Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 465

“The problem is that there’s no way to do it right now. But we might be able to do it if we think of a proper solution.”

If there were a warp gate, migration on such a large scale would be possible, but currently, the warp gate technology could not be used.

It was also impossible to move them physically. No matter how skilled a mage the grand duke was, he could not lead the entire population from the Duchy of Saint-Ouen, located in the northwest of the continent, to Port Mokna, which was located at the southernmost tip of the continent.

Teleporting the entire population of Arnaka was, of course, impossible, and thus out of the question.

“Nothing will happen to Arnaka right away. We can take our time to think of what to do.”

“... Okay. I understand.”

Dealing with the Gate Incident was still the most urgent task, so nothing would happen to the Duchy of Saint-Ouen or the Grand Duke immediately.

After the Gate Incident was resolved, the relocation of the people of the Duchy of Saint-Ouen to Edina could take place.

With those words, it seemed that the last shadow on Harriet’s face disappeared.

***

Having met up with her family after a long time and believing that she might be able to save the people of Arnaka, Harriet seemed more lively than before.

After returning to Edina, Harriet’s expression brightened considerably.

“Once the Gate Incident is resolved, couldn’t we improve the warp gates even more and create a gate that directly connects Arnaka and the Edina Archipelago?” Harriet asked.

“It would be great if we could do that but... No, I know you can do it,” I said.

“Yes, if it doesn’t work, I’ll make it work.”

Naturally, seeing her so lively was pleasing.

Although she hadn’t shown signs of depression or struggle like everyone else, she had merely been hiding it.

Harriet’s more relieved and energetic appearance inevitably lifted my spirits as well.

I hadn’t thought that Harriet’s research into warp gates at my request would be helpful in this way, but ultimately, Harriet’s research might result in a way to save the inhabitants of her hometown.

It could only be done once the remaining warp gates across the continent were destroyed, but Harriet could begin to prepare a blueprint for what would come after.

Of course, it only meant more work, so Harriet, who was already busy, became even busier, but this was about saving people and her own family, so there was no reason to stop her.

It was a way to resolve the guilt and self-reproach she had been hiding for two years, so it was natural that Harriet gave it some serious thought.

Harriet continued to do what she had to do, and I continued to do what I had to do.

***

About a month had passed since returning from Arnaka, and it continued to grow harder to bring an end to the Gate Incident. This was because the warp gates were not only releasing increasingly stronger monsters, but their defences were becoming stronger as well, which meant that more cautious approaches needed to be taken in order to destroy each gate.

Eleris mentioned that it was no longer possible for her to destroy the warp gates alone, and it was natural that the empire, along with Sabioleen Tana’s unit, found it increasingly difficult to destroy the warp gates as well. As the number of warp gates decreased, the speed at which the remaining gates were being destroyed was slowing down, and numerous casualties continued to occur.

In a reality where the end seemed near yet infinitely distant, other events unrelated to the Gate Incident began to unfold one by one.

“Great Being, there is news that the princess is soon to be executed,” Antirianus said.

“...”

I had no choice but to face the inevitable that was bound to happen someday.

“Why?”

Vertus had not responded to the demands of the masses thus far, therefore, I believed that Vertus had a strong enough will to protect Charlotte.

“Is it because I showed myself in the capital previously?” I asked.

If the explosion of the populace’s anxiety made it impossible to ignore their demands any longer, then the trigger for this sudden change ultimately lay with me.

Antirianus smiled faintly at my question. “While it can’t be said that it had no impact, it seems the largest factor is that the empire cannot continue to refuse the demands of the vassal states and the Church of the Five Great Gods.”

“...”

“These entities are demanding that the imperial family use the princess as a scapegoat to stabilize the current political situation.”

The empire was already unstable, and now the vassal states and the Church of the Five Great Gods were applying pressure as well.

The vassal states were crucial components of the empire, and the Church of the Five Great Gods, despite losing some support from the masses, still remained a powerful military group. The empire could not ignore them.

Even though the Gate Incident was not yet over, these entities were already acting as if it had ended.

The Church of the Five Great Gods wanted to deflect the arrows of blame onto the princess to dilute the hatred towards themselves, and the vassal states wanted to remove the unstable element of the princess to shore up their trust in the crumbling empire.

Was that why the empire had no choice but to reluctantly agree?

“Emperor Vertus has decided to execute the princess three weeks from now, on Monday, at noon, in the grand square of the capital.”

“...”

Did Vertus ultimately have to choose to exchange Charlotte’s life for the empire?

But Antirianus was still smiling.

“In addition, there is news that the Vampire Lord and Count Sarkegar will also be executed together.”

“... What?”

“It’s just as you heard.”

‘Charlotte was one thing, but executing those two as well? Has Vertus forgotten my warning from two years ago?’

