DMHS 16

“Who wouldn’t want to receive help? He might feel something is odd, but he will be glad.”

Lucien’s face brightened.

“I want to see his lovely face again… Maybe I rushed out too suddenly and others noticed.”

“Right now, avoiding discovery is more important. Later, when time has passed, if you tell him it was you, he will be overjoyed.”

“Yes. I hope he will like it…”

Lucien’s cheeks flushed red.

It was no surprise, since this had been Lucien’s reaction whenever the subject of his mate came up in recent days.

But Walter could not help but frown, he held the handle of the duster tightly. Lucien continued his quiet muttering.

“What should I say? That time during the test, that was me helping. Ah, thank you for helping. That I was curious who had been helping me all along.”

He started to rehearse how he would explain the matter to his mate later.

“Why are you making such a fuss over this. Between us there is no need for thanks. We are each other’s one and only destined partner.”

Tap tap tap.

Walter’s facial muscles twisted in a grotesque way. He cursed himself for not carrying earplugs.

Now the only thing he could do was dust the desk.

“Mhm… I love you too…”

Tap tap tap.

“What? Who says I say ‘I love you’ too easily? Who says that?”

Tap tap tap tap.

“You are the first I have ever said such words to. Because… obviously…”

I can’t hear it, I can’t hear it… tap tap tap.

“You are the only one I love.”

The butler’s patience ended there.

“I will step out to the garden for a while.”

Bowing to Lucien, he escaped the place as if he was fleeing.

***

But one of Lucien’s guesses had been correct.

‘Who in the hell is that bastard?’

Kian was curious about the one who had used mana twice without him noticing. So curious he could not sleep.

‘What if it was a being from another dimension?’

Kian got up with bloodshot eyes after staying up all night. Today, a banquet was held for the finalists.

Though called a banquet, it was not a grand occasion. Royal banquets could broadly be divided into luncheon banquets and evening banquets.

The one commoners thought of as the noble-style party was the evening banquet. Luncheons were limited to only a few guests and ended naturally once the meal was finished.

‘But since the king attends, it cannot be called trivial.’

That alone was enough reason for Ibrahim to fuss and push Kian into the bath four hours before the banquet.

Under the stream of water falling over his head, Kian fell into thought. In the past, he had witnessed the fall of a kingdom. The signs of ruin appeared slowly but surely.

People suffering from nobles’ excessive exploitation and tyranny. Fights and plunder happening daily in towns large and small. Such piled wood needed only a spark to bring about a catastrophic blaze.

And the catastrophe that came to a kingdom was none other than the Demon King’s return.

The dark emotions of people suffering on the surface called forth the Demon King of the underworld.

‘When the Demon King rises, everything will be over.’

What followed was only chaos and destruction. The 666 high-ranking demons who settled in the demonized land around the Demon King’s castle could not be faced with ordinary force.

Only heroes and champions blessed by the goddess with divinity could defeat demons. Recalling the long, long battle, Kian let out a low sigh.

“Haa…”

The fairy tale line, “And so the hero and his companions defeated the Demon King!” in reality, is actually quite difficult.

Monsters with great regenerative ability revived even when slain.

Among demons there were all sorts of strange beings, each requiring its own method of response.

By the time one thought death might be better, the hero’s party had finally reached the Demon King’s castle. The final battle against the Demon King at last had begun…

‘Just remembering it makes me sick.’

Kian dried his hair with a towel and stepped out.

As finalists, Kian and the other three were moved into a spacious chamber in Freesia Palace.

Calling it a room was modest; it had a living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.

Ibrahim greeted Kian with delight.

“Please, sit here. I will put all my passion into preparing you.”

The eyes reflected in the mirror shone fiercely, like the eyes of a predator in the dark.

“I will make you the most beautiful man in the kingdom. Leave everything to me without worry, understood?”

“I leave it to you.”

Ibrahim held towels in both hands and began drying Kian’s hair. His touch, massaging the scalp while removing the moisture from his hair, was skillful.

‘As expected, Ibrahim is remarkable.’

Kian nodded, he had discovered another one of Ibrahim’s talents after speed walking and walking with the same hands and feet.

But the surprise did not end there.

Three hours later, Kian found an astonishingly handsome man in the mirror.

A straight forehead and thick eyebrows. Skin that gleamed smooth with luster. Full lips with healthy color.

And the banquet attire, perfectly fitted to his frame, highlighted his tall, slender body.

“It was no boast. Ibrahim, your skill is good.”

“I told you, Sir Kian only needs to trust me!”

Ibrahim leaned back and laughed triumphantly.

The banquet that day was held in Lavender Palace. From long ago, Lavender Palace had been the place where the king’s family resided.

As they approached the palace, the scent of lavender filling the gardens pricked the nose. The waves of violet, more splendid than in Kian’s memory, seized his sight.

‘This place…’

Unlike Kian, who was lost in old thoughts, Ibrahim had run into another problem.

“Ah! I made a mistake! I was supposed to bring a purple brooch to match Lavender Palace, but I switched it for another color. There’s still time before the banquet, so please wait here for a moment!”

Ibrahim ran back the way he had come. Kian, still in thought, stepped into the garden.

‘Eddie really liked this place.’

Eddie had been the nickname of Hero Edward. He had asked to be called “Brave and Dignified Edward,” but the others never granted his request. Before being a hero, Eddie had been the youngest of the party.

The funny part was Eddie’s reaction. Even when teased regularly, where another would have grown angry or sulked, Eddie always smiled brightly.

And with that smile, he summoned strange monsters.

–On the way to fetch water, weird ones followed me.

He had come back with man-eating fish the size of a man’s arm.

–On the way to collect firewood, weird ones followed me.

He had brought swarms of lizards with nine eyes.

Once he had even summoned an unidentified creature that spewed fire from every hole in its face.

‘He was always quick to smile, but his stubbornness was terrible.’

That was not all. He never listened to others, and it was hard to guess what he thought inside. But…Kian thought Eddie had become a hero because of that very nature. An ordinary human could never have endured that much pain.

“……”

Perhaps because he remembered an old friend, Kian’s was unusually gloomy. Then something bumped against his leg.

“Ah!”

“Ouch!”

Two cries rang out in the garden. The first was Kian’s, the second was a young girl’s.

The girl, in a dress, had been crawling on the dirty ground. Not noticing Kian, she had bumped her head into his leg.

“Take my hand and stand up. I am Kian Semes.”

The girl grabbed his hand and rose briskly. With orange hair and a dress smeared with dirt, she still smiled broadly, unconcerned.

That casual smile felt deeply familiar. It was only natural, for Kian had just been recalling someone who used to smile the same way.

“Pleased to meet you. I am Elizabeth Edward Celestia.”

With Edward as her middle name and Celestia as her surname, it was certain. The girl was a princess of the kingdom.

“So you are the princess. What were you doing here just now?”

“I was taught it is not polite to ask about a lady’s affairs.”

“Then allow me to guess. You were trying to cross the garden and escape the palace, weren’t you, Princess?”

“Well. I do not know why you would think that?”

The princess raised her brows and smiled. Her smile was full of mischief, she would not reveal whether it was true. In truth, anyone could guess her intention just by seeing the dirt covering her dress.

But Kian spoke another way.

“Hero Edward I also used to slip out through this path. From here, if you take the side trail, there’s the back gate. Beyond that wall is the Fourth District commercial quarter. And the important part is, the fruit skewers sold there are very delicious.”

The princess’s eyes widened in shock.

“How did you know that?”

“You learn such things naturally if you live long enough. But Princess, today you will not succeed.”

“Oh? And how do you know that?”

“Because your angry nanny is coming this way.”