Ian's True Heart
The faint light of dawn quietly seeped through the corridor windows while the sky was still dark. A soft knock echoed gently down the long imperial hallway, disturbing an untimely rest.
"Haa..." Yet there was one who reacted sharply even to this small sound. It was none other than Teodore Alteus, the great Emperor of the Adelan Empire.
Teodore pushed himself up with arms that looked ready to collapse at any moment. His golden hair cascaded down in soft waves.
"...One hour." He swallowed a groan and forced the words out. One hour was how long the Emperor had been asleep since last night. With bloodshot eyes, he lowered his head and let out a heavy sigh.
"So once again... I couldn't fall asleep."
More than two years had already passed since Teodore took the throne by beheading the previous emperor. And for those same two years, he had been unable to cure the mysterious insomnia that began the night he killed his predecessor, slowly destroying his body in the process.
Teodore continued to endure this torment alone, unable to escape the insomnia that plagued him.
"Should I seek help from foreign physicians..." He had summoned every renowned doctor across the empire to treat this cursed insomnia, yet none succeeded. There was only one reason: mental stress. Though Teodore had appeared composed after killing the previous emperor, his mind had been rotting from within. That was the cause.
The only time Teodore could sleep was when he held a virgin in his arms. He didn't know why, but back then, driven to the brink by insomnia and extreme stress, he had been willing to do anything if it meant he could sleep peacefully. For a while, he indulged in plucking the flowers of noble young ladies. It wasn't rape; every encounter was consensual, thanks to his appearance, said to possess the greatest beauty in imperial history, which instantly stole the hearts of ladies lost in fantasy. Of course, given his position, it couldn't last long, but at least he could sleep.
"So I have to hold a woman again..." Overwhelmed by rising guilt, Teodore clutched his forehead and lay back on the sheets. At least while holding a woman, he could shake off this disgusting feeling. But the sense of disconnect upon waking, the sudden wave of loss that crashed over him afterward, was too much to bear. So he endured the insomnia as long as he could, only reaching for a woman when it became unbearable.
Knock, knock.
"Your Majesty, a letter has arrived from the Vatican."
"I was lost in idle thoughts. Come in, Asha."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
***
A moment later, the door carved with dragon motifs creaked open, and the girl called Asha appeared. The first thing she did upon entering the Emperor's chambers was to glance around the room. It was the same refined, elegant chamber as always. The expensive furniture and porcelain could have seemed extravagant, but their numbers were restrained to what was necessary, reflecting the owner's dignity.
After finishing her scan, Asha turned her gaze forward to her one and only master. His neat, elegant golden hair and seasoned golden eyes were flawless. His charm was so overwhelming that she always had to steel herself before entering his bedroom, lest her expression soften for even a moment.
After calming her racing heart, Asha walked steadily to the Emperor's bedside. She parted her small lips and offered the usual morning greeting.
"Did you sleep well, Your Majesty?"
***
Asha. Because she was a commoner, no surname had been granted to her. Only a name existed. Perhaps her parents had been fond of the romance play by the playwright who once shook the system. Her name seemed modeled after Ashar Marcel, the eldest son of the Marcel family. However, perhaps fearing to use the full name of a count's direct line, her name was not Ashar, but simply "Asha." A fake, merely copied from someone else. A lowly girl of the lowest birth. Yet that was her identity, the name of the genius who had risen from her humble bloodline to become the Emperor's advisor.
"Asha."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The girl now stood before him, looking up with bright, round eyes. Her silver-tinged purple hair stood out strikingly, instantly capturing his gaze. Her sparkling silver-gray eyes further enhanced her beauty, refusing to let his eyes stray. He had only brought her in as a maid because it seemed a waste to let such beauty rot in the slums, yet as the years passed, she revealed her brilliance until one day, when he opened his eyes, she had become his aide.
Asha excelled in state affairs, finance, and every field she touched—an invaluable talent that could not be dismissed as merely a genius. Therefore—
"I have not yet awakened from sleep. In fact, I plan to sleep for the next hundred years."
"Yes, I understand. Then I shall return in a hundred years, Your Majesty."
Her serious nature was clearly influenced by him as well.
"...I never said you could leave the bedroom. Who dares to leave this place?"
Watching Asha, who had been about to turn and exit, freeze and look back at his single remark, admiration slipped out. How could she not recognize a joke as a joke? That rigid personality was her only flaw. Without it, she would have been a truly perfect beauty.
"This one failed to properly understand Your Majesty's meaning and could not obey your command. Please grant me your understanding and forgiveness..."
"...Haa. Enough. So, what business brings you here?"
"I am deeply grateful for your mercy, Your Majesty. It is nothing else; I have simply brought a letter from the Vatican Pope."
"Read it."
Asha unfolded the letter and addressed Teodore.
