Miss Witch, it's time to clean up the entries

Chapter 349 Nancy Stuart's Awakening

…On the day I was born, the sky over Stuart was a sinister purplish-red.

My maid, Sindel, later told me that when my first cry broke the dawn, the glazed tiles of the entire palace trembled, and the coastal rocks were covered with deep blue anemones I had never seen before. Even more strangely, my legs, which should have been human legs, were covered from my ankles to my knees with a layer of fine silver scales that shimmered with an inhuman luster in the candlelight.

"The Siren." My father glanced at me in my swaddling clothes, then turned and left, never to see me again.

My mother was the last mermaid princess of the Kingdom of Hailan.

When Stuart's iron hooves swept across every piece of land in Hailan Kingdom, when Hailan Kingdom was ravaged by war, she bravely stood up, hoping to sacrifice herself to save the country. But her wish was not fulfilled. She was kept as a slave by her father. I am my mother's shame, the tears she shed and her last obsession while imprisoned in the deep palace.

After I was born, my mother jumped from the high windowsill, ending her tragic life as a princess of a fallen kingdom, without even having a chance to hug me.

I don't remember what she looked like, I don't remember her voice, and I don't remember the warmth she once gave me.

All I know is that from the moment I was born, I was treated as an outcast and a monster.

Humans and sirens are natural enemies. There was a pact hundreds of years ago that humans should resist every sirens. And I, with mermaid blood in my body, should rightfully be the object of their resistance.

I was confined to the palace; I was a prisoner from birth.

The old maid Sindel was my only friend and family; she was the one who accompanied me as I grew up.

She always told me that my father loved me, and that his indifference towards me was just for show, because the more indifferent he was to me, the safer I felt.

But I knew she was just comforting me; she wanted me to grow up with love, not hatred.

Sindel claimed she could tell fortunes and that she had once been a high priestess, but I didn't believe her.

But she always manages to make me laugh with little gadgets, and she can perform very simple magic tricks so convincingly that it's as if she were a truly amazing magician.

She told me, "Your Highness, you are the hope of Stuart's future. One day, your knight will come to take you away and fulfill your wishes."

As a child, I always longed to meet my own knight.

When I was twelve, Stuart faced an unprecedented crisis.

On the day the Holy Empire's iron cavalry trampled the borders of the Hailan Kingdom, I was in the library reading through the collection of mermaid songs left by my mother.

The distant sound of horns initially went unnoticed until the first flint fell from the sky, shattering the tranquility of the palace.

Sindel burst through the door, half her face blackened with soot. She picked me up, and the elderly maid Sindel suddenly transformed into someone else. She was as beautiful as a woman who had stepped out of a painting. She had long, azure hair like mine, and her fair cheeks were like jade. She told me that she was my mother.

In order to stay by my side and take care of me, she ate an old servant. Mermaids can gain the ability to transform by eating human flesh, which is why humans fear them.

She wanted to take me away and back to the sea, but I refused.

I cannot accept a mother who eats people; I was terrified by her words.

In my eyes, the kind old maid Sindel is the family I truly know.

My mother realized she couldn't take me with her, so she locked me in the dungeon.

I thought it was an expression of her hatred, but I never expected that the decision to lock her in the dungeon would save me again.

When I saw her again, she was lying among countless Stuart corpses.

She ultimately failed to escape to the sea.

Besides her, there was the musician Lisa, the gardener Model, Mr. Stanford who taught me to read since I was a child… Their blood stained the entire castle red.

I heard the cries of countless people; what had happened to my mother was being repeated in my life.

I never imagined that I would become a princess of a fallen kingdom.

The Holy Empire's iron hooves trampled across every inch of Stuart's land, slaughtering everyone.

The only prisoners in the dungeon were not killed.

I and a group of heinous criminals became their slaves.

General Yashin Matic, clad in armor, and the girl beside him, Mary Frank, recognized me.

Yashin Matic wanted to kill me outright, but Mary Frank stopped him.

