Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 470

At southern Gradium, at the entrance to the Krinto Forest...

Everyone, including myself, gathered at the pre-arranged meeting point.

Wooong...

“Are you okay?” Harriet carefully asked as she wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth.

“Not really, but well. This much is nothing...” I replied.

“Still, getting your heart pierced twice in one day is not an experience you want to have often.”

To be honest, it hurt like hell. Being pierced by a spear had been unexpected, but having my heart pierced by Lament the second time was something I had knowingly allowed.

Knowing that it was coming made it a lot scarier and more painful. Of course, Tiamata’s Divine Power had healed it, but the memory of the pain did not easily fade away.

More than anything, Ellen’s shocked expression after stabbing me was etched in my mind and wouldn’t leave. It would grow into a trauma. Not just because she had stabbed me, but also knowing that that day’s experience would feel like hell for Ellen made it impossible for me to feel at ease.

I had anticipated that Ellen might be there, but I hadn’t expected the crowd to push her into fighting against her will. Thankfully, Harriet had lifted the spatial interference barrier and extracted me at the right timing, following my signal.

The leader of the Black Order was dead, and the remnants of the Order had retreated. I couldn’t be sure what those guys would try to do to me next.

The area near the capital was regularly patrolled by knights, so there were usually no gate monsters nearby. Of course, security wasn’t perfect, so monsters still occasionally appeared in the refugee camps near the capital. For the moment, though, there were no monsters visible near this forest.

Despite all the unexpected events, I had ultimately been able to achieve my desired goal. I had succeeded in rescuing Sarkegar, Lucinil, and Charlotte. I had to unintentionally behave harshly toward Ellen, but that was unavoidable.

Charlotte had initially fallen unconscious, but she was now awake.

Charlotte was dazed, not knowing what had happened to her. Charlotte, with black hair and red eyes.

Would she never be able to return to her original form?

“Your Highness...” Sarkegar said with a trembling voice.

“I’m sorry I found you too late,” I said. “I had too many things to—No, I’m sorry. I was just too late. I have no excuses.”

“No, Your Highness. Just seeing you safe like this... I’m... I’m so...”

I quietly embraced the weeping Sarkegar. I did not care about the somewhat terrifying appearance of Dreadfiend’s true form. I was just grateful that Sarkegar was safe.

After that, I also quietly embraced Lucinil.

“I’m sorry, Vampire Lord. I was late...”

Lucinil chuckled and hugged me back.

“No, don’t mind it. Thanks to your warning, this guy and I were doing quite well. We were treated as honored guests. We even heard in advance that something might happen at today’s execution,” Lucinil said as she patted me on the back.

Lastly, I stood in front of the dazed Charlotte.

“Uh...”

‘What words should I start with?’

Charlotte was dazed, and I too found it difficult to find the right words to begin.

“I did this because it seemed like the only way...” I said.

“...”

Standing in front of Charlotte, who had no idea what was happening, I eventually sighed.

“You have to come with me from now on... Um... First of all, I’m sorry for everything.”

Charlotte’s lips trembled when I suddenly apologized.

“I don’t know if you still hate me or not... but I couldn’t just leave you,” I said.

I didn’t know what Charlotte was thinking, but it was true that I had lied a lot and deceived Charlotte.

Even now, Sarkegar, who could be considered an enemy of Charlotte’s mother, was standing beside me. She might not be able to forgive me.

I didn’t know what Charlotte had done wrong to me, but Charlotte’s mouth moved silently as she looked at me.

Thud.

Suddenly, Charlotte collapsed to her knees in front of me. Then, she bowed her head.

She knelt down and bowed her head so low that it touched the ground in front of me.

“Ugh... Argh... Ugh... Ugh!” Charlotte cried out as if screaming, as tears fell from her eyes and wet the ground.

“No, hey, don’t cry...” I said.

Was she feeling sorry toward me? Just as I felt sorry toward everyone, had Charlotte been feeling guilty toward me all these two years?

Why did me, Ellen, and Charlotte end up only sharing feelings of guilt toward each other? Why had we become so consumed with the thought that everything was our fault?

“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh... Ugh...” Charlotte wailed, almost like a beast, sobbing and almost dry-heaving.

“Uh, uh... Uh... Sorry... I-I’m sorry... Sorry... I’m sorry... I... I was wrong... I was wrong...” she muttered.

I knelt in front of Charlotte, who was crying with her head still bowed.

“Hey, I also did a lot of wrong things.”

“No, no! No, I... I didn’t trust you! It’s all because of me! Everything, everything is because of me... It’s all because of me...”

I could only pat her back quietly as I watched her cry like a small animal for a long while.

