The Young Princess Kills Everyone: Re
Stella returned to the village of Mytis alone.
She lived like a corpse in the cabin the two used to live in together.
An envoy from the kingdom finally arrived a few days later and gave her a purpose to supplement the rest of her life, but Stella didn’t hear any of the words that were said.
She lied down on the bed she used to share with Luno, looked at the room which felt like it more than doubled in size, and wasted away each day.
Not even water touched her lips, let alone food.
She did not sleep either.
Because she always saw the same thing when she closed her eyes.
Because she remembered the happy days when she dreamed.
She just wanted to rot away and vanish.
In truth, this continued until Stella lost consciousness.
But she could not die.
When she came to it, she had been taken to the royal capital, and was receiving medical care in a luxurious hospital room which seemed like one that only the royalty could utilize.
◇◇◇
A few months after living like a corpse, Stella finally stopped trying to die.
Luno was already gone.
Yet Stella had no choice but to live anyway.
Surely, Luno would not want her to be unhappy either.
Henry also visited her during her hospitalization in the royal capital.
He deeply bowed his head.
He apologized from the bottom of his heart for losing Luno.
“It is not your fault. Some kind of an accident occurred, did it not?”
Henry bitterly replied to Stella’s question.
“An aristocrat who is hostile to me interfered.”
When she asked, Stella learned that a powerful aristocrat by the name of Dugan Slava had made contact with a researcher through a spy.
The researcher was suffering mentally due to the harsh working environment, and had his desire for revenge utilized to make him set an explosive to go off at the same time as the experiment.
“It’s my fault for being insufficient. I’m really…… really sorry……!”
Henry even prostrated himself.
Stella was very confused.
She never blamed him for it.
However, perhaps Henry needed this kind of a source of comfort.
So he kept going.
Everyone needed to be blamed now and then.
Yes, even Stella.
Because Luno would not end up dying if she and Stella never met.
However, there was no one left to blame Stella.
You’re the one who pulled the trigger on this tragedy. No one was kind enough to say that to her and blame her.
◇◇◇
With Henry’s backing, Stella began living in the royal capital.
He also gave her a job.
It was quite the blessed life compared to the one she used to have in that village.
Stella had quite a few encounters with Mary during these days.
The more Mary grew up, the more closely she resembled Luno.
(Yeah, she’s the life that Luno left behind……)
Because she really thought this way, every time Stella met with Mary, she doted on her like a sister.
She kept it moderate however, as her real sister would get jealous if Stella got too affectionate.
She also made friends in the royal capital.
And her work was going well.
Her sorrow slowly faded away.
This made Stella feel lonely, and she decided to write something resembling a diary each time she remembered her days with Luno.
◇◇◇
The thing that destroyed her peace happened around 2, or 3 years before ‘now’.
She was working in a dining hall when she dropped some tableware.
She panicked and reached out.
They were too far to grab.
However, the tableware was between her fingers.
“Did my arm just…… stretch longer……?”
Thankfully, no one else saw it.
She quickly went somewhere where she could be alone and tested this a few times.
She could easily transform her arms at will.
“W-What……. is this? Why do I have this power……?”
She immediately decided to ask someone for help.
The first word that came to mind was ‘arcana’.
Perhaps she was affected by something while she was present at the site of World Destruction.
As such, Henry was naturally the person she needed to talk with.
However, he was extremely busy at that time.
It was difficult even to get a promise to meet with him.
So she had no choice but to visit Pupa Industries instead.
◇◇◇
Stella was met by someone with deep connections to World Destruction: Yueri.
Tests were immediately held, and it was confirmed that the arcana dwelling within Stella was World.
Furthermore, according to the examinations and analysis by Pupa, she knew how to use its powers.
Stella could not help but feel uneasy about all this, but she had no choice but to believe Yueri’s words when she said ‘King Henry gave me permission’.
In addition to working in the royal capital, Stella had now acquired the overwhelming powers of an arcana user.
She feared these powers.
It was not just the ability to change her body.
She could transform other living beings with just a drop of her blood.
She could control the minds of others with just one word.
Most of all, she did not age, and would not die no matter how grave the injury or the illness.
It was a dangerous power.
She understood why Henry wanted to erase it.
She even asked him if they could carry World Destruction out again, but it was said to be difficult as there was no vessel to replace Mary.
So she decided to live quietly and make sure no one noticed what she was – but she noticed something.
She was in the same position that Luno used to be in.
Now, Stella could understand why Luno’s heart was so cold when they first met.
However, she thought about something else as well.
Perhaps she could do something with these powers.
They were dangerous, yes.
But perhaps she could save people if she used them well.
Then, Stella heard of a certain rumor from Yueri.
The homunculi, created for the sake of World Destruction.
The rumor was that these young boys and girls were sold off to aristocrats after becoming useless, and were now being persecuted.
Stella’s desire for justice flared up.
◇◇◇
Stella quickly gathered information.
With Yueri’s cooperation also, she easily found the locations of the homunculi.
Angie, a young girl who lost her voice and emotions.
A young boy used only to torment, Kalinga.
A young girl with a burnt face, Aoi.
A young, overmedicated girl: Hemlock.
