Chapter 211 - The Things That God Possesses (1)

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There was an incident that made Ja Sujeong widely known as a lunatic.

At the time, conflict between demihumans and Conforming Humans had grown severe in the kingdom. A mage called the Black Witch led a terrorist organization that butchered Conforming Humans. On the other side, a group called the [Assembly of Stone] slaughtered demihumans.

Retaliation and revenge. Resentment and rage.

One massacre followed another, giving the hatred between races no chance to cool.

“We must draw a stricter distinction between Conforming Humans and everything that is not!”

The kingdom’s conservative nobles did not sit idle.

“Esteemed fellow members of the Noble Assembly! The turmoil plaguing the royal lands today stems from the indiscriminate mixing of human and nonhuman, moral and immoral, civilized and uncivilized. Under our current marriage laws, Conforming Humans may marry demihumans. Not only that, even same-sex and consanguineous marriages are legal! These are all relics of barbarism from centuries ago. How can we expect peace throughout the realm when we mix what cannot be mixed? In profound distress, our faction hereby proposes the Seventh [Unified Marriage Act].”

“...”

Baroness Ja Sujeong looked over the Noble Assembly and smiled.

“How interesting.”

That month, a war between houses broke out in Ja Sujeong’s barony.

Once war between houses was formally declared, third parties could not intervene lightly. The house that challenged Ja Sujeong’s was the baronial House of Hwang Sujeong. They had originally been one family, but had split six generations earlier.

Baroness Hwang Sujeong declared war without warning.

She was confident, too.

The kingdom was falling to ruin. The baronial House of Ja Sujeong had fallen to ruin a little faster. When [Lady Ja Sujeong, the Baron’s Daughter] beat her father to death and became [Baroness Ja Sujeong], all the retainers and subjects loyal to the previous lord had left.

“I never wanted to do this.”

Hwang Sujeong nocked an arrow.

As children, Hwang Sujeong and Ja Sujeong had been as close as sisters. They had even been kidnapped together by terrorists. Recalling those now-distant days, Hwang Sujeong wore a sorrowful expression.

“I’m sorry, Sujeong.”

“You needn’t apologize, dear sister.”

Ja Sujeong smiled brightly.

“I wanted this.”

Hwang Sujeong’s forces suffered a crushing defeat.

Every report she had received was fabricated.

Ja Sujeong’s house might have been falling to ruin, but the baroness herself was a genius unlike any other. All her retainers had left, but new ones had been appointed in their place. Hwang Sujeong had not anticipated that an archmage who had spent the past sixty years shut away in a little room doing nothing but research would suddenly become Ja Sujeong’s trusted servant.

An incompetent noble had a steep price to pay.

“I don’t care if I die.”

Hwang Sujeong’s face was resolute.

“But spare my retainers. Their only crime was following me.”

“How interesting.”

Ja Sujeong beheaded the captive enemy retainers one by one.

“Because I intend to do precisely the opposite.”

When the third retainer’s head rolled, Hwang Sujeong’s knees gave way as well. Her resolute expression had long since crumbled. Only then did she realize that, although she had prepared herself for war, she had not prepared herself for defeat.

“I’m sorry. No, I beg your pardon. Please... forgive my retainers. I was the foundation they stood upon. They did as I commanded, and surrendered when I was captured. Please... I beg you.”

“There is one way.”

Ja Sujeong whispered into her older, distant cousin’s ear.

“I will formally request a noble trial. Once we’re there, do as I say.”

The nobles of the royal capital gathered in the courtroom.

A judgment was handed down on the war between houses. The fault was plain for anyone to see. Hwang Sujeong’s house had declared war first and fired the first arrow. Then it had lost.

The conservative faction raised suspicions that the reports had been falsified.

There was no evidence.

The only witness was one of Hwang Sujeong’s retainers, who unfortunately could not attend the trial. He was one of the three retainers whose heads Ja Sujeong had just lopped off.

“The victory of House Ja Sujeong is hereby recognized.”

The presiding judge, a native of the southeast, spoke with a slight speech impediment.

“From this moment onward, all property and persons belonging to House Hwang Sujeong shall belong to House Ja Sujeong.”

“Meaning that every decision rests with me. Including the fate of Baroness Hwang Sujeong’s life.”

“Correct.”

“So he says, dear sister?”

“... Yes.”

Bound with rope, Hwang Sujeong lowered her head.

“Out of the generosity of my heart, I shall spare your remaining retainers. In exchange, swear that you entrust your life, your fate, everything to my hands.”

“You already possess everything I have, Baroness. ... Whatever you demand, I will obey without hesitation.”

The nobles seated in the gallery clicked their tongues.

