Chapter 139: Chapter 139
After a while, as if noticing something, Yvette looked at the Demonkin boy before her and asked in a low voice, “You—first tell me clearly, who are you, and who is this ‘Former Demon King’ you speak of?”
At that moment, a sense of foreboding rose in her chest. She remembered from her conversations with Dugrabi a hundred years ago that Rosalyn was the Human–Demon Co-ruler of the Eastern and Western Continents: both the supreme commander of the Pan-Human Alliance and the second-generation Demon King of the Demon Race.
Yet the boy before her had used the term “Former Demon King.” If he wasn’t referring to the very first Demon King, then that meant—
“I—I’m Lant Quinn,” the boy stammered. “Demonkin, from White Birch Village. The ‘Former Demon King’ you mentioned is actually the second-generation Supreme Demon King, Her Majesty Rosalyn Sien. You—you should know her, right?” Lant watched Yvette’s subtle expression anxiously, worried he might have mistaken the person.
“She was my first student.” Yvette drew a deep breath; a tremor crept into her voice without her noticing. She pressed, “Why do you call her ‘Former’? What happened to her?”
Lant froze, then realized that this Silver Witch truly didn’t know about that matter.
He hesitated for a long while, finally gathered his words, and said with difficulty, “A hundred years ago, the Great Evil God—the Doomsday Witch—broke her seal and brought about the prophesied ‘Day of Ending’ to the mortal realm. The Former Demon King—Her Majesty—joined forces with the Demon God and the True Gods of the Eastern Continent to resist the Doomsday Witch, and the Divine Judgment War erupted.”
His tone carried reverence and sorrow, sinking lower and lower: “In the Divine Judgment War, even the gods acting together could not stop the Doomsday Witch from opening the gateway to the apocalypse. At the critical moment, Her Majesty suddenly transcended her boundaries and ascended to godhood, turning the tide—ultimately sacrificing herself to perish alongside the Doomsday Witch, and in doing so, protected all the people of the mortal world.”
Yvette was stunned. Time seemed to freeze around her, leaving only the soft crackle of wood in the hearth. After a long while, she asked in a hoarse, dry voice, “You mean—Rosalyn—she’s dead?”
Silence fell again, heavy and absolute. Such a shattering fact left Yvette momentarily speechless.
From the time she crossed over until now—nearly seven hundred long years—she had thought her heart had hardened into iron, that worldly sorrow and joy were distant to her. But at this moment she realized she was not as cold or strong as she had imagined.
Her steps felt light as she walked to the sofa and sat down slowly. She closed her dark-red eyes; when she opened them again, weariness had settled into her gaze. She said softly, “Tell me—tell me about your second Demon King’s story.”
Outside the window, the snow continued to fall in silence. The temperature difference between inside and out caused countless fine droplets to bead on the glass, and in the fireplace light they sparkled like gems set against the snowy landscape.
Through Lant’s halting narration, Yvette pieced together Rosalyn’s life from the Demonkin perspective.
Rosalyn first rose within the Pan-Human Alliance on the Eastern Continent, leading armies to crush the Demon King’s forces.
Later, in the decisive battle against the First Demon King, she—still a mortal—killed the proxy of that Demon God and struck a pact with the Demon God, becoming the second Demon King of the Abyssal Continent, also known as the “Supreme Demon King.” Because she was also the supreme commander of the Pan-Human Alliance, she was revered as the singular “Human–Demon Co-ruler.”
Under her rule, the Eastern and Western Continents entered a century of golden development. She promoted continental trade, advocated equality among races, and used natural magic to solve the Abyssal Continent’s hardest issues of food and subsistence. She also founded the renowned Truth Academy to spread knowledge and opened its doors to all races, creating equal opportunities for cross-racial exchange.
These policies allowed the Demonkin—once outcasts living hard lives on the Abyssal Continent—to gradually rise to become one of the most powerful races among the Demon Race, capable of rivaling the Abyssal Demon royals of the First Demon King’s era.
Then the Doomsday Witch broke her seal and descended into the mortal world. The gods of East and West set aside their differences to face this great evil in a final clash. During that battle, the Supreme Demon King Rosalyn—originally thought to be only at demigod level and serving in a supporting divine role—surpassed mortal limits amid the crisis and achieved true godhood on the spot. She became, after the creation myths, the only being to ascend from a mortal body to a true god, and she perished with the Doomsday Witch, preventing the end of the world.
Afterward, because of her divine status and salvation of the world, combined with her life’s deeds, she was jointly worshiped by East and West as the “God of Truth and Magic.” Even the major churches of the Eastern Continent issued proclamations in quick succession, integrating her into their histories and mythologies. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel[f]ire.net
After tens of minutes of telling, Yvette’s emotions steadied, and she felt a mixture of tastes in her heart.
If this information was true, she felt sorrow, but also some comfort: at least Rosalyn’s life had been grand and had a rather complete ending. Even for Yvette as her teacher, that would be a source of pride.
She then thought of the scene a hundred and twenty years ago when she had seen Dugrabi off in the Towered Water Kingdom—back when an aurora and the Remnant Abyss had appeared and vanished. At the time she had vaguely suspected the Doomsday Witch’s plans had been foiled, and Rosalyn might have been one of those involved. She had not expected it to end in such a tragic yet noble conclusion.
She exhaled a long, silent breath and asked softly, “And after that? After her fall, what became of your world?”
“I—I don’t know much about the Eastern Continent. But in the Western Continent, after the Former Demon King fell, within a few years the Abyssal Demons launched a war against my people—”
At this point Lant’s eyes reddened and his voice tightened as he swallowed: “In recent years, the Abyssal Demons pressed onward, seizing large swaths of our Demonkin lands. They carried out indiscriminate massacres in villages that surrendered. My father and mother, and my sister—all were killed by them!”
No sooner had he finished than Lant slid from his chair and, with a thud, knelt again before Yvette, pressing his forehead hard into the thick carpet.
“Lady Witch!” His voice trembled with grief and rage. “I beg you! I implore you! Please help me—grant me the power to avenge my family! I will do anything if I can take revenge!”
Yvette watched him in silence. After a moment, she suddenly said, “Look up.”
Lant raised his head at once and met her gaze without evasion. In those young, fiery eyes Yvette saw layers of shadows—thick darkness stained with blood and fire, twisted by bone-deep hatred.
As someone who prided herself on reading people, Yvette could tell he was a youth of clear loves and hates. When he spoke of the Former Demon King Rosalyn, his reverence and worship were sincere; when the topic turned to the Abyssal Demons, fierce hatred surged up, as if he wanted to skin and flay them all.
Coupled with his account of history and the bits she had learned long ago from Dugrabi about the Western Continent, she could be certain that the Demonkin were firmly “pro-Rosalyn.” The Abyssal Demons, royal among the Demon Race, had lost status and privilege because of Rosalyn’s policies—no doubt they’d been anti-Rosalyn. Outwardly they may have restrained themselves out of respect for the Supreme Demon King’s authority, but after Rosalyn’s death, a century of suppressed resentment erupted into bloody retribution against the Demonkin.
Of course, from this single account alone Yvette couldn’t say whether Rosalyn had shown any particular favoritism to the Demonkin while ruling the Abyssal Continent.
But that the Abyssal Demons were antagonistic was unmistakable.
With that in mind, Yvette’s judgment became clear.
She looked down at the kneeling Demonkin boy and asked calmly, “Then—are you willing to study magic under me?”