The Demon King's palace was so vast and immense that it took quite some time to explore each floor. As everything of value had already been taken, most of the rooms were either completely empty or filled with dust.
There were spaces like a library without any books, or what seemed to be a storage room, wide open and entirely empty.
There was even a throne where the Demon King likely once sat. The throne room was larger than any other throne room they had seen before.
It made sense, as the demons that entered here varied greatly in size.
After exploring the first floor, they continued to the upper levels. They passed the place where the magic scroll had been discovered.
As expected, it was completely empty.
And as they walked down the corridor, they couldn't help but arrive at that particular place.
The prison cell.
"..."
"This is..."
Charlotte nodded her head.
"Yes, this is where I was imprisoned."
A place filled with nothing but terrible memories.
"I don't think there's any good reason to go in there..."
Charlotte hesitated, then turned away with effort.
There would be no remnants of the Demon King here, only trauma.
Whoop
"Your Highness!"
"Ah..."
As Charlotte walked, she suddenly stumbled and was supported by Turner.
"Are you okay?"
As she approached, Charlotte's forehead was covered in cold sweat.
Could the shocking memories be affecting her body?
"It's nothing... My legs just suddenly gave way..."
The memories were not easily forgotten, and returning to the scene made it even more difficult. Turner handed Charlotte over to me.
"I'll leave her to you for a moment. I'll find a place to rest."
"Alright."
Charlotte leaned on me, gripping my arm, and Turner rushed down the corridor.
"Haa... Haa..."
Charlotte breathed heavily, as if she had been running hard.
"Is it dangerous now?"
"No... It's not that... Just..."
It wasn't a sudden loss of strength but more like symptoms of hyperventilation. After taking a few deep breaths, Charlotte's breathing soon steadied.
"I knew it wouldn't be easy, but... it's still hard."
She had only told me that she was the one who killed all the prisoners. I let Charlotte lean against the wall and offered her my arm for support.
How much time had passed?
"I've found a suitable place to rest. Let's go there."
Turner, now out of breath, had checked the upper floors and approached us with the news.
After passing through several more corridors and climbing a few more floors, they arrived at a room that looked like a bedroom.
There were no valuables, but the furniture remained intact. After opening the window and dusting off the sofa, Turner helped Charlotte lie down on it.
Charlotte offered a weak smile.
"Lady Turner, I'm not ill."
"Even so, you should rest. We've walked quite a bit today."
"...Haha, you're right."
Charlotte lay on the sofa, catching her breath.
It was a strange feeling, not knowing whether to worry about a traumatic episode or to be grateful that it wasn't an outburst of strength. Saviolin Turner quietly surveyed the bedroom.
"I know we found this place in a hurry, but it seems to be the bedroom of someone quite high-ranking, even among the Demon King's castle."
"...Ah, you're right."
Though there were no valuables, all the large furniture remained. Considering everything was of high quality, Turner's guess that it might have belonged to someone high-ranking within the Demon King's castle seemed plausible.
Somehow, this feeling grew stranger.
"Tch... It's impossible to identify who this bedroom belonged to since everything of value has been indiscriminately plundered. Although it might not be that important..."
Turner seemed to entertain the possibility that this might have been the Demon King's bedroom. It was, indeed, a room that could warrant such speculation.
It could have belonged to one of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Demon King, or perhaps another noble figure.
-Creak
Turner searched the room for any remaining items, opening wardrobes and rummaging through drawers.
Charlotte, exhausted, suddenly struggled to sit up on the sofa.
Saviolin Turner rummaged through the drawers.
All the valuable items would have been taken, so there should have been nothing left.
However, for some reason, an odd anxiety burned through my body.
-Creak
Each time Saviolin Turner opened a drawer, an intense sense of foreboding told me something would be discovered.
It felt as though the warning of intuition was pricking at my heart with a needle.
-Creak
"...?"
Saviolin Turner opened a drawer in the ornamental cabinet and tilted her head.
"Indeed, the things that wouldn't fetch any money are still here."
She pulled something out of the drawer.
At first glance, it was a high-quality wooden case. The lid was open, but the contents remained untouched.
It seemed like someone had intended to take it, but after seeing the contents, decided to leave it behind.
"Biscuits... it seems."
Charlotte stared at the biscuits, eyes wide.
I clenched my teeth so hard that my molars nearly cracked, trying not to show any expression.
"Can you give that to me?"
Charlotte asked calmly, almost frighteningly so.
"Your Highness, they must be stale by now."
"I don't want to eat them."
"…Very well. Here they are."
Charlotte gazed at the biscuits that Turner handed her, the ones wrapped in their packaging.
Individually wrapped biscuits.
Charlotte stared intently at them.
Biscuits.
Those from that time.
'You must be hungry. Eat these.'
'You, you... who are you?'
'I'm fine. You eat first.'
'You, you too... you eat too.'
Biscuits.
Found in the bedroom of someone who likely belonged to the high-ranking demon nobility, wrapped in the same packaging as those from that time.
Charlotte unwrapped the biscuit and suddenly snapped it in half.
"Your Highness!"
-Crunch!
Despite Turner's protest, Charlotte bit into the biscuit.
Had she sensed something?
Charlotte would never forget it.
Even if she forgot everything else, she would never forget the shape and taste of that biscuit she had eaten at that time.
She couldn't tell if it had the same taste as before.
However.
As Charlotte took a bite of the biscuit, tears rolled down her eyes.
“Ah.”
Charlotte knew something.
“Ahaha.”
“...Your Highness? Why, why are you acting like this?”
There had been suspicious circumstances, but she had tried not to believe them and tried to deny them.
There's a limit to denying an unwanted truth.
This biscuit wasn't definitive proof either.
But too much had piled up.
Evidence and suspicion had accumulated.
