Chapter 632

The White Palace Arunaria, which was originally a quiet palace, was even quieter now. It was a silence far from gloominess. Although silence tends to evoke some fear, Arunaria's silence was close to solemnity. As lonely as the words of the Duke, who said it was a lonely place, the loneliness remained. The Duke came up to the place where Arunaria could be seen in the distance as I climbed the stairs. The Duke didn't say anything. He just walked a little ahead, and I followed quietly, wondering what he would say. I felt like I was going to be punished. Honestly, I was in a situation where I had to be careful. I came to ask the Duke to be on my side in a situation where I had nothing to say, even if I had ten mouths. If the discomfort had gone this far, wouldn't it be understandable if the Duke tried to strangle me? The Duke suffered a great deal because of my existence. His reputation was ruined because his daughter disappeared with the Demon King, and the people of the kingdom hated him, and even the Allied Forces treated him with contempt. The honor of the Saengtuahn family, which had been built up for a long time, was destroyed in an instant. What is honor? It may not mean much to most people, but it is very important to people like the Duke of Saengtuahn. All of it evaporated because of my existence alone. The Duke had been silent for a long time, and I finally came to that thought as I looked at the palace. Are they all doing well? Hae-ri-yeot's mother and brothers. I knew that her brothers were all magicians and were in the army of the Allied Forces. And I know they're safe. But being safe and doing well are worlds apart. I couldn't even ask if they were all right. For over an hour. The Duke didn't say anything, and I was a dumbfounded fool. It wasn't a feeling of being punished, but it was clear that I was really being punished. At the end of such a long silence. "It's strange." The Duke suddenly said that. Strange? The Duke looked at me intently. "It seems like you can't say anything no matter how you look at it..." Is it supposed to mean that I should come out with my shoulders straight and confidently? "Um, that's... me..." "...?" I wanted to say something, but I couldn't. There's nothing to say to the Duke. He must know that I followed him on my own, not that I kidnapped Hae-ri-yeot. But what does that mean? It's already creepy enough to hide the secret and become friends with his daughter. The Duke looked at me. "Do you think you did something wrong to me?" No. Then what's wrong with this? "...Yes." I have no idea what the Duke is thinking. "Hmm..." The Duke thought about it and slowly shook his head. "Okay, then tell me what you think you did wrong until now." Holding his staff. Standing in front of me like a judge, he said quietly. "Whether it's something you did to me." "If you think you did something wrong, whether it was to my daughter, to the world, or to humanity, tell me what it is. You, who have never resorted to evil powers or tricks, who have always pursued the right path with pure strength and lived for noble and just justice. You have done nothing wrong, but you have caused someone to lose so much because of me. Yet, without ever expressing any sorrow or injustice, you have done what you had to do and continue to do so. Duke of Saengtuahn. Tell me about it."

It was a long story, but in the end, it was a story that resulted in dragging everything to this situation while trying to save everyone. What Akasha was, who Kantus Magna was, why the Tomb of the Lich was created, and how Akasha was originally intended to be used. The moment I learned everything, it was already too late. Because I had lied for too long, no one could believe me. And those who felt the greatest betrayal could only hate me. A story that tried to change the future but ended up realizing the future. It was a story that said that if I had done nothing, nothing would have happened. "It's not the gods' choice, it's the gods' curse." The Duke, who had heard all the stories, said calmly. Was having two divine artifacts not a blessing but a curse that was bestowed upon me? "It's not you, but humanity that has been cursed." But as if reading my thoughts, the Duke corrected himself. A curse on humanity? "If the Demon King had no intention of harming humanity and was trying to use Akasha to leave for another world, there was no reason to fight." Bali wanted to flee, not to wage war. Humanity attacked Dark Land out of fear of the threat of demons, and the Demon King killed most of the demons, of course. They didn't try to understand and were afraid. It was all because of misunderstanding. "Because of the misunderstanding that my neighbor would kill me, I killed my neighbor, and because of the misunderstanding, didn't humanity perish?" And the Gate incident was ultimately due to misunderstanding and misunderstanding. "Whether you wanted revenge or not, the truth remains that the Demon King has achieved the most decisive and certain revenge against humanity." Regardless of my intentions, it was not revenge, and it was impossible to say that it was not revenge at the same time. I played the biggest role in the extinction of humanity. That truth will never change. "How can this not be called the curse of the gods?" If you killed your neighbor because of a misunderstanding, you will receive it back because of a misunderstanding. The Duke seemed to think that this was the judgment and curse of the gods on humanity. "Of course, we cannot know for sure whether this is truly the curse of the gods or a vile coincidence." If it was just a terrible coincidence, how could we calculate the possibility? "However, even if this is called the curse of the gods, your sin will not disappear, nor will it be without sin. In the end, the fact that all of this originated from you will not change." Yes. "I don't want to say that I did nothing wrong. The sin and responsibility will never disappear. The Gate incident happened to save me. Antirianus acted impulsively, Sarkergar strongly insisted, and Eleris activated Akasha. That is also an undeniable truth. 'But isn't it too cruel to say that you should have died instead?' '...' 