CHAPTER 164: THE HERO IS SAD

The Demon Queen’s crimson-gold eyes fluttered open, and the very first thing she saw was the hero’s face — his intense stare locked directly onto her.

Her breath hitched. Realizing she had been using him as her body pillow, her entire face flushed scarlet.

She buried her face against his neck and muttered in a tiny, trembling voice, "D-Don’t stare at me so intensely... you were already so intense..."

Then, realizing what she had just said, she snapped her mouth shut. Her cheeks practically glowed like molten lava.

The hero froze. His ears twitched. His sense, even sealed, had not failed him — he heard her perfectly.

"...Were?" he repeated aloud.

Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

Wasn’t he supposed to be explaining to her what "snu-snu" even meant? When had the script skipped ahead?!

He felt his soul shiver as dread crept in.

’No. No, no, no, no, no, no...’ he repeated like a mantra, clinging to the hope that he was wrong.

But the Demon Queen’s bashful expression only deepened his despair.

Out of sheer desperation, the hero invoked his Goddess’s Blessing, activating his status reading skill on her. A glowing panel appeared before his eyes.

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Name: Nephelia Unixrion

Title: Ruler of the Demon World, The One Tamed by Hero, Lovely Princess, Demon Queen.

Job: Demon Queen.

Current Status: Shy, Tamed, Embarrassed.

(Uh? He’s thinking about our time together, maybe... I hope Father will approve of him...)

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The hero’s jaw dropped. His grip on reality wavered.

His lips trembled as only a single word escaped him, raw and filtered.

"Fu*k."

"KYAAAAA! N-No!!!" Nephelia shrieked, covering her face with both hands. "Not again! I-I can’t handle another round this early!"

The hero nearly spat blood. WHAT ROUND?! WHEN?! HOW?! ISIN’T IT SUPPOSE TO A SPHERE!!!

"W-Wait, wait Nephelia, please... explain the situation to me!" the hero stammered desperately, voice trembling like a cornered animal. "I think... my memory is failing me..."

Neither of them acknowledged that they were still in that position — her resting against his chest, his arms awkwardly half-raised like he was afraid to touch a priceless vase.

The Demon Queen’s crimson-gold eyes darted toward him before quickly looking away, her cheeks aflame. In a voice so faint it could barely compete with a mosquito’s buzz, she whispered:

"H-How dirty... even after all those things you did to me... y-you still want me to say it out loud? How could the Goddess ever choose someone like you..."

Her words crumbled into muttering, incomprehensible fragments of embarrassment.

The hero’s face darkened. The darkest it had ever been in his entire legendary life.

And then — he saw it.

Up above, faintly shimmering through the ceiling of the Unbreakable Room, was a figure.

A woman in a flowing white dress, sunglasses perched on her face, lounging on a divine recliner. She sipped from a straw, popcorn bucket balanced on her lap.

The Goddess. Watching. Laughing.

At him.

"...You." His voice trembled with fury.

Twin beams of crimson shot out of his eyes, lancing the spot where she floated.

The popcorn, the recliner, the goddess herself — all vanished in an instant, like a mirage scattering in the wind.

Silence.

The hero yelled in his mind, ’Damn it...! Why can’t I remember anything...?!’

He clenched his fists. His memory was flawless — sharper than any mortal blade. Yet now, at the most crucial moment of his life, it had betrayed him.

With tears prickling at the corner of his eyes, the so-called savior of world looked up at the oppressive black ceiling of the sealed chamber.

’...All my life, I thought I was the luckiest man alive,’ he thought bitterly.

’But right now... I might be the most unlucky bastard in the entire Demon Realm.’

Unconsciously, his hand drifted toward her silken black hair. His fingers brushed through it gently, almost reverently.

The Demon Queen froze.

Her breath hitched, her entire body stiffening as though she’d been struck by lightning. Yet she didn’t move away. Instead, she went utterly silent — crimson-gold eyes quivering, cheeks burning as her heartbeat thundered in her ears.

Five whole minutes passed in that silence.

Five eternal, suffocating, unbearable minutes of him absentmindedly caressing her hair while both sat locked in awkwardness yet peace.

And then, as though the heavens themselves had been waiting for this moment...

A golden door shimmered into existence before their bed.

The hero’s hand stopped. His heart sank. His pupils shrank to pinpoints.

"...No," he whispered.

The words of the floating sign returned to him like a curse:

4. Do snu-snu.

The golden door — the exit had appeared. Which meant the condition had been satisfied.

Which meant... it already happened.

"Hah... haha... hahahaha—!!" His laughter was a hopeless one, echoing off the sealed chamber walls.

The moment which was supposed to be his most divine moment... the main event of his story, the script he had been waiting for... was done.

And he didn’t even remember it.

He cursed in his mind. He cursed in every language he knew, and a few he invented on the spot.

Every profane word in history was summoned and hurled at fate, at the goddess, at the world.

But despair? No. He would not fall to despair.

He was a hero. The hero.

The one who tamed dragons.

The one who had now, apparently, tamed the Demon Queen.

He inhaled deeply, steadied his trembling heart, and forced a dignified mask onto his face.

"Now then, Nephelia..." he said softly, "...Shall we depart?"

He noticed that, he was now 0.5325 cm taller than her.

The Demon Queen rose shyly from his chest. Her long hair fell in waves, hiding part of her crimson-blushing face as she dared to look at him.

She nodded wordlessly.

The hero extended his hand toward her.

Her delicate fingers trembled, then slipped into his palm.

Like a tamed, obedient princess — or perhaps like a puppy unwilling to let go, she followed as he led her forward.

Together, hand in hand, they stepped toward the golden door... ready to leave behind the forbidden spell that had rewritten both of their fates.