Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 172

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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 39

 

* * *

 

What if I hadn’t been a deity, and another Player had made Adam the Hero?

 

I had always thought that if that were the case, he would surely have come to love a different deity instead of me.

 

Perhaps Adam only gave me his affection because I was the only Deity who had watched over him since he was young.

 

However, despite my worries, Adam gave me a completely different answer.

 

I had no intention of becoming Cinderella from a fairy tale. But even so, Adam willingly offered me the crown.

 

“But…”

 

Even then, I found myself hesitating.

 

The only thing Adam knew was that I was a deity.

 

I thought of the Relic hidden in my clothes.

 

How many times had I read Adam’s thoughts and acted as a deity based on that?

 

“I’m scared that Adam might be disappointed in me.”

 

Unconsciously, I had been thinking that he must never find out.

 

The power of the Relic I had obtained separately from the Quest. That I had been reading his thoughts and sending messages using the ability of the ‘Window Connecting Two Worlds.’

 

If Adam learned everything, he would surely be upset.

 

Reading other people’s thoughts.

 

‘That would definitely be unpleasant.’

 

No matter how much Adam said he understood everything about me, wouldn’t his reaction change if he knew the reality?

 

Even if it was just a momentary emotion, if disgust flickered across Adam’s expression, a message would appear.

 

I steeled myself and activated the Relic.

 

It was a childish emotion of wanting to take the blow first before moving.

 

Reading other people’s thoughts—even for a deity, there were limits to what could be overlooked.

 

Then Adam’s eyes widened.

 

Since I had turned on synchronization, I didn’t know what kind of message had gone to Adam.

 

I couldn’t bring myself to lift my head and look at him properly.

 

However, his golden eyes held conviction.

 

Unlike earlier when they had been shaking violently, they were now firmly rooted with certainty.

 

Before I could even notice his brief change, Adam spoke.

 

“I would have loved Eve no matter who she was. No matter what she does, I have no intention of letting her go.”

 

Perhaps it was because of his usual calm tone. His words made my heart settle a little.

 

I glimpsed the firmness within them.

 

Adam gently touched my cheek and said.

 

“Do you still think I’m deceiving Eve even after this? Are you still not convinced?”

 

“That’s not it, but—”

 

I was about to frantically wave my hands and deny it, worried he might blame himself.

 

After all, Adam had smiled kindly even when I said I was the deity who had made his life difficult.

 

So in the end, it was distrust of myself. I simply couldn’t believe in myself.

 

And so I hurt Adam too…

 

However, Adam smiled gently.

 

“I truly have no intention of blaming Eve for whatever she does. Rather, I want it.”

 

“What?”

 

Adam slowly intertwined his fingers.

 

I hid my confusion not at the subtle contact, but at the message that appeared before my eyes.

 

Your Hero shyly confesses his feelings to you.

 

Suddenly, why again…!

 

As if telling me to look, Adam grinned.

 

Your Hero hopes that you will read his inner thoughts.

 

At the system messages appearing one after another, I pressed my lips together.

 

Adam’s inner thoughts might differ from his exterior, and the messages might not properly reflect his thoughts…

 

But the wording of the message that appeared next was strange.

 

This was exactly like…

 

“You can see them, can’t you?”

 

Adam said with a gentle smile.

 

“…?”

 

Not understanding his intention, I tilted my head and looked back and forth between the System Message and him.

 

‘Could it be…’

 

Adam’s gaze was looking straight into my eyes. So he had no choice but to know what I was doing.

 

That my eyes were moving toward empty air to read the System Messages.

 

And he didn’t think it was strange at all.

 

He was just smiling brightly.

 

As if…

 

As if he had expected this.

 

“…!!!”

 

Only then did I realize what he was saying.

 

I screamed silently in shock at my belated realization.

 

Your Hero thinks your actions are cute.

 

“How cute, Eve.”

 

It was the kind of boldness befitting a pixel fragment that used to confess to Players.

 

* * *

 

Countless repeated regressions.

 

Within them, Adam had become indifferent to all things. So perhaps he was a bit more insensitive to others’ changes than most people.

 

However, Iberis was an exception.

 

Perhaps because his first meeting with her was so intense, he still remembered it vividly.

 

Iberis had always been like that.

 

Looking back at his memories, it had been that way from their first meeting.

 

She would check his face—more precisely, slightly above his head, avoiding his face—and then be shocked.

 

Perhaps it was more memorable because Iberis was the only person who reacted that way.

 

But it would have been from that time.

 

This was before he even thought that she overlapped with the deity whose face he didn’t know.

 

However, it was true that her constantly doing strange things similar to the deity kept catching his attention.

 

And after he began following Iberis’s every move with his eyes, he couldn’t help but know.

 

She would move normally in everyday situations, but when she encountered him, her expression would become determined.

 

‘What is she looking at?’

 

What exactly was she looking at about him that made her sigh so deeply?

 

He completely realized it after he became certain that Iberis was the deity.

 

However, Adam didn’t bother to ask about it directly.

 

He thought it was surely related to her time as a deity.

 

And Iberis seemed unwilling to reveal that she was his deity.

 

When he tested her a little, Iberis would just break out in cold sweat as if she didn’t know what to do.

 

Adam planned to wait quietly until she revealed it herself.

 

So Adam was simply delighted.

 

“Eve, you seem to be in a good mood today.”

 

“I think Adam is the one in a good mood!”

 

This time too, she checked above her head and then brightened up.

 

What had changed?

 

What was certain was that his condition was also influenced by her mood.

 

If she had been able to check on him during the three years they were apart, wouldn’t her pretty face have been colored with shock?

 

‘It would probably be better if she doesn’t find out.’

 

If you want to hide it, I won’t deliberately expose it.

 

If you say you don’t want to tell me, I’ll close my eyes and pretend not to know.

 

Your Deity holds deep affection for you.

 

Including this as well.

 

* * *

 

Having learned everything, I gaped in disbelief.

 

What I thought I had perfectly hidden actually wasn’t.

 

The sense of futility when the other person had already noticed your secret.

 

My voice trembled involuntarily from the feeling of betrayal. No matter how much I tried to clear my throat, I couldn’t help but stutter mercilessly.

 

“A-Adam. You knew this too? How?”

 

“Eve’s gaze would sometimes drift away. I should say you were looking at something above me rather than at me…”

 

Adam lightly tapped his chin with his finger as if retracing the past.

 

However, Adam’s subsequent words no longer reached my ears.

 

The sentences just seemed to brush past my ears without properly forming complete thoughts.

 

When Adam’s hand pointed exactly to where the status window was, I couldn’t help but be horrified.

 

“S-since when?”

 

“From the beginning? Of course, I didn’t know the details.”

 

For that long?

 

I was even more shocked.

 

I suddenly recalled when I first met Adam at the Demon King’s Castle.

 

‘Back then, what did I do as soon as I met Adam?’

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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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