The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1303

“Ugh.” Emperor Contas let out a groan and frowned as he lay sprawled on a wide bed. “Never in this life have I ever lost in a show of strength...”

“Your opponent was that man, Your Majesty,” an aide tried to comfort him.

“Whose subordinate are you?! Your emperor just got beaten to a pulp, and yet you’re not even thinking of raising the army right now!” Contas snapped irritably, glaring at his aide who just stared back at him with half-lidded eyes. “What? What’s with that smug look?”

“Your Majesty, you’re the one who provoked him despite knowing this would happen. Is there anyone on the continent who doesn’t know he’s famously obsessed with his wife?”

“Hah. Isn’t it all so funny?” Groaning, the emperor grabbed his waist with one hand and sat up.

This was all thanks to the so-called sparring match that was, in truth, nothing more than a beating from Davey. That a mere duke from a small kingdom could thrash the emperor of an entire empire so thoroughly—any other ruler would’ve taken that as a declaration of war.

Yet, not only did Contas never publicly acknowledge the incident, even the handful of others who knew of it didn’t demand any retaliation. They were just thankful it ended there.

“Saint Davey O’Rowane doesn’t give a damn about international politics, national image, military strength, or political standing. You know that better than anyone, Your Majesty. So why provoke him?”

“Aren’t you curious? Why would a man, who could conquer and rule the entire continent in a short time if he wanted to, choose to live quietly in society?” The emperor scanned the map of the continent with amusement. “There’s not a single region untouched by his influence. The west, central, east... He has traces even in remote lands we’ve yet to identify. Suddenly he’s even allied with the Demon King, too.” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Some whispered that perhaps the Demon King had brainwashed Davey, but the emperor found those suggestions utterly foolish.

The tales of the undefeated Demon King circulating across the continent were mere child’s play in his eyes when compared to Davey. That man was a being who had ascended to a realm no human should be capable of reaching.

The emperor, whose instincts had always been razor-sharp since childhood, saw Davey with a perspective different from most.

“He’s... truly tempting.” He clicked his tongue and groaned again, the pain flaring up.

“But, Your Majesty. Are you sure it’s wise to let this go?” the aide cautiously questioned.

“It doesn’t matter. I checked everything I wanted to, and the suspicions I had were resolved.”

“Suspicions? Your Majesty, I fear I’m too slow-witted to grasp your intentions.”

“It’s simple. Just like the rumors, I too once wondered if he’d been brainwashed by the Demon King.”

“It was a suspicious situation, for sure. So, you’ve uncovered the truth?”

“There’s no physical evidence, but an interesting hypothesis did come to mind.” Contas rested his chin on one hand. “Why would a being the Demon King couldn’t control willingly choose to help the demons? Have you ever thought about that?”

“Well, perhaps it was because of a revelation from Goddess Freyja,” the aide suggested.

“You expect me to believe that? Even if it’s true, he’s not the type to follow any course of action without some kind of benefit. Especially not when working with demons.”

Demons were once humanity’s enemies. The Davey O’Rowane that Emperor Contas knew had little mercy for his enemies. While he could be lenient at times, there was no plausible reason for him to suddenly side with demons.

Which left only one possibility.

“So, I have two theories. One, he planned to bring the demons to his side from the start. Or two... someone from the demon race is already by his side.”

“Your Majesty?!”

“Did you know? Just before the fall of the Haetan Kingdom, there was a rumor going around. It said that the first wife of Grand Duke Davey O’Rowane—the one he loves more than anyone else in this world—is a demon.”

The aide thought again of Davey’s wife. Even he, who rarely showed interest in women, remembered her smile. A beauty so stunning, it had left a lasting impression.

“Even the six most famous beauties of the continent pale in comparison to her. Not that the six were undeserving of their titles, of course.”

“Now that you mention it, it’s funny how more than half of those six beauties are at his side.”

He had married Illyna de Pallan, the treasured daughter of the Pallan Kingdom. Then there was the newly joined Imperial Princess of Lyndis, Aeria el Lyndis. Another impudent little redhead who made a name for herself amongst the alchemists named Tiara was included as well.

Then there was Verdandi, a woman shrouded in rumor. Her appearance was so rare that few had ever seen her.

“But that’s not the point. Do you know anything about her?”

“Nothing, Your Majesty. There’s absolutely no information.”

“I see. Yet, her demeanor always had an undeniable grace, so she couldn’t have been of common birth. Do you understand what it means when that kind of refinement and elegance shows itself naturally?”

“You mean... she’s royalty? Or a high noble?”

“Nine times out of ten, yes. So, let’s return to the important question. Why is there no information about her if she’s of royal blood? Information control? Why would he bother with that, right? For someone so shameless, that level of caution says a lot.”

Which made it all the more intriguing. If Emperor Contas were in Davey’s shoes, he would’ve brazenly shouted it out instead of hiding anything. It wasn’t like anyone would’ve dared stop him anyway.

The emperor smirked in fascination.

“Are you saying,” the aide murmured before his eyes widened. “She might not be human?”

