Supreme Monarch

Chapter 288 C288. Closest Companions

After only a few minutes spent soaking in the purifier bath prepared for him by Erin, Tyler no longer felt the strange numbness he had felt before as his entire body nor felt perfectly refreshed to the point that he was getting a little too relaxed.

It was a strange feeling so he decided it was best to exit the bath immediately but was pulled back by Rain who locked her arm around his with a blissful smile on her face.

"Hey, It's about time we get out don't you think?"

"Don't wanna... I want to stay like this as long as possible."

...Sigh...

Tyler let out a tired sigh as Rain pouted cutely still holding on to his arm as they sat at the edge of the bath. Shifting his gaze from her alluring figure, he glanced at the quiet Liz next to him.

She had a slightly melancholic look in her eyes as she hugged her legs while staring blankly into the water. It was clear she had something troubling on her mind which made Tyler a little curious.

"Hey, what's on your mind?"

Tyler asked gently and his words seems to snap Liz out of her trans. She then turned to him and smiled faintly in reply.

"It's nothing really... I just... never mind."

Seeing her hesitant as her cheeks got red before slowly sinking her face into the water, Tyler instinctively compared her to something he'd seen before but quickly snapped his mind back to reality as he got even more interested.

"There's no need to hold back. You can just say what you're thinking at times like this, or would you rather I read your mind."

"No... please don't."

Although Tyler had been joking, he was a little surprised to see her embarrassed reaction to his statement as his face had completely turned red before she quickly sank into the bath with bubbles bubblings from that location.

*Splash!

She soon emerged back from the water by his side, shifting closer so she would be shoulder to shoulder with him before leaning over and resting her head on him as she spoke in a soft tone.

"It's just... I knew you'd be fine no matter what happened that day. Even when you were surrounded by over a million shadow kings I never lost faith in you. That you'll win and return no matter what, but still..."

Silence reigned over the indoor bath for a brief moment as even Rain's expression had turned somber before Liz's words continued again.

"Erin said you had been corrupted for a long time, and even though you tried to hide your pain from us, deep down, I've always felt that something was wrong but I could never get close enough to you to ask and you never wanted us to worry about you did you?"

Her voice seems to get softer the more she spoke as her eyes watered. Unable to reply, Tyler found himself only able to remain quiet as he allowed her to run through her bottled-up emotions.

"Ever since we met you've always been the one worrying about us. You not only helped us when we were in need but accepted us for who we are and even our feelings for you. Yet, you've never let us share your burdens."

With her wet hair falling over her face to hide her expression, Liz gathered more of her courage as she continued to express her feelings.

"I'm well aware of my weakness and I know there isn't much I can do to stand by your side but at the very least I really want you to rely on me when you're in pain. Because, because, I can't, I just can't handle it..."

Tears could be seen rolling down her cheeks as Rain's grip tightened around Tyler's arm.

"Seeing the one I love in such a state is not something I can ever bear to watch again. I was really scared that you'll leave me, even if it was only temporary. I just can't stand the thought of you being in pain."

"..."

Tyler was silent for quite a while as Liz bore her heart to him while Rain remained silent with an expression he had never expected to see on her face. Even without reading their minds, he could clearly sense their thoughts and understood why they had risked their lives even though he had no longer been in any mortal danger.

It was true he hadn't expected to be out of commission for so long so he truly hadn't considered the consequences of his actions especially the effect his severe corrupted state would have had on the psyche of those closest to him but that was not an excuse.

"I see... I apologize for allowing you guys to see me in such a state. It must've been quite difficult to—"

"No that's not it!!"

Surprised to have been cut short by both girls who moved in front of him with a determined expression, he realized that he might've said something wrong but was unsure of what that could be.

"Please do not apologize to us, my Lord. There's no way you can ever do something wrong."

"Yes, it doesn't matter what you say, for as long as it had been said by you then it will be the truth."

"Our only wish is for the man we love to let us walk alongside him. To share even in your pain no matter how trivial or petty it is, we only wish to forever be close to you."

Tyler silently stared at them with a serious expression which immediately caused their faces to flush red. At first, he hadn't been sure of what they had meant by all that but he could clearly sense it now.

