by CHIROLU
Thanks to Chrysos’s assistance she was saved, but when she was recognized by the other demon lords as an enemy, it wouldn’t have been a surprise for her to be completely annihilated. No matter how far she ran and hid, she didn’t think she would be able to escape. But if she did that, then until she was found, the demon lords would burn everything to the ground in their search for her.
If she’d been honest with Dale, telling him that the other demon lords were targeting her, then he would have protected her even if he had to sacrifice himself in the process. But she wanted to protect Dale just as badly, and didn’t want him to do such a thing.
It wasn’t just Dale, either. The place where she lived, Kreuz, would surely become a target for the demon lords. Her friends and the townsfolk had been so kind to her as she grew up, and Latina wanted to protect all of them.
All of those people who had given her something, after she had lost everything on that day when she was young. All of those who had taken her in and given her love, after everything about her had been thrown aside and she was driven out. Because she had once lost everything, Latina feared losing things again more than anything else.
And then there was Chrysos. They had been born and raised together, and she was Latina’s precious other half. They had shared everything since their birth, and her sister was her one and only remaining family member.
All of those precious people, weighed against her one, tiny life... They couldn’t even be compared. If it would protect the people she cared about, then she would gladly offer up her life.
“But... I may have done the same... So Dale wouldn’t have given up so easily, right...?”
She didn’t want him to act recklessly. And even though Dale was known as a first-rate adventurer, she never imagined he could carry out something as insane as making enemies of all the demon lords. However, it was also true that she hadn’t thought it was utterly impossible. It was precisely because she had the thought “If it’s Dale, then he just might pull it off” that when she saw that disastrous state of the space with the thrones, even though she didn’t know any of the circumstances, she intuitively thought of it as Dale’s doing.
“What should I have done...?”
She had originally thought that if she just disappeared, things would return to the way that they had been before. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of the Demon Lords of Calamity running rampant, nor had she thought Dale would target the demon lords not of the Calamities, as they hadn’t done anything wrong.
“...That may have been my greatest sin, failing to think of that...”
Thinking back on how she’d merely been dragged along in the ensuing chaos, Latina pressed her cheek up against the pillow.
Caught up in her feelings of powerlessness, Latina didn’t even notice herself doze off.
“Latina?”
Hearing that voice, Latina opened her eyes. Dale’s face was right before her, looking worried. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his kind voice full of concern, though Latina was uncertain why.
Dale enveloped her cheek in the palm of his hand. His fingertips gently stroked the contours of her eyes as if to comfort her. It was then that Latina remembered that she’d fallen asleep with the traces of her sobbing still showing on her face.
“I’m fi—” She caught herself midway through answering. She still hadn’t found an answer to the question she had been contemplating. Nonetheless, she had made a firm decision to no longer merely avert her eyes and weep.
“...I’ve been thinking. I made a lot of mistakes.”
“Latina?”
“I hurt you a whole lot, Dale, and brought you so much suffering too. ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t even begin to cover it, but... I feel like I shouldn’t just let myself stop thinking about what I did wrong.”
Latina’s words caused Dale to break out in a slightly strained smile, but he continued gently stroking her cheeks and head. That kind gaze, and his adoring caress, were those of the man she adored, but— Latina suddenly opened her eyes, as if in surprise.
That wasn’t all I was wrong about... that I forgot about... was the thought that suddenly came to mind.
She had been wrong.
She had understood it further in the past. It was something she had always thought about when she was a child, but at some point she had forgotten.
I...
When Dale asked her to marry him, her childhood wish had been granted. Those dreamlike feelings of bliss had caused her to forget before she even realized it.
What she’d wanted to become wasn’t simply someone who Dale doted on and called “cute.” That wouldn’t be any different from when she was just his “beloved daughter.” It wasn’t enough to make her the grown woman she wanted to be.
I had wanted... to become an adult who could stand by Dale’s side... Someone who could support him...
In her current state, she was merely the subject of Dale’s one-sided doting. She had grown complacent, and in turn had lost sight of the person she had wanted to become.
It was no surprise that she found herself being called “little lady.” After all, she’d been childish enough to deserve the name.
“I really did make a lot of mistakes, didn’t I...?”
“You did?”
“Yeah. I did nothing but screw up... So I want you to tell me properly when I do something wrong... to tell me what you want me to do, and what you’re thinking...”
She remembered Dale’s desperate words that she’d heard when she awoke in Vassilios. Those words that sounded so painful, as if his heart were about to burst. He had earnestly wanted her to let him protect her, but Latina felt the same way, and so she didn’t know what to do.
“I was wrong, but... I really did want to protect you, Dale.”
“Right, that’s true... I knew, too... that you’d feel that way, Latina,” Dale said in agreement with a troubled look on his face, both his hands gently touching Latina all the while.
