Do Heroes Need Welfare Too? - Chapter 187
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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 54
We were still in the past that no one could see.
Within Adam’s countless repeated regressions.
Even while we were engaged in our war of words, Adam’s time continued to flow.
Before we knew it, Adam’s end had come around again.
“Anyway, that child has always made the same choices. The Hero will always live a pitiful life and then die.”
The Elderly High Priest asked her pitiful Hero.
“Do you want to go back again? Or do you want to give up?”
Adam had already gone back countless times.
He would go back again this time too.
And he would meet a meaningless death.
“I…”
Adam, who still had traces of youth remaining, opened his mouth.
Adam lifted his head to look at the sky, then lowered it.
As if he was embarrassed to speak.
But I knew who he was talking to.
Adam always had that expression when he spoke to God.
“I think I would be happy if I just had God…”
At that moment, the Elderly High Priest opened her eyes as if she had realized something and looked back at me, and I was able to wake up from my deep sleep.
“Gasp…!”
I opened my eyes like that.
I was breathless as if I had sprinted at full speed.
I sat up, grasping the ring that had become hot as if heated by fire.
The last voice I heard lingered in my ears like an afterimage.
【So please save him. Even now…】
The tears I had shed while sleeping were coldly dried and stuck to my cheeks.
I raised my hand to wipe away the tears and unconsciously looked to the side.
“…Adam?”
Adam wasn’t beside me.
* * *
Adam quietly looked down at the sleeping Iberis.
…The time had come.
His pupils reflected in the mirror briefly held a reddish color. But when Adam blinked once more, they regained their original color.
The moment he grasped the handle and opened the door to leave the room, Adam recalled the moment he first opened the door to the Demon King’s Castle.
However, unlike his ‘first’ self, there was no fear about facing the Demon King.
But when he thought of Iberis who would be left alone after his death, one corner of his heart ached.
But he had been feeling his own limits.
‘If I delay any longer, I might not be able to control myself.’
Adam looked down at his finely trembling hands and clenched them into fists.
The Demon King’s curse had never disappeared. No matter how much Kyrillos had made suppressants for him, it was only a temporary measure.
He couldn’t become like Lawrence and kill his own lover with his own hands.
To avoid following in the footsteps of the previous generation, either the Demon King had to die, or he had to die.
There had already been Heroes before him who experienced the same thing.
Those who were cursed and toyed with in the Demon King’s grasp before dying. Those who thought they would be different and underestimated the curse, only to destroy their surroundings and take their own lives.
There was no way to kill the Demon King who wouldn’t die no matter how many times he was killed.
All he could do was die and buy time until the next Hero appeared.
The plan he had been preparing for three years was going smoothly, and his resolve to carry out the plan was set after reuniting with Iberis.
The Emperor, who had been a risk factor, was dead, and only precious people who would protect Iberis remained.
Since he had already eliminated with his own hands those who dared threaten her, Iberis would now be able to be happy.
Adam, who was about to leave, looked down at her one last time. His hand naturally moved toward Iberis. When he touched her cheek with the back of his hand, warm warmth was directly transmitted.
Perhaps tickled by the finger touching her soft hair, Iberis briefly frowned even in her sleep and then giggled.
Adam, who captured that sight in his eyes, was unknowingly smiling.
He sat lightly on the bed and gently stroked her forehead.
When he brushed away the hair that was tickling her cheek, Iberis rubbed her cheek against his hand in her sleep.
“It would be nice if this wasn’t the last time I see you.”
Adam unknowingly let the words slip out.
But he knew himself. He also knew how reckless what he was about to do was.
Surely Iberis would be angry if she knew.
“Don’t do dangerous things without telling me again!”
Iberis’s gentle voice seemed to echo in his ears.
It was a voice he wanted to hear when they were apart, and wanted to hear constantly even when she was by his side.
But he felt that this night was the turning point.
The Demon King’s power was gradually growing stronger.
At first it seemed like needless worry, but it had been a long time since the medicine Kyrillos gave him stopped working. He had tried deliberately reducing the time they spent together for her safety, but it was still the same.
The subtle temptation of demonic energy seemed like the Demon King was calling him.
Try to run away if you can.
But Adam decided not to run away.
Hadn’t he already seen the fate of those who ran away?
Rather than losing everything like Lawrence, it was better to make the first move.
Adam, who briefly kissed her forehead, stood up from his seat.
Adam looked down at Iberis sleeping soundly one last time and said with a smile.
“Sleep well, Eve.”
And Adam left a final farewell that could never be conveyed again.
What stopped Adam from leaving the mansion was a familiar presence visible outside the window.
Judith’s hawk, which had arrived with urgent news, tapped the window with its beak.
And at the same time, he felt the Demon King’s energy concentrating in one place.
The Demon King’s demonic energy, which hadn’t been felt until now, was intensely felt from the direction of the Imperial Palace.
As if trying to lure him.
The Demon King was calling Adam.
Adam willingly responded to his scheme.
* * *
The dark Imperial Palace.
Judith couldn’t hide his anxiety and looked around.
‘There really is something…’
He was ordinary.
He had never once thought of himself as special.
Except for inheriting royal blood, there was nothing particularly outstanding about him.
He had always lived ordinarily, just like other people did.
So he wasn’t excellent like Adam or the Earl of Evant. He had no talent for swordsmanship, and his sensitivity to energy was only slightly good due to the sensitive disposition he was born with as royalty.
And currently, Judith felt anxious.
It seemed like something had entered the Imperial Palace.
But it was difficult for an ordinary person like him to find out more than that.
Judith narrowed his eyes and looked at the Imperial Palace.
‘It feels bad and mysterious…’
Normally he would have thought it was overwork, but strangely he couldn’t easily dismiss it.
Judith pondered and finally picked up his pen.
When he took the hawk he had previously returned from Iberis out of its cage, the hawk preened its feathers as if it knew its role.
“Please.”
The sky full of dark clouds was somehow even more gloomy. Judith released the hawk toward the dark sky.
Although he might make the precious visit a waste of effort, Judith didn’t regret sending the messenger bird.
His excellent hawk flew away with a note tied to its leg.
To Adam, who would be at Grace Mansion.
If nothing happened, Adam would surely look at him as if he were pathetic.
He would grumble about being called for something like this.
But Judith thought it would be better if this matter ended up being merely his own unfounded worry.
Judith called for the mercenary captain outside, his throat feeling parched.
“You there.”
“….”
Though Judith raised his voice and called again, no sound came back from outside.
Judith slowly rose from his seat.
When he opened the study door, the hallway was completely empty. The mercenary captain who should have been guarding his door was nowhere to be seen.
‘Where on earth did everyone go?’
Judith clicked his tongue softly.
Even though it was late dawn, there wasn’t even a maid walking around the hallway.
Judith lowered his head to look down at his feet.
“…Ash?”
Judith moved his foot to check what he had stepped on.
However, with only the light seeping out from inside the study, he couldn’t see it properly.
Judith bent his knee to examine the foreign substance. What crumbled and disappeared in his hand were traces of ash from something burned.
‘What was burned?’
No, before that, it was impossible to bring any fire source into the Imperial Palace that could burn something.
Judith couldn’t hide his uneasy expression. In the end, he couldn’t wait for Adam’s reply and got up from his seat.
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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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