Chapter 22 The Dark History of the Demon King
1589words
Ten years of longing, worry, fear, grievance... all the complex emotions found an outlet for release in this moment. My eyes grew hot, and uncontrollable tears silently slid down, mixing with the pool water.
After the joy of reunion, my "corporate slave" mentality, as tenacious as wild grass, began to quietly reclaim the high ground.
I leaned against the cold, slippery edge of the pool, resting most of my body weight on it, while pretending to be aggrieved with just the right touch of nasal tone, and began to complain to him.
"Let me tell you, I've had such a miserable time in the Frost Mountains these past years..." I said while secretly observing his reaction from the corner of my eye, "In that place, it snows three hundred and sixty days a year, and the remaining five days are blizzards. As a delicate and helpless flower spirit, without even a thick piece of clothing, I could only survive on that pitiful amount of energy absorbed from moonlight each day. Several times I nearly froze into an eternal flower ice sculpture..."
I vividly described my "miserable" experiences, of which, of course, ninety percent was artistic embellishment. But in my heart, I was blooming with joy, my calculations clicking away rapidly.
"Dying to save him"! What an enormous favor that was! I was practically his savior!
Back in the day when I was playing games, I had to give gifts and chat constantly to max out a character's affection level, putting in tremendous effort. But now, how wonderful! I start with the trump card of "saving someone's life"! With this advantage, can I just strut around freely in this magical world from now on?
So what if Frederick became the Demon King? He still owes me! In the future, whoever I don't like, I'll have him go fight them; whatever treasure I want, I'll have him go seize... no, retrieve it for me. Just thinking about such a life makes me feel delighted.
While I was immersed in my beautiful fantasy of "being treated as a savior," Frederick's movement interrupted my thoughts.
He reached out his hand, and with an almost reverent, cautious gesture, he gently tucked my water-soaked hair that was sticking to my cheeks behind my ear, strand by strand.
His fingertips were ice-cold, but his movements were as gentle as if he were handling a priceless treasure.
I looked up and met his deep purple eyes.
In them, there was no longer the previous playfulness and testing, but instead, an undissolvable, almost overflowing guilt and heartache.
He gazed at me, as if looking through my eyes at the figure from ten years ago who had unhesitatingly dissolved into holy light to protect him.
"There's something," he remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, his voice deep and hoarse, with a barely detectable trace of vulnerability, "that I've never told you."
【System Warning: High energy ahead! About to unlock S-tier important hidden plot, please prepare yourself, player.】
My heart skipped a beat, and even the fantasy scenes in my mind instantly went silent.
The untold past, not even recorded in the strategy guide, was about to be revealed.
"Actually," he paused, seeming to carefully choose his words, "back then at the academy, I wasn't really a six-year-old child."
I was stunned.
"I am the son of the Demon King."
This first sentence exploded like a heavy bomb in my mind. Although I already knew his identity, hearing it directly from his mouth, that impact still made me feel dizzy.
He began to tell a story that had been buried in dust, a dark past that even the most core strategy guides had never recorded.
"My father was the previous Demon King. During my most important coming-of-age seclusion ritual, I was ambushed by my uncle, the rebel leader who had coveted the throne for a long time. In that battle, I nearly exhausted all my magical power. Although I eventually killed him, I also suffered from magical power backflow, which caused severe regression in both my body and memory, turning me into the form of a child."
His tone was flat, as if he were telling a story completely unrelated to himself. But I could feel his inner turmoil from his slightly tightened hand that was holding my wrist.
"He not only wanted to kill me, but also fed me an extremely insidious memory-erasing potion, intending to make me completely forget my identity and power, turning me into a puppet he could manipulate at will."
"With my last bit of strength, I tore open space and escaped from the demon realm. When I woke up again, I was already at the border of the Kingdom of Arcadia. At that time, my mind was completely blank, only vaguely remembering that my name was Frederick. Even I believed that I was just an ordinary human noble prince who had somehow ended up there."
"Later, I was taken in by the academy. You know what happened after that."
He didn't continue, but I understood everything.
I understood why that six-year-old child had such terrifying magical talent back then, yet couldn't control it at all. It wasn't talent, it was his instinct as the son of the Demon King, engraved in his bloodline.
I understand now, why there exist both light and darkness within him, two completely different forces that conflict with each other. Because he was brought to the human realm and influenced by the Royal Magic Academy's environment filled with holy light, the bloodline inherited from his human mother was activated, causing a violent rejection with his demon king bloodline.
I understand even more clearly why after my "death," his personality changed dramatically, eventually falling into darkness and becoming the Demon King.
"Until you... died protecting me." He lowered his head, his voice filled with suppressed, profound pain, "That immense, heart-wrenching shock finally broke through the potion's restraints, making me remember everything. After leaving the academy, guided by a faint sense in my blood, I stumbled back to the demon realm. There, I was found by my father's former subordinates, and eventually recovered all my memories and powers."
He raised his head and smiled self-mockingly, a smile filled with endless desolation.
"So, this matter, even the Academy Head and Arthur and the others don't know about it. In their eyes, I'm just a pitiful creature who was devastated by my mentor's death, and ultimately chose to turn to power and fall into darkness."
As I listened to this dark history of his, worthy of an 8 o'clock melodrama, I was momentarily at a loss for words.
No wonder... no wonder he was reluctant to mention it.
For him, it was a past filled with betrayal, humiliation, and helplessness. That "Frederick" who studied, lived, and depended on his mentor like an ordinary child at the Royal Magic Academy was the only—and perhaps the last—pure and unsullied period in his life.
And I was the only light in that period of time.
【System Notice: Congratulations player, hidden storyline 'Birth of the Demon King' has been successfully unlocked. The strategy guide is undergoing urgent content updates and corrections...】
【System Notice: Causality modification in progress... world line convergence in progress...】
I immediately used my mind to rapidly flip through the strategy guide in my brain, which was being frantically flooded by countless streams of data.
In the book, the large blank space and question marks regarding Frederick's background were being filled with clear lines of text. How he was betrayed, how he fled, how he spent his childhood in the academy, and how he awakened after the stimulus of my "death"... everything became crystal clear.
Fortunately, although most of the background settings had undergone drastic adjustments, the direction of the main storyline didn't seem to be greatly affected. I still needed to stay by his side, fill in those missing plot points, and ultimately find my way home.
Nervously and quickly, I flipped to the last page of the strategy guide to check Frederick's final fate.
That line, which originally contained blood-red text reading [Inevitable Death (killed by the main protagonist group from the Light faction)], had now disappeared.
In its place was a blank space.
It's still an unfinished story, the ending remains unknown.
But! It's no longer a certain death situation!
This discovery fills me with ecstatic joy. It means that my existence, my choices today, have successfully moved the gears of fate! I have a chance to change him, and also to change my own destiny!
I look at Frederick before me, my gaze unconsciously becoming incredibly gentle.
I reach out my hand, and softly caress his cheek.
In the eyes of the world, he is that brutal, bloodthirsty Dark Lord who brought disaster to the world.
But I know he isn't.
He is just a lonely child who, after experiencing the darkest betrayal and the most painful loss, wrapped his softest, most vulnerable inner self in a hard, cold, thorny shell.
And I am the only exception, the one for whom he is willing to preserve his last bit of tenderness, even in front of the entire world.
How could I fear or despise him like others do?
He is not the Demon King.
He is just... my Frederick.
