Previously...

Eduardo sat in place and sighed, what he was doing was definitely against what the Empire had been doing for all of these ages. But the otherworldly people were a much larger threat than the Demonic Realm who would also suffer from the actions of the third party.

***

'Why am I here again...'

Deon walked in and saw the Demon King who was writing something on a piece of paper. He just wanted to slack off and sleep. Moreover, Cruel was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, my dear treasure. You're here, go take this to the Emperor."

Caver stood up from his seat and made his way to Deon who had just entered the room. He placed a fancy scroll into Deon's hands that were already out.

"..Y-yes...?" Again with that treasure bullshit! Why does he keep calling me that?

Deon stared at the scroll in his hands, it was personally stamped by the Demon King. Since he told him to give it to the Emperor it definitely had something to do with the ongoing conflict.

Caver watched as Deon walked out of the office and a smile crept up onto his face.

'I can't wait to see how your fate will unfold, my dear Arut.'

***

Deon walked through the Emperor's palace, he could see people whispering amongst each other while looking at him. They probably think he killed Cruel, but why would he? Maybe it was all for the better, they could all avoid him and he wouldn't need to deal with their shenanigans.

"...Brother?"

"Deon."

Cruel made his way over to Deon and patted the whitehead on the head. This would have been fine usually, but he did it right in front of the Duke's face! He seriously had no fear or shame in doing so.

Deon could see the Stave's expression go from skepticism to fuming. Hell, he could even see a vein about to pop in the Duke's face as Cruel continued to fix his outfit.

"Sir Cruel, what is the meaning of this?"

I thought you were trying to protect yourself from Deon Hardt, was what the Duke was trying to say. Cruel looked at the Duke with a cold look.

"I thought I told you? I wanted to protect something"

'Hold on, this is straying off course! You aren't supposed to do that!'

No, Cruel Hardt would have never exposed himself like this. But he only did this because soon, the Duke wouldn't be able to lay a hand on Deon no matter what his excuse would be.

"Is that the scroll he told you to deliver?"

"How did you know?"

Deon tilted his head to the side, quite adorably in fact. It made Cruel want to pinch his brother's cheeks but resisted the urge to do so.

"He told me beforehand."

'So I was completely left out on this?'

Deon knew that the Demon King would form a new plan after new unforeseen variables would show up. But, wouldn't allying with the Empire cause backlash from the people on both sides?

Creak!

Eduardo motioned the two Hardt siblings to enter his office, he took the scroll in Deon's hands and unfolded it. Cruel and Deon stood as they watched the Emperor read whatever was on the scroll in front of them.

Deon could conclude that it most likely had to do something with the negotiations and the new collaboration between the two. How surprising would it be for the Empire's people and the whole world to suddenly hear about the Demonic Realm and Human Realm now suddenly joining hands? Surely, even the Revolutionary Army wouldn't be able to guess it either.

A perfectly secret collaboration that only the four people involved in it knew about.

"Hmm, should we announce the collaboration now or soon?"

"If you do it right in front of the Duke, he won't be able to find any counterattacks. However, if Your Majesty waits, he might find out sooner or later."

In short, what Deon meant was the sooner the better. Heavy backlash will happen due to Eduardo already announcing war on the Demons and now withdrawing the war shortly. It wasn't a bad idea to announce it early, sooner the people would realize how much of a threat Choi Han and the rest would be to them.

That was when Deon was suddenly sat in front of a crystal, a communication crystal to be exact. He immediately turned to Eduardo who just smiled and motioned him to talk since the hologram was now playing live in front of many citizens.

Deon gave a betrayed look to Eduardo before he opened his mouth.

"..Hello, people of the Empire, I am Deon Hardt, the Third Hero. Today I'll be announcing the withdrawal of the war against Demons, there's been a bigger issue than just demons that could affect the whole world and not just the Empire."

The people in the Empire looked at the screen with Deon on it, his face was still and emotionless as always while he announced the stop to the ongoing war before going into detail about Choi Han and Eruhaben, without exposing too much.

A mixture of feelings stirred in the air as they all continued to watch Deon talk. Anger, surprise, fear, relief, joy, and sorrow were all felt throughout the Empire.

"We've decided on one more thing. We will join hands with the Demons to take down these worldly disasters, that will be all, public negotiations will happen soon. Thank you for listening."

Deon gave a smile at the end of his message before the communication crystal turned off, he immediately left his seat the moment it ended and ran to Cruel who happily embraced the whitehead.

Why couldn't the Emperor do the announcement himself?

Was what went through Deon's head as the Emperor dismissed the two of them out of his office. When he got out, he could see Stave fuming up as he left the room with Cruel.

The servants nearby looked at the two Hardt siblings either in shock or in bafflement. Everyone had thought that the two siblings hated each other.

So why was the Fourth Hero wrapping the Third hero with a scarf? — Where did he even get that scarf from?! — It was such a strange day for everyone in the palace, first seeing the usually calm Duke about to pop a vein, now the Hardt siblings were acting like they never hated each other.

***

"...The snow here.."

Deon looked at the snow dwindling in the wind, he never got a chance to admire the scenery around him. It was either that war was happening or the place would eventually be destroyed, by his own hands. It was quite refreshing to take in the view in front of his eyes in peace.

He walked around the snow plains while the Death Butterflies followed behind him. Of course, Cruel was just behind him since they went here together.

"Hyung-nim?"

"Who...?"

Deon stared at the boy in front of him, he backed away once he realized who the voice came from. It was Basen, someone he did see as a younger brother at some point. Only to be completely betrayed the moment he began to think of Basen as his younger brother.

But what was he doing here? Surely it couldn't be because of him, right?

