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This is the third introductory chapter.

What is told here is the fate of the foolish.

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Count Brutom was a terrible man.

He was handsome, but a philanderer, weak-willed, unrestrained, and spoiled.

That's the kind of man he was.

And, because of that nature, in the worst possible way, this man... at almost the same time as the Countess's pregnancy, forced himself on a maid working in the mansion and fathered a child.

That child, born a few days earlier than Luctoria... was 'the eldest daughter of the Count Brutom family'.

The silver-haired girl, Mishtille, who was held in the arms of the Forest Spirit King.

A long time ago, Count Brutom, upon learning of Mishtille's mother's pregnancy, panicked.

Count Brutom didn't know what to do.

To have another woman pregnant at the same time as his wife was too scandalous.

He didn't want his wife or parents to find out either.

It was too scary.

So, he.

Threw the pregnant maid into the dungeon in the basement of the mansion, where no one's voice could reach.

And he locked it, and decided to ignore her.

He didn't do anything troublesome like arranging for meals or anything.

In other words, in the end, he intended to let her die of weakness... but the confused Count Brutom didn't think that far ahead.

In short, he placed something inconvenient and unpleasant, that he didn't want to see, out of his sight.

That's how he perceived it.

And, for his own mental stability... Count Brutom sealed away the memory of the pregnant maid.

Irresponsibly, he completely forgot about her.

It's presumed that it was a kind of self-defense mechanism that led to the forgetting... but to throw a pregnant woman into a dungeon °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and abandon her is an act that cannot be described as anything but inhumane.

Anyway, in this way, Mishtille's mother was put in the dungeon.

And inside, borrowing the power of the spirit she had contracted with, she gave birth on her own.

She came from a fallen former noble family, and had a spirit contract.

However, even the power of a spirit is not omnipotent.

After giving birth to her daughter through sheer willpower, she couldn't recover her strength after childbirth, and died.

Her remaining daughter, Mishtille... would survive in the small, dimly lit dungeon with the help of the spirit.

◇ ◇ ◇

The Forest Spirit King, holding the unconscious Mishtille, told everyone about Count Brutom's deeds without leaving anything out, and then disappeared with Mishtille.

No matter how much the king called out, he no longer replied.

His beloved child was treated so poorly... it's only natural for the Forest Spirit King to be angry, the nobles of the Hyupuet Spirit Kingdom held their heads in their hands.

In this situation, the continuation of the ancient pact is also in jeopardy.

Therefore.

The Count Brutom family, which caused this situation, was punished in the name of the king.

First, his titles were stripped.

All his assets were confiscated by the country.

And, Count and Countess Brutom, and Luctoria...

Death penalty. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

...It did not come to that.

The punishment given to them... was to have the spirits contracted with the Brutom couple stripped away, and then go to the Forest Spirit King to apologize.

This was by no means a mercy.

First, the cancellation of a spirit contract midway has too great a penalty for the human side.

By doing this, the Brutom couple were completely deprived of their magical power and youth, and their physical strength also declined.

Clearly, they were not in a state where they could live for long.

And furthermore, the Spirit Forest, where the Forest Spirit King lives, is a dangerous place.

Although it is said that there are few monsters because it is the dwelling place of spirits, instead there are many small spirits with low intelligence.

They generally act according to their instincts, and there are many cases where they attack humans for fun.

Therefore, to order the Brutom couple, whose contracted spirits had been stripped away, and Luctoria, who had not yet formed a spirit contract, to search for the Spirit King, whose whereabouts in the forest are unknown, is synonymous with ordering them to 'die after suffering'.

The Brutom couple and Luctoria were taken out of the royal castle's dungeon, roughly thrown onto the edge of the Spirit Forest, and told of the aforementioned punishment.

The soldiers who had brought them here, after giving them only the necessary notice, quickly returned to the royal castle.

Remaining at the edge of the forest were the Brutom couple and Luctoria, three people.

The Brutom couple had been arguing continuously since before they were brought here.

"Why me too! This is your fault, isn't it!?"

"You too...!"

Even after the soldiers left, the exchange of unbearable insults continued.

For Countess Brutom, to be dragged into her husband's crime after being cheated on, it must have been an unbearable feeling.

However, she too had used her position as the mother of the future contractor of the Forest Spirit King, and the Crown Prince's consort, to behave arrogantly... so no one helped her.

She was cast aside, as if to add insult to injury.

The couple argued, and argued, and argued... and after arguing until their rapidly aged bodies were exhausted, they gave a single order to Luctoria, who was watching their fight intently.

"We, with our old bodies, cannot walk through the Spirit Forest. It is only fitting for you, who 'pretended' to be the beloved child of the Forest Spirit King, to go and apologize!"

After shouting that one-sidedly, the couple started arguing again, and selfishly started heading back towards the royal castle.

Ignoring the king's order.

Luctoria frowned and sighed.

Because there's no way that returning to the castle, ignoring the king's order, would be forgiven.

They will probably be killed on the way by the soldiers who were secretly watching them from the shadows.

However, Luctoria didn't try to stop them.

She knew they wouldn't listen to anything she said... and she was completely fed up with them.

"............"

Luctoria listened to the ugly argument of her parents coming from the other side of the road for a while... but when it completely disappeared, she turned to the Spirit Forest.

The time is night.

Looking up, a sky full of stars.

In the Spirit Forest, there are many small streams flowing, and countless springs welling up.

Before Luctoria's eyes, an ankle-deep spring spreads as far as the eye can see, and its mirror-like surface reflects the starry sky, shimmering.

The trees that grow in the Spirit Forest are of a special kind, and their bark and leaves shine like jewels.

A shining forest, despite it being night.

It's a beautiful sight, not of this world.

...Luctoria saw death in this fantastical scene of the Spirit Forest.

"............"

Luctoria remained silent, looking down, and still...

With her face hidden in the shadows, she stepped into the Spirit Forest.

Splish, splash, splish...

After the sound of walking through the shallow spring continued for a while.

Luctoria's figure was swallowed by the forest, and she completely disappeared.

After that, no one in the Hyupuet Spirit Kingdom saw her again.

Was Luctoria able to meet the Forest Spirit King?

Was she able to apologize, as ordered by the king?

That is unknown.

The only thing that is certain is that the Forest Spirit King's anger did not subside.

On the night that Luctoria headed into the Spirit Forest, from deep within the forest... an unknown rumbling sound was heard many times.

There are also people who say they saw a giant shadow rising in the center of the vast forest.

It is not known what happened... but it is said that both of these were the Forest Spirit King's tantrums, to release his unceasing anger.

And before they knew it, the ancient pact was broken, and the nobles of the Hyupuet Spirit Kingdom could no longer form spirit contracts as easily as before.

Therefore, this country could no longer fend off interference from other countries... and gradually began to decline in size.

The fate of the arrogant humans, and the country that let them be.

As a single lesson to convey that, this turn of events will likely be passed down in the neighboring countries.