Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 616

The snow had finally ceased in the capital, and for several days, an unexpected warmth lingered in the air.

The new year had arrived, and while the political climate remained icy, the weather was unusually mild, almost as if nature itself was defying the season.

Ludwig strolled through the streets of the Temple, now basked in this sudden warmth.

He approached the Temple’s main entrance. The gate loomed ahead.

—“Ludwig, you have a visitor,” one of the few remaining dormitory staff informed him.

—“A visitor...?” Ludwig echoed, surprised.

—“Yes, someone without an entry permit. They said they’d wait outside.”

—“Oh...” Ludwig murmured.

As he stepped through the Temple Gate, he spotted a woman in uniform sitting patiently on a bench in front of the dormitory plaza.

Rowen stood before Ludwig, her smile radiant as she adjusted the uniform of the Order of the Holy Knights.

“Sir Ludwig,” she greeted warmly.

“...”

“I’ve been caught up with so many things lately, and I’ve only been able to come by now. I’m sorry for the delay.”

Rowen had come alone, and her presence was marked by the distinguished attire of her new role.

“What brings the new commander of the Order of the Holy Knights to see me?” Ludwig asked, his curiosity piqued.

He recently heard that Archbishop Rowen had been chosen to succeed Illeion Volten, who had unexpectedly stepped down.

Ludwig’s gaze held neither hostility nor malice, only a calm interest.

All that remained was the cold demeanor of someone who had shut their heart to the world.

***

Initially, the case of Rowen’s supposed murder had fallen under the jurisdiction of the Order of the Holy Knights. It was their responsibility, along with the Church of the Five Great Gods, to announce who had perished in the fire at the temple.

However, only Ellen’s group, who had conducted their own investigation, and those aware of the truth behind Rowen’s apparent staged death, knew the reality.

Rowen had never actually died, nor had she faked her death.

Now, she had been appointed as the next commander of the Order of the Holy Knights, following Illeion Volten’s unexpected retirement. This decision had been made during a high-level meeting within the papacy.

To Ludwig, who had witnessed Rowen kill the five popes, the idea of a papal meeting without any popes in attendance was nothing short of a farce.

Whether Illeion Volten had truly retired or been murdered, Ludwig couldn’t say. But he no longer cared about such things.

As they sat on the bench in front of the Temple gate, Rowen spoke to Ludwig, who clearly had no intention of listening.

She explained everything—what had happened, why she had done it, how she had nearly lost her life, why she had faked her death, why she needed time, and why she had come to him. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

After hearing her out, Ludwig fixed Rowen with a steady gaze.

There was no shock, no astonishment, no sense of betrayal in his eyes as he absorbed the truth.

“So, what does it matter?” he asked simply.

“It’s just, you know... It’s frustrating not to know anything, isn’t it?”

“Are you telling me this because I’m a nobody? Because even if I told someone you incited the heretics, causing chaos and leading the Empire to kill so many, no one would believe me anyway?”

“Hmm...”

Rowen hesitated for a moment, then eventually nodded.

“I can’t deny it. In a time filled with rumors, people are just as likely to believe those they hear as they are to dismiss them. So even if you went around claiming that the new commander of the Order of the Holy Knights orchestrated the shady dealings in the refugee camp, no one would take it seriously.”

“It would be more than just disbelief. The inquisitors would come after me.”

“You understand things well.”

Since it didn’t matter if he knew, she’d told him anyway.

Ludwig looked at Rowen sternly. “Did you really think that if I heard about it, I’d just shrug it off and think, ‘Oh, that’s how it was,’ and believe your actions were well-intentioned?”

“I didn’t think that. I expected you might say harsh things, or even try to kill me.”

“And if I did try to kill you, would you let me?”

“No, definitely not.”

Rowen’s response, delivered with a hint of annoyance, left Ludwig unfazed.

He continued speaking in a calm, detached manner.

“So, you’re telling me that even if I learn the truth, I can’t kill you, and even if I share it with others, they won’t believe me. Was that why you were able to come and tell me this?”

“I can’t deny that.”

“It would be easier just to kill me, but you won’t do that either...”

“...”

“Because I’m not even worth the effort, is that it?”

“To be blunt, yes, that’s correct.”

Despite Rowen’s harsh words, Ludwig remained composed.

“Alright, let’s assume that’s true.”

“...”

“Isn’t it odd, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just a few days ago, I was deemed too insignificant to know anything. Now, I’m considered insignificant enough to be told everything. Who makes these decisions?”

He was not important enough to know the truth.

But he was also not important enough, so it was okay for him to know.

Ludwig found the behavior and attitude of those managing the truth stranger than the truth itself.

In the end, the truth itself held no value.

“I’ve been thinking about it for the past few days,” said Ludwig.

“Yes?”

“About you, the Demon King, Ellen, the Empire. I’ve thought about all of them. Ellen can’t tell me everything, but she insists it’s all her fault... They all have their reasons. Even though I don’t know them well, I can tell they each have their own stories.”

His expression was vacant. “Yet without those stories, they wouldn’t act or speak the way they do. They wouldn’t exchange those looks of understanding. They all seem so sad, and happiness feels absent. Maybe if I listened, I’d understand their reasons, I thought. But now, it feels like those reasons don’t matter anymore.”

Ludwig turned to Rowen. “You all seem to think you’re in a position to decide such things. That’s what’s important, but that’s also the problem.

