CH 528

The notion that Heinrich might be an illegitimate child was no more than a conjecture.

However, when viewed in this light, the loose threads of various incidents seemed to tie together perfectly.

Why hadn't Heinrich been sent to the academy within Kernstadt?

Why did they have to kill Heinrich, who was gradually becoming a hero in these circumstances?

The baseborn illegitimate child might be mentioned as a potential successor to the throne of Kernstadt, surpassing even the noble Louise von Schwarz.

This would be absolutely intolerable for the pure-blooded royal family.

"If this is true, Heinrich probably doesn't know about it either."

It was impossible to know whether this was the truth or not.

"The current Queen of Kernstadt, Solennin, is an extremely fastidious person. Her obsession with etiquette, dignity, and court appearances is no joke. Can you believe if I and Bertus have to learn about it? I haven't seen her in person very often, though."

The queen of a vassal state. A queen with a higher sense of etiquette and dignity than the empire itself.

However, this was ultimately a mere facade, and nobody considered the Queen of Kernstadt to be equal or superior to the Imperial Royals.

"And an illegitimate child... Just the existence of such a rumor would be enough to make her have a fit. No, if such a rumor were to spread in the world, she would go beyond chills and hang herself with a rope."

"So... Instead of an illegitimate child... She might have accepted him as her own child?"

"Killing and disposing of him would have been easier, but well, King Constantine von Schwarz of Kernstadt is known for his obstinate personality. He might have been equally obstinate about the treatment of the illegitimate child. But, well, accepting him might have been possible, but loving him would have been impossible. The King of Kernstadt would have been unable to intervene in that aspect."

Finishing her story, Charlotte drained the last of her tea and exhaled.

"In the end, it's all conjecture. It might be that he wasn't an illegitimate child at all, and the royal family simply loved the fourth and fifth children so much that they couldn't help but hate the youngest."

Charlotte said that she was merely suggesting a possibility, a reasonable possibility. She was only telling what Temple had speculated.

But it was a brutally cruel possibility. It was a possibility that was all the more cruel because it was close to the truth.

Could Heinrich accept or believe this?

"That's all I can tell you. I don't know how to persuade Heinrich."

You are an illegitimate child.

You might be killed by your siblings because of that. No, your siblings have to kill you. They have to kill you before you receive even greater hero treatment in order to eliminate the possibility of the throne going to an illegitimate child.

An illegitimate child who killed two pure-blooded royals.

Wouldn't it be strange if they didn't hate Heinrich?

He has even become undeniably strong, receiving hero treatment in Kernstadt.

He was supposed to live in a corner, out of sight, confined to Temple, but now they had to reluctantly treat him like a brother because of the situation.

It would be enough to break their spirits.

"Hmm, I guess I have no choice but to tell Heinrich that he'll die if he doesn't side with me because he's an illegitimate child?"

"That's true..."

Charlotte laughed weakly.

------

The midnight consultation had come to an end.

Although I hadn't obtained the answer I wanted, I knew what needed to be done.

I could deduce to some extent how the fragile pieces I had set up were interwoven.

We had eaten and had tea.

Yet, somehow, we both felt unfulfilled, Charlotte and I.

Perhaps it was because we had had a proper conversation with each other for the first time in a long while.

We sat idly on the terrace, unable to do anything.

There was something to discuss.

"...Shall we go for a walk?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sure."

As if she had been waiting for those words, Charlotte nodded vigorously.

------

Charlotte and I left the castle and walked through the plains on the outskirts of Lazak.

Following the path, Lazak city was on the left, while the refugee camp formed on the right.

As Charlotte had planned, we occasionally saw people who we presumed to be members of the vigilante group, carrying torches and wandering around.

They were bound to be corrupted.

Charlotte's cruel plan was to purge these corrupt vigilantes and form a new group when the time came.

It was cruel not because Charlotte allowed corruption among them, but because their corruption was a sin caused by their own choices. The corrupt vigilante group, who would later be punished, could not escape the shackle of having chosen their sins.

Though they were merely being used, they would be judged without even realizing it.

Charlotte knew how humans would behave in certain situations.

Because there were people who would crawl into the predicted quagmire without even being instructed, and because they would be replenished by others.

That's why this policy was cruel.

I had no idea how far it had gone.

We no longer brought survivors from the continent.

Thus, Edina's population would no longer increase due to external influx.

We only needed to manage the people remaining in Edina.

We saved many people.

However, compared to the actual number of people who died, it was ultimately a mere handful.

Because of the chain of other events that happened as a result, unthinkable things occurred in the end.

Charlotte and I watched the torches moving in the refugee camp from afar as we walked together.

"How is the administration going? Is it manageable?"

"I don't know if it's manageable, but I'm somehow doing it. I've come to grasp the overall situation in Edina to some extent now. Things will gradually improve."

"That's a relief."

There was no other option but to improve.

Although it sounded good, it also seemed as if the situation was so dire that it couldn't get any worse.

Was I too pessimistic?

"Most of all, it's fortunate that there are no complaints from the demons. If it had been a normal situation, the resistance from the demons would have been greater than that of the humans."

