Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 534

“Am I an illegitimate child?”

Heinrich’s explosive question left the two brothers staring wide-eyed in prolonged silence. Then, German von Schwartz slowly approached Heinrich, glaring intensely down at him.

“Where did you pick up such nonsense? Did the emperor tell you that?” He seemed ready to storm the Allied Forces general headquarters to demand answers.

Heinrich knew that he had not only brought up a serious issue, but that it was also an entirely inappropriate thing to bring up within the Kernstadt military base. However, his frustration and sorrow were too overwhelming for him to remain silent.

“Judging by how you treat me, I can’t help but suspect that I might be,” Heinrich said. “Is it such a grave sin to wish for a kind word? No matter what my achievements are, no matter what I do, you always treat me like this. I wonder if I truly share your blood—”

Before he could finish, German von Schwartz grabbed Heinrich by the collar.

“You should choose your words according to time and place,” German said, his eyes burning with anger. “Do you think this is the right place to discuss this?”

They were in the Kernstadt military headquarters, and a banquet was taking place close by. It was extremely dangerous and foolish to broach this topic when there could be unseen ears listening in. Moreover, the fact that the youngest prince, who had gained significant support within the Kernstadt army, had brought up this concern could shock the entire military, regardless of its truth.

German’s hot gaze burned into Heinrich’s eyes. “Did they not teach you this at that fancy school of yours?”

“The Temple is a place where commoners and nobles study together. How could I learn such things there?” Heinrich replied coldly. “And yet, you can’t even deny it, can you?”

German’s expression froze.

“Brother, let’s just tell him,” Alphonse chimed in.

“...”

“After all, it seems like he already knows.”

Alphonse, who had been watching everything unfold, approached Heinrich, his voice dripping with its characteristic slyness. He leaned in and whispered softly into Heinrich’s ear, ensuring that only Heinrich could hear.

“Youngest, you are indeed an illegitimate child.”

Heinrich was too stunned to speak.

“So, it’s time you understood your place.”

Heinrich looked at Alphonse von Schwartz, his face growing white.

“We shouldn’t even have to speak to someone as filthy as you on equal terms,” continued Alphonse. “Do you understand how uncomfortable and unpleasant it has been for us? Do you get it now? We dislike you, regardless of your competence or incompetence. So stop pretending to be our brother and making that disgusting face as if you’ve been wronged.

“We’re fundamentally different. We’ve never been brothers from the start. Bastard Heinrich, do you understand your place now?”

As Alphonse walked away, sneering, Heinrich clenched his teeth.

Alphonse began to laugh at Heinrich. “Oh? Look at those eyes. What? Are you going to do something with that great power of yours again? Are you going to kill me, like you did Kayne and Samuel?”

“What?”

At the mention of the two royal family members who had died in the accident, something inside Heinrich broke.

German, sensing that Alphonse was crossing a line, tried to restrain him. “Alphonse, stop. Are you drunk?”

“No, it’s just his eyes, brother.”

Despite German’s intervention, Alphonse approached Heinrich again, seemingly provoked by Heinrich’s gaze.

“Go ahead, you filthy bastard. Try it. Are you going to take down a third member of the royal family? Go ahead, you—”

Slap!

“Ugh!”

Alphonse could not finish his sentence. It wasn’t German. Louise von Schwartz, who had walked over briskly, slapped Alphonse across the face.

“Sister...”

Alphonse’s eyes filled with fear, and he began to back away.

“You’re discussing things that should never be discussed in a place where they shouldn’t be discussed. All three of you. Members of the Schwartz royal family, without any dignity or honor, having such a conversation here.”

Both Alphonse and German were frozen in place, utterly terrified. Louise’s cold gaze and the aura of a Swordmaster would easily suffocate anyone.

No one dared to speak. Color drained from Alphonse von Schwartz’s face.

However, Heinrich was not affected by this. He looked directly at Louise von Schwartz.

“Does a bastard who can’t even gain the recognition of his siblings have any dignity or honor to uphold?” he demanded, his voice full of grating resentment.

“What?”

Louise von Schwartz’s brow furrowed.

“What dignity as a royal do I have to uphold?” Heinrich repeated.

Alphonse and German were terrified. They could not believe that Heinrich was openly defying Louise von Schwartz, the legitimate heir and eldest daughter of the royal family.

A bastard had no dignity or honor to uphold. Heinrich, who had never been treated as a royal, did not see a need for him to uphold anything.

Louise von Schwartz looked coldly down at Heinrich.

