episode_0195

“I think I finally understand why my father always wanted to eat with me.”

“Sorry. I have to visit often.”

A huge table that seats six people.

Edric answered Alex’s words, who now had jet-black hair with a hint of white, a symbol of the royal family.

Even after the death of the previous emperor, Leonius, Alex continued the tradition of having his family gather for a meal on one day during the weekend.

“If you think about how your father was hurt when you were young, isn’t Edric a weakling?”

“Oh! That story again?”

“Thank goodness Andre is kind and doesn’t resemble his brother.”

“Looking at how your nephew doesn’t look like you, I guess it’s probably a royal tradition.”

It was Iolin who glared at Alex slightly at his words.

She was having more and more trouble educating her son because he was always causing trouble.

“Wasn’t the royal family’s tradition to cut off an arm?”

“What?”

While Alex and Iolin were bickering for a moment, everyone burst into laughter at the words of Crown Prince Andre, who came in without blinking.

“I thought I’d have to cut off an arm when I became an adult.”

“Andre, this is valuable evidence of your sacrifice to protect the peace of the empire. The Abyss Cult that threatened the peace of the empire 20 years ago… .”

“I know. I’ve heard it hundreds of times already, so I can recite it without missing a single word.”

Alex just pursed his lips in embarrassment at Andre’s words.

“But I think it’s kind of cool. Both my father and uncle have the new golem prosthetic arm, so they’re like the main characters of Iron-Blooded Alchemist.”

And at Andre’s subsequent words, Alex and Iolin turned their gazes to Edric, but then quickly tried to change the subject.

Seeing the two of them like that, Edric just made a bitter expression, and Andre, who didn’t know what was going on, remained silent, wondering if he had said something wrong.

So the silent meal came to an end and Alex invited Edric over for a cup of tea.

“I used to drink tea here with my father, but now that you’re not here and William’s not here, I have no one to drink with.”

“Wouldn’t it be okay if I spent some time with Andre?”

“That guy looks like someone who’s locked in his room and doesn’t even think about coming out.”

Edric smiled silently at Alex’s complaints, now that he was a father.

He also felt sorry for his brother, who had gone from being a scoundrel to the steel prince and now the emperor who had ushered in an era of peace, thinking that he was probably the only thing he worried about.

“… Is there any progress?”

“Yes, it will probably happen soon.”

“Huh… I wonder if I should praise this as great.”

Edric left the imperial palace without permission and returned after subduing the Black Dragon.

At first, Alex praised Edric for accomplishing a feat that no one on the continent could achieve, but soon after he learned of Edric’s goal, he became very angry.

“I realized that even though I am the emperor, there are many things in the world that don’t go my way.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, you too, and Andre too.”

Only now did Alex realize why his father had so many expectations of him, yet had disappointed him and never let him go until the very end.

So, even though my brother’s goal was not appropriate and did not fit the duties of a member of the royal family, I was now thinking of supporting my brother’s goal.

but,

“I want to have a wedding at the palace.”

“What? No, but that’s a bit… .”

Alex was startled by Edric’s words.

No matter how much they cheered her on, it was very self-conscious to hold the wedding ceremony with the new golem, or rather, Elsa, in front of people.

This is especially true when the target is Edric, a hero and member of the imperial family.

“I’m going to marry Mul. I feel like I’ve made you wait too long.”

“Wait a minute… Mule! Are you talking about the Miao hero who defeated the dragon with you?!”

“Yes.”

Alex couldn’t believe Edric’s calm words.

My younger brother, who caught a black dragon and met the spirit king in order to meet the heroine from the comic in real life, suddenly wants to marry a Miao woman.

Having witnessed this near-mad obsession from the side, I was worried that something might have happened to Edric, who was determined to marry Mul.

“Can I ask why you suddenly made that decision?”

“I’m the same as you, hyung. I used to think only of myself, but now I realize that not everything in the world goes the way I want it to.”

Alex became even more curious at Edric’s answer.

What happened to Edric, who had accomplished seemingly impossible feats with the sole purpose of creating a replacement Elsa, that made him give up on it now?

But aside from the question, I was also satisfied that Edric, who was the only one of the brothers who had not married and had caused me concern, was getting married to Mul.

‘It would have been impossible in the past, but the empire is different now.’

The marriage between a non-human, heterodox woman and a member of the royal family was something that would have been impossible just 10 years ago.

But the empire of today was different.

As all races live freely within the empire and even encourage interaction.

If someone from the royal family were to marry someone of a different race, it would certainly have a positive effect on the current atmosphere.

While Alex smiled happily, feeling as if a great burden had been lifted, Edric was drinking tea and thinking about his conversation with Siri.

‘Edric, I want to die.’

Edric still vividly remembered Siri’s words to him.

‘I want to feel the passage of time like Xenia and Krun, who created me, and like Rupert, who was my master.’

Siri’s voice was the same as usual as she spoke calmly, but Edric could feel the emotions contained within it.

‘I can’t forget what I’ve seen, heard, learned, experienced and learned. Of course, I can help someone through it, but sometimes I want to experience forgetfulness like people do.’

