CHAPTER 40
As the voice from inside the room echoed out, the surrounding atmosphere froze.

"What is that nonsense?"

Niobe, who had come up behind me, reacted as if she had just heard something utterly absurd. The others had similar reactions, but I alone was able to maintain my composure.

Because this was an event straight out of the original novel.

"I'm coming in!"

Therefore, I was able to calmly walk into the room without being startled by the sudden situation.

"Ceres?!"

The very first thing that caught my eye was the shocked figure of Ares.

"Lord Ceres, it has been a while."

The next person I spotted was High Priest Hairel, which made even me flinch for a second. Why the hell is she here?

And finally. A rather pretty-looking man with long silver hair like mine, though he was taller and had a larger build than me.

His gender was flipped, but I could still recognize who it was.

Nemeth Whiperion.
First off, he was Ares's nephew.

In the original work, Ares had a younger brother who fell in love with a commoner woman and left home. Even though he ran away, he left with the tacit approval of his older sister, Ares, so they hadn't parted on bad terms. He just had terrible luck.

The brother, who had been living well after leaving, got caught up in an accident and died alongside his wife. Then, their only remaining child, Nemeth, came to the Whiperions...

'My late father told me. That your daughter, Ceres, is actually adopted, not your biological child. So, as the only true direct descendant, I am the rightful heir!'

Just revealing he was her nephew would have been enough for him to live comfortably as a member of the Count's family, yet he went out of his way to make this bizarre claim.

It was one of the events that had a terribly negative impact on Ceres's mental health, and originally, this was supposed to happen before the Airan incident. The timeline was out of order, but seeing one of the original novel's major villains made my eyes grow cold.

Being stared down by me, Nemeth flinched.

"So you're Ceres."

"Yes, and who exactly are you?" I said, making no effort to hide my sheer disbelief. "I just heard something incredibly absurd. Someone shouting that I was adopted. Just who are you to be spouting such nonsense?"

"...The only direct descendant of the Whiperions."

Nemeth shook off his initial panic and spoke with a smug air instead.

"And it's not nonsense. My mother told me quite clearly. That you aren't biological, but adopted."

He had made the same claim in the original novel too. However, the only thing the original novel confirmed for sure was that Nemeth was indeed Ares's nephew.

As for Nemeth's other claim—that Ceres was adopted—both the other characters and Ceres herself reacted to it as if it were complete nonsense. There was no evidence, but the reason such a ridiculous claim had worked in the original novel boiled down to two things.

'Oho, that sounds interesting. Perhaps it's true.'
'What are you saying?!'

First, Viol, wanting to tear Ceres away from the Whiperions and tie her down by his side, had deliberately pretended to believe and support the claim.

Second, Ares, the only one who could tell the truth, was already dead.

In the original, Ares eventually plotted a rebellion to get Ceres back but failed. He was imprisoned in the Imperial Palace's dungeons as a traitor, and Viol tried to use the disgraced Ares as a hostage to control Ceres however he pleased. But Ares, declaring that he couldn't let Ceres suffer humiliation because of him, chose to take his own life instead.

Ironically, because of this, there was no way to expose Nemeth's lie, leaving Ceres in a terrible predicament.

But...

"We can just ask my mother if that's true!"

In this world, Ares was perfectly alive and well!

What an idiot. Unlike the original, Ares was alive and standing right here, yet he still came and spouted this garbage.

Fully expecting Ares to call it absolute nonsense, I looked over at her.

"Mother?"

But then, I saw Ares sweating profusely, looking strangely terrified.

...Wait, what?

Her significant reaction made my expression harden. Ares slowly stood up and approached me.

"I'm sorry for hiding it all this time."

What?

"After that day, I just couldn't bring myself to tell you the truth..."

"W-Wait a minute. So you're saying it's true? You're telling me I'm adopted, and you hid it from me this whole time without saying a word?!"

What kind of crazy bullshit was this?!

I was panicking because this wasn't in the original story at all, but Ares shook her head with a dark expression.

"No, I told you once."

"When?"

"The day we argued and you lost your memories. That day, I told you the truth, and that's what we were fighting about!"

That was foreshadowing?!

What the fuck!

It was such an absurd development that I was about to demand if she was joking, but—

'You've fooled me so well up until now. I believed you were my mother. I never doubted you for a single second!'

At that moment.
An event I had never personally experienced flashed through my mind. A memory of me screaming in anger at Ares.

...What is this?

"My aunt has admitted it. That Ceres is not the true heir!"