"From the small neighboring kingdom in the northwest, the Erebor Kingdom, comes an unbelievable report. A sinister demon has been summoned in the kingdom's capital. Though it is presumptuous, this land's ruler, the glorious Emperor of the Adelan Empire, is requested to dispatch the knight order—?"
Asha could not finish reading the letter. Teodore had hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her forcefully onto the bed where he lay.
"Kyaa!"
With a cute scream, Asha landed softly on the bed—precisely on top of Teodore. When she opened her eyes, she was nestled in the Emperor's embrace.
"...I-I'm sorry, Your Majesty! To dare lay hands on your noble body... I have committed a grave sin. If you punish me later, I will accept it gladly, so please forgive me..."
Asha hurriedly rose, apologized to Teodore, and quickly straightened her disheveled clothes as if nothing had happened between them. Teodore let out a dry laugh at her attitude, but something about it displeased him, so he decided to tease her a little.
"...How boring, Asha."
"...Please grant me your understanding, Your Majesty. If you point out what I lack, I will correct it without tarnishing the imperial honor."
"..."
Teodore frowned and stared at Asha. Even her last words displeased him.
"Punishment... Very well. If you want punishment that badly, I'll let you enjoy it to your heart's content. This is an imperial command. Come here and lie down with me."
"..."
0.8 seconds. That was the moment Asha froze, repeating the command, and the time she spent agonizing over whether to actually carry it out.
"...I will obey the imperial command."
Having made up her mind, Asha immediately acted on the order. 'It is the command of the exalted Emperor.' No matter how much her reason rejected it, she could not show it outwardly. Asha walked to Teodore's side, hesitated shyly for a moment, then climbed onto the bed and lay down beside him.
"..."
Hearing her soft breathing so close, the Emperor smiled in satisfaction.
"Well done, Asha. Your flaw is being too serious about everything. So for now, relax a little. It would be even better if you carried that ease into your daily life."
"Your words are most wise. I will certainly do so."
At Asha's stiff, mechanical reply, the Emperor gave a bitter smile.
"And remember one thing. You must obey my every word absolutely, but do not trust me unconditionally. You are both my aide and my advisor. So speak what you believe is right and remind me of my shortcomings."
"...May I speak freely?"
"Speak."
"I believe it would be best to finish reading the letter now, then return to the office and complete the backlog of work. That is what I think, Your Majesty."
"I see. You're right. There must be work piled up. Hmm... Asha, you are more outstanding than anyone. That is why, though I keep no one close, I keep you by my side."
There were many who could be called his closest aides. Ruden Valpurs, the Iron-Blooded Duke of the North, ruler of the north and commander of the border defense forces protecting it from the demon realm. Erasi Ganion, ruler of the east, who unified the beast-like minority tribes and pledged their loyalty to the empire—one of only two dukes in Adelan. Ivar Barox, captain of the Royal Knights, whose martial prowess had transcended human limits, the empire's sole Sword King at present. Yet among them, the only one before whom he could reveal his true self without hiding was Asha standing before him.
"I am merely grateful for Your Majesty's boundless generosity."
"Yes... So I will reward your loyalty. This is an imperial command. Rest like this for one hour."
"...Yes, Your Majesty. I will obey."
Asha, who spoke thus, showed no change in expression afterward, as if she had regained her composure. She seemed like an extreme wooden doll that only responded to given commands. But Teodore disliked that about her. She wasn't an emotionless doll. She was human too, so why did she castrate her own emotions and try to live so lonely?
So he wrapped his arm around her head and pulled her firmly to his chest. He wanted to see her flustered expression, even if only like this.
The operation was a success. Asha, settled in Teodore's arms, showed a slightly bewildered look in her eyes.
"Yes. Now you look a bit more human. Just rest like that."
"......Yes, Your Majesty."
Breathing in the fragrant lavender scent matching her hair color, the Emperor quietly closed his eyes.
'At times like this... I might want to hold a slightly different kind of woman occasionally.'
Not women like prostitutes who spread their legs helplessly, blinded by his appearance and status. Submissive yet not submissive. Unbound by their origins. Or those with their own unique disposition. Such women.
'Of course...'
There was one right in front of him, but—
"...My apologies, but it's a bit hard to breathe, Your Majesty."
"Is that so? Sorry."
"Not at all. It is my fault for not enduring, so please do not worry."
"Understood."
He could not hold Asha. She was not a sex slave but his advisor and aide. If she forgot that essence, she would not be able to live. From the beginning—
'Die! Just die!'
'Calm down, kid. I won't bite.'
'Get away! You're all the same! People are all the same!'
'Hmm... A troubled child. How does she show defensive instincts just from approaching...'
'Die! I'll kill you!'
