The Hero Discarded the Remnants of the First Playthrough
“Haha, that's funny. You think I'm sneaking around watching that old fart's every move?”
Aaron laughed with a hearty expression as he said that to me. I nodded with a bitter smirk at his fake act.
Not liking my reaction, Aaron's eyebrow twitched visibly.
“You have no idea, Hero. Do you think it's easy to create a space like this in the palace without that geezer knowing? It means I have that many people loyal to me.”
I looked at the crown prince blabbering on like some bumpkin bragging about his own hideout, sending him a pitying glance.
“Who knows? To me, it just looks like a rat playing in its hole.”
I leaned back deeply into the sofa and said that while staring at Aaron.
Aaron seemed to think he'd made some grand achievement by carving out this space in the palace, but to me, it was no different from a rat boasting about digging its burrow.
This time, my words must have cut deep, because I saw Aaron biting his lower lip.
Maybe he had no more cards to play, because Aaron glanced at the women clinging to my side.
At his signal, their hands and lips moved quickly to stimulate me, but I showed no reaction.
Honestly, I wasn't desperate for a woman right now, and something like an aphrodisiac couldn't affect my body easily—not with the goddess's blessing I had.
“I don't know what you're waiting for, but if you have nothing more to say, I'm leaving.”
I gently pushed the women off me and said that to Aaron.
As I turned to leave, I paused and looked back at him.
He'd probably sent the women to seduce and recruit me, but no matter how I thought about it, the idea was utterly ridiculous.
“And one more thing...”
“...”
“You've seen my companions, right? At least match their level. This is way below par, don't you think?”
I said that while eyeing the women gathered in Aaron's secret space.
They were undoubtedly beauties handpicked by Crown Prince Aaron himself, but compared to my companions, they fell short—no denying it.
Aaron couldn't deny it either; I saw anger and jealousy flicker in his eyes.
Idiot.
I muttered that inwardly as I looked at him.
Thinking about it, he might have envied me even in the first playthrough.
He'd once asked why I, with such pretty companions around me, looked so shabby, but deep down, he was probably glad I wasn't touching them.
Aaron was the kind of lecher who wouldn't take second place to anyone when it comes to women, and I never believed he truly supported me.
No matter his status as the empire's crown prince, my companions were all women he couldn't dare lay a hand on casually.
Even after he seized power, Duke Capella von Darius stood firm; the Gaiana Church was a pillar propping up his shaky position; and the elf queen wasn't someone he could crush with authority.
So maybe he'd consoled himself with a mental victory, watching me have such tempting rice cakes right beside me without even feeling hungry.
But that was the first playthrough. Things had changed completely now.
I sneered at Aaron, who looked ready to burst with jealousy.
“Then enjoy them all by yourself, Your Highness.”
I left Aaron there, his cheeks trembling with rage.
**
“I'm sorry. She says she doesn't want to see anyone right now...”
After leaving Aaron's secret lair, I headed straight to the Gaiana Church to see Marian, who had been on my mind. But things didn't go as planned.
Even as the Hero, I couldn't wander the church's inner sanctum freely. And the person in question was none other than the saintess.
No matter how lax the Gaiana Church was as a religion, some procedures were necessary—and Marian had refused to meet me.
“Are you sure? Did you tell her exactly who I am?”
“Yes.”
The church's holy knight replied confidently to my question.
At that point, I couldn't quite understand Marian's feelings.
Sure, she might feel shame or betrayal, but that was just my guess. Unless I was Marian, I couldn't know her heart exactly, and since she'd refused the meeting, it felt off for me to push further.
“Hero?”
As I stood in front of the church pondering what to do, I heard someone call me.
It was Jena von Darius, naturally heading to the church with the saintess. I looked at my unexpected savior with a welcoming smile.
“Jena.”
“What brings you here...? And if you're here, why are you just standing outside?”
I scratched the back of my head at Jena's words.
Honestly, as a fellow woman, Jena might understand Marian's state of mind better, but I wondered if it was right to ask her.
“Ah, don't stand around here—want to have some tea with me?”
I nodded at Jena's suggestion and followed her to her office.
She was part of the church anyway, serving as the captain of the holy knights, so no one stopped me.
“So, Marian's sulking right now, huh?”
The deliberation took a while, but I ended up spilling the whole situation to Jena.
Our relationship felt a bit awkward, but it wasn't like we were a normal couple staring only at each other.
Having handled both Jena and Karen in the same space before, hiding Marian's issue from her felt ridiculous.
“Sul...king?”
I looked at Jena with surprise at her diagnosis.
Unexpectedly, she didn't seem upset after hearing my story. If anything, she looked calm, like this was bound to happen eventually.
“Well, Marian held out longer than I expected. Honestly, it's impressive she hadn't shown it until now...”
I scratched my head as Jena muttered to herself.
Honestly, Marian's hot-and-cold behavior was hard for me to grasp, but Jena's words were starting to make sense.
Sulking? That Marian?
Thinking about it, that might be the most natural emotion, but I hadn't connected it to her easily.
The emotions I knew best from her were anger and resentment—maybe I'd assumed she thought the same way.
“So, what do you think, Hero?”
As I spaced out in thought, Jena asked with an intrigued look.
Her question made me revisit my memories of Marian once more.
Originally, my thirst for revenge against her stemmed from the first playthrough.
She'd turned her back on me when I needed her most, and that memory lingered vividly.
But her reaction back then felt oddly similar to now.
In the first playthrough, Marian was the first person I'd met, and she'd been quite friendly at the start.
But at some point, distance grew between us, and by the time I'd spent years slaying the Demon King, we were worse than enemies.
Still, she'd asked me to help push aside the Pope, and I'd refused.
Back then, I'd thought she was angry at me and repaying it that way, but...
Maybe she was sulking even then?
Jena's single comment flipped my entire perception of Marian.
I still didn't fully grasp how sulking differed greatly from anger.
But that subtle difference did dilute much of my resentment toward her.
I recalled the time spent with Marian since my regression, and the memories weren't bad at all.
“I don't hate Marian.”
“...That's an odd answer. Of course you don't hate her.”
Jena tilted her head at my carefully chosen words.
To her, who didn't know what I'd been through in the previous playthrough or why I was repeating this shitty life, it was a natural response.
But her reply cleared my mind somehow.
It felt like the lingering residue from my past life, like grime in my heart, had finally washed away completely.
“Alright. I'll help you.”
Jena smiled at me and said that, and I nodded eagerly.