Misunderstanding and a Foregone Conclusion
Several more days slipped past.
Beyond the imperial palace, the world was still in an uproar over the bloodbath at Brother Kyle's tea party. In the end, though, his rank as royalty spared him the death sentence. For the time being he was let out of prison, shut inside his own palace, and ordered to reflect in seclusion.
Just as that storm began to settle, an imperial summons fell on me, who had been taking my ease in the Detached Palace.
The air in the audience chamber was heavy and cold. Emperor Theodore sat upon the dais, immense in frame, a predator's golden eyes gleaming as he looked down at me.
It seeped from him in a faint pressure and closed around my throat.
"How do you find life in the Detached Palace?"
A cold question from the Emperor. I already knew what lay beneath that bluntness, though. He looked every inch the strict and terrifying tyrant, but in truth he was a tsundere father who had never forgotten my dead mother and doted on me to a frightening degree. Sending me to the Detached Palace, and assigning Seria—the strongest of guards—to my side, had both been measures to protect me from my political enemies.
"By Your Majesty's grace, I am living in comfort."
At my answer, the Emperor propped his chin on his hand.
"Have you been looking over the candidates for a fiancée?"
Before I could open my mouth, Seria, standing one step behind me, bowed with perfect courtesy and stepped forward.
"Your Majesty. His Highness has been at the Detached Palace only a few days. He has yet to find a suitable candidate."
"Yes, Father. I mean to settle into the Detached Palace and look at my leisure, so please—grant me just a little more time."
When I chimed in, the Emperor's eyes narrowed by the barest fraction.
"At your leisure… Do you perhaps already have a woman you love, someone you've set your heart on?"
"No. Nothing of the sort."
At my firm denial he snorted and tossed the words out as if they were nothing.
"Hoh. Is that so? And yet the rumor has already spread all through the palace that you and Seria are involved with each other. Is it true?"
"……!"
Cold sweat raced down my spine.
Fuck. The only people who could have started this rumor are my third and fourth sisters!
The sisters who had turned back that morning after seeing Seria wrecked on the bed in the Detached Palace had run their mouths after all. I waved my hands in a panic.
"Ah, no! Absolutely not. Someone has gotten entirely the wrong idea!"
At my desperate excuse, the Emperor narrowed his eyes, then turned his gaze on Seria where she stood behind me.
"Seria. You answer. Did truly nothing happen?"
"……."
In that instant Seria's head dropped. The ears of that woman, usually an emotionless sheet of ice, flushed a red that looked ready to burst. Anyone looking would have seen the perfect picture of a woman beside herself with shame.
Hey—what are you doing?!
I stared at her in alarm, and Seria, head still bowed, turned it just enough that only I could see. Within that blank expression she shaped the faintest, wicked smile and mouthed the words without a sound.
You insane—!
Once, I had warned her that if she pulled another stunt in front of my sisters, I would make it so she couldn't walk off the bed. She had twisted that warning with perfect precision and fed it straight back to me. Just as her words implied, this was not in front of the princesses. It was in front of the Emperor.
While I gaped in horror, Seria lifted her head again and answered the Emperor as if shy.
"His Highness… cherished me very dearly in the Detached Palace."
"……!!"
CRASH—!
The Emperor shattered the ornament on his armrest and shot to his feet.
The icy roar rang through the audience chamber. But contrary to the fury on display, the Emperor's heart was the exact opposite.
My youngest… has already found his match?!
He stared through my black hair and black eyes, inwardly weeping, overcome.
Yes. If Seria, the finest martial power in the palace, is at his side, she can keep my youngest safe for life from the remnants of that viper Kyle and from the First Faction.
Certain now of a daughter-in-law—question mark and all—the Emperor put on a show of severity, cleared his throat, and gestured to the chamberlain.
"To have my grandchild born in that dust pit of a Detached Palace would stain the dignity of the imperial house. Carve off a portion of the imperial budget at once and bestow it upon the Detached Palace. Fill it with the finest furnishings and treasures!"
"…Pardon?"
"Go back and continue what you were doing. However, a member of the imperial family cannot leave the seat of legal wife empty forever. If you fail to find a fiancée candidate yourself, and soon, I will install some young lady of my own choosing. Understand that."
No sooner had the command fallen than the doors of the audience chamber opened and we were driven out. I had thought I was dead. Instead, in a single stroke, I had been granted recognition of a lawful cohabitation and a massive budget besides.
"Ah… yes. I am grateful for Your Majesty's grace."
I bowed, dazed. Seria's insane provocation had completed the Emperor's misunderstanding and hauled in an absurd windfall.
The audience ended, and we had only just returned to the Detached Palace.
BANG—!
