Chapter 2: The Weight of a Hero’s Rest

When I opened my eyes after meeting the Goddess, a year had already passed since the final battle with the Demon King.

Give me back my year…

I could have sworn I was only with her for a brief moment.

Of course, the Goddess mentioned she would send me a bit further into the future so I could skip all the bothersome aftermath, but being shortchanged like this still feels unfair.

Apparently, a lot happened during that year.

The former Emperor, who was Felix’s uncle, abdicated of his own volition, and Crown Prince Felix, who fought the Demon King alongside me, ascended the throne.

Claire, who was the commander of the First Knight Order, was appointed as the youngest-ever Imperial Knight Commander.

Zeimer, who had stormed out of the Magic Tower to join the war and performed great feats, became the first-ever Imperial Court Mage.

Ilya, who displayed near-perfect administrative capabilities throughout the war, was promoted to the position of Prime Minister.

As for Mitchell, the High Priest… well, he just stayed the High Priest.

In any case, the rotten roots capable only of armchair theories were pulled out, and their spots were filled with capable young blood.

In a way, just as the Goddess desired, the war against the Demon King served as an excellent tool for the Imperial purification of the continent.

When I first opened my eyes, I was startled by my blurry vision, and then again by the refreshing sensation pushing into my nostrils every time I breathed.

The surroundings were noisy, but it felt like muffled buzzing, as if my ears were plugged.

As I lay there dazed, having only just regained consciousness, someone gently lifted me up.

Splash—

With the sound of rippling water and my vision finally clearing, I realized I had been submerged in holy water.

As I emerged from the water, I saw the familiar ceiling of the Great Temple and Felix’s face.

Wait, Crown Prince Felix…?

“Ian!”

Why am I in the Crown Prince’s arms?

“Ian, are you awake? Can you recognize me?”

And why am I naked?

“Are you regaining your senses?”

In front of all these people?

“Ian! You’re finally awake!”

Why am I here like this?

In a display of reflexes worthy of the Hero who defeated the Demon King, I chose the best possible option before the shame could hit me: I fainted again as quickly as I could.

Fortunately, when I opened my eyes once more, I was in my room at the Imperial Palace, where I had stayed for five years before officially joining the war.

After coughing up a massive amount of blood and listening to people’s screams, I drifted off again and met the Goddess in the space beyond my consciousness.

[My child, a year has passed since the final battle. During that time, the chaotic Empire has regained some stability, and peace has come to the continent.]

[You are the Hero who saved the continent. A Hero who believes in love and loves love, one who is so righteous that you do not hesitate to sacrifice yourself to save this world.]

[It is known to the public that you could not save yourself because you blocked the Demon King with your whole body. That is correct. Inside your body lies the Demon King’s power, which I created by transforming my divine power. The divine power I planted is fighting against it.]

[This will make you ill and eat away at you.]

[But my child, all of this is also a play.]

[You are the only being who has received my blessing. A child with a body that does not fall ill and a noble soul. Do not forget that this is also my will. You are firmer and stronger than anyone else.]

[The rest of a Hero with such high renown must pay a price. For your rest, you will appear sick and broken in the eyes of other children. Your body will do its best for your comfort. A cozy and warm nest will be given to the Hero weakened by sacrifice.]

[The energy of the Dragon is strong here, so I cannot stay long. I will keep my words short. I will seek you out every month, so let us talk more then.]

[Rest comfortably. My Hero, my child. You are the final love I have sent down to this world.]

By now, I have become somewhat accustomed to the word ‘sickly,’ which I thought would never have a connection to me in my life, but a month ago, when I first heard those words, I was truly shocked.

However, thinking about it carefully, ‘poor health’ was the best excuse to avoid getting caught up in various annoying matters.

Born as an orphan, even with Director Janet’s warm touch, I rolled around the slums until I almost died, and even after coming to the Imperial Palace, I suffered like hell because of my background.

If staying still and lying down means they’ll wash me, feed me, and put me to sleep, then who cares about pride as a Hero!

In the first place, I didn’t become a Hero because I was burning with a sense of justice.

I simply accepted the position of Hero hoping my life would improve even a little.

I fulfilled the childish desire of an adolescent boy who wanted to learn swordsmanship (literally, I didn’t want to be the best swordsman, I just wanted to learn because it looked cool).

And now, I won’t have to go hungry or sleep on straw because of a lack of mattresses, so the more I think about it, it’s actually quite—like h*ll it is!

I wanted to spend my golden years comfortably under the warm sunlight, not groaning in a dark room!

Today, too, I failed to justify it to myself, continuing to adapt to and deny reality at the same time.

“Ian, how are you feeling today?”

“I have improved a lot thanks to you. Please forgive me for not being able to stand and show proper respect today as well, Your Majesty.”

“I told you those formalities don’t matter anymore. How many times have I heard that? My ears are going to fall off. When will you call me Felix again like you used to?”

Being in ‘extremely’ poor health was great at times like this.

Even with the Emperor of the Empire in front of me, I didn’t have to stand up, kneel, or show respect.