“You’re so kind like that, Dale, so... you’re alway so nice to me. I know that you’d forgive anything and everything I do... even if that caused you to suffer.”
“It’s fine, though... being soft on you.”
A part of Dale realized he couldn’t really hold her actions against her.
Demon lords were like threats incarnate, and Latina had become a target for all of them. Since she wanted to settle things without anyone coming to harm, sacrificing herself was a reasonable choice. To be honest, when he considered the situation, he realized that was the conclusion that would result in the least number of losses.
Even so, he hadn’t been able to accept that, and decided to keep struggling, using all his strength to mow down those in his path.
As Dale’s thoughts brought a strained expression to his face, Latina watched him gently.
He found himself unable to settle down, worried that the blood-stained cruelty he had wrought would be discovered.
“If... the same things were to happen again, I may make the same choices again...”
“That’d... be a problem...”
“Just like you want to protect me, I feel the same way about you, Dale. But...” Latina said, halting for a moment as she gripped the hand Dale was touching tightly. “I’ll talk to you properly from now on, Dale. I’ll think things through together with you, about what I want to do, and what I should do.”
“Huh...?”
“I want to be with you, Dale. I want to be someone who can protect you too, rather than just being someone you protect. Therefore, so that I can be someone who can properly stand by your side... Next time, I want to listen to how you feel, and talk things over together.”
A strained smile crossed Dale’s face after hearing Latina’s words, this one possessing a slightly different meaning than the one he’d worn before.
“I’ve... gotta reflect on my actions, too.”
“Dale?”
“There’s also a whole lot I should’ve discussed with you...”
“I proposed to you, Latina. As husband and wife, we should be sharing even the things that are painful.”
“...Yeah.”
“So if something happens again... please don’t hide anything from me. I’ll manage even the stuff you think is impossible one way or another.”
“Right.”
“Ah, and when things are tough for me... can I rely on you, too? Though, then again, I’d want to act tough at times like that...”
“I’ll work hard for your sake too, when such times come. You’re always saving me... so I want to do something to pay you back,” she replied, and Dale’s smile grew more relaxed.
Just having her by his side since she was young had supported and saved him. But she’d surely say that wasn’t enough.
“...You don’t have any more siblings, right?”
“I don’t.”
“I’d like... to hear about your family. You couldn’t talk about them because you had to hide Chrysos, right?”
“You heard that from Chrysos?”
“Yeah,” Dale replied, and Latina’s expression grew a little pained.
“I’m sorry for not saying anything. But Chrysos is more precious to me than anyone else, in a different way from how I feel about you.”
“She is your one and only sister, after all.”
By nature, devils had a strong sense of camaraderie and regarded family as especially precious.
Chrysos was Latina’s only sister, and her last remaining family member. Dale fully understood that Latina and Chrysos held deep feelings for one another.
“Is there anything else you’re still hiding?”
“...There’s still some stuff that’s embarrassing.”
“I guess that stuff may still be okay, even when it comes to a husband and wife...”
“What about you, Dale?”
“Hmm?”
“Is... there anything you’re hiding from me, Dale?”
“Ah...”
Dale reflexively began to dodge the question, but after some thought, he reconsidered. It wouldn’t be right to force her to speak and then shelve the matter of his own secrets.
She was no longer just a small child who needed to be sheltered. And he intended to treat her accordingly.
“To be honest, I’m a hero.”
That was why Dale revealed some information he had kept to himself until now. After hearing that, Latina sat silently staring at Dale’s face for a while. She may have already heard it from Rose, but it was still an extraordinary shock.
“Um, Latina?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you alright?”
Latina snapped out of it once Dale called out to her, and the tension drained from her shoulders so thoroughly you could almost hear the hiss of it escaping.
“I’m just surprised...”
“I’d heard from Lady Rose, too... that you were a hero.”
“Is that so?”
Thinking about it, Dale realized that he had not exactly forbidden anyone from talking about it, so this wasn’t that much of a surprise. Rather, it was perhaps more of a surprise that Latina hadn’t learned that fact up until now.
“I didn’t ask Lady Rose, but... are you alright, being a demon?”
“You should probably be better informed about that than I am, right?”
Even Dale couldn’t help but be bewildered. At least technically, Latina was Dale’s “master.” And it was Latina herself that told him that “demon lords are permitted to know a portion of the foundations of the world.”
“Huh? Ah, now that you mention it, that’s true...”
Latina had completely set aside the powers she’d been granted as a demon lord, so she’d completely forgotten she had such an ability.
“Well, you’re the Eighth Demon Lord, so... you’re not quite the antithesis of a hero, who exists to eliminate demon lords. I guess it kind of worked out.”
“I see...” Latina said with a nod, lacking even a hint of demon lord-ness about her.
