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Chapter 1
The Road To Hell Is Paved With Many Things
René, a young girl living a humble life with her mother in the country of Ciel-Terra, was apprehended by the Knights who had broken into her home on her 10th birthday .
Among the things that particularly left an impression were how the knightsâ terrifying gazes could be felt even through their helmet covered faces, how the bountiful feast of whole roasted mountain bird breasts with herbs were treated as nothing but rabble and kicked away along with the entire table, and finally, how her motherâs face was twisted in despair at that moment .
And afterwards, she was locked up in prison and was âtorturedâ, but could retain very little memory of it .
Dazed, she repeated the cycle of coming to and falling unconscious amidst the immense pain .
Quite quickly, René learnt that one can use healing magic when torturing someone to prevent death and as a result, cause a much prolonged period of suffering . The questions they posed ranged from details concerning her father, to information regarding some other kingdom, but she eventually realized that, the purpose of the torture was not to learn what René knew, but only for the purpose of torture itself .
And through time she learnt .
RenĂ©; âRosy as the flower itselfâ, Ruvia Ciel-Terra .
That was her real name .
From the hail of abuse that was constantly being thrown at her, little by little, she learnt of her own circumstances .
That her mother was a commoner, but became Queen because of the love she and the King shared . That the Royal Court came after the Queen because she birthed René, an abomination in the form of a girl with silver hair and silver eyes . That afterwards, she settled near the borders of the country in secrecy, where there was less prejudice against cursed children like René .
That the Royal Prince, the Kingâs own brother, staged a Coup dâĂ©tat and killed the King . That backing the Royal Prince was the Four Great Kingdoms, who all aimed for the abundant mineral resources Ciel-Terra had . That to assuage his own worries about the future, and as a show of strength, the Royal Prince was trying to eradicate his late brotherâs lineage . And that was why he sought out RenĂ© and her motherâŠ
René, as appropriate for someone her age, showed little interest in industry and society at large, but at the very least knew that Ciel-Terra had an amicable relationship with the Great Kingdom in the West, the Federation of Jireshataar .
Yet no matter the vast amount of mineral resources Ciel-Terra held within its boundaries, the Federation often demanded the unreasonable due to Ciel-Terra being a small country, as it so already stood on shaky grounds . That was the supposed source of the Royal Princeâs dissatisfaction, who belonged to a radical Anti-Federation Party . As such, once he gained the backing of the other Great Kingdoms, he killed his brother, who had maintained that good relationship with the Federation for so long . The Knights who caught RenĂ© also held the same opinion as the Royal Prince and the Anti-Federation Party .
âŠâŠBut if that were so, then would the Great Four Kingdoms that backed the Royal Prince not make unreasonable demands of him, as he was now indebted to them, simply replacing what the Federation was already doing?
Even whilst being a small child, René thought . But she could never bring it to her lips .
At the end of a dayâs torture, RenĂ© was fed just enough food and water to not die, and with only but a single article of flimsy clothing on her back, underwear that had been whipped to tatters, she shivered with rage as she slept on the cold, stone-carved prison .
René had done nothing . But because someone she was not acquainted with did some things in places she did not even know existed, these people appeared abruptly and tore apart her life .
Even so, René fully understood that no matter how much she resented them, that resentment would bear no fruit .
At first she cried and cried, but no matter how hoarse her voice became from her endless screams, the torture did not stop . Then she tried to defend herself, but it only proved to further provoke her torturer . Once, she had succeeded in giving the torturer a good slap but in return had all of her fingers broken, then slapped over and over till she lost consciousness .
Eventually, René stopped both crying and screaming, only staring silently at her feet as she was assaulted . It would only hurt otherwise .
The torture that seemed to go on for all eternity ended after roughly a month .
The preparations required for RenĂ© and her motherâs public execution had been set in place .
She had been confined in a place away from her mother for so long . And yet, their long awaited reunion came to be only because mother and daughter were to be paraded around the streets prior to their execution . However, even as she thought that no longer would anything inflict pain upon her, once she laid eyes on her mother, her heart fell .
At first, René thought that it was a zombie beside her .
A zombie barely wrapped with torn rags . Dirtied from head to toe, there wafted a rancid stench from her, and on her skin were deep wounds messily sewn closed . Her once beautifully pale-purple hair was now disheveled and frizzled like the mane of some wild beast, with clots of blood stuck here and there .