***

I succeeded in bringing Lucinil, Sarkegar, and Charlotte back with me to the Edina Archipelago. Thanks to my warning, Lucinil and Sarkegar had not been treated harshly or tortured by the empire.

The Black Order had attacked me, and I had killed their leader. I had even had to fight Ellen, who had been present at the scene. There were also numerous civilian casualties. However, in the end, I succeeded in safely bringing back the three people I had aimed to rescue.

Charlotte didn’t hate me; she felt guilty toward me.

Who was truly responsible for all these events? It seemed inevitable that the Gate Incident had occurred because of my lies, and because of all the emotions that had been tangled up in them.

Everyone seemed to consider all these events as their own responsibility.

In the royal castle of Rajak, I felt the need to be alone with Charlotte. At a glance, Charlotte appeared excessively weak, and was not in a good condition.

After her near-convulsive crying stopped, Charlotte kept her head down. She seemed to feel guilty even about meeting my gaze.

“It’s all in the past now,” I said.

“...”

“Let’s acknowledge the wrongs we’ve done to each other, all of it, and leave it at that.”

“...”

However, those words couldn’t erase the guilt Charlotte felt toward me.

“I can’t do that... I don’t deserve this kind of help from you... Not at all... Don’t help me this much... I betrayed you. I didn’t trust you. I didn’t try to understand you...”

It was as if she thought it would be better to die at the hands of a monster in some street or wilderness.

“People died because of me... It’s all because of me...”

Charlotte’s guilt had turned into self-torment.

I grabbed Charlotte’s cheeks, who was repeating self-deprecating words with her head down, forcing her to meet my eyes.

Charlotte, with her demon-like eyes, couldn’t bear to meet my gaze and lowered her eyes, eventually closing them altogether.

“Do you remember what I said before?” I said.

“...”

“If you act like this, what does that make me?”

When Charlotte had said it would be better to die if the soul of the Demon King resided within her body, I had responded with sorrow, asking her how she thought it made me feel when she refused to cherish her life and kept expressing self-destructive thoughts.

“If you act like this, what do you think it makes me feel? I who risked my life to help you escape from the Demon King’s Castle, who destroyed my father’s soul to preserve your identity, and who fought the Black Order and Ellen to bring you here? If you act like this... What does that make me, who brought you all the way here?”

“...”

At those words, Charlotte struggled to open her eyes and looked at me. Her eyes were filled with tears, and it pained me to see those guilty tears.

“Live for my sake. If you’re sorry, then work for me, as hard as the depth of your guilt.”

“Work...?”

“Yes. To be honest, I didn’t bring you here just to save you. Uh...”

It seemed she couldn’t accept living with me because of the guilt and remorse she felt.

It seemed she couldn’t accept being given such a comfortable environment.

“I brought you here to put you to work.”

Just as Eleris went around destroying warp gates to ease her guilt and remorse, desperately immersing herself in tasks to avoid dwelling on those feelings, I thought of giving Charlotte something to focus on—something meaningful she could do.

After all, I had brought Charlotte to this place because I genuinely needed her.

“You have a lot of work to do.”

“Me...? What kind of work...?”

“It doesn’t matter what kind of work. If you feel guilt toward me, if you feel guilty toward humanity, then just work. Work to repay it,” I said, my tone firm.

I was telling her that I was going to collect the debt of saving her life three times. If those words could ignite even a spark of determination in Charlotte, then they were exactly the words she needed to hear.

“I’m... I’m in this state... How can I... What can I... even do?” Charlotte asked.

The idea that she felt there was nothing she could possibly do in her demonic form was somewhat amusing to me, even in this situation.

“No, you look great.”

I gently brushed Charlotte’s jet-black hair.

It seemed like something I shouldn’t say, but...

“You look a lot better than me,” I said.

“...?”

Honestly, it was true that Charlotte looked much more like a Demon King—or Queen—than I did. No one would dare to complain about minor issues to a Demon King’s proxy if they looked the way she did.

I squeezed Charlotte’s cheeks roughly. She still seemed dazed by my declaration that I had not saved her, but had brought her with me to put her to work.

“...!”

“So from now on, eat well, take care of your body, and exercise a bit. Got it?”

“...”

“You need to do that in order to work properly. Right?”

Charlotte looked up at me while I continued to squeeze her cheeks.

“Come on now. Answer me.”

When I released my hands from her cheeks, Charlotte lowered her head with a dazed expression.

“... Okay,” she replied.

In the end Charlotte began to cry again. She knew why I was speaking in this manner.

When I said I’d get mad if she kept crying, she held her breath and tried not to cry, and eventually started hiccupping. I thought she might pass out from holding her breath, so I ended up patting her back.