"……Truly."
"With that terrifying expression on your face, right to the very end."
…….
"But now, this is the last moment the girl will see you."
"It's the moment of your death... surely you could grant her, at least, a kiss?"
…….
………….
…………………He had a nightmare.
"Agh!"
Hero Luke jolted upright in bed, his upper body surging upward.
He frantically scanned his surroundings. A lavish interior, but swallowed by the deep darkness of night. There was nothing. No, to be precise, there wasn't *nothing*. Right beside his bed, the woman he loved was fast asleep.
"Hup, huff... huuh..."
Luke panted, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
His sleepwear was damp. Soaked through with cold sweat, no doubt. Luke found the clammy sensation on his back deeply unpleasant, but more than that, the very fact that he'd broken out in a cold sweat displeased him.
Why? After all, he was the Hero who had subjugated countless demonkind. He had personally beheaded all seventy-two Demon Lords. He had directly purged tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of demons. When he thought of them, he felt no fear whatsoever. He was proud, resolute.
Demons were humanity's enemy. The relationship was brutally simple and dry: if he didn't annihilate them, they would annihilate his kind. Luke the Hero had no room for moral pangs about slaying monsters. That's right. He wasn't supposed to have any……
'But why?'
Luke clenched his fist, gripping the blanket tightly.
'Why is it that only when I think of Demon Lord Paimon am I like this…….'
Luke silently bore the guilt that had taken root in his heart.
'...Luke? Are you brooding again?'
Since they shared the same bed, she must have picked up on her partner's strange behavior. Luke's lover sat up with a rustle. Despite the darkness of the room, her silver hair had lost none of its luster—if anything, it seemed to softly glow, as though it drew nourishment from the very shadows that filled the room.
Luke forced a smile.
'Mm, Elishe. It's nothing.'
'Nothing, my foot. Good heavens—you're covered in a cold sweat.'
Elisabeth von Habsburg.
She who had once been a noble princess and now sat as the Empress of the Empire hastily lit the oil lamp. Outside the bedroom, she was Elisabeth, who commanded both fear and reverence from all who knew her name—but here, she was nothing more than a woman worried about her lover.
'Are you all right? Should I fetch you some water?'
'I'm really fine. It's nothing.'
'You're the sort who would claim to be perfectly fine even if one of your arms had been cut off.'
Elisabeth rose from the bed and personally fetched the water pitcher. Luke kept insisting he was fine and tried to decline, but Elisabeth was having none of it. With no other choice, Luke took a few sips of water. As the faintly rose-scented liquid touched his lips, his head truly did feel a little clearer.
Elisabeth puffed up with pride like a cat.
'See? It was better to listen to me, wasn't it?'
'...Yes, Your Imperial Majesty. Your Majesty is always correct.'
'Mm. Then we understand each other. My knight.'
Elisabeth gave a little shrug.
Had any citizen of the Empire witnessed this scene, they would have been so shocked that their jaws would have hit the floor—literally snapped their own jawbones clean off. 'The Empress is acting coy! The very Empress who conquered every neighboring kingdom, swept away even the Demon Lord's armies, and effectively unified the entire continent!'
Elisabeth pouted her lips.
'But because of you, I woke up too. Now there's a serious risk to my ability to govern tomorrow. You're supposed to be assisting me, not disturbing my rest. Your sins are truly grievous.'
"Aah."
Luke let out a small sigh.
Though her words sounded like that, the glint in her eyes was unmistakable—she was clearly scheming some mischief. Luke replied with a feeling that was half exasperation, half the indulgence of letting a lover's prank slide even while fully aware of it.
"I see. So this humble servant has committed a grave sin, Your Majesty. What must I do to atone for my sins and beg for Your Majesty's forgiveness?"
"Tell me honestly—what nightmare did you have to wake up in such a panic?"
"......"
Luke fell silent.
He wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to say it or not. Elisabeth sensed that her lover was wrestling with something and simply brought over the wine. She poured the wine into a silver cup with a soft glug and handed it to Luke.
Luke took a sip of wine and slowly opened his mouth.
"Elise. You were the first person I ever loved, and you'll be the last."
"That's quite the dramatic opening."
Elisabeth's expression turned serious.
"Hmm. Very well. I've already prepared myself mentally for anything."
"......Prepared yourself mentally?"
"You mean you've come down with some incurable illness, don't you? It would make sense, wandering around the Demon Realm like that—you could have caught any manner of mysterious disease. It's alright. I have already steeled myself for every possibility..."
"That's not what I meant!"
Luke raised his voice involuntarily.
Elisabeth tilted her head.
"So it's not an incurable disease?"
"Of course not! I'm still in the prime of my life! At the very least I've got another hundred years ahead of me, so why on earth would I be falling ill already? Illness, of all things!?"
"Then… perhaps you've become impotent."
Elisabeth wore a look of sympathy.
"How pitiful. Now that peace has come to the continent, the only thing you, the Hero, had going for you was that outrageously impressive stamina of yours. Well. You can rest easy. I'm not the sort of woman who would cast aside her lover just because his manhood stopped working."
"My sexual function is perfectly normal!"
