Anyway, he’s a man who can’t make an objective assessment of me because he’s blinded by love…
But all I got was meaningless empty flattery when I dismissed his words.
I would have liked the name anyway, I just nodded his words.
“Okay, come to think of it, abundance and fertility… I think that’s a pretty good meaning as the lord of the Grand Duchy.”
“… I have something to say about that.”
“What?”
I tilted my head.
But Meyer hesitated, unable to speak easily. His heavy mouth seemed to be unusually heavier today.
“…I have the castle of Nokentoria.”
“Do you want to make Nokentoria the capital city? It’s a little remote, but I don’t think it’s a bad option considering the symbolism.”
“No, I don’t mean that.”
Isn’t that right?
After hesitating for a long time, he suddenly brought up a story that I knew, so I thought it was because of that.
Totally unpredicted, I looked at Meyer with blurry eyes.
When I gave him a look I had absolutely no idea what to expect, Meyer gave me a hollow look.
He had kept his mouth shut many times, but after a while he let his true feelings peek out.
“I’m saying, I’m not going to be emperor.”
“What? If you don’t become an emperor, who will? Now, His Majesty? But there’s no successor anyway…”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
Meyer shook his head. He seemed genuinely frustrated.
He suddenly grabbed my hands with both hands and said resolutely.
“Be the emperor.”
“Pardon?!”
I jumped with a start. If I had been drinking something, I would have spit it out.
Meyer asked back, frowning his handsome brows.
“Why are you reacting like that? Did I not also tell you in the dungeon you were to be emperor?”
“No, that’s because you were dying then!”
I shouted out loud because I was amazed.
But Meyer was unperturbed and proud.
“Have you ever received back what I gave you once?”
“I mean, that’s not the case. Besides, Meyer, you’re… They’re going to protest.”
“All the other expedition members agreed. Even the emperor.”
“No, when the hell? Weren’t we always together after defeating the Demon King?”
Due to Meyer’s separation anxiety, we were almost always attached, but when in the world did he craft a back hole?
In the process of reflecting on my memory, I was belatedly able to recall that Meyer sat out for a while with the emperor in the banquet hall. Perhaps they must have exchanged words then.
It was a bit of a surprise.
Did you even ask me first? After telling everyone around, where is the last thing you propose to me?
I grumbled dissatisfied.
“You could have told me first. There are eyes around. Let’s discuss it a little bit…”
“I learned from you. You have to do your job first.”
“You talk like you’ve never been the first person to work.”
“Haha.”
You’re the second most upsetting person to do things first. Having nothing to say, he just laughed it off.
I let out a sigh.
“I don’t know anything about running a fief. Me, being such an emperor… That’s ridiculous.”
“The expedition was well organized.”
“That’s another thing!”
There’s a status window… Most of the time I touched on the expedition was related to combat and strategy.
I took care of the supply, the background checks, the internal affairs…..
Whether or not he knew my concern, Meyer said carelessly.
“Don’t worry too much. The people below will take good care of you… I wonder how much worse you are than I am.”
I care about the source of infinite trust that I’m good at whatever I do, but…
What if I ruin the country while I’m at it!
I bit my lip, anxious and frustrated by the unexpected disaster, and Meyer squeezed my lips with his thumb.
“If it bothers you, you should learn imperialism from the emperor now. Don’t worry about it too much, because you can just extend the emperor’s term.”
“Will you play while I’m so focused on studying?”
“Haha.”
Meyer laughed emphatically. He looked truly free, unlike the man who had previously moved to duty and conviction, and a corner of my heart burned, even in the face of being forcibly sold out for the position of emperor.
Meyer spoke as a matter of course.
“Putting aside achievements in the war of the Demon King, it’s better for someone like you to be emperor than me.”
“What kind of person am I?”
“A person who does their best in what is given, who is always fair and attentive.”
Meyer’s eyes were serious. I can’t believe he can praise me right in front of me without hesitation. It was hard to adapt to it no matter how many times I listened to it.
“If you say so, you are also…”
“If I become emperor, I will be so preoccupied with you that I will pretend to be ignorant of political affairs.”
Why is he making such a bold statement…
I sighed softly, as I was amazed.
Whether I did or not, Meyer proudly continued.
“If that happens, you will eventually replace the government. If you want to build a new empire, you have a lot of things to worry about, so you put off dating.”
Look, there’s a hidden meaning in those words…?
“If it’s something you’re going to do, wouldn’t it be better for you to be the emperor?”
“… Okay. Okay.”
I accepted the throne as if I had given up. No one would think that the honorable and enviable position of the Emperor of the Empire would be passed from place to place like this… I let out a sigh.
So when I said yes after much consideration, a smile spread on Meyer’s face.
In fact, I don’t think I had a choice to think about it, but…
At that moment, Meyer added belatedly, as if by mistake.
“Oh, come to think of it, I forgot for a moment that I had a favor to ask of you.”
“You force me to be emperor and ask me for a favor. Do you have a conscience?”
