The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 88



Scars and Ointment

Act 4, Scene 2.

International Individual Tournament.

A new schedule was added before that time came.

Resolving Iris’s nightmares through training.

Iris followed my words and trained every day.

As a result, the frequency of her nightmares has really decreased recently.

“…I didn’t have one again.”

Early in the morning after finishing training.

Iris stared at me with a blank face as she didn’t have a nightmare today either.

“How did you do it?”

“It’s just that Miss Iris worked hard in training to dispel the power of the nightmares.”

In fact, it was only Iris’s effort.

I didn’t do much.

Iris actively used aura to consume the nightmares, faithfully following my words.

This is by no means an easy task.

It was purely Iris’s effort.

“…Is it like exercising hard makes you sleep well?”

“It’s similar. Most cases of insomnia are because the body has too much energy left to fall asleep.”

But this is not a complete solution either.

The more Iris uses her aura, the stronger she will become.

And someday, she will grow to the point where it will be difficult to consume all her aura in a day.

‘Iris is a genius.’

Her growth rate is different from that of ordinary people.

Eventually, she will catch up.

But still, it’s not a bad temporary measure.

Above all, I will solve her nightmares before Iris reaches that point.

“How is it? There’s nothing bad about listening to me, right?”

“Yes.”

Iris answered without denying.

But there was a question in her eyes.

“How does Hannon know that I have nightmares?”

The source of Iris’s nightmares is Akzon.

She was vaguely aware of it.

However, this was not something she could share with others.

Iris also had no desire to lose her life.

So, thinking herself selfish, she had desperately lived until now.

In the midst of that, someone appeared who knew about the nightmares she had been hiding.

Iris had never once mentioned that the cause of her insomnia was nightmares.

But since I knew that her insomnia was caused by nightmares, it was only natural for her to be curious.

I looked at Iris and smiled gently.

“Is that all you’re curious about?”

“……”

That couldn’t be all.

The actions I had shown so far were unpredictable even to Iris.

Someone who couldn’t be grasped even by the information network of the third princess.

That was me.

To Iris, I must have been a figure full of mysteries.

“Didn’t you say before that the things I did were not for your sake, Iris?”

Iris’s eyes met mine.

That day, Iris’s face had been unusually dark.

Iris nodded, as if she remembered that day.

“As you said, I did not move solely for your sake, Iris.”

There was a hint of regret in Iris’s eyes as she heard my answer.

“However, one of the reasons I move is indeed to help you, Iris.”

I hope that Iris’s nightmares will be resolved.

She had to suffer her whole life, being toyed with by the villain, unable to sleep properly even once.

In the end, she had to become the villain’s puppet as the final villainess.

I did not want her life to end that way.

I hoped that Iris would live enjoying what she wanted, like someone of her age.

If she wished, I hoped she would enjoy her life without being tied down by the title of princess.

“Iris, I hope you live a peaceful life without nightmares.”

Before I knew it, a gentle smile had spread across my lips.

“Iris, you too deserve to live such a life.”

Iris looked at me with a blank face.

One thing is certain, she must have read my sincerity.

I love all the heroines and characters that appear in the Flame Butterfly series.

Although Lucas, the protagonist, is not there, I would gladly do anything if I could lead them all to a happy ending.

“Making sure Iris lives such a life. That is also my goal.”

That was my purpose and goal.

“…I haven’t done anything for you. I don’t know what I can give you in the future either.”

She is the third princess.

The final villainess who climbed from the lowest position to the throne.

For such a person, one-sided help does not exist.

Everyone wants something from her and expects to get back as much as they give.

“That doesn’t matter.”

But I didn’t want anything like that.

“Just being able to free Iris from her nightmares is enough.”

I held Iris’s hand, which was injured from today’s training.

It was a wound caused by overusing her aura.

Knowing this, I took out some ointment and applied it to her hand.

Since it was something I brought separately from the Zerion Academy infirmary, its effect is outstanding.

“So, if by any chance.”

I carefully applied the ointment to the wound on Iris’s hand.

“If you don’t want to become the emperor, please tell me.”

A bright smile spread across my face.

“I will help you with that too.”

It is a very blasphemous statement, but it doesn’t matter as long as the listener doesn’t feel that way.

“……”

Iris looked at me in silence.

Her eyes were filled with various emotions, along with confusion.

I couldn’t read all of her emotions, but I knew it was something she wanted to hear at least once.

Iris had only come this far because of the Duke of Roblia.

I was a person who did not particularly desire to be an emperor.

That’s why I made that choice in the end.

Lucas couldn’t say this to Iris.

He, too, was a citizen of the empire living within the realm of the Fire Butterfly.

It was something that no one who grew up and acquired common sense in the Fire Butterfly realm could ever utter.

But I am different.

I was just a player in the Fire Butterfly realm.

The position of emperor is not as happy as people wish it to be, as any modern person would know.

The immense weight of responsibility is enough to drive a person mad.

