If the Emperor's Wife Can't Get Pregnant, It's Common Sense for His Son to Take Her as a Concubine
"Gillin."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The coronation — and the coming-of-age ceremony that came with it — was finally over. In the now half-empty hall, where only my retainers and the Kingsguard tasked with protecting me remained, I turned my gaze down toward the imperial advisor standing closest at hand.
I peeled back a layer of my tangled thoughts and directed them at Gillin, whose bright blonde hair suited her so perfectly it almost hurt to look at.
"There's something about the ancient laws I've forgotten. Think you can fill me in?"
"If it is a matter of that nature, please do not hesitate to ask at any time."
Gillin — a walking imperial-family-exclusive wiki, and proud of it. I tossed the question out casually from my slouch on the throne.
"How far does the imperial family allow marriage between blood relatives?"
"Fourth cousins and beyond."
She answered without missing a beat, like a walking encyclopedia.
"It is also codified in law. That said, as Your Majesty is well aware, our empire is an exceptionally open and tolerant nation. There have been cases of romantic entanglements between uncle and niece, and even instances of children born between second cousins. Of course, in the latter case, recognition as a legitimate heir or rightful child can prove… difficult."
"So uncle-niece is fine, second cousins are tacitly permitted… What about first-degree relatives?"
She flinched.
Right there, a crack appeared in Gillin's infinite-loyalty customer-service smile reserved exclusively for the imperial family. Just a tiny one — the faintest fracture — which she smoothed over by pushing up her thin-rimmed glasses.
"If… Your Majesty is referring to a love that crosses the bounds between parent and child, or to a child born of such a union, then even within this empire, it is absolutely not permitted."
"Absolutely? Not even tacitly?"
"Correct. For a commoner, immediate execution. For a noble, the death sentence is handed down without exception."
"…Has that ever actually been carried out?"
"A noble would sell off their fortune and lands if it meant postponing the sentence. They bribe officials to fabricate evidence, hire expensive lawyers to stall, and if all else fails, they grovel on their knees until a stay of execution is granted."
"What? So then it is tacitly allowed—"
"However, in such cases, they ultimately forfeit every right they hold as nobility."
Gillin smiled. It was not her usual bright, pleasant service smile — it was the kind of smile you get when a razor blade accidentally nicks your chin. Unsettling.
"No matter how hard they fight it, their assets are seized and their noble territories are absorbed into the national treasury. In effect, they are reduced to a status even lower than commoners — to that of the lowest outcasts. They are branded for life as people who crossed the line of pure, academic affection between parent and child, and they become the target of public violence."
"…"
"I have not investigated their final fates one by one, but I would imagine most of them end up as bloated, tightly embracing corpses discovered in some nameless river downstream."
Gillin kept smiling the entire time as she recited the outcome, without a single slip. It was a warning. A warning that if I so much as entertained such a grotesque fantasy, even an emperor would be shut down without mercy.
"Your Majesty."
"…What."
"The fact that Your Majesty has suddenly posed such a question can only mean that the infamous Your Majesty still harbors impure feelings toward Her Majesty Queen Valeria — Your Majesty's own birth mother, and a woman still rumored to be the most peerless beauty in the entire nation—"
"No no no no, it's just idle curiosity."
"Ahh, what a relief. I nearly reported the newly crowned Emperor to the Pontiff as a deranged mother-obsessed mama's boy."
This woman will snitch on me the second things go sideways, won't she?
After saying it, she tilted her head cutely, as if it had all been a joke. The back of my neck went ice-cold, but she was cute enough that I let it slide for now.
"Well then, if Your Majesty's enlightening questions are concluded, shall we begin with some properly imperial duties—"
"Hey, hold on. If you're going to make me deal with annoying state affairs, I'm going back to my room."
At that, Gillin's expression cracked with open regret.
"Your Majesty. You are not a lord cultivating a small plot of land, nor a duke who commands such lords. You are not even a king who rules a single nation — you are the Emperor who shall open the radiant morning of an empire. Throwing tantrums as you once did will no longer do."
So this body was always highly synchronized with me, huh.
Apparently the original had also been in full goof-off-and-play mode. Well, he was the crown prince and a thoroughly spoiled legitimate heir — how fun could life have been from the moment he was born? The only strange part was that he'd somehow remained a pure-hearted virgin right up until his coming-of-age ceremony.
"Listen, the previous me — no, Father — spent all his time just going out and having fun, right? So it shouldn't be a problem if I don't bother with government affairs either, should it?"
"…For Your Majesty to dare speak the name of the 'Great Otto the Magnificent' in this place leaves me utterly overwhelmed with awe."
Gillin coolly adjusted her glasses again. She cleared her throat with a crisp ahem, then continued.
"Regarding the Great Otto's final end, many found it puzzling — but he was, without question, the architect of a truly magnificent history."
"…By sleeping around with women every single day?"
