Chapter 23: Please Stop Blushing
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Bullying an idiot or someone disabled was never anything worth being proud of. As a Demon King with standards, he especially shouldn’t be doing anything so undignified. So, when he faced the idiot-slash-brain-damaged-from-amnesia Hero, with frustration and headaches flashing through his mind like a never-ending scroll, the Demon King told himself this twice. Then, after the Hero looked at him in shock, he pushed down the pounding in his temples and said, “…Good morning.”
The Hero, climbing out of bed, blinked. “…Good morning?”
Throwing off the blanket that had been wrapped around him from head to toe, the Hero bounced up. After returning the greeting, he glanced around the room he was staying in. He could’ve sworn it hadn’t looked like this when he’d fallen asleep, but… then again, it kind of did. It felt strange, but not in a way he could pinpoint.
And then—more than the room that seemed weird-but-maybe-not—the Hero’s gaze landed on the first person he saw upon opening his eyes and throwing off the blanket. The strangest and most important thing in the room—“Joshua!”
After the Demon King greeted him and he’d responded, the Hero shouted again, rushing over. “Why are you here? Did you escape? Did Princess Lilia rescue you? Are you hurt anywhere? Let me see!” He spun the Demon King around in a quick circle and then, in a small, quiet voice, added, “It’s been so long. I missed you so much.”
“…It’s been… so long,” the Demon King replied stiffly, after having been inspected from every angle despite the fact they’d only seen each other yesterday. He turned his head away. And pretended he hadn’t heard that last little whisper.
About ten minutes later—
“So, Joshua… when you came back… you came to find me first, right?”
Having lost all memory of the day before, and after confirming that the suddenly-appearing Demon King wasn’t hurt, the Hero cautiously tried to fill in the missing pieces of the script himself. The Demon King, still trying to figure out how to solve this problem without outright bullying him, replied casually, “Yes.”
And the Hero immediately started blushing. His eyes blinked fast, and he couldn’t stop smiling. The Demon King froze.
…? Why in the world was he blushing? Excuse me, dear Hero, could you at least try to act like a proper Hero?
“No,” the Demon King added quickly, retracting his words. The Hero only kept smiling, blooming like a flower, and the Demon King could only grumble internally and shut his eyes. Out of sight, out of mind.
While eating breakfast, the Hero distracted himself trying to figure out why Joshua had appeared, and when his own guess had been confirmed, he felt so sweetly happy that he dismissed the later denial as nothing but a flimsy cover-up. Smiling to himself, he suddenly remembered something. “…I’m sorry I couldn’t rescue you.”
His smile faltered a little, guilt pricking at him for failing to save Joshua when it had mattered. The Demon King gave a noncommittal, “Mm.”
Having discarded the idea of simply eliminating the person who had caused this mess, he found himself deep in thought about how to resolve the Hero’s current condition. And then—while thinking—he suddenly felt something in his palm.
He opened his eyes and saw the Hero holding his hand, looking deadly serious. “I promise, next time, it won’t be like this.” Their voice was full of conviction, and when the Demon King turned his head toward them, they pressed their lips together and continued, “I promise I won’t let the Demon King take you away next time. I won’t leave you alone in the demon realm. I won’t let you wait for me when you need me. And I won’t make you come looking for me after I’ve left.”
The Demon King stared. I promise I won’t give you the chance for a next time. He cursed inwardly at the reminder of those rumors, then replied simply, “Mm.”
One word was enough to shut down the Hero’s string of vows. And when his hand was grabbed again—again—he finally pulled it free.
After breakfast, the amnesiac Hero was taken to the apothecary. The Demon King, who had just told the Hero yesterday that there was nothing between them, called for the physician.
“Can it be cured?” the Demon King asked. The physician, who had been bombarded with questions yesterday and then left behind without mercy, hesitated. “…We can try.”
The Hero, who had no idea why they were at the apothecary, turned to Joshua in confusion. “Joshua, are you not feeling well? Are you hurt? Is it serious—”
The Demon King cut him off. “Yes. I’m still suffering from memory loss. I can’t remember many things.” He looked the Hero straight in the eye. “Amnesia is an illness, and illnesses need medicine. Right?”
The Hero nodded immediately. Then, the Demon King retrieved the bounty money he’d returned yesterday and tossed it at the physician. “You heard him. Get the medicine.”
…
Under the Demon King’s orders, the physician prescribed an impressive amount of medicine. Supplements for the brain, enhancers for intelligence, pills for memory—all sold by the dozen. Large bottles and small bottles stacked high, making quite the spectacle. The Hero stared at the pile of medicine. “Isn’t this… kind of a lot?”
The Demon King replied flatly, “It’s not.”
And after hauling all of it back to the inn that morning “You’re going to try them first.”
The Hero was suddenly entrusted with a sacred mission. The Hero obediently took the medicine throughout the day, but even by nightfall, he still couldn’t remember a single thing he’d forgotten. The Demon King’s expression didn’t change. As expected, troublesome problems were never easy to solve.
The Hero hesitated, glancing at him repeatedly. Joshua had been sitting in his room the entire time without saying much, not doing anything in particular. He just sat there, occasionally looking at the Hero, only to turn his gaze away again after a moment. Finally, after a long while, the Hero spoke up. “Joshua?”
The Demon King, still waiting in silence, glanced at him. “It’s late,” the Hero said. “Shouldn’t you rest? Do you… need to rent another room? Or…” His eyes shifted toward the single bed in the inn room.