“Enough,” she snapped coldly, trying to bring an end to the conversation. “Nothing good will come from continuing this discussion. There will be a time and place to settle this matter appropriately.”

“Will that time ever come?”

“What?”

“I asked if that time will ever come.”

Louise’s expression grew even colder.

“Will you ever tell me the truth before this war ends?” Heinrich pressed. “Everyone secretly despises me as a bastard, and nobody even treats me as a proper human being. When will that day come, and when will that time be—?”

Louise interrupted Heinrich, gripping his shoulder and speaking coldly. “Youngest brother, stop acting like something even less than a bastard.”

Heinrich stopped. This was something even a bastard wouldn’t do—arguing with his siblings about a matter that should never be brought up near headquarters. Royalty or not, it was a disgraceful act. Heinrich had no choice but to remain silent, though his eyes still remained defiant.

This revelation would only cause confusion. This fact, if spread, would do no good, and it could potentially spread throughout the entire army.

“Something even a bastard wouldn’t do...”

Those words pierced Heinrich’s heart.

Louise looked at her frozen younger brother and her other two brothers.

“Alcohol is said to be a good thing...”

Alcohol... Something that wasn’t usually available, but had been liberally handed out that day.

“But it seems to be bad for you. Don’t touch it again.”

With those words, Louise returned to the headquarters.

Neither German nor Alphonse said anything more to Heinrich and quietly returned to their tents.

Heinrich stood there for a long time, unable to move.

***

It was late in the night, and the grand banquet had long since ended. Not all the troops were asleep. Even with the celebrations going on, monsters could still wander into the region around Senkerian, so some troops were tasked with keeping watch despite the late hour.

Silence had settled around the Kernstadt headquarters. Night had erased all traces of the earlier revelry, which had been interrupted by a slightly ominous commotion.

Within that encompassing silence, light was still coming from one of the tents.

“Sister, don’t you think we need to take action?”

“I don’t know where he heard that he’s a bastard, but we can’t leave it as it is.”

Alphonse and German were visiting the tent of their commander, Louise, in the middle of the night. Louise was sitting on a makeshift bed, listening to them.

“Are you saying our youngest brother might try to kill us all?” she said.

“It would be strange if he didn’t.”

“Yes. Now that he knows, he won’t consider us siblings, and he’s bound to try something,” said Alphonse anxiously.

Louise looked at him intently.

“If you knew that, why did you confirm it with your own mouth?”

“H-huh? That... that was just...”

“You could have resolved the matter with a simple denial. Why did neither of you manage to say that simple statement, ‘We are brothers,’ instead of creating this crisis?”

Louise’s stare silenced both Alphonse and German.

“Yes, it’s a crisis,” she continued. “You couldn’t even say a few kind words to a powerful relative who could wipe out an entire army with a gesture. You insisted on despising him, giving him the cold shoulder, and ignoring him, and now look at the mess you’ve created.”

Both Alphonse and German had nothing to say, even if they had ten mouths.

“Your foolishness is already a crisis that the Schwartz royal family had to deal with.”

Both brothers had no way of rebutting her. If they had treated him warmly, Heinrich wouldn’t have felt any resentment. However it was all a matter of pride—the pride of not having to treat a bastard as an equal—and their inferiority complex. In the end, that was what ruined everything.

Heinrich von Schwartz had come to the realization that he was a bastard and that those he wanted to believe were his brothers actually saw him as less than a stranger.

With this new development, no one knew what impulsive actions Heinrich might take.

Although she hadn’t intervened before, as the commander of the military and the heir of Kernstadt, Louise von Schwartz had to take responsibility for the foolish actions of her two brothers.

“Do you think the information came from the emperor?” Louise asked.

“Yes, sister.”

“He said he met the emperor at the general headquarters and was bragging about being friends with him, which made me so angry—”

Alphonse tried to add unnecessary details, but a glare from Louise shut him up, his face turning pale.

Louise von Schwartz didn’t know what conversation Heinrich had with the emperor. But the fact that Heinrich had lost it and demanded to know if he was an illegitimate child after speaking with the emperor was enough to tell her what they had talked about.

“I’ll have to meet the emperor.”

She wore a hard and determined look, as if she was ready to chew up the emperor.

Regardless of where the information had come from, the main cause of the problem was German and Alphonse’s direct answers.

“Don’t do anything foolish before consulting with me,” Louise warned them.

“Yes.”

“Yes, sister.”

Action had to be taken. Both Heinrich and the Schwartz royal family had crossed a point of no return.

