I glared at the hero, wondering what kind of excuse he was going to make this time, but he just tilted his head in confusion. “No? I don’t think they were ever seeing each other.”
Huh? No, no. Don’t let him trick you. The Demon Lord and the saintess were dating, but the hero stole her from him. I heard it all from the Demon Lord.
It felt like the hero had completely destroyed everything I thought I knew about this situation, but the most furious one here was the Demon Lord.
“Don’t play dumb! We were lovers.”
“I knew that you had feelings for her, but...she always thought you were creepy.”
The Demon Lord was at a loss for words.
Why would he say something so horrible? He’s probably trying to destroy the Demon Lord’s relationships by broadcasting these lies. How despicable.
“There’s no point in questioning him after all this time,” the Demon Lord said. “Oh...if only I didn’t have this black hair and these black eyes.”
“Demon Lord...”
Urgh. Why is this world so tough on people with black hair? The hero was probably conditioned to discriminate against those with black hair. He’s putting words in the saintess’s mouth. She was the only one who understood the Demon Lord, and the hero must’ve kept them apart. I feel so bad for the Demon Lord. I’m definitely going to stick on his side until the end.
“No, you’re wrong,” the hero said, looking at the black-haired allies and shaking his head. “It had nothing to do with your black hair. She thought your actions were creepy.” What? His actions? “Let’s see. For example...”
The hero began to talk about the past.
One morning, the saintess had woken up and opened her curtains to let in the morning sunlight. She had noticed that there was a piece of paper tied to the branch of a tree outside her window, which was close enough for her to reach. Curious as to what it was, she grabbed it and found it was a love letter from an anonymous sender. Regardless of whether she wanted to return their feelings, she couldn’t respond without knowing who had sent it, which troubled her.
The next morning, another letter was tied to the same branch.
“And the day after that, there was yet another letter tied to the branch.”
That sounds lovely. It would spoil the story, but I checked with the Demon Lord. “So the person who wrote those letters was...”
“Yeah, it was me. What a fond memory.”
I knew it. What a romantic thing to do.
“It’s a romantic way to deliver a letter to someone, but after it happened three days in a row, she got a bit scared,” the hero said. “The saintess left the curtains in her room closed for a while.” Oh. Things are starting to go downhill. “After a while, she had completely forgotten about the letters and opened up her curtains out of habit. Outside her window was the tree branch that had letters tied all over it without a single open spot.”
I reflexively yelped out of fear. I had expected a heartwarming love story, but this was a real-life horror story. The thought of the view outside your window transforming into those places in Japanese shrines where you could tie your paper fortune slip onto was...quite creepy.
This isn’t true, right? You weren’t that much of a creep, were you, Demon Lord? You didn’t keep climbing that tree and delivering new love letters, day after day, even though the ones from before hadn’t been read, did you?
The Demon Lord didn’t wait to object. “How is that creepy?!”
So it’s true—you really did it... But wait, even if I find it creepy, the saintess herself might have felt differently. My last ray of hope was destroyed by what the hero said next.
“She was terrified, and she came to my room in tears.”
Oh, so she runs to the hero when she’s scared, not the Demon Lord. I feel so bad for the Demon Lord. I decided to speak on behalf of the man who’d fallen silent.
“A single misunderstanding like that isn’t enough to convince me.”
“I have other stories.”
Wait, hold on. I don’t want to hear any more, but I guess I’ll do my best and listen. No matter what he’s done, I’m going to be on the Demon Lord’s side.
“He kept nearly bumping into her multiple times in the same day, pretending it was all a coincidence.”
“Ugh...”
“There was one time when she returned to her room and found it filled with red roses.”
“Gross...” The word slipped out of my mouth unintentionally. Thinking I’d messed up, I turned to the Demon Lord who looked at me with shock.
“Huh?”
Oh, but if I imagine Patrick doing it, I don’t find it gross at all. I would actually be happy. All right, now I can tell him how I really feel and back him up.
“I would be happy to receive red roses like that. Anyone would love getting a gift like that from someone they like!”
“That’s what I thought... So why did you say it was gross?”
“W-Well, I said that because I first imagined what it would be like if someone I didn’t know that well suddenly did that to me... Oh.”
Someone you don’t know that well suddenly gifting you things... That’s probably why she found the Demon Lord creepy. It seemed that the Demon Lord hadn’t realized what I’d noticed, so I turned to him so I could smooth things over, but the hero opened his mouth before I could do anything.
“That’s right. She thought you were too much and creepy because you two weren’t even that close but you would suddenly prepare these elaborate gifts for her.”
The Demon Lord still maintained his expressionless demeanor, but I probably wasn’t imagining that his eyes were a bit teary. I see. So the hero didn’t get in the way of the Demon Lord’s relationship nor was he sealed away for unfair reasons...
I slowly made my way to the hero’s side and turned around to face the Demon Lord. He looked at me with disbelief.
“You’re going to betray me too...?”
“Too”? I mean, what I’m doing is definitely betrayal, but I think the hero’s actions are up for debate.
“Sta—”
“Stah?”
I was about to say that I didn’t want to side with a stalker, but I didn’t want to further break the Demon Lord’s heart. I think it will be better for the Demon Lord if I betray him for selfish reasons.
“Um... Oh! I just think I’ll be able to come back to life if I side with him.”
“You shouldn’t listen to someone so uncanny, parading around like a king.”
“That’s what you think of me? I’m hurt.”
“I don’t even know who you are anymore!”
You don’t know who he is...? I know he brought your embarrassing past to light, but I don’t think you have a leg to stand on with that objection. Despite my confusion the hero nodded naturally in response to the statement.
“You’re right.”
“Everything about you has changed, from the way you look to the way you speak!”
“But I seem more like a king this way, don’t I?”