I just had to look up at Felix from exactly the position I was in, rolling around in bed.

As expected of the Emperor, Felix was a handsome man with dazzling blonde hair that looked like flowing honey and deep golden eyes.

In the urgent battlefield, the title ‘Your Imperial Highness’ was too long, so at some point, I started presumptuously calling him Felix, but fortunately or unfortunately, Felix liked that more.

However, the war was already over, and since I knew through experience that the more I got involved with the royal Felix, the more annoying things happened, I was in the middle of keeping as much distance as possible.

“But… the war is over, and now Your Majesty has ascended to the throne. How could I dare call you as I did before, cough—,”

As soon as I thought I wanted Felix to leave, my body immediately began to issue an eviction notice to him.

Really, the blessing (?) bestowed by the Goddess herself was so sophisticated that it was quite nice how it reacted immediately like this.

At the sight of blood starting to flow from my nose and mouth, the servants stationed in the room rushed over and began treatment.

It wasn’t serious since I only needed to show some blood.

The servants supported me to help me sit up so the blood wouldn’t go down my throat, and they wiped the blood and stopped the bleeding with clean cloths.

I’d have to change my clothes again and pretend to faint for a bit, but it was still much better than continuing to talk to Felix.

I closed my eyes, pretending to lose consciousness while leaving my body to the movements of the servants who were changing my shirt and laying me back down.

However, Felix didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving, sitting frozen in the chair next to the bed.

Aren’t you the Emperor now? Aren’t you busy? Why do you come to see me at this time every day?

Even though I grumbled inside for a long time with my eyes closed, Felix just sat there for ten minutes—which felt like a week—staring at me intently without saying a word.

Even with my eyes closed, I could feel Felix’s gaze.

Then, he suddenly took my hand and kissed my fingers.

Smooch.

No, why on earth are you doing that?

I was so surprised for a moment that I almost snapped my eyes open, but fortunately, I safely passed the final hurdle and sent Felix away.

And having reclaimed my long-awaited free time, I buried my face in the blankets, overwhelmed with happiness.

After finishing his morning duties quickly, the place Felix hurried to before lunch was Ian’s room.

After roughly tidying his disheveled clothes from rushing and having his aide wait at the door, Felix moved straight to the bed where Ian lay as soon as the servant opened the door.

Sitting in the chair next to the bed and offering his greetings, Ian showed respect in a slightly breathless voice.

It seemed that speaking was still not easy for him.

Felix brushed back the disheveled hair on the pillow and jokingly scolded him for not needing to show respect.

His heart ached because the intention to distance himself from the man who had become Emperor was conveyed all too clearly.

Yes, you were always like that. Saying your background was lowly, saying you had nothing and had learned nothing, saying you were sorry for not being of greater help.

Even now, you’re probably trying to distance yourself, thinking you’re useless now that your utility as a Hero has vanished.

As expected, Ian once again brought up words of refusal.

Felix wasn’t particularly surprised since it was something he had heard constantly during the past fifteen days since Ian regained consciousness and was able to speak.

He wasn’t very surprised that Ian suddenly began to vomit blood either, as it was something that had happened truly without rest over the past month.

However, being used to it and being worried were two different matters.

The dark red blood that still burst out made his heart drop.

Blood containing demonic energy… made everything it touched unusable.

Felix didn’t want to believe that such a terrible and destructive curse was circulating inside Ian’s body.

The tips of his fingers that touched the blood seemed to sting.

The body lifted by the hands of the servants was so fragile.

Even with the cautious hands supporting him and wiping the blood, low moans of pain leaked through the gaps in the cloth covering his mouth.

Even the small coughs that burst out, perhaps because blood had gone down, made his shoulders heave weakly as if the effort was too much.

Spots of blood spread across the white pajamas.

Soon, the marks where the blood had splattered began to corrode with a sizzling sound, as if scorched by fire.

It was the price of harboring demonic power.

Ian, who had been pouring out blood along with small coughs, eventually went limp as if he had lost consciousness.

Even though he had lost consciousness and his eyes were closed, Ian’s expression was frozen hard as if in pain.

It was an expression Felix had never seen even when Ian had been fatally wounded several times on that horrific battlefield.

Seeing Ian—who always hid his pain with that same indifferent expression even when suffering terrible injuries—sending signals of pain with his whole body like this made Felix’s chest ache as if hit by a blunt object.

There was nothing he could do.

Nothing.

This was Ian’s lonely battle. Ian always told him that he wasn’t of the caliber to be a Hero and that he was lacking, but well.

If a person who silently continues such a lonely and painful battle for the peace of the world is lacking, then who could possibly be a Hero?

Felix suppressed the tears that felt like they would well up at any moment and lifted Ian’s sickly hand.

The hand that used to be firm was now so thin it felt like it would break if held even slightly hard.

He was the Emperor, worshipped as the Sun of the Empire, but in the face of Ian’s nobility, he too lost his light.

The Emperor left a kiss of reverence on the hand of the most noble Hero.