Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Lying on the bed in the underground room, Evangeline clenched her fists.

The sensation of a metal object piercing right through her was still fresh in her mind, and her hands hadn’t yet stopped shaking.

’Did she really go through this so many times that she could no longer remember?’

Simply imagining that was horrifying to her.

Moreover...

"What do you mean by that? The ones who were supposed to protect you are the ones behind the attack?"

Did that mean she was betrayed? But then what about the things that the old lady was saying?

Evangeline clenched her teeth.

’Why does this have to be so complicated?’

For a few moments, Lilias remained silent. But her reply came soon after.

"...You don’t need to know."

Unable to control her frustration, Evangeline stood up from the bed and came face-to-face with Lilias. Meeting her turquoise eyes, Evangeline spoke in a desperate voice.

"This isn’t the time for that, Lilias. This is serious, and I am here to help you. But I can’t help you if I don’t know how—"

"So it’s Lilias now, not ’Your Majesty’?" Lilias cut her off, speaking in a sharp tone. "So much for being a servant. Well, it doesn’t really matter to me who you are and what your story is. By now, I’ve become too tired to care. Besides, you probably want to help me so that you yourself can get out of this time loop."

Evangeline unconsciously lowered her eyes, speaking in a weak voice.

"No, I—"

But Lilias didn’t let her finish this time either.

"This is my kingdom, and you are an outsider here. So don’t interfere. You can come and hide in this spot at the beginning of every loop. You will be safe that way. Continue doing that until I conquer the loops."

Her tone was firm and absolute, as though not willing to accept any arguments.

In the end, that was how their conversation ended.

Neither of them spoke after that. In silence, they could feel the rumbling of the castle and the shouts of people searching for Lilias.

But until the very end, nobody found them.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Opening her eyes, Evangeline once again found herself looking at the familiar ceiling. By now, she was starting to feel a strange numbness and futility whenever she looked at the ceiling.

Lilias’s voice entered her ears.

"They are after me and not you, so nothing will happen to you as long as you remain hidden. Do me a favor and don’t get in my way."

Evangeline didn’t say anything and left the room.

’Maybe I really can’t do anything.’

If a Phase Four like Lilias, who could hold her own even when she was up against two opponents, was helpless and had to go through so many loops, then what could she do?

She didn’t know anything about the loop or how Lilias was supposedly going to conquer it. She didn’t know why the attacks were happening, and both sides seemed to have their own justifications.

And if Evangeline were to recklessly intervene and take the wrong side, then that would be even worse.

’In the end, staying out of the way is the best I can do.’

Gripping her still-trembling hand, she followed the same route Lilias had used in the previous loop and arrived in the underground room.

And so, Evangeline sat there on the bed as she heard screams and cries from above. Every sound made her heart tremble even more, and her breathing eventually grew rough.

"Huff... huff..."

In the end, she lay down on the bed and covered her ears.

That was how the loop ended.

The next loop after that ended the same way. And the one after that too.

Lying on the bed motionlessly, Evangeline was waiting for the seventh loop to end.

She suddenly clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

’Just what the hell am I doing?!’

She was acting pathetically.

It wasn’t about whether she could do something or if she was getting in the way. She had realized that she was making excuses to save herself because she was scared of dying again.

Her trauma from her first death was still haunting her.

’I have to do something; I can’t remain indecisive!’

But the question was how. How was she supposed to force the answers out of Lilias? She wouldn’t be able to do so with Vox Imperium since Lilias was on a higher Phase than her.

’What would Adrian have done in this situation?’

Evangeline could just kidnap a random person from among the attackers and force them to tell her everything about the situation. Still, the answer she would receive wouldn’t necessarily be correct. It would be what they believed to be correct.

If she truly wanted to know the whole story, she needed to hear both sides.

Suddenly, a word Adrian used a lot flashed through her mind.

’Leverage...’

Forcing Lilias to answer was not possible. The only other way was ‌through negotiation. And to do that, Evangeline needed leverage.

’I need to find it!’

She hurriedly stood up and exited the underground space. As she did, she could instantly feel the intense fighting going on in the castle.

But as Lilias had said, the attackers were after her. As long as Evangeline remained hidden from their sight, she could move around in the castle.

And so, she began searching for clues.

She entered the rooms one by one, searching for books or other clues she could find. Her goal was to search the entire castle first. And if she couldn’t find anything in the castle itself, she was going to go and search outside the castle as well.

The loop ended, and she wasn’t able to find anything useful.

’But that’s okay. If there is one advantage that I have, it is time.’

And so, she continued searching.

She didn’t find anything in the second loop either. But in the third loop, Evangeline finally found something.

In a room that looked like an office, she found a book. Well, calling it a book felt somewhat wrong since it was just a stack of papers attached together. It was similar to the book Xion had found during their search of the abandoned city.

It had an important-looking title.

{Rules of the Council}

Evangeline flipped the page and began reading the contents.

{ To gain and hold a seat within the council, there are a set of rules that need to be followed.

•The elected individual could not have a history of crime.

•Using force or coercion at any level of the election process was punishable by the kingdom’s law.

•The crown holds the right of final judgment in cases of accusations.

... }

There were a lot of other rules.

Evangeline furrowed her brow.

’What does all this mean? Council? Isn’t it a monarchy with a royal court and ministers?’

Evangeline felt that it was somehow important but couldn’t understand how. She continued searching, and a few more loops passed.

She found another book that seemed important. And it was similar to the book that she had previously found.

{Rules of the Guardian Order}

Evangeline remembered Lilias calling a burly man with a hammer a Guardian. And according to her, the ones who were leading the attack were supposedly the ones who had the duty of protecting her.

A theory began forming in Evangeline’s mind.

The contents of the book were similar to the previous book, containing a set of rules related to something called the Guardian Order.

Loops continued to pass by as she kept searching. And finally, she found something extremely important.

She learned the truth behind the loops.

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