"True."

Although there was no reason for the demons to live with humans, they obeyed without question because the Demon King commanded it.

The rule of the Demon King was thus both ideal and strange.

In a society made up only of demons, the Demon King could practice lifelong dictatorship without any resistance.

Hadn't Eleris said that when she was an Archdemon, she did just that, only to be defeated and exiled by her only demon son who could resist the Demon King?

The Demon King.

And the Princess.

Charlotte, who is now my regent.

When we first met, was this future predetermined?

"Charlotte."

"Hmm."

"I have no memory of living as a prince of the demon world."

At my words, Charlotte stopped walking and looked up at me.

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

Suddenly, on the day I spoke of those times, Charlotte gazed at me in silence.

"When I met you, I didn't know who you were."

"..."

"I won't bother making excuses for the many lies I told you, saying I had no choice."

Charlotte quietly listened to my story.

"But... I should apologize."

"..."

"I'm truly sorry for all the lies I've told you so far."

I don't know how to apologize so that my sincerity is conveyed.

I don't think I can be forgiven for deceiving Charlotte with just this one sentence.

However, I believe I must tell the story properly.

I think this is something I can't put off any longer, using busyness or having too many tasks as an excuse.

Charlotte watches me apologize and smiles quietly.

"Three times."

"Three times?"

"Once in the Demon King's castle, once in the Spring Palace, and here. That's three times."

Charlotte looks at me.

The number of times I've saved Charlotte.

It seemed that's what she was talking about.

"It feels like the world hates me, and somehow, I have to die, but you keep saving me. I wonder if there will be another incident where I have to die."

It was a night when neither stars nor the moon were visible, perhaps due to the cloudy sky.

"You're strange."

"..."

"You should hate me."

"Hate you?"

"Yes."

Charlotte looks up at the night sky.

"I couldn't trust you even though you saved me several times. Even if I had no choice but to think that way. You saved me with pure intentions, but I couldn't trust you and cursed you."

I thought that could happen.

Numerous lies built a tower of misunderstandings, which was more persuasive than the truth.

That's why I thought it was inevitable.

I don't blame Charlotte.

"I had no choice but to do that."

At my words, Charlotte smiles bitterly.

"You saved and protected me so many times, but I couldn't trust you. If you had cursed me and blamed me, that would have been inevitable too."

Blaming Charlotte for not understanding my feelings.

That could have been entirely possible for me as well.

"I did what I had to do in that situation, but you didn't blame me in a situation where you had no choice but to blame."

"What's the difference... I think it's huge."

"You did something I couldn't do. And whenever I feel that you still don't blame me even a little, it feels strange."

"What am I? I haven't done anything for you, always received help, and even pushed you into the abyss at a crucial moment. But you saved me as if it were a given..."

"I don't know."

"That's why you feel distant now."

"I don't know if I can ever do anything for you. I think I'll never be able to repay you even in my lifetime."

Something that Charlotte must do for me.

Not a duty of a servant, but something Charlotte must do for me.

There's nothing like that.

I don't particularly want anything.

"Just live a healthy and good life."

"I thought you'd say that."

Charlotte covered her mouth and chuckled.

Should I have said more?

I need you, not just for duties like a servant, but for you to be present where my eyes can see. I wish you were always there.

Should I have said that?

Charlotte was the first life I saved when I arrived in this world.

It was true that Charlotte felt a different kind of attachment to me than she did to others.

"I want to do something with you."

Charlotte quietly spoke to me.

"Something you want to do together?"

"Yeah, something we can do right now."

Something she wanted to do with me at this time?

As I looked at her as if asking what it was, Charlotte rummaged through her belongings and pulled out something.

"Let's eat this together."

It was a biscuit wrapped in paper.

An item that symbolized the time we first met.

So she carries this with her?

Had she been saving it for a moment like this when we could eat it together?

"Sounds good."

At my response, Charlotte laughed lightly and unwrapped the biscuit, precisely breaking it in half.

It had been the same back then.

She had broken the biscuit I offered her in half and handed me a piece.

In that moment, when she was starving, I felt a strange emotion as I watched Charlotte, who couldn't just eat it herself, hand me half.

When I handed her the biscuit, had she been thinking the same thing?

Though the actual circumstances were different, she had given me all of the precious food in that moment.

Charlotte handed me the half of the biscuit she had split and bit into her own piece.

She had been carrying this biscuit to give to me someday.

She must have wanted to talk to me that much and had always been prepared to do so.

In the end, it wasn't until quite some time after Charlotte had arrived in Edina that we were able to bring up the stories from our first meeting.

We sat leaning against each other on a hill overlooking the refugee camp and the city of Lazak, eating biscuits.

Of course, these biscuits were not the same as the ones we had then.

"It tastes different from that time."

"It can't be helped."

Charlotte and I munched on the biscuits as we talked.

The situation was different, and objectively, these biscuits were not as delicious as the ones we had back then. Naturally, the biscuits the demon prince had carried were of a higher quality, and the ones available in Edina were bound to be inferior.

The luxurious biscuits that we had eaten when we were so hungry that anything would have tasted good.

