Chapter 528

It is only an estimate that Heinrich may be a bastard, but if that is the case, it would connect the loose ends of the case. Why wasn't Heinrich sent to the academy in Kernstatt? Why did they have to kill Heinrich, who was gradually becoming a hero in this situation? A rootless bastard may become Kernstatt's hero, and may even be considered as the successor to the throne, surpassing Louise von Schwarze. That would be unacceptable to the pure-blooded royals. "If this is true, Heinrich probably doesn't know about it either." It is unknown whether this is really true or not. "The current queen of Kernstatt, Solenn, is a very obsessive person when it comes to etiquette, dignity, and loyalty. It's not a joke. Even Nana Berthus should learn that. I haven't seen her much in person, but..." The queen of the vassal state. But even compared to the empire, the queen has better etiquette and dignity. However, that is ultimately just a facade, and no one considers Kernstatt's queen to be equal to or superior to the imperial nobles. "But a bastard... just the suspicion of it would cause a fit. No, if such a suspicion were to spread, there would be someone who would hang themselves with a rope." "So... they might have accepted the bastard as their own child?" "It would have been easier to kill and get rid of him, but well, Konstantin von Schwarze, the prince of Kernstatt, is also famous for his grandiose personality. He might have been grandiose about the treatment of the bastard. But well, they could accept him, but they couldn't love him. The king of Kernstatt couldn't touch that part either." Charlotte finishes her story and takes a deep breath after drinking the remaining tea. "In the end, it's all speculation. The baby may not have been anything special, and the royal family may have just loved the fourth and fifth children so much that they couldn't help but hate the youngest." Charlotte says she's just presenting a possibility, a reasonable possibility. But isn't it too cruel a possibility? It's too cruel a possibility because it's closer to the truth. Can Heinrich accept or understand this? "This is as far as I can go with this story. I don't know how to persuade Heinrich." You are a bastard. So you might be killed by your brothers. No, your brothers have to kill you. Before you receive even greater hero treatment, you have to be killed so that there is no possibility of the throne passing to a bastard. A bastard who killed two pure-blooded royals. Isn't it strange that they don't hate Heinrich? Moreover, he is now becoming so strong that he is even being treated as a hero in Kernstatt. He was supposed to be stuck in a corner, out of sight, and left to rot by the Templars, but now the situation has become such that he has to be treated as a brother. It's going to be unbearable. "Hmm, even if I tell Heinrich that he will die if he doesn't stand by my side because he is a bastard, he will probably just roll his eyes and try to burn me alive."

"Well, that's true...."

Charlotte laughed without much enthusiasm.

* * *

The midnight consultation was over.

I didn't get the answer I wanted, but I knew what to do.

I could also infer to some extent how the loose threads I had woven together were being woven together.

We had eaten and drank tea.

But for some reason, Charlotte and I were both dissatisfied and were indulging in aesthetics.

It wasn't personal, but it felt like it had been a long time since I had a conversation like this with Charlotte.

We sat on the terrace, unable to do anything.

We had to talk.

"...Do you want to take a walk?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, sure."

As if waiting for those words, Charlotte nodded vigorously.

* * *

Charlotte and I walked out of Wangsung and onto the plains of the outskirts of Lajak.

To the left was the city of Lajak, and to the right was the refugee camp.

As planned by Charlotte, there were occasional sightings of people presumed to be vigilantes carrying torches.

People who could only be corrupt.

When the time came, Charlotte would punish them and form a new vigilante group, a cruel plan.

The reason it was cruel was not because Charlotte tolerated their corruption.

It was because the corruption of the vigilantes was a sin they chose.

The corrupt vigilantes who would later be punished could not escape the fate of having chosen sin.

Even if they were just being used, they would be judged without even knowing they were being used.

Charlotte knew how humans behave in certain situations.

Because there are people who crawl into predicted swamps without being instructed, they will be supplemented by other people.

