CH 352

The investigation of the surface of the Demon King's Castle only led to the outcome of forcing Charlotte to acknowledge a fact she didn't want to admit.

Charlotte came to the conviction that Valier had been using her from the beginning. The once flimsy logic seemed to fit perfectly now, as long as she followed the reasoning that it was not for her own salvation, but for the resurrection of the Demon King.

Thus, Charlotte was in no condition to do anything more today.

It seemed as though all her motivation had vanished due to the feeling of betrayal.

Would she regret warning Eleris to run away?

At that time, Charlotte was already almost certain that I was the successor to the Demon King.

It was just that her certainty about Valier's intentions for saving her had only arisen now.

Now it was clear.

The moment my true identity is revealed, Charlotte will have no choice but to hate me, even if others don't.

The important thing is, if I find a way to completely heal Charlotte in the Demon King's Castle and execute it, she will be able to realize that my intentions to protect her were pure, even if my identity is revealed later.

Somehow.

Now, I am thinking under the assumption that a situation where my identity is revealed will inevitably come.

There is no other way.

If I were to live a quiet life in the temple, I wouldn't encounter a situation where my identity would be exposed.

But because that's impossible, I'm involved in various incidents.

Despite knowing that a long tail gets stepped on, I have no choice but to keep extending it.

I'm not in a position to explore any further, and there was nothing more to see on the surface, as it had already been revealed.

I discovered Valier's room, which I had never known before, and Charlotte gained some certainty because of that.

So naturally, there were questions.

The first place I regained consciousness was not in Valier's room, but in the hallway.

I am the Prince of the Demon Realm, Valier.

But I am also not Valier.

The real Prince of the Demon Realm, Valier, was not a good prince. He was a scoundrel, lazy, and a good-for-nothing without any abilities.

He was a pathetic fellow who relied on the Demon King's power and did nothing but cause trouble.

Although I used the convenient excuse of having lost my memory, I knew nothing about Valier other than the fact that he was a scoundrel and a shameless brat.

But there must have been a life for Valier before I became him.

So.

Even when the Demon King was on the verge of death, Valier must have been doing something. At that moment, I possessed Valier's body.

I saw Valier's room for the first time today.

The first place I regained consciousness was the hallway.

Not a room, but a hallway.

It means that I was going somewhere.

Where on earth was Valier going before I possessed him?

To the battleground where the Demon King was fighting?

In the weakened state that was nothing short of the epitome of incompetence at the time?

A question I had never had before came to mind upon arriving at the Demon King's Castle.

------

The guest room of the garrison command.

It seemed to be a room prepared in advance for visiting high-ranking nobles or military personnel who had come for inspection.

The interior of the place was much like a hotel, with multiple bedrooms, making it a comfortable spot to stay for several days.

Instead of each taking a separate room, we decided to share one, as we were unsure of how Charlotte's condition would be during the night. Anyway, the bedrooms were separate, so it didn't really matter.

"I'll go check on the situation of the underground search."

"Yes, Turner."

"Rest for a while."

Saviolin Turner briefly left the room. Charlotte, still wearing the robe she had been in all day, hung it on a hanger and stared intently at me.

"...Why?"

"...I want to take a bath."

That's right.

She had always been extremely shy about anyone hearing her bathe, hadn't she? I could see Charlotte wanting to say something to me but hesitating out of embarrassment.

"...I'll step out for a bit."

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't know, but Charlotte's current state wasn't something I should meddle with.

"...I'm sorry."

While Charlotte bathed, I remained outside the guest room.

The hallway in front of the command post guest room.

Through the window, I could see the towering walls of the Demon King's fortress.

A secret place.

The underground area seemed most likely, but how were we going to enter, and how would we bypass the traps?

There would be rangers and wizards familiar with traps at the garrison, trying to uncover the secrets of the Demon King's fortress, but their struggle meant that we wouldn't have a clever solution either.

-Thunk

While I was lost in thought, time had passed considerably. The door opened, and Charlotte peeked her head out.

Water dripped from her hair, and her face was flushed red.

"I'm done bathing…"

Somehow, that statement led to strange thoughts…

------

Charlotte, now dressed in a white dress, wore slippers and stood in front of the mirror, rubbing her hair and wiping away the dampness.

Such a task would typically be done by someone else, but since life at the temple required self-sufficiency, it wasn't particularly awkward for Charlotte or Bertus.

The dignity or authority of a princess.

I didn't feel much of either. She seemed like an ordinary person of her age.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Charlotte asked, becoming conscious of my gaze.