Piling up, and piling up again.
The biscuits, individually wrapped in an extravagant case.
Would she think that something like this couldn't be found just anywhere?
Charlotte's thoughts eventually led her to a conclusion.
“Huh, huh… Huhuh. Ah. Huh.”
“Your Highness! Why are you doing this?”
Now, it became an irreversible certainty.
“Heh, hehe! Heh, hehe!”
Charlotte, with her waist bent, laughed like a madwoman.
It seemed as if her vague hope that it might not be true had completely vanished.
What was Charlotte thinking?
In the end, did she think she was just being used in the next Demon King's escape?
I couldn't know.
“Hehehe! Hehehehehehe! Heheh! Eugh! Ugh! Heheh!”
Charlotte's laughter, in the end, turned into sobbing.
“...There's a slightly larger bedroom inside, which we think might be the Demon King's.”
Having looked around all the nearby rooms, Saviolin Turner spoke with an expression that suggested she didn't know how to explain it.
Charlotte had asked her to check if there was a slightly larger bedroom nearby.
There was only one room deeper than this bedroom.
In terms of scale, it seemed to be the Demon King's bedroom. We don't know the architectural philosophy of the Demon King's palace, but what would the second most luxurious bedroom right next to the Demon King's sleeping chamber mean?
Charlotte sat blankly with the biscuit box in front of her.
This wasn't definitive proof either, but it seemed to be the final psychological evidence for Charlotte.
Charlotte had known for a long time that Valier could not be unrelated to the Demon King.
However, the Demon King's successor had only recently become active.
Charlotte gave no explanation, but Turner seemed to know what Charlotte was thinking.
I remained silent.
No words could comfort Charlotte now, and even if they could, it didn't seem like my place to do so.
“Your Highness, I don't know why… you're acting like this, but in the end, it's just a biscuit. This… whatever you may think, Your Highness, it's not enough evidence to be certain of anything…”
Saviolin Turner tried to say something but stopped.
She didn't know what this biscuit meant to Charlotte.
Upon hearing Turner's words, Charlotte slowly nodded her head.
"Perhaps you're right."
Charlotte speaks calmly.
"I've... given up now."
Charlotte has stopped defending Valier even in her heart.
"The child who saved me is indeed the son or successor of the Demon King. I wanted to believe otherwise, but I won't anymore."
While not a definitive piece of evidence, enough clues have piled up for Charlotte to build a wall around her heart.
The child who saved her is the Demon King's successor and responsible for the demon attacks in the Empire.
Charlotte is certain of it.
"I've only had doubts. If so, why did he save me... why... even though he could have escaped alone, why did he insist on saving me... so he might not be, there's no reason for him to save me. So, he might not be... I wanted to believe."
At the point when they left the Demon King's castle with the teleport scroll, they could have escaped on their own. But they risked danger to return with Dyrus and save Charlotte.
That might be why Charlotte tried to believe in him until the very end.
There is no reason for the Demon King's successor to risk his life to save Charlotte. Rather, he could have left her to die.
There's no reason for me, who should hate the Empire as much as Artorius, to save Charlotte.
That was the last psychological barrier that made Charlotte think Valier might not be the son of the Demon King.
But now, that barrier has crumbled.
"Now... I think I know why he saved me."
So, Charlotte ponders now.
The reason why the Demon King's son had to save her.
A justifiable reason worth risking his life.
Charlotte looks at me this time.
"It's because the power of the Demon King or his soul is dwelling within me... that's why..."
Charlotte mumbles absentmindedly.
Looking at her mumbling, I felt chills down my spine.
It seemed as if Charlotte was about to reach a conclusion.
"It wasn't that he saved me... It wasn't that he saved me..."
Charlotte speaks slowly, staring at Biscuit with a voice filled with betrayal.
"He saved... the Demon King's soul... dwelling within me..."
Once Charlotte was certain that Valier was the son of the Demon King, the only rational conclusion she could reach was that.
She could never think that he saved her out of kindness or wanting to save her. There is no reason for the Demon King's son to save the Empire's princess.
They lost the war.
The Demon King was dead.
It is impossible that the Demon King's son doesn't know that the princess of the Empire is captive here and that the soul of the Demon King dwells within her.
So, it was not to save the princess, but the Demon King's soul within her.
He risked his life to save her in order to resurrect the Demon King at the heart of the Empire someday.
"Heh, hehe. When I think about it... it was obvious... it was obvious..."
Charlotte couldn't understand why she hadn't reached this conclusion earlier, and she let out a hollow laugh.
‘Charlotte,
It's not like that, you misunderstand.
I just didn't want you to die, and at that time, I didn't know who you were, nor did I know that such a thing was dormant within you.’
I wanted to say it.
It felt like someone was wringing my heart.
The uncontrollable misunderstanding grew, and it was too rational a misunderstanding to deny.
‘No, it's not like that.
I've been watching over you all this time and have been trying to continue to protect you, even now I'm still trying,’ I wanted to say that.
But if I reveal my identity, I will die.
If I expose myself as Valier, all Charlotte will feel is betrayal.
The countless lies I've told Charlotte up to now are a problem, and the way Charlotte's thoughts are unfolding is also a problem.
Charlotte might even think that my control of her symptoms is ultimately for the complete resurrection of the Demon King.
Certainly, if I hadn't stopped Charlotte on the day she went berserk, there would have been casualties, but Charlotte would have eventually died.
No one saw how desperately I fought that day, which ultimately helped me hide my identity, but it also left me with the problem that Charlotte herself didn't know how sincerely I fought for her.
Once she begins to suspect Valier, revealing that I am Valier would make all my actions as Reinhardt about reviving the Demon King.
"Ha, haha... haha..."
In the end, I couldn't say anything in front of Charlotte, who was laughing without strength.
