Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 436

Supported by knights, Charlotte staggered as she ascended to the surface, where she was met by two people waiting for her.

Ellen and Harriet were there, waiting.

They were in a place similar to a temporary detention center, meant to hold students who had caused incidents within the Temple.

High-ranking mages from Shanapell and the Imperial Mage Corps were on guard. The security was so tight that not even an ant could enter.

At that moment, the temporary detention center where Reinhart was being confined was more heavily guarded than the central palace, Tetra, where the emperor resided.

Harriet still couldn’t believe the situation unfolding before her, while Ellen kept a calm expression. She remained silent, showing no emotion on the surface.

When Charlotte had proposed they go in together, Ellen had shaken her head. She had refused, saying she didn’t know what to say if she met Reinhart.

Charlotte spoke quietly with lifeless eyes.

“Reinhart is, indeed, the Demon King.”

“...”

“Lies. Lies... It can’t be. Why would Reinhart...” Harriet said as she shook her head vigorously, her lips trembling.

Charlotte said nothing to Harriet, who was denying reality. Ellen supported Charlotte as they walked away, not saying a word until they disappeared.

Harriet couldn’t bring herself to leave, staring at the detention center where Reinhart was held.

Reinhart had admitted that he was the Demon King.

Why? Why would he? What did he mean when he said he wanted to protect everyone?

Harriet stood as if nailed to the spot, in front of the temporary detention center, which was under strict security.

“It can’t be... It can’t be. It can’t be, Reinhart... It can’t be...” Harriet muttered dumbly for a long time, as if entranced by something.

She had many questions she wanted to ask Reinhart.

What had all the things he had done thus far meant? What did he truly want? However, Harriet wasn’t even allowed to meet Reinhart alone.

***

“...”

“...”

The emperor, Neliod de Gradias, and the First Prince, Vertus de Gradias, sat facing each other in silence.

Reinhart—the one they thought was the hope of the empire—turned out to be the Demon King.

The actions he had taken to save Charlotte were, in fact, steps that he had taken as the Demon King to devour the empire.

“We underestimated the Dark Land—No, the new Demon King,” Vertus said.

The emperor remained silent.

“I almost sold the empire to the Demon King,” he continued.

Even when it came to the engagement with Charlotte, it wasn’t Reinhart who had spoken first. Vertus was the one who had proposed it himself.

Was this what it felt like for one’s hairs to stand on end? Blissfully unaware, he had almost handed the empire over to the Demon King on a silver platter.

Because he was the hero who had saved Charlotte de Gradias multiple times, an engagement to the First Princess would be permitted. That seemed to be the only way to ensure the safety of the First Princess.

However, it had all been part of the Demon King’s calculations.

Under the guise of a hero, Reinhart had achieved numerous feats. Perhaps he planned on surpassing the prominent imperial successor, Vertus de Gradias, and becoming the emperor.

Alternatively, there was also the path of making Charlotte the empress.

Instead of rebuilding the fallen Demon Realm, he would devour the existing empire. It was an idea that an ordinary person couldn’t conceive, and the fact that the plan had almost become a reality left the emperor and the prince shocked and in awe of the Demon King’s audacity.

“With the power of the Demon Realm in his hands, he could have fabricated as many fake achievements as he wanted. He could even have created and achieved the incredible feat of defeating the Demon King. If that happened... perhaps his absurd plan would have succeeded.”

“...”

Everything had been a meticulously calculated move: implanting the Demon King’s soul into Charlotte, saving her at the right moment, and making the imperial family believe that only he could neutralize Charlotte’s condition.

It was a form of revenge that did not seek to destroy the enemy, but to assimilate it instead. Indeed, Reinhart could have executed that plan.

Both Vertus and the emperor realized how close the sword had come to their necks.

Vertus, as well as Reinhart, had met with the emperor several times because of how important he had become.

There had been countless opportunities to throw the empire into chaos by killing the emperor, yet he had held back at every chance for petty revenge, all in pursuit of a greater goal. What an extraordinary being, possessing transcendent patience, mental fortitude, and strong will!

Not knowing the truth, they perceived Reinhart’s actions as being carried out under the guise of revenge. They felt afraid when they thought of the Demon King’s drive, which had allowed him to become the closest confidant and fiancé of the princess just over a year after infiltrating the Temple.

They had thought of him and his forces as a trivial remnant that could be eliminated at any time, but the Demon King had not been operating from afar; he had been right beside them. Instead of destroying the empire, he had been nurturing his ambition to devour it.

“And considering the people Reinhart was close to, like Ellen Artorius, Olivia Lanche, and Harriet de Saint-Ouen—it would have been entirely possible for him to push me aside.”

The hero’s sister, a saint of the Church of the Five Great Gods, and Harriet de Saint-Ouen, whose magic, powerful enough to surpass any archmage, had stopped a meteor shower.

Considering those three alone, what they could do and their influence, the fact that they could have become the Demon King’s people would have meant a great disaster for the empire.

Of course, it was also true that Ellen Artorius played a crucial role in uncovering the Demon King’s identity. If Ellen and Charlotte hadn’t properly tracked down the traces of the Demon King, it would have been entirely possible for the Demon King, disguised as a human, to devour the empire.

Both Vertus and the emperor were in a state of mental breakdown. Something that far exceeded their imagination had occurred.

“How to proceed with this? It’s truly a dilemma...”

The most important issue of all was that they had captured the Demon King. However, this marked both the conclusion of one situation and the beginning of a tremendous headache.

The first—and most crucial—step, was to decide whether or not to publicly announce that Reinhart was actually the Demon King.