So I told Iris something only I could say.

“Having a classmate with many secrets is quite fun, isn’t it?”

When I delivered the final joke, Iris quietly looked at me and slowly shook her head.

“Not fun.”

Was it not to her taste?

As I smacked my lips, Iris carefully wrapped her ointment-applied hand around mine.

“Thanks to Hanon, I think I know one thing.”

A gentle smile appeared on Iris’s lips.

A red rose blooms.

Maybe it’s because Iris has been sleeping so well lately.

Her smile was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.

“The reason I sleep well when Hanon is next to me.”

Iris suddenly reached out and touched my chest.

“It’s because Hanon is a warm person.”

I am physically warm, as I harbor the flame of fire.

But Iris’s words touched on something more essential.

“Thank you. Maybe I wanted to hear that from someone at least once.”

Leaving those words behind, Iris left for the dormitory.

She seemed a little relieved.

＊＊＊

Training, classes, training, classes, training, classes.

Gradually, for the increasingly necessary force, training every day.

Before we knew it, the international individual competition was just around the corner.

The international individual competition is a friendly match held with the prestige of each country at stake.

The faces of the students preparing for it were filled with tension.

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And there were those whose faces were shattered in a different sense.

They were the student council.

“Kill me. Just kill me!”

One of the student council members, overwhelmed by work, screamed and had a seizure.

The other student council members continued to work silently despite his screams.

Since the last boycott incident, the student council could not avoid inspection either.

Fortunately, this student council, under Nikita’s leadership, did not commit any corruption.

So this student council could avoid punishment.

Instead, the inspection team even went to the graduates and held them thoroughly accountable.

Jerion Academy is one of the empires’ prestigious institutions.

Since corruption had occurred in such a place, they intended to root it out this time.

It was revealed that Sylvester, the president, had secretly used the backing of the Drapen family to block the pressure of corruption.

Although Sylvester took full responsibility and resigned as student council president, his evaluation within the student council rose vertically.

You only know the value of a flower after it has withered.

The moment the two flowers, Nikita and Sylvester, withered, only darkness remained in the student council.

The vacant positions of the president and vice president.

The work that had piled up on the student council due to the absence of assistants for a while.

And the upcoming international individual competition.

The student council was truly being swept away by a wave of work.

“Haa, haa.”

Poara, sitting next to me, made some incomprehensible sounds while scanning the documents.

“Hmm.”

Next to Poara, Midra, the second-year martial arts student, was calmly organizing the documents.

He had a subtle talent for such clerical work.

But among them, there was someone in a serious condition.

While everyone was busy, the mentally exhausted secretary was quietly looking out the window.

Third-year literature top student, Nivolans Panima.

The secretary in the student council is originally positioned as the third-in-command.

However, now both the president and vice president are absent.

As a result, he had to take on the roles of both the president and vice president.

The first president, vice president, and secretary triple crown of the Jerion Academy student council!

It was a glorious position, but his eyes were filled with nothing but sorrow.

“……I can’t do this anymore.”

At that moment, Nivolans clenched his fist tightly.

He adjusted his glasses and looked around at everyone.

“At this rate, we can’t even live properly at the academy because of the student council work. No matter how you look at it, we have too much work assigned to us!”

No one responded to his outburst, but everyone had faces of agreement.

“We need reinforcements, reinforcements to prepare for the international individual exhibition. The meeting is tomorrow!”

He gritted his teeth and covered his face.

Tomorrow, there is a preliminary meeting between the academy student councils.

Nivolans had no confidence to go there as a secretary, not as the president or vice president.

Moreover, if he left his position, the student council would be swept away by the wave of work.

As the top student in literature, he was handling one-third of the student council’s work.

“Hanon Airei.”

“Yes, senior secretary.”

I stopped the document I was writing and looked up at the sudden call of my name.

Then he looked at me with desperate eyes.

“I heard you often hang out with the third princess.”

He has good ears.

I roughly understood the situation.

“The third princess is expected to be appointed as the president of Jerion Academy next year.”

This was not just expected, but confirmed.

Iris, who lacks nothing in terms of martial arts, dignity, and rank.

It was more strange that she couldn’t become the president.

“There would be no problem if she took on the role of president in advance.”

In other words, he was asking me to suggest the temporary presidency to Iris.

Iris, who lacks nothing in terms of conditions.

Above all, she herself was thinking of becoming the president, so she would follow.

“And currently, the vice president’s position is also vacant.”

Originally, I was thinking of opening a recruitment for an interim vice president, but due to consecutive boycott incidents, the vice president was still not selected.

“You are also close with Sharin Sazarith, the top student in the second-year magic studies? The daughter of the Blue Tower Lord.”

Oh, this is not a good flow.

Even if Iris would cooperate, Sharin would never agree to such a thing.

“Make the 3rd princess the interim president, and Sharin Sazarith the interim vice president, and take them to the World Academy conference hall tomorrow! No matter what!”

Our secretary has gone mad.