The actual 5th chapter is the end. It's 44 pages starting from Albert's childhood through to the events of the main story from his perspective, and then the conversation that follows Albert showing up at the tower. Insane that it was skipped, it's literally the best chapter. There's also another, albeit shorter, comic adaptation of this published in another BL anthology, illustrated by a different artist, which also wasn't translated. That one is more faithful to the novel, Rei actually loses his arm instead of just being unable to use it.
To the people critical of Albert for not doing anything in the main story despite being the only one who noticed Rei's trauma; Yes, he did put his revenge first and used Rei to achieve his goals, which was a hugely scummy thing to do. And he KNOWS that.
The thing is, he'd convinced himself, just like Rei did, that everything would work out once the Demon King was dead, because he also believed Rei could go back home. Rei's trauma wouldn't magically go away, but not even Rei realized that until it was all over. They were both too desperate for things to be over to think clearly, and while I agree that Albert should have said something to Rei, I understand why he didn't.
To Albert, there was nothing left for him but defeating the Demon King. The world didn't matter, nor did the people in it, just vengeance and the Demon King's end.
But at a certain point Albert's goal shifted completely from "killing the Demon King to avenge his family" to "killing the demon king so Rei can be happy again". Because in a world so miserable that even kids couldn't laugh, Rei was the only hopeful thing in his life. Rei losing the ability to smile or even cry was genuinely devastating for Albert, even more so because he knew he was just as guilty as everyone else for Rei's lost emotions.
The man climbed a 160 foot tower with his BARE HANDS just to ask him what he had to do to make him smile again, even offering to be his personal jester for life, whatever it would take to see him genuinely smile just one more time. In the novel he literally formed a whole knight order to wipe out all crime in and around the capital just so Rei could feel safe and not have to experience anymore violence, even keeping knights posted around to keep people from approaching Rei because he knew that Rei didn't view himself as the hero everyone adored, he only saw a murderer, and even the gratitude of the people he saved just made him feel worse.
Albert is the first and most willing to openly admit, very frequently at that, that he f-ed up big time, and dedicates his entire life to atoning for it.
Also, in the novel, no one but the King and his council knew the situation. Everyone found out the same time as Rei that he couldn't go home, and they were all PISSED, especially since by that point Rei was a beloved hero. People did not take kindly to the news that the King had kidnapped some poor kid and forced him to fight for a world that wasn't even his own, only to tell him after he'd LOST HIS ARM that there was no way to send him back.The King's reputation plummeted so low he sent the Chancellor out to the middle of nowhere to climb all the way up that massive tower and desperately BEG Rei to come back. (They needed Albert back too, but as long as they could convince Rei, Albert would follow. Albert was NOT happy about them showing up, and Rei only agreed to return to the capital because Albert was giving REALLY strong "If you don't want to go back just say the word and I'll kill these guys right now so the kingdom will leave us alone" vibes.)
Personally, I don't think the King could ever redeem himself to Rei the way Albert and Mireille did, no matter how much "grandfatherly doting" he does, but I do still think it's really funny finding out that the King not only fully backed Albert's super intensive "Rei Protection Operations", he even banned everyone in the castle from approaching Rei without good reason or otherwise doing anything to "disturb his peace of mind". Legit mass no contact order because he did genuinely feel bad about what happened, and wanted to respect Rei's wish to just be LEFT ALONE.
Also the King very loudly announcing to Albert he was legalizing gay marriage in the middle of the very public castle courtyard as a way to not-at-all-subtly push him to stop being such a pussy and just confess to Rei already, love him for that. Truly iconic behaviour
The actual 5th chapter is the end. It's 44 pages starting from Albert's childhood through to the events of the main story from his perspective, and then the conversation that follows Albert showing up at the tower. Insane that it was skipped, it's literally the best chapter. There's also another, albeit shorter, comic adaptation of this published in another BL anthology, illustrated by a different artist, which also wasn't translated. That one is more faithful to the novel, Rei actually loses his arm instead of just being unable to use it.
To the people critical of Albert for not doing anything in the main story despite being the only one who noticed Rei's trauma; Yes, he did put his revenge first and used Rei to achieve his goals, which was a hugely scummy thing to do. And he KNOWS that.
The thing is, he'd convinced himself, just like Rei did, that everything would work out once the Demon King was dead, because he also believed Rei could go back home. Rei's trauma wouldn't magically go away, but not even Rei realized that until it was all over. They were both too desperate for things to be over to think clearly, and while I agree that Albert should have said something to Rei, I understand why he didn't.
To Albert, there was nothing left for him but defeating the Demon King. The world didn't matter, nor did the people in it, just vengeance and the Demon King's end.
But at a certain point Albert's goal shifted completely from "killing the Demon King to avenge his family" to "killing the demon king so Rei can be happy again". Because in a world so miserable that even kids couldn't laugh, Rei was the only hopeful thing in his life. Rei losing the ability to smile or even cry was genuinely devastating for Albert, even more so because he knew he was just as guilty as everyone else for Rei's lost emotions.
The man climbed a 160 foot tower with his BARE HANDS just to ask him what he had to do to make him smile again, even offering to be his personal jester for life, whatever it would take to see him genuinely smile just one more time. In the novel he literally formed a whole knight order to wipe out all crime in and around the capital just so Rei could feel safe and not have to experience anymore violence, even keeping knights posted around to keep people from approaching Rei because he knew that Rei didn't view himself as the hero everyone adored, he only saw a murderer, and even the gratitude of the people he saved just made him feel worse.
Albert is the first and most willing to openly admit, very frequently at that, that he f-ed up big time, and dedicates his entire life to atoning for it.
Also, in the novel, no one but the King and his council knew the situation. Everyone found out the same time as Rei that he couldn't go home, and they were all PISSED, especially since by that point Rei was a beloved hero. People did not take kindly to the news that the King had kidnapped some poor kid and forced him to fight for a world that wasn't even his own, only to tell him after he'd LOST HIS ARM that there was no way to send him back.The King's reputation plummeted so low he sent the Chancellor out to the middle of nowhere to climb all the way up that massive tower and desperately BEG Rei to come back. (They needed Albert back too, but as long as they could convince Rei, Albert would follow. Albert was NOT happy about them showing up, and Rei only agreed to return to the capital because Albert was giving REALLY strong "If you don't want to go back just say the word and I'll kill these guys right now so the kingdom will leave us alone" vibes.)
Personally, I don't think the King could ever redeem himself to Rei the way Albert and Mireille did, no matter how much "grandfatherly doting" he does, but I do still think it's really funny finding out that the King not only fully backed Albert's super intensive "Rei Protection Operations", he even banned everyone in the castle from approaching Rei without good reason or otherwise doing anything to "disturb his peace of mind". Legit mass no contact order because he did genuinely feel bad about what happened, and wanted to respect Rei's wish to just be LEFT ALONE.
Also the King very loudly announcing to Albert he was legalizing gay marriage in the middle of the very public castle courtyard as a way to not-at-all-subtly push him to stop being such a pussy and just confess to Rei already, love him for that. Truly iconic behaviour