By Zephyria 
On the day black rain fell from the sky, Ketron realized it too late.
It’s too late.
“You’re late, Ketron.”
Even the Holy Sword had said so.
Yeah, I guess it was.
He couldn’t remember what he’d replied. He thought he might have mumbled something along those lines.
Perhaps it was because he had pushed his duty aside, overwhelmed with happiness at meeting his love, that the Demon King had returned, and Eddie’s safety was threatened.
But it’s okay.
He had won once, so he just needed to win again. That’s what he thought then.
Until Eddie was attacked.
“……”
It wasn’t until about an hour after the morning sun had risen that Ketron finally pushed himself out of bed.
The sun set, the sun rose, and it was time for the day’s work to begin. Though he habitually opened his eyes and moved his body, his body, which hadn’t slept at all, felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton.
Uncharacteristic of Ketron, who always kept his body under his control, his heavy, settled form felt like it wouldn’t even be able to perform half of its usual functions.
As sleepless nights continued, his body kept sending warnings.
Signals that he was at his limit were constantly being transmitted, but Ketron couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t by his own will. Even though his body was dead tired, sleep simply wouldn’t come.
He just lay in bed with his eyes closed, as he’d been told that simply closing his eyes helped, but Ketron’s mind kept drifting to Eddie, lying in the next room.
All his wounds had been healed. Some he had healed with his sorcery, Gerold had rushed over, Ebon had gathered all the good medicine he could find, and even healers from the Imperial Palace sent by the Emperor had arrived. It was certain that not even a small scratch remained.
But Eddie wouldn’t wake up.
He was barely alive, with a pale face, maintaining only the shallowest of breaths.
“Honestly, I can’t tell you what his condition is.”
The Imperial Palace healer said the closest thing was a coma. Before mentioning the coma, he had tilted his head, muttering, “Vegetative state?” but he quickly corrected himself to coma.
However, the sound of him muttering “Vegetative state?” pierced Ketron’s heart precisely.
Vegetative state.
It was such a terrible phrase.
“He could open his eyes today.”
He said this, glancing at Ketron.
“Or he could simply stop breathing one day.”
“……”
“Or perhaps he could remain in this state forever.”
Any of those possibilities were plausible, but seeing the healer shake his head, saying that waking up from this state was close to a miracle, Ketron felt a surge of murderous intent without realizing it.
Don’t talk nonsense, save him somehow.
“Hey, I could say that too!”
It was only because Ebon, more enraged than Ketron, had grabbed the doctor by the collar before Ketron could express his murderous intent that he didn’t get the chance.
After that, Ketron stayed by Eddie’s side continuously.
Thanks to the consideration of those who knew their relationship was unusual, he was able to stay by his side alone without any other disturbances. However, as his appearance was clearly not healthy, after a week, the Holy Sword sighed deeply and said.
“Just staying by Eddie’s side isn’t the answer.”
“……”
“For your own sake, and for Eddie’s, don’t stay so close. Move away a bit.”
“No.”
“Are you a child? I’m not asking you to go far, just to the next room.”
After much deliberation, Ketron accepted part of that advice and settled in the room next to Eddie’s.
They didn’t have spare rooms like they did when they lived in the inn, but since things had turned out this way, Ebon had been away more often, so a room became vacant, allowing for such a luxury.
Albatross told Ketron he needed to sleep, but Ketron didn’t know how to sleep.
Eddie was sleeping more than enough to make up for Ketron.
With Augustine’s help, they had brought in a bishop-level priest, but even that priest couldn’t wake Eddie. Although his wounds had healed quickly with healing magic poured into them as soon as he was discovered, Eddie simply wouldn’t wake up.
The priest’s words were similar to what the Imperial Palace healer had said, but he was more pessimistic. He said he couldn’t tell when, or at what moment, Eddie’s breath would cease.
“It’s a miracle that he’s even alive.”
He carefully conveyed his opinion.
“He’s barely clinging to life. Honestly, if this state continues for a long time… I think sending him off would be the best course of action for the patient.”
He stated his opinion resolutely, even under Ketron’s murderous gaze. If Ketron’s rationality had been even slightly more compromised, he might have killed the priest who spoke those words, regardless of Augustine’s position.
