Beni lifted his face slightly in puzzlement.
“Then those crazy lord bastards plotted a rebellion. Lining their own bellies was more important than the fact that their territory’s people were starving to death from high taxes.”
Beni carefully responded, wondering what this story was suddenly about.
“……Those are terrible people.”
“Right. So I went there myself and beat them until each and every one of them realized their own wrongdoing.”
Does this make me look evil? the Demon King asked. Beni couldn’t answer that question right away. Certainly, hitting others was wrong behavior. But Ruan didn’t seem evil. He’d issued policies for the territory’s people and punished the nobles who only tried to fill their own greed.
“……You don’t seem evil. But Demon King-nim, yours was violence that couldn’t be helped for everyone’s sake, while mine wasn’t like that. I just…… got so angry at a servant insulting Ren in the place where Ren was that I momentarily picked up the tray……”
“Mm, what I meant was, Beni. That depending on the situation, violence might be necessary.”
“Violence might be necessary……?”
Certainly, in Ruan’s case, it could be seen that violence was necessary. Nevertheless, Beni felt strong resistance to the very expression of situations where violence was necessary.
If there was necessary violence.
<You dull thing! You waste food without fail but can’t do a single thing properly, you useless thing!>
<Someone like you, being born is a sin. Just dare appear before my eyes again. It won’t end with just a beating then.>
<You’re taking up space in the mansion, so you should at least be a punching bag to help my swordsmanship. Right? You bastard.>
When everyone in the Count’s household committed violence against him, there were reasons. There were causes for why they hated him and kicked him in their own way.
Then couldn’t their violence also become necessary violence? Though Beni had lived submitting to their violence every time, that didn’t mean there was no resentment and anger toward them in a corner of his heart. He’d just always hidden it quietly, holding his breath.
But by Ruan’s words, the emotions that had been firmly suppressed began to surge and rise up.
Beni clenched his jaw so hard that pain rose in his molars. At the murderous aura felt from Beni for the first time, Ruan’s whole body completely stiffened.
It seemed he’d somehow misspoken. Beni, who had been glaring coldly at empty air alone, stared at the Demon King just like that.
“How can you judge what situations require violence? If violence might be necessary, then couldn’t hitting someone just because you don’t like them as you pass by also become necessary violence?”
Uncharacteristically, his words ended with a sharp edge. Ruan paused for a moment, then spoke calmly.
“You can distinguish it by where the violence is directed.”
“……Directed?”
“Yeah, violence to protect myself or others and violence to make someone submit and gain benefit are completely opposite actions. The case where I said violence was necessary corresponds to the former. Beni, the reason you hit that servant was because you were afraid your friend would be hurt by that servant’s words, right?”
Though he was angry that they spoke insultingly about Ren, the fact that Ren was there together made him even angrier. Even knowing that, he wanted to stop that servant who spoke loudly with bad words about Ren.
When Beni kept his mouth firmly shut and nodded, Ruan drew a soft arc at the corners of his mouth.
“That’s right, Beni. You did it to protect Ren. Besides, you’re regretting it like this now. There’s no need to blame yourself too much.”
At those words, something that had been tightly squeezing the center of Beni’s chest loosened a little.
The Count and the Countess, and Trellou. The violence they wielded wasn’t to protect anyone. It was only to confirm their superiority and vent their anger.
Only then did Beni vaguely realize that what he’d done and what he’d suffered in the past couldn’t be placed on the same level at all. The thorny wall in his heart that had been rising as if stabbing himself felt like it was slowly being laid down.
“And to add one thing realistically.”
The moment Ruan’s voice lowered, the air in the greenhouse subtly sank.
“This is the Demon Realm, Beni. Even though demons’ violence has decreased compared to the past and there are more sane guys, compared to other dimensions there are still many who are violent and prioritize only their own interests.”
He continued speaking while looking down at Beni.
“So even to protect yourself, it’s better to let go of the idea that violence is unconditionally bad. If you forbid yourself even the power necessary for your own safety, that becomes self-sacrifice, not justice.”
