149. Cruel Truth, Cruel Fate (2)
0 The corps commander took a step back after stopping for a moment.
As if the rumor that he was suffering from a high fever was true, the gatekeepers could not help but stiffen in shock at the intense heat they felt from him as he passed by.
‘No matter how you look at it… I think you should go to your room and rest rather than the library…’
Putting aside the worries of the gatekeepers who couldn’t reach him, Deonhardt entered the library.
The librarian on one side saw him and jumped up, but Deon passed him as if he didn’t even see him and stood in front of a familiar bookshelf.
I was able to find the book I was aiming for without difficulty.
[Information about the heroes of the current empire]
[Author: Idelia Develania]
I urged Idelia and Develania to provide information about Cruel. If I didn’t have it, I uncharacteristically forced myself to scrap it together and give it to them. The answer was that it would take a long time due to the vast scope, but even that was forced to shorten the time.
I have no intention of sitting still while the two of you move to gather information.
Deon reached out and took out a book. Skip the previous content at random and stop at the part where Cruel’s portrait appears. My eyes met with familiar green eyes.
[(Former) Fourth hero. Cruel Hart. (Currently deceased. Information to be deleted.)]
[Known to be related by blood to the third hero, Deon Hart. Although he is known not as a person of the emperor, but as a person of the duke who opposes him…]
Yes, I closed the book here.
It takes strength in your hands. Deon read the following without even blinking.
[…He acts as if he is suppressing the Duke’s orders rather than following him faithfully, such as distorting or offsetting them.] There is no way the Duke would have
entrusted Cruel with handling important information, so even if the orders were given, they would be of the type to kill or bury someone. It must have been an order from .
So who was the person the duke mainly wanted to kill?
Although his head was not working well due to the heat, Deon was able to find an answer even in that situation.
“…under.”
I just laughed.
“Hahaha… Ahhahaha!!”
I feel like I’m going crazy. I’m really going crazy.
I never thought I would resent the head that praised Cruel for being so smart when I was young.
If I had read this when Cruel was alive, I would have laughed it off and wondered if that person would be me. Then, unable to overcome his discomfort, he began to investigate.
The Duke, who gives orders to harm someone, and Cruel, who acts as a filter between them.
And since Cruel died with me wrapped around me, the suspicion that arose from the first clue was put to rest.
There can be no clearer evidence than this.
Deon laughed maniacally, spitting out the blood that was surging in tears.
It was me.
You were protecting me.
From the perspective of the head of the aristocratic faction, who would be the most annoying person?
He is known as one of the emperor’s favorite swords and his faithful dog. Unlike other heroes who act openly, he moves underwater, making it difficult to predict where he will land.
Isn’t that Deon Hardt?
“Then why did you do that?”
Habits built up over ten years are trying to ignore the truth that is difficult to handle. When I consciously stopped this, the direction of my thoughts reversed and I chose to blame Cruel.
Because there were still unanswered questions.
“Why did you send me to war?”
If you’re going to die like that, then you better not abandon me. When did you send me to the battlefield and why are you trying to protect me now?
Did you feel guilty later? Then I don’t have to feel guilty. It was probably just an action to alleviate the guilt of an abominable hypocrite.
“Daemon.”
“…Demon King.”
I raised my head feeling a little dazed.
The Demon King, seeing Deon’s face filled with all kinds of indescribable emotions, including anger, frustration, and guilt, slowly lowers his gaze as if assessing the state of his body. The clothes soaked in cold sweat were a sight to behold, but when white feet wearing nothing came into view, he clicked his tongue.
Even though he spoke as if he hadn’t seen anything for a while.
“I heard you asked for information about Cruel Hart.”
“….”
“The kids were amazed at the vast scope…”
I looked into the red eyes with deep saturation.
“Did you say that because you really couldn’t specify the range you wanted, or was it because you couldn’t tell them the range you wanted?”
“….”
“It’s the latter.”
Well, Cruel Hart is also related to the Empire’s third hero, Deonhardt, so I had to be selective about what I said. If you are not careful, it will be discovered that you are the same person as the commander of Corps 0.
It may be difficult to think clearly when you’re so heated, but it’s helpful to know what to say and what not to say.
Seeing Deon with new eyes, the Demon King couldn’t just leave the patient he saved for a moment like this, so he smiled softly to reassure the other person.
“Then tell me. “It’s okay if it’s me, right?”
“….”
“I’ll help you.”
The Demon King knows his identity and hides it, so there is nothing to worry about.
Perhaps because he felt a little relieved, Deon’s senses were overtaken by the heat and he staggered closer to the Demon King. He raises his trembling hand and grabs the demon king’s collar as if he is hanging on, and he stutters to open his mouth.
Like a child, unfinished sentences came out randomly.
“So, Cruel died instead of me… We obviously had a bad relationship…” “
…Aha.”
The Demon King, who had carefully picked up the gibberish words and put them together, realized what was happening and let out a low exclamation.
“okay. “I will investigate.”
“Thank you…”
“So let’s get some sleep for now.”
I didn’t touch it directly, I was just grabbed by the collar, but the air touching my skin was hot. How did I walk all the way here in this condition? And barefoot.
I touched Deon’s forehead with my fingertip. Only after slowly closing his eyes and lifting him up as he fell, did the Demon King remember that his magical power was no longer what it used to be.
‘Before, even if I used this level of magic, I didn’t feel anything at all.’
Now I can feel my magic power decreasing a little.
Still, I rolled my eyes again and looked at the poor human, thinking that I should restrain myself from using the magic I had already used, even putting Deon Hart back in the room.
