Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 153

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Part 2, Chapter 20

 

* * *

 

The Demon King had been revived.

 

The most dangerous thing was the position of the Hero who had killed the current Demon King.

 

The Demon King reviving so early in recent times was an unprecedented occurrence.

 

It had only been 4 years since the Demon King died and people barely found stability. Rather than believing the Demon King came back to life in just 4 years, it would be stranger to think the Hero failed to defeat the Demon King.

 

The original Adam would have been like that.

 

‘But not now.’

 

The one who would have raged most fiercely and obstructed Adam’s path had already become fertilizer for the earth.

 

Judith, who was put forward as the next Emperor, doesn’t interfere with anything Adam does at all. It’s closer to say he can’t interfere.

 

In the end, Adam held all the real authority.

 

Even if Adam didn’t want it, the nobility and Judith all wanted him to have it.

 

So who would doubt Adam’s legitimacy?

 

I replayed the conversation I had with Lindel.

 

“…Adam knows too?”

 

“Yes. During the time you weren’t here, I met with him.”

 

Lindel, who answered like that, widened his eyes as if slightly surprised and said.

 

“The Hero said you might come, but did you not know?”

 

But why didn’t Adam…

 

Tell me such a thing?

 

Adam wouldn’t have hidden it from me.

 

If it was something to hide in the first place, what was the reason for telling Lindel that I would come?

 

Is this trust, or…

 

“Ah, the time already…”

 

I checked the sky beyond the window and hurriedly left his house.

 

I quickly retraced the path I had come.

 

I entered Grace Mansion without anyone knowing. This time too, no one blocked my steps.

 

Was it a mistake that I felt relieved and didn’t notice the sense of unease?

 

When I entered the room, Adam was waiting for me.

 

As soon as I lit the lamp in the dark room, I almost dropped it.

 

“Ah, Adam?”

 

I clutched my startled heart at seeing Adam waiting silently without even lighting a fire.

 

“Where did you go, Eve?”

 

“Nowhere… Why are you saying I went somewhere? What’s the matter with you, Adam?”

 

Adam smiled slightly and stood up from his seat.

 

“Eve, people are more interested in others than you’d think.”

 

Adam walked toward me. Then he took the candlestick.

 

“And I dislike having many people in the mansion so I don’t change them. So Eve inevitably stands out. I don’t want Eve to be known, so I told them to stay silent even if they saw you, but…”

 

So the strange absence of people in the hallway was all Adam’s doing.

 

I opened my mouth at the small sense of betrayal.

 

“To lie to me. I’m disappointed.”

 

“…No.”

 

The pupils flickering above the candlelight wavered as if they might shed tears at any moment.

 

The sense of betrayal I had felt just moments ago disappeared at that sight.

 

My conscience was pricked.

 

Then the fingers that had been playing with my hair slowly withdrew.

 

When the nearby warmth disappeared, I felt a small regret. But Adam soon took my hand.

 

“You even lost your earring.”

 

On the palm where Adam’s touch had fallen, a small earring was placed.

 

I recalled the whereabouts of the earring I had forgotten and hurriedly opened my mouth.

 

“I was planning to pay money and get it back later!”

 

“I know.”

 

Was he angry that I treated carelessly what he gave as a gift?

 

But Adam seemed to have already lost interest in the earring.

 

Adam raised his lowered head and asked from a slightly distant position.

 

“Do you perhaps dislike me now?”

 

My head naturally lifted at Adam’s question.

 

His question was absurd.

 

To dislike him.

 

That would never happen, and it was something that would never happen in the future.

 

But Adam, who had asked the absurd question, held my hand and said.

 

“Still, you can’t. Even if you come to dislike me, I have no intention of letting Eve go.”

 

…Don’t say scary things with a smiling face.

 

I was rather dazed by Adam’s firm tone. I was about to say that I naturally had no such thought at all, but I was blocked.

 

Adam smiled while holding me in his trembling eyes that seemed ready to shatter at any moment.

