# Chapter 23
Chapter 23
“What should we do?”
“We have to find them.
The demons must be completely rooted out from this land.”
“Yes, I will gather the people.
Now, Miss Bunny.
The young master’s lieutenant is waiting outside.”
“Yes, um... okay...”
Bunny, if you get caught, you're dead.
Bunny, trying to muster courage despite her trembling body, jumped off the sofa with a composed face.
When she went outside, she saw a stern-looking man.
The man, who had a brief conversation with Pell, approached Bunny.
With red hair, blue eyes, tightly closed lips, and an expressionless face, he stood out.
Even to Bunny, he seemed like a person without emotions.
“Hello, Miss Bunny.
I am Revon, Lieutenant to Lord Kiriel.
This is our first time meeting in person.”
“Hewwo.
Bunny, 4 years old.
I’m the young master’s baby.”
Revon, who bent over to greet her, looked at Bunny expressionlessly.
As Bunny tilted her head in confusion, he took something out from the inner pocket of his jacket.
“I see.
If you don’t mind...”
Trailing off, Revon stepped back a few steps.
“Could you stand like that for a moment?”
“O-okay...”
What’s going on?
Just as Bunny tilted her head in wonder—
Click, click.
The noise from a small orb in Revon's hand made Bunny jump.
Bunny turned her head left and right, blinking as she tried to figure out where the sound was coming from.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Of course, Revon didn’t miss that timing.
“Huh?
What’s happening?”
“Nothing to worry about.
There was some dust in the air, so I handled it with the latest device.
Lord Kiriel is looking for you.
You’ll have to come with me.
Is that okay?”
Revon spoke quickly and at length, making Bunny’s eyes spin.
As Bunny swayed slightly, Revon carefully picked her up into his arms.
“I’ll carry you.”
“Uh-huh...”
With heavy eyelids, Bunny suddenly slumped her head down.
“Seems like you were tired.”
Revon gently secured Bunny’s head so it wouldn’t droop as he slowly walked.
By the time they arrived at the room, Bunny was already fast asleep.
* * *
Pant, pant—
The sound of breathing filled the usually quiet space, and Kiriel Judias slowly turned his head.
He saw the two children asleep, occupying his bed.
There was Bunny, whom Revon had brought earlier, and Alan, who had come to Kiriel’s room looking for Bunny, then fallen asleep beside her.
He had never thought about raising children in his life.
He had never felt the need to take responsibility for anyone.
Living as though he was neither here nor there—that was how Kiriel Judias’s mind had been.
The world was structured to exploit those who excelled, and that exploitation was taken for granted.
It was a world where those with power were criticized if they didn’t extend it to others, and those with talent were condemned if they didn’t use it for everyone’s benefit.
In that world, his brother, once hailed as a “hero,” had been crushed and disappeared.
He didn’t live past thirty, dying in the war against the demons.
His death had been so miserable that not even his body was found, and there was no way to know exactly how he died.
Until Kiriel reached the Demon King’s castle.
“A hero?
You mean that so-called hero of yours?
If you're talking about the one who was begging for his life at my feet, he was pathetic.
He kept shouting until his voice gave out, saying he’d change the demons.
Even when he was covered in blood and losing his limbs, he kept talking.”
“A corpse?
A corpse... hmm, where did I put it?
Fed it to the dogs, or maybe it became monster food...
Heroes are nothing but pathetic.
Seeing him tremble in fear, unable to back down, even as he was crushed under the weight of humans' worthless expectations—it was laughable...”
When he finally reached the Demon King’s castle, covered in blood from killing demons, and heard the Demon King speak of his brother’s death, Kiriel found her beautiful.
Yes, she was a beautiful woman.
And more cruel than anyone.
Each word she spoke was filled with overflowing malice—it was clear that she was the very embodiment of evil, worshiped by the demons.
Those expansive black wings stretching out to envelop the hall.
Those two large, firm horns protruding from her head.
Those sharp fangs.
