Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 370

After the funeral, the duchess conversed with her relatives. We were afraid that Riana might catch a cold, so we brought her to the annex so that she could bathe and warm up.

We didn’t say anything. We didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t the right time or place to discuss the motives behind the Demon King’s actions.

Since I knew the truth, I felt a heavy burden.

The Revolutionary Forces hadn’t been eradicated. They had fallen into Owen’s hands, and he was an imperial double agent. I was witnessing the absurdity of the Revolutionary Forces becoming a puppet for the empire.

A force whose aim was the overthrow of the imperial regime was now under its control. It was an unbelievable situation. Despite the mess it left, I had to agree that Vertus had planned this exceptionally well.

If the Revolutionary Forces had been mishandled at the wrong time, the worst case scenario could have been chaos throughout the entire empire as the Revolutionary Forces ran rampant in retaliation for the elimination of their leaders.

Vertus had not only disguised the massacre of the revolutionary leaders as a demon attack, but also arranged for Owen to become the next leader of the Revolutionary Forces in anticipation of the chaos that would follow.

Owen would report internally to the Revolutionary Forces that the incident had arisen due to a problem at the negotiation table with the demons, which would quell any internal unrest. In the long term, he would gradually weaken the Revolutionary Forces, either by dissolving them, or creating internal strife to dismantle them. He could handle things to his liking. It was a perfect exploitation.

There did not seem to be any better way to dismantle the Revolutionary Forces quietly. I wasn’t the only one who could use the reappearance of the demonic forces to my advantage. The empire, which had their own demon prisoners, could also disguise any actions they took as the work of demons. Vertus had drawn inspiration from the incident in which I had killed Leverier Lanche.

Riana had taken a warm shower, and was being escorted down to the sitting room of the annex by Ellen.

“Be careful,” Ellen said.

“Yeah...” Riana responded.

She sat on the sofa, hugging her knees, staring blankly ahead of her. We sat there in silence. No one could bring themselves to open their mouths.

In the deep of night, after the silent hours had passed, everyone went to bed. The space where we had gathered for a lively party not long ago was now filled with silence.

Most of us found ourselves unable to leave the Granz estate’s annex, feeling the need to look after Riana.

***

On a cold, rainy winter night, Cliffman awoke to an unfamiliar sound. He hadn’t truly fallen asleep, but had been lingering in a state between sleep and consciousness. Cliffman got up from his bed and headed into the hallway. He knew who was making that sound.

Riana was sitting in the dark in the first-floor sitting room of the annex, staring blankly into space, repeatedly generating sparks in the air.

Zap! Zzzap!

“What are you doing...?” Cliffman asked from the staircase, and Riana slowly lifted her head to look at him.

“Well...” she replied, lowering her eyes with a gloomy expression.

The confident, lively, and ever-playful Riana de Granz seemed to have vanished. In her place was a Riana filled with gloom and despair.

Cliffman cautiously descended the stairs and sat across from Riana. Riana gave him a faint smile.

“Go to sleep. You should be tired,” she said gently.

Cliffman was surprised by her smile and her words. Someone in her situation shouldn’t have been able to smile or say such kind words, yet that was what Riana had done.

Cliffman found this side of Riana unfamiliar. He didn’t understand that sometimes, in such situations, people became kinder.

She’d had someone who had stayed by her side unconditionally, and she hadn’t treated that person preciously. Instead, she had taken them for granted, believing it would last forever.

Only after that person was gone did Riana realize, in her regret, that she had to be more sincere with those around her. She had realized the obvious fact that no one could exist around her forever, and neither would she be around forever for others. Thus, she began to treat those around her as more precious.

“Thank you, all of you, for today.”

Riana had become kinder because she regretted all the days she hadn’t been.

“...”

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll regain my strength soon.”

Cliffman watched her quietly. Her tone was so different from usual that she seemed like a completely different person.

Cliffman was never good with words. He was clumsy with people. He thought he might improve a little by being tossed around by this peculiar girl, but he hadn’t seemed to change.

He still found dealing with people awkward, especially when it came to girls. He hadn’t improved.

On any normal day, Cliffman would not know how to interact with others casually. But this wasn’t a normal day for Riana. In such a situation, Cliffman was even more clueless about what to say.

Yet, it was strange. Normally, he found it difficult to look directly at Riana. When someone stared at him, he would break into a cold sweat, eager to avoid their gaze. Riana, in particular, had a way of staring intently at people, which Cliffman found unbearable.

If he avoided her gaze, she would chide him, asking why he kept looking away and telling him to look at her directly. He didn’t know why it was so hard, but when Riana looked at him, it felt like someone was squeezing his heart, and it was painful.

At that moment, though, Cliffman was looking at Riana, and she was the one who couldn’t meet his gaze. It didn’t feel awkward to look at her, although he still didn’t know what to say to her.

He didn’t know how to act normally, let alone how to offer comfort. However, not knowing didn’t mean he couldn’t try.

