For My Derelict Favorite

A courtier who had been to the duke stood in the office.

“I examined her carefully, but there were no abnormalities, your highness the crown prince.”

“…”

Despite the good news, Helios’ expression was not relieved. The innocent courtier reported honestly, but only looked around.

“…okay, go away.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

In the joy of escaping the stifling pressure, the court immediately courteously left.

Helios pressed his eyes hard.

“Whoo….”

I have to change it. I have to change it.

I can never let Hestia die.

But the real culprit is.

“Why are you so aloof…!”

Helios screamed in a low voice.

Her expression and attitude showed no desire for life.

Whoever lives on this earth struggles to live in the face of death. That is the very natural instinct of ‘living things’.

“Damn it…”

Is it because she has already experienced death once? That’s why she doesn’t have the will to avoid death.

She herself had risked her entire life again to save Kaelus, so why not save her own life?

It was beyond Helios’ comprehension.

~~~~

“…God. I pray that my prayers…”

Diana, tirelessly, kept her hours-long prayer meeting for hours. There were only a handful of people left around her.

“Ha….”

She let out a long sigh.

There is still a lack of prayer. Maybe I’ll stay here all night.

When she was catching her breath for a while before continuing my next prayer.

“…!”

Diana froze at the sight of one approaching.

“Heli, what brings you to this prayer meeting?”

Looking at his wife, who no longer smiled at him, Helios felt that love was so vain.

When the crown prince appeared, the servants and maids who remained until then quickly withdrew. There were only two people left in the vast space.

“I thought I’d pray with you.”

“…”

Diana stared at Helios. She had no idea what he was thinking.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“…I have to keep praying, so ask me quickly.”

Helios smiled bitterly once and opened his mouth.

“Do you have to kneel down for so long for God to hear your prayers?”

Diana’s fine eyebrows were slightly distorted. She didn’t know if it was sarcastic or really curious.

“The fear of God is the most important thing. No matter how much you desire it, God will never hear it if it is a desire for self-interest.”

Helios laughed bitterly at the words.

Self-interest. Then what is it for his wife to pray so hard?

“Will God hear you pray for Kael?”

“Heli.”

Diana suppressed the surge of anger.

“In the end, did you come all the way here to say that?”

“Not necessarily, but I wanted to ask you how you really feel at least once.”

The embarrassing rumors of Diana had long been heard in Helios’ ears. He didn’t talk it out on purpose, but he kept it buried inside, but since it exploded, he decided to tell it off.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on about the rumors around you?”

“You don’t have to worry about rumors anyway. Because I don’t live by being consciousness.”

Helios laughed in vain at the cold answer.

“That’s why you’re being questioned for morality. A crown princess who flirts with a man who’s married.”

“!”

Diana glared at him.

Helios responded calmly to the look.

“Wake up, Diana. Your husband is me.”

“You’re the one who needs to wake up. I’m your wife. Not Hestia!”

Where did it go wrong? At least the answer was very clear to Diana.

“Everything has been messed up since you put Hestia by your side. You’ve fallen for her tricks, and now you like her more than I do!”

She couldn’t control her emotions that burst out. Diana began to cry out sadly.

“I’m flirting with him? Is that what people say? The world wasn’t on my side from the beginning. Only Kael believed in me!”

“Kael believes in you?”

Helios was genuinely ridiculous. To the best of his knowledge, Kaelus is preoccupied with his wife.

“Diana, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? I can’t tell whether the crown princess of this country is me or Hestia.”

“So you’re saying that I’ve got a different mind, you’ve only done the same?”

“If you only want to think of me as such a lowly being, do as you please. I don’t care.”

Diana turned away from him again.

Helios sighed deeply.

Actually, he didn’t come here to fight like this. He really wanted to pray.

As Diana pointed out, the reason why he wants Hestia to survive may be because of his own greed.

But even so, Hestia must live for Kaelus.

So it’s even more incomprehensible. Obviously Hestia said Kaelus was everything to life, so why don’t you want to live happily ever after by his side?

“Hic…”

Suddenly, he heard a sob next to him. It was a cry that Diana burst out as she knelt down in front of the statue and prayed.

How can they be so sincere? Is her prayer really not for self-interest, but for the good of the world?

Helios looked at the shape and asked impulsively.

“If he comes back safely, do you think he’ll love you the way he used to?”

“!”

Diana glared at Helios with a wet face.

He didn’t even ask around anymore. When asked directly, Diana also stood up and confronted.

“He never betrayed me.”

“Do you think he’ll love you?”

“It wasn’t a lie that he loved me!”

Helios finally showed his anger, too.

“He tried to kill himself! It’s none other than because of  us!”

“!”

“Why did you forget that? Do you really think his mind will remain the same? You think a few laughs at him will cover up the whole past?”

“Kael is different from you.”

Diana clenched her teeth.

“Unlike you, he’s endlessly generous and endlessly reliable!”

“He has a loving wife.”

“Oh, is that so? Come to think of it, don’t you like her a lot?”

“Diana. Don’t bite me. All I want is for you to give up Kael.”

Diana’s blue eyes burned.

“I want her to die.”

“!”

“God will soon strike down judgment and destroy all evil…! God will judge the wicked woman who persecuted the servant of the good God!”

Unfailing hatred. Helios was speechless in the face of the vivid emotion.

“All evil will perish. That’s God’s providence.”

“Is Hestia evil?”

“Is there room for doubt?”

“Then what about us?”

“?”

Helios asked Diana again, who looked at him as if she didn’t understand.

“Are we good?”

“You have joined hands with evil. Not me. In exchange for keeping the good faith, I’m going through these hardships today.”

Diana didn’t budge from her faith.

Helios had a weak smile on his face.

“Diana, that’s not true. It’s not a hardship.”

“What’s that….”

“It’s not hardship, it’s paying the price. In return for all the evil we have done.”

“Heli…!”

“I’m the only one who will say this to you now. Look around you. Who remains with you now.”

Diana’s heart flared with emotion. At the same time, instinctive self-defense was invoked. She didn’t do anything wrong. She didn’t do anything wrong.

However, seeing the tears slowly filling up in Helios’ golden eyes, she was slightly shocked.

“Diana, let’s go back to the beginning. We need to go back and figure out where it went wrong and correct it.”

“Heli, I….”

“We’re not perfect either! At least to Kaelus, we are the evil that made him die!”

“…!”

Helios tried not to shed tears.

“We’ve got to be… It’s an evil that deserves to die, Diana…”

“…”

As Helios walked helplessly with his back turned, Diana just stared blankly.

“To someone… We’re evil too..?”

What are you talking about, us?

Diana bit her lip.

The absolute evil was Hestia. And the nobles who joined hands with her, Helios.

But even if Helios passed everything else he said, one thing was also on my mind.

“Kael was going to die because of me and Heli…”

No matter how much she tried to deny and bury it, it was a truth that she couldn’t turn a blind eye to.

Of course, she didn’t deliberately drive Kaelus to death with evil thoughts. Just because of the unintentional consequences, Diana did not think she had done any harm directly to Kael.

But in the end, the cause was herself and Helios.

She had no choice but to admit it.

“…I must apologize… Do it….”

I am not apologizing because I have committed evil.

There was no malice, but in order to comfort Kael, who was unintentionally causing trouble.

She took a step back to restore her relationship with him and to punish true evil.

“…please be merciful to me, God….”