I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 53.

“Regardless, we need to be prepared. The forces coming after me could be anything but human-”

“…….”

“Big.”

Iros’s face turned white as he spoke.

His face was as white as a frightened child’s, and I remembered what I had just said.

‘You’re not human……. ‘Oh, Sierra, you idiot, you made a mistake.’

Mei glanced over, studying Iros’s complexion and giving him a puzzled look.

One moment, the atmosphere was very cordial, and the next, he was in a defensive posture as if he was pushing us away.

It’s been like this since last time. Every time I use the word ‘human’, it’s like this.

“I wonder if he realizes that he’s not human?

That he might not be human.

His reaction shows that he already knows a little bit. I’ve been trying to keep him from finding out his whole life.

“Mm-hmm. Pink.”

“As the saint said, there may be many strong ones here, so we must be careful.”

“Pink?”

“I, um, excuse me. I’m going to go get some air, I’m feeling a little sick.”

Iros turned away from my call and walked outside.

Mei watched, then asked cautiously.

“What’s been bothering you the last few days? Did you two get into a fight? I didn’t think the Guardian would fight the Saint even if the sky fell apart.”

“That’s right. I must have touched the wrong thing.”

Iros overreacts to the word ‘inhuman’.

Something must have happened between Iros and the grey-haired maid, or rather, the raider, while I was down.

I need to know what Iros said to the raider.

“Send word to the palace. The banquet, I will attend.”

“Yes, my Lady!”

“I must see the crown prince.”

The crown prince, the one I thought was a benefactor but wasn’t, the one who looked at me like he hated you.

The duplicitous man who hated me so much that he nodded when I asked if you had saved me.

The man who made Iros squirm with fear the first time he snitched on him.

“Frithi Ronsel Cyanin Luga.

It was painful to see that familiar face again, but the crown prince was the perfect person to ask about what had happened between Iros and the grey-haired raider.

* * *

Time passed, and the day of the banquet approached.

The Diamond Palace, where the banquet was to be held, was lined with knights from pillar to post.

There were also imperial mages and imperial courtiers scattered throughout the hall.

“They’ve made good preparations.”

However, it seemed like they were advertising that this was not a safe place.

As proof, the faces of the people in the ballroom showed a subtle tension alongside the smiles.

I looked around and was escorted into the ballroom by Iros.

“Greetings, Lady Sierra and Lord Iros Elijah, Guardian Sword!”

The dancing nobles shrank back at our entrance, hiding their faces behind their fans and rolling their eyes curiously.

We walked to the center of the room and stood before the Emperor, surrounded by a sea of searching eyes.

Unlike last time, this time the Emperor was the first to step down from his throne and greet us.

“Oh, holy woman. I’m so sorry about your luggage last time, but I was so worried that you might have been poisoned that I couldn’t think straight.”

“I see.”

He says, a very good way of packaging his incompetence.

I nodded grimly and spoke up.

“If it weren’t for Iros, I would have died too.”

“Ha, ha. Saint, that’s a story for…….”

The Emperor twitched his ears around.

He opened his mouth to say, “I’m here to be heard.

“So you’ve come to praise me, saved my life, falsely accused me, sent me to jail, and almost got attacked and killed. It’s been quite a day.”

“Well, I’m very sorry to hear that.”

The emperor stammered at my bluntness, my directness.

But so what, it’s the truth, I’m just telling it like it is.

The nobles who had been listening to our conversation began to chatter.

“My, my, my. I heard you defeated a warlock and started a program to help the poor.”

“It must have been true because she was summoned to the imperial palace to celebrate.”

“But you were almost poisoned, and then you got sick and ate something else, and that saved your life?”

“And then he collapsed from exhaustion after saving the imperial family.”

“His Majesty the Emperor sent such a person to prison…….”

Even if there’s no further comment, everyone knows.

The Emperor used poor judgment and put me in danger.

In the palace, which should be the safest place in the world.

This means that the inner workings of the imperial family are unraveling.

The crown prince, who had been listening, spoke up behind the emperor’s back.

The emperor heard the crown prince’s ramblings, and he stopped fidgeting and cleared his throat.

“Enough. I apologize in person. I am so sorry, Hei Hei. We were attacked while you were healing us and passing out from exhaustion.”

“I know, who would have thought that after being imprisoned in a dungeon, stripped of my weapons, attacked, and the body of my favorite guardian turned into such a meat pie.”

“I am very sorry for your loss, Lord Protector.”

“Pity.

