episode_0045

“Senior!”

“Helena?”

*Whump!*

A woman with a petite figure hung onto my back.

Her short height left her dangling. As she clung with both arms wrapped around my neck, her body weight pressed against my Adam’s apple, making it hard to breathe.

“Uh…Helena? It’s hard to breathe…”

“Aw, Senior, you’re such a complainer!”

I’m not sure how she interpreted my words, but instead of letting go when I said I was suffocating, Helena shook her body as if she were on a ride.

As I struggled to deal with Helena, a man with a massive build, easily a head taller than Agape, approached.

*Slowly—*

He grabbed Helena’s clothes and slowly lifted her, like a prize from a claw machine.

“Ugh! Nikita, what are you doing?!”

“You’re still like a child.”

*Sigh.*

Shaking his head, Nikita looked at her with a gaze that seemed to ask what he should do with her.

His appearance, heavily armed in pristine full plate armor, perfectly showcased a knight of a great house, but the person inside was no different from a mere child.

“Childlike, me? You’re the one who’s like an old man! We’re not even that far apart in age!”

“Alright, alright. So, why were you clinging to Hyung-nim?”

“Oh! Right!”

*Thump!*

She landed lightly on the ground and said,

“Senior! Did you hear that rumor?”

“A rumor?”

“You heard the rumor that a fairy orchestra is coming from the Fairy Kingdom today, right?”

“I did.”

Was their name the Queen’s Orchestra? I remembered hearing that four fairies would put on a grand performance in the city’s central plaza.

“Is that what this is about?”

“Of course! It’s the famous Queen’s Orchestra! You know how much I love Goldie and Akon from there! We said we’d go together last time they came!”

“Hmm…yes, Helena. That’s all fine, but.”

I’m currently on duty, you know?

“Uh…hmm…”

At my words, Helena was struck dumb.

No matter how much she bounced around and displayed her tomboyish nature, she wasn’t so senseless as to suggest going to play in the city center while on duty.

“……”

Nikita, who had been watching them for a moment, looked at the two and spoke.

“As it happens, I just had a fight with my wife this morning, so I’ll take over your duty, Hyung-nim.”

“You, Nikita?”

Nikita nodded.

“Yes. If I go home anyway, I’ll just face my wife’s glares. If I shirk work here until Senior’s shift ends and then go in, my wife will probably be asleep by then.”

“…Oh.”

“…Oh…?”

“Whoa!!! Wow!!! Really, Nikita? Are you sure?!”

Helena grabbed Nikita’s hand and started bouncing around.

Was it because he experienced her uncontrollable high tension? For a moment, such extreme fatigue washed over me that I wondered if I had spoken unnecessarily.

“Sigh…yes, you can. So, please let go of my hand and talk.”

“Senior! I’m going to change my clothes, so I’ll see you at the Duke’s Castle entrance later!”

Ignoring Nikita’s words, Helena was already sprinting towards the knight’s barracks.

Watching her, Nikita shook his head.

“Honestly.”

“…I feel bad for no reason.”

“It’s alright. My daughters are like that all the time, so I’m used to handling children.”

Though Helena was, of course, a full-grown adult.

“That’s not what I was talking about…”

As I quietly mumbled, Nikita called me in a calm voice.

“By the way, Hyung-nim.”

“Hm? Why?”

“How long are you going to pretend not to know?”

“Pretend not to know what?”

“Helena, I mean.”

“……”

“Sigh…”

Nikita let out a deep sigh.

“Helena, you see, she changed like that because of you after joining the knight order.”

As an illegitimate child, Helena grew up unloved, desperate for affection and begging for her family’s recognition.

Because of that, she was always engrossed in raising her cultivation level and tried hard to maintain a bright personality, yet she was also one of the knight members who carried the deepest shadows.

“Always pretending to be bright, pretending to be cheerful, pretending to be kind and sociable.”

That girl who always just pretended is now genuinely displaying such a bright demeanor after being with Hyung-nim.

“Especially after what happened ‘that day,’ she’s been even more overtly showing her affection for Senior.”

“…That’s true.”

Unless I was a fool, I couldn’t possibly not know.

