Regina Rena – To the Unforgiven

Rena Ruber's Identity

Translated by Wook
Edited by Wook

Rena Ruber’s recklessness frightened even the brazen Rubid.

“U—!”

As Rena jumped by kicking the saddle, Rubid clung to Rena without realizing it.

Such an obvious crazy move. Everywhere was full of the dead with fireballs, but they stood up from the horse and leapt.

But what was even crazier was next.

Rena jumped a few more times by taking advantage of the dead, with Rubid on her side. She stepped on the dead to rush to the castle.

Then, the dead also ignited the flames as if trying to stop Rena.

As the heat pierced like a needle, Rena raised Rubid to the fullest.

“What are you—”

Rubid screamed in anger, but Rena didn’t care and threw the Rubid into the castle with all her might.

“Now!”

What do you mean now?! Rubid was furious,  but he cooperated helplessly.

Then he stretched out his arms as hard as he could towards the castle, which rushed to him as if they were about to collide.

Didn’t they say to get into the castle of the dead, one just needs to call out the real name of the castle’s owner?

Rubid remembered the story he had heard and cried out with all his might.

“Hiems Gracia!”

He did well as he knew, but he added a word out of anxiety.

“Open the door!”

And the world turned upside down.

.

.

.

Rubid, who had been unconscious for a while due to the intense shock, opened his eyes in the dark.

It was dark everywhere. He didn’t even know if his eyes were open or closed.

In that pitch darkness, Rubid reflexively touched the ground. No, he was trying to.

But he couldn’t touch anything. Instead of getting up, he stumbled for a moment, and Rubid soon realized.

‘What is this?’

Rubid was not lying on the floor. He wasn’t even standing.

He was floating in the air, as if swimming in water, without touching anywhere.

‘What the hell is this…’

Rubid bit his lip. Then he shouted out a name without a choice,

“Rena Ruber!”

Rena Ruber…! Rena Ruber…! Rena Ru…

He endured his shame and shouted the best he could, but the vast darkness made his cry an ephemeral echo.

“Hey! Answer me!”

Hey…! Answer…!

It was the same when he shouted again.

Rubid found a faint light as he wandered through the darkness in a troubled mood.

‘Is that an exit?’

He walked towards it without a doubt. Then the dimly flickering light suddenly increased in density and swallowed him up.

“Ugh!”

Rubid closed his eyes tightly at the pouring light.

— N-No.

And at the voice that followed, he opened his eyes again.

— Get lost…!

A familiar but unfamiliar voice.

— Rubid.

And an unfamiliar but familiar voice.

It was the voice of Rubid himself and his older brother Eura.

Rubid lost his spirit and looked at the scene in front of him. What unfolded in front of him was himself and Eura four years ago.

“What is this…?”

Rubid looked at himself, who was still a boy, and Eura, who was younger than now.

Is it my memory?

“But I can see my own face!”

Rubid refuted his own speculation, annoyed.

If it was his memory, it was normal to not be able to see his own face. But Rubid could clearly see his terrified face.

‘Besides, this… Was it that time?’

Rubid realized when this scene was.

The day he found out that his father had died because of the emperor and went to visit his brother.

It was the day he made a fuss because of his bloody compulsion while arguing with Eura.

‘Jeez…’

Rubid looked at his ugliness with displeased eyes. It was painful to watch, but he persevered and wondered what happened.

The present Rubid was watching, but the Rubid of the past collapsed in fear. Then when he saw the decorative blade, his eyes eventually turned upside down.

— Uwaaakh…!

The Rubid of the past eventually swung the sword.

Ping! A sharp slash split Eura’s desk diagonally.

Eura hurriedly avoided it, but the distance was too close. The slash made a long cut on his left shoulder, and then blood flowed from his arm.

‘What?’

While Rubid was surprised to see it, the servants shouted.

— My lord!

The attack also flew towards the frightened servants, so they fell, rolled, and fled in confusion.

And Eura pressed his injured arm and ran to Rubid. At that time he was bare-handed.

‘He got hurt?’

Rubid was perplexed. He was completely unaware of Eura’s injury. The wound didn’t look shallow, but if it was cut so deep, why didn’t anyone say a word about it?

Rubid continued to watch in doubt.

As Rubid of the past wailed and swung the sword, Eura threw his own body forward and grabbed Rubid’s arm, which was running wild.

Rubid’s face grew paler as his arms were caught.

The boy, engulfed in fear, could not make a proper judgment. So he struck his brother’s hand and his own arm with the sword to shake off what imprisoned him.

