The Dark Queen Marie / Revenge, Rupture, and Collapse

"If they were dragged to the execution ground and might be harmed, I would absolutely stop them."

"..." Sanson looked at the boy, as if trying to discern the truthfulness of his words.

"I understand, Shirou. The next time we meet, we'll be enemies. My sword will protect the glory of the White Lily!" Chevalier d'Eon declared, raising his sword high, before resolutely turning and leaving.

"Thank you for the hospitality! Then next time we meet, I'll welcome you with beautiful music." Mozart then tossed the biscuit into his mouth, stood up, patted the crumbs off his long, slender hands, and gave a bright smile of thanks. But no one could tell whether his smile was friendly or threatening.

"Tch! Hypocritical! Hey! If you keep doing this, knowing she's wrong but doing nothing to change anything, she'll be the one who suffers in the end!" Jeanne d'Arc of Arc shouted at the three who were leaving.

Chapter 178 Dark Queen Mary

"..." Shirou watched the three Servant leave in silence. This was a dream world, and hatred and anger, however they were expressed, were perhaps not rational at all.

He wished for everyone to be happy, but he had no right to demand change from strangers, let alone heroic Servant who had experienced so much cruelty. However, if Queen Mary intended to harm the humans caught up in the conflict, he could not stand idly by.

After calming himself down, Shirou said to everyone, "Alright, let's discuss what to do next."

Da Vinci, while taking notes in Chaldea, said:

"Let's start by counting the Servant we know so far: 'Alice,' 'Demon Lord' Jeanne d'Arc, and Tamamo Cat, who's the cat."

"Don't put any weird code names before my name!" Jeanne d'Arc said unhappily.

"Yes, yes, Puss in Boots and the Cheshire Cat are both meow-woof~!" Tamamo Cat happily agreed, raising both paws.

"The Mad Hatter Elizabeth, Dormouse Hime no Toki Merlin as the rabbit, and Chevalier d'Eon as the Princess, Sanson and Mozart as officials in the palace, and then there's Queen Mary's practically playing herself," Da Vinci noted.

"Are there any other clues? If we're talking about important characters, there aren't many, are there?" Shirou asked.

"Merlin, that fellow, once said that as the White Rabbit he was meant to serve the Queen and the Countess. These troublesome nobles, I really wish they could be burned," Jeanne d'Arc said.

"So it seems the remaining Servant is this Countess!" Shirou said.

"Speaking of Servant, there's actually one more!" Elizabeth said at this moment.

"Who?" Shirou asked.

"It's Softshell Turtle that lives with the Griffin," Elizabeth said, holding up a red finger.

"Softshell Turtle? What a strange name. Who is that?" Jeanne d'Arc asked, puzzled.

This is where the boy's expertise lies, so Shirou explained to him, "Ah, this is actually a magical creature made up in fairy tales. It's a reference to the turtle soup that was Britain in Britain at the time, which is turtle soup. The rich ate turtle soup, while the poor couldn't afford it. But some chefs figured out a way to make a Softshell Turtle soup using calf skulls. Just like turtle soup must have existed before turtles, Softshell Turtle soup must have the same meaning as Softshell Turtle."

"It's like there's a dragon and a tiger in the Dragon Tiger Pot! Like there's a fly in the fried fly head, meow! Like there's definitely a baby from Fujian caught early this morning in the Guangdong claypot rice, like there's a baby in the baby bok choy! Woof!" Tamamo Cat explained.

"Huh?" Jeanne d'Arc seemed even more confused. Was this wild cat playing tricks on her again?

Shirou said, "The way Tamamo Cat put it makes it harder to understand. Actually, Softshell Turtle soup is now made with minced beef. I'll try making it for you, Jeanne d'Arc, next time, and then you'll understand."

"Well, since you put it that way, Shirou," Jeanne d'Arc nodded, putting the matter behind her.

"Then I'll set off to find the Softshell Turtle," Shirou said.

"Hey? Leaving already? What about the concert?" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"..." Shirou and the others pretended not to hear and quickened their pace.

"Goodbye, Mr. Shirou! Remember to reply to my message, Princess!" Princess Dormouse waved goodbye, then lazily slumped back onto the table.

"I really can't do anything with these impatient guys. Well then, I'll just practice as usual today and go sing a song for them next time." Elizabeth looked like she was really at her wit's end with them, but as a quality idol, she wouldn't be like those inferior people who treat their fans as mere props after becoming famous.

