Chapter 294: The Realm of Dead
“I just… miss my Bonds…”
Lavinia spoke as she lowered her head and Kael turned silent as well. He did not know what to say. He gently held Lavinia’s trembling hand, but it didn’t seem to work.
The Princess was still trembling.
The memory of her Bonds dying continued to resurface in her mind. Honestly, before Kael saved her, she had grown numb to this memory… Her mind had collapsed long ago—nothing reached her anymore.
But that changed when Kael appeared. Her broken mind began to heal. Once again, she started missing her Bonds. Once again, this memory started affecting her. Yes, it was painful, but Kael’s presence eased her mind. It allowed her to distract her mind and not think about things that would hurt her.
Yes, she had learned how to successfully suppress those painful emotions and not think about her Bonds at all.
Today, however, was different.
The moment Morvain told her to summon her Bonds, her mind froze. All that self-training she did crashed in an instant and once again, the realization struck in,
She would never see her Bonds again.
That thought clenched her heart.
It tore her apart.
So much that even breathing hurt.
But then—
“Crying for those who are gone isn’t wrong, but destroying yourself over them is.”
Suddenly, Igni spoke up.
His words instantly attracted the Princess’s attention. She raised her head and glanced at the Dragon with glistening eyes, and the Dragon stared back at her in silence. He looked like he was making a difficult decision.
It made Kael frown.
What could he possibly be thinking about right now?
But before he could ask, it seemed that Igni had already made the decision.
“This isn’t something a Human should know, but I cannot watch this any longer as you unknowingly harm the Bonds you cherish.”
“W-What…?”
Lavinia reacted instantly. Not just her, even Kael was surprised.
Unknowingly harming her Bonds…? Her Bonds are already dead…
“There exists a Realm of Dead, a realm where the dead reside.”
Lavinia and Kael widened their eyes in surprise, and the Dragon continued,
“You can think of it as what you Humans mean by Afterlife. A new, different life, in a realm with completely different Laws.”
Igni took a slight pause. The information he was passing was quite heavy, so he gave them the time to digest it.
“Just like in any realm, beings struggle for power in this realm as well. The weak are suppressed, the strong rule.
However, the concept of strength in the Realm of Dead is different than from here.”
“How different?”
Kael questioned, unable to hold back.
“In the Realm of Dead, one’s strength depends on how he lived in our realm, or the Realm of Life. One can look at it as karma.”
“Karma…?”
Kael tilted his head, a little confused.
Igni nodded,
“Yes, in the Realm of Dead, one’s strength depends on the emotions of the beings they were connected to in the Realm of Life. The stronger their connection, the stronger the effect.”
“Depends on the beings they were connected to?”
Those words, however, only confused Kael even further. Lavinia didn’t understand anything either, but she stayed silent and listened carefully. After all, if this was the Realm of Dead, then her Bonds must be there as well.
She needed to understand everything about that place no matter what.
‘Hmm?’
Kael sensed Lavinia tightening her grip over his hand. Seeing her determined expression, he was momentarily taken aback. To think it was the same woman who was trembling with moist eyes just now.
“Yes, to understand it better, think of a common man who has lived a common, honest life. Now, his strength in the Realm of Dead would depend on how happy the beings he was connected to all his life are.
The emotions of his wife, children, and his Bonds—the beings he was closest to—would affect his strength the most. The more they think about him and smile at the memories they spent with him, the stronger he would become. While the emotions of the man’s acquaintances would have little effect.”
Igni explained.
“It can be seen as one’s Karma because one’s ‘connection’ depends on the type of person he is. The kinder, the more helpful they are, the more connections they would form, the more people would remember them, and the stronger they would become.
On the contrary, an inherently evil person wouldn’t have a close connection with anyone and would live without a source of strength.”
“That is… quite fair…”
Kael commented. Honestly, before this, he didn’t believe in the Afterlife. Well, he didn’t really care. After all, there was no point thinking about something he didn’t know about, correct?
Now, however, his thoughts were different.
He blindly trusted Igni’s words. The Dragon wouldn’t lie to him. At the same time, he personally liked this system of afterlife. It made him feel good knowing that kind people are rewarded in one way or another.
Igni, however, wasn’t done yet.
He stared at his father with a grim look on his face and,
“It is not that fair, Father. It has a strong loophole.”
“What…?”
Kael frowned.
Igni turned towards Lavinia, and her expression changed. For some reason, she realized it was connected to her—and she was correct.
“There are times when, despite being kind and only bringing joy to people around them, instead of getting stronger, people are weakened when they reach the Realm of Dead.”
Kael’s expression changed.
“These are the beings who had spread so much joy in their life that once they are dead, people close to them feel empty. They forget the emotion called happiness and spend the rest of their life in grief.
Such strong negative emotions are misinterpreted by the Realm of Dead, and the beings who had spread joy are punished instead of being rewarded.”
“W-Wait so—”
Lavinia stuttered, instantly realizing who Igni was talking about.
“Yes, the last three years of your life must have severely weakened your Bonds. The conditions they must be in right now might be quite harsh.
I thought this would improve as your complexion got better with time, but when I saw you in this state, I had no choice but to intervene.”
The Dragon spoke as he then looked into Lavinia’s eyes with a solemn look on his face and,
“What you are doing is harming your cherished Bonds, Lavinia.
Stop it this instant.”
He instructed.
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