CHAPTER 53
Wh-what was she trying to say?
I looked at Haas, who had died mid-sentence, in utter disbelief and walked over.
"Hey, finish what you were saying!"
I prodded her dead body and pressed for answers, but it wasn't like doing this would bring her back to life. I was just doing it out of sheer frustration.
"Mother, why did you kill her right away?"
Having no choice, I turned my gaze to Ares, who had killed Haas.
Sibylius had already subdued everyone—there was no need to kill her.
I thought it was a valid point, since we'd failed to extract information from someone who clearly knew something. But...
"It doesn't matter."
Ares didn't see it that way. She didn't spare a single glance at the dead Haas and stared only at me.
Ares firmly gripped both of my shoulders and spoke.
"It doesn't matter what you are. Ceres, you are the most precious existence to me, above anything else. I've never given my heart to anyone in my entire life—you are the only one. I would do anything for you!"
"..."

"I should have said this before you left last time. I'm sorry it's late. I hope you can understand my true feelings, even now."
She said her piece one-sidedly and then embraced me. Since Ares was taller than me, my entire body was enveloped in her arms.
...What is this?
Before I recovered my past life's memories, I'm pretty sure I wished Ares would say something like this to me. But now it just feels... uncomfortable.
She's never given her heart to anyone? Then it really is true that she treated her husband coldly? Then why does she act like this only toward me?

"Don't you think that's enough?"
As I stayed silent in her arms, Alios cut in. She must have sensed the strange atmosphere too, because her expression was sour.
"Ares... Mother?"
"Shut up. Who's your mother?"
"Then, Ceres's mother. I understand you're happy to reunite with your son after so long, but how about paying attention to the situation around you?"
Right, this isn't the time for this.
In the middle of the capital. Right in front of the temple, demons had appeared and fought the most important figures of the nation.
The surroundings were already a complete disaster.
"Aaaahh!"
"Everyone, run!"
Citizens fleeing in terror even though the situation was already over.
"Is it finished?"
"Th-thank goodness."
Temple priests who had been watching for the right moment to step in and only now managed to come out.
"H-here!"
"This is where the demons appeared?"
And finally, the imperial army, arriving absurdly late. They rushed over but froze when they spotted Viol.
"Your Majesty?!"
"Are you alright?"
Viol glared coldly at her subordinates, who arrived after everything was over and asked about her condition.
"Are your eyes just decorations? Can you not see the demon corpses scattered everywhere?"
"W-we can see them..."
"All of them died while you were doing what exactly before finally showing up?!"
"For this many demons to have infiltrated the capital—it was beyond anything imaginable, so we needed time to prepare!"
"So because you were late, am I supposed to be understanding about it? If it had been any other Emperor instead of me, they'd already be dead and then some!"
She had a point.
They'd probably been assembling their full forces after hearing that a horde of demons appeared, which caused the delay—but it was a blunder. They should have dispatched at least a partial force quickly in case there were casualties.
Every single one of them deserved to be fired from their jobs. But if I left them alone, it seemed like they'd all lose their heads in a more literal sense, so I hurried to call out to Viol.
"Viol, don't be too angry!"
"How can I not be angry in this situation?"
"Even you, the Emperor, didn't know there was a secret passage under the capital, right?"
"...You always seem to take everyone else's side over mine."
Viol was irritated, but thanks to me stepping in, she didn't take it further.
Instead of beating the soldiers to death, she walked toward me and pulled me out of Ares's arms.
"Let's go back."
She grabbed my hand and started heading toward the palace, but naturally Ares didn't just let that happen.
"I think that's enough."
"Enough of what?"
"There's no need for Ceres to stay in the palace any longer. I'll take Ceres home."
"After ignoring him all this time, and now you want to?"
"Who ignored whom?!"
The two women, each insisting on taking me, glared at each other murderously, so I quickly intervened.
"Stop! Where I go is my deci—"
But mid-sentence, someone else snatched me away.
"Come with me."
"...Sibylius?!"

