THE DARK KING OF DENUA

The pleasant smell woke Joseph Malus up. Slowly, his eyelids opened like blooming flowers at the start of spring. He looked at the ceiling. He did not recognize it. Where am I, he wondered.

Since he won't find the answer staring at the ceiling, slowly his old bony body got up from the bed. As soon as he stood up, a wave of coldness swept him up. He could feel the icy stabbing to his core.

He looked around for his clothes, any clothes, but there wasn't any. Reluctantly, he took the thick fluffy blanket, and wrapped it around him. Feeling a bit more comfortable, he walked to the door, pushed it open, and exited the bedroom.

"Oh hey, good evening Joseph. Or, should we say, good evening, your highness?" The lady in red greeted him with a mischievous smile on her lips.

"You are such a tease Pecca." The lady in white, sitting beside the red lady in front of the fire, laughed. "Besides, he's not the king anymore. He's already dead."

Oh right, he chuckled. I'm supposed to be dead.

Apparently, Joseph's chuckling made the two ladies a bit..anxious. "You…you okay there?" The white lady asked.

"Huh? Oh, hehe, I dunno. I'm…fine I guess. A bit disoriented, confused. And…maybeee…I don't feel…dead. You know?"

Hearing that response, both of the ladies burst out laughing. Joseph felt slightly annoyed. Like he was being made fun of. But, yeah, he agreed. For someone who'd just being told that he's dead, his reaction is a bit tame. A bit nonchalant.

The lady in red wiped tears in her eyes. "What did I say, Bonum. He's different from the rest of them right?"

"Hahaha, he sure is Pecca. For the infamous Dark King of Denua, he was too cute." Both of them continued laughing.

Joseph had to wait a while before he could say something to them. "Urm, I'm sorry. I hope this won't be considered rude or anything but…who are you?"

The ladies smiled as they looked at each other. The lady in white came and dragged Joseph to sit between them on the couch in front of the fire.

"I am an angel called Bonum." The lady in white cheerfully exclaimed.

"And I," the lady in red edged closer to whisper, "am a devil called Peccatum."

Joseph understood now. "So…where will I be going? Heaven? Or hell?" He remembered who he was. So he added. "I'll probably be going with Peccatum, right?"

"What?" Bonum produced a hurtful expression. "You don't want to come with me?"

"Well, as you said earlier, I am the Dark King of Denua. The main perpetrator of the vast crime network across the continent."

"Heh, you can fool the humans, but you can't fool us." Peccatum said. "I know evil. And you, your majesty, are not evil."

"Yeah. You do bad things, of course. But not evil. You're…a good guy who was forced to do bad things to protect his people."

"Hmm, that's very kind of you." A sad smile appeared on Joseph's face. "But I'm not a good person. I'm just a bad person, who sometimes does good things."

Bonum looked annoyed. "I don't get you Joseph. Why do you say that?"

"Urmmm…say what exactly?"

"That you're a bad person. Yet you always do good things. You took care of your people. Even the prostitutes at the brothels worked there on their own choice. You defended them with your life. Quite literally. You've given your all for your country. So why would you say you're a bad person? Right, Pecca?"

"Yeah, that is weird. Most people I delivered to hell, they always tried to convince me what a good person they are. And now here you are, a good person claiming he was bad. What's up with that?"

Joseph smiled as his gaze went deeper into the roaring fire. "I…I learned early on, that in the real world, it's hard for good people to do good things. Once the world knew that you're the good guy, they would stomp on your head."

"Ah, I see." Bonum and Pecca looked at each other and nodded.

"So I will be a bad person. I can be the evil in the world, as long as I use it to do good things. And other bad people will be too scared to even cross me and my people. On account of the bad person that is me."

"O…kayyyy. I get that." Bonum was adamant. "But still, doesn't mean that you're the bad guy. You had to do it, to do good things."

"Oh no, I never wanted to fool myself. I did not do those things because I had too. The end doesn't justify the means."

"Every person I kill, however bad they are, I kill because I want to. The money and goods I stole from rich assholes oppressing the people, I didn't do it for them. I do it for me."

"As for the prostitutes, well…I just manipulated them. Just because I upgraded their standard of living, doesn't mean I did not use them for sex. In the end, I'm just the same rich assholes taking advantage of the poor. Only that the people I used, I take better care than other rich assholes."

The two looked at each other smiling. "What did I say, Bonum. He's perfect, isn't he?"

"Yes Pecca, he will do nicely."

Joseph was a bit annoyed. To talk about him like he's not there, and being all cryptic like that, it was super irritating. "I'm sorry, are you talking about me? Perfect for what?"

"Hehe, we are gonna reincarnate you, Joseph. Into the future!"