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Chapter : 01. Empress Martina
Martina Owen de Reta Caravella, the only female emperor in the history of the continent, was originally born a Gypsy.
The Reta Gypsies, to which she belonged, were a minority people whose origins could be traced back to the Areta Plateau.
Although their bloodline had become diluted in later generations, it was said that in ancient times, their skin and hair had been so dark that they could hardly be distinguished from the surrounding darkness after sunset.
Those born on the opposite side of the light were convenient targets for political exploitation. The authorities of the Kingdom of Blanche, which bordered the Areta Plateau, wanted to establish their own authority by ostracizing the minority people.
The horses of those greedy men, their eyes bloodshot with avarice, trampled across the land, leaving deep scars upon the Areta Plateau.
Seeds of the devil, the source of crime, servants of evil.
The Areta people were subjected to all kinds of insulting names.
The foolish Blanche people regarded the vulnerable minority as their enemies, shouting that their bones should be crushed and their blood used to soak the earth. The royal family of Blanche was greatly pleased and willingly followed the public sentiment they themselves had manufactured.
After several invasions, the original inhabitants of the Areta region lost their land and were forced to wander without a home.
Having lost the very foundation of their people, the Areta people, unwilling to forget their humiliation, first split their own name in half, turning it into a blade of vengeance.
From that point onward, the Areta people disappeared, and only the Reta Gypsies remained. This had happened a full three hundred years before the distant Continental War of the present era.
Afterward, the Reta Gypsies wandered from country to country, earning their living by performing various tricks and entertaining people.
Three hundred years was enough time for even the most painful persecution to fade.
The fact that the word ‘Areta,’ which had survived as the name of a devil, originated from the original name of the Reta people became nothing more than an obscure piece of history, briefly mentioned in a few lines of historians’ academic papers.
Had the Kingdom of Blanche not needed a new common enemy because of its civil war, the Reta people might have gradually blended into society as an ordinary part of its culture.
The Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Blanche was intelligent. Thanks to the advantage of being born to the legitimate queen, he had managed to suppress his elder half-brother, who had been born before him. However, the difference between them was slight.
The Crown Prince decided to eliminate both the brother he hated and the troublesome vermin that had irritated him for so long.
From the beginning, the aristocratic men of Blanche had found the Reta people’s matriarchal social structure unpleasant.
The Crown Prince succeeded in linking the name of an ancient demon to the Reta people, then spread that infamy to his half-brother.
[The Second Prince threatens the legitimacy of Blanche with the help of a witch.]
The slogan put forward by the Crown Prince was effective.
Pretending to be deeply troubled by the problems caused by the succession struggle, the Crown Prince flattered the aging king and raised an army.
Every member of the Reta clan who was captured eventually confessed to fabricated crimes under torture, and the Second Prince was imprisoned.
The group to which Empress Martina belonged became the final prey of the hunt. Most of the relatives and acquaintances Martina had known were beheaded. Owen, Martina’s mother, was among the victims.
Owen was an excellent warrior. She taught her daughter both the art of beautiful dancing and the art of killing people.
The Reta sword dance was famous as a form of entertainment, but no one outside the clan knew that the blades used in it had truly been sharpened for the purpose of taking human lives.
Owen cut down the necks of several high-ranking Blanche officials who had let their guard down. It was an extraordinary feat, but as a result, she was branded a traitor of the worst kind. After enduring all manner of torture, she died without even being able to close her eyes.
Martina was struck by lightning-like fury. At the same time, her entire body trembled with an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
She wanted revenge, but she could not infiltrate the capital where the king resided all by herself.
Martina would rather have died honorably as the price for the achievements her mother had made. Ironically, however, it was precisely because of her mother’s strength that Martina survived.
The daughter of Owen, the most vicious witch.
The Blanche soldiers acknowledged Owen’s abilities, but they did not believe that her daughter, who was only seventeen, could possess such extraordinary strength. They presented Martina to the Crown Prince as nothing more than a piece of entertainment.
Drunk on his victory, the Crown Prince brought Martina into his bedchamber. Martina suppressed her anger, waiting for the right opportunity, and willingly acted like a frightened little mouse.
The old king, citing the Crown Prince’s achievement in suppressing the rebellion, once again officially proclaimed him the rightful heir.
The king was already old and frail. This would not remain a mere declaration for long, and the actual succession soon followed.
It was one night, after the coronation ceremony had ended and the celebrations were underway.
Taking advantage of the relaxed security and the darkness, Martina sought out the Second Prince, who had been imprisoned in his palace and was waiting for the day of his execution.
