A Date with the Married Knight
"I'll give you time to think. Five days. Consider it carefully."
"No need. I'll never become a beast's slave, not now, not ever."
"Same here. Tch."
I smiled thinly at the two elves who spoke as if daring me to kill them.
Let's see if they can keep that expression in five days.
I closed the door and stepped out. The three elves came to stand beside me. I warned Serendia.
"Don't let them go just because of old sentiments."
"Don't worry. That will never happen."
"Good. For now, the three of you will keep watch together."
"Where are you going, my lord?"
The governor glanced at Aria standing to one side. She was asking if Aria was coming too.
"Yeah. I've got something to take care of with Ari. Once that's done, I'll send her back. Until then, the three of you will have to manage."
"Understood."
We left the building and passed through a beautiful garden that reminded me of an abandoned divine garden. When we reached the gate, I turned to the elf who had come to see us off.
A tall beauty who looked to be in her early thirties. A swordmaster whose skill alone placed her among the top five in the empire. The governor of the elves, now my slave and escort knight.
"Serendia."
"Yes."
"Come closer."
She tilted her head and approached. I leaned in, licked her ear with my tongue, and smiled.
"Hic?!"
"Sex with you... no, mating with you was enjoyable. Let's do it again next time."
"Th-thank you."
"You weren't unwilling, were you? If so, just say—"
"I wasn't!"
"Hm?"
"It... it really was wonderful. I also..."
My escort knight had a rather cute side to her. I swept my hand once over her ear and picked up Aria, who had transformed into a cat.
The elf matter was settled. Now it was time to fill the married knight's womb.
"Ari, I'm counting on you~"
Meow!
Tanya Bur克兰드, second daughter of the Sandford marquis house and a capable female knight who had joined the Emperor's direct knight order at the age of twenty-five, had been troubled lately.
Was it because her escort duties were difficult? No.
Because of family issues? Not that either.
The married knight, now in her third year of marriage, was agonizing over one man who had appeared before her.
'Was that just a joke? Nobles often give lip service with polite words, after all.'
But his expression at the time had been far too serious for that. His words had carried genuine intent. And who would say something like that so openly?
'If I had met Lady Tanya just a little earlier, I would have proposed. Once I return safely... would you have dinner with me, just the two of us?'
'A d-date? I... I'm married, and I'm older, and I'm not very popular with men... Is that really okay?'
'When you like and love someone, does any of that matter?'
Yeah... no matter how many times I think about it, that's exactly what it was.
That was love!
Kyaang♥ Tanya buried her face in her pillow and shook her head wildly. Regardless of being a married woman, it was the first time in her life she had received such a confession. That moment was undoubtedly the greatest of her entire life. She could confidently say it felt even better than passing the Emperor's direct knight order exam.
Especially the way he had taken care of her dirtied face. And the sight of him shouting at the elf to save her in a moment when he might have died...!
'Kyaaang! Wh-what do I do...!'
Tanya pounded the bed with her fists. The cracking sound that followed was probably not just her imagination.
'Right. This isn't the time to be doing this!'
Current time: 10:40 a.m. The appointment was in five hours and twenty minutes. Even starting preparations now might be tight. But she was a noble. Tanya, who had spent most of her time with a sword rather than social gatherings, had no idea how to dress herself without a maid's help.
'Sh-should I ask the princess for help...?'
But if she did, rumors might spread everywhere. In the end, she decided to try figuring it out on her own.
'She's running late...'
I had been waiting in the garden with Aria in my arms for thirty minutes. I knew women took time, so I had arrived exactly on time, yet here I was, already waiting half an hour. Aria yawned widely and exposed her belly, apparently bored. She had completely adapted to her cat form by now.
Why not just go find her directly?
'Hmm. Maybe I should.'
The moment the decision was made, action followed. I quickly made my way to her quarters. Suddenly, I heard someone muttering.
"Th-this isn't it either...! What should I do? There's no time left..."
I could picture the situation clearly. Quite a few nobles didn't know how to dress themselves. Most relied on maids for that. I thought for a moment, then knocked on the door.
Knock knock.
"Yes? Who is it?"
I held back from answering. If she found out it was me, it would only cause more chaos. If unlucky, she might tell me to wait and spend another two hours getting ready. So I stayed silent. Soon the door clicked open and Tanya peeked out.
"Lady Tanya!"
"Eek! K-Kael?"
"Ah. You were getting dressed, I see."
I grabbed her hand as she tried to quickly close the door and smoothly stepped inside. Tanya, who had been in only her underwear, hurriedly ran off and threw on some clothes.
"Wh-why did you come here? We were supposed to meet outside... We..."
Her face turned bright red when she said "we." It was rather cute. I laughed and gave her some lip service.
"Of course I came because I wanted to see Lady Tanya sooner!"
"That's..."
Wow. Our married knight really didn't know what to do with herself. Others would probably be shocked if they saw this.
I figured as much? She was like a drawn blade the first time we met. Cold and arrogant.