Once Ares confirmed to Ceres that he was indeed adopted, Nemeth grew even more triumphant. Ares looked at her nephew and spoke with a chilling voice.

"What exactly do you want? What is it you're after to be doing this?"

"What I want is the position that was meant to be mine!"

"...You are still my nephew. Had you simply revealed your identity normally, I would have treated you so well that you'd lack for nothing. Did you really have to covet Ceres's place out of pure greed?"

A cold light settled in Ares's eyes as she stared at Nemeth. As Nemeth flinched under her icy glare...

"Hold on, you're getting too agitated."

Hairel stepped between them to intervene.

"I understand that you might harbor ill feelings toward Lord Nemeth for bringing this up so suddenly. However, it's not as if what he's saying is false."

"...What are you scheming?"

"I am scheming nothing. Lord Nemeth simply came to the Temple asking for help to reclaim his rightful status, and I am merely assisting him."

Hairel murmured nonchalantly, fully receiving Ares's quietly furious glare.

But this was all just an excuse.

'What I'm scheming, obviously, is to pressure your son.'

Hairel sneered at Ares internally.

With Ceres on the verge of becoming a Saint, she had been racking her brain for a way to stop it. She had been constantly searching for a method when, unexpectedly, Nemeth showed up at the Temple.

He had judged that simply walking into the Whiperion household and demanding the heir's seat would be useless. He had intended to borrow the power of the Temple, which held extralegal authority, and luckily for Hairel, he caught her eye.

'To think Ceres is actually adopted and there's another direct descendant. There couldn't be a more perfect weakness!'

Hairel planned to use this to kick Ceres out of the heir's position, install Nemeth in his place, and control the Whiperion family...

Or rather, she had absolutely zero intention of doing that.

'Honestly, that's impossible.'

She felt a bit sorry for Nemeth, who was acting so cocky believing he would definitely become the heir with her backing, but it was a pipe dream.

'Even if he's adopted, Ares is backing him as the heir regardless, and Ceres's standing in this territory is absolute.'

He had already been worshipped like an idol, but after pulling off the eccentric stunt of healing every single citizen in the territory, the people's support for him was piercing the heavens. On top of that, he had his reputation as the Empire's Greatest Beauty spreading across the nation, and a track record of even healing people from foreign countries.

'It's impossible to replace Ceres at this point. However, I can definitely use this to pressure him.'

Hairel cast a sly glance toward Ceres.

'Was the revelation that he's adopted really that shocking? He hasn't been able to say a word and has just been holding his head for a while now.'

Having heard the truth from Ares, Ceres was leaning against a corner of the room, clutching his forehead with one hand.

"My liege, there must be some sort of mistake!"

"Without a doubt, we can feel a power from you that only the most exceptional of the Whiperion bloodline possess!"

Those presumed to be his escort knights had surrounded the confused boy and were currently consoling him.

'Those knights weren't around last time. Did he hire new ones? But why do I feel like I've seen them somewhere before?'

Hairel looked at the women and felt briefly puzzled.

'...Well, whatever. The important thing is using this to pressure Ceres. Even if I can't strip him of his heir status, it's still a shameful secret that would cause trouble if it spread.'

In exchange for keeping the secret and forcing Nemeth to shut up, Hairel intended to demand that Ceres voluntarily withdraw from the position of Saint. Or, even if Ceres did become the Saint, she could use this as leverage to defend herself and ensure he couldn't touch her.

She was doing this solely for her own political power and didn't desire anything beyond that. Because if she actually dragged Ceres down from the heir's seat or spread the secret of his adoption, it could create a situation far too difficult to handle.

...However, she didn't know.
A situation far too difficult to handle was already unfolding.

"Gah!"

"Why are you here?!"

Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside the door.

"P-Please wait just a moment!"

"We will call the Count immediately..."

Outside the room, the servants were making a fuss as if they had encountered an incredibly daunting presence.

"Who is it?"

"Who could that be?"

Hairel, who had been busy scheming, and Nemeth, who was in the middle of demanding the heir's position, both looked toward the door. It seemed an important guest had arrived, but just who could it be to act so forcefully?

"Don't tell me."

Having a good guess, Ares's expression froze solid.

At that moment, the door burst open as if it were going to break, and someone walked in.

Red twin-tails.
A black dress.
A woman possessing a violent, extravagant beauty.

"Emperor Viol?"

As a being that every citizen of the Empire could recognize, just like Ceres, made her appearance, Hairel dazedly called out her name.