Inside the Grand library of Raya Lucaria Academy…

The room was a marvel to the eyes. The entire space is cylindrical, and the walls and the huge cylindrical bookcase in the center are filled with all kinds of magic books. Even the floor is splattered with books. So many books, it was as if the whole room was made of books. The alcove where the statue of Radagan was originally placed has been cleared out and used to place some redundant magic books.

But the tall figure of the hostess of the library was missing in the empty center of the library. But she will be back soon, because the Full Moon Queen's original greatest enemy, the Queen of the Erdtree, Marika, will bring her to this new and different world today in the rebuilt library.

But having said that, inside is the soul of the reincarnated, the memories of the past life and the present life are merged, but the new Marika still feels extremely anxious.

She obviously had a clear plan in her mind, and she used the fact that her original self's memory was fragmented to explain that her actions in the border area were not voluntary, and win Renalla's forgiveness. Although Marika felt that doing so was shameless and seemed to be a betrayal of her own morals. But after the completion of Raya Lucaria, Marika urgently needed a powerful enough mage to take charge of this academy and city. As the former owner of this academy city, Renalla is the best choice. Therefore, as a reincarnated and now the king of the new golden dynasty, Marika feels that she has the obligation to clean up the mess of her original self, to apologize and reconcile with Renalla.

Such a heavy responsibility and the guilt coming from her original self make the reincarnated feel great pressure. Can she really reconcile with Renalla?

Marika sat on a pile of books, her feet tapping uncontrollably with anxiety.

At this time, a silver arm was put on her shoulder. Marika looked up and saw Bedivere comforting her with a smile:

"Master, are you nervous?"

"Um...yeah. Just thinking about seeing her later makes me so anxious."

Marika replied.

"Don't worry, no matter what kind of difficulty it is, I will accompany you to face it. I am sure that as long as we apologize and explain to Lady Renalla, she will definitely come to understand the Master's difficulties."

Bedivere continued to speak comfortingly. Although he had heard Marika's unreserved account of her past with Renalla, as Marika's servant, Bedivere was still inevitably partial to her.

At this time, the door of the big library was pushed open, and a female mage wearing a stone mask with a female face walked in.

"Professor Sellan, you are finally here. Master and I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Bedivere stepped forward to welcome her.

"Good grief, Your Majesty! I have been very busy with research recently, and I have to spare time for my pupils at the same time. It is very troublesome for you to call me at a time like this."

Sellan ignored Bedivere, but took off her hood and complained to Marika.

"My apologies, Professor Sellan. But today I really require your help."

Marika touched her head in embarrassment and apologized.

"Sigh... Well, I can't argue with your majesty. It is in an effort to bring Lady Renalla back. But the inconvenient truth is, Lady Renalla and I are not familiar with each other. At most, we had several academic exchanges with her when we were still teaching. So. I won't be able to help you later!"

Sellen said with a sigh. She is really not used to things like interpersonal relationships. The only person she could truly be close to was her Tarnished apprentice.

"That is fine, a familiar face can go a long way. But you mentioned research? What kind of research?"

Marika asked curiously. Sellen is the ultimate mad scientist, and if something interests her, it must be something extraordinary.

"I have been studying Sir Achilles recently. Well... to be more precise, I am studying the state of being that is heroic spirits. Sir Bedivere usually stays with your majesty, and only Sir Achilles has free time for me."

Sellen explained.

"As expected of Professor Sellen! I didn't expect that such high-level summoning magecraft as heroic spirits could be deciphered by you!"

Bedivere praised her, his voice full of surprise. He knew that the magic and magecraft in the Type Moon World and the Glintstone magic in the Lands Between can be said to be very different magic systems. Sellen's ability to understand the summoning of heroic spirits, a magic that is so difficult that it touches the third Magic, is enough to show her extraordinary talent. wisdom.

"Well, actually, the current progress is only preliminary research. After all, Lord Achilles is very against my requests to dissect his body. It's quite the conundrum..."

Sellen said casually, unaware of the implication of her words.

"Speaking of which, Lord Bedivere, since we have the rare chance of meeting today. Can you also help me with some research?"

"Research?"

When Bedivere heard Sellen's request, he felt a chill down his back for some unknown reason.