Even though he was asleep, he narrowed his eyebrows and was breathing heavily, as if he was suffering from a fever.
“Deon Hardt.”
I softly whispered his name as if to check that he was asleep.
“Do you know when humans fall?”
He lived as a demon king for a long time and saw the corruption of countless people.
Oh yeah. It would be more correct to say ‘broken’ rather than ‘corrupted’.
“It’s when you lose something precious.”
Precisely when there is nothing left to lose.
When people are cornered and cornered and can’t even breathe, they are completely broken and corrupted. There will never be another person as creepy and scary as him.
He quietly whispered cruel facts as if he were reading a book.
“You lost the only person who truly cared for you.”
It will probably be difficult to find a person like him ever again.
Who would want to give their all for others?
“Poor Deon.”
The Demon King laughed quietly.
“I’m really alone now.”
***
[Bring the information to me first before you bring it to Daemon.] After receiving
the information he had researched from Idelia and Develania and organizing it appropriately, the Demon King went to Deonhart with only a single document summarizing everything. .
Knowing exactly what information Deon Hardt wanted, he asked everyone in the room and without hesitation placed the document in his hand on Deon’s lap.
“The amount of information Develania and Idelia sought is so vast that it seems difficult for you to find it, so I summarized it. “Is this the information you wanted?”
“….”
Deon sits on the bed and looks at the Demon King for a moment, then picks up the paper on his lap. His red, bloodshot eyes began to read the letters.
The whites of my eyes, which were fine until I read the first letter, were only a little bloodshot, but as they move back, blood lines appear and the corners of my eyes turn red. Is it because it’s sad?
…No, this was anger.
“Ha haha….”
A terrible murderous intent towards oneself.
Originally, Cruel was supposed to participate in the Eight Year War. The documents changed in the middle and I had to go.
“I…”
The cause is the Duke. He touched the papers and sent me away.
The family I killed with my own hands sent several documents to the imperial palace requesting corrections in the early stages of the war to bring me back, but they couldn’t wait and even sent people, but they all remained silent, so there was nothing they could do.
Of course, the person who cut off communication between the families was also the duke.
“What have I done?”
I want to kill him.
I wanted to die. I wanted to send this useless body to death in the most cruel way right now, but I couldn’t easily end the life that Cruel had saved by sacrificing herself.
Deon Hart, who closed his eyes to drown out his emotions, was unable to hold on and threw everything he could get his hands on the floor, forgetting that he was in front of the Demon King.
Wow!
A flower pot thrown into the air shatters and splinters fly out. Deon looked at a large piece of debris that had ended up on top of his blanket, then stretched out his hand.
The attempt to catch it failed due to the Demon King’s actions, which stopped him by grabbing his wrist.
Thanks to this, Deon seems to have come to his senses a little and looks up to follow the hand holding his wrist and makes eye contact with the Demon King. The red eyes were overflowing with suppressed murderous intent and anger.
“…Did the Emperor know this?”
Hmm. The Demon King let go of his hand, crossed his arms, and tilted his head to one side.
I intentionally left out the information about ‘why the duke did what he did’, but they really didn’t ask. Well, I probably don’t have time to think about that right now.
Well, it doesn’t matter because it’s comfortable and good from this point of view.
“I even worked as a businessman, so there’s no way I wouldn’t know.”
“haha.”
Deon slowly wiped his face.
I think I know why Cruel said that.
If I hadn’t knocked down the ‘wall’ in advance, when I got the current information, the wall that had reached its limit would have collapsed and I would have been even more stressed than I am now.
“Cough.”
It’s a truth and stress that even I, who had already knocked down the wall and managed to fix, can’t handle, but what would it have been like if it had been combined with what was pushed in by the wall collapsing?
‘Just because the wall collapsed was the difference between life and death.’
Needless to say, he was definitely dead.
‘You protect me even in death.’
The more I know, the more murderous intent I have towards myself, so what should I do?
I can’t easily throw away the life you saved.
As my anger reaches its peak, I become calmer. Instead of throwing things or screaming again, Deon quietly raised his head and looked into space.
‘brother.’
Sorry.
I know that I don’t have the right to apologize and that there’s nothing I can do by just saying I’m sorry, but I can’t think of anything else to say.
‘I shouldn’t think like this anymore.’
Really.
‘I want to die.’
As if the suppressed emotions have been replaced by blood, a fishy liquid gushes down the throat. After hearing the Demon King click his tongue and say, ‘Oh my…’ at the unexpectedly large amount, Deon surrendered himself obediently to the darkness encroaching on his consciousness.
***
The world made up of misunderstandings and illusions was shattered.
***
As soon as Deonhardt regained consciousness, he started looking for the Demon King.
The Demon King quietly looks up at Deon, who is standing in front of his office desk as solemnly as when he submitted his resignation letter, and picks up a nearby communication seat. A few signals went through and someone received the communication.
“Ben, come to the office door right away.”
– yes? Where are you hurt?!
“no. And don’t be confused as it is not the office but ‘in front of the office door’. “I’m waiting there until I’m called.”
A look of puzzlement at the incomprehensible command was clearly conveyed through the communication device, but since he was not the person he should be concerned about, the Demon King ignored it and hung up.
After putting down the communication desk, he raised his head again and looked at Deon. Their eyes met and his dark eyes hid under his eyelids, which were curved like crescent moons.
“Then I’ll ask you now.”
“….”
“What brought you here?”
Even though I’m not feeling well.