Even if he didn’t know how, he could at least attempt something. He could try to act normally. He could do something to offer comfort. However, he did not know if that attempt would succeed or fail.

At that moment, Cliffman wanted to comfort Riana de Granz.

“Riana.”

“Yes?”

“Do you... want to have a drink?”

Riana’s eyes went wide as they met Cliffman’s, surprised by his suggestion.

“...”

Drinking seemed inappropriate given the situation, but as Riana looked at Cliffman, she saw the boy’s eyes looking at her directly, full of determination. He was trying his best not to avoid her gaze, trying to do something, anything, at this moment.

Looking into the eyes of a boy who seemed to be showing the greatest courage he had ever mustered in his life, Riana smiled faintly.

“Sure, that sounds good.”

***

In the middle of the night, a boy and a girl sipped on alcohol. It was strong whiskey, and they were not having any snacks.

The girl who had lost her father drank, and the boy who wanted to comfort her drank too. They might end up deeply intoxicated, but perhaps that was okay on such a night.

Some moments are better passed by numbing oneself.

No significant conversation took place.

Riana looked out the window of the annex and sipped her whiskey. She could see the main house through the rain-streaked glass.

Cliffman didn’t ask what she was thinking. He simply matched her pace, taking small sips of his drink as he sat across her.

“My dad ran away to marry a commoner he met at the Temple,” Riana said.

“... Really?” Cliffman replied calmly, without stuttering or showing any signs of surprise as he usually would.

Riana bit her lip slightly, as if to hold back a laugh, and continued her story. “Yeah. He was caught and escorted back, but if he had succeeded, I wouldn’t have been born.”

“I see...” Cliffman replied.

“I was curious about that story, but neither Mom or Dad ever told me what kind of person she was. She was just a blemish in Dad’s life, and in Mom’s life too, I guess. I don’t know if she’s dead or living a normal life somewhere.”

Riana took a sip of whiskey.

“After he was caught, the family forced him into marriage. It was a rushed marriage, and with the rumors swirling around him, they couldn’t find a good match. So he married Mom, the second daughter of the Count of Relayon, a noble in name only, with no land or title.”

Anyone involved in social circles would know this story, but Cliffman wasn’t a noble, so he couldn’t have known about the family’s dirty laundry. Still, Cliffman listened silently.

“Mom probably wanted to love Dad, but Dad couldn’t love Mom, and so Mom couldn’t love Dad either. It was shaky from the start.

“I was like the glue that forcefully held their shaky marriage together. I don’t even know how I ended up being born, but I was anyway. I wouldn’t call myself a scapegoat, but whenever they had a big fight, it always came back to me. ‘For Riana’s sake.’ For my sake. Mom would say it, and Dad would say it too. Whenever they were about to make some drastic decision, my name would come up. They would always say, ‘Are you going to go on with Riana here?’

“I was sick of it. Did they think I was the only achievement they had left in each other’s lives?”

Riana sipped her whiskey.

“Anyway, I hated both Mom and Dad. I hated Mom for meddling in every aspect of my life, and I hated Dad because, even though he seemed to give me freedom, it was obvious he wanted me to live the life he couldn’t. In the end, if Dad had treated Mom well from the start, she wouldn’t have become so bitter.

“Mom was openly problematic, but Dad pretended as though he wasn’t a problem, yet he was the biggest problem. So I hated both Mom and Dad. I genuinely thought I hated them.”

Riana poured more whiskey into her glass and swirled it around. “But I think I liked Dad more than I thought.”

She thought she’d hated him, but the regret that had flooded in when she realized could no longer see him, the regret and guilt she felt from the last words she’d said to him without knowing they would be the last, overwhelmed her.

“I guess I really am a brat, just like you all said,” Riana admitted, tears falling from her eyes. “I regret everything so much...”

Cliffman quietly watched Riana, who was staring blankly at her glass and crying, unable to drink.

“Why? Why did the Demon King have to do that? Why did it have to be... my dad? Why did he... have to die? He wasn’t a good husband, but he was... now that I think about it, he was a good dad to me. He might not have loved Mom, but I think he loved me. He seemed to love me a lot. I thought it was just an excuse to justify his unhappy marriage, but...”

Riana’s sobbing interrupted the rest of her words.

“My dad... He was a good person,” she finally continued. “He was kind to people and didn’t do bad things. He was a good... person...”

Cliffman quietly watched the sobbing Riana.

Duke Granz had outwardly been a good person. He hadn’t been a good husband, and Riana had not seen him as a good father either. However, he wasn’t that bad. Riana said as much, now that she inhabited a world without her father.

What was lost couldn’t be regained, so she could only wish for something else. Unable to understand why she had to lose him, she pondered the reason for her loss.

“So, I... I thought... since I’m a superhuman... I wonder if I could take revenge. If I could fight. I was curious about how strong I might be. If I could become that...”

Revenge.

Riana, unable to sleep, had sat there generating sparks and dreaming of revenge. She was superhuman, after all.

