"This is an order, not a request."
What a terrible, terrible look. This was the first time that Locusta saw Nero, who always appeared cheerful and lively, having such a terrifying look. It was as if the look swallowed everything, like black mud.
When being looked at in this way, even though Nero was smiling, Locusta felt as if he was instantly floating in some huge whirlpool, as if an invisible tide was rising around him.
Therefore, out of fear, Lokusta could only nod silently.
"Great, I've always wanted to do that, but it's too late to do it now." Nero tilted his head and smiled, "Although this should only be enjoyed by me, but you need to use it to make a better poison, Rokusta, so I allow you to taste it."
Upon hearing this, Lokusta's first thought was "no", but then another thought popped into his mind: "The Emperor has become so strange and unfamiliar now."
But despite this, Locusta, who had long been frightened by Nero, still obeyed Nero's words, gently dropped a drop of water from the bottle into her hand, put it into her mouth to analyze the content of the poison. For some reason, she always felt something subtle and familiar... But real confusion also arose.
Lokusta didn't know how to answer. Was His Majesty deliberately making fun of him, or did he really not know?
So, she remained silent. Under the dim light in the room, she could see that Nero was still smiling, as if liveliness was her true self.
But because Nero's gaze was too terrifying, she made up her mind to speak.
"Your Majesty, I find this very strange."
"What's wrong? Can't even you do it?" Nero looked confused.
"No, it's because this thing is not poisonous at all..."
The atmosphere around was silent for a moment, with only the indistinct drizzle quietly falling from the gray sky. The darkness brought by the gloomy weather extended endlessly, spreading outwards in the drizzle.
I don’t know how much time passed.
Finally, Locusta quietly raised her head and glanced at Nero. Her heart almost stopped beating, because tears were falling from Nero's eyes like black mud, like pearls from a broken string. She was crying silently.
I want to help Her Majesty and I want her to stop being like this no matter what. Locusta racked his brains to think about what he could do now, and concluded that he should let her cry alone. Maybe he said something wrong.
"......hehe."
Nero suddenly laughed a little, and then moved his lips slightly, which looked like he was saying "sorry, thank you", but Locusta had no definite evidence.
"You go out, I'm a little tired..."
She was trying hard to hold back her sobs, but they showed no signs of stopping.
"Well, okay..."
After Lokusta left, the girl's sobbing voice suddenly became louder, passed through the dense dark clouds, came to the distant sky, and dissipated in the atmosphere.
Tears welled up in his eyes, but Nero didn't understand the meaning of these tears.
The rain was not heavy that day, but it lasted for a long time. Late at night, in the courtyard where the emperor was temporarily living.
The air and clothes were gradually contaminated with moisture. The blonde girl's wet hair stuck to her face and neck, which should be very uncomfortable, but she didn't care. She just raised her face that was originally buried in her knees and looked up at the night sky. Countless cold water drops hit her cheeks.
After learning that his teacher Novia did not poison him, he had always been self-righteous and believed that he did not have the necessary weight for the teacher. He... was still the same as before and could be abandoned at any time and anywhere.
In the quiet hustle and bustle, Nero felt that only his own breathing was particularly harsh.
The rain gradually became heavier, and water drops fell from the wet hair and hem of clothes.
It was so cold, extremely cold. The girl hugged her shoulders and huddled herself tighter.
Why, why, why don't you poison me, teacher, do you hate me, do you not want me, are you going to abandon me...
Nero felt his heart shattering bit by bit, as if he had lost the meaning of living. Through the cracks in his heart that had been repaired with great difficulty, darkness seeped in bit by bit. He was alone, feeling it.
In the few days before Nero returned to Rome, once he fell asleep, he would have incredible dreams.
In the darkness, she picked up the cold dagger and stabbed the teacher with it.
There was no expression or emotion, just a faint, continuous, continuous stab of the blade towards Novia.
He revealed an empty expression, which kept stabbing him. Why, why, it was as if he could hear his own whispering voice.
Because it was a dream, she continued to kill him silently in this world where there was only her and her teacher.
It's so painful, but what should I do?
Nero was in so much pain after waking up that she couldn't help but hug tightly the primordial fire given to her by her teacher.