Louise’s plan—to use Heinrich to elevate the status of the Kernstadt army, ultimately divide and weaken the support for the Gradias royal family, and position the Schwartz royal family to take their place—had completely fallen apart.

“I don’t want to see either of you. Both of you, get out of my sight.”

The two brothers left immediately, and Louise watched them as they fled the tent.

‘The emperor... Vertus de Gradias...’ Louise thought.

Louise had never imagined she would feel the Emperor’s influence in such a place and in such a way.

A division within the Schwartz royal family was unexpectedly taking place... Had they fallen into the Emperor’s trap?

No, to be precise, it was more that the Emperor had taken advantage of the stupidity of her two brothers and Heinrich’s rashness.

If the Emperor could predict the rashness and stupidity that would follow the revelation of this bastard issue, was there anything about the Schwartz royal family that the Empire hadn’t figured out?

Louise tried but couldn’t shake off these thoughts.

***

Heinrich sat on his bunk in his tent.

Though it was already deep into the night, he couldn’t sleep. There was no way he could sleep peacefully after what he had heard.

‘An illegitimate child...’ When Vertus first told him that, he had to admit that there was some possibility, but he had denied it internally. After all, it couldn’t be true. It was unbelievable.

But that unbelievable thing had turned out to be true.

The hidden reality behind the contempt and disdain that had been suffocating him all along had finally been revealed. This was why things had been the way they were. This was the origin from which all the previously-inexplicable coldness and hatred from his brothers stemmed from.

“Heh...” Heinrich let out a hollow laugh.

A bastard who had killed two members of the royal family... Perhaps he had to be grateful that he hadn’t been executed but sent to the Temple instead. In that sense, the Schwartz royal family had been remarkably generous.

They hated him, but the fact that it stopped at pure hatred was something to be thankful for. Now that he knew the truth, Heinrich realized how much his brothers, who weren’t really his brothers, had to endure.

The blatant disregard and disdain were inevitable. It was fortunate that they even held back that much.

But...

“Your siblings will kill you.”

The reality of that message felt undeniable.

The influence of this bastard was growing, and soon it would even surpass that of Louise von Schwartz. They could not wait indefinitely and allow that to happen. Therefore, they would try to deal with him at the appropriate time.

He didn’t know who had sent the letter, or how they had come across this information. However, Heinrich and his brothers had discussed something that shouldn’t have been discussed.

In that discussion, Heinrich learned he was an illegitimate child. His brothers told him that. Now that it had been said out loud, Heinrich instinctively knew things would change. The disregard, disdain, and mockery that he endured daily would soon turn into something else.

His brothers, not knowing what Heinrich might do, would try to kill him. When? It could be that very night, or perhaps the next day, or even during a future operation. Even if he knew the date, he wouldn’t know how they would do it. It could be poison, assassination, or stage his death during an operation.

Was it right to just stay still? When his brothers might try to kill him?

As Vertus said, to survive, he had to kill. Since his brothers would surely try to kill him, he had to kill them first.

But was that the right thing to do? Even if he did so to survive, would it be the right choice in this situation, while they were fighting a war that would determine the fate of humanity?

Heinrich sat quietly in the darkness of his tent. This tent was too vulnerable. No matter how thick the tent’s fabric was, it could easily be cut by a blade, and unlike Ellen’s tent, Heinrich’s tent had no locks or security devices. Most tents were like this, so there was no room for complaint.

Since humanity was fighting monsters, not other humans, the safety of the tent itself was meaningless. No assassins or spies roamed about these camps. Monsters did not creep up on them to ambush them, so the garrison was a perfect environment for nighttime visitors.

“Hey.”

“Huh?!”

Just like that.

“Who, who are you?!”

A man in a black robe suddenly appeared in the middle of the tent. Heinrich’s eyes flew wide open as he summoned flames to his right hand.

‘Are they seriously acting this quickly? Even so, right now?’

Just as Heinrich was momentarily torn between attacking this stranger and fleeing, the robed man removed his hood.

He wasn’t an assassin.

“Don’t be afraid. It’s me.”

“Y-you... you... you are...?”

He was something worse than an assassin.

The visitor had told him not to be afraid, but the fear welling up in him was so intense it felt like his heart might burst.

“R-Re... Re—R-Reinhart...?”

His eyes widened at the arrival of the Demon King.

“Did you get the letter?”

“W-was... W-was it you...?”

“Yeah. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Reinhart said with a grin and a shrug of his shoulders.

Somehow, it felt like nothing had changed from before.

“Ugh... Oh... My head,” grumbled the Demon King.

Reinhart seemed a bit off, as if he had had a drink or two.

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