The moment the reception-room door shut, I seized Seria by the shoulders and shoved her roughly against the wall.
"Your Highness…?"
Caught off guard by the sudden pin, Seria's eyes went round. I caught her chin and tipped it up, smiling coldly.
"What was that you mouthed in the audience chamber just now? Something about not pulling any tricks?"
Under my interrogation her cheeks colored faintly, and still she answered with brazen nerve.
"I obeyed Your Highness's order perfectly. You told me not to pull any foolish tricks in front of my sisters."
A blatant retort, and a perfectly logical provocation. It had not been in front of the princesses, but in front of the Emperor, so it was not against the rules—an utterly sly piece of reasoning.
"Ha. Is that so? You've learned how to make excuses properly."
At praise mixed with a hollow laugh, Seria answered, perfectly upright.
"I have learned a great deal thanks to Your Highness. You flatter me."
"Ah, enough. I'm tired. We're going to the room."
Worn out by the knife-edge audience before the Emperor and by Seria's sly provocation, I yanked my tie loose in irritation and headed for my bedroom. The moment I was back, I dropped onto the bed and let out a deep sigh. Seria, who had followed me in, spoke as if nothing were amiss.
"Rest comfortably, Your Highness. If you need anything, call for me."
"Stop."
Seria, turning to leave, halted dead.
"……What is it?"
Lying on my back, I stared at the ceiling and asked, lazy.
"Why are you like this?"
"Pardon?"
"I already apologized for that day. I said I'd feed you for the rest of your life. So what, exactly, has you pulling tricks like this and making a nuisance of yourself?"
A blunt question. The pattern engraved beneath Seria's collarbone glimmered, very faint.
She could not excuse herself with a lie, so in the end she clenched her teeth and poured out the truth.
"Because of that irresponsible act of yours, Your Highness."
"Irresponsible?"
"Yes. The stupid thing you did, carving it in without even knowing it was a permanent binding. And that vicious running of your mouth beside me while I was shaking with the worst shame of my life. Above all… because of this curse of a soul Imprint, which can never be undone."
Her voice trembled, just barely.
"I want to pour out resentments more blasphemous still, but I am enduring it. If my anger bursts, I will have to suffer that shameful penalty again."
I listened quietly to that savage, honest confession, then slowly turned my head to look at Seria standing in the middle of the room.
"Is that so? Then you have no intention of ever forgiving me."
"…If you completely release this Imprint, I will consider it then."
"Hah."
I dragged a dry hand down my face, irritated.
"You know it can never be undone, and you still say that. Which means you never intend to forgive me."
"If that is how you heard it, Your Highness is correct."
The head maid's declaration was cold as a sheet of ice. Still lying on the bed, I pillowed my head on my arm and muttered, low and cool.
"Then the conclusion's already in. You'll keep feeding me my own words and making a nuisance of yourself whenever there's a gap, just like today. I thought you were perfectly mine, but there's a good chance you're a villain who'll put a knife in my throat the moment I slip."
"……."
"Then there's nothing else for it."
I twisted the corner of my mouth up and looked straight at her.
"I'll have to smash that paltry pride of yours first and train you, completely, into a bitch who folds the instant I speak."
"…Pardon?"
Seria's eyes wavered. Still lying on the bed, I dropped a bomb of a question in the laziest, most offhand tone in the world.
"Have you ever masturbated?"
"…What did you say. Wh-what are you doing right now…!"
"What do you think? I said I'm training a bitch. You keep scraping my nerves and making a nuisance of yourself, so I'm going to empty that brain of yours out and turn you into Seria the bitch who listens when I talk."
Seria's face burned red with shame and shock. She bit her lip hard and gave no answer at all, and I laughed under my breath.
"Not answering. You know it too, don't you? If you go silent on one of my questions, that counts as a lie."
A soft slide of light. The instant the words left me, the pink pattern in the valley of Seria's chest bloomed, lewd and bright.
"Kkh—ah…!"
Seria's legs folded, and she collapsed onto the carpet. The heat of estrus climbed her spine in an instant. I stayed comfortably on my back and repeated the same question.
"Have you ever masturbated?"
"Haa, haa… nnh, I, I have…!"
Seria clutched her skirt and answered with tears standing in her eyes. The moment she spat out the truth, the pleasure ebbed for a little while. I didn't hesitate before the next question.
"When?"
"……."
A question too shameful to put in her mouth. The instant Seria clamped her lips shut again, the pattern that had faded flared, fierce.
"Hiiiik—♡!! Aaah! Hnnh!"
"You have to answer, Seria. Masturbation. When did you do it?"
"Hhk, haa, haa! Th-that day…! After the day Your Highness t-touched me yourself, alone… in the b-bathroom, I did it once…!"