"For example, your prosthetic limb, I have always been curious about how it works. It is obvious that your prosthetic limb is different from the one used by Lady Malenia, especially its power supply. Your prosthetic limb obviously contains a high mana reserve… far more than the energy supply required by ordinary prosthetics. Ah... I really want to take it apart and take a look."

Sellen said, and directly touched Bedivere's prosthetic limb up and down, her eyes focused on trying to decipher its mystery.

"No! This is a replica of the silver arm of Nuada, the God of War that the Great Magician Merlin carefully made for me. If I dismantle it randomly, unless Master Merlin is here, I won't be able to put it back together!"

Bedivere said awkwardly, taking his right hand out of Sellen's clutches. But Sellen was not discouraged and was adamant on her research. So it quickly devolved into Selen chasing Bedivere around in circles in the library.

Marika's nervousness was slightly relieved by this funny farce, but still they are here today for something far more serious. So she quickly clapped her hands to draw their attention back and said:

"Okay, okay! Everyone, we still have important things to do. We can talk about research later."

After hearing Marika's words, Sellen stopped with a look of unwilling face.

"Well...what a pity. Let's talk about it next time, Sir Bedivere."

"Uhmm…"

After the two of them calmed down, Marika opened the system interface and placed her finger on the summon button.

"Alright, let's do this!"

With a long sigh of resolve, Marika clicked the summon button.

After a burst of golden light, a tall figure appeared in the center of the large library. She is nine feet tall, taller than Marika, with a wide and luxurious mage robe, a face as white as the bright moon, in her hand an amber containing floating fragments of Runes, and raven black hair covered by a crescent hat. The tall, beautiful and cold beauty in front of her is the Queen of the Full Moon, the most powerful mage in Caria, and the person Marika owes the most to, Renalla.

"Umph…huh?"

At this time, she seemed to have just woken up, her sleepy eyes slowly opened. When her consciousness gradually awakened, she immediately felt the blessing of grace and knowledge automatically given to her by the Erdtree. Renalla, who was familiar with its effects, immediately awakened by this move.

She looked around, the big library was still the same big library, but other than that, everything else had changed. The magic in the air has become richer than before. The "children" she created have disappeared. There is a sea of knowledge about another world in her mind, and there are three more uninvited guests in the library.

A female mage with whom he had met several times, a one-armed, handsome knight, and Marika. Um? ! Marika!

"You!"

The sight of her old enemy kindled her anger. Renalla immediately reached out and grabbed Marika's collar, and at the same time took out her magic staff. Five magic swords emitting blue light were condensed above her head, which could pierce the enemy in front of her at any time.

"Please calm down, Lady Renalla!"

Seeing that his master was threatened, Bedivere immediately intervened between the two, protecting Marika behind him. Although Sellen stood aside as if it had nothing to do with her, she had already taken out her staff to deal with any emergencies.

"Step aside!"

Renalla was so angry at the moment that Bedivere's dissuasion fell on deaf ears. Her hands were still clutching tight on Marika's collar.

"Renalla, I beg you! Please let me explain, put down your staff, please!"

Marika raised her hands in the air to show that she meant no harm. However, Renalla did not appreciate it and hissed angrily:

"Shameless wench! You stole my Radagan and you still have the nerve to appear in front of me!"

As she spoke, she waved her staff and about to let the magic swords attack. Seeing this, Bedivere quickly activated his silver arm. As long as he recited the spell to release the noble phantom, he could activate the power of the silver arm. His intuition told him that only by using his own Noble Phantasm could he stop the powerful mage in front of him.

Enormous amounts of mana began emitting from the Silver Arm, causing Renalla to lose focus for a moment. At this time, through the huge magical reaction of the silver arm, she noticed the meager mana of the knight in front of her. It could be said that his body was composed of pure mana, and it was also a magic frequency that she had never seen before. In her eyes, Bedivere was like a ghost made of magic.

At this time, Sellen finally spoke to intervene:

"Lady Renalla, I suggest you listen to what they have to say. After listening to what they say, it won't be too late to kill her."

"Don't you dare jest with me! I don't know why she is here, but there is no way I will let her live even for another moment!"