When did I start to like it?
From that day which is too far away to remember, he has been special to me.
I behave like this because I like my teacher. In other words, if I didn't have any improper thoughts about my teacher, I wouldn't behave like this.
Could it be that I was born with the fate of being abandoned?
Because when my mother was pregnant with me, her heart was full of hope, because as long as she poisoned me and committed adultery after I was born, she could divorce her dissolute and alcoholic father. My mother's hope was my despair.
"I didn't choose to be born into this world full of filth..."
The girl felt violent emotions suddenly surge up in her heart.
It is precisely because we are surrounded by countless mud that we long more strongly for stars that are so dazzling that they are difficult to look directly at.
The blood in her body gradually turned into light cotton. It was not an illusion. If she really cut her wrist, cotton might really flow out.
I am just a puppet, a puppet with no value in existence.
No wonder I am always abandoned. It’s not that I am not valued, but as a person who was born out of necessity, being abandoned everywhere is my inevitable fate.
For Nero, living was like a boring cloud rolling in the sky since he was a very young child.
There was neither emotion nor lingering feeling, nothing was left in my heart. There were only meaningless, worthless words listed out and harsh noises. I had no desire to read them at all and could only stare blankly.
I curled up in this disgusting world, and kept thinking that it would be great if this thing could end soon. However, the world before my eyes showed no sign of ending.
The content of life is probably different for everyone. In it, there must be a life filled with bright colors, cheerful music, outstanding family, and incomparable joy. There must be such people. Such people will definitely not want their lives to end so soon.
However, in her opinion, her own life has ended, and it has no taste, no color, and there is only a self squatting there with her head in her hands, abandoned at will. How can she make people happy in such a world?
Even if I want to remember it, I can't. I already have no meaning to live. My past is just as I said, I might as well just disappear and let myself relax.
Nero, with dim eyes, held the Primordial Fire and murmured:
"If I had not been born..."
The girl who uttered this sentence for the first time felt as if she was in a sea of fire at that moment. Every minute and every second, her whole body was tortured by the dense sense of reality, as if she was swimming in a sea of red blood, swallowing filthy things continuously.
The sea of blood was eroding the world bit by bit and had already soaked the girl's lower body. She would probably be completely submerged in the sea of blood and eventually melt into the hot and filthy sea.
Nero didn't know why she was here, but her body was filled with dark emotions of giving up, pain and sadness, which made her not even have the strength to struggle. She wanted to disappear quickly.
When the blonde girl came to her senses, she realized that the sea of blood had risen to her chest. She could no longer feel her legs and arms, which were swallowed by the dark sea of blood.
So that’s it. This makes things easier.
She thought so, but it was also an anger that could not be vented.
It must be because I am a person who shouldn't exist that I am alone.
"There's only one person left..."
The words flowed out of her mouth unconsciously and the girl cried, not silently sobbing, but wailing like she did when she was a child.
"......But, I don't know why I am alive, but I feel pain when I am about to disappear. Why is this? Tell me, teacher."
It was really incredible. The girl's brain had obviously given up functioning as if it were a disease, but this body that had supported it for more than ten years was still longing to see that person again, against the will of its owner. Therefore, Nero's body moved again.
So, six days later, Nero returned to Rome and went to see his teacher Novia first.
"Teacher, I'm back......"
She slightly opened her green eyes and uttered a weak voice.
"Welcome back, Nero, how are you..."
Novia looked at the extremely haggard Nero. The girl's eyes were like a puppet, without any emotion.
And in his field of vision, overlapping figures appeared, with petite and slender bodies holding something, faces very similar to Nero, and similar postures overlapping.
"Nothing, I'm just a little sleepy, I'll be fine after a good sleep..."
The girl's nasal voice clearly showed that she had been crying. Novia stood in the bright and dazzling sunlight, staring straight at her.
"Then you can rest here with me. After you have rested, I want to tell you something."
At this moment, Nero's mind was filled with the noise of someone shouting a name.
Ahhh, it's almost disappearing, I'm losing myself.
It's so hot, why am I here?