The conservative faction had instigated Hwang Sujeong’s declaration of war.

Ja Sujeong beamed at the nobles watching the trial with faces like they had been chewing shit.

“Then marry me.”

“...”

Hwang Sujeong raised her head.

“Then I shall forgive you.”

The conservative nobles’ mouths fell open.

“Your Excellency? I wish to register a marriage. Kindly grant your approval.”

“One moment.”

The judge raised a hand to his forehead.

The capital’s judge thought rapidly.

All laws were either proclaimed by royal command or enacted through a vote of the Noble Assembly. Marriage law fell under assembly law. And every assembly law was recorded in the Complete Compendium of Proceedings: hundreds of volumes of minutes that more closely resembled bricks than books.

The judge remembered all of those minutes, accumulated over no less than two thousand years.

“... The Fifth Marriage Act permitted marriages between relatives by marriage, and their blood relationship is already distant enough without even consulting the Sixth Marriage Act. Same-sex marriage, outlawed by the Third Marriage Act, was permitted by the Fifth... Registering a marriage between nobles requires other nobles to be present as witnesses.”

The judge glanced around.

The nobles in the gallery still had their mouths open.

“That requirement is fulfilled. As for notarization... I can perform it.”

He nodded.

“Does anyone here object to this marriage?”

No one could bring themselves to speak.

“The war between houses has officially concluded in House Ja Sujeong’s victory, under circumstances in which House Ja Sujeong’s legitimacy is beyond any possible question. House Ja Sujeong has already registered all acquisitions resulting from that victory, and the disposition of Baroness Hwang Sujeong has been entrusted entirely to Baroness Ja Sujeong. Possessing full ownership of Baroness Hwang Sujeong, Baroness Ja Sujeong has taken her as a wife.”

Only then did the nobles recover from their shock and begin to murmur.

But it was already too late.

“The marriage is hereby accepted.”

It was a marriage between two people of the same surname—and of the same sex.

The political meaning of this incident was clear. It was a monumental fuck-you.

The conservative faction realized they had been screwed over by an eighteen-year-old noble, a newcomer who had only just become a baroness after being a mere young lady until recently.

It did not take long for the world to learn that Ja Sujeong was a lunatic.

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[Madness About Madness]

Rank: A-

Effect: A curse bestowed by a dragon. The holder of this skill cannot go mad, ‘no matter what happens.’ Even if mental attacks and mental magic work on them, they cannot drive this person insane. This person is always aware of themselves and always knows where they are, when it is, and who they are.

A curse invented long ago by a dragon who fell in love with a human, to protect the human’s fragile mind. According to legend, the dragon’s lover went mad because they could not go mad.

※ However, once acquired, this skill can never be removed.

+

Baroness Ja Sujeong and Baroness Hwang Sujeong united their houses.

Hwang Sujeong lost her title and became Lady Hwang Sujeong. By absorbing her wife’s title, Ja Sujeong rose to the rank of viscountess. After six generations, the divided family was one again.

“That crazy bitch!”

The conservative faction was hardly going to stand by and watch.

Dozens of exalted nobles ground their teeth.

“You really are a crazy bitch.”

The faction opposed to the conservatives did not stand idly by either.

Dozens of vulgar nobles acknowledged Ja Sujeong as a breath of fresh air.

“But is there anything else you’re good at besides doing crazy things?”

The Idle-Eater Duchess.

One of only six such great nobles in the world, and patron to all the kingdom’s artists. This noble, also known as the Duchess of Amusement, took an interest in Ja Sujeong.

As one might guess from her patronage of artists, she was not quite sane herself.

“I am generally good at everything.”

“I’ve had 133,643 people say that to me so far.”

The Idle-Eater Duchess was an ascended human. In this world, humans who received a dragon’s blessing and overcame the [Trial] were guaranteed eternal life. Of course, even a dragon’s blessing was not all-powerful. It could not stop some lunatic’s blade on the street.

The Idle-Eater Duchess was careful whenever she went out. Thanks to that, she had not been stabbed to death in the past thousand years. You needed at least that much caution to keep being a duchess in this kingdom.

“Your Grace.”

Ja Sujeong bowed her head.

“Isn’t life unbearably dull for you?”

“Oh, that sounds promising. I’ve had 517,570 people say that to me so far, too.”

“You nurture artists, Your Grace. But even if an artist displayed skill so poignant it could make great rivers overflow and tear radiance to shreds, they could not save you.”

“Why?”

“Because, in the end, their art would matter more to them than you do.”

The Idle-Eater Duchess felt that the brat before her was worth a little more attention.

“What do you mean?”

“Artists less talented than you worship you. But no matter how devotedly they serve you, their art is insignificant, so they cannot save you.”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong felt the prey before her approaching the trap.