Dragon girl, who cherishes every fan and treats everyone equally, took out the microphone, shouted a few times, and began practicing.

"Yes, yes." Hime no Toki Gyobu transformed the Noble Phantasm Himeji Castle into earplugs, put them in her headphones, and continued to pretend to be asleep.

Shirou, along with Jeanne d'Arc Tamamo Cat, quietly sneaked into the green area outside the palace. As they walked through the garden and arrived at the spacious grass field that the passenger station had used as a large golf course, they saw a blue lake further ahead.

On the road leading there, they saw a beast the size of a horse, with the hindquarters of a horse and the hooves of a horse, but the forequarters of a lion, the claws of a bird of prey, huge and powerful eagle-like wings on its back, and the head of a large eagle with a sharp beak.

"Horseshoe Woof?" Tamamo Cat tilted its head in confusion.

"Wasn't it supposed to be Griffin? Why is there a horse behind it?" Jeanne d'Arc asked curiously.

At this moment, the Griffin, which had been sleeping on the rock, opened its eyes and said, "Don't be so picky. I'm actually a hybrid of a griffin and a horse, so it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"It spoke!!" Jeanne d'Arc and Tamamo Cat exclaimed in unison.

"What nonsense are you spouting? You cat are talking too, aren't you? You're all here to see the Softshell Turtle, Servant? Then come with me." The Griffin stood up abruptly, stretched as if to yawn, and flapped its wings before addressing the group.

"Indeed, it's common knowledge that animals can talk in this world. If Medusa came here, maybe even the Pegasus could talk," Shirou muttered.

"Thank you, handsome Griffin!" Tamamo Cat skipped over to the Griffin and thanked him.

"Hmph, I am the wind of freedom, leading you forward," the Griffin replied, quite pleased, its tail swishing behind it.

The Griffin led the group to a lake not far ahead.

The lake, surrounded by green meadows, is a beautiful azure blue, like a sapphire set in the heart of green jade.

"Hey! Softshell Turtle! Come out quickly, humans and cats want to see you," the Griffin called out towards the lake.

"Ohhh!!!" A light, girlish voice came from there. Then a black, round hat that looked like a cake or a jellyfish appeared on the lake.

"Whoa! What is that thing?!" Jeanne d'Arc exclaimed.

"Is it an octopus? Grilled octopus is for dinner tonight!" Tamamo Cat's hunting instincts were triggered, and it stared at the black, unidentified object swimming rapidly on the water's surface.

When the Softshell Turtle swam closer, it discovered that the hat was actually a large hat tied to a person's back, and underneath it swam a beautiful girl with long, pinkish-cherry hair in braids. She appeared on the lake surface and swam quickly to this side.

"Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne, Astolfo reporting for duty! Who are you? Are you here to play with me?" A beautiful girl with a large hat tied behind her back jumped ashore, flashing a V-sign, and asked with her big, bright eyes.

She wore a tight-fitting swimsuit that just covered half of her upper body, revealing her flat, smooth navel. Water droplets slid down her fair skin and fell to the ground, like Phoebe emerging from the water, as alluring as a peach blossom glistening with dew.

"You're Servant, right? Why are you going swimming?" Shirou asked, puzzled.

"Because I'm a fish!? And this place is amazing! My horse has always been making all sorts of noises like 'uh-huh' and 'ah-ah,' which I can't understand at all, but here, I can actually hear it calling my name!"

"Hey, Astolfo, listen to your guest," the Griffin advised.

"I was listening! Oh, are you jealous? Of course! I love you too, come here for a hug! Next time, take me to the moon!" Astolfo said, hugging the Griffin's neck.

"Even if he can understand what I'm saying, he still can't communicate at all. It's really a problem for his master," the Griffin said helplessly.

"Meow, I totally understand how you feel. It's really frustrating when owners don't understand their pets' feelings." Tamamo Cat patted the Griffin's back.

"Hmm?" Shirou and Afu exchanged a puzzled look, then simultaneously turned to look at the pets.

"Shirou, is this the guy?" Jeanne d'Arc asked.

"No, just an ordinary Servant." Shirou closed his Magic Eye and shook his head.

"Is that so? Then let's go." Jeanne d'Arc pulled the boy back. Although she didn't know why, she had a feeling that it was best not to let Shirou have too much contact with the pink-haired boy in front of her.