No, who was he kidding? It was definitely about him. Worst of all, his face was broadcast to everyone. That meant that they recognized him as Cale, or at least his reincarnation. He couldn't even blame the Emperor about it since Eduardo had no idea what was going on, except for him and Cruel.

"Do I know you?"

Basen flinched when he heard Deon ask him that question, he realized that his hyung-nim didn't remember anything about his past. No, perhaps it was for the better. They could treat him right and he wouldn't know of their past deeds, their past mistakes.

"Hyung-nim I-"

"Deon."

Deon immediately turned around when he heard Cruel call for him, he made his way back to his older brother who fixed the scarf around his neck. He didn't know why but he had a sudden urge and opened his mouth.

"...Hyung-nim.."

Cruel stood there still for a brief moment before a smile made its way onto his face. Deon could even see a flowery aura surrounding Cruel, did he make a mistake?

(That was the best decision you have ever made)

"Let's head back now, you're gonna catch a cold."

"I'm coming!"

Deon went in front of Cruel who then looked back at Basen who was staring at the two's interaction in jealousy. He gave a triumphant smirk before turning back to Deon who was now rambling about the sweets he wanted to try once they got back.

Basen who saw Cruel's smirk gritted his teeth and scowled, he realized that the man in front of him knew that was Cale who had lost his memories. He was sure of it, the man was taking advantage of him! He needed to report this to Choi Han and Eruhaben-nim, thankfully Raon was also there and quickly teleported them back to their temporary base.

***

"My Lord, you have returned."

"Remember."

Deon looked at the manor for a while, he could see the painting of him and his family was now uncovered, still shining ever since.

'My family...'

Even as Cale Henituse, he never had a picture of himself and his family, so seeing a picture with him in it along with his family made him feel bitter.

"Do you want another picture? We can go commission one."

"Can we?"

"If that's what you want then I'll get multiple."

Cruel smiled as he and Deon walked past the painting of their family hung on the wall. If a picture of them is what Deon wants, then he will make sure that Deon gets something even better than just one picture.

He and his parents took a wrong approach at first to the frail Deon, but now, he'll make sure that Deon will get whatever it was that he wanted.

"Sir Cruel, someone is requesting for your presence."

"Who is it?"

"He claims that his name is Senzer."

Cruel frowned at the familiar name, if it was Senzer then it was the last loyal person he had on his side, at least before he was bribed by the Duke.

There were two possibilities as to why Senzer was here. One was to pry information out of him on why he 'betrayed' the Duke or two, join his side once again.

'It's most likely the former option.'

It was obvious with the fact that Stave Illustre had already bribed Senzer. But did Cruel care anymore? The answer was no, he found a way to protect Deon openly and he will stick to that.

The moment the negotiations started between the Demonic Realm and Human Realm, the Duke wouldn't be able to continue the assassination attempts unless he wanted this Empire to get wiped out of existence.

Cruel opened the door to the reception room and spotted Senzer sitting inside. He didn't feel like taking time to talk to a disloyal person decided to make it quick. Besides, his baby brother was waiting for him in the indoor garden to try the new pastries brought in by Remember, how can he miss a moment of eating with Deon?

"Make it quick, what do you want?"

"...Why did you betray the Duke?"

And he was right, Senzer came here to ask him about the Duke. If it was the latter then he would've stayed longer and ask for Senzer's motives, but since it wasn't then there was no need to pry any information out of him.

"You seem to have forgotten everything ever since the Duke bribed you, but it longer matters. It's actually best for me if you forgot why I joined him in the first place."

Cruel walked out of the reception room, he could spot Senzer chasing after him in the corner of his eye as he made his way to the indoor garden that was specifically made for Deon. He ignored Senzer's yelling as Remember escorted him out.

He felt nostalgia walking through the hallways, it's been so a long time since he stepped foot into the Hardt manor.

"Hyung-nim, you're back! How was your conversation?"

"Deon, you should have eaten while waiting for me."

It seemed that Deon had gotten more comfortable with the term 'hyung-nim' as he was now calling Cruel that without hesitation. Of course, even if Deon didn't want to call him that, Cruel wouldn't force it upon him.

He sat down beside Deon who was now eating a strawberry chocolate mousse. Cruel called in a servant to pour in tea for them, he made sure that it was a sweet flavor rather than sour or bitter. He thought of a flavor that his baby brother would like.

"Get us Golden Lily tea."

The servant left for a moment after receiving the order from Cruel. They returned shortly after a few minutes with a tray in their hands, the servant then poured the Golden Lily tea into the two cups and left.

"You should drink something if you're going to eat."

"Is it bitter?"

"No, it's sweet."

Deon took the cup of tea and took a sip after Cruel's confirmation. He didn't think much of it, but it was really good.. And sweet as well, it reminded him of the Milk Oolong's he would tend to drink as Kim Rok Soo.

(A/N): Golden Lily is just the english name of Milk Oolong... But I'll pretend it's not for the sake of my sanity

"It's sweet.. It's like flowers and apricots in the spring, I like it."

'The exact same taste as mother too, looks like we'll have to stock up on Golden Lily leaves.'

Cruel recalled about their mother's taste, she didn't care much about what she ate but she liked Golden Lily too particularly. A lot of the times, she would even have it during dinner or doing documentaries. Because of that, their father had to stock up on Golden Lily leaves to satisfy the deceased Countess.

***

Worked on this a day ago, stopped and started a new fanfic, went back here for a bit, began another fanfic, and then finished the concept and possible plot for Cale in twtptflob...

Naming chapters is such a hassle that I don't even bother to do so on AO3 😭😭😭