Irene's Choice
Ten years ago, when Irene dreamed of marrying Jae-hyun and living a happy life as his empress, she had been a young girl terrified of the Demon King Laylana who threatened the world.
She knew Jae-hyun planned to return to his original world, Earth. Yet she had decided to follow him. With nearly fifty years remaining until that day, she reasoned it would be enough to live out the rest of her life here first, then move to the other world.
Thanks to her unprecedented talent, the rarest in a millennium, Irene had never fallen behind anyone. Despite mastering swordsmanship and magic simultaneously, no one could match her growth rate, and finding mentors proved nearly impossible.
Her mentors had existed, but her father, Lextin, the head of Lextin Trading Company, had hidden her talent to prevent it from spreading. When the mentors grew drunk and used her as an ashtray to brag about her achievements, her talent became known.
Ironically, her early mastery of both sword and magic led many to dismiss it as exaggeration.
When the Hero Jae-hyun arrived in this world, even high-ranking figures dismissed her talent as exaggeration. But she proved it before the nobles and became the Hero’s teacher.
To Irene, Jae-hyun was the only one who possessed talent surpassing hers. Although he was an otherworlder, his abilities here far exceeded anything he had known on Earth.
After crossing dimensions, such terrifying talent awakened in him. Yet his talent still outstripped hers.
To Irene, this was the first time she had felt the presence of someone stronger than herself. She had never taught anyone before and had experienced some trial and error, leaving her quietly anxious about making mistakes.
Through training him, Irene gradually grew fond of Jae-hyun. Though he remained her disciple, he was one year older than her and had not been formally acknowledged as such.
Of course, no romantic complications arose. Irene and Jae-hyun eventually became lovers. Jae-hyun had begun addressing her casually since the day she taught him sword and magic.
She had smiled brightly, calling him “Oppa” and telling him to treat her the same way.
At that time, Irene had felt nothing but happiness.
After training him for a year, when Jae-hyun prepared to enter the battlefield, Irene had joined him to fight alongside the Hero. Killing monsters, demons, and dark mages stained by corruption had not been pleasant, but refusing meant the world would perish and she and Jae-hyun and their families would all die. So they waged war against the dark legions.
When Jae-hyun battled the Demon King Laylana, Irene fought fiercely against her strongest subordinates, shining brightest among the six Hero companions.
The moment the Holy Sword pierced Laylana’s belly, the outcome was decided.
The Hero had triumphed over the Demon King, and Irene had been genuinely joyful. Now, she would return, marry Jae-hyun, bear their child, and live happily ever after.
But at that very instant, a hideous betrayal had begun.
The companions, acting on Crown Prince Ferdinand’s orders, had betrayed the Hero and seized Irene along with her.
Hearing the Crown Prince’s plot to brainwash her, Irene had felt deep disgust.
How could anyone be so vile?
She had fought desperately. Jae-hyun had used the Holy Sword to slip through the dimensional rift and escape, but Irene could not follow and was captured.
Imprisoned, raped repeatedly by the Crown Prince, and forced into countless acts of humiliation, she had despaired and screamed, wishing only for death.
Yet restraints barred even suicide. When three months had passed, her mind had shattered completely, and she had become fully brainwashed.
After brainwashing, she no longer felt like herself.
She had become nothing but a puppet moving solely for Ferdinand, her emotions manipulated at will. Thinking back even now made her terrifying.
She had conceived and given birth to a daughter, Seria, yet been forced to satisfy Ferdinand’s desires day and night without rest. During brainwashing she had felt only joy and never rejection.
But now, merely recalling it sent shivers of pure horror down her spine.
Awakened from brainwashing, she could remember every moment of that period. No longer the brainwashed sex toy and combat weapon, Irene faced Jae-hyun as her true self.
Clang—
Her wedding ring slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor.
“O… Oppa…”
For the first time in ten years, Irene had called Jae-hyun “Oppa.” For the first time in ten years, she had reunited with him. Though her eyes were bloodshot and the Hero had become a Demon King, she felt no urge to blame him.
There was no right to blame someone whose body had been defiled, and thinking of the pain he must have endured made her heart ache unbearably.
She could empathize with the betrayal and hatred he must have felt toward the world.
From Jae-hyun’s perspective, Irene was in the exact same position. From her own, the same.
‘Even if brainwashing is quite solid, Griffith’s level can never catch up to mine.’
And Jae-hyun had pulled Irene into his arms, covering her lips with his own and kissing her deeply.
“Mmmph…!”
Startled by the sudden kiss, Irene’s eyes widened, then tears flowed as she joyfully accepted it. She wondered if she truly deserved a kiss from Jae-hyun, but at that moment, nothing else mattered.
The ten years of memory were so shameful and painful that she had wanted to die.