Luke grabbed Elisabeth's cheeks and pulled them, stretching them out.
"We had a wonderful time yesterday, so why on earth would Your Majesty doubt my capabilities, I wonder—? Could it be that this is secretly an invitation for another round today? If Your Majesty desires it, this humble servant is always at your service—."
"Mgh, mghhhh…"
Elisabeth mumbled.
It took a while before Luke finally let go. Elisabeth rubbed her sore cheeks and grumbled.
"How dare you. To make fun of the continent's one and only Empress. You could be killed a hundred times over and it still wouldn't repay that offense. You're not suffering from an incurable disease. You haven't become impotent either. So what's the problem, putting on airs like that?"
"Yes, yes. I see. As for this servant's insolence, Your Majesty may choose to boil me alive or starve me to death—whichever you prefer."
"——Or perhaps… do you have a hidden lover?"
It was an ambush of a question, utterly unexpected.
Had she been deliberately stringing along those playful remarks, waiting for him to let his guard down? Elisabeth suddenly thrust the question at him. Caught off guard by the surprise attack, Luke was rendered speechless. By the time he came to his senses, two or three seconds had already slipped by.
"No, Elise, it's not that…"
"……."
Luke hurried to explain but shut his mouth again. Elisabeth's gaze was far too transparent. A look that would never forgive a clumsy excuse. And yet there was also a generosity lingering in her eyes—one that said she would accept a sincere explanation without hesitation.
"Have a glass of wine."
Elisabeth smiled softly.
"Then perhaps it will be a little easier to talk to me."
"…Yeah. I understand."
She truly was no match for Her Majesty the Emperor.
Luke managed a wry smile and collected his thoughts. Five minutes passed, then ten. At last, he was ready to tell Elisabeth everything. He looked at her carefully and spoke.
"Liz. You're definitely my first lover, but…"
"Mm."
"…I might not have been in love first with you."
He said it.
He actually said it.
Luke swallowed without realizing it. It was something he had never once uttered aloud before — not even once. He had never so much as whispered it to himself in the privacy of his own mind.
After all, he was a man who had spent his entire life fighting the Demon Lord and the demons.
— The idea that such a man's first love might have been the Demon Lord herself was not something even Luke could readily accept.
"Oh my. So I might not be the first love, then. In that case, who was it that left footprints in your heart first?"
Elisabeth actually grinned with mischief. She was probably smiling on purpose to ease Luke's nerves. For all that, Elisabeth clearly cared deeply for her lover. She must have been hurt by the words about not being his first love, yet she showed absolutely no sign of it.
A strong-willed woman.
She was far too strong-willed for a man like him. At the very least, he would talk honestly so as not to render her kindness pointless. That was what Luke resolved.
"It's the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord Paimon… At first, I didn't even know she was the Demon Lord. I was just walking through Brandenburg and happened to run into her. It wasn't until later that I realized she was the Demon Lord."
"I see."
Elisabeth's expression grew serious.
"So that's why you were reluctant to tell me."
"Yeah."
"Did you truly love her?"
"……I don't know."
The Hero thought of a woman with beautiful red hair.
At first, he had simply thought of her as a strange Demon Lord. Since she was the Queen of Succubi, he suspected it might be a scheme to seduce him and draw him into the Demon Lord's army. That was only natural. It was far more plausible to believe that than to believe the Demon Lord truly loved him.
"I never once felt anything resembling love toward her. But……"
But for some reason, Paimon had saved him—him, the Hero.
There had been a time when Luke fell into the Demon Lord's army's trap and found himself in a dire crisis. Back then, it was thanks to Paimon's help that he barely managed to survive. Had Paimon not extended a helping hand, Luke would most likely have died. That was precisely why Luke had been so conflicted.
That she might truly love him.
"……It was obviously a lie. That's what I concluded. The Queen of Succubi wasn't someone who could be trusted. So when I drove my blade into Paimon's heart, I believed that in that final moment, Paimon would reveal her true feelings. She would surely resent and curse me for the day I killed her."
And yet.
Even so.
Even in the moment of death, Paimon did not change.
Luke spoke with difficulty.
"Her dying wish was that I grant her a kiss in her final moments……that was Paimon's last words."
"……."
"Those words made my head go strange."
He didn't know what to do. That was perhaps the best way to put it.
By the time he realized it, Luke had already pressed his lips against Paimon's. Strictly speaking, it was far too lacking to be called a kiss. It was closer to a simple brush of lip against lip. Yet Paimon smiled gently, as if that alone was more than enough.
— Thank you, Luke.
Paimon quietly closed her eyes. And she never opened them again. In the very end, Paimon stole Luke's first kiss before departing for good.
After that day, Luke was periodically plagued by nightmares. The content of the dreams themselves held nothing particularly terrifying. It was simply the sight of Paimon dying. A thin trickle of blood running from her lips as she wore that gentle smile — repeating, over and over, without end.
This, if anything, should be called a comedy.
Foolishly, it was only after Paimon's death that Luke realized — perhaps he had been fond of her after all.
============================ Author's Notes ============================
Please check the notices and read the review for the next chapter >_<)!