"Yes. Precisely because he never shirked his nightly labors with such diligence, he forged peace with his enemies, expanded the empire's territories, and united every race under love and bound them together through faith."
She shot me a sharp look that said blasphemy against the previous generation would not be tolerated, then pressed on.
"The Great Otto was a legendary figure who achieved grand unity. Through his power alone, he integrated even the hot-tempered beastfolk; he contributed to the broad propagation and development of our state religion; and he even forged close ties with the elves of the Sky World Tree — something no one had believed possible. He extended the empire's influence all the way into the elven lands that were thought unreachable."
Yeah, that was me.
Honestly, the whole speech left me cold. I was the one who'd done all of it, and since it was the previous generation's history, I still remembered it. Strip away the grandiose phrasing and what I'd actually done was simple: I'd seduced the beauties and top women of every nation, pounded them senseless, and married them. Sometimes I'd thrown around the emperor's authority as a threat, and one way or another I'd pressured them into political marriages, churning out kids to force a half-coerced friendship between our peoples.
It wasn't about fulfilling an emperor's duty. I just did it because it was fun. Threatening, seducing, and bedding beautiful women who also came with strong territorial claims — that was the good part. The fact that it all ended up looking like peacemaking, unification, and diplomatic activity was just a side effect.
The reason this pattern even worked was because I'd been tinkering with this world's laws and religion since the very start of the game. Religion in particular was separated from my power by the existence of the Pontiff — but from day one, I'd turned this world's common sense into an absolute dumpster fire.
"Fine, I get it. I'll keep in mind that he was a great man."
"Your Majesty lacks sufficient respect for your father."
If I respected him, wouldn't that just mean bowing my waist so he could suck my dick with his mouth…?
Anyway, I had zero interest in boring paperwork. With that kind of free time, I'd rather figure out how to jump Mom, or just jack off again while replaying the memory of those massive tits I'd sucked on before.
When I kept whining along those lines, Gillin stroked her chin and muttered to herself.
"Hmm… If Your Majesty, like your predecessor, takes a strong interest in both external diplomacy and family relations, then as it happens, there is one urgent matter connected to the late Great Otto that requires immediate attention."
"Huh? What is it?"
"The matter of the previous emperor's wives."
"……Which number wife?"
That was the only possible response. He'd gone around having sex with everyone and collecting wives until there were far too many of them. At a conservative estimate, the previous emperor — my current father, who was also me — had gotten married at least once a year.
"Indeed… While the other wives present their own issues that we may set aside for now, the disposition of Queen Marti — the Great Otto's seventy-fourth queen — is a matter that absolutely must be discussed."
"Hmm… What's going on with her?"
Even hearing the name Marti rang no bells. When the count had already climbed to seventy-four, how was anyone supposed to remember every single name?
But Gillin looked somehow surprised.
"Well… I had assumed this was a matter Your Majesty had already steeled yourself for, deep down."
"? What's the problem?"
"Have you forgotten? The seventy-fourth wife is the only one who failed to conceive a child by the Great Emperor's seed."
"…What?"
"In other words, among the Great Emperor's many wives, she is the sole woman who never bore a child."
Her look said, Surely you understand what that means now?
What does her not having a kid have to do with me?
But I genuinely had no idea. I was wondering if there was yet another law or rule I didn't know about when Gillin's voice took on a crisp, firm edge.
"Your Majesty. The ancient laws state the following."
"More laws…?"
"It is also, in a sense, an old custom. It is rare enough that one might not know of it, but—"
After a throat-clearing ahem, she continued.
"Among the previous emperor's wives, any wife who failed to conceive may, at the discretion of the succeeding emperor, be taken as a concubine."
"……A concubine?"
"To put it simply: should Your Majesty so desire, you may take Queen Marti — the Great Otto's seventy-fourth wife — as your concubine at any time."
"………………Come again?"
What. What kind of insanely arousing custom setting was this?
In short: take the previous emperor's wife who never got pregnant with imperial seed, fuck her, and make her your concubine. It was literally picking up unfinished save data and continuing from there.
"This law was established as a contingency for cases in which an emperor, advanced in years, takes a wife and is unable to impregnate her. In accordance with religious custom, it exists to prevent the tragedy of a woman growing old alone and lonely—"
"Gillin, enough!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
I had been lounging crookedly on the throne. Now I sat up with solemn dignity, spine straight. And while I was at it, I stood something important down below straight up as well.
"Summon her at once. Mommy Marti."
"…She is still, for the time being, a wife of the previous generation. Please maintain some semblance of decorum."
Gillin murmured it in a voice only I could hear, then bowed her head in a signal that she understood.
"Your Majesty! Kingsguard — locate Queen Marti at once and escort her to the audience chamber!"
"Yes!"
The Kingsguard sprang to their feet. My cock sprang up too, and did a little dance.
Holy shit — mommy-concubine-making sex, womb-pounding sex!
I was thoroughly satisfied at the prospect of starting things off by securing one solid, high-quality concubine plaything right from the jump.