Yet she had feared Jae-hyun would grieve if she died. It would have been unbearably unjust to perish so suddenly.
She wanted to ask why she had to endure such suffering.
Why she had been crushed so completely.
Why she had to stand before the person she loved in such a wretched state.
“Uwaaa! You bastard! Get away from my woman! You filthy bastard!”
Ferdinand had flown into a rage the instant he saw Jae-hyun kissing Irene. How dare that filthy otherworlder steal the lips of the Empress he had claimed as his wife?
As Irene continued kissing Jae-hyun with tear-stained eyes, she glared at Ferdinand. In her now-clearer blue eyes, resentment, hatred, and killing intent burned fiercely.
Irene knew who had killed her father, Lextin, the head of Lextin Trading Company.
Before brainwashing, it had been someone else, but after she had been brainwashed, Ferdinand had forced his penis into her mouth and commanded her to suck it. Only then had he revealed the truth of her father’s murder.
By making her, despite being his own father’s killer, suck his own penis and smile, Ferdinand had satisfied his own sense of domination.
During brainwashing, she had been forbidden even to feel hatred toward her father, and her vengeful spirit had been forcibly suppressed. But now that brainwashing was gone and she was free, she was no longer a puppet.
She could vent anger and hatred as she wished.
After the kiss with Jae-hyun ended, Irene spoke quietly, her voice carrying an intensity of fury that the bright, lively Irene of ten years ago could never have imagined.
“Jae-hyun Oppa, that bastard killed my father and crushed me.”
The voice was filled with intense hatred that would have been unimaginable from the Irene who always smiled brightly.
But Jae-hyun felt nothing but joy at her reaction.
“You want revenge?”
“Yes, I want revenge. Why do I have to be crushed like this? What crime did I commit that I have to go through such things? Why did my father have to die? Why… why…? Why!!!”
As she spoke while crying, Irene’s momentum exploded. Violent wind pressure gusted around her, making her scream.
“Aaaah!”
Ferdinand tumbled backward awkwardly, but Jae-hyun continued to hold Irene in his arms, patting her back gently while stroking her beautiful golden hair.
Jae-hyun, holding Irene’s body close, could smell the sweet fragrance radiating from her and felt the stirrings of desire. It was the first time he had felt such intense lust, and he was thrilled.
It was joyous that, beyond revenge, he had something he truly desired. In that sense, Irene was incredibly precious. She was the one who could still bring him joy even after becoming a Demon King.
“Irene, you did nothing wrong. Your father, Uncle, or I—none of us did anything wrong. We are simply the victims crushed by this unfair world.”
As he held Irene, Jae-hyun whispered into her ear. He understood her hatred, her anger, her drive for revenge.
‘Ah… I… re… n!’
That day ten years ago was still unforgettable to Jae-hyun. As he lay dying, he had remembered Irene, cursed the betrayers, and lived only to avenge them. He had finally accepted Laylana’s offer and chosen the path to become the new Demon King.
That was why all the human blood had been purged from his body, replaced by demonic blood.
“Irene, don’t worry. I came back here to avenge and reclaim you. I will never abandon you. I can discard everything else, but I cannot discard you. There is no one I can yield to the way I yield to you.”
At Jae-hyun’s words, fresh tears streamed down Irene’s face.
“Hic… Hwaaa!”
Hearing those words, Irene burst into loud sobs within Jae-hyun’s embrace. The pain and sorrow she had endured for so long exploded together, spilling out as tears.
“You can cry…”
Seeing Irene able to cry, Jae-hyun felt a strange envy. He was no longer human. He was a Demon King—someone who makes others cry, never one who cries himself. That was why he could never weep.
Envious of those who could cry, he envied Irene for being able to.
“Irene, I know what you’re worried about. Your body is dirty because of that trash, and giving birth to his child must be agonizing.”
“Hic… Hic, yes. It’s not Oppa’s child. It’s that trash’s… ugh…”
Irene’s voice, spoken from within Jae-hyun’s arms, carried unmistakable hatred. The fallen Ferdinand rose to snatch Irene’s wedding ring from the floor, but Jae-hyun simply flicked his fingers. In an instant, Ferdinand floated helplessly, mouth sealed shut, paralyzed in place.
“I’ll give you the chance to wash away that guilt.”
With those words, Jae-hyun released Irene from his embrace, snapped his fingers, and a girl appeared before them.
She looked like an eight-year-old girl with golden hair and blue eyes, the very image of Irene.
Her name was Seria von Habsburg—the Imperial Princess of the Habsburg Empire, born of Irene and Ferdinand.
“Mommy?”
Seria, terrified by the chaos around her, blinked in confusion at the sudden teleportation, then spotted Irene and immediately ran forward, pitter-pattering toward her.
[Decree content]