The girl, who looked to be the same age as me, said with a smile.

“Teacher, don’t kill her. A princess imprisoned in a dungeon. Interesting. I can train her to become the sharpest blade in my hand.”

Mary Frank was young and rebellious. She was like a burning, fiery flame, possessing all the qualities I admired, but also like a thorny rose that would prick anyone who got close.

I hate her, and this feeling intensifies as I get older.

The Holy Empire's capital, Arron, was shrouded in a perpetual sulfurous fumes. I was imprisoned in the highest black tower of the cathedral.

Mary Frank, a princess of the Holy Empire, became my "guardian".

She took me and a group of orphans to the south, to her territory.

“From this day forward, your surname will be Scalia,” she said when she first formally met me. “This is the surname I give you, and you must be loyal to me forever.”

In exchange for the new surname, she took my heart.

Yes, she possesses a magical gift called the Ripper, which allows a person to survive even after having their heart removed, only becoming a heartless being.

“Want your heart back?” She noticed my gaze. “Prove your worth. Mermaid blood, though impure, is enough to accomplish some special missions.”

At first, I thought she would force me to sing. Mermaid songs have a captivating power; Sindel once told me that the song of a pure-blooded mermaid could even trigger a tsunami. But I clearly inherited an incomplete bloodline; my song could only gather small fish, far from having any strategic value.

Mary's training of me was unexpectedly comprehensive: swordsmanship, poisons, assassination techniques, various languages, and even court etiquette. Every day from dawn to midnight, my time was filled with various lessons. Any slackening would result in waterboarding or whipping.

"Why did you teach me all this?" I couldn't help but ask Mary after one sword training session. That day, I had knocked her sword away with a newly learned move, and as a reward, she allowed me to ask a question.

She picked up her sword and asked, "Why do you think I spared your life, Nancy Scalia?"

"Because I'm useful to you."

“Brilliant,” she rarely praised. “The Holy Empire is expanding, and we need a ‘knife’ that can infiltrate any situation. An assassin with the upbringing of a princess yet the instincts of a wild beast. What a perfect weapon.”

I won't kill someone for you.

“You will.” Her voice held a terrifying certainty. “Everyone has their price.”

Three years have passed, and I am now sixteen.

Mary was right; I did indeed become a tool in her hands. My first mission was to assassinate a count in the north who opposed the empire's expansion. I used the method Sindel taught me to summon a school of icy sea fish, letting them create chaos in the count's hot springs, and then secretly dripped poison into his wine glass.

That was the first time I successfully hunted humans. My hatred for humans had not lessened in the slightest, so I felt no guilt about killing them.

I wish I could kill every single person in the Holy Empire.

They were the murderers who destroyed Stuart, and they don't deserve any sympathy.

That's why I became Mary's sharpest weapon, and became the deacon of her spy organization.

She trusts me as much as she trusts all those who are heartless.

Those without hearts possess greater resilience than normal people, but they suffer the pain of their bodies being torn apart every full moon.

This pain reminded me that I was Mary's slave, that I could never be her friend, and that if given the chance, I would kill her, just as I would kill any other Imperial. From that moment on, my bleak life was filled only with black and red.

Mary's strength exceeded my expectations; her growth rate was no less than mine.

She was like a born queen, but unfortunately she was a woman. In the Frank family of the Holy Empire, women always had a lower status than men, so no matter how much she did, she could never replace her brother Augulas in her father's heart.

She often got angry about this and then killed many innocent people.

In my eyes, she is a beast whose inner rage cannot be suppressed.

I hope she can become the emperor of the Holy Empire, because she will surely kill more people of the Holy Empire and lead the empire to its destruction. Therefore, I do my best to serve her.

Until one person came along and changed my mind.

He completely rescued me from the mire.

Lien Moria, he must be the knight Sindel spoke of, my knight.

He possessed magical powers; he saved me, allowing my heart to grow back, so I was no longer a heartless being controlled by Mary.

He gave me a choice, allowing me to become the person I wanted to be, instead of an assassin with blood on my hands.