That's why this policy is cruel.

I don't know at what stage it reached.

We no longer bring survivors from the continent.

So there is no increase in Edina's population due to external influx.

We just have to manage the people who are already in Edina.

We saved a lot of people.

But that was ultimately just a handful compared to the number of real people who died.

Because of the chain of events that followed, things happened that I didn't even want to think about.

Charlotte and I walked together, watching the torches going back and forth in the refugee camp from afar.

"How's the subjugation going? Is it manageable?"

"I don't know if it's manageable or not, but I think we're somehow doing it. We've also got a good grasp of the overall situation in Edina. The situation will improve gradually."

"That's a relief."

There's nothing left but to improve.

It sounded good, but it also sounded like there couldn't be anything worse than the situation being too bad.

Am I too twisted?

"Above all, it's a relief that the demons have no complaints. If it were a normal situation, the demons would have been more resistant than the humans."

"Well."

Even though there was no reason for demons to live with humans, they followed without question because the Demon King ordered them to.

The rule of the Demon King is therefore idealistic and yet strange. Translation:

If society were composed only of demons and not humans, the Demon King could rule for life without any opposition. Didn't Eleris say that when she was an Archdemon? She was eventually banished with her son, the only demon who could resist the Demon King.

The Demon King.

And the princess.

And now Charlotte, who has become my queen.

When we first met, was this future predetermined?

"Charlotte."

"Yeah?"

"I don't remember ever living as a demon prince."

Charlotte stops walking and looks at me.

"I was thrown into the world knowing only that I was the son of Demon King Bali."

Suddenly, Charlotte is silent and just listens to my story.

"I won't make excuses for the many lies I told you. I had no choice."

Charlotte continues to listen quietly.

"But...I should apologize."

Charlotte smiles at me as I apologize.

"Three times."

"Three times?"

"Once at the Demon King's castle, once at the Spring Palace, and now. Three times."

Charlotte looks at me.

The number of times I saved Charlotte.

"It seems like I should die because the world hates me, but you keep saving me. What if something happens again and I have to die? I wonder."

It was a cloudy night, and there were no stars or moon in sight.

"You're strange."

"..."

"You should hate me."

"Hate you?"

"Yeah."

Charlotte looks up at the night sky.

"I cursed you even though you saved me many times. Even though I had no choice but to think that way. You saved me with pure intentions, but I didn't believe you."

I thought it was possible.

The tower of misunderstanding was built up by countless lies, and it was more convincing than the truth.

So I thought it was inevitable.

I don't resent Charlotte.

"That was inevitable."

Charlotte smiles bitterly at my words.

"You saved me and protected me many times, but I cursed and resented you. If you had done the same, it would have been inevitable."

Resenting Charlotte for not understanding my heart.

Is that also something I could do?

"I had no choice in that situation, but you didn't resent me in a situation where you could have."

"The difference is...quite significant, I think."

"You're someone who did something I couldn't do. And every time I feel that you don't resent me at all, it feels a little strange." "I wonder what I have done for you. I have always received help from you, and even dropped you into the abyss at an important moment. But you saved me as if it was natural...I don't really know."

"That's why I feel distant from you now."

"I don't know if I can do something for you. I think I won't be able to repay you even if I try my whole life."

Something that Charlotte has to do for me.

Something that Charlotte has to do for me, not related to the prince's duties.

There is no such thing.

There's nothing I particularly want.

"Just live a healthy life."

"I thought you would say that."

Charlotte laughed, covering her mouth.

Should I have said something more?

That I need you, not necessarily for the prince's duties, but that I need you. That I want you to always be within my reach.

Should I have said that?

Charlotte is the life I saved for the first time when I arrived in this world.

That's why I feel a different attachment to Charlotte than to others.

"I want to do something with you."

Charlotte said to me quietly.

"Something together?"

"Yes, we can do it right now."

Something you want to do with me at this time?

