Chapter 40
Chapter 40
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Return to the Mortal World - 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Though Elenor still couldn't even rise from her sickbed, she could sense that the atmosphere had shifted.
The healers watched her from afar, whispering among themselves. Those who had smiled so brightly until yesterday now gazed at her with complicated expressions.
If she still had the Hero's power—or at least if her body were intact—she could have heard exactly what they were saying.
But in her current state, unable to even lift one arm properly, all she could do was endure it.
Even so, the short words that reached her ears were enough to let her infer their negative emotions.
'In the end, they couldn't keep it hidden, huh.'
There were no regrets. The Emperor would be disappointed, but there had been no need to hide it in the first place. If it hadn't been an order, she wouldn't have bothered.
Setting aside his anger or her own mistake, he was at least someone worthy of attending the victory banquet.
The reason no one had questioned his presence was simply because everyone assumed he had left the palace right after entering it with her.
From the beginning, it hadn't been hers. She had simply grown too accustomed to it and forgotten.
The door to the ward burst open roughly. A group of nobles dressed in fine clothes entered together.
They were visibly furious—no one would mistake them for patients. Elenor stared blankly at the ceiling, her eyes unfocused.
"This is a hospital room. The Princess's hospital room, to be exact. I don't know what business brings you here, but please leave... Ugh!"
"Out of the way. We have urgent matters to discuss."
The noble at the front lightly shoved the healer aside. Despite the rough action, his demeanor overflowed with leisure.
The moment Elenor saw his face, she sensed ill intent.
"My apologies for visiting while you're ill, Princess."
"No offense taken. I would have risen to greet you, but my body won't allow it. Please forgive me."
He observed the formalities, but Elenor could feel the greed burning in his eyes.
"However, we've heard some deeply shocking news. At the very least, we need to hear your thoughts on this matter if we're to quell the controversy."
The Princess didn't believe him. There was no way Creon, the bearded leader of the noble faction, had come to see her just to calm the situation.
The Emperor, at least, was someone who truly cared for the empire. He provided relief to the poor and genuinely thought of his people.
Yet there were those who opposed such reforms. The nobles thrashed about, unwilling to relinquish their privileges. And the Emperor silenced their backlash with his supreme authority.
But there were no shortage of those who harbored grudges against him, and Creon was one of them. If rumors were spreading, his hand was likely behind it.
"It's a very simple matter. Just a little, nothing too taxing on your body. Could you show us the Hero's power?"
A chill ran down her spine at his sly smile, but right now, he held the upper hand.
"What kind of demand is this to make of someone who can't even move?!"
The imperial healer protested fiercely. But Creon didn't waver in the slightest.
Special treatment for the imperial family had gradually dwindled, to the point where it was practically nonexistent now. Even Elenor had no dedicated physician and was receiving care from the palace doctors in a palace ward.
Things might change once she was officially recognized as heir and crowned Crown Princess, but for now, a palace doctor's authority wasn't enough to drive out Creon.
"It'll only take a moment. Can't you see the skeptics watching?"
"...That power is no longer available to me."
"Then could it be... because of that palace attack incident? Was that 'someone' there the real Hero?"
His lips curled into a venomous smile that grated on Elenor.
But in this rare situation, he was cornering her with the truth.
There was no escaping it.
"...I am under the Emperor's orders. There is nothing I can say."
"That's a shame. No one here would have dismissed your words lightly."
Elenor felt exhausted just talking to him. He had the tongue of a serpent.
No matter how hard she tried, her accomplishments outside the realm of the sword were merely average.
The Emperor's boundless favor, her overwhelming martial prowess, and her loyal supporters simply kept that weakness from showing. Compared to those who had devoted their lives to court etiquette, social graces, and politics, she fell far short.
And Creon was one of the talented ones among them.
"I know you're tired. But couldn't you show us just a little?"
Even preparing thoroughly for a single conversation and giving it her all wouldn't be enough. Elenor gritted her teeth.
The longer the conversation dragged on, the worse it would get. Right now, she needed to end it.
"You've already heard everything, haven't you?"
Even if she focused solely on recovery, she didn't know when she'd be able to wield a sword again.
She had entrusted the knight order to someone reliable, but ultimately, that order's strength and leadership had been her responsibility. They couldn't perform at her level.
The threat of monsters hadn't ended. Even at this very moment, some village might be in danger.
"Lord Reinhardt did bring us shocking news, but with so many rumors flying around, it's hard to be certain. Everyone in the empire knows Lord Reinhardt's loyalty..."
"Then believe him as is."
"But some of the rumors circulating are too crude for me to repeat."
Yet he continued to coax her gently, trying to draw out a response.
"The people are anxious. If, in the worst case... the Hero we knew wasn't the real Hero, then all our taken-for-granted assumptions crumble."
Elenor felt a long-forgotten sense of helplessness.
"Where does truth end and lies begin? If our belief that we stood with the Hero was a delusion, doesn't that mean sinister forces have infiltrated the empire itself...?"
His soft voice slowly tightened around her heart.
"There's even talk that you tried to forcibly perform a reverse-summoning ritual to cover it up, it failed, and the Hero flew into a rage..."
It was an absurd assumption, but the information available to others was far too limited.
"Can you take responsibility for that claim?"
His words were uncharacteristically bold—verging on treason.
The Demon King subjugation banquet was an event held under the Emperor's authority, and among those he had defeated was the Emperor himself.
"I believe nothing. The nobles here aren't foolish enough to be swayed by such nonsense."
But he didn't fall for it easily. He simply wore that slippery, leisurely smile, feigning genuine concern.
"The commoners are different, though. Those of... lower education and status tend to imagine the worst on their own."
No matter how many witnesses there were, rumors wouldn't spread like wildfire overnight. Few could extract information from the imperial guards to begin with.
The source of the rumors was obviously Creon.
Elenor clamped her mouth shut. Whatever she said, he and his followers would twist it to their liking.
She could apologize to Enel a hundred times over. But she couldn't let other villains profit from this incident.
Talking to them was pointless. They were scoundrels who obstructed the empire at every turn, only looking out for their own interests.
She remembered their faces. The three who always trailed him. And the rest...
"Urgh..."
Every one of his followers was a prominent noble. She remembered their faces.
But the two young nobles at the back, watching with worried expressions, weren't part of his group.
If anything, they were neutral—or leaning toward the loyalist faction if you dug deeper.
They had opposed her at times, but at least they loved their territories' people and took their titles seriously.
Now those men were looking at her with faces full of doubt.
They gazed at Elenor with desperate expressions, as if pleading for her to say it was all a lie.
The Princess hardened her face.
She wasn't afraid of the truth coming out. There would be much to explain, but that was only natural.
The fact that the real Hero was Enel was an irrefutable truth.
But what if malicious rumors began to spread? Just like Creon had raised the issue moments ago—what if the forces opposing the Emperor rallied under the banner of the Hero?
If Creon used the call for truth about Enel to endanger the empire, how should she respond?
She was aware of her mistake. She didn't want to confront Enel's anger.
She didn't have the confidence to give herself wholly like the Saintess or the Mage had. But she didn't want to draw her sword against him either.
But if even that was her own selfishness...
"We'll take our leave now."
With his objective achieved, he leisurely led the other nobles out of the room. Elenor remained lying there, staring at the ceiling, still unable to move a muscle.