Chapter 278: Dreaming of Escape

And so the Demon King found Deon Hart’s room.

Lirinel was there, anxiously peering at Deon, while Ben calmly wiped his body down with a damp towel. A little further away, Ed and Dan stood in sight, their gazes fixed on Deon Hart with complicated expressions.

Perhaps because they had experienced an even worse episode before, their demeanor was relatively calm.

“Lord Demon King…?”

As if sensing a presence, all four pairs of eyes turned towards him at once. The Demon King, who had been standing expressionless, met Dan’s subtly sharp gaze, and belatedly began to walk.

At a gesture implying he should leave, Lirinel and Ed, their eyes filled with regret, bowed their heads and stepped back. Ben, still lingering as if reluctant to leave, also retreated, and Dan, after watching the Demon King warily, was about to be the last to exit when—

Thump—

A hand gripped his shoulder. Startled, he turned his head.

“What’s wro….”

“It’s troublesome if you’re so openly wary in front of the other demons.”

!

The Demon King whispered, his gaze still fixed on Deon Hart lying on the bed. Dan’s shoulders stiffened, trying to appear nonchalant, but the Demon King ignored it and quietly warned him.

“I understand you’re anxious because of your owner, but know your place. I don’t want to see your attitude put your owner in danger.”

“……”

Dan, his face hardened, took the step he had paused to take, as if to leave. The Demon King willingly released his shoulder and walked to Deon’s bedside.

Click.

The door closed behind him, and silence descended.

‘…….’

Only faint breaths could be heard, a subtle sign of life. The Demon King, his eyes devoid of emotion, looked down at him, then reached out and placed the back of his hand on Deon’s feverish forehead.

It was hot.

“……He said he’d sleep for a bit before collapsing.”

He hadn’t opened his eyes yet, as if he intended to sleep deeply. The Demon King knew why he had ended up in this state, why he hadn’t woken up yet. A snort of cold laughter escaped him. A voice like a whisper, laced with mockery, echoed within the room.

“Is reality so unbearable that you’re trying to escape even into your dreams?”

Having promised himself to stop distorting and denying reality, opening his eyes would inevitably force him to face it. Therefore, he must have subconsciously chosen to simply fall asleep.

“If it’s your karma, even your dreams won’t be peaceful.”

A reality like a winter blizzard versus a past soaked in blood—choosing the past over the present. Should he find this surprising?

But he understood. The past was finite, but reality carried a future whose length was unknown. And the future, moreover, held the ‘unknown,’ making it even more daunting to confront.

Because no one could guarantee what lay ahead, how long it would last, or anything at all.

“Still, you can’t stay trapped in your dreams forever.”

He felt Deon’s eyelids tremble slightly. The Demon King removed his now-warm hand.

“Right. It’s about time you opened your eyes, Deon.”

As his hand fell away, his eyelids lifted, revealing red pupils. The Demon King narrowed his eyes, observing the unfocused eyes with a hazy light.

***

I had a nightmare.

A dream where blood, rising from the floor, finally swallowed me whole.

While I drowned in the blood, ghosts rejoiced as if holding a festival, circling around me. Even as all sounds were muffled by the liquid, their cackling voices pierced my eardrums clearly.

And, and….

[Be careful with your eyes.]

Deon opened his eyes.

***

Originally, the Demon King intended to greet Deon Hart as usual when he opened his eyes. But….

“……”

The Demon King leaned closer to get a better look. One might find such proximity burdensome, but Deon didn’t utter a word about it; his pupils weren’t even focusing properly.

Silently straightening up, he extended his index and middle fingers. The hand, aimed at the red pupils and moving with menacing speed, stopped as if blocked by something midway.

“……You.”

A pale hand firmly gripped his wrist.

Even though his two fingers had stopped just before piercing his eyes, Deon’s eyes showed not a hint of agitation. Not even a reflexive blink. Merely glaring warily at the location where his opponent was likely to be, Deon watched the Demon King slowly open his mouth.

“You can’t see right now, can you?”

“……!”

Only then did his eyes widen in shock.

He had blocked the incoming attack based on his Heroic Spirit’s physical abilities and the quiet surroundings, but that didn’t mean he could see.

How could he deceive the perceptive Demon King when he couldn’t even see his face?

“……That’s… right.”

Deon readily admitted it.

His voice, weak and faltering, was rather pitiful. The Demon King subtly tugged at his captured wrist. Having realized his opponent was the Demon King, the Heroic Spirit released his grip on the wrist. The Demon King, casually twirling his freed wrist, gestured with his hand.

Creak.

A chair from the side was pulled over.

“……!”

“Just bringing a chair over.”

The Demon King reassured Deon, who flinched at the sudden noise, and sat down in the chair.

As if his pride was hurt, or perhaps because being unable to see was genuinely inconvenient, he frowned. The Demon King spoke in a gentle voice, as if to soothe him.

“You don’t have to worry too much about your eyes. It’s probably temporary.”

It had to be.

“It’s probably because your fever spiked.”

“……What if.”

Deon, who had been listening quietly, opened his mouth.

“What if it’s not temporary?”

“Why bother asking such things?”

Knowing full well.

The answer came immediately. Deon, reading the blatant implication in the unwavering reply despite the kind tone, closed his mouth.

‘……Right, this one wasn’t the type to dwell on things that are broken either.’

An incident with the former Emperor Eudoard came to mind. Back then, his vision had also temporarily blurred due to excessive blood loss. The former Emperor’s reaction was similar to the Demon King’s now.

Are rulers always like this?

Chuckling, he let out a laugh.