—she had been such a child. Now she seemed like a plausible human wrapped in etiquette and wisdom, but she was originally not human but a beast. Her essence was that she could only live by following given commands. As a fellow human, he could not force his circumstances on her.
"...Rest well, Asha."
"Yes, Your Majesty. I pray that you have a comfortable rest."
Thus, the Emperor closed his eyes. In his heart, he yearned for a woman who could relieve this cursed insomnia and dry thirst. Yearning for a child who could bloom even a single flower in this barren daily life, Teodore closed his eyes and fell asleep.
***
"Achoo—"
"Huh? Sirmiia, did you catch a cold?"
The hero looked worried and placed a hand on my forehead. I smacked his hand away in disgust and pulled a handkerchief from my pocket to wipe my nose.
"No. No. My nose just itched."
"That's a relief, then."
He smiled in relief.
"By the way."
"Yes?"
"Can't you stop using that idiotic formal speech?"
"Uh... You don't like it?"
"Yeah. I hate it like hell."
If you're going to do it, do it properly. It's not like reading from a textbook...
"If Sirmiia doesn't want it, I won't use it anymore."
"Good. Please don't."
"Got it."
He smiled awkwardly. Even that sight was unpleasant, but—
'At least it's better now.'
It was fortunate that my ears weren't tormented since his speech had changed. But now my eyes were suffering. Eyes could be ignored if I didn't look, but ears heard everything even if I covered them, so it was torture. I was slightly nervous, wondering if I'd have to listen to that nauseating tone all the way to the Erebor Kingdom.
'No... Is he Angelica or what? A guy acting like that.'
Well, it was hard to joke about it lightly since she was already dead. Not that it was my business. Wow, surprisingly, Angelica really was dead. Or rather, should I say she disappeared? Just hours ago, hearing the hero say Angelica was dead, I went to the scene and saw blood everywhere, so I thought it was true. But for some reason, the most important corpse was missing, which felt suspicious, so I asked the hero about Angelica's body.
"I don't know... It was there until I stabbed her with the holy sword earlier... Huh..."
I got that ridiculous answer. The idiotic reply that the body was there until he stabbed Angelica's heart. Then what, did the corpse walk away? He should say things that make sense. So now, there were two possibilities I could think of here. First, the hero was fooled by Angelica's acting like an idiot. Second, the appearance of a third party who had been watching the fight between Angelica and the hero. Honestly, the most likely was the first. A dragon wouldn't die so easily, and Angelica had regeneration spells. She had no mana, but it was just a wound, not a loss. She had clearly told me that very little mana was needed to regenerate wounds. Of course, the possibility that the hero had pushed her so hard she couldn't recover even a bit of mana couldn't be ruled out, but somehow it seemed more credible than the second hypothesis. And for good reason— if there had been a third party from the start, these two wouldn't have missed it. Not to mention Angelica's detection ability, the hero also had monstrous senses. Yet they didn't notice? The only person I knew with such monstrous stealth was one. The demon who led the assassination of the hero Descartes twenty years ago. Germa of the Shadow, ranked 12th in the demon realm hierarchy. But Germa had already died long ago. So that possibility was literally very low. Assassins of that caliber weren't easy to find. However, after explaining all this, it might sound funny to say, but there was no need to attach much meaning to Angelica's missing body. What mattered now was Julius's life or death, not Angelica's. Well, if Angelica was alive, I'd meet her someday. I decided to think positively.
***
"Everyone's ready, right?"
"Wait a second, Ian. Before going to Erebor, I want to get purified by the Saintess first... Is that okay?"
"Ah... Right. There was purification. Sorry, I didn't think of it. Go get it quickly."
"Yeah... It's fine. You must have been busy with party matters, so no need to worry about me too."
"Seria..."
Wearing an oversized coat, Seria fiddled with the drooping sleeves and muttered timidly. Honestly, it looked too pitiful. It gave off the same bitter feeling as seeing a fifteen-year-old girl heading a household, feeding her younger siblings in place of working parents. So my mood wasn't great.
"Ian. Um... you know. After we catch the demon... won't you come back to Dilbart with me...?"
The one who answered that shy remark wasn't Ian, but Sirmiia.
"Oh! So Seria was thinking the same as me!"
She showed interest in Seria's words, perked up her ears, and approached.
"I wanted to look around Dilbart more too... We can sightsee together!"
But while Sirmiia was excited, Seria's mood visibly darkened as she glanced at Ian.
"That's great, Seria, right?"
"Huh? Yeah... I guess..."
But Ian, who was nothing more than a Sirmiia fanatic, answered happily without a thought.
'He doesn't even notice other people's feelings...'
Seria pouted and walked toward the Saintess with a very gloomy expression. Her back looked so forlorn that Ian unconsciously called out to stop her.
"Seria!"
"...Yeah?"