She spoke.
[Theodore Shen Blanche. Descendant of the detestable bloodline of Blanche, I will save your life. In return, give me your power.]
[I have no power left, little witch. The disgrace of your people has been laid upon me, and all I can do is resent the injustice.]
[I will kill the king.]
The Second Prince laughed at Martina.
[Have you gone mad after seeing your mother’s limbs torn apart?]
[I am the last daughter of Reta, and I myself am the blade of vengeance. Make me your subordinate and allow me to repay this humiliation.]
Martina’s eyes shone like frost.
Later generations could only speculate about what Prince Theodore had been thinking when he accepted that bargain.
In any case, it was a meaningful stir of rebellion.
The king was arrogant enough to want to show off the symbol of his victory. On the final day of the banquet, he summoned Martina and ordered her to demonstrate the sword dance that the Reta clan had once been so proud of.
To force the symbol of an exterminated clan to perform for its enemies as a mere spectacle.
Several respectable nobles tried to dissuade the king from such an obvious act of humiliation, but even their objections were treated as a joke.
[Woman of the barbarians, dance your sword dance.]
The king threw Martina the sword that had once been used to behead Owen.
The king was immensely pleased as he watched Martina lower her eyes in humiliation. There was nothing more enjoyable to him than watching a beautiful young girl grovel at his feet just to survive.
Martina began performing an awkward sword dance with trembling legs. There was no strength in the tip of her blade, and her thin body looked as though it might collapse at any moment.
The knights, who had briefly been tense at the sight of a witch holding a sword, soon began to smile.
They relaxed the hands they had placed on their sword hilts, ready to draw their weapons at any moment.
At that very instant, Martina charged toward the king.
Before the knights could even draw their swords, five of them lost their lives in the blink of an eye. Against the knights who managed to unsheathe their weapons, she took their lives in a single exchange.
Wherever her red hair fluttered, blood of the same crimson hue scattered across the floor. Faced with a sight resembling the Grim Reaper himself, the nobles screamed and fled from the banquet hall.
The knights on guard attempted to protect the king, but at that very moment, the Second Prince’s army stormed in from outside the castle.
Their numbers were far too small to overthrow an entire kingdom, but they were more than enough to deal with the troops stationed inside the castle.
Prince Theodore had never expected Martina to survive.
Rather, he had intended to dismiss the incident as the witch’s final desperate outburst and use her as a disposable pawn.
Instead of sending his troops into the banquet hall, Prince Theodore locked the doors. He intended to trap the rats inside a jar and dispose of them one by one.
However, no one came out alive, no matter how long he waited.
[…It’s far too quiet.]
Theodore muttered.
Finding the silence suspicious, he ordered the doors to be opened.
That was when the golden doors shattered with a tremendous crash.
The soldiers briefly tightened their grips on their weapons in nervous anticipation. But the moment they witnessed the unbelievable scene revealed beyond the doors, everyone’s eyes widened.
The one who emerged was Martina, her entire body drenched in blood. The white dancer’s dress personally bestowed upon her by the king was completely soaked in crimson.
Even the soldiers, who were accustomed to slaughter, were horrified by the carnage inside the banquet hall. Martina threw the king down before Theodore, who stood frozen in place.
The king’s crotch was wet, apparently because he had urinated himself.
Martina mocked him in a cold voice.
[I wondered how different the bloodline of Blanche was from that of Reta, but it seems you urinate yellow just like us. I suppose the color of your blood isn’t any different either.]
Having sensed his impending end, the king could not even summon the courage to flee and fainted instead.
Martina slammed the sword that had beheaded Owen into the floor. Then she knelt before Theodore.
[My king. Grant me this head.]
Prince Theodore realized that the title of ‘king’ now belonged to him.
The king answered.
[I grant it.]
However, Martina did not behead her enemy in a single stroke.
First, she severed his ankles, then awakened the man who had fainted. He had once been a king, but now he was nothing more than an ordinary man.
The way Martina treated her enemy was so cruel that she instilled terror in everyone present.
Even as the soldiers retched, they could not take their eyes off her hands, as though they were witnessing some kind of ritual.
After his half-brother Waldo finally breathed his last, the new king asked her:
[You have contributed greatly to this victory. What is it that you desire?]
[Revenge.]
Martina spoke as though screaming in anguish.
[Allow me to cut down the forked tongues that led the extermination of my people.]
Her murderous determination was so terrifying that the king could not bring himself to refuse.
