I Decided to Abandon the Traitors Who Planned to Use and Dispose of Me, the Hero, at the Last Moment. - Chapter 08: Behind the Scenes of "Serves You Right!" (Part 2) — Savor My Happy Ending!

Chapter 08: Behind the Scenes of “Serves You Right!” (Part 2) — Savor My Happy Ending!

When Marle saw me, she reached through the bars of her cell, her face twisted in rage, hair disheveled as she screamed.

“Come here, you cowardly scum, Thorn!! This is all your fault!! You did this to me! Don’t you feel guilty for putting me through this!? How dare you do this to me, you limp excuse of a man! You pathetic, sneaky loser! How can you live with yourself?! I’m gonna beat you to death, you worthless worm!!”

Wow, still full of energy, huh? Not even a hint of regret. It looks like she’s completely forgotten she was the one scheming in the first place.

“Violence is bad, Marle. Hahaha! But this is hilarious—you’re in a cell after your betrayal was exposed, while Elliot is the hero who ended the war and united humans and demons. What a difference! Must sting, doesn’t it?”

I couldn’t resist taunting her. Psychological warfare is the basics of the basics.

“Rrrgh, I’ll kill you, kill you, kill youuu!!”

“Your plan almost worked, you know. Teaming up with the prince, cheating while all of you in the hero’s party conspired against Elliot! But in the end, it was never enough! You were so far from taking him down. So enjoy this—my little parting gift to you!”

The truth is, I did get caught in the prince’s trap and ended up with a fatal wound in my fight against Impactor. Somehow, Cecilia saved me, but even by then, I had already set things up so that Elliot could carry out the revenge on his own. By that point, you guys were already finished. From the moment I arrived in this world, your defeat was pretty much guaranteed.

“Shut up, shut up!! Elliot! Elliot’s going to come save me!! He was my prince all along! I’ve changed now, and I’m reflecting on everything, so Elliot will forgive me!! We were together for sooo long!! That’s why someone like you will be killed by Elliot, and you’ll get your comeuppance! Then, Elliot and I will be together!!”

Whoa, seriously? She’s still hoping Elliot will come to save her at this point? What kind of extreme mental gymnastics is that…? Come on, you need to face reality already. Then again, I guess that’s why they brought her here—to crush those hopes and break her completely.

“Hmm, well, if you didn’t like the last ‘service,’ they’ve brought you here for something different. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

I ignored Marle, who was beyond reasoning with, and turned my attention to Netrik. As soon as our eyes met, he started shaking violently, mumbling, and trembling. Now just a bald, pathetic mess, there was no trace of his once-handsome appearance left.

“What’s the matter, Netrik? Did you forget the face of your biggest fan?”

You went to all that trouble, planning out such an elaborate scheme just to kill me, didn’t you? And you even managed to take away my combat abilities. I smiled at him, and in response, his face filled with despair. He scrambled to the corner of his cell, burying his head under a blanket, shaking and turning his back to me.

“Nooooooo! No more torture, pleeeeease! Don’t hurt me anymore! Please stop! Netrik doesn’t have anything leeeft!”

It looks like my smile triggered some trauma. This guy’s definitely been through some intense torment. I can imagine the torturers and Netrik’s victims were all smiling gleefully as they inflicted pain on him. You can just tell. But watching him panic like this… what a pitiful sight. While I was pondering what to make of it, Marvellous, who had been standing nearby, chimed in.

“It’s quicker to show you than to explain. This is the state Prince Netrik is in now.”

With a snap of his fingers, Marvellous sliced Netrik clean in half, from his backside to the top of his head, just like that. Honestly, kind of amusing.

“Agyahh!?”

Despite Netrik’s anguished screams, his body instantly reattached and healed. This was the power of the demon race’s resurrection magic—amazing! It’s like a supercharged 3-second rule.

Every time Marvellous snapped his fingers, Netrik’s body split in half from his backside, only to be restored again. It was like watching a bizarre, surreal video on loop, so ridiculous that I almost wanted to laugh.

“…Kill me… Please kill me…”

Although the wounds themselves healed instantly, the pain and trauma clearly remained, as Netrik twitched violently, begging for death.

“As you can see, Netrik has been cursed with multiple layers of resurrection magic. No matter how many times he is killed, he automatically revives. The same goes for Marle. Every day, numerous sorcerers from the demon army pile on more resurrection spells. So, the number of lives he gains far outpaces the deaths inflicted by torture and the victims’ revenge. After dying repeatedly, he’s been left in a constant state of panic.”

Wow… this really is a living hell, isn’t it? Endless torture, with countless extra lives to boot. This is beyond comprehension… He’s become a public punching bag. But considering everything Netrik did, this is truly karma coming full circle. His peaceful death seems a long, long way off.

“By the way, during the times they’re not being tortured, they’re imprisoned in a timeless subspace in the Demon Prison to ensure they don’t die from natural causes.”

Wow, talk about going above and beyond. This is literally “dying endlessly” at this point. It’s ridiculous, so ridiculous that all I can do is laugh. The Demon Army is seriously ruthless.