He should know that if he touched Lucinil and Sarkegar, I would become his enemy.

Antirianus was still chuckling as if he found the situation immensely entertaining.

His annoyingly amused expression made me slowly realize what this bewildering and unpleasant situation meant.

Three weeks... That was quite a long time. Perhaps an excessively leisurely period of time.

Vertus would know that I had appeared in the capital not long ago.

Soon, he would intuitively know that I was watching the capital.

He wasn’t just trying to kill Charlotte.

Lucinil and Sarkegar were also to be hung on the gallows. That fact said quite a lot.

The execution was set a considerable time away, and was not going to be done hastily. That would leave enough time for the news to spread.

“They’re offering those two in exchange for taking Charlotte away,” I said.

They wanted me to appear at the execution grounds and take the three of them away, by any means necessary.

The crowd wanted Charlotte to be judged, so they couldn’t secretly hand her over to me, and even if they wanted to, the empire didn’t know where I was.

Therefore, at the moment when Charlotte was brought out to be publicly judged, the Demon King would seize her.

For the empire, it would be a convenient excuse.

They could say that they tried to comply with the demands, but they could do nothing when the Demon King appeared.

In the end, Vertus could no longer protect Charlotte.

So, by returning my two subordinates, he was essentially pleading for me to take Charlotte away as well. That was the hidden intention behind this situation being orchestrated by Vertus.

“Wow... What an extraordinary and brilliant plan...”

He was conveying his intentions to me in this way without knowing where I was.

It was impressive enough to elicit admiration.

In the end, my unintentional appearance in the capital became the opportunity for me to retrieve not only Charlotte, but Sarkegar and Lucinil as well.

Three weeks later, at noon...

Though we hadn’t coordinated it, a staged kidnapping would have to be executed.

***

At this point, there was something Reinhart didn’t know.

“Three weeks later, on Monday,” Vertus said.

“...”

Charlotte nodded with a dark expression, sitting quietly on the bed.

It wasn’t that Vertus had failed to hold out. Rather, Charlotte herself had wanted this, because her existence was a burden to both humanity and the empire.

She saw her own life as unnecessary, and if her death could provide even a slight relief to the people, then she would go ahead with it.

She believed that if she were forcibly kept alive, the empire would collapse.

The vassal states and the Church of the Five Great Gods had made demands, but this situation had arisen because Charlotte herself had requested to be executed.

Vertus, of course, refused.

He said it was absolutely impossible, and that such a thing would never happen.

The first words that had come from his sibling’s mouth—his sibling, who had been silent for a long time—had been a request to kill her. To kill her in order to extend the empire’s lifespan, even a little. Since her very existence was a seed of division, she felt she had to do something, even if it meant her death.

Since everything had happened because of her, and she couldn’t go out and fight like Ellen, she felt this was the least could do.

Wouldn’t it be better to die, since just by living on, she was bringing division to the empire?

She had given up.

Resigned.

Regretting.

Charlotte, who had gone beyond all that and reached the point of self-hatred, had no attachment left to life.

Vertus hadn’t made this decision because he had been worn down by the demands of the masses, the vassal states, and the Church of the Five Great Gods

It was because he feared Charlotte might commit suicide in the Spring Palace if she was not executed.

Therefore, this was the only plan he could devise.

Vertus hadn’t told Charlotte anything.

That Reinhart had appeared in the capital.

That Reinhart was watching from somewhere in the capital.

That he was still trying to protect people.

He didn’t tell her any of that because he knew it would only add to Charlotte’s self-deprecation.

Thus, Vertus was making this decision unilaterally.

Charlotte only knew that she would be burned at the stake alone in the grand square three weeks later.

He didn’t tell her that someone might come for her.

Charlotte didn’t know who else would be executed along with her.

He didn’t say anything about it because Charlotte would never allow such a thing to happen to herself.

If she were told that Reinhart would come to save her, she would think she was unforgivable and might strangle herself.

Even if Reinhart didn’t appear at the appointed time three weeks later, it would be fine.

Vertus would find some way to save Charlotte, even if that meant he had to stage the execution.

She wouldn’t be able to stay in the capital anymore, but she could live quietly somewhere else.

He didn’t know how to make a sibling who had given up on life live. He did not know how to make Charlotte want to live, but all he could do was ensure that she didn’t die. That was all.

Only Reinhart could make sure Charlotte lived. Therefore, Vertus pleaded with the unseen Reinhart.

‘Please. Let Charlotte live longer.’

He knew such a request was shameless, but he also asked for Charlotte to be forgiven.

He couldn’t be forgiven, but he still asked for Charlotte to be forgiven.

In essence, the emperor was pleading with the Demon King.

Since the empire couldn’t protect Charlotte, the Demon King would protect her.

“Sister.”

“...”

Charlotte believed she didn’t deserve forgiveness, so if she heard of the plan, she would likely reject it.

