Alice remembered it as a memory she never wanted to revisit. During the Empire's era, as the only female legendary duke, she had held a place in the Heroes' Tower. She had originally felt that this life was enough.
She had climbed from being a slave to the highest echelons of the Empire. What joys and hardships of life had she not experienced? A lifetime like that had not been wasted. Even though Jia Wen I, the Emperor who appeared incomparably wise, had secretly plotted against her, causing her to die mysteriously at the height of her glory,
she had not complained much, even in the moment before her death.
With her intelligence, she had long since seen that the king was wary of her. She had also calculated that if she did not rebel, the chances of reaching a peaceful end were practically nonexistent. But at the time, she truly had not cared much. She felt that she had already lived well enough. Even if she took another step and successfully usurped the throne to become empress, it would probably feel the same. It really would not be very interesting.
That thought continued until after she died!
No civilization had ever truly believed that death was the end of life. Even the barbaric orcs had a belief passed down among them that, after death, the soul returned to the Eternal Life Heaven established by the great totem god.
There, there were no diseases, no pain, no hunger. They would not need to work or struggle to survive, and could live happily forever.
Alice did not believe any of that. She had always thought it was merely a story imagined by living beings who could not accept the cruelty of death.
That was why the story contained everything they wanted.