Chapter 345 [Illustration]

Chapter 345 [Illustration]

On the day that I was forced to reveal I had cross-dressed, I was also giving out important instructions that could lead to the formation of an anti-empire alliance.

I wondered what kind of person I was becoming.

The gap between the things I had to do as Reinhart and the things I had to do as Baalier felt excessively wide.

In the midst of all this, I had also awakened the high-level talent of Mana Domination.

My mind was constantly filled with thoughts of a crisis, wondering when and how the effects of my actions would come back to haunt me.

The absurd situation where participating in a cross-dressing contest had led to Vertus launching an investigation into me made it feel like I was walking on thin ice.

I also wondered when Ellen would return.

That night, despite being exhausted from long training sessions, I couldn’t sleep properly due to the many things on my mind.

After tossing and turning for hours, I finally fell asleep, but how much time had passed?

I felt something pressing against me.

—”R-Reinhart... Reinhart...”

“Uh, uh!”

I woke up with a start, feeling a desperate hand gripping mine.

As I sat up in bed, I saw Charlotte collapsed on the floor next to my bed, clutching my arm.

“Cha—Charlotte?”

“Rein... Reinhart...”

Half of Charlotte’s face was covered in dark shadows, and she was looking at me tearfully.

It was fear more than shock and surprise that jolted me awake.

I thought her condition had settled down, but she wasn’t completely free of it yet.

“P-Please, help me... D-do something...”

“Uh, uh. Okay. I got it.” Not knowing what to do, I instinctively pulled the trembling Charlotte into my arms. “It’s okay. Everything’s... everything’s okay...”

“O-Okay...”

Charlotte trembled in my embrace, tears streaming down her face.

I thought it was over, but it wasn’t.

Even though I had just woken up, I focused my mind.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said desperately, as if reciting a prayer.

Charlotte’s power hadn’t gone away.

“Nothing bad will happen.”

Would Charlotte have to live with this torment forever, as long as her power did not go away?

I whispered it over and over using the power of Incantation, telling her it would be okay, all the while gently stroking her back.

Whether it was through the power of the Incantation or not, Charlotte’s trembling gradually subsided, and the darkness that was engulfing half of her body began to recede.

‘Is this really a reaction to the power of the Incantation?’

Both Charlotte and Sabioleen Tana believed it to be so, but I couldn’t tell if it was reacting to my demonic control power, my Incantation, or something else entirely.

However, it seemed clear that I was the only one in the world who could alleviate Charlotte’s condition.

Charlotte continued to sniff and sob as her trembling subsided and she returned to her normal state.

I finally noticed her appearance. She was in a camisole and barefoot.

Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat, which made it awkward to look at her.

Charlotte continued to catch her breath, but couldn’t seem to pull away from me.

“...”

“...”

Now that she was feeling somewhat more composed, she seemed to realize the state she was in and couldn’t bring herself to let go.

I carefully pulled my blanket over and draped it over Charlotte’s shoulders.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Mm, mhmm...”

In the darkness, Charlotte nodded, wrapping the blanket around herself like a cloak. I helped her up from the floor and gently sat her on the bed.

My door was closed. I checked the lock and found it was secured.

‘How did she get in?’

“What happened?”

“... I didn’t lose consciousness this time. But suddenly... it just happened.”

Usually, she would lose consciousness when her body was taken over, or it would happen when she fell asleep.

This time, though, the shadow had begun to engulf her while she was still conscious.

“I needed to get to you, but if I went into the hallway... someone might have noticed...”

Charlotte trembled, seemingly frightened by what she had done.

Previously, when she had been completely engulfed by the shadow, she had demonstrated the ability to move through shadows or darkness. It seemed she had used that power to move directly from her room to mine.

“I... don’t want this... I don’t want to be able to do this...”

Charlotte had managed to reach me without anyone noticing because of that power, but the fact that it was possible terrified her. She trembled and clung to my side again.

It seemed her fear was preventing her from making rational decisions.

“Stay with me.... stay with me, Reinhart...”

“Alright. I’ll stay with you.”

Charlotte clung to my waist, looking up at me in the darkness. Her large, frightened eyes were filled with tears.

I felt a sense of danger.

Charlotte had nearly recovered from her previously unstable state, but experiencing this again had brought her to the brink of collapse.

If anything happened while she was in this state, she would surely regret it forever.

“Together... always together...”

Just as Charlotte’s lips began to part slightly...

“It’s okay.”

I pulled Charlotte’s head against my chest.

“It’s okay, you don’t need to be so scared.”

“...”

I had no choice but to do that, fearing something irreversible might happen.

“Nothing bad will happen. I promise.”

Charlotte remained in my arms for a very long time.

It seemed Tana had already explained everything to her.

Charlotte looked visibly apologetic. “It might be dangerous.”

“How dangerous can a Demon King’s castle be when the Demon King is dead?”

I felt no guilt saying this. To me, the Demon King was just a despicable bastard.

Given what had happened the day before, Sabioleen Tana, acting as Charlotte’s guardian, had seriously considered sanctioning Charlotte’s trip to the Demon King’s castle, which she had previously opposed, and had obtained my agreement to accompany her.

