Chapter 361: Madness Bends to Even Greater Madness (1)

"What the fuck?" Oh Kang-Woo muttered.

'Why did she say my name?'

His eyes shook. He quickly looked toward Iris; she was looking his way with a very wide smile, quivering as if she couldn't be any happier than this moment.

"You motherf..."

The back of his head rang with pain, and his mind was in jumbles. He asked himself why, but he was able to come up with an answer soon enough. It was simple... so simple that he felt stupid for not having realized it sooner.

'Iris's feelings have... switched from Si-Hun to me.'

Kang-Woo couldn't understand why he had been unable to pick up on the changes in Iris's affections.

Kang-Woo clenched his fists. He knew exactly why. He was highly sensitive to emotions; he was well-versed in reading them as well as controlling them. After all, he was a demon. He had spent ten millennia in a world run by desires.

However, he was unskilled in reading others' affections for him— no, he was unable to feel it. One could say that he had become insensitive or broken. He had not felt such a thing for far too long. His life had been one of endless desperate battles to extend his survival; everything unrelated to victory had been atrophied. He was unable to pick up on subtle changes in one's affection unless that affection was clearly transmitted to him verbally. Hence, he had missed the changes in Iris, and had made an error.

'Shit. I thought I'd gotten better.'

Kang-Woo thought that he had learned much about it after meeting Han Seol-Ah, but he had been sorely mistaken. He could hear mumbling from all around the plaza.

"Oh Kang-Woo?"

"Who is that?"

"Wouldn't the hero who saved the empire be Sir Kim Si-Hun?"

The people who had been cheering just a few seconds ago were looking at each other in confusion due to the mention of a completely unexpected name. It was only natural; although Kang-Woo was fairly well-known on Earth, only a handful of people knew about him in Aernor because he had purposefully concealed his identity.

'This is bad.'

Kang-Woo bit his lip while staring at the mumbling people. This was the worst possible situation. He had purposefully hidden his identity because he was trying to focus the attention of the high elves on Si-Hun. If the attention of the empire's citizens were to be focused on Kang-Woo, so would the attention of the high elves. Worst-case scenario, they would find out that he was the Demon of Prophecy.

'I mean, I guess I'll still be fine since I have Gaia's guarantee.'

After Kang-Woo became the Protector of Light, he would be recognized as Gaia's retainer by all those who possessed Divinity. Hence, not even the high elves would easily be able to figure out his true identity.

'But...'

It did not change the fact that Iris had ripped apart the plan that he had pictured in his mind. The gears in his head turned quickly. He needed to resolve this situation, even if he needed to use unreasonable means.

"Sir Kang-Woo..." Iris approached Kang-Woo while teary-eyed. She smiled and then whispered, "Please give me a ring as well."

Her eyes were filled with twisted desires.

'Authority of Subordination.'

Kang-Woo closed his eyes and linked his consciousness with that of Kim Si-Hun, who was standing next to Iris. Si-Hun was left flustered by the train of events that had completely derailed from the original plan.

- Si-Hun.

"H-Hyung-nim?"

- You don't have to speak out loud.

- What's going on? The plan was supposed to be—

- Iris acted on her own.

- Then...

Si-Hun was staring at Kang-Woo, not knowing what to do.

- Just do as I say.

Si-Hun was about to say something, but refrained from it and nodded. He listened to Kang-Woo's instructions, and then grabbed Iris's hand as she was walking toward Kang-Woo.

"Princess Iris. People will get the wrong idea if you call me by that name," he expressed.

"H-Huh?" Iris stared at Si-Hun, unable to understand what he was talking about.

"You should only call me that... when we're by ourselves."

Si-Hun smiled gently and caressed Iris's cheek. He pulled Iris along and stood in front of the voice amplification magic tool.

"As you all know, I am not a citizen of Arnan." Si-Hun calmly continued, "In my hometown, children are given two names."

