Caught by Iris

After that, I visited a few more people.

On the eighth floor, the probability of being spotted by the apostle increased if more than five people were moving.

So, up to the seventh floor, we had to proceed in force, but after that, we had to keep to a party of five.

What was needed for that was a proper team composition.

‘Other academies likely have a high chance of meeting starting from the fifth floor, too.’

I was grasping how they were moving as well.

Anyway, the key personnel to break through the Demon Palace were few in any academy.

Like that, I invested a whole day into gathering the required personnel.

I relayed that, based on their personal wishes, no one was obliged to go if they didn’t want to.

“Sunbae-nim, you underestimate me too much.”

“Of course, I’ll go!”

Every single person I asked declared their intention to go to the Demon Palace without exception.

A sense of mission, to protect the world from the Demon Palace.

Jerion Academy, an institution one entered carrying such a sense of mission.

Among the students of Jerion Academy, there was no one who would refuse this offer.

“I’ll go.”

Finally, even the unbending azure flame, Eve, announced she would join.

A dire situation where an Apostle might very well break through.

Her will to stop it, if it was at all possible, was palpable.

Truly, how Eve-like.

“Thank you. There’s no need to deliberate about the vanguard, then.”

“Hanon Irei.”

As I expressed my gratitude to Eve, she called out my name.

I looked at Eve with a puzzled expression, she glanced around and parted her lips.

“I’d like to talk a bit about the Third Imperial Princess.”

The moment I heard those words, I stopped walking.

Fortunately, there was no one else around.

Isabel and Sharin hadn’t even interfered with the recruitment process.

The only thing that worried me was that those two shared a room, but I doubted they’d fight even there.

“What is it?”

“The last time I helped, the size of the nightmare was growing exponentially.”

My eyes narrowed slightly.

Eve and I had been diligently managing Iris’s nightmares.

In fact, Iris’s nightmares had improved significantly thanks to our management.

That Iris’s nightmare had grown once again in the gap of my absence.

It was something I had somewhat anticipated.

Cheonhyegong would have started preparing his moves in earnest, alongside the Evil Paragon.

But judging by Eve’s reaction, the size of the nightmare seemed to be even greater than I had imagined.

“Even with the Sword of White Dreams, you couldn’t suppress it?”

“…The Sword of White Dreams shattered.”

“What?”

Dismay painted itself across my face.

Even so, I hadn’t anticipated the Sword of White Dreams breaking.

“I confirmed it when I returned to the dormitory today. It was cracked, then broken.”

Ieve had been safeguarding the Sword of White Dreams.

The Sword of White Dreams, which purifies nightmares.

For it to fail like that, Iris’s nightmare must have intensified to a terrifying degree.

A wave of dizziness washed over me.

Whatever it was, something else had clearly happened to Iris.

‘Iris definitely said she’d be back this evening.’

Hania herself had told me that.

I could meet her today.

“Thank you. I’ll head to the dormitory to see Iris.”

Talking to her directly would be best.

I was about to leave with that thought when…

“Hanon Irei.”

Ieve called out to me again.

“I have a rather unsettling premonition. Be careful.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Ieve, can I borrow your disguise for a bit?”

“Go ahead.”

The intuition of the side-story protagonist is worth trusting.

Holding Ieve’s words close, I immediately started towards the girls’ dormitory.

Soon, the girls’ dormitory came into view.

I could see girls gathered, conversing in hushed tones.

“I heard Iris-nim returned just a little while ago.”

“Doesn’t she seem awfully tired lately?”

“She just came back from meeting the Duke of Heavenly Grace. They must have been discussing work.”

The girls’ voices drifted by, a low murmur.

As I’d anticipated, it seemed Iris had just returned.

Even though I’d entered the girls’ dormitory several times before, I couldn’t simply barge in.

So, I morphed into Eve’s form with the bandage of shrouds.

Good thing I’d told Eve beforehand.

Without arousing any particular suspicion from the girls, I safely entered the dormitory.

Now, with the familiar corridor, soon enough, Iris’s room came into view.

Reaching the front of the room, I raised my hand.

And then, I knocked twice on the door.

An answer wasn’t immediately forthcoming.

Usually, Hania would respond, but it seemed Hania was away.

“Lady Iris, it is Hanon.”

So, I tentatively relayed my name instead.

Fortunately, the corridor was deserted, so there was no chance of anyone overhearing.

“…Come in.”

A moment later, a voice from within granted entry.

Carefully opening the door, I stepped inside, moonlight filtering through the window.

Iris was sitting serenely in that moonlight.

Her long, ink-black hair was striking.

The ruby eyes, filled with a brooding darkness revealed between the strands, gleamed bewitchingly, evocative of a vampire.

Iris, with her innate allure and the power of the Archfiend amplified, was beautiful to the point of being mind-numbing.

“Lady Iris.”

“Hanon, it’s been a while.”

I could glimpse shadows under Iris’s eyes.

She seemed to be in a far more exhausted state than I’d imagined.

‘Just like that first day I saw her.’

Iris’s condition had deteriorated to that extent.

The efforts of the past, vanished in an instant.

It was severe.

Now I understood why Eve had spoken those words.

“Are you alright?”

“You alright?”

Iris covered her mouth with long, pale fingers and gave a dry, humorless laugh.

Then, she slowly turned her gaze upon me.

“Hanon, no, it isn’t.”

Iris corrected herself.

“Who are you?”

Hearing those words, my body froze solid.

My pupils darted wildly, for the first time betraying me.

I never imagined my true nature would be revealed to Iris at this juncture.

