Ludger surveyed the room.
It was luxurious. The walls, the floor, the ceiling—everything was made of high-grade materials.
It seemed almost excessive to maximize the resident’s comfort this much.
A place like this existing wasn’t strange in itself.
‘The problem is that I’m supposed to be the greatest criminal of the century.’
If a criminal was captured, they should be locked in a harsh prison. That was common sense.
Yet Ludger was confined in a lavish room like this, without handcuffs, shackles, or any kind of restraining device.
Of course, if he tried to leave, the people monitoring him outside would stop him—but what meaning did that even have?
‘They brought me here because they know I have no intention of leaving.’
He hadn’t spoken, merely thought the words—and right on cue, the door opened, and the person in question entered.
“So we finally meet again like this.”
“Princess Aileen.”
Ludger spoke her name as Aileen walked inside with confident steps.
Beside her stood Pascius. He looked calmer and more reliable than before—proof that three years had truly passed.
Of course, the same applied to Aileen standing before him.
“Or should I call you Empress Aileen now?”
“Could you leave us for a moment?”
Aileen didn’t respond to Ludger—instead, she asked Pascius.
It seemed prearranged; Pascius bowed his head politely and left the room.
Leaving only Ludger and Aileen behind in that extravagant space.
“So we’re finally alone.”
“Is it really all right for the ruler of a nation to treat a criminal this humanely?”
“Do you plan to harm me? Even if you did, it wouldn’t matter to me.”
Aileen’s confident smile made Ludger let out a small laugh.
“I always knew you were bold, but it seems a lot has happened over the past three years.”
“Yes. A great deal happened. Cleaning up after the war was already a massive problem. Even now, three years later, the aftermath still hasn’t been fully resolved.”
“Three years... no matter how many times I hear it, I can’t adjust to it.”
The continent had undergone tremendous change during those three years—so rapidly that even those living through it struggled to keep up.
“Well, you’ll learn about the world’s changes gradually. The important part is this—your current situation.”
“You always did get straight to the point. Good.”
“You captured me, yet placed me in a place like this. What are you thinking? Under normal circumstances, a public execution wouldn’t be enough.”
Heathcliff von Bretus.
The illegitimate child of the Holy Bretus lineage, and the Demon King who plunged the world into chaos.
He commanded demons, started a holy war, and ultimately shattered the very foundation of faith.
Even if one gathered the worst villains in history and combined their sins, none could compare to Ludger alone.
Of course, the truth was far from that.
The title of Demon King was merely Salesin’s manipulation, and the “demons” were nothing more than apostles of a vanished faith—not embodiments of evil.
But the world’s perception had already solidified.
To the masses, Heathcliff was the Demon King.
That image had not changed, even after three years.
“You think I should have cleared your innocence?”
“Hardly.”
Ludger shrugged lightly.
From his perspective, the truth was still buried, and the world saw him as a public enemy—but he felt no resentment.
Many of his actions had indeed violated both ethics and law.
Even if he’d had reasons, nothing he did was “justified.”
Though he was being judged more harshly than he deserved, Ludger chose simply to accept it.
“Being called the greatest villain of the century, the first Demon King—even that is better than being remembered as some half-baked criminal.”
Aileen was visibly taken aback by his attitude.
“You have changed.”
“I have. It’s been three years, hasn’t it.”
“...Yes. It has.”
Aileen nodded.
But Ludger’s change was different from what others experienced.
People grew by living, encountering events, solving problems, learning through experience.
That accumulation shaped their identities.
In three turbulent years, everyone had changed and grown.
But Ludger had spent those three years completely isolated.
No conversations, no contact with others—just alive, alone, inside a void.
“To the very end, to the final moment, I fulfilled everything I set out to do. If you asked how I feel now... I’d say relieved.”
“Relieved...”
“At the end of the path I walked, there was something. Knowing that, I have no lingering regrets.”
From birth until now, Ludger had walked a long, relentless journey.
Absurd, painful, exhausting—an endless road with no visible end.
He endured it not just because he was strong, but because of those around him who supported him.
Sometimes he grieved over losing them.
Sometimes he found new strength through them.
And so—he never stopped walking.
And at last, Ludger reached it.
The end of the journey.
The period at the end of the adventure.
“There were sad, painful memories. And small, joyful, satisfying ones.”
“......”
“It was a horrific world, but even in that horror, I found beauty.”
He realized the world wasn’t only darkness.
That even a harsh, painful life was still worth living.
“Yes. Looking back, it really was... a fun adventure.”
Though he shouldn’t, Ludger sometimes found himself thinking—
It would be nice if the adventure never ended.
But that couldn’t be.
Every beginning had an end.
He had begun his journey—and he had to reach its conclusion.
If he had stopped halfway, that would have been the end for him—but it would have been a false ending.
Ludger wanted to see the true ending.
So he kept moving, breaking through walls, never yielding—even in agony.
And when he accomplished everything, he felt joy and relief.
And alongside it—an endless emptiness.