"Hey? Wait! Didn't you come here to play with me?" Astolfo opened his arms, blocking the boy and girl, and said with disappointment.

"Sorry, we were actually looking for a Servant corrupted by the Black Mud," Shirou said.

"Black? Is that the fierce queen here? She's incredibly powerful in this palace, and has a terrible temper. Just because I secretly took her hat, she wanted to cut off my head, so I had to jump into the lake to hide, even though her knight Chevalier d'Eon is my partner," Astolfo said with a laugh.

"Ah, so that's what this hat is all about..." Shirou looked at the black cake hat that Astolfo had used as a tortoise shell on his back, and suddenly realized. He then explained, "But what we're looking for is magic power that's beyond the norm, something far more dangerous."

"Is that so? Is that so? Evil black mud Heroic Spirit, huh? I know that at this crucial moment, I'll lend you a hand!" Astolfo, true to his knightly nature, patted his chest and readily agreed.

"Regarding Servant, you're the fifth Servant in this palace, right? Do you know anything about the suspicious person?" Shirou asked.

"Yes! Yes! I think that Mozart is very suspicious! He often wears a mask, disguises himself as a perverted mask, and follows the Black Queen." Astolfo raised his hand and said.

"He is indeed suspicious, but he's probably not the guy we're looking for," Shirou said, sweating profusely.

"Hmm..." Astolfo rested his chin on his hand, rolled his eyes playfully, and then held up a finger, saying, "And then there's the Countess. I saw her holding a black book, inhaling black gas in the night."

"Countess!" Shirou and Jeanne d'Arc exchanged a glance, almost certain that she was their opponent this time.

Inside the palace, in the main palace where the Emperor resided, Marie sat on the sofa in her room, drinking red tea alone.

The Black Queen Mary, the complete opposite of the White Marie, chose to forget all hatred and love her country with a smile, while the Black Queen chose to remember the hatred and attempt to take revenge on the country that abandoned her and her family for everything she had suffered. She almost hysterically imprisoned everyone she disliked and sent them to the guillotine.

At that moment, a fat Black man wearing a red headscarf and carrying a machine gun knocked on the door and came in to report.

"Master, Countess, they've arrived."

"Let her in," Marie said, waving her hand.

The magnificent palace, aside from the useless soldiers who could only be used as goalposts, also housed a black gang. These were humans drawn in from outside the dream world. In reality, they were ethnic minorities in France, working in their own professions—some were lawyers, some dentists, and some were indeed involved in gangs—but here, they were set up as her homies.

Although France has long since replaced its White Lily flag with a tricolor flag.

These were all her brothers; as for those white men—whether they were speculative merchants, peasants who looted and vandalized Palace of Versailles, or opportunistic nobles—past experience and knowledge made them all untrustworthy.

Only honest black brothers are truly loyal. Now they are using modified and enhanced machine guns as guards. Although they can't compare to Servant, if there are a group of them, even if Servant is hit by a magic bullet, they won't fare well.

A little girl wearing a black dress walked in. Although she was a little girl, her face lacked the innocence a child should have; instead, it was expressionless and indifferent.

"What brings you here?" Marie asked the little girl coldly.

"Marie, have you seen that person yet?" the little girl asked in a somber, emotionless voice.

"I've seen him. He's indeed an upright fool, with the air of a stupid revolutionary. Would he really want to kill me, this foolish queen?" Marie said coldly.

The little girl ignored Marie's complaints and instead revealed a fanatical expression. Her black pleated dress began to disintegrate and turn into tendrils of Black Mud.

"Is that so? He's here, Shirou Emiya. What will his dream taste like? I can't wait. Will it be as sweet as honey? Or as bitter as coffee? Or as bittersweet as green tea? Now that he's come into my world, I won't let him leave again. I want to become one with him. That way, I should be one step closer to the real Shirou Emiya."

"Monster!" Black Queen Mary spat out, looking at the Black Mud monster with disgust. She knew that the creature in front of her was not a little girl at all, but a monster that was even more twisted and disgusting by the Black Mud emanating from her.

When she was summoned by this being, this world did not yet exist, and at that time, the monster's form was still a black, ominous book.

Chapter 179 Revenge, Breakup, and Collapse

'Rhyme' is a general term for all picture books and fairy tales. They are not real people, but rather Servant who have accepted all children's dreams and become companions to them. Originally, she should have been the most suitable person to become Alice in the story.