“Well, it’s just speculation, but if that rumor about her being a demon is true, then everything lines up. It explains why he rushed to the Haetan Kingdom, and why he’s helping the demons. Everything.”

“Still, Your Majesty. Demons have a small horn, about the size of our thumb, on their foreheads. She never showed any such thing.”

“She could easily hide it, if she wanted to.” What mattered were the implications of her identity as a demon. “And I’m not the only one who’s noticed this.”

In truth, all three empires had likely reached the same conclusion.

“I wonder what he’s planning in that head of his.”

* * *

“You! Why do you keep sneaking Abel’s formula?”

Perserque poked Davey’s cheek with half-lidded eyes. She sat on Davey’s lap like she was riding a horse while he leaned back in a large chair.

Though she was sitting on him, he could barely feel her weight.

“It actually tastes better than I expected.”

After Abel was born, Perserque should’ve breastfed him. But whether it was due to her constitution or because he was her first child, it didn’t go well.

Normally, they would’ve had Aeria be their wet nurse. Not wanting to burden her unnecessarily, they opted for formula instead.

At first, it had been simple curiosity on Davey’s part. He couldn’t believe that baby formula alone would be enough for his child. Even if it made sense medically and scientifically, since it was going into their youngest son’s body, he figured he should try a spoonful to be sure.

That one spoonful he took out of curiosity was his downfall.

“So you’ve eaten half of it?” Perserque asked with exasperation.

“We shouldn’t feed that stuff. It’s basically a drug.”

“You shameless thing...”

It had started with just one spoonful. However, after passing by the formula now and then, he found himself taking a scoop here, a scoop there. Before he noticed, half the container had already been emptied.

“If you wanted it that badly, you could’ve just bought a new one...”

“We have to save our funds! If the kids see us throwing money around, what are they going to learn?”

“There it is again, another excuse. That’s a disease, you know? You even pulled the same stunt during the demon race’s armistice talks.”

Davey had deliberately orchestrated that situation to plant the idea in the minds of the three empire leaders that Perserque was a demon. That ensured they’d back off, stop digging, and just give their consent.

“You always do that. You’ve got all this power, but you keep choosing to blend into the middle of the pack,” she chided him.

“What’s wrong with that? It’s because I stay in the middle that things stay under control.”

“Ugh.” Still frowning, she pulled her legs in to wrap around his, then placed her hands on his shoulders. “You. You’ve got formula powder at the corner of your mouth.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Hold still.” She slowly leaned in like she was going to kiss him, then, wearing a mischievous smile, stuck out her tongue and licked the corner of his mouth. She lightly licked her own lips and gave a slow nod. “Not bad.”

“Right? Tastes pretty good, doesn’t it? I kept thinking about it and found myself scooping some without even realizing it.”

“That doesn’t mean you can sneak into the supply storage where I hid it, just to eat it all.”

“Anyway, can you get off now?” he complained. “Don’t start tempting me first thing in the morning.”

“Why does it matter? I’ve fully recovered now.”

“Giving Abel a little sibling wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Don’t worry.” With that same mischievous smile, she leaned in and whispered into his ear, “It’s no longer that time of the month.”

Davey let out a dry laugh and muttered without thinking, “You vixen...”

* * *

“Stop! I said stop, you crazy lunatics!!” Screaming, Evangeline clutched her face with both hands, pressing her palms onto her eyes like she wanted to pop them out. “This is disgusting and filthy! I’m telling you, even as a dragon, I don’t get turned on by the way dragons look! If one more person asks me to draw a dragon again, I’ll ban everyone and shut the whole stream down!”

Her dragon drawing had mesmerized so many people that it accidentally birthed an entirely new niche fetish. As a result, some in the art community had come to regard Evangeline as a pioneer—or worse, the founder of some new religious cult.

Her stream was popular not just in Korea but worldwide, so the issue was one big headache for her.

[Ahem. The grandmaster of the dragon genre has spoken.]

[Shh, the master’s talking. Silence, everyone.]

“You’re both banned!!”

[User Napolitan has been banned.]

[User Tribrigade has been banned.]

[Valhalla!!!]

She watched them vanish while shouting like cult fanatics being dragged off to execution. Evangeline squinted, thinking their usernames seemed familiar. She quickly realized they were the same ones who had laughed at her when they saw her first sketch of the dragon, mocking her by saying her scribbles were never going to turn into a dragon.

Of course, Evangeline never wanted such attention.

Due to her status, no one dared to say anything explicit on her stream, but the thirst was obvious.

Eventually, her motivation to draw drained completely. She slapped her pen down loudly on the tablet and closed the file she was working on. “That’s enough drawing for today. I’m just gonna play some games.”

[Constellation Sagittarius has donated 500,000 Won]

- Hey, boss, I heard that Moderation dude is playing mafia again. You should join him.

“Oh, Sagittarius, thank you so much for the 500,000 won! Mafia game? I’ve heard of it, but... how do you play?”

Seeing her ask that with such an innocent look, the chat exploded.