And that wildly surging black magic.
“As I’ve heard, you're a stubborn, skilled, unlovable human...
Poor human...
Did they tell you that you are the next hero?
Then your brother will cry again...”
Even now, Kiriel’s mind was clouded by the words she cursed him with when he plunged his sword into her heart after a fierce battle.
“Poor human...
Did they tell you that you are the next hero...?”
The proud eldest son of the Judias family had always been a bit soft-hearted, but he was, without a doubt, the hero who summoned the sword to destroy the demons.
But because he was a hero, his brother had to stand on the frontlines of the demon war, had to fight the Demon King, and in the end, met a miserable death.
That was also Kiriel’s future.
So after the war ended, Kiriel Judias put down his sword.
He didn’t summon the divine beast again.
He didn’t go anywhere, only endlessly slept in his room, decorated as a temple prayer room.
He didn’t help anyone.
He spoke no kind words to anyone.
Instead of leading by example, he chose to ignore everything.
He let go of everything he held and gave up.
He lazed around, indulging in food and idleness, drenched in lethargy.
Years passed like that.
Kiriel Judias was still called a hero of the holy war, but no one had expectations of him anymore.
He lived out of sight, gradually fading from memory—that was what Kiriel Judias wanted.
Yet despite this, the reason he declared he would adopt Bunny and Alan, the hot topic of the day...
Was it because the demonic energy he sensed bothered him?
The fact that only he had sensed it probably meant it wasn’t that strong.
Kiriel Judias had always been sensitive to the demonic aura due to his unusual birth.
“Good night, pat-pat!
Bunny and the king snake don’t have a mom and dad.
So let’s...”
“Huh?!
I don’t need any of that.
You’re just a brat way younger than me, so get lost!
You dumb kid!”
“Bunny’s not dumb...
It’s Bunny’s turn...”
Or was it because he saw a glimpse of his unyielding brother in this child, who, even when alone, never stopped comforting herself?
“Bunny, big snake...”
As the child, mumbling in her sleep, kept muttering, Kiriel softly patted her head a couple of times before lying down in the empty spot on the bed.
Startled by the warmth as the two children burrowed into his arms, Kiriel hesitated, rolled his eyes slowly, and then closed them.
Before he knew it, his arm was resting over the children's bodies.
* * *
Bunny was in trouble.
Because...
“Hey, isn’t that the illegitimate child?
The one who was adopted after begging?”
“Ugh, she really does look annoying.”
“It’s irritating to see her wandering around everywhere.”
The crisis that Luriel had warned about had arrived.
‘Bunny, bullied...!’
This was something all the protagonists from the "Top 28 Romance Fantasy Books for Demonic Children," as Luriel had told her, had experienced… a necessary trial to become the main character.
‘If I get bullied, Bunny is a real protagonist too.’
Heh.
Smirking, Bunny shrugged her shoulders as she looked at the boys gathered around her.
Bunny wasn’t scared.
Because she had imagined this situation countless times before.
‘Bunny is big, great, and perfectly invincible.’
Since she had imagined it many times already, she wasn’t hurt by the words of these young boys.
Heh.
Bunny smirked again, puffing out her chest proudly.
“Hey, ugly!
Stop showing off!
You’re ugly, so stop it!”
Even these words didn’t hurt her.
Because Bunny was a wonderful grown-up.
“You’re just a tiny little thing.
You think you’re cute because you’re wearing that rabbit backpack?
It makes you look even uglier!”
...Even these words didn’t hurt her.
Her proudly puffed-out chest subtly deflated.
“Yeah, right?
Who even wears an animal-shaped backpack like that?
You don’t have any awareness of being a noble, do you?”
Bunny is a wonderful adult...
“Aha!
No wonder it smells horrible whenever she comes close.”
“Smell?
What smell?”
An adult...
“Commoner smell~!”
Hahaha!
As the laughter burst out and rough hands shoved her shoulders, Bunny’s patience snapped.