What am I, and what am I doing here, who is Draco, and why does this blood-red sea call me like this.
Nero's consciousness was gradually surrounded by darkness, and she felt her body slowly falling. This was her last feeling.
In my mind that was slowly losing everything, there was only a strange name and a sentence that kept repeating:
"Teacher, please don't abandon me......"
066: I can’t do it. I can’t do it…
"Be careful, Novia, Nero... is turning into a dragon!"
Melusin, who was originally in the gun, was still waiting for Novia to call her out, but the moment Nero said that, the strongest dragon discovered the huge magic power surging from the deep of this human's body, and was turning into a dragon in a way she had never heard of before, distorting the surrounding space with magic.
Moreover, this was not a simple evil dragon phenomenon caused by extreme desire, but a return to some origin, source, as if Nero himself was a dragon, and his previous human identity was just a false image of living in the world.
That is not the anthropomorphism of humans. Quite the opposite. It is some kind of beast that came to the world in a form that conforms to the human world. That is the true face of this thing.
"........I see."
Novia knew very well that the dragon that Melusin was talking about was undoubtedly the Beast of Sodom. Just by being swept by the ominous red magic power she exuded, he had the illusion that his spirit was about to be devoured.
Both Melusin and Novia realized at once that the blood-red sea, which was tens of thousands of kilometers long, was staring at them.
With the help of the magical support from Melusin and the magic she had learned, Novia allowed herself to move instantly beyond the speed of human reaction, and came in front of Nero.
"Don't come near...Yu!"
Nero, holding his head with one hand and holding out the Primordial Fire with the other, saw Novia approaching, so he waved his hand and stumbled back.
The girl's sword-holding posture at this moment was so ridiculous, and Panno and the others' posture on the battlefield in the past, despite this, carried an indescribable dangerous aura, which made people think of death. And the primordial fire, in Novia's view, also erupted with the same ominous red magic.
"Nero, I don't understand why you feel this way, but I will never abandon you, nor will I let go of your hand."
Novia said in a calm tone.
"Hahaha, why, why, why won't you abandon me... What value do I have to you? Even if it's the throne, even if it's not me, for you... you can find someone else to replace me at will! Tell me! Tell me, what value do I have to you... I clearly have no value in living..."
The blonde girl with twitching vocal cords whispered intermittently,
"I don't want to be abandoned...I...have done nothing wrong...I will never forgive you - I will - burn - the world - I will sink you...into the mud and burn you to ashes......"
The crazy blonde girl's eyes were bloodshot, and she rushed forward in an instant, raising the Primordial Fire and swinging it at Novia.
At this moment, Nero briefly returned to normal, and the Primordial Fire in his hand loosened and fell to the ground.
"I can't do it, I can't do it... I don't want to kill you, I really don't want to, teacher, please don't abandon me, okay? I'm very useful, I can do anything, I'm very valuable, don't abandon me, kill the teacher, I... I really... can't do it... I was wrong, please don't be angry..."
The words flowed out of his mouth unconsciously, and Nero cried, not silently sobbing, but wailing like he did when he was a child, and the bloody tears never stopped. The last words were whispered as if he had lost his soul, and Novia seemed to not care, washing away her emotions with a steady but powerful voice.
"I promise you, I won't abandon you."
Despite this, the girl continued to cry and even fell to her knees, curled up into a ball and cried.
"Novia, Nero's change is irreversible. It can be called a miracle now, but it won't be long before she will be like that again. By then, I'm afraid..."
"I know, Melusin, can you delay the accumulation of magic power in Nero for a few days?"
At this moment, Novia, who was hugging Nero who was crying non-stop and stroking her back to comfort her, was talking to Melusine.
"It's possible, because this place has seven streams of magic that have been stored for a long time to deal with this kind of situation. As long as she doesn't resist, I can guide her and it should be fine."
After learning about this situation, Novia wiped Nero's tears with her hand, slid across her face, and said to her:
"Next, Nero, you have to take a good rest. I don't want the burning flame to be extinguished here, understand?"
He said in a voice that soothed the child, words that his real mother would never say to her child, and then he stood up gently.
".....I am very obedient...so...don't abandon me......"