‘but….’

‘I can feel Edric’s love for Elsa. I envy her for receiving such unconditional love, but I’m also worried about her.’

-Isn’t it too cruel to have to live forever remembering that love in a world where Mr. Edric has disappeared?

As Siri finished speaking, tears began to flow from Edric’s eyes without him knowing it.

‘More than anything, isn’t there someone who is already looking only at you, Edric?’

Edric looked at Mule, who was fast asleep, lying on the sofa in his office, covered with a blanket.

Edric also knew that Mule’s heart remained by his side even after all his companions returned to their hometowns following the dragon subjugation.

The past years when I could neither reject nor accept it, so I just stayed by its side.

‘You were so close.’

Only now did Edric realize that the love he had been searching for so desperately might be right by his side.

‘Elsa, I guess I have to let you go now.’

It was the moment when Edric’s long first love finally came to an end.

***

A crimson beast with seven heads and crown-like horns that rises from the depths of the deep sea.

Its face was like a lion’s, and its feet were like a bear’s.

Even if you smash its head, a new head will soon be born, and all the demons will bow their heads to the ground and submit to it just with its roar.

“You’re strong, human.”

The beast that would carry the prostitute on its back and turn the world into a sea of fire on the promised doomsday had a miserable appearance.

The bear-like feet he had been proud of were broken and he could not even stand, and the horns that resembled a crown were already completely broken and difficult to recognize.

“You were really strong too.”

On the other hand, the woman standing in front of the beast was in stark contrast, looking completely clean with no wounds except for her dirty clothes.

-Hahahaha

The beast burst into laughter without realizing it, seeing a human, or rather a woman, who spoke of herself as nothing more than a strong person.

“Although I am dying now, when the promised end comes, I will crawl out of the abyss again and turn the world into a sea of fire.”

“Really?”

“You, a mortal, will have already died and disappeared by then, turning to dust!!! Your sacrifices and efforts now will have gone down the drain without any results!!!”

“It’s okay!”

“What?!”

“Then the people here will take care of it! I have to go home now.”

“That… What does that mean…!”

“It was pretty fun! What was the name… I don’t know, just die!”

The woman took a stance and began to gather strength in her fist.

“Ada Ryu, Stabbing the Regime.”

It was clearly just a normal punch, but it was as if the air around her was shaking and engulfing her body like a storm, as if it were a meteor used by an archmage.

Her fists are so powerful that even a layperson who is not familiar with fighting can tell right away that they are filled with incredible strength.

“Okay… Wait a minute!!!!”

bang!!!

With a loud noise, the beast disappeared.

“Finally!! Finally defeated the beast of the end!!”

“The King of Power… no, the God of Power defeated him!!!”

“I can’t believe it… This is how they ended up burning down the entire continent.”

A large number of people gathered to support the warrior from another world fighting the beast of the end began to cheer upon seeing him.

The continent of Liberia was driven to the brink of destruction by the Beast of the End.

But two years ago, a warrior suddenly appeared and turned the situation around.

A hero who defeated all the demons controlled by the beast of the apocalypse with his single body, restored the lost territory of the continent, and finally subdued the beast of the apocalypse itself.

“Thank you for saving this world, Ada.”

“What, I did it because I had something to receive! Don’t worry too much about it.”

“Are you really okay with this? If Lady Ada wants, I can let you stay in this world and live like a king, or rather an emperor.”

A goddess who appeared in the body of a saint from the continent of Liberia.

In her hand she held a small bottle of water.

“This is enough! If I just have this, my nephew will be healthy.”

Ada looked even happier when she handed her the water bottle than when she had killed the beast.

When her second nephew, Robert, suffered from atavism, Ada went on an adventure to find a cure.

Then, I set foot on a ruin I had never seen before, and ended up on the continent of Liberia, which was in crisis.

And after hearing the whole story from the goddess of the continent of Liberia and defeating the beast of the end in exchange for the elixir called the Goddess’s Tears, she finally achieved her goal and now all that was left was to return.

“Are you going?”

“Yeah, Rivera is good too, but I guess my family is waiting for me.”

“… .”

In front of the portal to the continent of Sylvania where she originally lived, opened by the goddess, there was Ada, and a girl with an expression that looked like she was going to cry while looking at Ada.

It was a girl named Miraje whom Ada met while traveling around the continent of Liberia to save it.

Ada, who couldn’t leave Miraje behind after she lost her parents and village to the demons of the Beast of the Apocalypse and fell into despair, took her with her.

But when Ada said she would return to her original world, Miraje made Ada’s heart heavy with the same expression she had when they first met.

“Miraje.”

“… .”

“This is something I really cherish, and I’m giving it to you exclusively.”

“What is this?”

Ada gave Miraje an old but carefully kept book that she had never let go of since arriving on the continent of Liberia.

Miraje began to look at a book in her hands.

It was a book with a picture on the cover, and the cover had “Cinderella Ada” written on it.

“This is it. It’s a picture book, a book with pictures in it.”

“A fairy tale book? What’s it about?”

“So, you see… Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Cinderella… .”

-Complete-