“It’s not about what the truth is. It’s not about the story. It’s about the mindset of trying to control the truth. Pretending to care for people but not really, deciding what they should or shouldn’t know, as if you have the right to make those choices. I sense that from all of you. A very unpleasant, disgusting sense of superiority.

“‘You wouldn’t know. But you’re doing something very great and noble without even realizing it. So just stay out of it.’ Or, ‘You wouldn’t know. But you did something very great and noble without even knowing it. On the surface, it looks bad, but it’s not. So be the bigger person and understand.’

“After hearing this, doesn’t it make sense? Isn’t this exactly what you’re doing to me right now? Isn’t it unpleasant?”

He paused for a moment, then continued, “Sometimes you share things, and sometimes you don’t. The reason might be the same, but your actions differ. The reasoning sounds convincing, but if your actions contradict it, it’s just arbitrary. Your attitude remains unchanged.

“You don’t treat people like me—those you deem useless—as human beings, whether you choose to tell us things or not. You act as if you have the right to decide who lives or dies, just like when you judged and killed the popes, regardless of their actual wrongs or reasons. You’re all caught up in some grand delusion.”

His voice hardened. “The truth? I don’t even care about that anymore. What you’re trying to do, what you want, what you’ve done—it doesn’t matter to me now. What’s important is that you’re all intoxicated by something, whether it’s a sense of duty, malice, hatred, revenge against the world, or the delusion that you’re making a great sacrifice to save it. You’re all lost in a disgusting delusion, and it’s no surprise that you all deserve to fall into hell as demons. But I can’t hold you accountable for that.

“Yes. Like you said, I’m nothing. But that doesn’t mean the truth can be ignored. The truth doesn’t just vanish.”

His eyes bore into hers. “You’re sinners, aren’t you? Sinners deserve punishment, right? Yet you haven’t faced any consequences, have you? That’s the reality.

“I don’t know, nor do I want to know, the intricate relationships, emotions, and connections among you that I can’t grasp. It’s not about those complexities. It’s about the simple, undeniable truth. So many people have been buried by your actions, and you’ll continue to bury more, keeping the truth hidden among yourselves, understanding and comforting each other. That’s disgusting.

“The truth should be explainable in one sentence. You deserve punishment, but you haven’t faced any. That’s the only truth.”

Ludwig had discovered a simple truth buried within the tangled web of thoughts, judgments, and stories.

There had to be a price for sin.

If sinners were silently keeping each other’s sins secret, then someone had to hold them accountable.

“The Ellen I saw recently looked pitiful. She truly looked pitiful. Therefore I don’t hold any resentment toward her. There’s no reason to.

“Just like Ellen has her reasons, I’m sure each of you has your own stories. If I took the time to listen, I might find that you’re all just as unfortunate and pitiable. But tell me, was there even one person among those who died who wasn’t pitiful? They were all caught up in something they didn’t understand, and they suffered for it.

“That’s why it’s sometimes better not to know the truth. Even if you all came forward and confessed everything, I’d still close my ears. Even if I sympathized with you, even if I understood your side of the story, the truth remains that you should be held accountable. That truth is undeniable.

“I’ll stand against you without knowing all the details. No matter how justified your actions might seem, you must face the consequences.”

He took a breath before speaking again.

“There are countless people who have paid the price for things they didn’t do, who were sacrificed without reason. If those involved in these matters don’t face any repercussions, how is that fair? Regardless of your reasons or intentions, you must be punished. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to.”

There was sin, and there were sinners, but there was no judgment.

Amidst the tangled web that was the capital, the Empire, the Church of the Five Great Gods, and the Demon King’s forces, finding the right path is nearly impossible.

Yet, identifying sin was simple.

Spotting sinners was easy.

And the truth remained: they had not been punished, no matter who they were.

The fact that everyone was deceiving, trampling over, and exploiting the vulnerable under the guise of saving the world remained unchanged.

Rowen looked at Ludwig and smiled.

“It’s like looking at the old me,” she said.

A person who once lamented their own insignificance... Rowen, who had turned into a monster over time, looked at Ludwig as though she were peering into the distant past.

It was almost as if she found it amusing. Or perhaps intriguing.

“What will you do now? How do you plan to punish these monsters, Ludwig?”

A powerless person could not mete out punishment, nor could they be punished.

“...”

“To befriend a monster, you must become one yourself,” Rowen said.

To truly connect with a monster, you had to stand on equal ground.

Rowen had already crossed that line.

“You realize you have to become a monster to kill one, right?”

To slay a monster, you had to become its equal.

You had to become a monster yourself.

Especially if you truly intended to kill.

“I know.”

Ludwig’s gaze pierced Rowen, his eyes as dark and deep as an abyss.

Rowen felt a thrill unlike any she had experienced before. It was more intense than what she had felt when facing the Demon King not long ago.

“I know that very well,” Ludwig repeated.

It was the thrill of having crafted a monster with her own hands.

Someone who was once nothing was now striving to become something.

No matter the reason, intention, or purpose, whether they succeed or fail in becoming something, it would still be an interesting journey.

Rowen offered Ludwig a warm smile. “Good luck, Ludwig.”

Ludwig stood up abruptly, as if distancing himself from something unpleasant, as if Rowen’s words were no longer worth his attention.