"Oh, nothing. Just…"

"Hmm."

Charlotte returned her attention to the mirror, drying her hair.

After a while, Charlotte, having roughly dried her hair, came and sat beside me.

A princess wearing only a white dress and slippers.

Charlotte sat next to me and leaned her head against me quietly.

Charlotte must have been mentally and physically exhausted today, so I didn't say much.

"It's strange."

"…What is?"

"The story I heard from Detto. It keeps coming to mind lately."

The bizarre tale of how we would end up getting married.

"When I first heard it, I thought it was nonsense. Our social statuses were so different, and though I thought you were a good person, to be honest… I didn't have that kind of interest in you."

"…So what?"

"You're the Champion of Tu'an."

"…That's right."

"Status? That's not a problem anymore."

The Champion of Tu'an.

Being chosen by the gods, my status becomes something more special than anyone else in the world.

It's something incomparable to royalty or imperial bloodlines.

"I think emotions aren't a problem anymore," Charlotte said calmly. Her confession was so plain that it didn't create much of an impact.

"I used to think the prophecy was definitely wrong."

Is it now strange for her to think the prophecy won't come true? I couldn't find anything to say, so I remained silent.

"I still think it's wrong, but the reason has changed drastically."

"What do you mean?"

Charlotte leaned on me and looked up at my face.

"I never intended to do something like marry you."

"I guess so, right?"

Charlotte smiled at me.

"But now, even if I said I want to marry you, it seems like you wouldn't go through with it."

Her words took my breath away.

Her statement was so direct that I couldn't find a suitable response.

"With your personality, I think you'd run away even if the emperor ordered our marriage."

"What... exactly... are you trying to say?"

What on earth should I do? As I struggled for a response, Charlotte suddenly hugged my neck.

Having just washed her hair, its fragrance filled my nostrils.

"You don't have to love me, Reinhardt."

"..."

"But please promise me one thing."

I felt moisture on my neck.

Charlotte was crying.

"Don't... betray me."

She wouldn't ask for love, but she pleaded not to be betrayed.

I could make that promise.

It was an easy promise to make.

It was a plea for compromise. Betrayal had weakened Charlotte emotionally.

So she asked me.

Not to betray her.

It was an easy promise.

"Of course."

But the moment I said that.

I had already been dishonest, and therefore, I was no different than betraying Charlotte.

As she grew more distant from Valier, Charlotte seemed to get closer to me. And when she finally realized she had been used and abandoned all hope for Valier...

Charlotte had no choice but to cling to me even more.

My relationship with Charlotte only intensified my guilt.

As much as Charlotte clung to me, I, too, became obsessed with her.

An obsession mixed with a sense of duty to ensure her happiness.

That's why, although lying to Charlotte every moment was difficult, I couldn't leave her alone.

And then.

This room wasn't meant for just one person.

So, there was a problem.

-Thunk

"!"

"!"

"Oh."

While Charlotte was clinging to me, Saviolin Turner returned to the room.

"..."

Charlotte clung to me, unable to turn back, frozen in place.

As soon as she opened the door, she became a statue without uttering a word.

The same thing happened to me when our eyes met.

It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding.

No, it wasn't just a misunderstanding.

Turner seemed to loathe herself for opening the door without knocking, and Charlotte seemed to loathe herself for impulsively acting without thinking.

For the first time in a while, I could read Turner's thoughts from her expression.

'What did I just see?'

'Should I leave?'

'No, I've already seen it. What's the point of leaving?'

'Should I stop it?'

'No, why would I stop it?'

'What do I say?'

'What should I do?'

In the end, Turner stepped back with a stiff movement as if nothing had happened and closed the door.

-Thunk

"…"

Charlotte let go of me.

After confessing something to me, Charlotte's face turned beet red as she seemed surprised that she hadn't considered someone might witness the scene.

"I, I'll... go, go to... sleep."

"…Alright."

As if her soul had been drained, Charlotte staggered into the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind her.

A while later.

-Knock knock knock

A polite knock sounded softly.

"…There's only one guest room, it seems."

With an expression of not knowing what to do, Saviolin Turner sighed and spoke.

No.

Was she trying to sleep in another room to avoid the situation?

Weren't you supposed to prevent something like this from happening?

"I, in this, this kind of situation… what on earth should I…"

It seemed clear that she had taken more mental damage than Charlotte.

With trembling lips, she cautiously opened her mouth.

"That… make sure to… use contraception…"

No.

What.

What is this?

-Startled!

"No! No! That's not it!"

