A drowsy voice continued in the suffocating silence.
"Yeah... Now that I think about it, they said he became a hero..."
"..."
"Hahahaha! Ahahahaha!!"
What kind of luck is this? I laughed.
Deon remembered what the Demon King said when he announced the news that a new hero had appeared and told him to go to the border.
'As you know, heroes and demons don't get along well, right?'
"..."
The laughter stopped.
"To my dear brother."
"..."
"It looks like you have even obtained the fragments of this hero."
He stepped into the door.
Due to the tremendous pressure he felt due to his position and His Majesty's orders, the gatekeeper could not even think of stopping him and could only watch in a daze.
And the gatekeeper's eyes met the eyes of the murderous knights who were whispering among themselves about what to do now.
"..."
"..."
There was an awkward silence.
***
Clack. Clack
With each step, red footprints were left in the once clean corridors of the imperial palace. Drops of blood were scattered around the footprints, as if decorating them.
The soldier guarding the door of the banquet hall was startled by the appearance of an absolutely abnormal person and tried to aim his spear, but when he realized his identity, he hurriedly retreated.
Honorary Count Deon Hardt.
Why did he come on a day like this when the banquet was held? He stopped in front of the door and spoke in an indifferent voice, wiping away the red liquid that kept blocking his vision.
"Open the door."
"..."
Can he open it?
The worries did not last long, but he did not wait even for that short time.
He approached the door and pushed the large door open with both hands.
The soldiers who saw the door open and Deon Hardt entering without the slightest hesitation immediately noticed the red handprint on the door and looked at it with dumbfounded expressions.
"Am I... dreaming..."
"I understand the feeling of wanting to escape reality, but this is reality, my friend..."
"...He's really bloody, just like the rumors say. But why do you look so upset?"
"Think about who the star of this banquet is."
"Ah."
Cruel Hardt.
After entering, Deon stopped for a moment and looked around. A peaceful banquet hall, as if they hadn't noticed him come in yet. No, it seemed like one or two people noticed because he heard a gasping sound nearby.
He didn't really care.
Anyway, they are just people who may or may not say a word even if their whole lives go by. Because there is only one person you have to worry about.
'The Emperor...'
Over there.
A man sitting on a fancy chair on a podium, looking down with a bored expression, came into view.
Blonde hair and golden eyes. He was so young and beautiful despite being a blood emperor.
He was only 28 years old.
While thinking about other things, he began to walk slowly, in a straight line across the middle of the banquet hall to where the Emperor was.
Red footprints were made straight without any wavering.
A young lady who discovered him let out a small scream, and the attention in the banquet hall gradually began to focus on him.
"Oh."
"Oh my god. What is that..."
"How can you be so rude?"
Anger and unconcealable fear at being rude. Among the gazes filled with all kinds of negative emotions pointed towards him, there were two eyes filled with interest.
'In the end, you came back alive.'
Duke Stave Illuster looked at Deon Hardt, who clearly showed signs of battle, with a small smile and thought, 'It was a good thing I sent the knights to meet him.'
Emperor Eduardo Desert. He was watching Deon Hardt with a faint smile on his lips.
At some point, the Emperor and the Duke's eyes met as if they had made a promise. However, the Emperor passed by him and returned his gaze to his original place, his eyes focused on Deon Hardt again.
The Duke's gaze also disappeared as if nothing had happened.
Deon Hardt quickly reached this place, lowered his red mask, knelt down on one knee, and bowed his head.
At the same time, the blood that was hanging on the end of his hair dripped down.
"Blessings to the Empire. Honorary Count Deon Hardt beholds the present Empire."
Silence fell.
The only sound you could hear was the occasional drop of water or blood. The Emperor, looking at the blood dripping from Deon Hardt's hair, tilted his upper body forward with sharp eyes shining.
"Deon Hardt."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"What kind of rudeness is this?"
These were the words of the Emperor, not anyone else.
Everyone in the banquet hall held their breath.
In an atmosphere where even the air seemed to be freezing, Deon calmly opened his mouth.
"There was an attack on the way."
"An attack..."
This was a ploy.
Even though he already knew everything, the Emperor frowned as if it was his first time hearing the news.
He adjusted his posture and muttered slowly. The voice that flowed out slowly was filled with compressed life.
"It looks like there is a Count at the Count's residence."
"I'm sorry."
"If you want, I can handle it, but what can you do?"
"Your Majesty, there is no need to get your hands dirty."
"Hmm, if that's the case."
The Emperor slowly stood up. He looked at Deon Hart, who was still lowering his head, and raised the corners of his mouth faintly.
"I'm sure there's a lot you want to say to me."
"..."
"I also have a lot to hear from you. It's going to be a long conversation, so let's change seats."
***
The Emperor sat down in the recently prepared drawing room and looked at Deon sitting across from him.
He was a person who didn't talk a lot and had many troubles.
'Did they say he was a vampire count?'
It was a very fitting nickname.
Pale skin and red eyes. They even show an attitude towards blood when they fight, so what else could they be if not a vampire?
That's not all.
'Blood-crazed vanguard' and 'Master of the murderous knight', and even the opposite titles of 'Hero of the Empire' and 'Companion of the Last Hero'.
In addition... 'The one who stopped the Demon King and recovered the hero's body.'
In fact, because of this, he was given the title of hero.