[Bro. That’s her reaction to 500,000 won? For real?]

[She went from the usual thank you to thank you so much LOLS]

[The way she goes huh with that dum dum little face drives me insane GGG]

[Explain.]

[EX.]

[PLAIN.]

[NOW.]

“What do you mean, reaction?” Evangeline, flustered and face turning red, fumbled for her words. The more flustered she got, the more her viewers seemed to enjoy themselves.

Just as she hesitated, trying to figure out what to do, a voice chat notification popped up like a savior.

“Oh? It’s Moderation! Hold on guys, I’ll prepare a proper reaction next time!”

[She’s dipping!]

[Woah!!! She’s going to lose so many fans!!]

Ignoring the screeching complaints in chat, Evangeline made a finger heart with her thumb and index finger like a peace offering.

“Constellation Sagittarius, thank you so much for the 500,000 won... Buh-byeeee!!” she said, hands up against her cheeks until she couldn’t take it anymore. Face burning with embarrassment, she buried her face in her hands.

[This is it!]

[HAHAHA I clipped it!!]

[This one’s going into the cringe hall of fame!]

“I hate streaming...” She sighed and answered the voice call, “What’s up?”

- Oh, Eva. You wanna play mafia?

“I’m in,” she answered weakly, joining the pre-made voice chat room as Moderation requested.

“Hello.”

“Whoa, she’s here! The master of dragons!!”

Multiple male voices came through at once.

“Welcome, welcome, Eva!”

Three female voices followed shortly after. All of them were major streamers with over 400K subscribers each, and they greeted her like they already knew her well.

“Ummm. Can I just leave?” That one person who called her the master of dragons made her put up her walls around them.

“Hey, you psychos! I told you not to say that in front of her!” Moderation scolded them, but Evangeline just grew more depressed.

Already crushed by the self-loathing from earlier and exhausted from the dragon talk, she pleaded in a dying voice, “Please don’t call me that... please...”

Naturally, that only made everyone enjoy it more.

“Anyway, great to have you here, Eva! This is your first time, right?”

“Yes. I go by Evangeline. Nice to meet you all,” she politely greeted.

“Come on, if you don’t know Eva, you’ve been living under a rock.”

“N-Not at all...” Evangeline, in awe at how professional everyone was with the endless talking, cautiously asked, “Moderation, this game we’re playing... what is it about?”

“Oh, well, you already installed it, right?”

“No, but I’m installing it now...”

“It’s simple. There are eight players, and two of them are murderers. They pretend to be normal survivors and try to kill everyone. If they get caught, they get executed the next day.”

“Hmm. I guess I’ll just have to try it to understand.”

As the game launched, Evangeline flexed her fingers. Excitement started to bubble up inside her as the game properly began.

The first round commenced. Whether it was beginner’s luck or not, Evangeline was chosen as one of the murderers right off the bat. As soon as the loading screen ended, her character appeared, casually wiping a blade across her hand and hiding it.

“Whoa...” However, she was completely unfamiliar with the game. “Oh? Moderation?”

“Yeah, Eva. Try pressing T real quick.”

“T?” With a puzzled look, she pressed the T key.

At the same time, a knife appeared in her character’s hand.

“Eva’s the killer!!! Guys, Evangeline is the killer!!!”

“H-Huh?!” Startled, her character bolted into a sprint.

As Moderation screamed in panic and ran, Evangeline, just as flustered, chased after him wildly with the knife in hand. “You meanie! How dare you!!!”

“Damn it! Where the hell is everyone?!” Moderation screamed as he ran, desperately looking for other survivors. Strangely, there was no one around him.

Squelsh!!

With a sudden sound, his character collapsed. Another character then revealed itself nearby. Above the new avatar, the name Si-Woo appeared.

“Oh! Si-Woo was here too?” Evangeline was surprised.

“Wow. Don’t you think that was a bit much?” Moderation complained, salty over the loss.

Si-Woo, once called the top-lane king in his pro gamer days, having retired and working as a streamer, grinned as he looked down.

“I just took that dude out. So, wanna be the one to finish the job?”

Moderation paled. “E-Eva? Let’s talk this out, okay? Let’s talk—”

“Oh yeah? You wanna talk?” With that said, Evangeline stabbed the downed Moderation repeatedly with her knife. “You meanie!! You absolute meanie!!”

After stabbing the air over and over with furious swings, she finally paused and looked down at the unmoving corpse. “Where do I hide this?”

“W-What? Hide?”

“Yes. I need to hide it so I don’t get caught.”

“Wait, this game doesn’t have a dead body hiding thing.”

A fire was lit in her eyes. “This is... kinda fun...”

Watching her, Si-Woo let out a reluctant sigh. ‘Please don’t let her come beat me up for corrupting her...’

He shuddered, picturing Illyna who had occasionally visited Earth to play games with him. He imagined her storming in wielding a massive longsword, furious over the whole situation.

“Oh, right! I had something to ask the Saint, too.” He sighed again, remembering a request from an old relative that he’d meant to bring up a long time ago.