<CHAPTER 13>
Taking Out the Trash
No one knew how the great Demon King had ended up falling for a mere human woman.
What mattered was not that at all.
Herond moved his beak busily.
“It seemed like Lady Ehilie felt sorry for hurting Your Highness!”
Herond repeated everything he had heard from Ehilie in order to survive.
“She said Your Highness is kind and a good person, and that she does not want to grow distant from you!”
“……”
“I, Herond, swear on this beak and these wings that Lady Ehilie also has feelings for Your Highness.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! I am certain.”
“Then why did she reject my confession?”
“That is…!”
Based on countless romance stories he had consumed, Herond found the perfect answer.
Recently, he had been especially obsessed with tragic romances where lovers let each other go out of selfless love.
“Because Your Highness is too perfect!”
“Is being perfect a problem?”
Redemberg Lu Edeltein’s eyebrows twitched at the remark that seemed to belittle Ehilie.
Noticing this quickly, Herond added hastily.
“Of course, I do not think so, but Lady Ehilie might feel that way.”
“Indeed… that makes sense.”
Redemberg Lu Edeltein nodded.
Herond finally felt relieved.
“If that is the reason…”
Redemberg Lu Edeltein muttered quietly.
“Then I should show more flaws.”
Herond did not know.
That his words would cause Redemberg Lu Edeltein’s act of false modesty before Ehilie to level up even further.
* * *
At the same time Redemberg Lu Edeltein was squeezing information out of Herond.
Someone was approaching Ehilie’s small cabin.
A man with golden hair like the sun and blue eyes like the sky.
He was Gabriel, a hero born with the destiny to defeat the Demon King for the sake of world order and peace.
Gabriel cautiously approached the cabin.
“This is it. It has to be here.”
He could see it.
A sinister and ominous aura flowing out of the small storage shed connected to the cabin.
Gabriel entered the shed through an open window.
“Hup!”
The moment he entered, he almost screamed at the sight of a massive dragon’s head.
He quickly covered his mouth to suppress the scream.
‘As expected. It is a Black Dragon.’
Not long ago, Gabriel had received an order from the Emperor.
He was commanded to defeat the ferocious Black Dragon that frequently appeared in the northern empire, destroying walls and slaughtering countless humans.
Gabriel was a rookie hero who had only recently awakened his powers.
He was not confident he could defeat the Black Dragon alone.
Even so…
“I will obey.”
He accepted the order willingly.
Because it was his duty as a hero.
After gathering information, he found the dragon’s nest and planned a surprise attack while it slept.
But…
As he approached silently, he witnessed it.
A demon with black hair and red eyes slaughtering the Black Dragon in an instant.
“Kieeeek!”
“You are noisy.”
“Kiek!”
“Should I cut off your tongue first?”
It was one-sided slaughter.
The demon easily killed the dragon that imperial armies had barely managed to restrain.
‘That is no ordinary demon.’
Gabriel knew instinctively.
That he was either the Demon King or a high-ranking demon.
The current Demon King had never appeared in the human realm.
But rumors said he possessed power far beyond the previous one.
‘I cannot fight him yet.’
Gabriel knew he was no match.
So he held his breath and observed.
The demon sliced the dead dragon into pieces.
Watching the cruel scene, Gabriel thought.
‘Is he… butchering it?’
After cutting it up like livestock, the demon carried the pieces away using magic.
He left almost no magical trace.
Only the faint aura of the dead dragon remained, allowing Gabriel to follow.
After crossing mountains and rivers for days, he finally arrived at this suspicious cabin.
‘It looks like a normal place…’
As he looked around the shed—
Bang—
The door suddenly opened.
Gabriel instinctively drew his sword and aimed it forward.
The person who entered was a beautiful woman with white hair and blue eyes.
Her eyes shook violently upon seeing him.
Then she screamed in fear.
“Kyaaaak!”
“W-Wait, Lady. Please calm down.”
Gabriel hurriedly put away his sword and approached her.
“Do not come closer, you lunatic!”
“Lady, please calm down. I am…”
Without giving him a chance to explain, she cursed him as a pervert and trash and ran away.
For someone who had lived honestly and righteously, it was a shocking experience.
Desperate to explain, Gabriel chased after her.
* * *
What on earth was happening?
Ehilie was completely flustered.
Because of the hero, Gabriel, chasing her.
‘Why is he here?’
No matter how hard she tried, could she not escape the original story’s flow?
Before she realized it, she had run inside her house.
“Lady, please listen to me. I am not a strange person.”
A man who entered her house without permission claiming he was not strange was hardly convincing.
Moreover, in the original story, he was indeed strange.
‘And completely insane…’
Trembling in fear of experiencing the same tragedy as the original heroine, Ehilie shook.
“Why are you so afraid of me?”
“A stranger rummaging through my shed and chasing me into my house would scare anyone.”
“……I am truly sorry. I did not mean to frighten you. I was only looking for…”
Looking for what?
Potions or herbs?
Wanting him gone quickly, Ehilie cried out.
“I will give you whatever you want, so please do not touch me.”
“No, no, Lady. That is a misunderstanding. I am not such a lowly thief.”
“Then why were you searching the shed?”
“That is…”
Just then—
Crash!
The door behind him burst open.
No, to be precise, it fell off entirely.
Bang!
The massive door smashed into Gabriel’s head.
He collapsed instantly, and the door crushed him.
“Ehilie.”
Rek called out worriedly from beyond the broken doorway.
Unaware someone was underneath, he stepped on it.
“Rek, wait!”
“Yes?”
With that, he put his weight down.
Crunch—
Something was crushed.
“There is a person there!”
Rek looked around in confusion.
“Under your foot!”
“Pardon?”
He lifted his foot slightly.
Only broken wood was visible.
“There is only a broken door, Ehilie.”
He casually stomped again.
“N-No, under the door!”
Rek finally bent down and saw a hand sticking out.
“Ah, I see.”
“That is not ‘I see’! Get off!”
“Yes, understood, Ehilie.”
As he stepped back, he stepped on Gabriel once more.
He kicked the door aside and lifted Gabriel like baggage.
It looked strangely familiar.
Seeing Gabriel limp like a corpse, Ehilie panicked.
“Rek, he is not dead, right?”
“Yes. Unfortunately.”
“What?”
“Other than some cracked bones, he is fine.”
Fine…?
He did not look fine at all.
His head was split open and bleeding heavily.
‘After being crushed and stomped, surviving is impressive…’
While she was thinking that, Rek turned around with Gabriel dangling.
“Rek, where are you going?”
“To take out the trash.”
It meant burying him again.