“Another room,” the Demon King answered immediately. After renting it and bringing the medicine along, he told the Hero goodnight.
“Goodnight,” the Hero replied, visibly relieved. The door closed, and that face disappeared from his sight.
As someone who had never truly experienced amnesia—and wasn’t even human—the Demon King had no idea how to help the Hero regain his memories. But he did know one thing. The first time he’d tried to clear things up, the Hero had been so stupidly stubborn that he’d almost given up and killed himself. The second time, he’d ended up with red-rimmed eyes and fainted on the spot.
So, the Demon King figured, he wasn’t that fond of bullying an idiot—or a brain-damaged idiot, for that matter. He might as well wait until the Hero’s memories returned before dealing with the situation properly.
After all, in this endless loop where the Hero forgot everything every single day, no matter how many times the Demon King explained it, they’d only forget again the next morning and go right back to trying to “rescue Joshua.” And if the Demon King were to take advantage of the situation and simply kill the Hero…
Bullying the disabled would probably still be beneath his dignity. He reluctantly raised his bottom line—just a little bit. And then, lying on his bed, he stared into the dark, unable to sleep the entire night. All thanks to the Hero, who had, right before fainting yesterday, suddenly declared they would “take responsibility.”
What about me? As the Hero, what does that even have to do with me, the Demon King? Damn it.
After a sleepless night, the Demon King felt a small sense of relief knowing he could at least rely on his magic to keep his exhausted body functioning. When he opened the door, he ran straight into the Hero—who, as always, believed it was their very first day here.
The Hero, glancing around at the unfamiliar surroundings, had just finished giving himself a pep talk and stepped outside. He hesitated, sensing something was off, but before he could dwell on it, he opened the door and came face-to-face with the very person he’d sworn to save.
“Joshua?!” the Hero gasped. The Demon King thought dryly, Here we go again. Just like yesterday, he followed the same script—except this time, he skipped the part about going to the apothecary. He told the Hero that he’d been rescued by the princess and was simply resting here. Then— “My memories still haven’t come back, so I bought some medicine. Can you help me test it out?”
By removing the part of yesterday’s “self-sacrificing Hero moved to tears by his own promises,” the Demon King neatly reduced his reason for being there to “just happened to be here,” cutting off the Hero’s chance to make another round of heartfelt vows. And so, just like yesterday, he handed the Hero the task of being his test subject.
The Hero froze for a moment, staring at him in surprise before nodding. “Okay.”
While taking the medicine, the Hero glanced at the Demon King. The Demon King, exhausted from his sleepless night, gestured for him to continue. The Hero lowered his head and obediently swallowed the medicine, looking a little pitiful. The second time, he hesitated longer before taking it. By the third dose, he finally asked softly, “Joshua?”
The Demon King, dozing lightly against the table, grunted, “Hm?”
“Shouldn’t you… maybe take some too?” the Hero asked in a small voice. The Demon King stared at him. …Fine. He picked up one of the bottles, opened it, and downed half of it in one go before flopping back down. The Hero blinked at the now half-empty bottle, then looked at the Demon King slumped over the table. If you were going to drink it like that, why make me the test subject?
The Hero watched him for a moment, then noticed how still the Demon King remained. Their fingers twitched slightly, but in the end, they asked quietly, “Joshua… did you not sleep well last night?”
The Demon King, head still down, replied simply, “No.”
To be fair, it was a little difficult to adjust when one’s living standards had plummeted from royal luxury to ordinary civilian conditions. Especially when he was used to proper rest in a castle, not to mention having a mountain of problems on his mind.
The Hero, satisfied with the answer, smiled. They concluded that the Demon King’s moodiness was nothing more than grogginess from lack of sleep, and with renewed determination, they walked over and began gently massaging his head—trying to help him relax and fall asleep.
Their fingertips pressed lightly, neither too hard nor too soft. At first, the Demon King stiffened, but after a moment, he let himself sink down again. When the Hero asked if it was okay, he gave a small nod in response.
“So you know how to do this,” he muttered, “but back when I couldn’t sleep, you just stood by and did nothing?”
…It felt a little half-hearted. The Demon King thought back to those miserable nights of sleeplessness, then looked at the Hero—the same Hero who supposedly never stopped running into the demon realm to “rescue” him. Maybe he’d been giving them too much credit.
The Hero replied earnestly, “I only learned it a few days ago while traveling.”
The Demon King nodded and rested his head back down, silently shifting that “few days ago” back quite a bit further in his mind. The Hero’s sense of time was a disaster, after all.
“…There was a blacksmith in a small town,” the Hero continued. “Whenever it rained, his leg would hurt. His mother told him this could help. I asked her about it, and she said it even works for insomnia. So…”
The Demon King nodded again, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat and the soothing massage finally lulling him toward sleep.
“…She really admired Princess Lilia’s interpretation of that book,” the Hero went on. “She said that doing one thing is better than saying something a hundred times. Actions always speak louder than words. So she taught me how to help with insomnia, and she told me to—”
The Demon King’s drifting mind jolted awake at the mention of that ridiculous book. “Utter nonsense,” he said sharply, snapping his eyes open.
Author’s Note:
Hero: Did you come here to see me?
Demon King: …Yes.
Demon King: To test medicine.
Hero: Great!
Demon King: What a coincidence. Medicine testing.
Hero: …QAQ
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