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The Return of the Soul
Translated by NotBlueYet
Edited by Kingavent
“If you don’t call a society that swallows up all the good, all the bad, and all the warping and snoring normal, then I suppose it is.”
“As expected of the Duchess of Alderath, she has very noble ideas.”
Leon turns his disdainful eyes on Natalie, despite his words.
Natalie was uncomfortable.
“Then what is your idea of normal?”
“A society where everyone has the opportunity, where everyone is equal from the moment they are born, that’s what I want, that’s what I take for granted.”
Leon looks at the stone statue.
“My grandmother was a beautiful woman, but in the storybook she’s portrayed as a hideous witch, and isn’t it funny how she’s treated like a great sinner when she’s done nothing wrong?”
Natalie was slightly taken aback when she realized from the way the story was told that Leon was of witch blood.
Leon looks down at Natalie and continues to speak.
“Why should I be denied just because I was born, when I have committed no sin!”
His words are full of passion.
“So I’m bringing my grandmother back to life, and she’s the only one who can bring this rotten society back.”
Natalie frowned as she grasped that Leon was plotting to resurrect the witch.
“You’re going to bring back the witch? What a stupid thing to do. ……”
“We are not witches, you are the witches, it is the royal family and the magical society that must be condemned, this society must be destroyed and reborn, it is time to end this useless talk, because you are the foundation and the world will change today.”
“What do you mean with …… me as a cornerstone?”
A cold sweat runs down Natalie’s forehead.
In light of their conversation so far, Natalie can’t shake the bad feeling.
Leon was slowly approaching her.
“Her resurrection requires a vessel.”
Leon thrusts his knife into the shoulder of the bound Natalie.
Ouch. ……”
So much blood flows from Natalie’s torn skin.
Leon carefully placed the blood into the vial.
“You are the best human pillar, your strong will, your enormous amount of magic power, and your goddess-like beauty are all perfect.”
All that is needed to revive a witch is a suitable vessel for her to enter.
A vessel, in other words, is a human pillar.
But not just any vessel will do.
If a non-conforming vessel is offered, the vessel will not be able to withstand the witch’s spirit and will break.
The vessel must be a woman.
In addition, she must have a strong heart and enough magical power to be able to receive the witch’s magic.
And this is Leon’s personal feeling, but the vessel must be a beautiful one.
Because Leon believes that that person must be a being that has everything in place.
Natalie was the one who fulfilled these needs.
“It must be so wonderful to be able to be one with her, I wish I could have given myself to her.”
You’re wrong.
Natalie turned her intense gaze to Leon as if she were shooting him a look.
“What is wrong with you?”
“If you want to change society, …… there are other ways to do it, if you have the power to do that, you can talk about equality, you can talk about idealism, but you’re choosing to destroy it, and that’s where you’re wrong.”
Leon replies back calmly.
“You don’t understand, Natalie Alderath, the sorrow of those who have not conformed to society, the frustration of those who have not been accepted, the regret of those who have been persecuted, the indignation of those whose existence has been denied, and you can say this because you know nothing.
You can’t know, because you don’t know, and you can’t say that you do.”
Natalie, who was born blessed, and Leon, whose existence was denied at birth.
Their circumstances are completely different, and their principles are only parallel.
“I have nothing to discuss with you”.
That’s how Leon tries to end the conversation.
However, if they stop the conversation here, Natalie will be turned into a sacrifice.
So, Natalie bites down, even if it makes the other person angry.
“You want to change the world because it’s distorted? Don’t be ridiculous, it’s you who needs to change, it’s the way you see things that’s distorted, it’s your entrenched ideas that need to be destroyed.”
“If I don’t act, no one else will… People are living in a world of inconvenience, refusing to change, and being played by wizards… if we don’t destroy this rotten society, this country will never move forward.
Don’t expect a gradual change.
Destruction is what matters”, Leon argues.
Natalie continues to accuse Leon, but her accusations fall on deaf ears.
Leon stood in front of the stone statue and dripped Natalie’s blood into the hollow of the palm.
He then moves away from the stone statue, steps down from the altar, and begins to recite the chant.
“The returning soul looks into this world from everlasting, and I offer thee a vessel, and I promise thee eternity, and thou shalt rise with the darkness.”
A dark purple magic circle floats and glows from the altar.
Then, as if enveloping Natalie, the magic circle emits a dazzling light.
Right after that – there was a big shake.
The ground moves unsteadily, and the stone statue sways back and forth with it.
After a while, the shaking stopped, but instead a slithering black female shadow appeared from the stone statue’s chest.
It’s a woman with long hair.
Her whole body is pitch black, and her eyes and nose are well-defined, which is conversely frightening.
A shadow slowly approaches Natalie.
In her gut, Natalie understood that the shadow was a witch.
“Stop …… and go to …….”
Natalie shakes her head and rejects the shadow.
However, there is no way for Natalie, who is chained and unable to move from her spot, to escape.
The Shadow hovered over Natalie.
Then The Shadow brought his jet-black lips to Natalie’s ear.
“—- itadakimasu”
In a gruesome, creepy voice, The Shadow whispered to Natalie.
Natalie rejects the shadow with an inarticulate cry.
It shouldn’t even exist.
The shadow’s mouth twisted in a sneer as Natalie’s mouth puckered in fear.
Then the black shadow laid her own lips on Natalie’s.