When I looked at her as if asking what it was, Charlotte rummaged through her arms and took something out.

"Let's eat this together."

It was a biscuit wrapped in paper.

It was a symbol of when we first met.

Is she carrying it around with her to eat it together someday when we have a conversation like this?

"That's good."

Charlotte smiled bashfully at my answer and cut the biscuit exactly in half.

She did the same thing back then.

She gave me the biscuit to eat, which she gave to me to eat, even though she couldn't eat it herself at that moment.

I felt strange seeing Charlotte, who couldn't eat it herself, giving me half of it at the moment when our lives were at stake.

Did Charlotte have the same thought when she gave me the biscuit?

That she was giving away something that was too precious to eat alone, even though the actual situation was different.

Charlotte gave me the biscuit cut in half, and she also put a piece in her mouth.

She carried the biscuit around to give it to me someday.

She must have wanted to talk to me and always been ready to talk.

We sit on a hill overlooking Lazark and the refugee camp, leaning against each other and eating biscuits.

Of course, it's not the same biscuit as back then.

"It tastes different from back then."

"It can't be helped."

Charlotte and I talk while munching on the biscuit.

The situation is different, but objectively, it's not as delicious as what we ate back then. Of course, that was a luxury item carried by the Demon Prince, and the biscuits available in Edina can only be mediocre at best.

Luxury biscuits eaten when anything could taste good.

Ordinary biscuits eaten when you're not particularly hungry.

The taste can't be the same. Charlotte thought that nothing could taste better than the biscuit they had when they first met, so she didn't care much about what she ate afterwards. They were sitting on a hill overlooking Lazark and the refugee camp, eating the biscuit and talking. The protagonist realized that the taste of the biscuit was not the same as it was back then, but he appreciated the moment nonetheless. They had a special bond and even small moments held great significance. Charlotte asked the protagonist what he would do after everything was over, and they discussed the possibility of war and the protagonist's potential power and influence. Translation:

It was enough to make my spine tingle. "You could become the ruler of the entire world, not just the emperor of humanity or the king of demons. The ruler of the world. "People hate and despise you. So you don't think they'll accept your rule?" Charlotte had a subtle smile, as if she knew without saying anything. "Rule is passive. Whether it's the Gradius royal family or the demon king they hate at the top, there's no need to persuade them. I've never persuaded anyone." Rule is just rule. It doesn't require the support of the masses. "All a ruler needs to be is strong. If you're strong enough that the lower ones can't dare to cross or overturn you, that's all. Whether you're ruling through the protection of the people of Edina or becoming a human oppressor disguised as oppression and fear." The hatred of humanity. If it attacks me someday, can I attack them first? Should I consider facing it head-on or invading it first if there is a war to come? "What about Berthus...?" Charlotte asked, burying her head between her knees at my words. "He believes you'll spare him... That's what he believes." The emperor of the continent. The king of the world. It wasn't that I couldn't imagine such a thing. I didn't think that the ruler of humanity had to be the empire. But Charlotte's words meant that I had to think about such a huge topic now. "I think you're just afraid of what else you'll lose if everything ends like this." "It's not about losing something, it's about gaining something." It was a word that was quite far from my thoughts. Charlotte looked at me. "I wanted to let you know that you can try to have everything, not miss anything." After the Gate incident, there will be a war, and someone will die again. Someone in Edina will lose someone. That's not it. You can try to have everything in the world. Charlotte was saying that. Can there be a country where all citizens hate the king? Can such a thing exist? If we talk about possibility and impossibility, it could be possible. If hatred is turned into fear, that rule can be established. If the fear of me is greater than the hatred for me, even if humanity hates me, I can put them under my feet. But can I handle it? What about me, who can't even handle this small island nation and has to leave it to Charlotte? Is there even a little bit of a crazy idea to become the king of the world? "..." Do I want to lose anything at all, or can I try to have everything?