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“If another had remained alone in the dungeon, I would naturally have sent the Commander or another member of the expedition.”

My eyebrows frowned. No matter how nosy I was, I didn’t bother buying and struggling.

I had something to tell Meyer and I had to come in person because I had to be the one to bring him, so I came in directly… If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have bothered to come in. I sighed and shook my head.

“The Commander sometimes seems to see me as a saint… I’m also logical, selfish, and snobbish enough to have my priorities in order. That’s why I wouldn’t risk coming for anyone like this.”

“But what about at the time of the treatment for April? Didn’t you volunteer for the role of getting hurt first?”

Meyer brought up the time when I had tried to use Holy Devotion to save April.

The unpleasantness of that moment flashed through my mind, and I flinched. My lips quivered a few times.

But then I decided to be frank, didn’t I? I murmured quietly.

“At that time… I didn’t want the leader to get hurt.”

“Me?”

Meyer asked back. Listen properly and don’t be so emphatic, it’s embarrassing…!

I clenched my bottom lip.

Meyer seems to have mistaken me for something noble, but it’s all an illusion.

How cumbersome it was for the illusion to bind me like shackles…

But when it came time to strip away the illusion, I suddenly felt afraid.

Perhaps my true self deviated from the noble rationality he envisioned?

If so… Then would he even like me, selfish and snobbish, like he used to?

However, having made it so clear, I could not retreat now. I confided in him frankly.

“I’m selfish and think about my priorities. I… I thought it was better for me to get injured than for the Commander to get injured.

“Ha.”

Meyer’s mouth opened blankly and let out a sigh.

He didn’t think I would say that, so he slowly blinked and looked at me.

I immediately lowered my eyes. I was embarrassed to make eye contact with him.

“It’s like that for the mana circuits, too. It was the leader who endured the pain, so it was the leader who kissed me.”

Then I stopped speaking for a while.

I raised my head again. I wanted to say these words properly.

I had already said them once, but looking back again made them even clearer.

I spoke clearly.

“Because I like the Commander… No, Meyer Knox.”

The answer to my confession was silence.

I didn’t know if it was a pleasure or not… I just stared at the tip of Meyer’s toes with my mouth closed.

His neck, which was revealed at first glance outside his black armor, was heated up.

Is he angry?

Maybe he was disappointed because I only made excuses without apologizing.

Indeed, taking out the words that I liked him in such a situation might have sounded like an excuse to escape the situation.

I was quick to add that that was not my intention.

“But… I’m sorry for hiding what happened with the mana circuit. I apologize for that. I just didn’t want to worry the… Commander at that time.”

“…”

“Now I’ll take care of my health as the Commander wants. Try not to get hurt, and…”

I murmured, listening to Meyer’s mood. Nevertheless, Meyer’s face did not unfold.

I had no idea how to make him feel better. I clenched my eyes and reached out to Meyer.

“Because I’m such a human being… You may have been disappointed with me. But we’re going back. Together.”

The hand I held out shook involuntarily.

Meyer only looked at my hand for a long time.

What, no matter how much I apologize…

Did I not apologize enough?

Yes. Maybe so. Maybe I’ve been thinking too much by my own standards. Meyer is a more sensitive person…

The moment I opened my mouth to say sorry again, Meyer suddenly grabbed my hand.

I don’t know how tightly he grasped my hand, but it was so tight that my body went right along with it and hugged his chest.

Meyer mumbled as he held me in his arms.

“What do you mean disappointment? That doesn’t make sense.”

Meyer put his forehead on my forehead. His eyes shone like stars under the cast shadow.

“I am… I’m just so happy that you cared about me this much.”

Then Meyer put my hand on his chest. Even on the hard and cold armor, I could feel how strong his heart was beating.

Meyer asked in a voice full of excitement and joy.

“It’s me you like the most, wherever you are, isn’t it?”

“Of course. I like the Commander best.”

I answered with more confidence than before. Meyer’s eyes became honeyed.

“If so, then… Call me from Meyer from now on. It’s okay only when it’s the two of us, without people.”

I called his name when I came to the dungeon, and I called his name many times even in the first round.

However, when it came time to say it in this situation, I felt awkward. I awkwardly spoke his name.

“…okay, Meyer.”

At that moment, as soon as I said his name, Meyer held my cheek and kissed me.

The name I had said disappeared from the tip of my tongue to the tip of his tongue.

Meyer, who was much taller than me, was so aggressive in his approach that I wobbled and fell backward. But before falling, Meyer’s hand snatched my waist.

Unable to move, I clutched only his forearms and received his passionate kiss.

After a few moments, Meyer released me.

I finally let out a breath.

It was only the murky air of the demon world coming in on my respiratory tract, but even that pleased me.

I thought that if we were going to kiss in a dungeon, we would have to defeat the Demon King. Nothing ever goes according to plan, but I didn’t see this coming.

Slowly I began to calm down and told Meyer.

“I have a favor to ask of you, too.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t call me [1]’you.’ Don’t do anything dangerous and take care of your health.”

I said jokingly, smiling and laughing at Meyer, who asked back as if he would listen to anything.

Meyer’s face shook with unknown emotions.

He muttered in a low, locked voice as if he was speechless.

“…you’re really…”

“Oho.”

“… Jun.”

Meyer spoke slowly.

Usually, Meyer often called me Jun, but at this moment, the name he called me was sweet.

I smiled satisfactorily and reached out to Meyer once again.

“We’re really going back now, Meyer.”

Meyer’s hand grasped mine. Our opposing hands were tightly bound, as if in trust and affection for each other.

***

Countess Nerus glared at the golden Falcon that Tragula had placed there. Evidence of the first hero still shone brilliantly despite the thousand years of time.

“Those that survive a thousand years or so, just by luck.”

Countess Nerus bit her lip. Her eyes glittered with the frustration of having what was hers taken from her.

It’s not well known, but her family, the Nerus’s, like Grand Duke Knox, was a family of expedition captains who had been active since the time the Demon King first appeared in this world a thousand years ago.

Her ancestor was a member of the same expeditionary force as the first emperor.

However, because of a difference of opinion, her ancestor was kicked out of the hero’s expedition and formed their own expedition. And although the expeditionary force became almost as large as that of the heroes, it was the very expeditionary force of the heroes that entered the last battle against the Demon King.

After the heroic expedition defeated the Demon King, only the seven heroes, including the hero who became the emperor, kept the sweet juice of the peaceful world to themselves.

How hard her ancestor had also tried to protect this world.

However, the hardships of her ancestor and their expedition members were evident.

Just because they were of a different lineage, which competed with the hero’s expedition!

Her ancestor, who had helped bring about peace, was only given the title of Baron…

The desperate resentment of her ancestor came down through the generations of Nerus.

While the Nerus family tried to somehow revive the family, they also devoted their lives to destroying the families of other heroes.

They knocked down the other heroes’ houses one by one under the water.

Either they let the flames of rebellion light up and get out of it, or they marry a hero’s family and do not have an heir, causing the generation to end gradually…

The Cornu family, a descendant of the Heavenly Palace, also collapsed like that.

It was dyed in gambling, luxury, and pleasure. That’s how the bankrupt Cornu had no choice but to sell the Golden Falcon, an artifact of their ancestors.

And Countess Nerus took on the role of giving birth to Heavenly Palace’s offspring. Everything was perfect.

The whole process was done in complete secrecy. No one was to know.

If not in one generation, then in two. If not in that, then in three…

They were the fruit of persistent spite and malice.

1. (T/N: Often, Meyer calls Jun “자네” which literally means ‘you.’)