Her cheeks had sunk and half her teeth were missing . Her eyes were glazed and the corners of her mouth were foaming as she muttered something incomprehensible over and over .
ââŠ-ter, I will abide by your words . Yes, Master, I will abide by your words . Yes, Master, I will abide by your words . Yes, Master, I willâŠâ
âM-mommyâŠ?â
Nothing of her once beautiful mother was left .
She barely noticed even her own daughter .
René had thought, somewhere deep inside, perhaps her mother may be able to save her .
For children, parents were, especially mothers, be it for better or worse, were their all-knowing protectors . René grew up with a doting mother who took care of her every need with grace, and, whenever she needed it, her mother would be the first to offer a helping hand .
And so she thought . She thought that her mother would help her again .
A hope that crumbled as easily as it sprung .
As the horse-mounted knight pulled the chains that linked them together, René and mother were dragged to the execution site . More knights gathered around them on foot .
It was snowing .
It was as if the frigid air was piercing into flesh and bone . However, even as the cold, cold snow crunched under her bare feet, René felt nothing .
The cold sent her mother into a frenzy, arms and legs flailing about wildly . A knight struck her head with his gauntlet-clad hand to stop her, causing her to tumble over and stop moving . Then two other knights pulled her halfway to her feet, held her shoulders and dragged her along . René only followed in silence . The pit of her stomach had already smoldered with flame . But, that grudge would never bear fruit .
As they trudged down the main street, men and women of all ages and walks of life crowded around and watched their misery .
âDie!â
âDogs of the Federation!â
âFilthy traitors!â
âDirtbloods!â
A stray stone flew over and struck RenĂ©âs head, and blood trickled down her temple .
The abuse they showered was surprisingly high . It felt strange to RenĂ© . She had not thought that the Royal Prince would be so readily accepted after usurping the throne through brute force . She had assumed that the people of the kingdom were being oppressed through fear of violence . But reality begged to differ . Many accepted the Royal Princeâs rule, and the people watched RenĂ© and her motherâs misfortune with glee, treating it as a âhearty and funâ show . It cast a shadow over RenĂ©âs heart, blacker than a kettleâs bottom .
Many had already gathered in the central plaza of the Royal Capital, an open space right outside of the castle, where René had been brought .
A scaffolding was set up in the middle, where the tall guillotine awaited its victims .
Her motherâs still senseless body was brought up to it and her head fastened, her hands and feet shackled after .
A knight loudly announced her to be a âfilthy whoreâ who âsold her body to the unjust kingâ, then the blade fell .
Though she could not see, her height not even reaching the scaffold platform, René heard the thud as it dropped and rolled over the wood .
The crowds burst into rounds of cheers, laughs and applause .
ââI see . So this is how Iâm going to die now . And everyone will be glad .
At that moment, as RenĂ© thought to herself, she felt as if she had been transported to the Demon Lordâs castle, a place she heard so often of in stories .
Theyâre all monsters, every single one of them . Monsters in the guise of man, coming all the way here just to watch us die .
René was dragged and pulled up to the scaffold .
The monsters looked on . They waited in anticipation for her blood to flow .
René knew she could no longer escape . And yet, even amidst her helplessness, her tiny body brimmed with the madness of her grudge, of her anger .
Her neck was fastened to the guillotine and her arms and legs were shackled .
Right beside her, the Knight cheerfully announced her to be a âfilthy bloodstainâ and a âdemon childâ, among other nonsense .
And what followed after was that one swift moment .
The world turned and tumbled over and over in impossible ways until her eyes fixed themselves on the guillotineâs blade .
As her head parted from her body, as if a fog had been lifted from her eyes, René suddenly remembered .
That, she once had already lived life as a man by the name of Nagajiro Satou on Earth, and after his death, the god of this world invited him to be reincarnated here .
Translator: Fried Hedgehog
Usu . Iâm just another deep fried hedgehog . Hedge is fine~
Iâm not really new to translating, having done small projects on and off, but this is the first time Iâm working alone on a story, so always feel free to leave suggestions, typos I mightâve missed, better wording, grammar stuff, etc in the comments . Letâs hope I donât mess up too hard haha .
Anywho, hope you enjoy Engoku no Barahime . I havenât read further into it, but it opens in a pretty interesting way .
If youâre into dark stuff, please check out ReZero over at Witch Cult Translations, Iâm also working with them on the WN, though you wonât find my name until a lot later .
Anyways, till next week~