“Have you been having fun, pretending to be my cousin all this time, making a fool out of me?”

Iris questioned, her voice like sharpened ice.

I knew, deep down, that the day of reckoning would come.

But it was supposed to come after her nightmares had completely faded.

Only then would I have been ready for her to discover who I truly was.

‘No, that’s not right.’

All I had done was push a looming problem further into the future, hoping it would somehow resolve itself.

As Iris said, I had been deceiving her.

I had feigned familial affection, playing on those emotions to soothe her nightmares.

“I went to see the real Hanon.”

The real Hanon.

Those words paralyzed me.

“The one who would usually come running the moment I called kept making excuses, acting strange. I wanted to know if something had happened to him.”

Iris clutched the blanket wrapped around her chest.

“So, I treated him as I always had. You’ve always shared warmth with me when I was struggling. I wanted to give some of that warmth back to you, too.”

The events of that day flashed vividly in Iris’s eyes.

“And I was rejected. With a chilling coldness I hadn’t anticipated.”

The real Hanon does not care for Iris.

Hanon is one of the people whose life was stolen by Cheonhyegong.

A person whose mother was sacrificed by Cheonhyegong, who fought against Cheonhyegong, and who was ultimately placed under a magical restraint.

That was Hanon Irey.

What sort of person was Iris to Hanon, then?

That he wouldn’t take kindly to Iris, empowered by the Evil God’s force, was only natural.

Beyond simply disliking it, he must have held her in contempt.

The day Iris approached Hanon.

Iris witnessed Hanon coldly pushing her away, his scorn plain to see.

A reflex reaction.

Seeing this, Iris must have realized:

the brother before her was absolutely not the person she knew.

Bewilderment flickered in Iris’s eyes.

The boy who had uniquely restored her sense of family.

That this boy was rejecting her was a natural reaction.

“…Just for a little while, I was happy thinking I had a real brother.”

My breath caught in my throat.

Her father was the Emperor, and thus in a position to not provide her the love she desired.

Her mother, in her childhood, eventually died, trapped in a nightmare, by a nightmare illness.

Iris had always been alone.

Those around her treated her as someone precious, but no one gave her a sense of family.

Days of being coerced to be the Emperor, even hearing that she was the ultimate villain.

Not one of those days was anything Iris had ever wished for.

Then, one day.

A boy appeared before her eyes.

A boy with the same hair and eye color as her, the same blood flowing through him.

Though, her cousin, the only family who would do anything for her.

Iris gradually leaned on me.

Thirsty for familial affection, she had once asked me:

Why was I helping her?

To that, I had responded that I was helping for my own sake.

I thought that her wanting family affection from me could be dangerous later on.

But even that alone, we’d already reached a point of no return.

“But then, I met Grandfather, and I heard all about my cousin.”

Iris’s nightmare deepened, the oppressive aura radiating from her so palpable I could taste it.

“How my cousin truly sees me. And the meaning behind that look he gave me that day.”

For so long, Iris had harbored a deep longing for the bonds of family.

Now, with it erupting through me, there was already no turning back.

“There’s no one in this world who would ever think of me as family.”

I knew this fact, somewhere deep inside.

I had merely averted my gaze, using the excuse of needing to resolve Iris’s nightmare.

Perhaps, in my heart, I entertained the shallow hope that Iris would recognize my efforts.

As with Hania, everything I had done for Iris had been genuine.

I must have indulged in that foolish, happy fantasy of her acknowledging me, of accepting me.

“From the very beginning, all you thought about was using me, exploiting me.”

But now, I understood how arrogant that thought had been.

What Iris needed wasn’t the dissolution of her nightmare.

What she yearned for was familial affection.

Someone she could truly consider family.

That, and only that, was what Iris desired.

And I had betrayed that wish of hers.

“Speak.”

Iris rose from the chair.

And through the gap in the blanket, her thin frame was revealed.

Evidence of the meals she had been neglecting.

“What were you hoping to achieve by being by my side?”

The oppressive weight pouring from Iris bound me.

The room darkened, saturated with her nightmare.

The murderous intent was so intense, it stole my breath.

If not for the veil of bandages, for keeping fear at bay, I wouldn’t have been able to endure it.

Iris’s crimson eyes flashed fiercely.

“What did you want to accomplish by helping me, that you had to use me like this?”

She cried out to me, a plea edged with sorrow.

Iris was suddenly right before me.

A moment later, her head rested, heavy, against my chest.

“For what? Why, in the world?”

Iris’s shoulders were trembling now.

She was overcome with grief, tears falling in thick drops from her eyes.

“Why.”

The murderous intent she had unleashed wasn’t directed at me.

It was a lament, a resentment aimed at this wretched world that only sought to use her.

“Why…”

A life destined from birth to be manipulated by the Heavenly Duke.

The reality that even the only family she’d ever known was a fabrication.

Faced with such a reality, Iris wept like a child.

She was being devoured by a nightmare.

Without looking, I could feel the nightmare gauge spiking, surging wildly.

A black nightmare churned.

A bad-ending nightmare yawned, its jaws open wide.

Within, there was nothing but inky darkness.

What could I possibly say to her now?

I could say nothing.

To her, I was a sinner, one who had mocked her.

But was I to simply stand idly by?

‘No.’

My fists clenched tight.

If I left Iris like this, she would become even more lost, beyond saving.

The nightmare depended on her state of mind.

In this state, Iris would surely be consumed by it.

“Lady Iris.”

My eyes narrowed, focused.

“Don’t speak such childish nonsense.”

Here, I press the attack instead.