episode_0232

“… ! W-what are you doing!”

Frey gets scared and shakes me off. Her face, bright red like blush, is quite funny.

I wondered if that was the same hero who had toyed with me for hundreds of years.

Maria seemed to be equally surprised, as she asked with a rare tremor in her voice.

“Angry, are you not angry? ?”

I shrugged my shoulders as if asking such an obvious question.

“Of course, right?”

“Why… ?”

“I feel like I’m going to fly away, right? How dare you deceive me! I hate to say this with my own mouth, but no one has played with me for this long! What a fun situation this is!”

“Wow… … !”

“He’s completely crazy. A warrior, a saint. I think you can rest assured. Because this guy is hundreds of times more stupid than you think.”

Am I a fool? That’s not true. I’m normal. Because I am chaos, the source of everything. It’s just that because of the abnormality you call it, you are mistakenly thinking that the abnormal is normal.

“In that case, Joker. Joker, will you confront the Demon King as planned?”

“Huh? That’s not it.”

“Yes… ?”

“Happy is happy, and you can’t be dragged around by the devil even after knowing what happened behind the scenes! The Demon King’s wish is to have a proper fight with me, so either run away or die! Ahahaha! What kind of expression will the Demon King make when he finds out that his plan has been foiled?”

He shouted innocently and burst into laughter. Maria’s face, which had been filled with hope, turned into a look of despair, and Frey’s face showed an expression of anger, as if he had expected that to happen.

“Ah… … .”

“Damn, damn it! You weren’t listening to Maria! Joker was that kind of guy from the beginning!”

As they each let out their sighs, I spread my arms out and shouted as if it was a surprise.

“-, if it were me in the past, I would have said that. Or, if I had realized it sooner than Maria’s confession.”

The two women’s expressions changed when I heard my tone implying that something had changed.

“Not now. Okay, I’ll fight the devil.”

“… … !”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Because there is no change in the fact that Mary is my savior.”

When the expressions on the faces of women who went back and forth between hell and heaven in an instant are relieved.

Albrecht, who was the only one whose expression changed little, asked with a questioning look.

“Wait a minute. What if you realized it faster than Maria’s confession? What does that mean?”

Why are you criticizing something like that? It’s already happened.

I answered with a smile. Sincerely.

“If I had found out first, I would have quit like Maria just said.”

“Is there a difference?”

“There is a huge difference.”

As I spoke, I placed my hand on Mary’s hand. Maria was shocked and surprised.

“If I had found out first, I would have been incredibly disappointed in Maria. So he wouldn’t have felt the need to protect it, and he would have finished everything as the hero worried. But no, right? Maria confessed to me first. This is a very big difference. The difference is whether it is completely flawless or not. Mary is like a god to me.”

“Apologising after making a mistake isn’t it?”

“There is no one who doesn’t make mistakes. That’s impossible. But it depends on whether you reflect on it or not. Also, depending on when you reflect, the saints, criminals, and idiots are filtered out. Mary is a saint.”

As I spoke calmly, Frey looked as if he had been struck by lightning, and Maria was once again shaking her chest and shaking off her surprise. Albrecht nodded as if he understood.

Frey muttered, looking like he had just been to hell.

“What… So Maria was right after all. Phew… .”

“There is light in the good path.”

“Maria, thank you. If I hadn’t listened to you and stopped you… … Okay. I don’t even want to imagine it.”

“No. In the end, if it weren’t for the hero, I wouldn’t have been able to start anything.”

Frey and Maria exchange warm words with each other. It is a heartbreaking sight. When I placed my hand on Albrecht’s shoulder, following the warm atmosphere, she frowned and slapped my hand away.

To be rude.

“It’s Evans.”

“Huh?”

Albrecht called me quietly.

“Let’s talk to the main girl later.”

What kind of conversation are we talking about?

That night, when I brought Frey to my room after all the misunderstandings had been resolved and patted Maria as she fell asleep.

Albrecht, who had never been able to sleep at night, asked sleeplessly.

It seems like he is planning on having the conversation he had planned for dinner. Because I waited on purpose, I responded right away.

“Do you have time now?”