After the Demon King’s words ended, Beni chewed his lips for a moment and scratched the back of his hand for no reason. Both his cheeks were subtly reddened.
“Thank you, Demon King-nim. And I’m sorry…… I think I vented my anger at you for no reason.”
Beni smiled awkwardly. The complicated emotions that had been sticking clammily to his back all day today seemed to gradually fall away.
“Demon King-nim is truly a kind person.”
“……Me?”
Even at the incredulous question, Beni nodded strongly.
“Yes. Demon King-nim is the kindest and best person among all the demons I’ve seen so far.”
Ruan let out a laugh like a gentle breeze.
“In the world, you’re the only one who sees me that way, Beni.”
Because throughout his life, Beni was the first person he wanted to treat preciously, the first one he wanted to show only good things about himself to. The moment of falling in love was more intense than anything, but the deepening of his heart only grew deeper quietly, like a sleeve getting wet with water. He suddenly realized he’d come to like him even more than at first.
“Everyone just doesn’t say it, but anyone close to Demon King-nim would all think the same as me.”
“Now our servant even knows how to flatter.”
“Flattery! I’m sincere!”
Ruan’s sharp eyes curved loosely. At the face without any embellishment, Beni’s heart pounded once intensely, thump.
At the same time, Ruan, who hesitated, examined Beni. From the outside, except for his face being slightly flushed, there seemed to be no problem.
‘He doesn’t have something like arrhythmia, does he.’
Muttering inwardly, Ruan decided to watch a bit more and take him to the castle’s medical office if necessary.
After Beni returned, Ruan added a personality test to the Demon King’s Castle employment test and implemented a demerit system. There was backlash saying a personality test for demons was ridiculous, but it wasn’t Ruan’s concern.
* * *
That evening, Beni went to the room of the servant whose face he’d struck with the tray that morning and apologized.
What he’d said was certainly wrong, but still, hitting him with a tray seemed excessive no matter how much he thought about it.
Of course, that servant didn’t accept Beni’s apology. He was turned away at the door, but it was expected.
Unexpectedly, Ren wasn’t hurt at all by that servant’s words, and just enjoyed it saying he’d seen something funny from the morning. That was fortunate.
* * *
A month’s time had already passed since living as a servant of the Demon King’s Castle. He’d become somewhat used to the work, and at night he became a rabbit and periodically visited the Demon King’s bedroom.
It was easier to visit the Demon King at night than during the day. During the day, there were many things to do here and there.
Like that, even if not every day, Beni sneaked into the Demon King’s bedroom late at night, and then the Demon King would welcome him and immediately lift him onto the bed.
Up to this point, there was nothing that would be a big problem.
However, since he came and went frequently, there was one inconvenience.
Namely, the point that it took a lot of time to run to the Demon King’s bedroom in a rabbit’s body. Though being a rabbit was suitable for hiding his body, in his true form he could arrive in 20 minutes at a slightly fast walk, but going as a rabbit took 40 minutes no matter how hard he tried. Though his stamina had improved compared to before, in rabbit form he had to hide while going, so he had to go around quite a bit.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
When Beni stopped still while washing, Ren, who was next to him, waved his hand in front of his eyes.
“Ah……! I was just thinking about something.”
Even at such an answer from Beni, Ren for some reason didn’t withdraw his suspicious gaze. At Ren who seemed to be staring at him intently, Beni rolled his eyes here and there in confusion.
“Why, why are you like that……?”
“You, do you go out somewhere in the middle of the night lately?”
Hup, Beni’s eyes grew round. He always went out after confirming Ren was asleep, so when was he caught?
At such a reaction from Beni, Ren leaned his upper body forward as if he’d caught something. The two people’s faces became excessively close, but Beni was sitting in a corner of the servants’ communal bath so there was nowhere left to escape.
“Ah, uh, no, that’s……”
“Tell me honestly. What are you doing going around every night?”
“Re-Ren, too clo…… Pwup……!”
It was when Ren came even closer. Water from a bucket poured down over the two people’s heads. The two, startled, came to their senses and looked to the side, and there stood blue-haired Pepe with a sullen face.
