Chapter 20 : Tania Helios (1)

“Then, what happened?”

Luna was truly dumbfounded.

The sudden loss of motivation left her feeling empty, to the point where her arms drooped, and she almost dropped her weapon.

‘Still, let’s not jump to conclusions.’

But Luna was Luna.

Even though the words had already escaped her mouth, she refrained from making hasty judgments.

Luna slowly looked around to assess the situation.

A desolate ruin, with nothing but dust-covered objects.

Among them, the only thing clean was the chair Irene was sitting on.

At the very least, it was clear that the chair didn’t come from this ruin.

Moreover, ropes and a gag were scattered on the floor.

Piecing these together, a plausible story started to form.

‘Could she have been kidnapped and just released?’

Considering Irene’s abilities, it seemed like a reasonable assumption.

The idea that Irene might have been playing a prank on her was even harder to believe.

Who was Irene, after all?

A person who appeared kind to everyone but, upon closer examination, kept everyone at arm’s length, building walls between herself and others.

From Luna’s perspective, Irene was still just someone

“mysterious and using her rank as an excuse to stay distant.”

The mere notion of Irene pulling a prank was something Luna found difficult to accept.

“So she really was kidnapped…?”

‘Then I said something awful to someone who was just kidnapped?’

Luna felt as if she’d been struck by a hammer.

Her mind went blank in an instant.

Not only was this not an ordinary situation, but she had spoken harshly to someone who was a victim of a crime!

Luna felt utterly disgusted with herself.

Of course, Irene didn’t think that way at all.

How could “a bit ridiculous” be considered harsh language when curses were flying left and right?

But Luna had no way of knowing that.

Luna quickly apologized.

“I’m so sorry, Irene! I really thought you were joking… No, I don’t even have the right to make excuses. I’m truly sorry…”

Luna’s rapid-fire apology left Irene feeling bewildered.

She was the one who had pulled the prank, so why was Luna apologizing?

…A new counterattack strategy, perhaps?

“I was joking, though.”

“I knew it, I… Wait, what?”

“I was joking.”

“Then what’s with the ropes and the gag?”

“Oh, those. I was going to use them, but you showed up too early, so I didn’t get the chance.”

Only after Irene confessed did Luna finally stop apologizing.

But as soon as the apologies ended, Luna started crying!

Is she crying because she realized it was a prank?

No matter how many times Irene thought about it, she couldn’t understand what was going on in Luna’s mind.

It was impossible for someone as calculating as Irene to comprehend such raw emotions.

Luna hung her head, tears streaming down her face, but soon she looked up at Irene.

To Irene’s surprise, instead of continuing to cry, Luna smiled.

“Thank you, Irene.”

“First an apology, now a thank you?”

“Well, you considered me a friend, didn’t you?”

To put it bluntly, Luna was someone who didn’t have any friends.

While “Luna the streamer” might be popular, the real Luna had no close friends.

She always had to find new people to form a party with, and when she wasn’t streaming, she spent most of her time at home, with no one to hang out with.

That’s why Irene’s prank had such a profound effect on her.

A prank meant you were close to someone, didn’t it?

And the fact that it was Irene—a hot topic of discussion and someone who kept walls up with most people—who played a prank on her?

It made Luna genuinely happy.

“I… honestly, I don’t care if you’re some executive at the Demon King’s castle or whatever. I’m just really grateful that you even played games with me.”

…That was just to siphon off her soul stones, though.

It seemed Luna still hadn’t realized she’d been thoroughly drained of her soul stones.

Of course, Irene couldn’t just break the mood by saying,

“We’re not really friends.”

Instead, she quietly patted Luna on the shoulder.

Luna cried for several more minutes before suddenly pulling away from Irene, seemingly regaining her composure.

“I’m sorry, Irene. I didn’t mean to show you this side of me so suddenly.”

“It’s fine.”

Not like Irene understood why she was crying in the first place.

Besides, Luna wasn’t even an important NPC.

Irene herself didn’t know exactly what kind of character Luna was.