“Would you like to join in the fun, Sir Thorn? Today we’ve only done the ‘brain-squish squish punishment,’ so there’s still a lot of torture left on the schedule.”

“Nah, I’ll pass. I don’t want to get my clothes dirty. Netrik, Marle, the reason I came here today is to tell you why you were brought to this place. Elliot is getting married to the Demon King’s daughter, Lady Asmodius. The whole nation is celebrating. The entire world is rejoicing over their marriage.”

Hearing that Elliot was marrying the Demon King’s daughter seemed to hit Marle hard. Her face turned pale, and she began to tremble uncontrollably the moment my words sank in.

“That’s a lie!!! Elliot loves me!! I was his childhood friend and fiancée! That can’t, it can’t be true! Waaaaaahhh!! I won’t accept it! I absolutely won’t accept it!! That’s a lie, it’s too cruel, what about my feelings…!?”

Clutching the bars of the cell, Marle collapsed weakly, eventually breaking down into tears. Her constant victim act was seriously messed up… or maybe she was just clinging to it to avoid facing reality. 

Who knows if she’ll be able to handle seeing the wedding unfold right in front of her? …Then again, does it really matter if she can’t? Not at all.

“Face reality, will you? After being betrayed, cheated on, and nearly killed, there’s no way any romantic feelings could still be there. You’ll understand soon enough.”

By now, it seemed my words didn’t even reach her. She just kept wailing, calling Elliot the traitor, pounding her fists on the ground. I spared one last glance at Marle crying on the floor and Netrik still twitching, then turned to leave the underground cell. Just as I did, the torturer arrived, cheerfully saying, “Next up is the flesh-stripping punishment!”

Those two would be watching Elliot’s wedding from a “special seat,” carefully set up so they couldn’t be detected by the outside world. 

They say the best revenge is living well, and Elliot was the perfect example of that. Glory, honor, happiness—he had it all now. Meanwhile, Marle and Netrik were doomed to endless torture. The torturers in the Demon King’s army sure knew how to break not just the body, but the mind too. Scary stuff… really scary stuff.

As I walked out of the dungeon and through the bustling streets in the fading light, I saw Elliot waiting at the entrance of the inn.

“Hey, what brings you here, buddy?”

“Ah, Thorn. Do you have a moment to talk?”

Elliot’s serious tone caught me off guard, but I followed him as he led the way to the Great Bell Tower in the capital. It was a famous spot with a view of the entire city, but we were the only ones here since it was after hours and we had special permission to enter.

“I realized I never properly thanked you… so, thank you, Thorn.”

“Whoa, what’s with the sudden gratitude? It’s not like I did anything that deserves that.”

I lifted Elliot’s head, who had bowed in thanks, and spread my arms with a wry smile.

“…No, that’s not true. If you hadn’t been there, I think I would’ve completely fallen apart. The betrayal, the heartbreak… it was really tough. But because you were there, I managed to hold on. You supported me, and that’s how I got this far. Even this wedding, with so many people celebrating us, I know it’s all thanks to everything you’ve done. …As the ceremony approaches, all of this has been welling up inside me.”

“Is this what they call pre-wedding jitters? Isn’t that something ladies usually go through?”

I was about to say “parents,” but then I remembered Elliot had lost his. I quickly changed my words. Little things like that matter when you want to avoid awkward moments in life, you know?

“…Yeah, I guess that’s how it is. But, you know, I’m aware that you’ve always been looking out for me, Thorn. So, thank you, for being my friend. For supporting me.”

“Come on, now, you’re making me blush.”

Hearing something so serious said with such sincerity does make a guy blush, so I leaned against the edge of the viewing platform, resting my elbows as I gazed down at the bustling city below. The royal family had been wiped out, but the war had ended, and the people were going on with their lives as usual. In the end, we’d achieved the best possible outcome, hadn’t we?

“I’ve decided… I’m going to do my best to protect this peace for as long as I live. So, Thorn, stick around for a long time, okay? The world would be a lonely place without you.”

I couldn’t help but smile at Elliot’s words and nodded.

“Yeah, I guess so. Well, I’ll do my best to stay alive for as long as I can, then.”

These days, I’m not much more than the remnants of my former self, like a once-buff guy now just barely hanging in there. So, yeah, I could probably go out pretty easily. But, hearing him say it like that… maybe sticking around until Elliot lives out his life wouldn’t be so bad.

…So, I decided to toss the words I’d once said when I first joined his party back at him.

“Hey, Elliot. Since we met, your life’s gotten a lot more interesting, hasn’t it?”

“…Yeah! It’s been the best!”

We exchanged glances, broke into wide smiles, and then watched the setting sun together. That night, we stayed up late at the inn, reminiscing about our travels. I mean, with the wedding just around the corner, two guys alone in a room… of course nothing happened! Seriously, I swear!

―The next morning, the innkeeper lady gave me a knowing look and said, “Seems like you had fun last night.” Wait, that’s not what happened at all… right?