I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 84.
The imperial hunt has finally begun.

Mei was safely tucked away in Jozef’s mage-filled mansion, while Iros, Diane, and Leo joined the hunt.

‘Your Highness, the Crown Prince.’
‘There you are, Lord Iros. You look like you’ve grown some hair.’
The crown prince stepped back from Iros and studied him carefully.
‘Has he been awakened?’
‘It is none of your business, sire.’
‘I see.’
There was a moment of awkward air before the crown prince spoke.
‘I received your letter and the goods you sent. Thanks to you, I was able to check them thoroughly and avoid any mishaps. I thank you.’
‘Well, it was a trap set for me.’
‘Well, at least no one else got hurt. I checked every inch of the hunting grounds earlier.’
‘Thank you.’
The crown prince was a good man when it came to getting things done, so I knew I could trust him when he said so.
‘And congratulations. Lord Iros and you have become lovers.’
‘…I did not expect to hear congratulations from Your Highness.’
‘Why, you didn’t send a gift and a letter.’
It’s not the same as hearing it in writing.
I honestly didn’t expect the crown prince, who was supposed to be in love with me, to congratulate me so innocently.
As if he could read my thoughts, the crown prince shrugged and said.
‘I told you. I want you to laugh. If the one I love can’t laugh in my arms but can laugh with others, then let him go.’
‘…….’
‘It’s my greed holding me back, and I wanted to deny it.’
‘At least you’re not an asshole.’
‘……!’
The crown prince’s eyes widened at my words, and then he burst into his trademark smirk, a clean, crisp laugh.
‘I know.’
The crown prince turned and walked away.
I find it hard to breathe, for some reason, with Iros snarling beside me, his vigilance and hostility palpable.
Pouting his lips, Iros grabs my hand and shakes it gently.
‘Why don’t you stop looking at the crown prince and pay more attention to me, I have a lover.’
‘Foot. Don’t be jealous. He’s your lover.’
Iros, whose hair had grown to the base of her hips and was trimmed, braided, and adorned, smiled mesmerizingly innocently.
‘Yes, she is my lover, and she’s mine.’
‘Yes, yes.’
As Iros chatted with the imposing man and inspected his bow, an ivory trumpet echoed through the hunting grounds with a pow, pow, pow.
‘Here they come.’
I swallowed nervously and looked to see a large nutmeg wagon racing towards us.
The carriage halted, rolling out a red carpet that didn’t match the dirt floor.
The Emperor and Empress dismounted, treading heavily on the carpet, followed by High Priest Diego and the mysterious Sil’nun.
‘This is the same priest who lied to High Priest Diego when the robes of Eldrakis disappeared and said he had cleaned out the warehouse!’
They walked along the carpet to the foot of the ornate awning and smirked around the table.
The emperor raised his hand, and the nobles gathered in the hunting grounds bowed as if they had been expecting it.
‘Greetings to the Supreme Being of the Empire, the Emperor, and the Empress, the beautiful Moon of the Empire!’
‘I am very pleased that you have all come to the hunting tournament organized by the imperial family and the temple, an event designed to unite and bond the talents of the future.’
Beside the smiling Emperor, the white-robed High Priest Diego chimed in.
‘It is an honor to host this hunting tournament with the Imperial Family, even in the Temple.’
As I clenched my fist, the emperor’s sidekick turned to me, locked eyes with me, and spoke in an emotionless voice.
‘Rest assured, there will be priests and priests everywhere so that you can concentrate on the hunt.’
Reassurance is bullshit. Every single one of the priests and priestesses here has an unpleasant air about them.
Just like High Priest Diego.
‘And then there are the priests recruited from the imperial court.
They’ve probably brought everyone who’s in league with the anti-humanoid forces.
‘I feel sick to my stomach. They’re all strangely disgusting.
It was a different kind of disgust than he’d felt with Moringa. A strange, ghostly feeling that Iros had never felt before.
The Empress, smiling broadly at him, stepped forward past High Priest Diego and gestured to the knights.
‘It’s always a shame when a hunting competition is missing a prize, so I’ve prepared this one for you. Bring it to’
‘……?’
At the Empress’s command, the knights came forward with a beautiful gem in a clear glass case.
It was a delicately crafted gemstone with a red color so intense that it appeared black-red.
‘What is that?’
‘I don’t know. Isn’t that a crimson heart?’
‘What?! Her Majesty the Empress had that famous jewel?’
The room instantly became noisy as Ning’s astonished words rang out.
The Crimson Heart.
A one-of-a-kind diamond with a blackish-red color, different from garnets.