The most she knew was that Luna was a healing-themed streamer.

The only reason Irene had reached out to her in the first place was because Luna seemed so agreeable.

She figured Luna wouldn’t turn down a favor.

Somehow, Irene felt like the bad guy.

Especially considering the favors she was planning to ask in the future, it only made her feel worse.

Irene slowly started steering the conversation.

“I’m glad you liked it. Honestly, the prank wasn’t for any special reason. It’s just that you didn’t believe my messages, so I got a little mischievous.”

“It’s fine. I actually liked it. You know, I don’t have any friends, so this is the first time something like this has ever happened to me.”

Luna beamed at Irene, meeting her gaze with a warm smile.

Looking at her, Irene couldn’t help but think one thing.

“Then, maybe we could make plans to hang out together sometime?”

“Of course! I’d love that! I don’t do much outside of streaming anyway—I’m almost always in my room.”

…She’s the type who makes you want to tease her a lot, huh?

To think that someone who seemed so pure and resolute was actually a homebody, locked in her room unless she was streaming.

She might not be as extreme as Luminil, but Irene still decided she would make Luna cry a lot more from now on.

Of course, Luna had no way of knowing this.

“So, who are we going with, Irene?”

“Just the two of us.”

“W-What?! J-Just the two of us?!”

“And buy me a transmission port while you’re at it.”

“Of course! Sure, sure!”

Luna grabbed both of Irene’s hands and shook them enthusiastically.

Irene was startled by Luna’s completely unexpected reaction but decided to laugh along, happy that things had resolved smoothly.

“Alright, see you tomorrow then!”

“You’re doing it wrong. Swinging your sword like that will just get you stabbed to death.”

“I’m sorry! Thank you for teaching me!”

“It’s fine. Your growth is the Empire’s growth as well.”

The knight bowed deeply before resuming their training.

True to the girl’s words, their improvement was evident in no time.

Watching the scene, the girl thought to herself:

‘This is tiresome. I must have been working too long.’

She ran her fingers through her hair, a gesture of boredom.

Her hair, though otherwise pale, held a crimson tint at the ends, as if reflecting the final glow of

the setting sun.

But the girl’s work was endless.

When inspections ended, there was work.

When work ended, there were meetings.

When meetings ended, there were arguments with opposition factions.

Each task had become nothing more than a source of stress.

“There’s an error in this document. How did this get past everyone until it reached me?”

“I swear it wasn’t intentional! I’m so sorry! I’ll fix it right away!”

“Never mind. It’s not an important document anyway.”

The girl’s dark golden eyes followed the man as he carried the stack of papers out of the room.

Everyone thought, ‘She even remembers individuals, all for the Empire’s sake.

But her thoughts were entirely different.

‘That man is probably going to clock out three times faster than I will.’

Tania Helios.

She appeared to be about 150 cm tall, with a slender, youthful figure.

But she was, in truth, the emperor who had ruled the Empire for at least several decades.

At first, the position suited her well.

Her enthusiasm knew no bounds, and no amount of work could faze her.

But now, things were different.

“At this rate, I won’t be assassinated by poisoned food but by overwork…”

Tania muttered as she stamped a document.

All the other officials had already left, leaving the dimly lit room occupied by Tania alone.

It wasn’t because they were incompetent, nor because her royal authority was weak.

The Empire revolved so intensely around Tania that everything was drawn to her as its center.

The workload had become overwhelming for her.

Even now, the documents on her desk made that clear.

She had delegated everything that others could approve, yet there were still more than ten documents piled on her desk.

“Authority and dignity, authority and dignity…”

Muttering to herself like a half-human, half-zombie, Tania continued stamping approvals.

It took another hour before she was finally able to return to her private quarters.

As soon as she stepped into her room, Tania looked at the mirror.

Dark, somber clothing adorned with golden embellishments.

The moment she saw them, she tossed everything aside.

‘Finally, I’m free from work!’

Overjoyed, Tania unlocked a secured safe with a key.

Inside wasn’t some grand treasure or ancient artifact, but a single terminal.