"Lady Renalla, if you can pay attention to your surroundings, I think you can find a reason to calm down."

"…"

After hearing Sellan's dissuasion, Renalla began to struggle internally, and the staff she held high loosened a little. She really wanted to blast Marika to pieces with magic right away, but the strange ghost composed of mana in front of her, the knowledge of another world from the blessing in her head, and the abnormal concentration of mana in the air were all telling her that she was no longer in Caria now. And even Sellen, who should have nothing to do with the GoldenOrder, spoke in favor of them. In an unfamiliar environment, it would be foolish to attack unless necessary. After recovering from her dementia with the help of the system, Renalla used her wisdom as a queen to judge how unfavorable the situation was to her.

"Hmph! For the sake of Professor Sellen, I will let you live for now. But you'd better give me a reasonable explanation!"

Renalla said coldly, and then she let go of Marika, but she still held the staff firmly in her hand.

"Phew… I'm grateful for that, truly."

Marika breathed a sigh of relief and straightened her collar. When Bedivere saw Renalla calm down, he powered down his Silver Arm, but he still stood beside Marika, ready to protect her at any time.

"So, what is this strange situation you have brought me into?"

Renalla urged with a bad look on her face, Marika knew that if she didn't start to explain, Renalla would be at her throat at any time.

So she began to talk about her experience from beginning to end, starting from how the Greater Will deceived her into becoming His tool, the situation in which her and Radagan's souls were originally one, to the forcible seizure of their bodies. How the Greater will force their marriage, getting acquainted with the system, the Chosen Tarnished One defeating the Elden Beast, and finally escaping to another world. The details of Marika's words, coupled with the affirmation of Renalla's own rich magic and ancient knowledge, forced Renalla to admit that what she said was true. Especially when it was mentioned that the Greater Will was surveillancing the Carian royal family through Radagon, it sent shivers down Renalla's spine. The thought of herself and her children being monitored by the Greater Will 24 hours a day through her former husband made her frightened by the horror of the Greater Will's perversion.

However, understanding does not mean forgiveness. Although Renalla is now aware of the full extent of the conspiracy of the Greater Will, Marika's role in it cannot be ignored. Especially the matter of Marika and Radagon's child...

"Ha... I admit that the extent of the intervention of the Greater Will surprised me. But still, you are quite the obedient little tool. You were obviously forced to marry "you", but in the end you still obediently have two children with 'my' Radagon. "

Renalla said sarcastically. Her husband abandoned her to marry another woman, and this alone made her furious. And this woman is technically her husband's "doppelgänger"!

"Malenia and Miquela were not conceived by my own volition."

"What are you talking abo-"

Renalla wanted to continue to spite, but a terrible possibility gradually became clear in her mind from Marika's confession, making her unable to continue. "They were not conceived by my own volition", what this sentence implies, Renalla, as a woman, naturally understands.

"You mean...Radagon...he–!"

Renalla asked with a trembling voice, and when Marika nodded with a sad look on her face, Renalla couldn't help but hold her mouth in surprise.

"No...Radagon, he-he won't do this, he is not such a person...you-you are lying!"

Renalla didn't want to believe that her husband would do such a thing. Although he did abandon her, he was the shining hero of the Golden Order. How could he do such an evil thing? ! To his own other half!

"You are right, he would never do this normally, he would feel sick even looking at me. Unless... someone threatens him with what he cherishes most."

"The most cherished...than the Greater Will—!?"

"Yes, He threatened Radagon with the lives of you and your children to force him to create a new empyrean for him. You should understand what I mean when I say this, right?"

"No-no, he actually–he actually, Radagon he..."

Renalla knelt on the ground, tears streaming down her face. Her staff dropped to the ground, the rune amber was hugged tightly to her chest.

Marika knelt on one knee in front of her and said with a sad and serious expression:

"This is the true face of the Greater Will. He is not a lofty god, he is just a cruel monster who is not bound by ethics and morality. But don't worry, I will not let him succeed again. His claws cannot be extended to his world, and I will work hard to become stronger than before, so strong that no one can hurt us or our children. This is my atonement for you and the children. I will protect you this time, I swear."

"I...Radagan—where is Radagan now?!"