 

Afraid that I might leave like this.

 

He was still anxious that I might abandon him and run away.

 

“That’s not it…”

 

I was about to say I had stopped by the village, then thought of Lindel and hurriedly changed my words.

 

Not right now.

 

“I just went to the Demon King’s Castle for a moment. I couldn’t tell you because I was worried Adam would be concerned. I’m sorry.”

 

“The Demon King’s Castle?”

 

Adam asked back without being particularly surprised or showing a big reaction.

 

He didn’t blame me even though I had secretly left the mansion.

 

It was a different reaction from what he had shown before. Then why did he lock the door? Surely he wasn’t really trying to confine me.

 

Was it just for show?

 

“How was it?”

 

Adam asked in the same voice as before.

 

I recalled the Demon King’s Castle.

 

My steps had headed there as if enchanted, as if I had wanted to return to the Demon King’s Castle.

 

The Demon King’s Castle was the same as I remembered.

 

However…

 

“It felt lonely since the Hero wasn’t at the Demon King’s Castle.”

 

As I spoke, I recalled the old Demon King’s Castle.

 

A place where the Demon King had lived, but afterward the Hero lived, and now no one was there.

 

The place I had wanted to return to when Adam was there felt strange.

 

What I had wanted to return to for 3 years wasn’t the Demon King’s Castle, but Adam’s side.

 

“As expected, it’s better to be by my side, right?”

 

Adam asked as if he had read my mind.

 

Even though I was flustered when we met again, now I didn’t want to leave his side.

 

Fortunately, he seemed to feel the same way.

 

Adam buried his face in my palm.

 

A soft sensation spread warmth within my hand.

 

This warmth was something only I could enjoy.

 

But the more affectionately Adam treated me, the greater my anxiety grew.

 

I finally slowly opened my mouth.

 

Since we had become so close, I spoke in a voice that wasn’t very loud.

 

Even so, Adam would have understood.

 

It would be an unforgettable name for him as the Hero.

 

“The Demon King has been revived, Adam.”

 

“I know.”

 

Adam answered with his cheek resting against his hand.

 

There wasn’t the slightest movement in his smiling face.

 

“And Aphene, Aphene was the Demon King…”

 

I felt my mouth go completely dry.

 

Is this what a child confessing their wrongdoing feels like?

 

The fact that Adam had been having many more nightmares since bringing in the dreamcatcher might also be my responsibility.

 

However, Adam warmly embraced me as I blamed myself. He wrapped me in his arms that had become broader and more solid than before.

 

“The one who deceived is at fault, so how could Eve who was deceived be wrong? Eve has done nothing wrong to me.”

 

At Adam’s warm words, I unconsciously leaned into him.

 

How could he embrace everything like that?

 

It was a matter that could have endangered even his life if things had gone wrong.

 

‘How much does Adam…’

 

Seeing that I still looked dejected, Adam lightly flicked the tip of my nose with his finger.

 

“But didn’t Adam try to prevent me from knowing?”

 

“Mm, I certainly wasn’t pleased about it… But I thought Eve would find the right answer as she always does. How could I stop Eve when she’s like that?”

 

“Still, having one more person know would make it easier to find the Demon King, no, Aphene.”

 

Aphene had already disappeared without a trace long ago.

 

He hadn’t even visited the Demon King’s Castle since three years ago.

 

He had literally vanished.

 

As if resurrection takes time.

 

Even so, Adam seemed to believe that the Demon King would appear soon.

 

Could Adam sense traces of the Demon King because he’s the Hero?

 

“The Demon King will appear again.”

 

I nodded.

 

I too knew that the Demon King wouldn’t give up easily.

 

What the Demon King wants is to kill all humans and place them under his feet. This World itself was like a toy to him.

 

He plays with the Heroes who come to kill him, and if they die, he revives accordingly, and if they fail to kill him, he simply takes the Hero’s life.

 

Could we possibly win against such an opponent?

 

“Aren’t you worried, Adam?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————