Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 234: The Queen Dowager’s Revenge
“……”
Shoko—or rather, Queen Dowager Frederica Iwood—revealed her gruesome past.
(The Queen Dowager had her family and fiancé murdered, and was forcibly made the consort of a tyrant. I knew that story…)
But never did he expect to hear it directly from her lips.
As Rest silently watched her, Shoko pulled the lollipop from her mouth and held it up toward the clear blue sky.
“Honestly, I thought I had it in the bag. Born as a noble lady, with a kind family and a fiancé, and I could even foresee the future. I was so sure I’d be happy this time. But I underestimated it. The malice of humanity.”
“…I see.”
“I’ve always been bad at noticing these things. I’m good at making men fall for me, but at the same time, I get hated and hurt just as easily. Even in my past life, when I had that accident, I felt like someone pushed me from behind. Maybe I was murdered back then too? Could it have been Yamada, the guy I rejected?”
“I wouldn’t know… But weren’t you able to avoid it with your foresight?”
“That ability is active, you know. It only works when I consciously use it. I never had any interest in the king’s actions, so I didn’t bother looking.”
With a sigh, Shoko placed the lollipop back in her mouth.
“But… I should have. I shouldn’t have dismissed it as boring to see too much of the future—I should have looked. If I had, my dad, my mom, Dar-chan, and Ruu-kun wouldn’t have died. Ruu-kun was only ten years old, you know?”
“……”
“So I got my revenge. I used my foresight to the fullest, seduced men without restraint… And then, I killed that king.”
With a crunching sound, she bit into the candy, shattering it.
She tossed the leftover stick into a trash can.
“He was already hated by everyone, so it was surprisingly easy. I pulled off my revenge flawlessly. Happily ever after… or not, I suppose.”
“……”
“That’s the end of my story. Man, it feels good to get that off my chest—thanks for listening.”
“…Not yet.”
“Huh?”
“I haven’t heard the most important part yet… Why did you spoil Rodel? Why did you indulge him until he fell into depravity?”
That was something he had to know.
Rodel had been a disgraceful man, but if he hadn’t fallen, if he had been different… perhaps he and Rest could have been comrades in arms.
During that battle, Rest had felt something resonate between them.
“Tell me. I need to know.”
“Ah… I see. That, too, needs to be said, huh?”
Shoko gave a troubled smile as she idly twisted a lock of her wavy hair around her finger.
“I made Rody a ‘fool’ as part of my revenge.”
“Revenge? Against the tyrant?”
“No, no… Against this unjust world itself.”
“…?”
Rest frowned in confusion. Revenge against the world? He couldn’t grasp her meaning.
“Yeah… Back then, I—Frederica—wasn’t in my right mind. I had lost everyone dear to me. My enemy was dead. And the only thing left in my hands was the child forced upon me by the man I loathed. He wasn’t at fault, but… I couldn’t love him unconditionally. His personality aside, his face was the spitting image of that damned king.”
“……”
“I had allies, but no one who truly understood my suffering. And yet, they all relied on me, expecting me to be the perfect Queen Dowager. I was losing my mind.”
She let out a weary sigh and shifted her crossed legs.
“So, I gave in to temptation. I got involved with them—‘Takfir Kahen.’”
“…Tak-what?”
“‘Takfir Kahen.’ They’re a group of reincarnators who oppose the Sage Council. They wish for the end of the world.”
“There are people like that…? The destruction of the world…?”
It was absurd.
Did such a villainous secret society, straight out of a fantasy, really exist?
“Yeah, that’s the normal reaction. See, they believe that the reason we reincarnated into this world—no, the reason we died unjustly in our past lives—is all because of this world’s god. So, as revenge against that god, they want to destroy everything.”
“That’s ridiculous…”
“Well, it’s basically just a group of edgy, angsty kids. But yeah… Frederica ended up playing into their hands and doing something stupid.”
Shoko let out a self-deprecating laugh and pressed her palms together.
“In the original timeline, Rody was supposed to become a hero and save many people. But I twisted him. I raised him into a tyrant. I left people like Aiger, a dangerous element, unchecked. I made sure that Celes, who was supposed to be an ideal queen, was engaged to Rody so she could never take the throne. I planted countless bombs throughout the Iwood Kingdom.”
“……”
“The Sage Council must have defused some of them by now. It’s hard to predict the future of other reincarnators, so I don’t know what happened exactly, but…”
Shoko stood up and walked away, her footsteps light.
She stopped at the bus stop, overlooking the ocean.
“I spent my last days in this villa, indulging in my hobbies—painting, gazing at the sea—and then I died. I had Vel-chan be my witness.”
“…Vel-chan?”
“A classmate from my school days. He was my fiancé’s best friend, so he treated me well. He’s the one who put Zanryushinen into that box. Last I checked, he’s now a teacher at the Royal Academy?”
“A teacher at the Royal Academy… Don’t tell me—Velroid Hahn!?”
The headmaster. A member of the Sage Council. The greatest magician in the kingdom.
If it was him, it made sense that he could seal someone’s memories into a box.
“I brought this upon myself, but… I was scared of going to hell after I died. I wanted to leave behind a pure, untainted version of myself from my past life. It was just another selfish whim.”
Gazing at the sea, Shoko wore a sorrowful expression.
She let out a long, heavy sigh and slowly shook her head.
“In my past life, I couldn’t wait to leave my hometown for the big city. But after reincarnating, all I did was long for it. I’m such a selfish idiot.”
“…I see.”
“And that’s the end of my story! Thanks for listening to my long-winded rambling!”
With a loud clap, she brought her hands together.
Instantly, the world around them wavered, like a mirage dissolving into thin air.
“What—!?”
“Thanks again for listening. Here, a little gift.”
“…!?”
Something was shoved into Rest’s mouth.
Sweet. A lollipop.
The tart sweetness of strawberries spread across his tongue.
“Make sure you don’t end up like me, living with regrets. Well then—see you around!”
And just like that, the world around him collapsed.
“…Ah.”
When he came to, Rest was back in the study, standing exactly where he had been before.