A man who had lived like expendable firewood for a single purpose... could finally let go.
Aileen looked quietly at Ludger.
Even if he spoke so lightly, the wounds he carried were not light at all.
She had learned in detail what he had gone through, while handling the aftermath of the holy war over the past three years.
“Even if the world remembers you as the Demon King and condemns you?”
“If that is the ending of the story, then that is how it must be.”
Aileen clenched her fist tightly, then released it helplessly.
It wasn’t even her own problem, yet she was furious—while he seemed indifferent.
It made her feel foolish.
“...Very well. If that is how you feel, I cannot interfere.”
“I didn’t say I expected you to do nothing.”
“Oh? You can make jokes like that?”
Aileen laughed without realizing it.
She suddenly remembered the day she pulled him out of the void—the day she arrested him.
She had forgotten it from the weight of confronting him again and speaking of the past.
That day, for the first time, Ludger had truly smiled in front of everyone.
For a man who had always appeared cold and detached, that pure smile had shocked her deeply.
Thinking of that smile, it made sense that he had achieved a kind of detachment from the world.
“Well, the world defines you as evil, but that’s only one side of the story. Little by little, perceptions of you are changing.”
“Changing?”
“Yes. Salesin’s crimes and the corruption and darkness of the Holy Bretus Nation have been exposed to the world. Because of that, there is growing public sympathy for you, the illegitimate child of that nation.”
“I can roughly imagine. So that’s partly why I’m being kept like this?”
“That’s true, but more importantly—who could possibly dare to imprison you arbitrarily?”
At Aileen’s meaningful words, Ludger raised an eyebrow slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“I heard everything. You used 8th-Rank magic during the holy war.”
The eighth rank.
That was a transcendent realm said to be forever out of human reach.
And yet the realm existed—because throughout history, there truly had been people capable of wielding such power.
“I only managed it with help—by borrowing external power. Even if I tried now, I couldn’t do it again.”
At that time, Grander had transmitted the 8th-Rank spell structure to him, allowing him to dismantle and analyze it.
Only because of that had he succeeded.
“Most people can’t even imitate something like that. And even if not the 8th Rank, you did clearly achieve the 7th Rank.”
“...That is difficult to deny.”
“In the entirety of history, no one your age has ever reached the 7th Rank. That alone proves the immense value you possess.”
“So that’s why you’re keeping me here? You can’t bring yourself to execute the greatest villain of the century?”
“Well, to be honest, that’s not the only reason.”
For a moment, Aileen’s expression looked unusually tired—very unlike her.
“There’s another reason, it seems.”
“Your so-called teacher came to see me.”
“Ah...”
With just those words, Ludger immediately understood how things had played out.
“She threatened to erase the entire nation if we harmed her disciple.”
“...Teacher.”
Ludger let out a low, helpless sigh.
Unlike Ludger—who had mimicked the 8th-Rank spell by bending the rules—Grander was the real thing.
The first true 8th-Rank mage in history.
If she wished, erasing a nation would be trivial.
The only reason she hadn’t done so thus far was because she had grown weary of life and longed for death.
But after her conversation with Ludger, even that despair had lifted.
From now on, every nation on the continent would be forced to watch her movements with extreme caution.
“Is my teacher doing well?”
“Yes. I heard she recovered significantly after her recuperation. In any case, with an 8th-Rank mage—one who is also an ancient vampire—making threats, who would dare conduct an execution?”
This wasn’t a matter of state politics—one overwhelmingly powerful individual could sway everything.
But calling an 8th-Rank a °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° ‘person’ was questionable; at that point, they were essentially a being of another dimension.
“I’m keeping you like this—and speaking to you like this—because of that.”
“But the fact that I’ve returned will eventually spread.”
There had been many witnesses when Ludger was retrieved from the void.
Aileen could silence them for now, but not forever.
Once whispers began spreading, rumors that the Demon King had returned would spread like wildfire.
“That’s exactly what worries me.”
“If I stay alive, some will demand the Demon King’s execution. Others will try to protect me.”
“Yes. In the end, it becomes a political matter.”
The situation was unfolding in an amusing way.
Of course, from Aileen’s perspective, Ludger finding it amusing must have been irritating.
But what could he do? Something interesting was simply interesting.
“Well, I’d like to say ‘just handle it however you want’... but since this happened because of me, I’ll at least help you think it through.”
“Hah. Such touching words from you. Really, only you could speak so boldly in front of an empress.”
“The point is this: eventually, the rumor of my return will spread.”
“True.”
“In that case, we make the first move. We announce it ourselves.”
“Announce... what? That the Demon King has returned?”
“Yes. It’s better to build the narrative ourselves. Say that the Demon King, trapped between dimensions in the void, has finally been brought back. And attach a motive: that you intend to hold the instigator of the holy war—the war criminal—accountable.”
“Wait. Are you saying...”
“Yes.”
Ludger nodded at the exact thought Aileen had begun to imagine.
“Demon King Heathcliff von Bretus.
We execute him.”