226
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 226
Caesar opened his eyes in bed.
The feeling of being wrapped in a soft blanket on a plush bed, rather than a field bed after so long, felt like floating on clouds.
Though he wanted to roll around in bed a bit longer, he had to get up due to the small breathing sounds coming from beside him.
"Did you cough?"
As soon as Caesar got up, Gloria handed him a wet towel.
Caesar took the wet towel from Gloria.
"...Yeah."
Caesar stared blankly at the wet towel.
What exactly am I supposed to do with this towel?
Having just woken up, his mind wasn't working well.
"Should I wipe your face for you?"
Ah, so it's for wiping my face.
Caesar wiped his face with the wet towel.
As the cool towel brushed across his face, his mind started to clear a bit.
Caesar handed the towel back to Gloria and said:
"So... Why are you beside me?"
"I'm here to serve you, Sir Caesar."
'I see.'
"Well, this is fucked"
"...Pardon?"
"Ah, sorry. I must not be fully awake yet, I mixed up my inner thoughts with what I meant to say."
"...Is that so?"
Caesar used psychometry on Gloria.
-This is new information.
-So Sir Caesar wakes up cursing.
-I wonder if he had a nightmare?
-But he seemed to be sleeping so peacefully.
'This is really fucked.'
Now she's going to hand me a wet towel every time I wake up.
Caesar's head started to hurt.
He didn't know where to begin addressing this.
While he understood her mindset of treating him as a patient, anyone could see Gloria's neat appearance was perfectly normal.
Only Caesar knew about the deep madness hidden inside her.
That's what drove him even crazier.
"Please, I'm begging you, don't stay beside me while I'm sleeping."
"Should I stand outside the door then?"
"...Don't do that either."
"Then how should I serve you, Sir Caesar? I am your adjutant. As your adjutant, my role is to be your hands and feet, promoting your mental and physical wellbeing. So I thought it was right to wake up earlier than you to assist you."
"...But you usually woke up later than me before."
"...Eh, um... Uh..."
Gloria's brain seemed to momentarily freeze as her eyes began to roll around.
-Did I do that?
-I did do that, didn't I?
-Master was always already awake whenever I woke up.
-Oh my god, what have I been doing all this time?
-I'm an idiot.
-What if Master comes to hate me?
-How should I fix this...
Being called out on this once sent her panic level shooting straight to max.
This doesn't seem like a good sign.
Gloria suddenly stood up and bowed her head deeply.
"I'm so sorry! I've been foolish until now! It won't happen again!"
"It's fine. It's fine. You didn't do it on purpose."
"From now on, I'll work hard to become the perfect adjutant for Sir Caesar. What can I help you with now? Ah!"
Gloria dipped a wet towel into a basin of water and wrung it out thoroughly.
"Shall I wipe your body?"
"...You're my adjutant, not a maid. And I don't ask my servants to wash my body either!"
"Is that so? Then how can I help you?"
"Leave."
"Pardon? I haven't picked out your clothes for today yet, or told you about today's menu..."
"Just leave for now. Let me think."
Gloria looked hesitant about whether she should really leave, but finally stood up.
"I'll wait outside the door. Please let me know whenever you need anything."
Gloria quietly picked up the basin and went outside.
...He felt like he was going to get indigestion even though he hadn't eaten.
He felt like he needed to do something about this situation.
"Agatha. I know you're listening. Come out."
A door appeared in one wall of Caesar's bedroom, and Agatha entered through it.
"How did you know?"
"I suspected, but you were really listening."
Agatha slightly avoided Caesar's eyes.
She always avoids eye contact and can't speak when she's done something wrong.
Caesar suddenly felt tired and rubbed his eyes.
Why are normal women so rare around me?
Even our psychopathic heretic inquisitor friend Tina was hard to handle.
"Fine. Since it's come to this, let's talk about what we haven't finished. Come sit next to me."