The twins coerced into an ill master and servant relationship, Erini and Erio.
The sisters transformed into strange forms, Carm and Digi.
Them and many other homunculi had become toys for the aristocrats and were being tormented.
Most of them were dead by the time Stella moved to rescue them, and the survivors had wounds in their minds and bodies that would never heal.
Their location was so gruesome that it was hard not to cover one’s eyes, and Stella actually did not remember much from the rescue.
She had lost herself in it.
She even killed some people.
She started to be afraid of herself.
However, this fear faded among the sense of accomplishment she felt for ‘saving people’.
But was that the real reason?
Or was it by World’s intervention?
That was all she could think back then.
Stella did her best to let the homunculi heal a little and become happy.
Fortunately, she had funding from the kind aristocrats, and never had any trouble providing the homunculi with abundant lives.
The homunculi were deeply grateful to Stella.
She was also proud of what she had done.
Because, like Luno had done with her so long ago, she had also gotten to save people.
Naturally, all the homunculi loved Stella dearly, and Angie in particular was very clingy with her.
She could not speak, so she conveyed her feelings by hugging, holding hands, or rubbing cheeks together.
As this close connectedness continued, little by little, she got her emotions back and started to smile more, even if only faintly.
The other homunculi also took back some human-like happiness even under the burden of permanent scars.
The ‘ideal’ Stella dreamed of was right there.
◇◇◇
Then, one of those days.
Stella woke up in the morning to find Angie sleeping next to her.
She had slipped into her bed last night almost by force.
Stella, who woke up first, got out of the bed while making sure not to wake Angie up as it was still an early hour.
Angie however reacted to Stella’s movements as she was hugging Stella tight, and woke up.
She sat up, tousling her long wavy white hair and spoke up while looking sleepy:
“Good morning.”
Time stopped that moment.
Angie, who was mute, just spoke up.
Stella could not help but be shocked.
◇◇◇
Angie started speaking normally after that.
Perhaps because she was so happy that she could speak again, she said Stella’s name at every opportunity.
“Stella. Stella. Stella! Stella!”
She was just saying her name without any reason.
But Stella was also happy to hear it, and caressed Angie’s head every time after saying her name back: ‘Angie.’
She was so cute, almost like an angel.
It was unclear why she was able to speak now.
She got examined at Pupa, but they still did not know.
But the miracle of Angie becoming able to speak also affected the other homunculus – Stella became more respected among them than before.
“I’m…… so grateful to Stella. I’m gonna do my best to stop taking my meds and show you my thanks, so get ready for it, okay?☆”
The homunculi were almost embarrassingly honest with Stella.
“You’re the one who made me feel something again, Stella. So I’m going to become someone who can save lots of people, just like you!”
“Stella. I’m so happy to be with you, Calinga, and everyone else. I want to thank you.”
All the while Stella thought that this was not because of her own strength, but because of her arcana.
“You know, I thought it would be best if Carm and I just died in that estate. But living is a lot happier, isn’t it?”
“Of course, Digi. We’ll always be together. And we’ll share this overflowing happiness with Stella!”
Of course Stella was happy to hear these things.
“Sometimes I wished that I wasn’t born with Erio. I wished that Erio was the only one who was born.”
“But now, I’m glad to have Erini as my twin. Thanks for making us whole again.”
For the second time, Stella had a happy life.
“Stella. Stella. I love you so much. Stella.”
The days were so fulfilling that if they continued, Stella thought her life might even be better than when she was happy the ‘first time’.
“You saved me Stella.”
She thought her life was worthless, and that there was no helping this world.
“You let me feel again, Miss. Stella.”
But now that she took some things back, she found value in life again.
“You gave me my voice back, Miss. Stella.”
She started to feel again.
“Who should I kill next?”
Why?
Why was it already too late when she realized it?
“It’s my turn to kill next, right?”
“Can’t we kill that damn Henry yet?”
“Dugan should come first.”
“No Aoi, we have to make sure Dugan suffers before we kill him. It’s still early. Right, Digi?”
“Mhm…… I think so too.”
Thinking back on it, Stella remembered that she used to lose consciousness now and then.
She figured it was a harmful effect of becoming an arcana user.
But when she thought about it again afterwards, Stella remembered that she still kept moving during those times.
(Wait, could it be…… that World is possessing me……?)
It was already too late when she realized it.
The homunculi were already too far gone as ‘pawns’, and Henry was under control.
Stella could do nothing other than tremble in fear now.
Day by day, she started being possessed for more and more hours.
During Stella’s sane hours, she saw that even Angie who used to love Stella so much was clearly looking at her with disdain.
The other homunculi were also disappointed that this was Stella.
Yueri, Henry, everyone.
They no longer expected anything from Stella; they expected things from World instead.
That became Stella’s world.
She was afraid, very afraid, and used her alone time to keep writing down her memories with Luno.
Three days passed before she knew it.
The text of her diary changed a little before she knew it.
Corpses rolled in front of her eyes before she knew it.
The homunculi turned into monsters before she knew it.
Her memories gradually changed a little and spread through the world before she knew it.
Her memories turned into a poison on the world before she knew it.
Many homunculi died before she knew it.
Everything was broken before she knew it.