Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 134
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Part 2, Chapter 1
* * *
How long had he waited for this moment.
Adam spotted Iberis among the crowd from afar in an instant. His steps headed toward Iberis without the slightest hesitation.
And at the same time, she too seemed to have noticed Adam’s presence.
Iberis looked around nervously and stood up from her seat as if trying to flee. However, Adam did not just stand by and watch.
Adam blocked her path so she couldn’t escape.
“My Eve, I’m delighted to see you again.”
Adam spoke while suppressing his emotions as much as possible.
At his sudden appearance, bewilderment spread across Iberis’s face.
However, Adam couldn’t hide his joy even at that small change.
All of this was something he could enjoy because he was alive.
Adam took in the sight of Iberis fidgeting restlessly like a frightened small animal.
Though her face was covered with a robe, he recognized Iberis immediately.
He could confidently say that he had endured the time without her for this very moment.
How would Iberis react?
Would she try to run away again this time? Iberis still seemed to want to escape from him as she looked behind him.
He moved his body slightly to block the door from Iberis’s view.
Even while doing so, Adam continued to look at Iberis with a smile.
Her ocean-like eyes moved like a sailboat caught in a storm.
Even in the brief time waiting for an answer, it felt as if eons had passed.
The voices of people chattering that had been clearly audible just moments before became faint, and he heightened all his senses to Iberis’s every action.
“….”
Adam wasn’t the only one observing the other.
Iberis too had been reflexively watching him ever since she realized Adam’s presence.
Adam, whom she was seeing after three years, had grown so tall that she could no longer even jokingly tease him about being innocent.
If she hadn’t left Adam’s side and had stayed by him, she would have continuously exclaimed in admiration at seeing him.
But there was something more suspicious than his physical growth.
Iberis’s mouth slowly opened.
“Adam, did you know I was alive?”
Adam wasn’t surprised at all even when he saw Iberis right before his eyes.
The reaction she got from watching Adam was nothing like what should come from an ordinary reunion.
Even though someone he thought had died three years ago had returned alive and was standing before him.
He was treating her as if there had been no three-year gap, as if they had met and parted just yesterday.
Then Adam smiled beautifully.
It was a smile that was eerily inhuman.
It seemed as if the Adam she knew had become someone else during those three years.
However, as if that was an illusion, Adam took a step closer to Iberis and smiled beautifully.
Adam, who had lifted the shadow that had briefly fallen, looked the same as he did in her memories. His clear smile was similar to the one from three years ago.
However, the thought that it seemed like a fabricated mask simply wouldn’t go away.
Iberis reflexively grasped the Sacred Relic.
She felt as if she was facing his hidden side that had been concealed all this time.
To dismiss it as an illusion, this entire situation was strange.
Even encountering Adam as soon as she came to the capital to see him felt like she had willingly stepped into a rigged game.
But Adam smiled slyly and said,
“Of course. Is there anything about Eve that I wouldn’t know?”
“But….”
After a moment of silence, Adam acted as usual, as if the unease Iberis felt was false.
‘No, is it strange to say “as usual”….’
So, as if the three years meant nothing.
It was before she could even ask how.
Adam spoke first.
“Let’s go back, Eve.”
She couldn’t hide her confusion at Adam’s attitude of acting as if they had parted just yesterday.
She had wanted a reunion with Adam, but not like this.
“No, that’s not it…. Don’t you have something to ask me?”
She thought he would at least ask why she had left him.
At least about the reason she was alive and well like this.
No, she thought he would at least blame her.
“Whatever the case, I deceived Adam. So I thought you would hold me accountable….”
Iberis swallowed dryly, seemingly anxious.
What lay before her wasn’t the fearful reality she had imagined throughout the three years.
This felt more like a devil’s temptation with sweet words rather than hope.
Then Adam widened his eyes as if he truly couldn’t understand and said,
“Would I blame Eve?”
Then he let out a small laugh.
“That’s impossible. Eve must have always had her reasons….”
Adam spoke like someone who would understand and forgive even after witnessing their lover’s affair because there must be a reason.
He was so devoted that anyone nearby would die of frustration.
To that extent, Adam was trying to let it slide by trusting her completely.
‘No, can this even be called trust….’
No, no.
Iberis shook her head slightly.
This was closer to blind faith.
However, Adam tilted his head as if he truly didn’t know what the problem was.
When she shook her head slightly, Adam approached Iberis closely, perhaps thinking it was a rejection of him.
“Do you dislike me now? Or perhaps, do you think I’ll fail to protect you again?”
Adam said, taking another step closer.
Adam, who had approached close to Iberis, took her hand and smiled like sunshine.
“Don’t worry, Eve. I’ve killed everyone who threatened you.”
Yes, he had eliminated them all.
* * *
After learning that Iberis was alive, there was much to prepare.
After bringing Iberis back, he had to prevent anyone from daring to touch her a second time.
The most obstructive was the Emperor who constantly bothered him with watchful eyes.
So he moved up the planned rebellion.
Since it was something that had been prepared anyway, the execution went smoothly.
The Elderly High Priest found it strange that Adam suddenly moved up the schedule, but since he too wanted the Emperor’s death, he soon supported it.
The day of the final battle arrived quickly.
Clang,
The crown that had been on the Emperor’s head fell and rolled across the floor.
But the Emperor, unaware of even that, crawled pathetically across the floor to get away from Adam.
Adam quietly watched that sight.
What was this emotion he felt watching him crawl so desperately and basely to get away from him?
What was certain was that it wasn’t a human emotion like sympathy or pity.
‘Boredom… perhaps.’
To show sympathy to the Emperor, he had committed too many wrongs.
Having lived his entire life in his brother’s shadow, he killed his brother and ascended to the throne.
The Emperor, who had blood on his hands from the start, was constantly anxious that his son might covet his position, so he never gave Judith the power to properly grow his authority.
In the end, even keeping the Prince as a puppet, there was nothing for him to fear.
However, that thinking must have changed from a few years ago.
Who would have known that his missing nephew would awaken as the Hero?
Even that didn’t matter.
If he had awakened as the Hero, naturally there would be many chances for him to die.
Especially since the Demon King was so strong that even the Royal Knights and the Temple’s paladins couldn’t defeat him.
He must have thought the Demon King would naturally kill the Hero with ease.
However, as if mocking his expectations, Adam easily killed the Demon King.
The more this happened, the more the Emperor must have felt his throat burning with anxiety.
He must have spent anxious days fearing that the holy sword that pierced the Demon King would soon be pointed at him to steal the throne.
So he sent people to slander the Hero and spread rumors.
And now.
The time had come for him to receive the karma he had built up.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————