Ch.295Chapter 295 – You’ve Completely Barked Up the Wrong Tree

The moment I saw Karen blushing and not knowing what to do, my head began to fill with just one word.

‘I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked…’

A single word filling my entire mind.

That phrase that appeared in the introduction of a certain SF novel and shocked many people at the time was now wreaking havoc in my head.

‘How did things end up like this?’

What I needed now was to figure out where things had started to go wrong.

But I needed quite a bit of time to organize my thoughts, and this wasn’t something I could do while in Karen’s presence.

“You, this is too sudden. It’s not that this lady has no interest in you, but still, this is too abrupt a matter. Don’t you think so as well?”

“Is, is that so, Your Highness?”

For now, I should agree with Karen. If I say the wrong thing, I could actually die for the crime of insulting a member of the royal family.

“For now, let us leave this place. After that, I shall have my lady-in-waiting inform you of a date when I am free. How would it be to wait until then?”

“I would like to do as Her Imperial Highness wishes.”

“Then I shall take my leave now. You should hurry back as well.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness. Then…”

Fortunately, Karen seemed to want time to sort out her feelings rather than continue the conversation.

We left the greenhouse and walked away in opposite directions.

Only after the Imperial Princess Karen was out of sight could I finally take a deep breath and then exhale with a sigh.

“Ughhhhh…”

After clearing my mind somewhat with that sigh, I returned to the lodging I had reserved in advance.

This lodging was built near the imperial palace, and it cost a whole gold coin for just one night’s stay.

I wish someone would understand that it was absolutely not my choice to stay at a place so expensive that it required spending a gold coin—something commoners might not see in their entire lifetime.

I wanted to move to different lodgings, but the person who had arranged this place for me was none other than the Prime Minister himself.

He said that a hero who saved the country shouldn’t stay in a shabby place and arranged a room at this luxury hotel run by his friend.

“Welcome, sir. We’ve been waiting for you. When you enter your room, you’ll find warm bath water prepared and some light snacks ready for you. Please rest comfortably.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Perhaps because of this, from the moment I entered the hotel until I reached my room, a staff member was assigned to guide me.

After entering the room, I locked the door, undressed, and immersed myself in the bathtub prepared in the private bathroom.

“The water temperature is nice…”

Soaking in the tub filled with hot water seemed to wash away all the fatigue of the day.

However, the situation I was in wasn’t good enough to afford the luxury of leisurely enjoying the warm water of the bathtub.

‘First, I need to figure out where my plan went wrong.’

It seems I won’t be able to fall asleep easily tonight.

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

Karen Lucien Decartro Gelebrio Aurelios.

Her golden eyes were staring at the ceiling as her platinum blonde hair, which reached down to her waist, was neatly tied and braided.

“Patos Severio…”

Her cheeks flushed red once more as she softly murmured Patos’s name.

“To think that he liked me too…”

Karen was overjoyed, feeling as if she could fly to the heavens, when she learned that Patos had feelings for her.

She had grown weary in a life of countless regressions and repetitions.

No matter how many times she returned to the past and tried to change the future, again and again, nothing changed.

All the people she cherished ultimately died at the hands of the resurrected Demon God.

She returned to the past to restore what she had lost, but time seemed to mock her.

Every time she returned to the past and time flowed forward again, everything repeated itself.

The assassination of the First Prince and Crown Prince Takitar, followed by the incomplete resurrection and temporary sealing of the Demon God, the corruption of the World Tree, and the massive invasion of demon tribes.

And finally, the destruction of the world due to the resurrection of the Demon God.

Thanks to the God of Time who bestowed all his power upon her, she could “regress,” but no matter how exceptional her abilities were, fate remained unchanged.

As the power of the God of Time gradually diminished, she realized that she had few chances left to regress.

Yet, she couldn’t see any way to save the world.

How could one destroy the Demon God?

No matter how strong the warriors who appeared, the Demon God would slaughter them all with a swing of his arm, and when he stomped his foot, the earth would split, lava would flow, and burn everything to the ground.

The existence of the Demon God, an “irresistible force” itself, was a nightmare for Karen.

The last time.

With the determination that this would be her final attempt, she returned to this timeline, where many things had changed.

‘Patos.’

As she remembered, he wasn’t a particularly prominent figure in previous timelines.

But in this timeline, he used an ability called “Repair” to destroy the demonic sword that had caused the Crown Prince’s death.

Not only that, but thanks to his efforts, the demonic cult that worshipped the Demon God failed in their plans multiple times, losing the momentum needed for the Demon God’s resurrection.

However, he was killed in an explosion by a cultist from the Eastern Continent.

The Saint herself led his resurrection ritual, and he came back to life.

After his revival, he resumed his activities with even more advanced abilities.

And through the final desperate attempt of the demonic cult, he completely annihilated the resurrected Demon God, saving this world.

For Karen, the Demon God was the very cause that had thrown her into an endless cycle of regression.

And Patos was the man who had effectively eliminated such an entity.

‘I can’t express how grateful I am to him.’

From the moment Patos confronted the demonic cult that worshipped the Demon God, she became curious about him.

As he repeatedly thwarted the cult’s plans, her interest in him grew.

She was slightly disappointed when he died, but when he was resurrected, she felt hope.

And when the news finally came that the Demon God had fallen by Patos’s hand, her heart pounded so hard she thought it might burst.

The Demon God was gone.

That meant she could finally break free from this endless cycle of regression that had tormented her.

She felt as if she could fly. It was a feeling that she wouldn’t trade for any treasure in the world.

She was overjoyed that she would never have to experience those nightmarish days again.

And recently, she realized that all the power of “regression” that had remained within her was gone.

The disappearance of the regression power meant one of two things:

Either the deity who had bestowed the power upon her had reclaimed it, or the deity, who had vanished, was being newly created, causing the past authority to disappear.

Since the God of Time had disappeared after giving her the ability to regress, the latter was more likely.

In other words, the future where “destruction by the Demon God” was certain had disappeared because of Patos, and the God of Time who had existed in that future where the world was destroyed by the Demon God had vanished.

Upon realizing this, Karen ensured no one could enter, cast a silence spell throughout the room, and wept profusely.

She was relieved that she would never have to experience that terrible future again.

She was grateful that all her efforts had not been in vain.

And she felt gratitude towards Patos, who had completely eliminated those nightmarish days.

The feeling of gratitude Karen harbored, combined with her past observations of him, transformed into romantic feelings for Patos.

In this situation, today she received a confession from Patos.

‘Your Imperial Highness. The truth is, since the last banquet, I have not forgotten Your Highness for even a moment! Please, would you allow me the honor of becoming closer to Your Imperial Highness?’

The last banquet he mentioned was probably not the one he attended before his death, but the one for which she had sent an invitation.

To think he had harbored feelings for her since then!

Of course, he already had two lovers by his side.

One was the Grand Magician and the Academy’s Chancellor, and the other was the Heavenly Demon, the strongest warrior of the Eastern Continent.

If Karen had been an ordinary imperial princess, she might have dismissed him, thinking, “Is this bastard playing with me?”

This was because of the rule that the husband of an imperial princess was not allowed to have a second wife, a rule meant to maintain the purity of the imperial bloodline.

But Karen, who was already deeply infatuated, found even this aspect of him appealing.

She judged that a man capable of having multiple wives was exceptional enough to be worthy of being with her.

‘Wait just a little, my hero. For you, I would even give up my position as the Imperial Princess.’

In various ways, the night deepened for both of them.