Broken by extreme pleasure, Seria poured out the truth through tears and a running nose. At that miserable, honest confession I stayed on my back and burst out laughing.
"Puhahaha! Damn, you really are filthy. With that blank face, alone in the bathroom, remembering my hands…"
I stroked my chin and wore a wicked devil's smile.
"Next question. While you were doing it, were you thinking of me?"
"……!!"
A question that dug all the way to the bottom of her shame. As if she could not possibly answer, Seria covered her face with both hands and shook her head.
FLASH—!!
"Haaaang! No, hnnh! Nnaaang!"
As the price of a lie—of silence—a maddened tide of estrus slammed through her whole body. Seria thrashed on the floor, her waist snapping until even her toes curled.
"Were you thinking of me?"
"S-stop… please, kkh, aah!"
"I asked if you were thinking of me."
I repeated the same question with mechanical cruelty. That pride of hers, once cold as ice, was melting without a trace in a swamp of overwhelming pleasure and surrender.
"Hyaaang! I, I did!"
At last Seria let go of reason entirely and sobbed as she crawled along the floor.
"Haang, while I was doing it… hhk, hik! I thought of you, of Your Highness's hands… and I masturbated♡!"
Hearing that confession broken with sobs, I slowly pushed myself upright.
"Come to my bed."
At the order, Seria flinched where she sat collapsed on the floor. In the grip of extreme shame and the heat of estrus, she instinctively shrank back, trying to get away from me.
"If I have to come get you myself, I'll torment you a great deal worse. You all right with that?"
At the cool warning, Seria's shoulders jumped. In the end she dragged her unsteady legs and crawled up onto my bed. I caught her by the waist and sat her on my lap. Her fever-hot body came through the thin cloth and into mine without losing a degree of it. My right hand closed over her breast through the apron; my left lifted her skirt and rubbed at the secret place beneath.
"What is my right hand kneading?"
"Haang…! M-my breast… you're kneading it…."
"Next. Then where is my left hand touching?"
"Hhk… m-my precious place… nnh, you're touching…."
When Seria squeezed her eyes shut and answered, I nipped lightly at the shell of her ear and whispered.
"No. You have to say 'Seria's pussy.' Say, 'You are touching Seria's pussy.' If you talk around it because you can't bring yourself to say it, I'll count that as a lie."
At that vicious order, Seria's face went red enough to burst.
"I'll ask again. Where is my left hand touching right now?"
"……."
Faced with a word she could not put in her mouth, Seria kept silent again. The instant her lips sealed—
estrus from the broken article crashed over her once more.
"Hiiiik—♡!!"
"Say it slowly. Where am I touching?"
"Aaaht! Haang! M-my pussy…! You're touching my pussy, nngh! You are…!"
An answer that had scraped the very bottom of her shame. I smiled, satisfied, and stroked the white nape of her neck.
"Good girl. Since I'm touching you myself like this, Seria is going to take her clothes off on her own now."
"Hik…!"
She hesitated at the order and stayed still, so I pressed my thumb hard into her most sensitive place and rubbed.
"Aah! Hyaaang!"
"Why are you acting like you want me to torment you more? Hurry."
In the end Seria, broken by pleasure, began to strip off her maid's uniform with trembling hands. Buttons came undone one by one, and black cloth dropped to the floor. Before long Seria, perfectly naked, was laid out on my bed. I got up and roughly threw off my trousers.
"Thanks to that mouth of yours, it's really become an established fact."
I spread her pale legs and, without a shred of consideration or hesitation, drove my cock into her to the hilt in a single thrust.
"Aaaaaah—!!"
At the foreignness and the pain of her first time, Seria screamed.
"It's your first time, and you're clenching incredibly tight."
I muttered it with a frown. But between the Imprint and the shame, she was already soaked below, slick and dripping.
"Even so, you keep overflowing, so the grip is surprisingly soft."
"Hhk, it hurts…! Your Highness, ah, aah…!"
I roughly swallowed the lips of the woman writhing in pain. Through the thick kiss, sweet cries kept breaking from the seam of Seria's mouth without a pause.
"Nn… mmph, haang! Ah, aah…! Nngh!"
When I drew back, her tear-bright eyes, panting with pleasure, turned toward me. The usual sheet of ice was nowhere to be found.
"This look is rather new, too."
I swept back her sweat-damp silver hair and whispered, low.
"From now on, in front of other people, act as you always have—an emotionless guard. In front of me, act like this. A bitch who listens. Understand?"
The moment I finished speaking, I poured a hot pulse into her deepest place and came.
"Haa, haa…"
Seria dragged in rough breaths, her eyes unfocused.
"From next time, listen when you're told."
A cool warning. Seria nodded weakly and whispered an answer of perfect surrender.