incomparable to that of the Rothschear House . ”
Roselle spoke proudly as she strutted out her small chest .
Seol Jihu blinked .
‘This person isn’t normal either, huh . ’
Resentment that remains even after hundreds of years… It was hard to understand where her thirst for revenge was coming from . Although it was only a guess, it didn’t seem like Roselle wanted to topple the Empire purely because of a war .
‘There’s another reason . ’
There had to be a more certain reason that she hated the Empire’s origin so much .
In any case, Seol Jihu decided that it wasn’t something the expedition team should be involved in . No, even if he wanted to help her out, her wish was no longer fulfillable .
If there was one thing he could tell her, though—
That was to tell an important truth to the young lady, who had been living in a dream for hundreds of years .
Roselle asked, her pupils sparkling .
“So? What do you think? Ah, you can take your time before answering . ”
Next, she raised her ⅓-full teacup .
“… . ”
In a way, what Seol Jihu was about to tell her was cruel . So, he hesitated a little bit before speaking .
“It may be presumptuous of me, but there is something I would like to tell you before saying yes or no . ”
Roselle nodded her head, gesturing at him to go on .
“The Empire…”
With a short breath, Seol Jihu spoke firmly .
“Has already fallen . ”
“Pfft!”
Tea gushed out of her small, cherry-like lips, splattering everywhere .
Roselle went stiff and stood in place holding the teacup as if time had frozen for her . The only thing that showed she was still conscious was her busily blinking eyes .
Seol Jihu opened his mouth and put the nail in the coffin .
“It collapsed more than 10 years ago . Its people were killed regardless of their social status, and not a single tuft of grass remains on the Empire’s territory . ”
Slowly, very slowly, Roselle raised her head .
“… . ”
Silence descended once again . The fall of the Empire, which stood strong at the peak of Paradise for a long time, must have come as a huge shock because she only stared blankly without even thinking to put down her teacup .
“Ah… . ”
Roselle’s tightly shut mouth opened slightly .
“No . ”
And Seol Jihu…
“Um…”
Was able to witness…
“…Excuse me???”
Her ever-smiling face crumble down in an instant .
1 . This title is slightly different from what the mechanical voice said in the last chapter . Last one specifically said “The Dreaming Witch” while this one says “The Witch of Dreams” .
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