I hadn’t known at first when I joined the knight order, but once the Duke and some other members started subtly hinting, it became impossible not to notice.

No, not that I didn’t know.

‘More precisely, I had deliberately denied it.’

“Hyung-nim.”

Nikita spoke in a serious tone.

“There are truly very few people in life who openly express their affection for you. Especially if that person is a woman like Helena.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Are you still like this because of your fiancée who was supposedly abducted from your hometown?”

“……”

“Sigh…”

Hyung-nim was always straightforward and magnanimous, showing an unhindered and refreshing demeanor.

But when it came to matters concerning himself, he was so frustratingly stubborn, causing Nikita to involuntarily sigh.

‘He said he even received a letter saying she wanted to break up.’

What on earth is it about that woman that makes him unable to let go of such lingering attachment?

Nikita, who thought he’d like to see her face if only he could, approached the topic as cautiously as possible, knowing he might touch Agape’s sensitive spot, and spoke.

“Anyway, don’t push Helena away too much.”

His gaze turned towards Helena.

At the same time, Agape’s gaze also turned towards Helena.

“You never know how things will turn out in this world. Even if Hyung-nim is single-minded in his devotion, love inherently flows capriciously in unexpected directions.”

Especially if it’s one’s first love.

“So, don’t push away a woman who likes you so much, Hyung-nim.”

Look.

“Senior! What are you doing just standing there blankly?!”

“That face looking at Senior right now.”

Doesn’t she like Senior more than anyone else?

“…Yes.”

At those words, I too could not deny it.

Helena was wearing a bright smile.

Unlike in the past, her expression was unadorned.

She looked at me with an utterly bright smile, full of affection.

“…Yes.”

That’s why I have to push her away even more.

Because I didn’t want to give her false hope while my heart was set on someone else.

But in Helena’s expression as she looked at me—

It truly seemed, more than anyone else, full of affection.

***

More than anyone else, she wore a face filled with terror.

*Thump!*

“Huu…haa…N-no…no…”

*Trembling.*

“…Helena.”

As soon as she opened her eyes in the coffin, Helena looked at me with a terrified gaze and recoiled from my touch.

Then, trying to distance herself from me, she pressed her body closer to the coffin, clutching her head with both hands, and began to tremble violently.

*Trembling.*

Only then did my mind, freed from past thoughts, cool down.

And I calmly observed her current state.

‘First, she’s transformed from a human into a demon.’

Horn-like ebony, a long tail, pale skin. And changed eye color and hair color.

Lastly…

‘Even wings on her pelvis.’

There are countless types of demons, and their categories are further subdivided by slight differences in appearance.

But there was only one type of demon on this continent with wings on its pelvis.

Incubus, or—

‘Succubus.’

A succubus, capable of piercing through the essence of humans and seeing into their minds.

Although she couldn’t completely see into my inner self and essence unless she possessed the authority of a ‘King’-class demon, her instinctive senses would have been more than enough to realize how ‘dangerous’ something lurked within me.

“No…no…”

A state of panic.

Tears welled in both her eyes, and she looked on the verge of losing consciousness from severe stress.

“Senior!”

‘…Right.’

No trace of her past self remained.

Only a hideously distorted monster remained inside the armor, so what was I even hoping for?

“……”

I had been nothing but optimistic and selfish.

I pushed her away and hurt her even until the last moment, so how could I possibly reveal myself as Agape now?

‘…It worked out for the best anyway.’

I was planning to completely erase the name Agape from this continent once the coup ended.

Rather than letting my heart be disturbed by lingering attachments to the past, it was far better for her to look at me like a monster this way.

“Huuuk…Huk…”

*Thud!*

Perhaps due to excessive stress, Helena soon lost consciousness.

“……”

As I quietly watched her, a black-haired female knight with a long horizontal scar across her face came to find me.

It was El Cid.

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

She had hurried all the way to the underground chamber, but her gaze was drawn to the unconscious succubus before me.

“Take her to a safe place.”

“…Understood. More importantly, it seems you should hurry upstairs.”

Sweat ran down her forehead.

“The expeditionary army and heroes have returned.”