‘Lies…’

The darkness fell again after Rubid’s astonishment.

Rubid, who returned to darkness from before, breathed in confusion.

Was it true? Or just a rough imagination?

Rubid repeatedly pressed down on the scar still left on his arm with his hand.

Then another light came into view.

‘What else?’

Rubid didn’t hesitate to go back to it. This time, the light poured in and took him into a completely different world.

It was another room this time. However, it was not a space that Rubid knew. This was an ordinary mansion that was inferior to the castle he lived in.

When he heard the sound of the violin, he turned around and saw a girl practicing the violin by herself.

Rubid looked at the child involuntarily, and was surprised in a different sense than before.

“Rena Ruber?”

The girl practicing the violin was none other than Rena.

Rena looked about twelve years old, and she was playing the violin in front of a sunny window.

However, the soft melody suddenly splashed and the performance stopped.

— Ouch…

Rena made a cry and blew the fingertip that had been pressing the strings.

Young Rena glanced towards the door with her tingling finger in her mouth. Then, she approached the shelf like a kid plotting something.

Rena took out the book she hid under the shelf.

Tired of practicing the violin, Rena hid in the corner and began reading.

Rena, who turned the pages with twinkling eyes, looked quite happy. So Rubid stared at the figure and hit Rena on the head.

“Tsk.”

As expected, he couldn’t touch anything.

He had thought he could win at this moment.

Rubid observed Rena’s room, Rena’s attire, and the title of the book she was reading with regret.

After a while, there was a click and the sound of the door.

Rena hurriedly hid the book and opened her mouth as if trying to make excuses.

— Ah. Oh…?

But what came out of Rena’s mouth was just a faint question.

The door opened and a middle-aged man appeared. He was not a nobleman, neither a butler nor a servant, but a shabby man who did not fit in with this mansion at all.

So Rena stiffened like a child facing a stranger.

— Nice to meet you. So you’re Rena.

The man looked at Rena and greeted her without hesitation. Then he added somewhat mischievously.

― Are you also ‘Ruber’?

― Stop it.

Then another man appeared and pushed the rude middle-aged man away. The person who appeared later was a person who Rubid knew well.

“Ruber?”

It was the Marquis Ruber.

Rubid looked at the young Marquis Ruber. His eyes widened for a moment before his face contorted.

“She’s really his daughter?”

Rubid realized that he had been deceived and asked.

— Alright, I got it. I’ll be going now, so see you again.

The man pushed by Marquis Ruber said that and turned around as if he couldn’t win.

Young Rena didn’t understand the situation, so she just looked at them in bewilderment.

And suddenly the light went out.

Rubid thought if the darkness had returned again, but the surroundings soon brightened up again.

And he saw Rena Ruber with a slightly different appearance from the previous one.

Rena was still young and was crying curled up in an attic like a warehouse.

The world flickered again before Rubid could scan the whole place.

Next up was Rena with her hair cut short. She was a little taller than before, but she still looked young.

Short-haired Rena stood with her back against the blood-like red sky.

‘Is this the Tomb?’

No way. How could—

Rubid was skeptical and looked at Rena and was startled.

Rena’s eyes were hideous like hungry predators.

‘What the… This…’

Rubid couldn’t understand Rena’s sudden change.

A noble girl who secretly read a book, a girl who cried in a shabby warehouse, and Rena Ruber, who was sharper than a blade.

When Rubid looked at her in confusion, the surroundings flashed again.

This time, it was Rena with her long hair tied up and wearing a blue uniform.

“… Is it you?”

Rubid talked to her, just in case, but Rena did not react as if it were a fantasy again this time.

So Rubid clicked his tongue and looked around.

“Where are you again this time?”

The place where Rena was standing was completely unfamiliar to Rubid. It didn’t even seem like part of the empire.

It was inside a castle surrounded by high walls, and the building was painted with plaster rather than brick or wood. It looked similar to the ancient country seen in the paintings.

And in front of Rena Ruber, a man in ancient attire was also kneeling down.

— I’ve been waiting.

The man lowered his body and said to Rena. Then Rena responded with a calm voice.

— I’m here to get your heart, Celeste.

‘Celeste?’

At the word Celeste, Rubid’s eyes widened, and at the same time he realized.

That was Rena Ruber from the first expedition. This was the moment where no one knew the whole story, when she took the heart of The King Who Swallowed the First Cry.