Therefore, he had no intention of telling Charlotte this story.

Vertus approached the silent Charlotte, pulled up a chair and sat down.

Because of the countless horrors that had occurred, not just her distrust of the Demon King, Charlotte was likely trapped in a cycle of self-torturous thoughts.

She couldn’t allow herself to be forgiven by Reinhart and protected in a safe place.

Vertus quietly watched his sister, who had taken on the form of a demon. Charlotte’s red eyes quietly gazed back at him.

Vertus could not protect Charlotte.

But if Reinhart truly appeared and took Charlotte away, then from that point on, Charlotte would be under the protection of the Demon King.

He wouldn’t know where the Demon King was, nor would he be told.

Thus, these three weeks would be the last Vertus could see Charlotte.

They had hated each other to the point of wanting to kill each other.

And how many times had they actually tried to kill each other?

He didn’t know when it had started.

But at some point, when Charlotte had become too weak to consider a competitor, Vertus’s view of her began to change.

At first, he had seen her as merely an unworthy competitor. Then, before the misunderstanding about the Demon King had been cleared up, he had seen her as a pitiful sibling who had been used by Reinhart from beginning to end.

Now, though, she couldn’t even control herself anymore.

The world had become like this because of her. She was buried under the curses she had hurled at the Demon King, and left with nothing but guilt, self-reproach, and self-torture.

The former emperor had died, and Vertus had taken his place.

Since then, Vertus had wanted to protect Charlotte somehow.

Once the whole world began to hate Charlotte, Vertus had struggled to protect her.

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Even while countless ministers, and not just the rabble-rousing public, spewed suspicions that Charlotte was related to the Demon King, Vertus ignored them all.

Somehow, he hoped his pitiful sibling would survive. And now, Vertus was entrusting this task that was beyond him to the Demon King.

He looked into Charlotte’s red eyes, which were staring at him blankly.

It would be the last time seeing her.

And because it was the last time...

“Sister...”

“...”

“Can I hug you?”

At Vertus’s words, Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise.

Seeing that small trace of emotion returning to eyes that had been dead all this while, Vertus smiled bitterly.

Charlotte, too, during these terrible times, had seen the brother she hated so much trying to protect her somehow.

But only after everything had been ruined.

Only after they had destroyed everything with their own hands.

It was perhaps inevitable that something called brotherly and sisterly love, which hadn’t existed and couldn’t have existed before, had formed between them.

Charlotte didn’t know what was about to happen. Therefore, she thought Vertus was doing this because he felt sorry for making the decision to kill her, even if it was at her own request.

Charlotte had chosen death for herself because she felt sorry.

Seeing Vertus say these words out of guilt, Charlotte hesitated before moving.

She was going to die.

Charlotte hesitated for a long time before slowly leaning towards Vertus.

Vertus pulled Charlotte’s small, frail head towards his chest and embraced her.

This was the first time they had done such a thing.

‘Was she always this small?’ Vertus thought as he embraced his sibling for the first time.

“You have to go to a good place... a good place...”

“...”

If he said anything specific, his intelligent sibling, though weakened, might realize what he was saying, so Vertus could only say that much.

Charlotte, who was being embraced by Vertus, began to cry softly.

A good place...

Would she even be allowed to go to such a place?

If she were to die, she believed she was destined to fall into the fiery pits of hell for the sin of bringing such calamity to the world.

Could she go to a good place, even in death?

Charlotte cried softly in her brother’s arms, believing such a thing to be impossible.

“...”

If Reinhart came and took Charlotte away, then living with the Demon King would at least be better than living in this Spring Palace.

She would receive Reinhart’s forgiveness, and though the self-reproach and anguish would remain, it would be a better life than being shut in a dark bedroom doing nothing, the way she was now.

Her diminished voice would gradually grow, and she would find something to do.

She would live a better life, one that Vertus couldn’t see.

Reinhart could do what he couldn’t.

Having become emperor, Vertus had to take responsibility for the things he had done.

Charlotte, who had not ascended to the throne, had nothing to take responsibility for, so she would live under the protection of the Demon King.

Reinhart had to come.

Vertus believed he would surely come.

After all the things that had happened because he had failed to give that trust when it was most needed, he now believed in Reinhart.

He knew this was a terrible thing.

He knew he was imposing something terrible on Reinhart.

But there was simply no other way.

Vertus couldn’t think of anything else.

“I’m sorry... I’m sorry, sister...”

Charlotte, who believed death awaited her rather than survival, shook her head at Vertus’s apology, while resting in his first embrace.

“No...” Charlotte struggled to say, her voice cracking. “I’m... I’m more sorry...”

She could at least say that much.

“Thank you... Thank you for everything you’ve done until now...”

And not just being held, but moving her delicate arms to embrace her brother tightly in return—she could do that too.