We would need the emperor’s permission first, but once we secured that, we would be able to head to the Demon King’s castle.

Charlotte might not know it, but I was merely returning.

We had once escaped the Demon King’s castle together, and we were on the verge of returning to it together.

That stirred a strange feeling within me.

Charlotte looked at me with a complicated expression. From losing her composure and clinging to me in tears the day before, to hearing that I was willing to accompany her to the Demon King’s castle ...

Charlotte’s expression was a mix of embarrassment, gratitude, and guilt, and hard to describe in a single word.

“Thank you. Truly,” she added, her face turning bright red. Perhaps she felt like, when it came to our relationship, she was always the one receiving, so she wanted to give back whatever she could.

***

We weren’t leaving for the Demon King’s castle immediately. Sabioleen Tana had gone to seek the emperor’s permission, which would take some time, at least a few days.

I had things to do as well.

I left the Temple and headed to the Rotary Club headquarters.

There was a familiar face there.

“How are you doing?” I asked Adriana, and she smiled brightly.

“I’m doing well,” she replied. “Everyone is very kind.”

Loyar had somehow become something like a pet dog to Adriana, and the other club members, seeing how much Loyar liked Adriana, naturally took care of her in various ways.

I had been worried about potential trouble, but thanks to the fact that she had easily won Loyar over, the other club members now viewed her very favorably.

Adriana, being diligent by nature, was helping with various chores around the club headquarters, so it wasn’t just my imagination that everyone seemed a bit cleaner and more organized than before.

Adriana and I went for a walk around the vicinity of the Rotary Club.

I wondered how Adriana felt. She had been hurt by various events, and was now living in hiding.

“How is Olivia?”

Despite everything, Adriana seemed more concerned about Olivia than herself.

“Well... her personality seems to have changed a bit, but she seems to be coping well overall.”

“That’s... good to hear.”

Adriana had had a dream for the future, but had to give it up. She then returned to reclaim her old life, only to have that taken away as well.

She had to have felt empty and directionless. She probably didn’t know what to do next.

Just as Olivia had grown disillusioned with religion and then with humanity, it was possible Adriana was walking down the same path as well.

“Those who taught me to love threatened me, and those who taught me to hate saved me.”

She had to feel as if everything she believed in had been turned completely on its head. Although she was living a quiet life in the club headquarters, she was undoubtedly tormented by such thoughts.

In reality, if she had returned to the Temple or entered another monastery, she would have been summoned by the authorities immediately and investigated, and the fact that she had been rescued by demons would surely have been fatal if it came to light.

Even up to this point, she didn’t know she was being protected by demons—by me and Loyar.

Adriana looked up at the clear winter sky with a sad smile.

“I don’t know what to live for anymore. I’m not sure.”

Forced to learn an unwanted truth, Adriana had lost her way.

***

As the prince and heir of the Dark Land, I didn’t know what was in the Demon King’s castle, but I had no intention of going in and conducting a blind search.

Even if I didn’t know anything about it, there were those who did.

After a brief walk with Adriana, I called Loyar outside.

“It hasn’t been long since your work with the Vampire Council concluded, and now you’re off somewhere again?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I responded.

She sounded as if she was annoyed by her lord’s constant busyness.

“I’m thinking of going back to the Demon King’s castle.”

At the mention of the Demon King’s castle, Loyar’s expression stiffened.

“The Demon King’s castle... you say?”

“As you know, I’ve lost my memory, so I don’t know where anything is inside the Demon King’s castle. Do you know if there are any secret areas or places that humans couldn’t have looted?”

Loyar tilted her head. “How would I know that?”

“Didn’t you use to live in the Demon King’s castle as well? You said I used to bully you.”

“...”

Loyar glared at me with a sullen expression.

‘Could she be experiencing PTSD or something?’

“Your Highness, you seem curious about secret areas or forbidden zones in the Demon King’s castle, but someone who wasn’t a noble or royalty within the Dark Land wouldn’t know about such things. I don’t even know if such places exist.”

“... Right.”

I had lost my memory and was asking Loyar about things I should have known, but she didn’t know anything about it.

“Then Eleris and Sarkegar wouldn’t know either?”

“That seems likely, doesn’t it?”

When it came to restricted areas, it seemed only members of the royal family would have that information.

I could go in and search blindly, but there was no reason to do that.

Aside from my amnesiac self, there was another member of the Dark Land’s royal family still around...

“Would Airi know something?” I asked.

“That seems likely, doesn’t it?”

‘She’s just repeating the same thing she just said. Are you just trying to get rid of me?’

Although it was inconvenient to have to go all the way to the Edina Archipelago to ask about this matter, it was important to go back to the Demon King’s castle with proper information. A few days’ delay would be better than making a pointless trip.

Also it had been quite some time since my first meeting with Airi, and it would be nice to see how she was doing.

Unfortunately, no warp gates connected the mainland to the Edina Archipelago.

Therefore, unless I went with a mage who could use teleportation, I would have to travel by sea, which would take a very long time.

With Lucinil’s help, I could make the trip quickly and wouldn’t have to be away for several days.

Returning to the Demon King’s castle and the things that might still be left there...

Would Airi know anything about them?