Sibylius had suddenly cut in and grabbed my wrist.
"Why would I go with you?"
"I just said it, didn't I? If you're fated to be the Demon King's consort, then from this moment on, I am the Demon King."
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
I hadn't even acknowledged the whole "Demon King's consort" thing in the first place.
"Are you actually insane?"
"What are you doing?!"
It was an absurd statement, and the two women who had been fighting over me—Viol and Ares—also blocked Sibylius with incredulous expressions.
"You're still going on about that nonsense? Are you seriously thinking of making an enemy of me?"
"Why would I make an enemy of you?"
Sibylius shrugged at Viol's interrogation.
"Even if I become the Demon King, I have no intention of being hostile. I'd just serve under the Empire like the other subordinate kings. Wouldn't that work?"
"...And what about Ceres?"
"You just have to give him up."
"Like hell!"
Watching the two women argue, I thought to myself: my consent doesn't even factor in. You two deciding who I belong to amongst yourselves means absolutely nothing.
"Hold on."
At that moment, Hames cut in.
I worried she was going to join this childish fight too, but fortunately that wasn't the case.
"What are you going to do about the Saint appointment and the bloodline verification?"
"Oh."
The reason I'd come to the temple in the first place—I'd momentarily forgotten because of the demons, and her reminder brought it back.
"Should we go back inside and do it?"
I awkwardly moved to enter the temple, but Hames herself stopped me.
"No. Now that we know there's a secret passage leading into the temple, sending you back inside carries too much risk."
That's true. There might be more demons targeting me.
"Let's just consider the Saint appointment done. Given the emergency, I think we can get away with it..."
She trailed off and looked at the other priests. They nodded their heads up and down.
With their permission secured, the only thing remaining was the bloodline verification—
"...I believe the bloodline has already been verified."
Suddenly, Niobe, who had kept silent until now, spoke up. She was looking at the dead Haas with a complicated expression.
"I'm not certain yet, but if what I suspect is correct, there is no one who carries a purer Whiperion bloodline than you, my lord."
"What do you mean?"
"...I will explain later."
She said something that clearly had a story behind it, but just because she said that doesn't make it go away.
I stood there with an uneasy expression and looked at Ares. She had been eyeing Viol and Sibylius warily before pulling me back in and speaking.
"The one who was supposed to cast the bloodline verification spell was the traitor Haas. ...Your Majesty, if it's alright with you, I'd like to just consider the bloodline verified and move on."
"And what about your nephew Nemeth?"
"Do as you please, Your Majesty."
"...Are you sure about that?"
"I trust that Your Majesty will handle it well."
"That's the first thing you've said that I actually like."
She didn't say specifically what she'd do, but I had a feeling I would never see Nemeth again.
"For now, shouldn't we all head to the palace?"
With the two biggest issues resolved, Alios said with a sour expression.
"I'd love nothing more than to go somewhere alone with Ceres, but that's not realistic right now. There might be more demons targeting Ceres, so going to the palace seems best. It's the safest place in the Empire."
It was a logical argument.
Nobody could come up with a counterargument, so they just frowned and agreed.
The problems were mostly resolved.
"But Ceres, what are you going to do about this?"
Except for one.
Alios pointed at Red with a look like she was staring at something filthy.
"Don't tell me you're planning to bring this thing to the palace too?"
"Is there a reason I can't go?"
"Obviously there is! Ceres, no matter how much this thing helped you, you can't let your guard down!"
Alios looked like she wanted to kill Red right then and there, but was holding back because Red had helped me.
It wasn't just Alios—everyone else was looking at Red with unfriendly eyes too.
...But the fact that she rescued me is true.
Without Red, I might have been dragged away. So even if I wasn't going to bring her to the palace, I'd planned to at least let her go free. But then—
"I'll tell you everything Haas didn't get to finish. Why she targeted you, and even the secret of your birth—I'll tell you everything, Ceres."

"...Follow me."
Red came closer and whispered so only I could hear, so I changed my plans.
I was curious about what Haas had been trying to say, and on top of that she was dangling the secret of my birth—there was no way I wouldn't take the bait.
After returning to the palace, I called Red to my room and listened to this so-called secret.
"You were created by Haas using the Heavenly God's feather as a medium through magic. Originally, the Demon King planned to make you as a showpiece, but after the Demon King died, Haas decided to also use you for a more practical purpose—resurrection. The reason she placed you in the Whiperion family through adoption was to steal Black Pain."

...What?