Since then, his rationality had been fluctuating. His thoughts jumped around.
With his mind jumping around like that, Ketron reached one conclusion: it was all due to his own foolishness for not getting rid of Arthur sooner. At least, that’s what he believed.
Would the situation have improved if he had been more proactive when Albatross tried to depose Arthur?
He knew that blaming himself like that was unhealthy, but he couldn’t bear it if he didn’t blame someone, even if it was himself.
He wasn’t exactly a mentally healthy person to begin with.
Each day was precarious. It felt like the ground beneath his feet could give way at any moment.
What was certain was that if Eddie lost his life like this, everything would truly collapse.
The only thing that allowed him to endure now was the fact that Eddie was ‘still’ not dead.
It had been several days since Ketron’s routine became sitting by Eddie’s side every morning, listening quietly to his breathing with a somber expression, when the Emperor summoned Ketron.
The Emperor was enraged that his only remaining blood relative had been attacked, but acknowledging that the complicated internal affairs of the Imperial Palace could be worse for Eddie, he instead sent Imperial Palace healers to the mansion frequently.
Despite being busy with the Demon King’s revival, he visited the mansion several times, but each time he could only gaze at the lying Eddie with affection before leaving, unable to meet an awake Eddie.
In the meantime, as he was in a position where he had to do his duties, he summoned Ketron to the Imperial Palace.
He wanted him to attend the noble council.
“Go and come back.”
Naturally, Ketron had no intention or desire to participate, but it was the Holy Sword that persuaded him.
“You don’t want to show Eddie a ruined world when he wakes up, do you? We need to make plans on this side too. Of course, I don’t expect any valuable conversation there.”
A noble council, the name itself sounded utterly tedious. It certainly didn’t seem like valuable conversation would take place.
“But you need time to focus on something like that right now.”
“……”
“So, go.”
He didn’t care about anything else, but he agreed that Eddie shouldn’t be shown a ruined world when he woke up. In the end, Ketron had no choice but to drag his heavy body to the Imperial Palace.
Of course, as soon as the tedious meeting began, Ketron regretted attending.
The northern fortress has fallen, the Hero must act, but he cannot go alone, so who should accompany him? Troop reinforcements are needed, agreed, so who will provide them? Let’s decide by vote… In the first place, Ketron was the only one present who was a practitioner, so it was difficult for it to be a proper meeting.
They argued back and forth even with the Emperor before them, and Ketron remained silent throughout the entire meeting.
“If you weren’t his brother, you wouldn’t even be here.”
When the meeting concluded and he was alone with the Emperor, Ketron threw all pretense of politeness aside and said this.
Marquis Rivalt, standing beside the Emperor, glanced at the Emperor upon seeing such insolent behavior, but seeing that he showed no reaction, he let out a small sigh instead of intervening directly.
Due to this recent attack, Eddie’s existence had been revealed. The Emperor’s hidden brother.
The only blood relative of the Imperial family besides the Emperor, and the sole heir to the throne.
For some reason, a prisoner held in the Imperial Palace prison had taken out even the sequestered weapons and suddenly attacked the Emperor’s brother. Naturally, this was no ordinary incident.
Was their relationship one of such deep resentment? Why was the hidden royal hiding and running an inn in the capital?
Of course, many people had guessed the connection to the Emperor’s quiet purges simply from the fact that his existence was hidden, but that wasn’t important right now.
All of that was a problem to worry about after humanity survived.
“Gerold and Ebon.”
The Emperor presented two people to Ketron.
“Those two should be sufficient to fill the vacant positions, wouldn’t you agree?”
“……”
Ketron was a person who knew how to distinguish between public and private matters. Regardless of his personal opinion of those two, their abilities were both outstanding.
Frankly, Arthur didn’t possess combat power that would be helpful in a battle against the Demon King, so if Gerold replaced Boram and Ebon replaced Arthur, the combination would actually be much better than their past comrades.
Moreover, the two had been raised from childhood to be devoted solely to Eddie, and now possessed astonishing loyalty.
If it was revenge against the one who harmed Eddie, it would be more than enough to move those two.