Chapter21，Part1 – Extra Story — What The King of Demons Thinks, Part 2  

When the life of the Demon Tribe settles down. When alliances are formed. When trade gets underway… If only Remilia could completely break up with her former fiancé at the soirée.

I am too much of a coward. I kept looking for an opportunity to tell Remilia how I felt about her and kept putting it off because I was scared, and before I knew it, I was in this situation.

Of course, there is also the reason that Remilia, who is busy working hard for the life of the Demon Tribe, does not seem to have time to worry about her own colorful love life. I don’t want to burden her with the fact that we often see each other at work. But most of all, if after she accept my feelings… I’m not going to let her go if Remilia ever regrets what she’s done.

At the soiree, surely the spell of that Star Maiden or whatever she is will be broken and Remilia’s former fiancée, the Crown Princes, will remember his true feelings. Naturally, he will apologize to Remilia… If Remilia accepts the apology there and wants to start over.

Remilia is a kind and merciful person, so she might be bonded to her former fiancé who cries and apologizes. No, I’m thinking the likelihood of that is quite high… I’m thinking that Remilia will nod her head if I tell her my feelings now.

Remilia would never be unfaithful, so then she would never choose to take that one’s hand when she meets her former fiancé. Sophia would blast me,「You should quickly propose to her and escort her as the queen of the Demon King so as not to give them a chance to take advantage of you!」 and so on.

I admit I’m a coward. I want Remilia to make the choice she wants to make. She has been hurt enough and worked hard enough. I want Remilia to be happy with the person she chooses, regardless of what people around her may think. If I had expressed my feelings to her before that, it would be a fetter on her… Fortunately, she is not sensitive to colorful love and doesn’t realize that my fondness is infatuation. If Remilia forgives her ex-fiancé, I will never tell her anything.

Klimt accused me of being unfair to give her a magic stone without telling her my true intentions. No, it’s a bug repellent to prevent the devils who call Remilia「a saint」and adore her from courting her, and in the old days, it was exchanged not only when proposing, but also for the happiness of family and close friends. My brother stares at me with half-lidded eyes as I slouch like an excuse.

He also pointed out that when I gave it to her, I interrupted her when she was talking with Klimt and came all the way over to give it to her. It was completely unconscious…

「I think Remilia would be troubled if you just show your possessiveness without saying anything.」

I, too, want to be tied to her. But when Remilia revealed that she didn’t want to be tied to me first before making her own choice, Klimt started lecturing me, as if to say, “Oh, dear.”

「You know, Brother. You also give her magic stones that you made, told them to make ornaments for her and attend the evening party, and even have them make a dress the color of her own hair, right? How is this anything other than enclosure?」

「…To keep the noise out of Remilia’s ears, to keep the bugs away…」 「Alright–alright, excuses are fine. Please confess properly when you give her the dress. Remilia can also choose if she wants to hear your reply after the soiree. Please don’t run away again in the name of letting her choose, or I’ll tell on her, okay?」

Klimt, who was very angry, walked out of the office without me. As he was about to leave, he sighed and said,「Brother is too insecure about himself, and I’m sure Remilia-san likes you too, just because she doesn’t realize it,」I was in a state of panic because of the threat of「He will tell her」and it didn’t reach my ears.

A few days later, I visited Remilia with the finished dress. Today Remilia seems to be returning from cleansing the local fields of the miasma, she was back in the guest room we gave her in the castle, and I invited her「to go for a little walk」and go out in the garden.

The inside of the castle, which had been in a state of disrepair with no room, supplies, or manpower to even clean it, has recently finally taken shape. Although it was still far from the fine gardens of foreign countries, the garden is being landscaped little by little, with walking trails and lawns, and trees are being pruned. Although there are few flowers, Remilia said,「It’s nice to have a garden full of greenery.」

For the care of this garden, three of the people of the demon tribe who had been protected in Remilia’s village were called back to the country to give them work again. At Remilia’s initiative, many other returnees work as servants.

It would have been nice to know of romantic flower gardens and scenic spots, but unfortunately, there is no such place in mind in the magical world that has just begun to recover. Even if there were, it was not close enough for me to go there when I felt like it, and it was not an option for me, as I could not use transference. Besides, this was a rundown castle where I had fond memories of my family. I thought Remilia wouldn’t be upset that I had taken a shortcut.