Kang-Woo was having Si-Hun spout absurd bullshit.

'There's no other way.'

He was trying to scoop back up water that had already been spilt, so it was naturally very clumsy.

'But even so...'

Kang-Woo's eyes lit up. In the end, people only saw what they wanted to see, listened only to what they wanted to listen to, and trusted only what they wanted to trust.

'And they want Si-Hun and Iris to become a couple. If that's the case, it'll work.'

Even if it was unreasonable and didn't make sense, Kang-Woo was certain that it would work for sure.

"I received names from both my mother and father. The name that Princess Iris has said is the one that my mother has given me."

"Ohhhh," the people gathered at the plaza expressed.

Instead of it sounding more like they understood, their expression gave off more of a feeling that they were wondering if that meant Si-Hun and Iris were getting engaged.

Si-Hun smiled brightly. "Yes, Princess Iris and I have gotten engaged."

"Waaaaaaaaahhh!!"

"Whistle! Whistle!"

The people who had been confused began to cheer while whistling again.

"Urgh, n-no! I...!"

Just as Iris was about to shout something while fiercely frowning, Kang-Woo stepped up.

"Iris, come here for a second."

"Sir Kang-Woo?"

Kang-Woo pulled Iris by the wrist in a way that would attract as little attention as possible. He made Iris step down from the platform while Si-Hun was distracting the people, and then glared at her in anger.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"U-Umm..." Iris lowered her head while stuttering. She started to come up with a poor excuse like Kang-Woo had. "You said that I needed to be engaged to a hero of the empire for the nation to be revived. You are just as great of a hero as Sir Si-Hun, but people don't know that yet, so I thought I would take this chance to tell them of your accomplishments..."

Because Iris knew nothing of Kang-Woo's circumstances, she seemed to have been bothered by how no one knew of his achievements.

Kang-Woo frowned. "When did I tell you to do that kind of shit?"

"I-I'm sorry." Iris lowered her head in dejection.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue as he looked over at the people of the plaza who were waiting for Iris to come back up to the platform.

"We'll talk about this later. Get back up there and finish your speech."

"Okay." Iris nodded while on the verge of tears.

Thankfully, she managed to get through the rest of her speech without any issues. The people chanted Si-Hun and Iris's names, and the two of them came down from the platform while showing how close they were to everyone. Kang-Woo went back to his room after watching the speech to the very end.

'It's my fault for not realizing sooner, but...'

Iris was ultimately responsible for acting on her own.

'I should scold her sternly.'

It had been difficult for Kang-Woo to be stern with Iris due to her unstable mental state, but it would be bad if something like this happened again. Kang-Woo put his hand on his forehead as if it hurt.

"How did this happen...?"

Nothing would change even if he knew Iris's feelings for him. He had no intention to be with another woman as long as Seol-Ah was with him.

"Hmm?"

Just then, something popped up in his head.

'Seol-Ah?'

Come to think of it, Seol-Ah had been nowhere to be seen from around the midpoint of the speech. Kang-Woo's face turned pale.

"Wait."

He quickly got up and ran toward Iris's room. Wham! He swung open the door.

"Fuck."

Iris was nowhere to be seen in the empty room.

***

A blonde woman slowly opened her eyes in a pitch-black room, tied to a chair.

"H-Huh?" Iris looked around as if she couldn't understand what was going on. "Wh-Where am I?"

She tried to get up from the chair, but she heard the sound of chains clattering. Only then did she realize that she had been chained up.

"Wh-What the—?"

A chill ran down Iris's spine. She combed through her memories.

'After the speech... I separated from Sir Si-Hun and went back to my room, and then...'

She had no memory of anything after that.

"Ngh! Urgghhh!"

Iris twisted and turned madly, but she could not escape from the shining chains.

Creak. A door opened.

"Wh-Who's there?!" Iris turned her head toward the sound to see a woman glaring at her coldly. "Han... Seol-Ah...?"