If he is truly sorry for Iros, he would have asked him how he was doing the first time he saw him.

Prince Mana must have been tipping him off behind his back.

‘Oh well. It’s a relief. The crown prince has us spot on.’

I never thought I’d be so gracious as to accept an apology from Iros that was rightfully mine.

Iros blinked her pretty violet eyes for a moment, as if she hadn’t expected an apology from the Emperor, and then nodded.

“I accept your apology, it’s my job to protect the saint, so don’t mind me.”

After the Emperor finished his rambling apology, we all turned to leave, but I stopped him in his tracks.

“The Crown Prince would like to speak with me for a moment.”

“Holy Lady?”

“……?”

Iros wrung his hands and looked at me.

Seeing the displeasure and disbelief in my eyes, the crown prince shrugged, smirking bitterly, then joked.

“Are you going to fuck in the stirrups?”

“Is that what you want me to do?”

“I’m only kidding, I’m afraid you’re going to do it.”

“Then follow me quietly.”

“Whether I will or not.”

Listening to my conversation with the crown prince, Iros gripped my hand tightly, his eyes shining like a cat in boots.

I don’t know what’s going on here, but it looks like he wants me to come with him.

I smirked and let go of Iros’s hand.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”

“No, that’s not it. You can’t be alone with another man.”

“Yeah. Okay. I won’t cause an accident.”

“I don’t think my idea of an accident is the same as yours.”

“Don’t think I’d kill the crown prince in the palace, and if I did, I’d bring him back to life.”

Iros, who had somehow heard my words, wiped his forehead and sighed as if the earth had gone out from under him.

“I’m coming with you. I can’t let the Saint go alone.”

“Oh, well, then, Your Majesty!”

I smirked wickedly, calling for someone to bow down to Iros.

The Empress, who was not far away, perked up her ears and looked over.

“Oh my. You called for me, Saint?”

“Lord Iros says he wants to know the Empress’s recipe for meat pies.”

“Oh, my, yes, I see you’re interested in cooking as well, Guardian, shall we have an in-depth conversation about our cuisine?”

“Now, wait a minute, Your Majesty the Empress. Saint, stop right there, no, wait-”

Seized by the Empress, who rushed over in a flash, Iros was immediately dragged away to where the ladies were gathered.

Meanwhile, I took the crown prince and quietly walked out onto the terrace.

I heard a few curses from Iros behind me, but I ignored them and pulled open the curtains.

A cool night breeze blew in, and the crown prince tried to take off his robe.

“If take that off me, I’ll pass.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You’ve turned me into an ignorant man who won’t take off his coat for a lady.”

“You don’t have to act like that if you don’t mean it, and you’re not taking it off because you care about me in the first place.”

The crown prince stopped dead in his tracks and said.

“Shouldn’t I be worried?”

“What?”

“I’m worried about you, and you’re bothering me, and I want to get to know you better.”

Are you worried about me? Why?

I frowned, hearing a line that would normally make a handsome man’s heart skip a beat.

“Is that why you lied about protecting me when my boy was tattered and tattered like he was protecting you?”

“Did Lord Iros say that? I didn’t see it that way, you’re light of mouth.”

“After nine years of living together, I know what you’re thinking when you look me in the eye.”

“Do you have to live together for nine years to know what each other is thinking……. Yeah.”

The crown prince, who was muttering to himself like an abandoned puppy, nodded his head and asked.

“So why did you ask to see me?”

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“With your bare mouth?”

“You lied to me, so bang with it.”

“Thump……. That’s it, Won. Still a poor choice of words. I lose. So what do I have to tell you?”

I pursed my lips thoughtfully, watching the crown prince cross his arms as if to ask a question.

“Tell me what you and Iros talked about that day.”

I wanted to know what Iros had talked about with the raider that had him so agitated and frightened.

The crown prince pondered my question, then remembered the situation.

“They were already fighting when I got there, and Sir Iros attacked the raider while I intervened, and that’s when the raider said something strange.”

That’s it. I asked, my eyes flashing.

“What did he say?”

“He said you were his kin.”

“…Kindred spirits.”

I was dazed.

Humans don’t use the word “kindred” very often. After all, most people we come into contact with are human.

But there is a group of people who are particularly obsessed with their kind.

‘The raider must be a half-man-half-horse like Iros.

The few grey molecules caught between black and white.

They are the few grey people caught between black and white, living a life of ostracism because of their color.

“Then Lord Iros said…….”

“What did Iros say?”