“Ugh.”

“Then, now I can talk to my real wife.”

“Oh, wait a minute. Before that.”

He moved his hand that was stroking the hair of Maria, who was sleeping peacefully.

At the tip of my finger, there was a translucent chin with golden brilliance blooming droplets.

I stroked his chin and smiled.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“… … You’re doing something embarrassing.”

Albrecht responded coldly.

“Put it away. It’s not like you.”

“What makes me unique?”

“It’s shameless. Isn’t it always like that? No matter what mistake I made. No matter what sin you commit. Smiling calmly and innocently without any sign of reflection. Isn’t that what you are, the Joker?”

“… … Still, I know how to express gratitude.”

This princess is all good, but she’s too stiff. These days, men like gentle women. You need to know how to loosen up a bit.

“Anyway, thank you. Your Majesty told me so Maria was able to apologize to me.”

“… … .”

“If there was no charge… Wow, I don’t even want to imagine it. Anyway, you did a great job.”

He raised his hand and stroked Albrecht’s head. The princess looked at me expressionlessly.

Why is this woman not talking even though she asked me to talk to her? I can’t help it. I continued speaking hesitantly.

“You know what? Actually, when I got carried away and kissed Frey, I was really worried? I wonder how jealous Maria will be later. But surprisingly, you weren’t jealous? Maria must have been really nervous too, right?”

“… … .”

“Hmm… So, can you get to the point now? What do you want to say so much?”

Ugh, I guess I’ll just have to raise my hands.

What on earth are you trying to say, Won?

I closed my mouth and waited for Albrecht to speak. Then, as if he had finally thought of speaking, Albrecht began to open his mouth with an expression like gray drawing paper.

“You knew everything.”

It was a word that was difficult to understand when I just heard it. I frowned. The face showed a request for a more detailed explanation.

“As long as I simply believed in Mary, I couldn’t be ‘sure’ of it myself. He used his real wife.”

Are you trying to respond to my expression? Or is he just saying what he wants to say? Once Albrecht opened his mouth, he continued speaking.

She is like that sometimes. Usually, he doesn’t talk much and is lost in his own thoughts, but when he suddenly remembers something to say, he blurts it out.

Like rapid fire.

“If you are the original girl, you will be able to figure it out on your own. I hope that you will step through the clues given through the riddle and come up with the answer.”

At times like that, I stay still. There was no need to disturb Albrecht, because it was fun to hear her thoughts expressed through words. Heavily.

“Isn’t that so? Because you believe in Maria, and because you want to believe in her. I didn’t want to be the first to notice her evil. But I noticed it subconsciously first, so I blocked that feeling and took advantage of my wife. On your behalf, as a messenger who will convey to Mary what you have realized. This is the main woman’s final reasoning that she did not tell the warrior and the saint. Is that correct?”

Because Albrecht.

Because I always get the correct answer.

As a test taker, I am very happy.

It still is.

“It was the most difficult riddle, and I got it right.”

I spread my arms wide. Even though Maria is sleeping next to me, I still have to congratulate my one and only disciple on his all-backs. I cheered loudly.

“You passed, princess. You can go down the mountain now!”

Fortunately, Maria did not wake up.

Instead, Albrecht just asked a question with an expression that he couldn’t understand.

“Why… … Is that something like that? Can’t you just admit to yourself that you know? Is it an act of survival for yourself? Because instinctively, you don’t want to die either. Still, why do you have to deceive yourself? … .”

“Huh?”

“The moment you subconsciously realized that, you would definitely feel disappointed in Maria. So what is the reason for doing such a troublesome thing? You have no reason to do so. You are a monster who is not even afraid of death.”

I am a proud, and sometimes even afraid, disciple, but there are times when I am like this. It’s so easy, but you don’t understand it!

I placed my finger on Albrecht’s pretty lips and whispered sweetly.

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s just the power of love.”

“Maria is not the type to sit still once she realizes her own sins. Everyone makes mistakes, right? And I am the demon who made the most mistakes on the continent. Maria embraced me like that. Now I have to embrace it too, right?”

“Because that’s love!”

Because that’s what I realized.