CHAPTER 44….
Envy, who had been quietly watching the two faces, retraced his steps and stood before Cretes.
Grasping Cretes’s chin, he tilted it left and right, then gave a nod.
“If you two were in that kind of relationship, you should’ve said so sooner.”
“……”
“Once the final mission is complete, I’ll consider your marriage.”
At those words, Cretes’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.
“So now, return to your respective assignments.”
Leaving those words behind, Envy turned his back again. Asillia glanced at Cretes, then nodded.
In their gazes, only a shared concern for one another remained.
Cretes watched the receding backs of Asillia and Envy.
Who knew pretending to be someone else to solve problems would be this much of a hassle.
By rough estimate, it had been a thousand years.
After losing someone precious, he fell into boredom; that boredom eventually bred indifference.
He didn’t care what happened to humans, nor what happened to himself.
But now that he had something precious again, something he had to protect—
He regretted not having accumulated experience for so long.
If he could have his way, he would solve everything through sheer force.
He would break the brainwashing on them in an instant and not care about Revilla’s future.
Whether Revilla collapsed or the world fell into chaos because the brainwashing was undone—
That was none of Cretes’s concern.
All that mattered was getting what he wanted.
But he couldn’t do that.
Cretes was a being of great power, and such a being must not deeply interfere in human affairs.
That was a promise Cretes had made to himself.
“You, too, must have disappeared before me because you interfered too deeply… Now that I’m in your position, I understand why you made that choice.”
Cretes turned his head toward the window.
He had lived his entire life without much thought, but today, that person came to mind—
His first and last friend, with golden hair.
The Absolute who gave up an almost eternal life for the sake of humanity.
I won’t act like you.
Muttering to himself, Cretes turned back.
After a short wait, an elderly man with a venerable air appeared.
“Well, well, who do we have here? Isn’t this Sir Hisclear? It’s been a while.”
It was Emperor Jande.
Cretes took in the sight of Revilla’s emperor for the first time.
The emperor, who looked more like a retired knight, was very tall. His presence was just as formidable as his stature.
And yet…
Cretes exhaled quietly.
His head, eyes, and heart were steeped in a thick, clinging power.
Not quite brainwashing, but a similar force was tormenting him.
So the emperor wasn’t the culprit.
Of the people Cretes had seen so far, very few had escaped brainwashing.
Among the palace’s maids and attendants, a few had remained unaffected—but even some of them had been caught in it.
“Sir?”
When Cretes didn’t respond, the emperor called again.
“Ah, my apologies. My mind wandered for a moment.”
“Haha, no need to apologize. So, I hear you went to Moria recently. Would you tell this old man what it was like?”
The Jande Cretes saw was a warm man.
Despite his imperial status, he neither looked down on others nor treated them lightly.
Cretes glanced toward where Asillia was.
So that’s why she cared about him so much.
Only then did Asillia’s words come to mind—
He was someone who couldn’t resist genuine kindness.
The only one in Revilla who treated him warmly and spoke sincerely… She couldn’t turn her back on such an emperor.
“Your mind seems to be elsewhere.”
“Ah.”
“Are you worried about Sir Lestantis?”
Perhaps noticing where Cretes was looking, Jande asked. In the end, Cretes nodded.
“He’s someone who tries to bear everything alone. I can’t help but worry.”
“Oh? To hear such gentle words from you—how surprising. Living long enough does bring strange sights.”
“……And what makes you say that?”
“You used to dislike everyone. You hated speaking to people, looking at them, even touching them.”
Jande spoke about his impressions of Isaiah over the years.
“And when you first became Sir Lestantis’s aide, you hated it terribly. I still remember your words back then: ‘If my superior is useless, may I discard him?’ Wasn’t that it?”
Jande chuckled at the memory. How could someone who once spoke like that change so much?
Listening quietly, Cretes smiled faintly.
I should say something to him when I return to Moria.
He was thinking just that when—
Jande half-closed one eye and said:
“So then, where is the ‘Isaiah Hisclear’? And who is this stranger standing before me?”
Jande smiled.
But he hadn’t called for anyone, nor drawn a sword.
He simply sat there with a genuinely curious expression.
“Oh my, you already noticed?”
“Your demeanor was far too different. Maybe not as much as Sir Lestantis, but he’s still a cherished subordinate. You think I wouldn’t know him?”
“……”
“So—who are you?”
Cretes stepped closer to Jande.
Following Moria’s custom, he swept his hand before his face, revealing his true form.
“Greetings, Emperor Jande of Revilla. I am Cretes, Emperor of Moria.”
At his words, Jande stared at his face for a long moment.
“Moria’s emperor… Oh, yes. You look exactly as you did in the old books I once read.”
He marveled that Asillia’s report was true.
He also wondered—how could someone live for a thousand years? Was he truly a god?
“It’s more surprising that you aren’t shocked.”
“One never knows how the world will turn. But… what happened to the real Hisclear?”
The question carried an unspoken You didn’t kill him, did you?
For once, the man who had been chuckling like a friendly old neighbor let a trace of killing intent seep out.
If Cretes had killed Isaiah, he wouldn’t have let it slide.
So this man truly cares for his people.
Could such a person really have wanted every knight brainwashed?
But the hearts of humans are unknowable.
They were masters at deceiving and mocking gods.
“He’s alive. Though… he might die soon.”
“Speak plainly.”
“He’s on the brink of death from the brainwashing.”
There was no need to soften the truth.
Now that things had come to this, Cretes intended to see how much Jande knew—
And from where to where he was turning a blind eye.
“Oh… so you’ve found out, after all…”
Jande simply looked pained.
After a long silence, he spoke heavily.
“Sir Lestantis returned to break Sir Hisclear’s brainwashing, didn’t he?”
“Yes. And to break the one on himself as well.”
Jande let out a long sigh.
Cretes studied him, then asked:
“Emperor of Revilla, you seem to know how things are here. Why don’t you stop it? Or… is this what you wanted?”
At that, Jande shook his head.
“I know, but I cannot stop it.”
“……?”
“If the Emperor of Moria is truly a god, can’t you see my condition?”
“It didn’t seem like brainwashing.”
“Something similar. In the end, I cannot refuse the commands of the one who wields this power.”
Lowering his gaze, Jande muttered:
“I was too greedy… If I’d known the result of my ambition would be this, I’d never have allowed it.”
“……”
“I’m nothing but a puppet. All commands for every matter come from… ugh…!”
Mid-sentence, Jande clutched his head.
It seemed there was some curse that inflicted pain if he spoke forbidden words.
Cretes approached him and peeled away a thin layer of the force binding him.
A dull ache pressed in on his own chest, but it was still bearable.
“…Envy Tassion. He must be stopped.”
“How did it come to be that all the knights were brainwashed?”
“I dreamed of a strong and prosperous nation.”
Jande’s voice was tinged with sorrow.
The late emperor had been so excellent that people called him a great ruler. Many knights followed him, ready to give their lives for his sake.
So Jande thought—perhaps he did not have the qualities of an emperor.
That he could never be a leader praised by many knights.
So Jande went to the battlefield without discrimination.
He believed that if he showed the qualities a knight should have and returned alive from perilous places, many knights would follow him.
“But once I became emperor, I learned the truth—the knights followed the late emperor because… it was all due to brainwashing.”