Caught off guard by the unexpected words, I forgot what I was going to say, and Charlotte, her face flushed red, burst open the door and screamed at the top of her lungs.

------

Whether Charlotte was actually sleeping in her room or pretending to sleep, she showed no signs of stepping out today, and Saviolin Turner sat listlessly on the sofa.

"What on earth… did I say…"

Although it seemed like something an adult would say, it was definitely an impulsive outburst.

Words tend to jump out without warning, and that's what happened with Turner just now.

Depending on the situation, it could be considered a grave offense. Luckily, Charlotte didn't make an issue of it, and no one else heard.

If things continued like this, it was clear that Turner would be mentally out of it for the rest of the day.

"It's a misunderstanding. Whatever you're thinking."

"…Is it?"

In a room with just the two of us.

A man and a woman embracing.

Can a misunderstanding really be made in that situation?

She looked at me with that expression.

No, I mean, all sorts of thoughts could come to mind, but it's not that far!

"Let's talk about work."

"Work? Oh… oh, right. Work."

Saviolin Turner seemed to have completely forgotten why she had come here in the first place. She coughed a few times.

"I heard about the underground search from the commander... It was strange."

As soon as she mentioned the matter, the atmosphere immediately changed.

She unfolded the map she had brought with her.

"We've explored up to the fifth underground floor. We found storage rooms, dungeons, armories, and even large breeding grounds for raising and imprisoning magical beasts. The underground facilities are so extensive that they're actually larger than the aboveground portion of the Demon King's palace."

The scale of the underground section of the Demon King's palace was quite impressive, even just looking at the map.

"Most of the underground areas have already been explored, and all the treasures have been retrieved."

"Is there more below? You said the search isn't complete yet?"

"Yes, a few months ago, while searching the fifth floor, we found a secret staircase leading even deeper."

"Is there a sixth floor?"

"Yes."

On the spot where Saviolin Turner pointed, there was not a spiral staircase leading underground but a new door drawn, and below that, another spiral staircase was visible.

However, nothing was drawn below that spiral staircase.

"The stairs continue downward. You could keep going for hours."

"…Really?"

"But after just a few steps back up, you arrive back at the fifth floor."

Saviolin Turner spoke with a stern expression.

"In other words, it's a labyrinth from the sixth floor onwards."

A labyrinth.

"We don't know if there are seventh or eighth floors, or even deeper ones. Even if we explore the sixth floor and draw a map, it's useless. The structure seems to change every time we explore. The traps are reconstructed even after they're disarmed."

The commander had given an overly simplified explanation.

The problem wasn't the traps; it was the enigmatic labyrinth below the sixth floor.

"I thought I'd be reprimanded by Her Highness for withholding information, so I deliberately downplayed it. The royal family hasn't even been informed about this underground labyrinth. In fact, we haven't even attempted to explore the sixth floor and below."

"…I see."

"It's an understandable situation. The mages can't figure out the magic behind the labyrinth, and there have been too many casualties. The number of injured and missing is countless."

The recent discovery of a labyrinth in the underground of the Demon King's castle had forced them to give up on exploration.

The commander had deliberately avoided mentioning the labyrinth, and simply stated that the underground was dangerous. He had not given a proper explanation to the princess, fearing reprimand or dismissal for withholding information. After all, they believed this to be just an inspection, so it couldn't be helped. They must have assumed she would take a quick look around and then leave.

However, they were not here for an inspection but for exploration. Therefore, Saviolin Turner needed to know exactly what was in the underground, and she had forced the commander to tell her the truth.

In the ever-changing labyrinth beneath the Demon King's palace, whose true nature remained unknown.

The labyrinth's structure constantly shifted, and traps continuously regenerated, rendering any attempts to dismantle and progress through it utterly meaningless.

Therefore, the commander was merely biding time, waiting for a withdrawal order instead of pointlessly increasing the number of casualties by sending more people into the maze. Although it was dereliction of duty, the stationed soldiers couldn't help but be grateful for such negligence.

In the original work, of course, the labyrinth would never have been excavated. The commander had tried to cover up its very existence. If the royal court knew of this, they would have undoubtedly deployed more soldiers, which would inevitably result in numerous injuries and deaths.

Though the value of human life was undeniable, it seemed that the commander's neck was on the line now that Saviolin Turner had discovered this secret.

It was certain that something existed within the labyrinth, and it was also clear that the mysterious space was connected to it.

However, therein lay the problem.

"It's far too dangerous for Her Highness to go there personally..."

The possibility of her presence in that place being obstructed was all too high.

After all, it was a perilous location for such important individuals to venture into.