A new wind swept through the kingdom without delay. The old father, who had abandoned his son after listening only to the Crown Prince’s words, was confined to a separate palace and soon died without a sound or trace.
The first thing Prince Theodore did after ascending the throne was to investigate the authenticity of the fabricated evidence that had supposedly proven his intention to kill him.
The deceased Waldo was quickly transformed into a wicked man who had become blinded by power and murdered his own brother.
The new king gained the people’s support by appearing to pray to God for forgiveness on behalf of his brother’s sins.
In the process, the Reta clan’s position was transformed. They were now portrayed as pitiful victims who had suffered because of the former king’s schemes.
It must have been an extremely unpleasant turn of events for Theodore, but Martina, the sole surviving heir of Reta, became renowned as the guardian of the royal family.
The Red Grim Reaper and the Red Sword.
Those were Martina’s titles.
The king bestowed upon Martina the title of Marquis and the surname ‘Reta.’ She also adopted her mother’s name, Owen, as her middle name.
Martina Owen de Reta.
Everyone praised her martial prowess. The king mercilessly handed over the remaining forces of the half-brother who had once threatened him to the Red Grim Reaper.
For the sake of the lord who had helped her exact revenge, Martina willingly eliminated all the forces opposing the king.
The problem arose after she had dealt with all the remaining rebels and completed her revenge. The name of Reta no longer remained in the position of a mere hunting dog.
The fame of the Red Grim Reaper spread throughout the country. The name of Reta cast such a great shadow over the king that Blanche came to be known as the Land of Red.
The king quickly resorted to scheming. His once-gentle temperament grew vicious with anxiety. He possessed the same disposition as the half-brother he had hated so much.
Martina refused all wealth and riches and returned to the Areta Plateau, but the king did not trust her.
In the end, Reta was once again branded with the name of a traitor. This happened when Martina was twenty-five years old.
Martina lamented too late.
[I should never have trusted Blanche.]
There was one thing the king had overlooked: Martina was a meritorious subject whom every citizen acknowledged.
The people had not forgotten how the Reta clan had once been falsely accused and slandered.
Naturally, Martina had many supporters, and she willingly accepted their hands.
In the end, Martina turned the tip of her sword toward her homeland.
A storm of blood swept through the royal palace once again. Martina was the woman who had once slain a hundred knights all by herself. With the support of a powerful faction behind her, there was nothing left for her to fear.
At this point, an anecdote that has sparked considerable debate among later historians is introduced.
It took Empress Martina less than three days to march into the royal palace of Blanche.
Most people praised the empress’s extraordinary martial prowess, considering the speed of her advance almost impossible. However, a few scholars raised doubts.
‘Martina gained the upper hand because King Theodore met his death as though he had been waiting for it.’
Although the empress was powerful, they argued that King Theodore’s army was also more than capable of resisting her forces.
As evidence, they cited the records of Elsier, the loyal retainer who had served Marquis Martina.
According to his memoirs, the last king of Blanche did not flee. Instead, he remained on his throne and waited for Martina.
Martina wept bitterly at the king’s betrayal.
[You last descendant of Blanche’s bloodline, I curse you. You gave me hope, only to take it away yourself. Of all the betrayals I have ever experienced, yours is the cruelest.]
[I have nothing to say to you. I apologize for using you until the very end.]
[But you will not withdraw the command you gave me, will you?]
[Do what you must.]
The treacherous King Theodore eventually met the same death as his brother.
There is a story that the empress showed her final mercy by burying Theodore Shen Blanche in the royal cemetery. However, this is merely an unofficial historical account. It was not an act of mercy that one would expect from a lord who had abandoned her.
There are also records claiming that Theodore had loved Martina during his lifetime and had proposed marriage to her several times. However, most historians believe that these proposals were political marriages intended to unite their respective powers.
Afterward, Martina ascended the throne herself and trampled across the continent so that no one would ever again be able to tarnish the name of Reta.
It became a powerful example for others, and from then on, no one dared insult Areta again.
After establishing an empire through the Continental War, Martina changed the country’s name to Caravella, after the God of War.
Thus, her final name was completed. What was engraved after the three syllables of her original name was the very history of how she had become an emperor.
Martina Owen de Reta Caravella.
Empress Martina made Areta a sacred land and established a holy temple there.
Thus, Areta was transformed from a land of disgrace into the glorious ancestral homeland of the first emperor.
After completing the unification of the continent, Empress Martina handed over the throne to her loyal retainer Elsier and traveled south.
She never had any children throughout her life, and with her death, the bloodline of the Reta clan came to an end.