Words once spoken couldn’t be taken back, and time couldn’t be reversed. However, she could still dream of revenge against the Demon King who had taken her father.

Riana sat alone, mindlessly fiddling with her abilities. She was a superhuman, and though supernatural powers were rare, the name of the Demon King was overwhelmingly powerful.

Even the name of Duke Granz seemed small before the Demon King. That was why he had been crushed so mercilessly.

On that rainy winter night, Riana pondered she could stand up against the enormous name of the Demon King. Though she was a powerful superhuman who could control electricity, she didn’t know how strong the Demon King was.

Swimming in despair, regret, and a desire for revenge, Riana imagined herself fighting the Demon King amidst her fears.

Cliffman continued to watch Riana.

“I’ll help you,” he said quietly.

“... What?” Riana looked at Cliffman with tear-filled eyes, surprised.

“I’ll help you. I will.”

Riana stared at Cliffman, her wide eyes filled with tears.

They were just two small individuals. Two of them against that enormous figure would not make much of a difference.

“If we do it together, it’ll be a little less difficult.”

Perhaps it would not be easier, but it would be a little less difficult. The words were strangely realistic. So realistic that she could feel the depth of Cliffman’s sincerity. He wasn’t just saying it for the sake of saying it. He was genuinely offered to risk his life alongside hers, to make the difficult task of killing the Demon King a little less difficult.

“Why would you...?”

Riana wondered why he would risk his life, even though she knew why she could risk hers.

Cliffman downed his whiskey in one go and exhaled. “Because we’re friends.”

It was the first time that word had come from Cliffman’s mouth.

Riana looked at Cliffman with a bewildered expression, unsure of how to respond. She stared at him, somewhat dazed, and eventually showed a faint smile.

“There must be a stronger word than that.”

“...”

“But for you, that’s quite something... you’ve grown a lot.”

The mention of a word stronger than “friend” made Cliffman’s face turn red.

“Thank you.”

Riana followed his lead and downed the remaining drink in her glass.

Trickle...

Then, she poured the rest of the expensive whiskey onto the floor.

Her eyes were red from wiping away tears, but there were no more tears left.

“I guess I won’t be drinking for a while,” she said with a weak smile.

She wouldn’t be able to drink until she killed the Demon King, at least.

***

The funeral was over, and we all returned to the Temple. Riana returned to the Temple as well.

She hadn’t regained her vitality. However...

—Huff... huff...

—If it’s too hard, let’s rest.

—No, let’s keep going.

—No, rest. You’ll only hurt yourself if you push too hard.

—Just a bit more...

—I know more about this. Rest.

—Oh...? Ah. Okay... I’ll rest then.

Riana had begun exercising in the early morning.

Ellen and I, who still exercised in the mornings, watched from a distance as Riana and Cliffman ran together.

Physical fitness was always a good thing to have. Strictly speaking, Riana was lacking in physical fitness. She wasn’t as bad as Charlotte, but her fitness was nowhere near the students who were training in close combat.

Riana hadn’t been particularly enthusiastic about fitness. She had a powerful supernatural power that grew on its own, and that was enough. Her family was wealthy, so she didn’t have to worry about life after graduation.

She had always only been interested in taking things easy and having fun, and not long ago, she had suggested all of us go out to have fun, only to be disappointed when we’d all declined and committed to training diligently instead.

That Riana de Granz was gone.

—Huff... huff...

—Watch out for the ice.

—Okay.

With a fierce determination in her eyes, Riana gritted her teeth and chased after Cliffman, whom she normally couldn’t keep up with.

Riana, who had once dragged the socially-awkward Cliffman around, trying to change his personality, seemed to have helped Cliffman overcome his stuttering and shyness around her. This time, it was Cliffman who was teaching Riana something.

Their shared goal had erased Cliffman’s shyness and Riana’s lackadaisical attitude.

A death had erased their chronic issues, and they were bound by the purpose of revenge.

Ellen and I watched Riana, who was sweating in the dead of winter, gritting her teeth as she ran after Cliffman.

“I thought the Demon King was just a distant tale to most people,” Ellen said, looking at me.

The Champion of Ouen, and the owner of two relics...

Ellen seemed to believe that the Demon King was only relevant to us. After all, to most, the Demon King was just a symbol of fear, something that wouldn’t directly affect their lives.

However, Duke Granz had been killed by the Demon King. Those close to us had experienced sorrow and pain that stemmed directly from the Demon King’s actions, and it had changed them.

“Reinhart,” Ellen called me.

“Yeah?”

“I’m angry.”

Anger seethed within Ellen’s eyes.

Had she finally accepted that the Demon King was truly an evil being? Was it hard to accept this situation? She seemed angry because the Demon King had destroyed her friend’s life, although her anger might have a different color to it.

“So am I,” I replied. I couldn’t help but be the angriest. “Let’s go.”

“Yeah.”

We ran together.

Even if the nature of our anger and the true target of our revenge differed, we would continue to craft our days together.

On and on, until we reached whatever awaited us at the end of these days that we spent running together.