“Reinhild.”
Xion, overjoyed, started to rush over at once, but Reinhild raised a hand to stop him.
He had used a teleportation spell to return to his room after receiving treatment.
As he always did.
But perhaps because he had been stabbed by the hero’s sword and that horrid holy power had invaded his body, even using the slightest bit of mana felt unbearably unpleasant.
So right now, he didn’t want to be near Xion, who was radiating that same aura.
Unaware of the particulars, Xion wore a hurt expression at the sight of Reinhild rejecting him.
Seeing that look, something in Reinhild’s chest throbbed.
A faintly nauseous, unpleasant feeling.
It seemed the holy power had affected his body and left something feeling off.
Scowling, Reinhild tossed the hero’s sword in front of Xion.
It was tightly wrapped in a cloth imbued with demonic energy so that it wouldn’t touch his hand directly.
“Your companion brought this. Guess any human can hold what they call the hero’s sword?”
From the anxiety that something might have happened to Reinhild to the relief that he was safe, his emotions had swung so wildly that Xion hadn’t analyzed the situation, but only now did he realize it.
This was a situation tailor-made for suspicion.
A hero’s companion had climbed the secret passage the hero made, carrying the hero’s sword, and attacked the Demon King.
Ask anyone and they’d assume the hero ordered his companion to do it.
“It wasn’t me, Rein.”
“Are you flaring killing intent at me right now, Hero?”
Damn. He must have let some killing intent leak out unconsciously while replaying the background of the incident.
When Reinhild made no effort to hide his displeasure, Xion forced himself to calm his anger as much as possible.
“Rein, I—”
“I’m tired. Go back for today.”
Reinhild waved his hand dismissively as he perched on the edge of the bed.
Even in the face of that unmistakable dismissal, Xion couldn’t move his feet.
There were bandages wrapped around Reinhild’s abdomen.
Xion grimaced as if a part of his own body had been torn off in shock and pain.
Because that expression looked more like he was about to cry than that he was angry, Reinhild’s mood eased a little.
Hmph. A hero getting gloomy because the Demon King is hurt. What a pity that he had to be the only one to witness such a thing?
How fun it would be to boast of it to those damn humans.
But right now, everything was just a bother.
With a deep sigh, Reinhild flopped back on the bed, not caring whether Xion left or not.
“You’re… not suspecting me?”
“Did you want me to?”
“Absolutely not.”
Even Reinhild himself couldn’t understand it.
To anyone, it was obviously Xion’s doing, so why did it not feel like the truth?
Staring blankly up at the ceiling, Reinhild sank into thought.
Xion approached and carefully sat beside him.
“I didn’t do it, Rein. Please believe me.”
The Demon King does not believe the hero.
He believes only himself.
Reinhild’s sharp demonic intuition was shouting that this was an incident the hero’s companion had carried out alone.
Reinhild decided to trust the Demon King’s intuition.
“Don’t ever reveal the location of the secret passage to another human again.”
“Yes.”
“And don’t lend out your sword.”
“I will keep my sword by my side at all times and allow no one else to lay a hand on it.”
With a visibly brightened face, Xion stealthily took Reinhild’s hand. Everything felt like a nuisance to Reinhild, so he didn’t shake Xion’s hand off.
Instead, he grumbled in a peevish tone.
“I’m hurt.”
At that, without a moment’s hesitation, Xion bent down and gave Reinhild a light peck on the lips.
Reinhild frowned in disbelief.
“I’m sorry. I thought you were asking for the greeting we do when you’re in pain.”
What was wrong with this generation’s hero?
A thoughtless hero like this would never have devised a plan using his companions to attack him.
If he’d wanted to kill Reinhild, it would have been faster to come himself. If he had swung at Reinhild’s neck with the hero’s power the moment Reinhild opened the door, Reinhild would have died without even a chance to resist.
‘I suppose I should be at least a little on guard against Xion from now on.’
Reinhild resolved firmly. But since he was hurt now, the vigilance could start tomorrow.
Still lying down, Reinhild lifted the bandaged belly slightly.
Xion instinctively almost reached out to stroke it, but he held back, thinking he really would be thrown out if he did.
“Can you not see this?”
“I can.”
“Have you ever seen a bandaged Demon King?”
A bandaged Demon King. Does that even make sense?
Right after being stabbed by the hero’s sword, Reinhild had tried his utmost to heal the wound. But magic infused with demonic energy had no effect on a wound carrying holy power.
He could only feel the pain of living flesh burning.
And he couldn’t very well pour on the potions humans make by drawing out holy power, either. In the end, Reinhild applied herbs to the wound and wrapped it in bandages—just like humans in some backwater village who know nothing of magic.
It was the Demon King’s disgrace.