Seol-Ah approached her slowly. "You've done something quite interesting this time."

"Ngh..."

"I believe I told you before..." Seol-Ah yanked on Iris's hair and said with a voice filled with bloodlust, "... That you should know your place."

"Urgh...!" Iris bared her teeth ferociously. She leaned toward Seol-Ah as if trying to leap at her and shouted, "Shut up! Sir Kang-Woo loves me far more than the likes of you!"

Iris recalled her memories with Kang-Woo and the feelings that they shared while stabbing Fidelio. The emotions and pleasures that she had felt were not hers alone; she was sure that Kang-Woo had also felt the same way.

"I can no longer... live on without... Sir Kang-Woo."

Iris glared at Seol-Ah in madness. Kang-Woo had saved her— no, he had given her a push for her to be able to stand on her own. He had taken her out of Reynald's shadow, which she had been hiding within all this time.

Silence fell. Seol-Ah bent forward and grabbed her stomach.

"Pfft." The laugh she was suppressing spilled out. "Kang-Woo loves you more, you say?" The corners of Seol-Ah's mouth rose as if mocking Iris. "That's enough of your delusions, Iris. I can't believe you still have the gall to say that after seeing this."

Seol-Ah waved her left hand with the ring on her ring finger in front of Iris.

Iris's face froze. Seol-Ah slowly walked up to her, raised her hand and slowly caressed Iris's cheek.

"To be honest, I was fine with Lilith, Echidna, and... even Yeon-Joo. I could endure it if it were them," Seol-Ah expressed.

Iris was unable to comprehend what Seol-Ah was talking about.

"But..." The light in Seol-Ah's eyes disappeared, and those eyes pointed toward Iris. "... Not you. I can't let someone like you be with Kang-Woo."

"Ngh...! Wh-Why am I the only one?!" Iris shouted while frowning.

Seol-Ah slowly lowered the hand that was caressing Iris's cheek. "Because..." Seol-Ah's hand traveled from Iris's cheek to her chin. "You..." And then to her neck. "... Don't love Kang-Woo." And then to her chest.

"What?" Iris froze, completely dazed by Seol-Ah's incomprehensible answer. "What are you talking about?!"

Seol-Ah giggled. "What am I talking about, you ask? I'm sure you know that better than I do."

"You're wrong! I lov—"

"You love him?" Seol-Ah shook her head. "No. You don't love Kang-Woo." Seol-Ah looked Iris straight in the eyes with her own eyes filled with thick bloodlust. "You're just trying to use him."

"What?"

"I don't know what happened for you to have ended up this way, but... You just want Kang-Woo because you need someone to depend on."

Iris had been protected by someone all her life. By Reynald, Si-Hun, and...

"You simply chose Kang-Woo to replace your deceased brother."

"Y-You're wrong!" Iris screamed.

There was no way that she had chosen Kang-Woo to replace Reynald. She had barely managed to come out from the shadow to stand on her own two feet, so there was no way that she was trying to hide within someone else's shadow again.

"I'm wrong?" Seol-Ah burst into laughter. "Really? Do you really think so?"

Silence fell once again. Iris trembled in pallor.

"No... No. I love Kang-Woo. I didn't want him so I could hide behind him. Wh-Who do you think you are to be spouting bullshit like that?!" Iris shouted madly as she glared at Seol-Ah with bloodlust.

Seol-Ah crouched while licking her lips to be with Iris at eye level.

"It doesn't matter even if you don't know. Honestly, it doesn't matter even if I'm wrong, and you truly do love Kang-Woo. After all..."

Seol-Ah slowly extended her hand. An enormous amount of energy poured out from her.

"Eek!" Iris trembled in pallor.

Seol-Ah smiled widely. Pure-white wings sprouted from her back. Madness so thick that it couldn't even be compared to that of Iris poured out from her.

"You won't be able to love Kang-Woo anymore."

The twelve wings on Seol-Ah's back radiated blinding light.