Heroes were not only those who had the fragments of a hero.
Having a hero's fragment only serves as an additional point, but what was important was 'how much skill and performance you have shown.'
In that sense, Deon Hardt was the best.
During the Eight Year War, he achieved indescribable achievements as a vanguard.
When he set out on his journey as the hero's companion, he accomplished a task that no one else had been able to do successfully: recover the her's body.
A hero who is defeated by the devil cannot even rest his body in peace.
The limbs are cut off, the body is thrown as food to monsters, and the head is forced to make a smiling face with a needle and thread before being thrown at the border between the Empire and the demon realm.
This would have probably happened to the hero of this generation as well if Deon Hardt had not been able to save him.
'It is indeed a great achievement... but in return, he was cursed by the Demon King and his body became weak.'
Having to deal with the Demon King while carrying the burden of a corpse was something that could not have been easy no matter with how hard it was to lose one's body.
In the end, Deon Hardt succeeded in recovering the hero's body, but failed to protect his own body.
Because of the Demon King's curse that ate away at his body, he vomited blood all the time and even minor shocks put a huge strain on his body.
For an Emperor who cherished talented people, it was truly regrettable.
"...Have you found a way to break the curse?"
That's why he couldn't stop Deon Hardt from entering the Demon King's Castle to find a way to lift the curse.
Rather, they wanted to use this as an opportunity to use him as a spy.
"I haven't found it yet."
"What is the Demon King's condition?"
"It's no different than usual."
The Emperor smiled slowly as he lifted the teacup in front of him.
"Now then, tell me what you want to say. Didn't you wait a long time?"
"Thank you for sending the knights to meet me..."
"Not like that."
"...There was an intruder in the Demon King's Castle."
The Emperor's brow furrowed slightly, as if this wasn't the answer he was looking for.
"Are you talking about a hero candidate? It was no big deal. He was a foolish person who went on a rampage, believing only that he possessed the fragments of a hero."
"It looks like he also committed a sin. Is that why you sent him to me to die?"
"I thought he would die on the way, and even if he managed to get in alive, he would get caught. Plus, it didn't seem like you would take the risk to save him. Is what I said wrong?"
"...No."
The intruder was imprisoned and the authority to dispose of him was transferred to the Demon King.
Deon had seen him only once and the last time he cared any more.
"Is there really nothing else to say other than that?"
"..."
"There was a story that the Commander of Corps 0 appeared at the front line."
"I'm sorry. There was no way I could refuse."
"No, not that. You must have seen something."
"..."
Deon Hardt's head rose. The full face was revealed, and red eyes looked straight into the Emperor's golden eyes.
The Emperor leisurely accepted the gaze and waited for his words to come out.
Eventually, the topic he had been waiting for emerged.
"Cruel."
"..."
"Why did you put him in the position of a hero?"
There was rare anger in his red eyes.
Deon said in a suppressed voice, clenching his fists on his knees, "Your Majesty knows."
Cruel Hardt.
A name he would never forget as long as he lived.
"For me, it was regret that I couldn't kill him."
He was the only survivor of the Hardt family other than Deon.
...If explained in this way, you won't understand, so I'll rephrase it.
Cruel Hardt was the only survivor of the Hardt family who perished at the hands of Deon Hardt.
***
I was strangled by a monster-looking Revolutionary and lost consciousness, and when I woke up... there was the Emperor in front of me!
I was so surprised that I almost jumped up in panic.
And that, too, in front of the Emperor!
'What the hell happened?'
I barely managed to get my mind to escape and started rolling my eyes hard.
So now this is a banquet hall.
I was kneeling on one knee and bowing my head in front of the Emperor, and for some reason, red liquid kept dripping in front of my eyes. And my whole body was sticky and smelled like fishy iron...
'Wait a minute, what's wrong with my body?!'
I felt like my whole body was throbbing for some reason, but it seems like something happened. The neat white uniform was stained red.
As if someone had poured blood from above the head, it wasn't just splattering out, it was so wet that if you squeezed it out, blood would come out.
When I realized that the blood dripping before my eyes was hanging from the end of my hair, I thought of a maid who did not fit the situation.
A maid who attempted to change my public image by promoting the image of a 'sick nobleman'.
...Weakness?' If there was a small amount of blood, they could say, 'I guess he was sick and vomited blood hahaha.' They could have said this and moved on, but I was completely covered in blood. It looked like something out of a ghost story.
This was not a weakness, it was a curse.
My appearance now was so terrible that I could almost believe I was a devil.
This is how I came to see the Emperor. What on earth were the soldiers guarding the door doing instead of blocking me?
'Rotten bastards. I'll stop you.'
No, more than that, I feel a little sorry for that maid.
It seems like she put a lot of thought into choosing the clothes. Even my hair, which she had put so much effort into arranging, ended up being a mess.
I silently apologized to the unknown maid and maintained my kneeling position.
When you are not sure about the situation, it is best to stay still rather than take unnecessary action.
But what on earth have I done?
"Deon Hardt."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"What kind of rudeness is this?"
The Emperor uttered terrifying words. I didn't remember what I did. There was no way to know what made the Emperor angry. However, it is not as if I was given ample time to recall my memories.
In other words, it was ruined.
Even though it's just words, it feels like there's a knife in front of my throat.
Resisting the urge to touch my neck, I fiercely...
...Lost my mind.