'I woke up with all my memories lost, and my country was destroyed. My father, who was the king and absolute ruler of one world, perished with the heroes, and I became the last heir of the destroyed country, with nothing but a delusion that I cannot be labeled as anything other than the mark of the last heir. The only thing I know is that the world will soon be destroyed...' '...' 'You've come a long way. No, isn't it miraculous how you got here...?' The fact that I was the last Archdemon of the destroyed demon world was actually a condition that was extremely disadvantageous to my survival. It would have been better to be just some human on the street, someone who was nothing. But in the end, I came to the brink of destroying the world, rebuilt Dark Land, and now humans live together in that Dark Land. Many coincidences saved me, and many coincidences eventually led me to this point. But in the end, I became the king of the rebuilt demon world. How did that happen? The Duke thought it was strange, and when I looked back from the starting point, I was so doubtful of how I was able to do what I had done. If someone had told me that I would become like this a few years after the starting point, I wouldn't have believed it either. 'You may not be the strongest demon king in history, but you will be the greatest demon king in history.' That's how it turned out. The reconstruction of the destroyed country. The reconstruction of Dark Land. That's why I was able to call myself a demon king, not Rheinhardt, and face the Duke. And destruction. I also succeeded in taking revenge on humanity. I didn't achieve everything I wanted to do as a demon king, but I succeeded in everything a demon king should do. 'Now you have the potential to become the master of the whole world, with all of humanity on the brink of destruction. You are the greatest and perfect demon king in history.' And becoming the master of the world. 'You, who never wanted the life of a demon king, have become the closest existence to the wishes of the Archdemons that no one has ever achieved. Isn't that ironic?' I didn't want to be a demon king. I didn't want to be a king. 'It seems that Archdemons are cursed to never live the life they want.' Yeah. If Archdemons are a race cursed with such a curse. I understand why I rebuilt Dark Land even though I didn't want to, and why I'm in a situation where humanity has been destroyed even though I didn't want it. In the lineage of Archdemons that has been passed down for generations, I may be the only demon king who didn't want to become a demon king and didn't hate humans. That's why I destroyed all of humanity, rebuilt the destroyed country, and have the opportunity to own the whole world. Is there really such a curse? Is that why demon kings have been failing all along?" "If there is such a curse, it's a big problem. The Gate incident won't end because of it. If there is such a curse on the Archdemon, the situation where the Gate incident ends won't come. Then this will become another mess. It's spine-chilling. Ha ha... that's right. I guess so." The Duke weakly laughed at my words. I don't know if there is such a curse. What's important is that the Duke seemed to have received my strong desire for the end of the Gate incident. "So, is it your fault in the end?" The Duke asked me to tell him if there was a fault. So I told him everything that had happened so far. "That... what I did to Hae-Ri... was my fault too..." It was something I followed, but it was still a mistake to the Duke. "You must have been worried without any contact until now. Anyway... it's all my fault. The fact that the world has become like this, everything..." "The fact that the world has become like this?" "Yes." "Why is that a mistake?" The Duke looked at me. "You said it yourself. The fact that the world has become like this is ultimately because of me. Then it's my fault..." "All of that could be your sin, but why is it a mistake?" Are sin and fault different? I couldn't figure out what the Duke really wanted to say. "Let's say you caused the Gate incident with the intention of destroying humanity. Let's say you did that." The Duke tapped his staff on the marble stairs and spoke slowly. "Isn't it okay for you to do that?" "...What?" What is he talking about? "Dark Land didn't even think about a war with humanity, but humans invaded the demon world, destroyed your country, killed your father, killed those who were like family to you, and even made them slaves." Ah. If I had tried to destroy humanity after experiencing that, who could say that it was unfair or wrong for me to have such feelings and take such actions? Many people died. If I had really wanted that to happen, it would have been a sin. But it wasn't unfair. The Duke was talking about revenge. Killing and slaughtering in revenge cannot be justified, so it would be a sin. But that revenge can be justified. The sin is there. But there is no fault. That's what the Duke was saying. From the beginning, the Duke's question was whether there was a fault. The Duke didn't say I was wrong. "The fault is mine to you." "...What?" "Since the Demon War was a war that was wrong from the beginning, wasn't it me who did wrong to you first, rather than you?" The Duke was a participant in the Demon War. So if the Demon War was a war that was fundamentally wrong, and if the result was the destruction of Dark Land, then the unforgivable sin was committed by the Duke, not me. "Even if it was a just war, it would be natural for the successor of a fallen kingdom to seek revenge against all those who participated in the Demon War." "..." Since I became a demon king. The Duke believed that all of his actions towards humanity were sins, but he believed they were justified because everyone has the right to revenge. The Duke was technically one of the protagonist's enemies, having killed many demons in the Demon War. The protagonist was confused about why the Duke, who was once an enemy, was apologizing to him. The Duke admitted that revenge can be justified, but killing and slaughtering in revenge cannot be justified. He also admitted that the Demon War was fundamentally wrong and that he was the one who did wrong to the protagonist first. The protagonist reflects on his role as a demon king and feels a deep sense of guilt for the chaos he has caused.