But looking at her now, she was a complete airhead of a teenage girl. She moved about in a fluster and resumed trying to get ready. If I left her like this, who knew how many more hours it would take... Should I help?
I quietly moved behind her and hugged her tightly. Tanya froze in place. I decided to speak properly for once.
"Lady Tanya."
"Hm?"
"No matter how you dress, you're beautiful. So don't try to suddenly become much prettier. Show it to me little by little, step by step. So I don't faint."
"Pfft. What kind of line is that..."
A bright flower bloomed on the face of the frozen knight. Her eyes looked like she had found the answer. She said she understood and asked me to wait a moment, then went into the shower room and began undoing her tightly braided hair.
After waiting about thirty minutes...
"Kael. I'm ready. Let's go."
I looked up. There stood the married woman in her usual neat knight's attire. The only difference was that her ponytail had been undone and let down to one side. The way it swayed gently in the breeze was incredibly charming. Her platinum blonde hair, slightly different from Serendia's golden blonde, seemed to glow with its own light.
"Wh-why are you staring like that?"
"Your hair looks beautiful. Really..."
"Th-thank you, Kael."
She pressed her thigh against mine and rubbed her groin against me. Ah, forget the date. I just wanted to shove my cock in right now. A month ago she had been so high-handed and sharp-tongued, but now she was like this. I wanted to climb on top of her immediately and hear her vulgar moans.
Ooh... that's a good idea? Let's go! Go go!
'Hey, calm down! If you act like that too, how am I supposed to lead?'
Just fuck her ass a few times and everything's fine, trust this big sis!
Ah, forget it. I lightly ignored Beres and held out my hand to the beauty before me.
"Shall we head out now, then?"
"Hehe. Yes."
We talked about this and that as we walked outside. Normally, a man and woman meeting, talking, and laughing together was incredibly difficult, but thanks to Aria's dedication, that problem was solved naturally.
"Ari understands human speech to some extent. So you have to be careful."
"Really? I see... So she understood what I said that day too. Ari, big sis is sorry~"
Meow.
Aria accepted the apology as I had instructed beforehand. Thanks to that, Tanya's mood instantly soared to its peak. If we kept this flow going, reaching the bedroom would be no problem. But nothing in this world goes according to plan...
"Kael, Tanya? Where are you two going?"
"Hmm~ Suspicious. Very suspicious~"
The princess and the duchess's daughter appeared right in front of us! They must have been waiting at the villa entrance, sensing something with their woman's intuition and sitting there the whole time.
I was wondering why they didn't come out~ Our milk cow and the light-year girl~
'Right.'
Tanya quickly bowed in greeting. Her face had stiffened slightly. But I had expected these two to show up to some degree... I smiled at the two women. Then I gave them the excuse I had prepared in advance.
"We're heading to the Violet family to look through some old records. I thought two people would be better than one."
"The Violet family, that cursed house?"
"Yes."
"Is that true?"
At the princess's question, Tanya bowed. She had quickly realized I was making up a story. As expected of the Emperor's direct knight order—everyone was an elite.
"Then let me and the duchess's daughter come too..."
Sorry, Reina. Bella. I really like you two, but not today.
"Your Highness. You know the Violet family greatly dislikes the imperial family and high nobility, right?"
"Urk..."
The princess was immediately at a loss for words. Bella asked from the side if that was true. It seemed Bella hadn't received education on that particular matter.
"At the time, their titles, territory, and property were confiscated because they were said to be cursed. That was the result of an agreement between the Emperor and the high nobility. So the Violet family despises the imperial family and ducal houses. Hmm... to be precise, 'loathes' would be more appropriate."
"Then I'll quit being the Hardrens heir starting today! That should fix it, right?"
Bella spouted an absurd remark after hearing my explanation, but the princess's serious attitude naturally suppressed her. Some things simply couldn't be done. The princess seemed to understand that much and accepted it.
"When do you plan to return?"
"Depending on the situation, I intend to return tomorrow morning."
"Hmm... Alright. Understood."
She seemed to think that was acceptable. In truth, there was still plenty of vacation time left, so missing one day with me wasn't a problem for the princess or the duchess's daughter at all. Reina grabbed Bella, who was still throwing a tantrum beside her, and turned away.
"Reina!"
"Follow quietly."
"But...!"
The princess didn't care about "buts." She was surprisingly good at handling the tomboyish Bella. Once the two disappeared, Tanya and I also resumed walking outside. As we passed through the main gate, I apologized to Tanya.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't say it was a date outright..."
"Kael..."
Deep emotion rose on Tanya's face. My line must have been pretty good. Seeing that, I considered adding more but decided to leave it. Sometimes a short, lingering sentence like that was more effective.
"So we're heading to the Violet district now?"
"We probably should. We'll stop by there briefly, then have dinner outside. Just the two of us."
"Just the two of us..."
The married knight's face turned as red as the setting sun. I carefully held out my hand to her as if escorting her.
"The plan changed a bit, but... would you give me your time for today, my lady?"
The woman smiled joyfully and took my hand.
"Of course. It's an honor, Baron."
* * *