Rubid looked back at the man lying down in surprise. He thought it was simply an ancient attire, but he was wearing a red robe that symbolized the king.

Celeste, The King Who Swallowed the First Cry, said.

― As you wish. How can I reject your will?

The voice that said that was humble. Furthermore, it was as if he already knew Rena.

Celeste slowly stood up. Raising his head, he was crying.

He wept sadly and asked Rena.

— Will you forgive me?

— It is your child, not me, that you should ask for forgiveness.

Rena replied to Celeste, who was in despair. Then Celeste asked again, more distressed than before.

— Is that child in you, too?

— I don’t know, there are too many.

— Please tell me that you forgive me. Otherwise, I will not be able to shake off this regret.

Celeste trembled and put his hand on Rena’s toes. Then he lied down again, cried, and asked.

— Please have mercy on me… Deprived of Blessings…

Then, a strong hand covered Rubid’s eyes and pulled him back.

“Ugh!?”

Rubid groaned and grabbed the hand. Then he heard a small voice in his ear.

“It’s dangerous if you go too deep, Mr. Rubid.”

It was Rena’s voice.

“You!”

Rubid, who finally met Rena, shouted.

Rena let him go, and when the hand that covered his face disappeared, Rubid’s surroundings were dark again. But even in the dark, Rena’s figure was clearly visible.

Rena said to Rubid, who was bewildered.

“There’s a gap here.”

“A gap?”

“A place where time accumulates. If you fall out wrong, you will wander forever, so you have to be careful.”

Rubid looked at Rena with an incomprehensible look. Rena was still calm, and Rubid, who could not stand it, asked openly.

“What is your identity?”

“You will find out soon.”

“What?”

“That’s why I’m saying this. Can you keep what you learned here a secret?”

Rubid frowned at the request of unknown reason.

“Why should I?”

“I’m not asking you to do it.”

Rena knew that this guy would come out crooked, so she put conditions on it.

It was an absolutely irresistible condition, and sure enough, Rubid was excited and soon nodded.

Rena beckoned to Rubid, thinking he was such a simple guy.

“Then let’s go, this way.”

Rena took Rubid’s hand and made her way through the overwhelming darkness.

Rena went straight through the darkness and pushed the darkness aside as if walking through a black curtain.

Light poured through the cracks in the darkness, and a new space appeared.

It was an audience room where the king’s throne stood high.

Rubid looked at the hall and was enveloped in a strange sense of déjà vu. Somehow it felt like a place he had been to.

As Rubid looked around the hall, a soft voice rang out.

“You have come all the way here.”

“Clavis…?”

Rubid looked at the man in colorful clothes and muttered involuntarily.

A man was coming down the stairs. He was a man with a divine atmosphere, so beautiful that he fell into the illusion of stepping down the clouds rather than the stairs.

Rubid saw him and immediately thought of Clavis. But on closer inspection, it was a different person. Although they resemble each other a lot, that man, unlike Clavis, was blonde.

“Hiems Gracia.”

Rena looked at the blonde man and muttered. While Rubid’s eyes widened after hearing the name, Hiems Gracia smiled gently and said.

“I can’t be too rude, so, welcome, in any case.”

Then he looked at Rena and added.

“The King Deprived of Blessings.”

The author’s words:

What?

Translator’s note:

Well surprise!! So yes, Rena is some kind of a king of the dead. Anyone guessed correctly?

pay attention to the word ‘some kind’ there.

Celeste was trying to say “The King Deprived of Blessings” up there, but since Korean sentence comes with object before the subject, the literal word per word is: deprived of blessings-king so it becomes a bit awkward up there and I had to put in extra … to cover it up XD

So far there are 6 kings: The King Who Swallowed the First Cry (Celeste), The King with Many Hearts (The perverted guy, as Rena says), The King of Burning and Scorching (Hiems), The King Who Imprisoned the Lion (still unknown), The Unforgiven King (also unknown), and The King Deprived of Blessings (Rena)

So does that mean Rena is already dead? The answer to that is…

I DON’T KNOW. 

I forgot. 

I’ve read up to 102 but it was via MTL and you know how unreliable MTL is! (SO THANK ME, SERVANTS, MWAHAHAHA— Akh, gahh, just kidding) but that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? Now we can find out together WAhooooOOo~~ I even forgot they already exposed that Rena is a king of the dead this early. I remember it’d only get exposed around chapter 90+

Anyway I hope you enjoy the story~~ I won’t be THAT rude and leave you all with such a cliffhanger (advance buyers, rejoice!)

See you all soon~!