Side Story - 【Me】

Origa Emelda Ruzil.
Born from a father who was an excellent fire magician, and a mother who inherited the blood of the royal family, she was the Princess of Flames that was said to be the second coming of the legendary Ruzil clan founder.
A girl who, according to ancient tradition, coveted power as a cornerstone of the nation's defence, and ran through the battlefield.
A girl who was the final glory of a clan whose sun had set.

I know the fate she met in the story.
But that isn't the only thing I knew about her.

Because of differences in ideology, she was a villainess that ran completely counter to her elder brother, before leaving this world.
In the original story, the only mentions of her were in the protagonists' rough contact with her in his childhood, and the instances of her running rampant with the power of the Ruzil.
Her arrogance was endless, her pride was high, and though she was chained by her responsibilities――she was strong to her last moments.
In the end, it was never told what she was thinking, what she was aiming for, or why she stood in the way of the protagonist.
As a reader, each time 【I】 read about her getting in the way of the protagonist, I ground my teeth in frustration at her stubborness and harshness, and hated her.

――But in this life where I've experienced her life myself, I can guess why she was the way she was.
To this declining, but ever power-worshipping clan, her existence was a miracle.
She was extoled as the proof of the clan's revival.
The idea that power was most important that was inherited from the ancient past was something I'm sure she was unable to change alone.
The power to deny the way of life of the clan members was something I'm sure she didn't have.
After all, if she who had power was to deny that, everybody else would lose their compass.
The only one who could protect them, was she who stood at the pinnacle in the history of magic.
She was the strongest flame magician in the world, but she was still just one magician who wasn't powerful enough to change it.
――It was because of this, that she could do nothing but dance on the stage as a villainess, even knowing that ruin lay ahead.

It wasn't the villainess with everything, but the protagonist that had nothing, that held the power to change the world in both name and substance.
Because of that, settling the world wasn't her role.
This clan that had survived since ancient times wasn't something she could abandon.
They were people who boasted of living by power, and dying by power.
Even ability decayed, for the sake of they who praised dying on the battlefield, she led the clan into battle.

She was a powerful user of flames who was prouder than anyone.
Because of that, she crossed over the brethren that fell one by one, and stood on the battlefield until the end when it was her alone.
She did so, even if she was opposed by the citizens she was supposed to protect, even she was hounded by the allies she had entrusted her back to, and even if she was betrayed by the lord she had sworn her loyalty to.
And, in the very end, she lost everything―――and was killed by the brother that had nothing.

It was here that the novels went on hiatus.
The fate of the nation that had lost its cornerstone of defence, what happened to the survivors of her clan, and the heartache of the older brother who killed his sister.
Nobody knew what happened to them.
But it's likely that, full of drama and action, the kind-hearted user of water magic, shed tears of anguish.
Though it wasn't in a book, there were small fragments of information released to the public, and every one of them indicated that he walked the stormy path of the saviour of the country.
I'm sure that it was a happy end where many were saved.
But at their feet here huge numbers of corpses.

There were readers who questioned if the ending wasn't too pessimistic, or if Origa and Gilford had gotten along as children, wasn't there no need for the country to face its destruction?
If the magician who would save the country in the future, and the strongest magician of flames had joined hands, couldn't they have definitely changed the future?
Couldn't they have reached a happier ending?

But the reply they received cut off such a dream-like path.
Even if they followed a path where they didn't fight, that overly strong blood of hers would bring calamity without fail.
She was a girl who had no power to heal, and could only blaze brightly.
She had been born in the wrong era. That's why she was the Princess of Inferno.
Hearing the author's reply, in those days 【I】 had laughed with satisfaction.

She was a character who had been decided by the author to bring calamity without fail, due to the overwhelming talent that she was born with.
A symbol of the old era, born during the beginning of a new one.
No matter what choices she made, the path that she was walking on would always head into the dark.

She who could only play the villain, could not become the protagonist.
She was a person who had no chance of stealing the protagonist's role.
There was only one meaning to her existence.

That's why, 【I】――
……no, 【Origa】,