Ordinary biscuits eaten when we weren't particularly hungry.

They couldn't taste the same.

Charlotte had thought that she could never eat anything more delicious than the biscuits she had eaten back then, so she didn't really care what she ate after that.

That had happened in the Imperial Capital.

Though the taste wasn't the same as that time.

Still, we could eat biscuits together.

In the end, after going around in circles, we could be together.

We don't resent or hate each other anymore.

I don't have to lie to Charlotte anymore.

"Reinhardt."

"Yeah."

"What do you plan to do when all this is over?"

As she took a bite of her biscuit, Charlotte asked me.

After everything is over. After the Gate incident.

If I survive the final battle and somehow manage to settle matters with Ellen.

If I'm still alive then.

What should I do?

"I don't know."

It's overwhelming to think about the distant future when I don't even know whether I'll be able to exist that far ahead, given the current situation.

I'm not the kind of person who can think about an uncertain, excessively distant future.

Heinrich is in danger of being assassinated, and I haven't found a solution to that problem yet, let alone thinking about what will happen after everything is over.

"War... it will probably be inevitable."

"...I guess so."

"Yeah, after everything is settled. Eventually, the fact that we have a foothold in Edina will be known throughout the continent. I don't know when, but it'll certainly happen."

Charlotte is in charge of the preparations.

It's a position that demands thinking about the future. And that is a problem I, as the king, must also think about.

After the Gate incident is resolved, humans will deal with the remaining monsters on the continent and lay the groundwork for reconstruction.

We could create our own paradise here, far from the continent, hiding in plain sight.

But we can't avoid encountering each other forever.

At some point, a collision between humanity and Edina is inevitable.

Charlotte's mention of war isn't exactly new. I've been thinking about the issue as well.

But such a war cannot be avoided.

As humanity rebuilds and the situation improves, their desire for revenge against me, the cause of this calamity, will want to be appeased.

When word spreads that the Demon King has established a base in Edina, the moment will come when we must battle the punitive forces of humanity.

It's something that may not happen in the short term, but is bound to occur eventually.

Charlotte gently pats my shoulder, seemingly aware of my dilemma.

When I turn my head, Charlotte gazes at me with a slightly tilted head.

"Want to hear something interesting?"

"...What?"

"Because you're with me, you can claim to be the heir to the Gardias Royal Family."

What is she talking about?

"Also, you possess two sacred artifacts. You can assert enough influence over the Five Great Religious Orders. Or, you could reform them into the United Holy Church, putting Olivia Lanze at the forefront, and absorb their power. That's possible too."

"What are you talking about?"

It was a terrifying idea.

"Of course, the demons will follow your rule. That goes without saying."

Charlotte looks at me.

"Reinhardt."

What is she trying to say?

I felt a shiver run down my spine.

"You could become not just the ruler of an empire, but of the entire world."

Not the emperor of humanity, nor the king of demons.

The ruler of the world.

"Do you think humans will hate and despise you, and therefore won't accept your rule?"

As if she already knows, Charlotte has a subtle smile on her face.

"People don't live as citizens of the Gardias Empire because they support it."

"…"

"Rule is passive. It doesn't matter if it's the Gardias Royal Family at the top or the despised Demon King. There's no need to persuade from the beginning. There hasn't been any persuasion either."

Rule is just rule.

It doesn't require the support of the masses.

"A ruler just needs to be strong. As long as you're so powerful that no one beneath you dares to defy or overthrow you, that's all. Whether you rule Edina's people with a protective hand or become humanity's oppressor under the guise of oppression and fear, it's the same."

The hatred of humanity.

If that will eventually overwhelm me, am I allowed to strike at them first?

If the war is to happen someday, should I consider confronting it head-on or even launching a preemptive attack?

"What about Bertus...? What will happen?"

At my words, Charlotte speaks with her head buried between her knees.

"I believe… he'll be saved."

Emperor of the Continent.

King of the world.

It's not that I never considered such possibilities.

I didn't necessarily think that a ruler of humanity had to be from an empire.

But now, Charlotte is saying that I must consider that enormous proposition.

"It just... feels like you're only thinking about what you might lose after everything ends. It seems like you're only afraid of that."

"…"

"You might not just lose something; you could gain something too."

It was a thought that seemed quite far from my perspective.

Charlotte looks at me.

"I wanted to let you know that you could make up your mind to have everything and not miss out on anything."

After the Gate incident ends, war breaks out, and someone dies.

Someone from Edina will be lost.

But that's not it.

You can try to have everything in the world.

That's what Charlotte was saying.

Can a country exist where all citizens dislike their king?

Can such a thing be established?

Even if it could be established, should such a thing be allowed?

Speaking in terms of possibility and impossibility, it's possible.

If hatred is turned into fear, that rule can be established.

If the fear is greater than the hatred towards me, no matter how much humanity despises me, I can keep them under my feet.

But can I handle that?

I, who can barely manage this small island nation and have entrusted it to Charlotte.

Do I have even the slightest capacity to pull off such a crazy feat, becoming the ruler of the entire world?

"…"

Just because I don't want to lose a single thing, is it okay to try and have everything?