This was her time to be truly free.

It was the closest she could get to freedom, and she was so ecstatic that she wanted to scream.

Instead, she spoke as quietly as possible, in case anyone overheard.

“Yay.”

[Welcome, Irene1.]

And so, Tania spent another sleepless night playing with the terminal.

To Tania, the terminal was nothing short of paradise.

Here, no one feared her.

Here, she could throw away all notions of dignity and authority and let loose however she pleased!

And this account?

Even the Hero Guild had no idea who it belonged to.

There was absolutely no way she could ever be found out.

The best part?

[Countdown to Irene’s Broadcast: D-7]

[Posted by: Irene1]

If Irene would just stream, I swear I’d have no other wishes in life.

I’m confident I’d be her fan for life if she just streamed once.

I could rewatch her past streams over 100 times while waiting.

But why won’t Irene stream…?

Why won’t Irene stream…?

Why won’t Irene stream…?

Why won’t Irene stream…?

Why won’t Irene stream…?

Why won’t Irene stream…?

[Upvotes: 31 | Downvotes: 2]

[Comment 1: This guy is absolutely nuts ㅋㅋㅋ]

[Comment 2: [Hot Take] Irene needs to start streaming before this guy does something crazy.]

[Comment 3: LMAO Irene, debut already!]

[Comment 4: Just start streaming with the concept of collecting intel as a Demon King’s Castle executive!!!]

[Comment 5: But she is actually a Demon King’s Castle executive]

[Comment 6: Oh, true.]

[Comment 7: How is she even a Demon King’s Castle executive though?]

[Irene1: I can’t take it anymore.]

[?]

[This guy is planning something weird.]

[ADMIN!!!!!!!]

[He is the admin, though?]

Where else could she so freely express her feelings about her favorite idol?

If she acted this way in reality, half of her ministers would nod in agreement out of fear, while the other half—those who idolized Tania—would also unconditionally agree with everything she said.

As Tania continued to write more posts in the community, she suddenly felt a pang of emptiness.

It was like a sense of disconnection from Irene herself.

Usually, in moments like these, she would join a stream or watch a replay to fill the void.

But Irene’s absolute refusal to stream left her viewers with no way to replenish their

“Irene gauge.”

However, Tania was not an ordinary viewer.

She pulled a document from her desk.

Normally, she was a cautious emperor, endlessly weighing every situation and relying on magic or delegating tasks before acting personally.

But not this time.

She was going to the Demon King’s Castle herself.

[Demon King’s Castle Inspection Plan]

[Objective: To gain a deeper understanding of the Demon King’s Castle and the demon realm, which currently pose a threat to the people.]

[Approved by: Tania Helios]

[To be carried out today.]

Not just soon—immediately, as in tomorrow.

And the next morning, a minister who reviewed the emperor’s newly approved document was left in shock.

The approval was, of course, signed by the emperor herself.

“This is an additional approval document. Please review it.”

“It must be an urgent matter if that’s the case… Huh?”

“Is something the matter?”

Of course, there was a problem.

The empire wouldn’t collapse without the emperor present, but her presence made everything run much smoother.

Still, if it was only for a day, it wasn’t a major issue.

Both the emperor and her ministers were well aware of this, so instead of objecting, the minister suggested:

“Then I’ll arrange for a carriage and the Imperial Blades to accompany you immediately…”

“That won’t be necessary. I’m going alone.”

“Are you sure you don’t need an escort? And without a carriage, Your Majesty, you’ll…”

“It’s fine. Spend your time worrying about the empire, not about me.”

With those final words, the emperor departed.

It wasn’t entirely unthinkable for Tania to do something unexpected.

If anything, her lack of impulsiveness had always been her greatest flaw.

Still, this was unusual enough to raise questions.

“After the Bertram incident… could it be that Her Majesty has fallen for someone?”

The minister continued his paperwork, harboring a blasphemous thought he dared not let anyone discover.

Meanwhile, the sound of the emperor’s footsteps grew fainter and fainter as she walked away.