Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 137
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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 4
Iberis held her breath slightly.
‘What is he talking about? There’s no way Adam could know I’m a deity…’
She had deliberately put it in a drawer and locked it tight, afraid she might carelessly touch the Sacred Relic out of longing for him.
While waiting until she could stand proudly before him someday.
Though she had used the Sacred Relic at the end, she hadn’t sent messages more than a few times.
There was no way he could have noticed from just that.
Facing Adam, Iberis began to stammer out an excuse.
These were words she had prepared in case she met him.
“Actually, the reason I left Adam was…”
However, Adam blocked her words from the start.
“Actually, reasons and such aren’t necessary. What matters is the fact that you’re by my side.”
Adam didn’t seem to have any intention of listening to her story.
Did he think it would be a lie anyway?
Since she already had a history of telling a huge lie, she could understand his distrust.
Iberis bit her lip.
Excluding the Sacred Relic, the way Adam could know she was alive and hadn’t died was…
Suddenly, someone flashed through Iberis’s mind.
“…Did you perhaps meet Meriel?”
That would make sense.
Meriel often wrote letters to the Temple asking about her well-being.
It made sense that Adam wasn’t surprised to see her.
However, Adam slightly furrowed his brow and straightened his head.
Rather than being annoyed with Iberis, he seemed displeased with this situation.
“I don’t like other people’s names interfering in our reunion when it’s just the two of us.”
She could sense his displeasure from Adam’s quietly muttered words.
Iberis recalled Meriel speaking about Adam as if she was fed up with him.
Surely there had been no particular connection in this cycle.
What on earth had happened during those 3 years to make their relationship so bad?
‘Moreover, Meriel was a High Priest chosen as a companion in almost every cycle.’
Back then, they even cared for each other to the point where not even small fights occurred.
That’s why when she first saw Meriel, she thought she would get along well with Adam and tried to set them up.
Of course, after hearing Meriel’s preferences, she quickly folded that failed investment…
But now they were almost like sworn enemies.
She could tell without having the two in front of her.
Iberis asked in a shrinking voice at Adam’s intense reaction.
“But aren’t you and Meriel friends?”
“No. I’m not interested in anyone except Eve. Do you understand?”
His tone was faster and more resolute than ever.
Iberis nodded while inwardly flustered.
Then Adam, who had been pondering briefly, spoke as if he understood.
“Ah, do you perhaps want to see Meriel?”
“No. Meriel was staying in the same village as me from the beginning.”
Iberis answered as if she didn’t understand his intentions.
“Ah, Meriel is in the village where Eve was?”
Then, for some unknown reason, Adam’s expression changed strangely.
‘But did I ever tell Adam which village I was in…?’
Adam tapped his chin with his fingertips as if pondering, then fell deep in thought.
It was beyond Adam’s expectations that she, who had been selected as the next Elderly High Priest, had taken off her High Priest robes and fled to a village.
If Eve wanted it, he should capture that one too.
Having finished his contemplation, Adam spoke cheerfully.
“More than that, Eve, we can’t keep talking here, so let’s go somewhere quiet. You’ll definitely like it.”
He spoke without letting go of the hand holding Iberis.
Tightly, so she absolutely couldn’t refuse.
* * *
Grace Mansion was neatly organized, resembling its owner.
“Everything has been perfectly prepared for the master.”
Being escorted by Adam and getting off the carriage, I bowed my head slightly.
The butler who had personally come out to the main gate tugged at his well-groomed beard once and then straightened it.
“We have been waiting, Lady Iberis.”
The butler bowed deeply as if he knew me well.
This was the county Adam had been granted 3 years ago.
After Judith became Emperor in Adam’s place, did he not give him any particular title?
Given his personality, Adam might have refused.
Thanks to not being far from the capital, coming to his mansion was truly instantaneous.
This was the place he had brought me to, loading me into a carriage he had prepared in advance, saying I would definitely like it.
I was the one who led him into the alley, but as if he had expected it, a carriage was waiting right there.
Adam usually doesn’t ride carriages much, finding them bothersome, but this seemed like something prepared in advance to take me away.
Huh, before I knew it, I had been dragged here by my own feet into his hands.
Thus, I ended up staying in a luxurious room in an instant.
Anyway, I needed to have a conversation with Adam at some point, so that part was fine, but there was still a problem.
Left alone in the room, I felt puzzled by the current situation.
It was strange from the fact that we had come down to Grace County so swiftly.
After Adam left me alone in the room, telling me to look around for a bit, I had to properly catch my wavering pupils.
Of course, the fact that the room Adam had prepared for me was organized without a speck of dust.
And the fact that it was a room that applied all my wishes that had been casually mentioned at the Demon King’s Castle wasn’t very important right now.
Probably the biggest thing was that the door was locked.
When Adam left, I pretended not to know and acted naturally, but was I caught?
‘Even if he thought I was dead, isn’t this too extreme a reaction?’
I sat in the chair and pondered seriously.
But that didn’t make the locked door open.
I glanced out the window.
Surely Adam wasn’t planning to confine me, but the fact that it was the highest floor of the mansion was concerning.
What good would it do Adam to confine me?
Could it be a crime of insolence?
‘Because I pretended to be dead?’
At that moment, the door opened and Adam returned.
I hastily straightened my head that had been lowered to look out the window and turned around.
When Adam’s eyes met mine, he smiled as if pleased.
“Eve, what were you doing?”
“Th-the room is really nice.”
I complimented while looking around the room.
Adam approached me and asked.
“Do you like it?”
“Of course. I like it very much. So much that I don’t need anything else.”
I was actually feeling a sense of alienation because everything seemed tailored to my tastes.
For bringing me to the mansion as soon as we met, wasn’t the preparation too thorough?
It definitely seemed like a very impulsive decision.
‘Then it wasn’t a coincidence?’
But if Meriel hadn’t told him, how could he have known?
I slowly ran my hand across the table.
As I had felt earlier, it was as if my room from the Demon King’s Castle had been moved here exactly as it was.
It was certainly unfamiliar, yet it felt familiar at the same time.
As if it wasn’t just my imagination, all the objects placed on the drawer were things I had used in the Demon King’s Castle.
The only thing missing was probably Judith’s flute.
“How has Adam been doing all this time?”
If he had resolved to commit treason, there must have been many changes in his mindset, but I couldn’t dare guess the reason for his transformation.
What thoughts had he harbored in this empty room after moving all the things I used to use here?
“He always thought only of Eve. And after constantly mulling it over, he said he thought he understood why Eve ran away.”
What exactly did Adam think was the reason for my escape?
However, I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
Because Adam’s face had darkened as he said those words.
I brought up other people’s names to change the subject.
“What about Lord Kyrillos and Lady Iselda?”
I hadn’t heard much about the recent circumstances of those excluding Meriel.
What I heard through the grapevine was that Kyrillos had risen to the position of duke in place of the aging Duke of Evant, and that Iselda had risen to the position of the Empire’s greatest mercenary.
And probably both of them had helped with Adam’s rebellion.
Since the most capable people in the Empire had gathered, the rebellion must have been completed swiftly.
However, Adam, who had been excitedly bringing up stories until just now, closed his mouth when their names came up.
He seemed displeased that the topic had changed.
“Hmm, there probably isn’t much that’s changed about them.”
A lie.
However, when Adam saw that I didn’t believe him, he moved a little closer to me and said.
“I don’t want to talk about them. I’d rather you tell me about Eve’s story.”
And he changed the subject.
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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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