“Artists more talented than you pay little attention to you. So, however sublime the works they create, their eyes are not turned toward you, and they, too, cannot save you.”

“Hmm.”

“You are fated never to be caught by either side’s hands. If this is your fate, then all you have is a destiny of unrequited love, repeated over and over. There is only one way for you to save yourself.”

“By nurturing you?”

“Yes. I shall create works of art for you. My wedding was truly entertaining, surely a welcome rain that fell upon your life after a long drought. Your Grace. Mistress of amusement. Would you not like to keep at your side a child whose very life becomes a work of art?”

“20,351 people.”

“I am more talented than you.”

Ja Sujeong turned around.

Musical instruments stood in the Idle-Eater Duchess’s innermost chamber. The [Graveyard of Instruments]. The Music Tomb. Whenever a musician she particularly cherished died, the duchess collected their instrument and kept it until someone she cherished even more was born.

Ja Sujeong approached a piano and played.

It was a piano that had held its place in the Music Tomb for more than 1,700 years.

+

[Three Joys of Kingship]

Rank: A-

Effect: An innate talent for composition and performance. The holder of this skill is loved by music. Notes far apart are heard as connected, and the first and last measures of a score are grasped intuitively at once.

Among the noises scattered indiscriminately throughout nature, you discover the rhythm unique to a stream, the rhythm unique to maple leaves, and the rhythm of children’s babbling.

You are a tyrant.

Because you exist, people will now recall your melodies when they hear the sound of a stream. Just as a frog’s sound is defined as ‘ribbit, ribbit’ and the sound of clock hands as ‘ticktock,’ human rage, despair, joy, and all things in creation will be ruled by your music.

Blessings upon the one who shall become queen.

※ However, consistent daily practice and training are required.

+

The piano performance ended.

The Idle-Eater Duchess nodded.

“750 people.”

“I am beautiful. I possess talent beyond compare. Through my music, my works, and my life, I shall win everyone’s praise and recognition. And yet I shall still dedicate my glory to you, Your Grace. Only then will you hold everything in the world within your grasp.”

“102 people.”

The Idle-Eater Duchess yawned.

“Even if everything you say proves true.”

She rested her chin on her hand upon her throne.

“It would mean you were born so gifted against astronomical odds, and that, against very, very astronomical odds, you came to feel such affection for me. Which would mean I had become the very, very, very fortunate beneficiary of good luck.”

The Duchess of Amusement’s gaze was indifferent.

Those eyes had rotted in time for a thousand years.

“To become the beneficiary of such rare luck would indeed make me love this world’s chance and fate. Love of chance. Was that the destination you intended to lead me to?”

“Close, but no.”

Ja Sujeong shook her head.

“I can love you more than you love yourself, Your Grace.”

“...”

At those words, the Idle-Eater Duchess finally looked into Ja Sujeong’s eyes.

“You need not love anything. My love alone will suffice, and at last your heart will hold someone wholly—someone else, one other person. On that day, you will finally accomplish what you have put off for a thousand years.”

“What I’ve put off for a thousand years?”

“Suicide.”

“...”

“I shall enable you to take your own life.”

Somewhere, a drop of water fell.

The Idle-Eater Duchess was silent.

Dead instruments lay scattered throughout her tomb.

“They say you dragged your old man into the forest and beat him to death.”

“Yes.”

“I want to kill you.”

“Yes.”

“I also want to keep you alive and see what happens.”

“I know.”

The Idle-Eater Duchess took a die from inside her clothes.

“I will test your luck.”

Whenever she made an important decision, the Idle-Eater Duchess rolled a die. Her power rested upon her unconditional adherence to whatever number the six-sided die produced.

Several years earlier, after suppressing a count’s rebellion, the Idle-Eater Duchess had used a die to decide whether to massacre the prisoners. It came up odd, and twenty thousand prisoners died.

People thought she was a crazy bitch, and the Idle-Eater Duchess thought the same of herself.

“Odd, and I kill you. Even, and I let you live.”

“If it comes up six, cherish me. If it comes up anything else, kill me.”

“That is for me to decide.”

The Idle-Eater Duchess tossed the die.

It rolled across the wooden floor of the Music Tomb.

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[One Loved by Dice]

Rank: SSS

Effect: Heavenly luck.

+

The Duchess of Amusement looked down at the number the die displayed.

Ja Sujeong did not look.

Without turning her head, she kept her eyes fixed on the kingdom’s powerful noble. On the duchess who could shield her from the conservative faction’s attacks and protect her from any political offensive.

“Have I now become your one and only person, Your Grace?”

From that day onward,

Ja Sujeong was called the [Idle-Eater’s Pet].