It was the jewel of the century, a gem that had once enchanted people and disappeared into thin air.
I opened my mouth in amazement.
‘That’s the rumored gem?’
It’s said to be a piece of a demon’s heart that fell off when it was sealed 500 years ago or the pupil of a demon’s eye.
Of course, that’s probably not true, but it’s certainly a fascinating gem to have such stories.
‘Iros? Iros.’
‘Ah, yes.’
‘Why are you so dazed? Is it because the gem is so beautiful that you want it?’
‘No, no. Rather…….’
Iros’s expression became strange as he stared at the Crimson Heart.
‘It’s because they look so much like my mother’s eyes, the eyes I used to see in my dreams, often as visions…….’
Iros’s reaction made me wonder if they were indeed the eyes of a demon.
‘High Priest Diego and the people he brought with him were all drawn to that gem. What is it? I don’t sense any magic in it.’
It looked like an ordinary gemstone with no special aura.
Yet somehow, everyone was looking at it like a person in front of a delicious delicacy with their mouths watering.
The Empress then pulled the cloth over the glass box down.
‘That’s enough,’ she said, ’everyone, come to your senses. No matter how beautiful the jewelry is, it’s not worth getting carried away like this.’
‘Ah.’
I wiped the corner of my mouth and rubbed my arm embarrassedly as her words sobered me.
‘The prize for today’s hunting competition is this rare gem, so do you all try your best?’
‘Yes!’
The Empress graciously ho-ho-ho-ho’d and laughed, then turned to me, smiling brightly and beckoning. As I approached, she grasped my hand tightly.
‘This is the first time we’ve been this close since that day, Saint.’
‘Ah, yes.’
‘I was in a hurry that day, so I didn’t greet you, but my boy made many mistakes, and I’m so sorry. I meant to apologize when we held the banquet, but I never got the chance.’
‘No, Your Majesty.’
For some reason, when the Emperor held the banquet to apologize for framing me for the poisoning, the Empress kept glancing at me and wringing her hands.
She must have been holding that incident close to her heart.
The Empress squeezed my hand and whispered in my ear.
‘The Crimson Heart is my most prized jewel,’ she whispered into my hand, ’but I’m afraid that if I gave it to the Saint without permission, she’d have a fit.’
‘You mean?’
‘I’m sure she’ll win the hunt.’
The Empress crinkled her wrinkled eyes and laughed like a girl.
She had given me that jewel as a prize from the beginning, as an apology.
‘With two guardians and Lord Leo, it’s a given you’ll win, right?’
I nodded, smiling at her subtlety.
‘Of course, I’ll win, and by the way, that jewel, can I see it up close just once?’
I said innocently, feigning playfulness as I tugged on Iros’ still-dazed hand.
‘My Lord Iros seems to be all smitten with the jewel, and I thought I’d show it to you one more time before you win.’
‘Oh, my. I heard that you two became lovers at that Duchess Melixia party! Of course, you may touch it.’
‘Ahhhh. Thank you.’
I smiled cheerfully and carefully picked up the crimson heart from the cloth.
‘Do you want to touch it too?’
‘…Yes.’
Iros ran his trembling fingertips over the gem, then took it from my hand.
Then she murmured mesmerisedly.
‘Saint, I want to eat this.’
‘What?’
‘Oh my, you must be very hungry. Ho ho ho, but you can’t eat this.’
The Empress covered her mouth and laughed as if she’d heard a funny joke, but I could tell. Iros was seriously dying to eat this gem right now.
At this rate, he was going to eat it right here and now, so I quickly snatched the gem out of her hand, placed it in a glass case, and covered it with a cloth.
Iros let out a small ‘ah,’ like a man coming out of a hypnotic trance, and came to his senses.
He looked around and saw the eyes of High Priest Diego and the other priests and priestesses fixed on the gem, which was hidden by the cloth.
I shuddered slightly at the chill I felt.
Instinct whispered.
‘This jewel, it will never make it to the end of the hunt.
It was a prophetic picture of the havoc that would ensue if someone stole it, took it, or ate it.
‘What the hell is that jewelry…….’
What is it that has the half-man-half-horse Iros so frenzied, and the supposedly half-man-half-horse allied High Priest Diego and his priests and priests in such a frenzy?
‘Wait a minute. They’re all in league with the half-elf?’
My mind flashed as if struck by a thunderbolt at the obvious commonality.
Iros, who had been mesmerized by the Crimson Heart and wanted to eat it, and the others, who stared at it like hyenas eyeing their prey.
‘Are they all half-humans and half-demons?
Kwagwagwang! A thunderbolt struck the dry sky in my head.