Agatha pulled up a chair and sat next to Caesar.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay. This is your house, so you can listen a bit."
"Oh, was that it?"
"What? Did you do something else wrong to me?"
Agatha avoided Caesar's eyes again.
"Hurry up and confess everything before I read it all with psychometry."
"You won't get angry?"
"I won't. Hurry up and tell me."
Agatha carefully opened her mouth as if making a confession.
"It seems Gloria is becoming quite dependent on you."
"That's what we were expecting, wasn't it?"
"That's true. But beyond dependence... She seems to love you quite a lot...?"
"Love?"
"Yes! You know, like loving a pet. That kind of love..."
"You're saying she sees me as a dog?"
"...No, she loves you as a man."
Caesar let out a small sigh.
"Well, I knew that already, so pass."
"Huh? You knew?"
"Yes. I knew from the beginning that she had feelings for me."
"Wait, so you knew Gloria liked you and still accepted her as your disciple and made her your adjutant? Don't tell me you... Like Gloria?"
"Let's stop talking about that. I'm not in a position to like someone or not right now."
Agatha stood up abruptly.
"Hey, you jerk!"
"What? Why are you suddenly like this?"
"You knew Gloria liked you and still kept her by your side? This was all your fault!"
"There are unavoidable circumstances..."
"Circumstances? What circumstances! You're trash who plays with women's hearts! Ha! I really didn't see you that way, you really... Wait a minute."
Agatha blinked.
'...Why doesn't this feel like someone else's story?'
Agatha had shown quite a lot of signs that she liked Caesar.
But Caesar's response was more lukewarm than expected.
Flutter, flutter.
'Could it be... Am I caught in Caesar's love trap?'
"You, who do you like?"
"What?"
"I'm asking who you like. What's your type?"
"I told you I don't have such thoughts yet."
"You told me before. When you no longer have anything to do as human Caesar, you'd stay by my side as a doppelganger. Why did you accept then?"
Agatha's heart started to ache.
Her face turned red and she felt her tongue becoming prickly and standing on end.
Finally, Agatha felt the weight of the horns on her head.
"...Don't tell me it was because I'm the Demon King?"
Caesar recalled that time.
-Then promise me. When you have nothing more to achieve among humans, when I need not human 'Caesar' but doppelganger 'Caesar', you will return to the demon realm. And that you will stay with me.
Caesar was drawn to Agatha then.
As if enchanted by Agatha's words, he promised to do so.
Then what about now?
Caesar looked at Flawless lying diagonally on the table.
"I can't say it had no influence at all."
Agatha felt like her heart stopped.
And knowing she would get hurt, Agatha opened her trembling lips.
"...Then what about now? How do you feel now? Do you think about returning to the demon realm?"
Caesar looked at Agatha's trembling eyes.
He knew what answer Agatha wanted without using psychometry.
But Caesar decided to give a different answer.
"Yes or no. It's difficult to answer."
"Why? You're of the demon race. You don't belong among humans. You should be with us. The moment your identity is revealed, all the people you tried to protect will curse you, sell you out, and try to kill you."
A tear dropped from Agatha's eyes.
"You still want to stay among humans despite knowing this...? Do you like humans that much? Or is it Gloria...?"
"Agatha, listen carefully."
"What is there to listen to! You're not in your right mind right now! Gloria will betray you too when she finds out you're a doppelganger! Do you really not know that?!"
Agatha gripped Caesar's hand tightly.
"If other demons find out you're Barre, they'll try to kill you too! Only I fully understand, forgive, and accept you!"
"My mind is clear, Agatha."
"Then why are you saying such things? Why...? What exactly do you want?"
Agatha's trembling transferred completely through Caesar's hand.
"You must eventually return to me..."
"Agatha."
"Tell me the truth now. What exactly do you want? Why were you so good to me...? Did you help me just because I looked pitiful? Do you save everyone who looks pitiful?"