“Setting aside the reason why the Demon King could be chosen by two holy relics, that fact alone could already cause a schism within the Church of the Five Great Gods,” the emperor said.

“Indeed...” Vertus replied.

If the gods were right, then the fact that Alse and Ouen had chosen the Demon King as their champions could lead to the conclusion that the Demon King was a righteous being.

“We could say that the Demon King used some evil means to steal the relics, and while the masses might believe that story, it would inevitably cause great confusion within the Alse and Ouen orders,” Vertus said.

“The Demon God Cultists who follow the Demon King are also a problem, and it’s possible that some members of the Church of the Five Great Gods could convert to the Demon God Cult,” the emperor noted, as both his and Vertus’s expressions slowly darkened.

There was a possibility that part of the Church of the Five Great Gods might start to follow the Demon King. Inevitably, that would cause the entire continent to fall into great chaos.

“We could stabilize public sentiment by publicly executing the Demon King and declaring that there are no more Archdemons left in the world... but that seems excessively dangerous,” Vertus said.

“Indeed. Although we’ve captured the Demon King, we haven’t captured the remnants of his forces yet, and since the Demon King managed to infiltrate the Temple, we can’t know where his forces are or how far and wide he’s planted them,” the emperor replied.

Aside from the matter of whether or not to execute him, the second important issue was the extent of the Demon King’s influence, which was impossible to gauge.

A public execution would inevitably trigger a rescue operation by the remnants of his forces. The authority of the Archdemon was absolute, so any demon loyal to the Demon Realm would risk their life for the mission of rescuing the Demon King.

And there was a third issue: the Demon King hadn’t only pursued the plan to devour the empire.

“It’s almost certain that the Demon King’s forces are involved in the series of events at the lich’s tomb.”

“Is that so?” Vertus asked.

“The Grand Duke of Saint-Ouen accompanied Rother Dwin, the main culprit of the previous incident, on the exploration of the lich’s tomb,” the emperor explained, having received reports from Sabioleen Tana and the Grand Duke of Saint-Ouen.

“Although we can’t know for sure yet, it is presumed to have been a battle to secure a magical artifact called Akasha. Both Rother Dwin and the master of that dungeon mentioned Akasha as a key term.”

“Akasha...?”

“I don’t know the details, but based on what had been observed, a considerable number of high-ranking vampires and mages were present at the scene, and it is assumed that Rother Dwin knows about the whereabouts of Akasha. However, it seems a member of the Demon King’s forces betrayed him and intended to seize Akasha... I don’t know whether the Demon King failed or succeeded in securing it.”

“What kind of item is Akasha?”

“I don’t know,” the emperor shook his head, then added, “but according to Tana’s report, it’s said to be an ‘item that can make one a god.’”

To anyone who heard it, it sounded absurd enough to elicit a laugh, but tremendously significant events had been triggered in the struggle to obtain it, phenomena like the moon growing dozens of times larger and colossal-scale magic that seemed to belong to the mythological era. If beings capable of such things were willing to risk their lives to fight over it, then the claim might be true.

“We don’t know what Akasha is, but at this point, we can’t execute the Demon King recklessly. It would be a problem if Akasha is in the Demon King’s hands, but it would also be a problem if one of his minions has seized it.”

As the previous Baalier had foreseen, no one could suffer having an enemy that had a weapon capable of destroying them.

As Luna Artorius had said, it wasn’t out of greed for Akasha, but out of fear of Akasha. The empire, having learned about Akasha, couldn’t help but desire it.

Ultimately, the Demon King would have to die someday, but at the moment, he was a being they couldn’t kill.

***

Vertus headed to the prison within the Temple where Reinhart was confined.

Reinhart was the Demon King. This fact made him question things he had never doubted before, and gave rise to numerous suspicions.

However, perhaps a different mystery had been resolved. While it didn’t help him understand the current situation, he finally understood something that had been utterly incomprehensible to him before.

Cross-dressing.

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Reinhart hadn’t been quiet from the start. It was baffling that the Demon King, who should have been lying low after infiltrating the Temple, had even participated in cross-dressing.

Since it was an utterly incomprehensible act, Vertus arrived at a simple conclusion. Perhaps the Demon King was originally female. In other words, not a prince of the Dark Land, but a princess.

Clearly, the Demon King possessed the ability to transform and disguise himself. Therefore, to use Charlotte, who possessed the Demon King’s soul, and to win her heart, the demon initially took on the appearance of a man.

Whether he enrolled in the Temple to use Charlotte de Gradias or not was unclear, but the ruler of the Demon Realm must have judged that it was more advantageous to take on a male appearance, hence assuming the guise of Reinhart.

But having maintained a male appearance for so long, they must have felt an overwhelming frustration, a desire to return to their original form. Perhaps that was why they had participated in the cross-dressing contest—it was a bizarre way of expressing this inner desire.

Vertus couldn’t fathom why the ruler of the Demon Realm would enter a cross-dressing contest otherwise.

‘Come to think of it, was that also why he was closer to the female students?’ he pondered.

Ultimately, while there was a sinister motive behind the relationship between demons and humans, if he thought that Reinhart found it more comfortable to associate with female students, then his actions—which almost made it seem like he had a penchant for women—weren’t entirely incomprehensible.

Amidst these complex thoughts, Vertus finally reached a conclusion about the Demon King’s cross-dressing, which had persistently troubled him without any benefit.

This ‘Demon King’ was a princess... That explained everything.

Perhaps, deep down, Reinhart had engaged in it to avoid forgetting his true self even as he plotted to take over the empire by using the princess.

As these wild thoughts continued to float around...

“...”

Vertus decided to just stop thinking altogether.