Thinking he had pinpointed the reason for her gloom, Ian chattered about going to Dilbart together to cheer her up. 'Seria must be disappointed because we can't all go together. She wanted to go with everyone, but now it's just me and Sirmiia!' Ian thought that was spot on.
"So, it's okay, Seria?"
Ian winked at Seria. Seria only gave a rotten smile and inwardly blamed the clueless Ian. Ian happily asked the Saintess, who was standing far behind.
"Saintess. You'll come with us too, right?"
"..."
But the Saintess, deep in thought, didn't hear.
"Saintess? Are you listening?"
After calling about three times, the Saintess, lost in thought, suddenly lifted her head and responded.
"Huh? Oh. Yes... I was listening... Hero."
Then she answered half-heartedly, as if listening or not.
"Ah... So you were listening..."
Ever since leaving Dilbart, the Saintess had been like this. She stayed apart from the group, lingering at the back. With a demon subjugation coming up soon, this atmosphere was something a hero couldn't just overlook. The party's overall mood directly affected life and death in battle. Now was the time for the hero party leader to say something.
"Everyone..."
"Still, I'm glad! It would've been lonely sightseeing alone!"
His words were cut off midway. It was because Sirmiia grabbed Seria's hand and smiled brightly.
"Heh..."
Ian forgot what he was about to say and just laughed. Yeah. If Sirmiia's bright smile was there, who cared about the party's atmosphere? If you couldn't be happy seeing her smile, even eternal life would be miserable. A hundred times right.
'Not even three seconds... What kind of resolve doesn't last three seconds.'
Watching Ian's nonsense quietly, Seria sighed and turned her back. She walked straight to the Saintess standing alone.
"Um... Saintess? Can you cast purification on me?"
"...Ah. Yes. Was it about time your energy was running low...? Understood. Please wait a moment..."
She muttered something, then calmly exhaled. Kneeling on the dirt ground, she clasped her hands and began to pray.
Your daughter earnestly prays. Seria is in great pain. Please heal her, Lord. You'll do it, right? Because I believe in you.
The Saintess's Unique Magic: Complete Recovery
Whoosh—
A bright light poured down over Seria's head. Soon, a light that looked as warm as a mother's embrace gently enveloped Seria's body. Seria closed her eyes and nodded in satisfaction.
"Thank you, sister."
"No... It's only natural as the Saintess."
The Saintess broke her expressionless face and smiled slightly. It seemed Seria's innocent smile had softened her heart a little.
"Huh? What's that."
Sirmiia, standing behind, had question marks floating above her head at their actions.
"Hero. What was that? What did the Saintess just do to Seria?"
"Ah. Right. Sia, this is your first time seeing it?"
Ian, who had approached Sirmiia, answered her question. But Sirmiia paid attention to something else first—the words Ian had just said.
"Wait... You... Who is Sia? Don't tell me, me?"
"Yeah, it's you. Since it's Sirmiia, shortened to Sia. How is it? Isn't the nickname cute?"
In that instant, it felt like a thread holding my sanity snapped. Sirmiia surrendered to the rising anger and fired off curses like a machine gun.
"Fuck. You wanna die? Who told you to make up a nickname and call me that on your own?"
Ian, flustered, took the curses and blurted out an excuse that wasn't really an excuse.
"...S-Sorry. Your full name is too long to say... I thought Sia would be cute too... If it hurt your feelings, I'll apologize."
"Of course you should, fuck."
Was this era's hero really a lunatic? Did he not realize that arbitrarily giving nicknames to someone you're not close with would make them feel bad? Or did he just not care? Maybe Angelica wasn't the only crazy one.
"Sia. Sia... Hmm... Isn't it nice? I think Ian's idea is pretty good, actually."
Meanwhile, Seria called me by the nickname and sided with Ian. Even Seria...
"I agree with that opinion too. The sound is better than I thought, and it feels nicer. Sia feels more friendly than Sirmiia."
The Saintess—I didn't expect much from her anyway... A hero-worshipper. Obviously she'd side with the hero.
"No. If Sirmiia doesn't like it... I can just call you by your original name... I won't act close with nicknames. Sorry..."
"Hah..."
Just like a hero. He manipulated the entire party, created a situation where I couldn't refuse, then casually handed the choice back to me.
'Damn it.'
How come not a single person is on my side? At times like this, I miss Angelica so much. Angelica always took care of me first...
'...Now that I think about it, all our party members are women.'
Fuck. This really feels like a hero's harem party. No, isn't that wrong? Whatever. Let it be whatever now.
"...Do whatever you want."
"Huh? Really?"
At the hero's repeated question, I just nodded quietly.
"Really? No taking it back later? Thanks so much! Sia!"
I pushed away the hero who tried to hug me with one hand.
'That crazy bastard. He actually does it right away when told.'
Just looking at that, the hero really seemed thick-skinned. That thought occurred to me.