Perhaps I saved Meyer without conscience when I revived him.
Let’s hear it first. Leaning my arm against the back of the sofa, I leaned my chin and waited anxiously for Meyer’s words.
Meyer, with a stiff face, spoke seriously of all the anguish of the world as a young man.
“I’m saying this because you’re thinking of marrying me… We’ll get married as soon as we can.”
I wondered what it was…
I smirked at him.
“Why are you in such a hurry? Were you so unhappy that I said no to open relationships until the empire stabilized as soon as I came to life?”
“That’s natural.”
Meyer’s nodding face was brazen. He frowned and muttered, as if to think horribly.
“And if you become emperor, the wicked and demanding will try to wash you away. Although not like that, I don’t like that arrogant look now…”
“Are you worried about that?”
By any stretch of imagination, I laughed softly. But unlike me who doesn’t take things very seriously, Meyer’s face was as serious as ever.
Nervous, he clasped my hand.
His hands gripped beyond measure.
If he had really exerted himself, my hand would have been crushed, but I wonder how much he is restraining himself now to avoid doing so…
One corner of my heart itched to see that desperate effort to somehow hold me down completely.
I whispered softly as I stroked his silver hair with the hand that wasn’t held by Meyer.
“You’re the only one I’ve ever died for. Can’t you be sure of that alone?”
When Meyer looked as if he wasn’t sure he was sure, he had a look on his face that made the sky collapse for a moment, as if he thought I was going to die again. He quickly calmed his face and slowly shook his head.
“… That certainty is enough for once.”
“Then trust me.”
I swept his hair behind his ears and clasped his cheek. His slow flickering eyelashes tickled my palms.
This obedience that the Black Knight Meyer Knox sometimes shows has ignited my heart. I moistened my parched mouth, and changed the subject for no reason.
“By the way… Then I’ll have to stay in the capital to learn imperialism and you’ll have to go back to Nokentoria. Can you handle a long-distance couple’s life?”
If I had become a great duke, not an emperor, I was going to get a place near Meyer’s future as much as I could.
The Nokentoria castle and capital are not just a day or two away, so it would be like a weekend couple, no, a month-long couple. I wondered if Meyer could stand it.
“What are you talking about? Why would I go back?”
From now on I will rule my territory. But you’re still a grand duke….”
“It’s not a year or two that I’ve been away from the estate, and Vince has managed it well so far, so it’s okay.”
Meyer replied brazenly.
No, of course, he can take a little break after living in a dungeon for almost 17 years. But he’s going to be rubbing Vince the wrong way for a long time, and…
As expected, I’m still a little nervous about leaving the empire in Meyer’s hands.
Meyer smiled with his eyes wide open as if he were reading my feelings.
“Look, you can’t leave me with the Empire, can you?”
I’m saying, I can’t beat him.
At the condescending appearance of Meyer, I shook my head with my tongue hanging out.
Well…I could at least manage to run the empire, even though I had defeated the Demon King as well…
It would not be easy, but I had no choice but to exert myself in the most positive way possible.
I solemnly declared.
“Okay, then I’ll be the emperor… I’ll have your name engraved next to me.”
“It’s an honor.”
Meyer exaggerated, and soon got off the sofa and got on his knees in front of me.
There was a reverence as if he were serving as a knight.
Meyer pulled my hand and kissed the back of my hand, whispering earnestly and eagerly.
“May this empire you rule be affluent forever.”
The name Liteitia, which Meyer gave me, had many meanings…
The biggest meaning among them was that we wanted this empire to be affluent forever.
It was the future, the origin, that I also wished for.
I joined hands with Meyer and added.
“Let’s think about the wedding together. Decorate the ceremony with your favorite flowers and fill the reception with my favorite songs.”
“That’s very nice.”
Meyer chuckled.
The person who had been awkward about smiling at first now chuckled. Seeing him like that filled my heart somehow.
I cupped his cheeks and quickly lowered my head, bringing my lips to his.
His silence, which came with the sound of an intake of breath, was quickly followed by a heated one. The true ending in the game is that the hero who defeated the Demon King ends up becoming emperor, but the reality is not so easy.
I have more than one or two things to worry about… I will probably have to start studying to become an emperor today.
That’s just the reality.
A story of the future that never ends and continues from one moment to the next.
That’s why it’s eternal, my and our true ending.
***
Two years after defeating the Demon King, one of the heroes of the Salvation Army, Jun Liteitia Knox, ascended the throne.
Originally, it was customary for the expedition leader of the last expedition to ascend to the emperor, but all existing members of the expedition unanimously agreed to her accession.
And Grand Duke Meyer Knox, the leader of the Black Knights and her husband, became the shield of the empire as the State Secretary and received the name of Liteitia.
The other five heroes who participated in the Holy Demon War swore allegiance to her and became swords protecting the Liteitian imperial family.
The new empire that everyone was looking forward to.
It was the beginning of the Liteitian dynasty.
(T/N: There are still side stories.)
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