“I need to get my act together more after all,” Latina flatly stated. Dale was instinctively about to say, “You’re fine the way you are, Latina,” but managed to keep it to himself.
Dale thought to himself, Latina’s so cute, nodding her head while looking all serious like that. That was already a conditioned reflex at this point. He successfully held himself back from voicing that comment, though, out of consideration for the fact that she was trying to become an adult, as saying that would be like taking back his agreement to treat her as one.
He silently berated himself, wondering which one of them was really the one who still had some growing up to do.
“Dale?”
“It’s nothing... I was just thinking that you really have grown, Latina.”
“...?” Latina tilted her head a bit, as she’d just been so keenly feeling her own immaturity.
“I’ve gotta get my act together, too.”
“Aren’t you already a proper, full fledged adult, Dale?”
“Hmm...”
Rather than treating her as an equal partner or seeing her as his “master,” Dale really did prefer to be someone that she could rely on. His pride as a man wouldn’t allow him to back down on that point.
However, they were finally able to be together again like this.
“Let’s try to do things right from here on out.”
“Yeah.”
It would be good if they could talk things through with one another, no matter how much they screwed up. While thinking that, Dale took Latina’s hand in his own, and the two of them stayed that way.
†
Having talked things over with Dale, Latina then visited Chrysos’s room alone after dinner. It wasn’t the room where they had lived together when they were young. It was instead a high-quality one from which the authority of a king could be felt. However, there were always ladies-in-waiting and guards in the next room over, so it was a formal space lacking in absolute privacy.
“It feels odd somehow, using human language around you, Chrysos.”
“It is not a conversation you particularly want others to overhear, yes? There are those who could understand bits and pieces, but few could understand everything. That makes it suitable for a private conversation, would you not say?” Chrysos said with a slightly mischievous look on her face, then she took a sip of the tea Latina had prepared, a bit of a glint in her eyes.
Normally, preparing tea would be a task for a lady-in-waiting. But Latina wanted this time to be for the two of them alone, so she successfully got the lady-in-waiting to back down using the excuse that this was a tea from Laband which Sylvia had shared with her. The tools and methods used for handling tea differed between Vassilios and Laband. Chrysos had sensed that Latina had something to discuss when the girl went out of her way to visit her room, and didn’t particularly try to object.
“Once our exchange with Laband begins, it will be necessary for those of this nation to study the language, yes?”
“The other races can’t even pronounce devil words without an affinity for it, after all...”
The basic criteria as to whether or not someone could use magic was if they could pronounce the so called “spell language.” The devil race all had an affinity for magic, and it served as their mother tongue, but for other races, it was a language that could be utterly impossible for them to speak.
However, the languages used by other races had no such restrictions, making it possible to simply study and employ them.
“So, what is it, Platina?”
“Dale hadn’t told me...” Latina muttered, staring into the teacup in her hand. The depressed-looking face on the other side of the pale dark brown surface of the liquid looked back at her. “Did you know, Chrysos? That Dale... was a hero?”
Chrysos sat in silence for a while, but soon confirmed, not wanting to lie to her twin sister. “That is correct
. After you were sealed away... before long, someone began laying the demon lords to rest. Considering my position, I was unable to determine who that was... but upon hearing what Sylvia and the others had to say, I soon realized.”
“Sylvia...”
“There was a hero by your side, Platina. He was moving about, killing off demon lords at a pace that would normally be utterly impossible. After hearing of his relationship with you... I conjectured that perhaps you had made that hero into your retainer.”
“I see...”
“And I sensed that he was the reason you said you would not return to me,” said Chrysos, puffing up her cheeks in a way that really did resemble Latina. Latina smiled just a bit in response to her sister’s expression, then looked down once more.
“So... Dale really was the one who... defeated the demon lords, then?” Latina said, hesitant to use the word “killed.”
Seeing her sister like that, Chrysos mentally sighed to herself, and said in a composed tone, “That is correct.”
“From the state of the thrones, it seemed like... Did he defeat all of the other demon lords...?”
“...I suppose there’s no denying it at this point,” Chrysos replied, realizing she wouldn’t be able to lie to her clever sister now.
Latina’s expression grew pained.
“That... was because of me, wasn’t it?”
She had already sensed it from the stories of those around her, but looking at her sister now caused Chrysos to think it once more: Latina was still kind and earnest by nature, just as she’d been when they were young. That fact caused her to feel both relieved and glad. That was because it was proof that even after being exiled from this country and losing their father, she was still able to grow up in a place where she was healthy and safe.
“...I suppose I must give that man my thanks.”
“Huh?”
“No, it is nothing.”
Latina apparently hadn’t caught the words that Chrysos had quietly whispered, causing the Golden King to feel relieved. It was precisely because she cared for her sister so greatly that she couldn’t let anyone know she had said such a thing about that deplorable hero.