Although he still tried his best to maintain the demeanor of a leader even when alone with these girls, somehow he still felt a lot more relaxed and comfortable around them than with the others as he constantly had to adopt the perfect persona of an almighty superior which was getting more nerve-racking by the day as his followers grow.

Even though he had grown fond of everyone here and perhaps he might've even grown to love them, which was not something he was willing to admit to himself yet. After all, he still felt a strong connection to his humanity.

A side of him that had subconsciously prevented him from getting too close to even these two who clearly loved him more than he could've ever imagined.

'Sigh... what am I going to do with you two.'

Tyler sighed inwardly as he stared silently at those sincere and caring looks from these two demonesses. His body may have taken a long time to change into a demon but his mind had not, he had simply fallen to his death one minute and after a brief dream of flashing lights, he woke up here.

No matter how he tried to hide it or get used to this, his mind was still human and that was not something he could easily change. He was an ordinary human at heart and had only spent a little over a month as a demon so it was natural he wouldn't be able to open up to the demons around him regardless of trust. This was something even the demon's pact couldn't help with.

However, even though there were still a few things about himself he was still uncomfortable sharing just yet, perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea to not be so guarded around them. If nothing, at the very least, it would be of great benefit for his mental state if he had people he could actually be himself or at least a version of his true self around.

After taking a moment to think about this, Tyler finally decided as he could not let these girls worry so much about him while he slowly tries to accept his current reality even though he had no intentions of forgetting his humanity.

"Why so serious? It makes me truly sad to see such an expression on your faces and I had never imagined that I would be the one responsible for causing you both such unease."

"No! That's not—"

Tyler smiled gently as he placed both his index fingers on the girl's lips and cut them off before speaking again.

"While I cannot make you any promises, I'll tell you this. When I awoke from my thousand-year slumber my intention was never to reclaim the castle or the throne but rather to leave this continent for good."

At his words, both girls' eyes widened to no end as a shiver ran down their spines after hearing those world-shattering words come from what should be the tyrannous demon king of destruction.

"It seems history has been altered after being controlled by the Great Five for so long but what you may not know is that the last demon king had only fallen to the hero only due to the betrayal of his closest subordinates, ones he had trusted the most."

While Tyler was painfully aware of everyone's perception of him was that he was at the very least the reincarnation of the demon king, he still made a point to refer to the last demon king as a separate entity.

"You should already be aware that the Great Five Demon Lords were ones the Generals of the demon king but you might not know the full truth, that they were the ones that sold him out to humans simply to obatain his throne."

"No... we wouldn't— we've... we entered a pact—"

Rain muttered those words with a pale face as she slightly lowered her head. It was obvious they were misinterpreting the reason why Tyler was telling them this which was going according to his plans.

While he was willing to share his true nature with the girls he didn't want them to lose all respect for him and in turn see him as a coward. Most of this information he had heard from his human party members as one of them had been the 11th son of a high-ranking noble.

As the 11th child, there was nothing for him to inherit so he had left his family to fend for himself as an adventurer but still retained most of his connections amongst the nobilities.

"That is true, we did enter a pact. Still, a pact doesn't necessarily inspire trust and that was why I had originally planned on starting again on another continent, slowly regaining my strength before making my return but everything had changed after I met the two of you."

As he said that, Tyler moved closer to the girls as he raised their chins a bit to stare into his eyes which seemed to sparkle at the perfect time and causing their faces to completely turn pink.

"If i were to go into details then i think we would be in here for far too long so at the very least I want you guys to know this. Everyone residing in this castle has come to mean a lot to me, some more than others but the two of you, alongside Albert and Erin, have become special to me."

Just saying this had taken a lot out of Tyler than he had thought but Tyler was happy with the results as the expressions on their faces slowly changed. While their eyes got watery, a charming and excited smile appeared across their faces as well.

"I think we've stayed in the water too long, it's about time we head down. I'm starving."

"Right!!"

Taking a breath to refresh his mind Tyler gently patted the girls on the head as he boldly got out of the very without feeling shy, and after donning a luxurious robe, he exited the bathroom without waiting for the girls.

His bath had gone on longer than he had expected but Tyler couldn't afford to remain here any longer as he had a lot of things on his agenda after being out for a week.

"Ohhh... you returned a lot faster than I expected. Good job Cora."