The three of us, who had become familiar with the gardener’s work, arrived at the place we had been told was the best looking in the garden. I see, the footings are covered with bricks, and a reservoir has been created using a natural stream that flows through the castle grounds. There were also flowers, not spectacular but neat and tidy, making the space modest but comforting enough.

This place would be…

I made up my mind and broke the ice.

「Remilia… U–Uhh, the dress was done… I had it made for you to wear at the ball…」

「Well, did you come all the way to deliver it? Thank you, Angel.」

「No, uhh… I just wanted to have a little chat.」

The bugging fear got the better of me and I suddenly brought up another subject. No, that’s wrong, I just gave it to Remilia first in case it ended awkwardly and she might be reluctant to accept it. Naturally, I’m going to reiterate my feelings from now on.

「A chat?」

「Yes… Remilia… Uhh… Is there… someone you are thinking of right now…? Uhh, someone you still can’t forget, or the existence of such…?」

I was scared again and cursed myself with all the words in my chest for running off to see if I had any idea what I was talking about. Why am I so timid?

N–No, but… If this means no one else is there, it means her ex-fiancée is completely in the past, then I can seduce Remilia without a care in the world.

「…The one I’m thinking of… Yes, I do… Actually, I’m thinking of that person… within the inside of my chest… I don’t know if it’s the same thing as what we call love or affection in this world, but I’m sure that… the person I love more than anything else is the same person I’m in love with.」

「T–That… I–Is that the ex-fiancee you mentioned?」

I almost staggered when he told me that he was there, the damage to my heart was greater than I expected. Besides, I said I want Remilia to be happy, but words that pursue the other person come out of my mouth on their own. 「Impossible… there’s no way, as I told you before, it is impossible for me to love a man who wasn’t brainwashed, but who betrayed me by not believing any of my words.」

「I see, you’re right.」

What an ugly mind I have to be reassured. I had one idea crushed, but Remilia laughed a little as if she was annoyed at me for turning a probing eye to wonder who this happy person might be.

「…Angel is someone I know very well, in a way.」

「Eh?」

「At first, I actually had an encounter with… that made me feel angry with the person inside.」

For a while after I understood what Remilia said, my congratulatory head says,「…Was it me?」What an optimistic thought. No, because her attitude in the audience hall at that time was an exchange that could have made Remilia, who came to her rescue without calculation, feel angry. If she is mild-mannered and even says she feels anger inside, it must be that much better.

「Still, she stand in the way of malice to protect me… Seeing the way she cared so much about me and… she even said she wanted to help me. I found myself caring for the other person very much.」

Was it me?

Because you know…?　Well, we had a battle before we purified the evil god, right?

At that point… I was probably attracted to Remilia, though. Perhaps that’s why I was unconsciously making a sheltering move.

After purifying the evil god, I was concerned about Remilia’s physical condition, who still tries to help the demon people without taking care of herself all the time, but since then Remilia has also been trying to help me…?

「She even cared about my honor… and wants me to be happy above all else.」

This is definitely me, isn’t it? And I’m actively helping to reveal the criminal activities of the Star Maiden in the example.

Then… was it Klimt perhaps!? C–Certainly, I didn’t tell her how I felt about her, but I didn’t think she’d tell me how weak I was…

I felt like my face was on fire.

「I still don’t know if this is what I would call love… And I’m really happy for her, and I’m really happy that we were able to save the demon tribe. I wanted to protect her, who is actually a little bit weak.」

That’s definitely me!!

…I was in a position to protect and lead, and had only ever received harsh words from my parents, so the words「I want to protect you,」resonated with me in a way I had never imagined. Ahh, I as well… I want to protect the ones I love and I only want Remilia’s happiness all the time. I have not been pretending to be someone I am not, but I am glad from the bottom of my heart that people can see through… my weaknesses and accept me.

Convinced of our mutual love, I walked Remilia, who smiled beautifully and said,「Thank you for the beautiful dress,」to her room and returned to my office in a fluffy, dreamy state of mind.

Misery and Klimt, who had been waiting with baited breath in the room, asked,「So, did Brother tell her you liked her?」Needless to say, they gave me a dumbfounded look after accusing me.