To the Noble Princess Being Stained by a Lowly Man's Desire 2
The sounds from the secret passage reached my ears.
I calmed my racing heart and carefully adjusted my dress. Outwardly, I was no different from an elegant, refined princess. I strove to maintain a quiet, sophisticated smile and the graceful, highborn etiquette expected of me… yet inside, my heart was in turmoil. It beat with something lewd, something deliciously depraved. To the sound of my own heartbeat…
The person who opened the door and entered was the true Princess Leticia, original owner of this body of mine, appearing now in the form of Private Kite. Black hair of the sort common among Latvian commoners. An ordinary face. A frame that could hardly be called sturdy. Dusty Latvian military uniform after training. He was dressed in threadbare clothes.
I felt a flicker of fluster, of surprise, and even a slight pang of guilt—but to hide those feelings, to hide the sly workings of my mind, I sharpened my refined manner of speech still further.
"It's been a while."
I did everything I could to keep the surprise from my voice, speaking with pure, noble composure… yet I only grew more excited.
"…Hey! Why don't you stop imitating me already?"
At his words, I recalled every sensation of being a woman, of being a princess. The full, teardrop-shaped breasts that swayed gently up and down with every movement of my body. The weight of them rolling with each breath I took.
"Mm…"
My voice—clear, pure, the voice of a princess. It held a refinement utterly unlike the rough voice of the Kite standing before me. The soft brush of hair against my face felt silken. It swayed gently whenever I moved, as if making me even more beautiful.
The weight of the splendid tiara atop my head, symbol of my noble station as Princess of Astria. And, little by little, my panties growing damp, the sensation of a woman on the verge of touching herself…
"Heh… Right now, I am Leticia. If anything, your way of speaking is the strange one."
His eyes widened, faintly angry. A moment of silence fell. Then his question cut through the stillness.
"Don't you intend to reverse this?"
His voice held a careful note, and at the same time a thread of fear.
I don't know why we swapped either… but does that even matter?
"I don't know any way to return things either. Even if we could reverse it… if you were in my position, would you want to go back?"
I looked at Kite. His face showed clear dismay. Seeing that lowly man who had been me a year ago begging for his body back only made the sensations of being a woman, of being a princess, surge through me all the more intensely. The soft silk of the dress against my skin—something I had thought I was long used to. The sway of my breasts. My panties grew wetter still. I crossed my legs. The white stockings lightly sheathed my skin; that gentle pressure teased me in the most delicious way and only heightened my arousal. My body answered that feeling, my chest swelling full.
I felt his gaze travel down my thighs and calves. I felt his eyes climb back up my legs, taking in my body. When that gaze moved toward my cleavage, my heart gave a light, fluttering leap.
"…It's true a starving pauper may lack both culture and conscience. Living in a grand castle, eating whatever you please, waited on by servants and protected by soldiers… of course that would be pleasant. You wouldn't want to return any of it to its rightful owner."
His words were meant to shake me, to deny and criticize the life I now enjoyed. He belittled me as a pauper and accused me of lacking culture and conscience. Yet I found him only ridiculous. The truth was that the smell of his sweat and dust displeased me, and when he spoke the odor of his breath made it hard even to focus on his accusations.
I brushed a lock of hair aside, savoring its soft texture and faint fragrance.
"I'm glad you understand."
I covered my cleavage lightly with one hand and offered him an elegant bow. After all, I was Princess Leticia now… and I had no intention of going back.
I looked out the window, where the light stretched far beyond the castle walls, painting the twilight. The sun was setting. I asked him,
"Then, from the eyes of someone who left the Astrian royal house and is now merely a colonial subject of Astria—what is the princess's reputation at present? Am I an existence unworthy of the name 'Leticia,' someone inferior even to you?"
The eyes that had been glaring at me wavered as he answered.
"…So far, you're better than I was."
His voice grew stiff. I smiled faintly.
"I take some pride in the fact that my reputation among those around me has improved somewhat."
In the space of a year I had secured enormous advantages for Astria in negotiations with foreign powers. I had also founded orphanages and schools in Latvia, which had suffered through thirty years of civil war, and given those people hope. Countless voices praised and exalted my deeds. And now I was loved by the crown prince, soon to receive his proposal. Every one of them recognized me as the true Leticia and loved me. Was that not the finest proof that I was the real Leticia?
"I can't deny that either. But none of it is a good reason for you to have stolen my body and my life. Give me back what is mine. If you return my body this very moment, I will regard the past year or so as a valuable experience and make no issue of it."
He tried to speak with dignity… yet all I felt was pity. From the beautiful young princess of a great power who had been loved for her beauty… he had become an ordinary-looking soldier born to a poor colonial family. And the petulant complaints of a girl who had done nothing but live in luxury as the most beautiful princess of a superpower, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, only looked laughable to me.
He kept insisting he was the real princess. I decided persuasion was useless. The thought of branding him a thief who had snuck into the princess's chambers crossed my mind… but thinking of the little sister left alone, I chose simply to look the other way.
"As for me, there is no method. Ah… I simply don't know any way to return either."
"…How is life?" he asked.
"Learning diplomacy while also studying the history and culture of our allies feels difficult even just to keep up with."
In truth I was thoroughly enjoying my role on the stage of world diplomacy. The gazes that followed me, the achievements, the foreign foods—all of it was charming and delightful. But I merely smiled and pretended it was hard.
"Heh heh heh…"
"And I have some good news for you." My voice was calm, yet my words clearly startled him. "Crown Prince Richard seems likely to propose to me soon."
His eyes widened further as I finished speaking.
"He sent me the dress I am to wear for His Highness's birthday celebration, and as a gift he sent a necklace called the Ocean's Tear—a treasure that means eternal love."
I touched the necklace with my fingertips. Its flowing light, its warmth, its quietude—all of it filled my heart.
"He wrote in his letter that I should prepare to be surprised."
I said the last of it. The Kite before me… as a princess he had wanted to wear a beautiful dress and marry the crown prince. No doubt he was thinking that everything I now enjoyed ought to have been his. I could feel his despair and rage. Yet I did not look away from Kite's eyes; I met them with my smile.
I asked nothing about Kite's life as a garrison soldier. There was no need to speak of his bleak existence; we both already knew. And I already knew everything about Kite's family as well. Before last winter the orphanage I had ordered built was completed, and by my instruction it began registering girls of eight and under. I had written to Irene and received the registration list. When I confirmed that little sister Lia, who had entered the orphanage, was also on the enrollment list for the newly finished school, I felt relief.
"How have you adapted over this past year?" he asked me.
"Ah! You still don't know, do you, Kite?"
My voice was pure and beautiful. I called him Kite as though I were the true princess. When his name slipped softly from my lips, his expression clouded for an instant. His eyes filled with tears. His pain blurred my vision.
"Mm… For example, the matter with Rosie from a year and two months ago—you don't remember it?"
"You don't remember anything from before the swap, do you?"
Kite still hasn't masturbated even once since the bodies changed!!
"Of course, that's usually the case. But I became able to know every memory and every secret of 'Princess Leticia.' And so I am living as 'Leticia Ritz Astria,' the Princess of Astria."
"I'll tell you the method. Meet me in the bedchamber at midnight. Come through the secret passage, just like this time."
I had spent more than a year in this body… and looking at that noble princess who had remained utterly unstained even while trapped in a lowly man's form, the desire rose in me to dye her thoroughly in lust.