"At the Vampire Castle, I first helped you because you looked pitiful, that's true."
Agatha wanted to leave this place immediately.
It was because she felt utterly shameful and worthless as a woman... No, as a being.
"And I rescued the demons with you at the Eileen River because I received your request."
"What about helping me settle in the demon realm? Was it because of your deal with Arch Duke? To secure a stable supply of magic stones through me?"
"That's right."
"Then until now, you've thought of me not as a purpose but only as a means? You helped me because your conscience was troubled, you helped me because you needed the elixir, and you helped me because you needed magic stones? Right?"
"No."
"After agreeing with everything until now, now you say no? What are you..."
"At first, I was more important to me than you. So I helped you to ease my conscience and helped you because I needed the elixir. It's true that I approached you because I needed the magic stone mine. But as we shared many conversations and went through many things together, you became precious to me."
Human relationships deepen over time.
Though it might have started as just a business relationship, as time spent together increases and many experiences are shared, it naturally develops and becomes more complex.
"So don't say such sad things about being used."
"I like you, Caesar."
Agatha approached Caesar.
"You know it too. I need you, Caesar. Just as Gloria is someone you need, I need you too. I want to depend on you, and without you, I feel like I'll suffocate and die."
"Agatha."
"That's why I wanted Flawless. I wanted to know your true feelings. Not because this cursed Demon King power was controlling your heart, but because I wanted to know how you really felt about me. No, because I wanted you to truly love me." Agatha placed her hand on Caesar's cheek. "Do you love me, Caesar?"
Agatha's eyes were so beautiful.
Her scent was enchanting, and everything from her porcelain-like skin to her curtain-like hair, the slightly exposed neckline and veins beneath, to her full lips was lovely.
She was beautiful enough to make Caesar want to throw away all his troubles and die contentedly in Agatha's embrace.
It would be foolish to reject such a woman.
"I have something I must do."
"And?"
"To do that, I can't be bound only to you."
"What is it? Is it something you can only do by rejecting me?"
"No, to do it, I must leave the demon realm for a long time. It could be 1 year, it could be 5 years, it could be 10 years."
"I can wait for anything like that."
"There's something more important than that."
Caesar gently pushed away Agatha's shoulders.
"If I'm bound to you, when I need to have courage, I might not be able to find it."
"What courage?"
"The courage to die."
Agatha resisted Caesar's pushing hands.
"When I need to risk my life, thoughts of you will make me want to live."
Agatha leaped toward Caesar.
Caesar couldn't push away the charging Agatha.
It was because Caesar had already reached his limit in resisting Agatha's allure.
It wasn't because of Agatha's charm magic.
It was because of Agatha's magical eyes.
Rejecting those beautiful eyes was very difficult for Caesar as a man.
Agatha stole Caesar's lips and then fell back.
"...Agatha."
"I don't understand what worries you so much that you're concerned about living and dying. You might have secrets that only you know. But..."
Agatha pressed her forehead against Caesar's.
"When something comes to you that you can't solve alone, I hope you'll think of me first. Even if I can't solve it, I want you to whine and lament and cry in my arms. Just as I think of you when I'm struggling, I want you to think of me when you're struggling."
Caesar didn't know why he felt relieved at Agatha's words.
Agatha hadn't even heard Caesar's concerns yet.
"What is it you have to do, Caesar? Tell me."
Caesar felt like he had experienced this feeling somewhere before.
-Then promise. When you have nothing more to achieve among humans, when you need the doppelganger 'Caesar' rather than the human 'Caesar', that you will return to the demon realm. And that you will be with me.
Ah yes.
That was the feeling back then.
Caesar wasn't drawn by the Demon King's power.
He was drawn by Agatha's eyes.
"This world might be destroyed by devils. I have to stop that."
Agatha heard Caesar's concern and grinned.
"Yes. That's about right."
Caesar was drawn to Agatha.