He couldn’t very well ask other demons to proudly bandage him.
He couldn’t tell the butler about it, either. If he did, he’d have to mention the secret passage, and then Xion would have no way to enter the Demon King’s castle ever again.
So in the end, Reinhild himself picked herbs in the forest, applied them to the wound, rummaged through a storeroom piled with odds and ends, and wrapped the bandage.
That the Demon King had done such menial chores… It was shameful.
So shameful he couldn’t even boast anywhere that he’d wrapped the bandage himself.
But for some reason, Xion, looking at the bandage around Reinhild’s belly, was once again growing angry.
“Who wrapped this bandage?”
“The butler, of course.”
Unwilling to confess the truth, Reinhild lied brazenly.
Xion’s killing intent thickened just a little.
Why on earth was he like that?
“I think… it’s time to change the bandage.”
“I wrapped it just a moment ago.”
“It needs changing. The blood will seep through.”
“Can’t you see it’s still clean? Do Demon Kings and humans see the world differently?”
“If the wound is deep, the bandage needs to be changed often, Rein.”
“How do you know it’s deep if you weren’t the one who stabbed me?”
Xion was implacable.
Even when told it was fine, he insisted on changing the bandage.
In the end, since everything was a bother, Reinhild sagged and told him to do as he liked.
Only then did Xion calm his anger and break into a wide smile.
He couldn’t contain his rage at the thought that someone else had seen and touched the skin beneath Reinhild’s clothes while bandaging him. He didn’t even like that Reinhild was wearing a bandage that another person’s hands had wrapped.
If you asked whether it was okay that even the clothes Reinhild wore were made by someone else, of course it wasn’t. He was putting up with it only because he couldn’t very well have Reinhild go around with no clothes at all.
Careful not to aggravate the wound, Xion slowly wrapped the bandage.
Wrapping a bandage wasn’t hard. Restraining the urge to lay his hands unbidden on Reinhild’s fair skin was harder.
For a first attempt at bandaging, the result was satisfactory enough. But Reinhild’s opinion was a little different.
“Clumsy.”
Xion was shocked in several senses.
He was sure the bandage that had been on before he changed it had been wrapped more clumsily and sloppily. Yet nothing had been said then.
Even so, Xion had no excuse.
The only time he’d ever been injured in his life was when he’d deliberately shoved his arm into an owlbear’s mouth to come see Reinhild, he’d never had occasion to wrap a bandage. With no experience and no technique, there was no way he’d do it well.
Practice would improve his skill. Not knowing when or how Reinhild might be hurt, Xion seriously considered studying nursing and treatment in advance.
“Did it hurt?”
“It’s fine now. It hurt when I got stabbed.”
“I’m sorry for hurting you, Rein.”
“Forget it. The Demon King and a hero party are, by nature, in a kill-or-be-killed relationship.”
That line was even sadder.
Xion brushed Reinhild’s bangs up and smoothed his forehead. Then he pressed his lips firmly to that pale brow.
Reinhild didn’t dodge or push him away this time, either.
He simply closed his eyes in silence.
It felt as if Xion’s “be not in pain” greeting were being conveyed.
❖ ❖ ❖
Xion stayed by Reinhild’s side until he fell asleep.
After tidying the blood-pooled room and descending the secret passage, Xion was greeted by his companion’s corpse. The anger he had tamped down while looking at Reinhild surged up again.
The hero’s sword. The secret passage. A hero’s companion who, without the hero, came to the Demon King’s castle.
Only one thing could have made all this possible.
The duke. And the temple.
‘So that’s why they kept me tied up at the temple.’
Maybe the line about not bringing the hero’s sword into the chamber was a lie as well. It makes no sense to say you can’t bring before the god the gift given directly by the god.
The hero’s companion had been given the sword and taught how to use the secret passage. Wearing the high priest’s blessing that temporarily permitted entry to the Demon King’s castle in the hero’s stead, he had come here.
But why?
Could the high priest truly not have known that the result of that act would be the companion’s death?
Or did he know, and simply not mind sacrificing the few for the benefit of many?
Was that truly the will of the High God, or the high priest’s choice? Xion suddenly wondered.
‘It’s possible someone else intervened in this matter.’
With a detached expression, Xion examined the companion’s body. In his pocket he found a pouch containing a few gold coins.
Was he paid for this job? Perhaps he had been leaking information about the hero’s party all along. This would be the price for that information.
There hadn’t been any information worth leaking, so it didn’t matter.
The problem was the pouch of gold.
“Looks like they’re desperate to leave a trail.”
Stamped on the pouch was the crest of House West.
The Duke of West was sending a signal.
Rexion West, you are in my grasp.
T/N: The greeting…
Leave a Reply