Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 136
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2, Chapter 3
When the Emperor died, the nobles looked at Adam with expectant gazes.
Although he had told the Emperor that he didn’t need a crown, everyone thought he would wear it, just like all those who had committed treason before him.
Adam picked up the fallen crown to meet their expectations.
And slowly walked toward the nobles.
“This is your crown, so you should wear it.”
Adam handed the crown to Judith.
The nobles stirred at Adam’s action that exceeded their expectations.
However, Adam’s hand remained extended toward him.
“Wh-what…? You’ve finished your revenge, so naturally you should take the throne.”
Judith tried to dissuade him, but Adam was firm.
“To be with Eve, such a crown would only get in the way.”
Judith gaped at Adam, who not only refused the imperial throne but called it a hindrance.
But Adam had never intended to ascend to the throne in the first place. That’s why he had forcibly brought Judith here despite his refusal to come.
The nobles needed to see him hand over the crown to Judith to believe his sincerity.
The Emperor’s position would only be an obstacle when bringing Iberis back.
Iberis would dislike being the center of people’s attention.
He wanted to see Iberis wearing the Empress’s crown too, but if necessary, he could just take it from Judith later.
‘Now I’ve finished one thing.’
The Emperor’s death was merely the first step in his plan.
Leaving the Emperor’s corpse behind, Adam walked forward.
Adam had finished all preparations to bring her back.
Adam smiled broadly.
It would be perfect if he could just take Iberis, who was looking at him from ahead as if unable to read his intentions.
“So now Eve doesn’t need to worry about anything.”
Adam’s smile deepened as he watched the flustered Iberis.
Though he had gone to find her just before the rebellion because he couldn’t hold back any longer, now he could have her completely.
If you were going to run away from me completely, you shouldn’t have shown me kindness.
Because that’s what allowed me to follow your traces…
Adam looked up at Iberis like a child seeking praise.
Adam smiled with satisfaction at the distance that had closed to within arm’s reach before Iberis even noticed.
Iberis didn’t seem to realize it yet, but more and more gazes were watching them.
It was an opportunity to make the rumors even more certain.
For that purpose, the robe covering her face was bothersome.
Iberis seemed to have finished thinking and hesitated.
“No, Adam. Actually…”
But before Iberis could open her mouth to say anything, reactions erupted from around them first.
“H-Hero?”
“No, should I call you Your Highness?”
People who recognized Adam’s face began murmuring one by one.
At first, people who hadn’t expected the subject of gossip to appear in a quiet tavern in the capital were now certain.
Hadn’t Iberis called his name?
His name, which was not permitted to just anyone.
Moreover, people peered with certainty at Adam’s face, which was already publicly known.
He wasn’t even wearing a hood to cover his face, so he couldn’t help but draw attention.
If they stayed here any longer, they would get caught up with the people who recognized him.
Iberis pulled her hood down tighter, then grabbed Adam’s wrist and dragged him outside.
Though he could have easily resisted, he obediently followed where Iberis led.
Adam, who had been following docilely, looked around and smiled slightly with his eyes.
Then he suddenly pulled off her hood with his free hand.
“…Why?”
Iberis looked at him once while touching her hair to put the hood back on that had been pulled off in an instant.
“I just wanted to see Eve’s face. We haven’t met in a long time. Don’t hide like that and show me your face.”
“…”
Iberis looked at him as if dumbfounded, but he came on strong.
There was no way he would miss this golden opportunity to establish her as his lover.
However, Iberis seemed to think getting away from this place was more important and quickly lost interest.
“Who on earth is that?”
“Could she be the Hero’s lover? If not, there’s no way the Hero would look at her with that expression.”
“Ah, then could that person be…?”
Iberis, who lived far from the capital, might not know, but there were many people who wanted to know who was with him, the one receiving the most public attention.
Maybe she thought people wouldn’t believe it since it was a false rumor anyway.
But Adam had no intention of leaving it at that.
If the problem was that it was fake, he just had to make it real.
Adam pretended to obediently follow behind her while observing the people.
There were plenty of witnesses, and Iberis’s face had been seen, so things were going smoothly now.
Now everyone would know about Iberis’s existence.
Adam kept feeling the urge to grab her and check her expression.
What was Iberis thinking right now?
Was she still feeling flustered?
Or was she already intimidated by the gazes of people around them?
Or had she been hoping for this moment just like him?
But Adam didn’t bother to grab her and check her expression.
He just looked down at the hand that Iberis had grasped first.
In any case, it was the hand that Iberis had grabbed first.
Now she couldn’t make excuses even if she felt wronged.
Not only had she come to the capital on her own, but hadn’t she approached him herself?
Iberis, who had led Adam into an alley with no sign of people, leaned against the wall beside him and spoke.
Adam quietly let Iberis do as she pleased.
“Adam, what happened with the rebellion? No, how did Adam in the first place…? No, more than that.”
Iberis swallowed the questions that came out without context.
She had thought it strange that he hadn’t said anything while leading him to this secluded place.
It seemed her mind was complicated in her own way too.
His god sometimes didn’t know important facts.
Adam waited only for her words as if he would answer whatever questions she asked.
Iberis took a small deep breath.
There was something she was most curious about.
It was such an absurd story that she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she didn’t ask about it.
“Adam is royalty? Then why did you silently endure that kind of treatment until now? It was all part of a plan, right?”
Adam had been royalty.
Had Adam known this?
Damn it, looking at that calm expression, it seemed he had known all along.
Then what was the Emperor doing all this time, and what about the time he suffered being ignored as a commoner Hero!
Iberis still clearly remembered the faces of the nobles who had looked down on him.
Because they were the ones who had indirectly supported the Emperor’s atrocities.
Even she, who had experienced it indirectly, could never forget it, so Adam, who experienced it directly, would feel no less.
“Ah, so that’s what you want to know first.”
Adam nodded as if he understood and pretended to think.
However, the answer that came back was cheerful.
“No, there was no plan.”
“What?”
What does that even mean?
“There was nothing more important to me than protecting Eve. Rather than having a plan, I thought maintaining the current situation would be best.”
Countless questions were swallowed down her throat at his answer.
And what remained among the swept-away questions was frustration.
‘No, you frustrating…!’
Iberis squeezed her eyes shut.
If she had been Adam, she would have appeared before the Emperor from the beginning declaring, ‘I am the son of the Former Emperor!’
She wouldn’t have just silently watched the Emperor’s indulgences from the start.
Everything she had done was for Adam’s sake, yet Adam claimed he had done it all for Iberis instead.
‘Is it really all because of me after all.’
She became a little less confident.
The strength gradually left the arm she had braced against the wall.
However, Adam seemed to observe her with interest before speaking.
“What about you, Eve?”
“What?”
“After running away from me like that…”
Adam gently grasped her hair and kissed the top of it.
Only his lowered eyes looked up to gaze directly at Iberis.
“Why did you show me an opening again this time?”
His voice rang clearly in her ear.
As Adam’s head drew closer, her heartbeat grew loud.
“That’s why I had no choice but to find you, Eve.”
Adam murmured the rest in a low voice.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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