Renalla obviously hadn't accepted this cruel reality yet. She suddenly grabbed Marika's arm and asked with a broken expression.

Regarding this difficult question, Marika chose to tell the truth after struggling for a while. Rather than hiding the truth and letting her harbor false hopes, it would be fairer for Renalla to tell the whole story.

"Radagon... Radagon died in the battle between the Elden Beast and the Chosen Tarnished."

"What!?"

The bad news made her eyes wide open.

"I almost died at that time as well, with us being one and the same. If it weren't for the mercy of the Chosen Tarnished and Ranni showed to me, as well the system appearing to me in time, I would have been a puddle of dust on the ground."

"Also...actually..."

Marika became hesitant to speak.

"What?"

Renalla asked with tears streaming down her face.

"Actually, I think Radagon died long before that last duel. The Radagon you know died when the Elden ring was broken, or even earlier. As his other half, I know best that the meaning of his life is you, his true family. When he can no longer see you, for him, the only meaning of his existence is the Golden Order."

Marika said with a heavy face. Although she hated Radagan, she also knew that Radagon was a pitiful man. For Malika herself, a woman who stood idly by as her husband and children were murdered, but was manipulated and humilated her whole life, this principle also applies to her.

"What's the use of talking about it now! Radagan is dead, he's dead! Oh–by the moon! I really loved him, and I still do. Even though he did so many wrongs, I always hoped…one day he will come back. But now there is no point, it's all gone..."

Renalla said in a self-deprecating tone. Although she has been in madness all this time, her madness has always been because a part of her mind hopes that Radagon will change his mind and return to her. However, with the news of his death, all these feelings faded away in grief.

"No! There is still meaning to all this. It is true that Radagon is a foolish and stubborn bastard, but he did all this treachery and sacrificed everything for what? It was for you, Renalla! For Radahn, Rykard, Ranni! For the future that you can live in! So although this is shameless, I beg you, please don't give up, okay?"

Marika endured the discomfort in her heart and put her hands on her shoulders to encourage Renalla as much as possible. Both of them are people who were used and abandoned. Marika herself has been used as a tool of the gods for most of her life, and with the part of her that belongs to the reincarnated, she has to bear the memories, responsibilities and sins of the original Marika, and embark on a long road of atonement. What a cruel challenge this is to a young soul. But just like Bedivere said, they can still continue to persevere until they crawl out of this hell and regain their own happiness step by step.

Listening to Marika's encouraging words, although Renalla's heart was still extremely painful, her hatred for Marika was still somewhat reduced.

"Why? Why are you telling me this? Why are you bringing me here?"

Renalla asked, confused.

"Because I believe we can start over. I came to this world so that everyone can have a chance to start over. Who knows? Maybe our luck will not be so bad this time. So, you don't have to forgive me, But at least as an ally, are you willing to join me and give everyone in the Lands Between a chance to start over again?"

Marika looked into Renalla's blue eyes and invited her seriously and sincerely.

"I see…"

Although Renalla said this, her eyes still revealed pain and confusion.

"I want to be alone for a while, would that do?"

"Well... no problem. If you need anything, there are guards outside the door that can tend to your needs. Take care of yourself."

Marika knew that it was difficult for Renalla to digest so many things today. At this time, it is a better option for Renalla to let her sort out her emotions alone.

"Bedivere, let's go."

"Yes, master."

Marika left the library with a somewhat frivolous step. Bedivere accompanied her with a worried expression. The past feeling of powerlessness in front of the true gods was painful for Renalla, but how could it not be the same for Marika? Although Marika acted strong on the outside, Bedivere knew that she was also deeply broken inside. Her children and husband fell victim one by one, but she was powerless to stop their misfortune.

The only thing that supports her now is her sense of responsibility for the people around her, her urge to become stronger, her pursuit of power.

At this time, Sellen followed and said:

"I won't tell anyone what happened today."

"Thank you, Professor Sellen."

After receiving Sellen's assurance, Marika just thanked her weakly, and then teleported back to Stormveil City with Bedivere.

Selen looked at the golden particles left behind after the two teleported away, sighed deeply, and sighed:

"I'm still not good at dealing with interpersonal relationships after all…"