"That man — Chrono von Feyblad — said to me: 'Then why don't you become the one to destroy this country yourself?' ... Yes. I thought to myself: he understood too."
That part must have resonated with her.
"So I decided to cooperate. I didn't care what they were thinking or why they wanted to destroy this country... but our interests aligned, and the proposal itself was tempting."
"More than anything — I could sympathize with their hatred to a maddening degree. Ironically, that was the strongest bond I had ever experienced."
And... that, surely, was the essence of the "organization."
"Most of us — everyone at the top is like that. Small talk doesn't matter, background doesn't matter. All that matters is drawing in people who genuinely want to destroy this country."
"...You understand, don't you? That kind of organization can swell to this size. That fact alone shows this country is already finished."
That was something Leila had also vaguely suspected.
An organization capable of such things — at first glance, it seemed like they must have had a meticulous ideology, a noble purpose, or perhaps some dramatic hidden agenda.
But there was nothing. Truly, nothing more than the pure desire to destroy.
An organization with nothing more than that could accomplish all of this. That was the reality of this country.
...And so, no matter how she tried, she could never be compatible with Liliana and the others.
Still, there was value in knowing this. Leila tucked away the thought to tell Liliana later, and continued listening to her mother's words.
"From then on... it truly was just days of rampage. I followed the organization's requests while doing nothing but thinking about revenge and destruction inside the Church... I kept watching for openings, thinking I would absolutely kill the archbishops, starting with Johann, who had framed that child..."
The result was the Archbishop Subjugation Operation. The primary target of revenge, Johann, was in a sense claimed by Ermes, but ultimately all the archbishops were annihilated. Ortesia's goal could be said to have been fully achieved.
Including all of that, she...
"...Yes. To borrow your words... I truly did whatever I pleased."
The sharp intake of breath.
"Well, if this is the price, then it was hardly worth it. ...Everything I truly wanted, everything I wanted to become, everything I wanted to obtain — I couldn't have any of it. And to top it off, I was made to accept that it was impossible from the start..."
"..."
"...What was it all for..."
Continuing her monologue... Ortesia suddenly thought.
What was it that she had wanted, that she had wanted to obtain, in the first place?
Rose? No, probably not. Now she could think otherwise.
God? That too was wrong. All of those things — they were simply what she had been driven to desire because she could not endure living inside this country's cage.
Before that — further back still. Her original thoughts, her earliest wishes, were...
As she thought about this, she suddenly looked at her daughter Leila's face.
"...Mo...ther."
Even now, she looked at her like this — with concern, with grief.
Even though Ortesia had never done anything to deserve such familial affection, Leila still directed those eyes at her.
That face was — truly, to an exasperating degree. Just like her own childhood self.
The moment she saw it, a memory surfaced:
— Ortesia, what do you want to be when you grow up?
A question someone had asked her, long, long ago. She had long since forgotten it — but now it came back to her with vivid clarity.
I want... to be a normal mother.
That was what she had said.
I'll probably end up marrying the king. But even so... I want to treasure my children with all my heart, be surrounded by the people I love... I think I'd be happy with just that — a normal family.
Such absurdly naive, flowery dreams.
There had been a time when she said things like that.
The bitterest irony. Blood cannot be denied — and this was far beyond mere understatement.
The feelings this country had crushed out of her.
Unbelievably — they were exactly the same feelings her daughter had always directed at her.
(...Ha.)
What a truly terrible story.
And yet, as she gazed at her daughter's face, she thought: now that she remembered, what should she do?
Should she cry and apologize to her daughter for everything? — Don't be absurd.
That would be nothing but self-satisfaction. What she had done to her daughter over the years could not be atoned for so cheaply.
To show a change of heart on her deathbed would be the height of folly — it would only burden her daughter with guilt.
So what should she do? First and foremost, dying without putting on some last-minute redemption was a given... but in addition to that, what could she convey — however imperfectly — as a mother?
There was only one thing.
"...Leila."
Summoning her last strength, she looked Leila straight in the eye.
...This was the one thing she could tell her daughter, who had witnessed so much of her.
"Don't end up like me."
Leila received those words straight on.
After a moment of blank stare... she suddenly broke into tears.
"...Why are you crying?"
"Because... I'm sorry, Mother..."
Choked by sobs, Leila managed to squeeze out the words.
"...Anything would have been fine."
The wish she had carried all this time.
"Truly, anything at all. Just... if Mother would look at me once more — truly look at me — and say something to me... that alone would be enough for me..."
"..."
Ah, so that was it.
She had never even done that. For all this long time, she had never done even that for her daughter.
Truly unfit to be a mother.
Her daughter — no. If this country survived after this battle...
She wished that not a single person would be born into such a cruel life again.
With that final, humble wish...
Her consciousness sank into a long, long slumber.
Ortesia, the Calamity Witch.
The witch who had yearned for God more than anyone — the witch trapped in a birdcage — thus fell silent.
At that moment, her face wore a smile of surprising peace.
What she had been thinking at the very end, whether she had found salvation — no one knew but her.
And so, Ortesia's —
The tale of the witch who had borne so much of the kingdom's sins comes to its end.