Chapter 90: Guide (3)
“Where am I…?”
The princess woke up in a place where everything was so filled with light that she couldn’t see properly.
“What’s going on?”
She felt a headache as she tried to rewind her memory.
The last thing she remembered was pointing her spear at the divine messenger and charging forward.
Her memory cut off after the blinding light from the divine messenger.
But she felt an intense sense of unease.
‘Why did I act like that?’
She couldn’t fully comprehend her own actions.
Her love and loyalty to the GM were unshakable.
But to turn her back on the divine because of her own desires?
What a contradiction that was.
It felt as if something had scrambled her thoughts.
“Have you awoken?”
A voice called out at that moment.
The princess, her eyes widening, slowly lifted her head.
There were tall white stairs.
The voice came from above them.
The princess knew instantly.
The presence at the top.
The one she loved so dearly.
The one she longed to see so much.
The GM was right up there.
“Bow down! You are in the presence of the great GM!”
The voice of the divine messenger rang out.
Without realizing it, the princess prostrated herself.
In front of the GM.
He was right by her side.
A shiver ran through the princess’s body.
She soon curled up, trembling.
Now that her head was clear, she knew.
She wasn’t worthy to stand before the GM.
She had turned her back on him, disobeyed his commands, and committed sins.
She had betrayed his expectations.
“G-GM! I… I…!”
Fear surged through her.
What if she were cast away?
She hadn’t thought of that when she committed her acts.
Her mind had been filled only with love for him.
So she hadn’t considered him.
She had failed to think of him because of her love for him.
“I… I…”
Even with a thousand tongues, there were no words to defend herself.
It was her own greed that led to this.
Even if she had been mentally unstable, she had acted with full consciousness.
All those memories were still there.
The princess didn’t dare make any excuses.
It was all her fault.
“Apostle Rebecca, do you understand your wrongs?”
“Yes…! I understand… It’s all my fault…!”
“The sin of forsaking the Lord’s command to love one another.
The sin of harming the Lord’s precious lamb.
The sin of reckless behavior as an apostle of the Lord.
The sin of threatening the innocent as the ruler of the Lord’s people…”
The guide recited the list of the princess’s sins.
All were acts she had committed.
She couldn’t make a single excuse.
“For these sins, the status of Apostle Rebecca is hereby revoked.”
“W-What…!”
“From this moment on, you are stripped of your title as an apostle.”
The stripping of her title.
The declaration hit the princess like a bolt from the blue.
“N-No…”
More than her noble status as a princess, there was a far greater and holier title.
To be acknowledged by the GM and to receive his love—losing that one and only position in the world.
“F-Forgive me…! I admit my wrongs and repent! I will do anything for the Lord! Please, just once, forgive me!”
The guide slowly looked down at the princess.
“The one you must seek forgiveness from is not me, but the Lord.”
“Please! You are the messenger of the GM! Take me to him so I can beg for his forgiveness! Please help me!”
The princess crawled and clung to the guide’s feet.
“Let go. The Lord has already left you. You are no longer the Lord’s apostle.”
The guide shook off the princess with a kick.
“Gah…!”
The princess groaned as she was thrown back.
But she couldn’t even feel the pain from the impact.
The pain she felt inside was far too great.
“Please…”
The title of princess, her noble status—it all meant nothing now.
Even if she became the emperor of the empire, what meaning would that hold if she was abandoned by him?
If the Lord no longer stood with her…
I… I…
Kwoooooong!
At that moment, a brilliant pillar of light descended upon her.
“…Huh?”
The princess slowly raised her head, feeling the warmth of the light.
The guide, who had been pressing down on her, had frozen in place as if turned to stone.
And in the center of the pure white light, he stood.
“My child.”
The voice she longed to hear so much.
“I forgive you.”
The words she had desired so deeply.
“I absolve you of all your sins.”
He was everything to her.
“You are my child and my apostle.”
Rewinding time just a little, back to the moment unseen by the princess, atop the stairs on the GM’s throne.
“It is time for your decision, my Lord.”
The true form of the guide, who had been pressuring the princess with a fragment of herself, stood by Albus’s side.
“So, you’re suggesting stripping her of her apostle status because she betrayed me and replacing her with Zenith?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Albus, seated on the throne, rested his head against his arm in silence.
Indeed, the princess had been running wild in many ways recently.
If she continued to wield such overwhelming power recklessly while holding the title of apostle, the damage could be irreparable.
But something about her behavior was odd.
She had always been noble and kind, someone who seemed destined for the throne, yet now she acted so unlike herself.
‘And the guide’s reaction… it’s even stranger.’
Rather than analyzing and correcting the princess’s issues, the guide seemed eager to cast her aside.
The once-reliable guide now felt unsettling.
“I don’t understand. If she’s at fault, then punish her. But is there truly a need to replace her so suddenly?”
“But, my Lord—”
“Enough.”
Albus’s sharp command stopped the guide mid-sentence.
“Are you betraying me, guide?”
As his gaze pierced through the guide, she involuntarily trembled.
“No, my Lord. This is not betrayal…”
Is it really not?
Even if she believed it was for his sake, to defy his will and take such actions—
Could it truly not be considered betrayal?
The guide hesitated.
But for the sake of the Lord…
Should I confess everything and beg for forgiveness now?
Even if I believe it’s for the Lord’s sake, to act without informing him…
!!!!
It was at that moment that the guide realized a critical truth.
It wasn’t just the princess who had been mentally manipulated.
She, too, had been controlled.
I must tell him at once.
“My Lord, there is something I must tell you.”
The guide, her eyes wide, rushed to convey the truth to Albus.
ZZZzzzt
Something surged through the guide’s body.
- No, no, no. I told you, you can’t.
The power of the abyss interfered with her.
- If it’s for the Lord’s sake, you mustn’t reveal it.
The future GM had taken hold of her.
Crackle
“Guide? Guide!”
The guide’s condition had turned strange.
She stood frozen, unresponsive to Albus’s calls.
He immediately opened the command interface to analyze her state.
Flash.
The guide blinked and slowly raised her head.
“I apologize, my Lord. There was a temporary overload causing an error.”
She reported in her usual calm, expressionless tone.
She appeared to be just like her usual self.
“…No.”
But Albus knew.
“You are not the guide. What are you?”
“…”
The one before him was not the guide but an imposter.
“I am the guide, my Lord. Why do you say such things?”
The entity inside the guide acted as if it were the real guide, trying to suppress his suspicions.
“Your voice, your appearance, everything says you are the guide. But I, who created you, can tell. You are not the guide. Reveal your true identity.”
Sigh
The guide let out a long sigh.
Her expression shifted.
“How did you know? As expected of the master, I suppose?”
Though it still bore the guide’s form and face, its demeanor was entirely different.
“I didn’t expect you to figure it out this quickly.”
She walked leisurely and conjured a chair from thin air, sitting down comfortably.
“But I wasn’t exactly lying, either. I am [the guide].”
“…The guide?”
The guide…?
Wait a moment.
This being, who called him master and introduced itself as the guide, was—
Albus recalled a conversation he’d once had with a saint.
A sudden thought crossed his mind.
“This can’t be…”
If my suspicions are correct, then she is…
“Master, you’re truly remarkable. Is it because you created me that you know me so well? Yes, I am…”
The future guide the saint had spoken of.
“I am the guide from the future and the GM, your creation.”
The evil god.