“Come to think of it, that was a truly pointless question. Asking the obvious.”

He was vaguely orienting his gaze towards where the voice came from, but the world remained pitch black.

But then again, when had the world ever been bright?

“It’s probably a temporary phenomenon, as you said.”

His eyes would return soon. Once he discarded his pointless weakness, he could feel it clearly. If he managed to regain his composure and his fever subsided, his sight would also clear up.

Coincidentally, the sorcerer had also made ominous remarks… It would be better to think of this as a unique training period in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances until his eyes returned.

Reading the Demon King’s presence with his now-familiar senses, Deon smiled nonchalantly.

***

Two days later, the sky-high fever subsided, and the temporarily lost eyesight also returned.

Yet, despite the clearly good news, Ben’s expression didn’t brighten.

“He still has a mild fever….”

The high fever was gone, but the temperature wouldn’t drop further from a mild fever. The barely perceptible heat that simmered 24/7 bothered the physician, and he frowned.

“If he catches even a cold in this state, the situation will worsen. Perhaps you should close the window….”

“I don’t want to.”

Deon, who had been blankly staring at his own hands, suddenly raised his head.

“What nonsense, a Heroic Spirit catching a cold.”

“But you have a fever right now, Sir Heroic Spirit.”

“That’s because of mental factors. Anyway, I hate confined spaces, so just leave it open.”

Someone might call it fussiness, but recently, in addition to the persistent stench of blood, another reason to dislike confined spaces had emerged. Deon turned his head resolutely.

Even though he knew it was a hallucination and shouldn’t matter, ever since the nightmare, he sometimes entertained the silly thought that blood might fill the room and drown him. Naturally, his aversion had only intensified.

“The bigger problem is….”

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing. Anyway, you’ve done everything you need to do, right?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Then I need to rest, so go on out. Oh, and Ed too.”

“……”

Ben, seemingly concerned about Deon’s demeanor, hesitated, but was dragged out by Ed’s hand. There was some bickering in the process, but Deon paid no attention and looked down at his hands again.

He rubbed his fingertips together, then clenched and unclenched his fists. The sickeningly familiar sensation was palpable.

“……Dan.”

“I’m listening.”

“Can you see this?”

“What are you referring to?”

“……Right, if you could see it, your reaction wouldn’t be like that.”

His hands were stained with viscous blood. Deon rubbed his hands together countless times at the unpleasant liquid that wouldn’t disappear, and finally admitted it.

“Did you call me crazy once?”

“Well… I said something similar.”

“And I said I was still sane back then.”

“You did.”

“I need to correct that.”

I am definitely insane.

“I was crazy from the start.”

When he heard that question, and even before that. He had already been insane.

Perhaps he had been insane from the moment he decided to separate his memories on the battlefield. No sane person would think of dividing their memories. So, already being insane, he must have killed his family after returning home. Otherwise, no matter how enraged he was, he wouldn’t have killed his own family directly.

“Ha, hahaha.”

Deon burst into laughter. He unleashed the sorrow, the hatred towards himself, the anger, the madness he had accumulated. The maniacal laughter was like a laugh mocking his own fall into the abyss.

“Dan, you know what?”

“What… is it?”

“Normal people become consumed by madness when swept away by herd mentality or plunged into extreme sorrow.”

“……”

“Maybe I was crazy even longer ago than I thought.”

Madness is born from extreme sorrow as its foundation.

So perhaps, he had been insane from the moment he thought he had been abandoned by his family.

……Whenever I went insane, the shitty thing doesn’t change, so it’s better not to dig into it.

***

Deon put a cigarette in his mouth and immediately grabbed the paperwork. Each inhale brought a dose of the drug, calming the throbbing headache from the mild fever. Ben and Ed tried to dissuade him from his work, but he ignored them and kept his eyes fixed on the documents.

A pitiful gaze landed on his profile.

“Sir Deon… at this rate, you’ll really ruin your health… Even if you are a Heroic Spirit….”

“I don’t intend to live long anyway.”

“How can you say such things…!”

“……”

Dan, who had been silently observing the situation, quietly went outside.

Deon glanced at Ben, who seemed shocked and was just gaping, then gestured with his eyes at Ed. Ed, understanding the meaning, paused reluctantly for a moment, then grabbed Ben by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out. The minor quarrel that started again was perfectly shut off as the door closed.

In the space that had become quiet again, Deon tapped the desk with his index finger of the hand that wasn’t holding the documents.

‘The troops there were almost annihilated, only a very few survivors returned….’

One might say it’s fortunate that at least the mad dogs returned safely.

Of course, the enemies also suffered considerable damage, but it seemed insignificant compared to their side’s losses.

If they had suffered such a crushing defeat, usually someone in charge would be held responsible….

[Let’s just have you take responsibility for it. You can do it, right?]

The Demon King’s words were a bit unexpected even for Deon.

In other words, wasn’t this another chance he was being given? Since he added the words that this was the last chance, even he himself had admitted to giving one more opportunity.

‘Troop losses are significant… but still, the number of Heroes in the Human Realm has decreased considerably due to this incident, so maybe it’ll be alright.’

Of course, he had received reports that Rweche was hiding a considerable number of Heroes. The exact scale was unknown, making it hard to estimate, but even so, it would be less than when each country except Rweche gathered their Heroes.

More importantly, there was something to address before planning for the future.

Tap.

His finger stopped. Red pupils slowly rolled and turned towards a certain spot.

“It’s good timing, I was about to call you anyway.”

Deon curved his eyes to hide his true feelings and spoke the name of the uninvited guest who had slipped in.

“Develania.”