However, this time, she is the builder of the dream world. The Rhyme's characteristic is that it will have different personalities depending on the summoner. This time, the medium that summoned the Rhyme is twisted Black Mud, so what was born is an even more twisted monster.

Thus, she appeared as Countess frequently entered and exited the palace, and as a close friend of the queen. However, these things were not important to her; they were merely byproducts of achieving her goals.

Her goal was to absorb the various emotions within dreams and continuously expand the scale of those dreams.

While positive emotions like joy and happiness are good, humans and Servant —any sentient beings with feelings—are always more sensitive to sadness and depression than to joy. The joy of finding a hundred dollars cannot be offset by the depression of losing a hundred dollars.

Receiving praise or compliments might bring joy for an hour, but arguing or being scolded could leave one feeling depressed for days.

That's why emotions like hatred, desire, and resentment, which are endless, are so objective.

Black Queen Mary could sense the gradual expansion and change within the monster's body, knowing that sooner or later it would break through the cute little girl's shell and unleash a terrifying, twisted monster.

"But you still hope I can destroy France, don't you?" the Black Mud monster said with a smile, though there was no real mirth in its eyes.

"Yes, that's the only thing I can't give up, otherwise the anger and sorrow in my heart will never be quelled. Just thinking about those ugly faces makes me want to vomit. If I don't destroy this country, I will never be able to return to normal!" Marie said, her whole body uncontrollably emanating a thick, deathly resentment.

Marie loathed the girl before her, or rather, she loathed everything she saw except her husband and friends, and she loathed herself as she was now.

For her husband's sake, after being summoned to this world, she has been trying to be the innocent, charming, and lovable queen again. So she still holds parties, plays croquet and other activities with the nobles of this world, and has tea parties with friends, hoping that at least in front of important people, they can feel at ease.

But the endless hatred in her heart, the overflowing rage she couldn't suppress, made her want to destroy everything, even herself.

That was an era when state power was controlled by the aristocratic council and the imperial power was greatly limited. The gap between the rich and poor in France was obvious. The contradictions between the rising bourgeois merchants and the nobles of the old era intensified. However, the merchants also spent money to buy titles, and the nobles also started to do business. The two sides were intertwined in a mess.

With the national treasury empty, heavy taxes had to be levied. In fact, many times when policy decisions were made, nobles and officials were unwilling to cooperate, leaving the emperor helpless. So, Emperor Louis simply relinquished what little power he had left and went to do what he loved: locksmithing.

But when the uprising broke out, the people only saw the extravagance and incompetence of the royal family. Incited by the revolutionaries, they placed all the blame on the emperor. Her honest and kind husband was executed, and the royal palace was looted.

The people have long forgotten who sold royal treasures and cut spending to provide disaster relief during times of famine, and instead accused her of extravagance. She was falsely accused of adultery, of having affairs, and of profiting from the necklace incident.

She was sued for incest, accused of forcing herself to have sex with her own son and abusing him.

What kind of person could threaten a boy into falsely accusing his mother of such things in court?

Wasn't it enough to strip her of her dignity as an empress? Must she also be stripped of her right to be a mother?

If all of this were to end with her death, then she could die with regret, but it goes far beyond that.

Her underage son was directly designated as the next emperor, imprisoned in a tower, and subjected to daily beatings and abuse. He was given only one meal a day, consisting of pig feed and excrement, and was tortured to death.

Her daughter was gang-raped, abused, and disfigured by the mob that occupied the Imperial Palace. It seemed that the capitalists, who claimed to be making France better, took pride in beating up a prince and violating a Princess.

They're just children. What did they do wrong? Why were they treated so cruelly?

"Beheading! Beheading! Beheading! Destroy France, kill those traitors, those thugs' descendants... Ahhh, irony, sorrow, I, the noble Queen of the White Lily, have fallen to the point of making a deal with the devil..." Black Queen Mary was enveloped in black mist, shedding tears of blood.

"Ah, I'm looking forward to it. But will your Servant truly serve you?" the eerie black mud Heroic Spirit asked with a forced smile. It wasn't smiling, but rather feeling satisfied; twisted resentment was fueling its energy, but it wasn't enough. It needed more despair and rage.

"What?!" Black Queen Mary raised her head, her eyes widening as they filled with blood and tears, turning them red.

"Don't you know? To date, I've never received any resentment from any of the prisoners you ordered to be beheaded," the black mud Heroic Spirit reminded her.