He made a deal with me: I offered my loyalty, and he gave me my freedom.

I waited by his side for a long time, witnessing firsthand his mercy in fighting the evil god to save Yusofa, and his bravery and fearlessness in the rift. I felt that the Holy Empire was not so hopeless after all, at least there were people like him.

I gradually fell in love with him.

Finally, he launched a war against the entire empire.

Finally, he conquered the entire south where Mary was located.

Finally, the tyrannical Mary died on the guillotine.

Her passing marked the end of my entire youth.

Her passing also awakened the mermaid bloodline that had been suppressed within me.

I know that she has become a lock in my heart. I yearn to be like her, yet I despise her wickedness.

She and I could have been best friends, but we were destined to be enemies for life.

Catherine, the human noblewoman whose fate was similar to mine, picked up a blade and personally beheaded Mary.

At that moment, both Catherine and I felt liberated and grew.

My songs no longer have the power to bewitch humans; I can summon my companions, siren and sea monster.

I can bring real disaster to humanity, becoming their nightmare, or I can become Li En's ally, helping him get everything he wants...

Nancy opened her eyes, and her short life flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern.

These experiences will transform into the songs that call to her companions, into an invisible force that attracts her kind.

Nancy sang loudly, her voice like heavenly music.

Hearing the song, the sirens swam from the Forbidden Sea into the Imperial Inland Sea and landed at Nolan Port in High Jun Territory.

Real waves surged beneath Nancy's feet, and her legs gradually transformed into mermaid tails. Behind the waves were countless siren and sea monsters.

This scene shocked countless soldiers.

"It's a siren! It's a siren!"

"Run away, run away!"

"We cannot escape! Gather together! Fight! Humans and sirens are mortal enemies!"

"So many, so many sea monsters, how do we fight them? How do we fight them?"

The empire's hundreds of thousands of troops were dumbfounded when they saw the sirens' mass invasion.

Seth Frank emerged from his tent and frowned as he saw the approaching tsunami and the dense swarms of sirens.

"Lion Moria, is this why you're willing to let the witches withdraw from the war? You've actually colluded with the sirens to fight; you've completely betrayed humanity."

Seth Frank said loudly.

His voice cut through the noisy crowd and reached Li En's ears.

Li En, holding Nancy's hand, stood atop the tsunami, looking down at Seth Frank.
"I have not betrayed humanity; I am merely uniting all forces that can be united to purge the parasites from humanity."

“Lion Moriah, it seems you’re prepared for death.”

A jet-black longsword appeared in Seth Frank's hand.

He brandished his longsword and charged towards Li En.

In Li En's view, he was not fast, but he arrived at Li En's side in an instant.

First, Nancy's body was severed.

He knew it was Nancy who was summoning the siren.

Unfortunately, Nancy's body turned into water, and after being severed, it completely dissolved into the tsunami beneath her feet.

The tsunami crashed into the Imperial Legion, taking thousands of lives with it.

The sea monsters possessed tremendous impact and devouring power, instantly turning the seawater blood red.

Amidst cries of agony and agony, the Imperial Allied Forces faced their most devastating battle.

The knights fought back, but ultimately could not withstand the power of the sea monster.

The tsunami continued to surge, relentlessly battering the Imperial Allied Forces' camp.

The people of Gaojun had already evacuated to Spade Territory, thus escaping the disaster.

As for the revolutionary army, watching the battle from afar already made them tremble with fear.

After the sirens completed their final charge, the revolutionary army, weapons in hand and slogans in hand, rushed into the battlefield.

They finally understood what Li En had said earlier.

Humans must fight alongside the sea monsters, setting aside racial barriers for victory.

This battle broke the Sebastian Pact and shattered humanity's prejudice and obsession with sirens.

This also boosted Nancy Stuart's confidence.

She knew she could truly control the sirens and sea monsters.

Hybrids are not the lowest of the low, but rather the strongest among the sirens.

(End of this chapter)