The Secret of the Robin Chronicles
"Your Majesty. Are you and my brother really on such good terms?"
At Mary's question, Joy nodded vigorously. "They are practically glued to each other all day long! They are absolutely lovey-dovey."
Hearing this, Octavia gasped in surprise. "My... I had no idea they were so close."
Embarrassed by the attention, Theodora cleared her throat. "Ahem..."
The women had gathered at the Grand Ducal Palace. Its current residents, Mary and Octavia, along with Theodora and Joy—four women in total—were enjoying a lively chat.
"Come to think of it, I heard my brother almost died protecting you, sister-in-law?" Mary asked.
It would have been impossible to hide the fact that an assassin had targeted the Empress in the imperial palace not too long ago.
"My... Devi must truly love Her Majesty. Your Majesty, he is a lacking younger brother, but hearing that you two are on such good terms puts my mind at ease."
Theodora blushed at Octavia's words and spoke carefully. "Sister-in-law... please, speak comfortably. Am I not the younger one here?"
Octavia looked troubled. "Still, how could I dare... speak casually to the Empress of the Empire? It would violate all imperial etiquette."
Theodora shook her head. "Though I am the Empress, is this not a private gathering? Etiquette only needs to be observed in public. Even my own family, like Joy and the Empress Dowager, treat me comfortably, do they not? Please, do the same."
Octavia and Mary exchanged uneasy glances. Their husband was Deviang. When the reigning monarch was female, there were various customs regarding honorifics and casual speech to show respect to her husband, but none of them accounted for the husband's family.
"B-but Your Majesty... the... the laws of the Empire..."
Seeing Mary struggle to find the right words, Theodora offered a gentle smile. "You should speak comfortably as well, sister-in-law."
Mary's eyes darted nervously toward Octavia.
'Sister. Can we really speak casually to Her Majesty?'
'Of course not. Do you want our family to be branded as senseless boors who don't know basic etiquette?'
A silent conversation practically crackled between their eyes.
"Lady Mary, please feel free to call me sister," Theodora said, shifting her tone to a warm, casual register.
Mary, still looking deeply uncomfortable, glanced hesitantly at Octavia again.
'S-sister, what do I do?'
'Just do as she wishes.'
Sensing Theodora's genuine sincerity, Octavia gave a subtle nod. Mary let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Phew... can I... can I really call you sister?"
"Yes. And please drop the formalities, just like Joy does."
"S-sister. Thank you," Mary stammered, her voice trembling slightly.
Theodora smiled warmly. "It is nothing, sister-in-law."
When Mary, a mere lady, spoke casually while Theodora, the Empress, used polite honorifics, Octavia felt a headache coming on and pressed her temples.
"Your Majesty. This... this does not seem right. At the very least, if Mary is speaking casually, Your Majesty should do the same. If the citizens or other nobles saw this, they would point fingers at our family."
She was entirely correct. Even to the common citizens, the Empress was the supreme being. The people loved the Empire's noble history and traditions. To speak down to the Empress, who symbolized the Empire itself, would be unacceptable even to commoners ignorant of court etiquette.
And the nobles, who were well-versed in etiquette, would mock the Lion family, whispering that they were worse than uneducated serfs. Octavia could not tolerate such a disgrace.
If the Empress wished, they could use simplified titles. However, the people the Empress used honorifics for were strictly defined—usually parents or elders of the imperial family.
"I only did it because I want to get close to his family, so please do not worry," Theodora reassured her.
Octavia shook her head firmly. "At the very least, Mary is younger than Your Majesty. It is only right that Your Majesty speaks casually to her."
Mary nodded vigorously in agreement. "She's right, sister-in-law."
"Yeah, sister. Everyone is uncomfortable," Joy chimed in. "Let's just do as Sister Octavia says. Okay?"
With Mary and Joy joining in, Theodora relented. "If I refuse, it will seem like I am just being stubborn, so I will speak comfortably."
"Please do, sister-in-law," Mary said with a grin.
After that, they settled on their terms. Theodora would call Octavia "sister," Joy would call Mary by her name, and Octavia "sister."
Perhaps because Mary was getting married soon, her curiosity about the wedding night got the better of her.
"But, Sister Octavia. How was your first night?"
Octavia's face flushed as she looked at Theodora and Joy. "Y-you... honestly... there is nothing you won't say to your sister. I'm sure Agrippa will treat you well."
Mary waved her hand dismissively. "That's that, but curiosity is curiosity. And what's the big deal? We're all women here, we can talk about a little smut."
Octavia firmly shook her head and nagged, "Even so, it is not seemly for a lady of a noble house to discuss such things."
Mary grumbled at her old-fashioned sister. "Oh, please. You talk about dirty things all the time when it's just the two of us. Sister-in-law, how was it for you? My brother is a Lion, after all, so his sex drive must be insane, right?"
Theodora froze.
"W-we haven't... done that yet..."
Mary and Octavia stared at her, utterly dumbfounded.
"What?!" Mary shrieked. "You've been married for so long and you haven't done it yet?"
"Y-Your Majesty, is that true?" Octavia gasped.
The fact that Deviang and Theodora had not spent their first night together was so famous that practically everyone in the Imperial Palace knew. But to Octavia and Mary, who were hearing it for the first time, it was shocking that a member of the "Lion family" still hadn't consummated their marriage.
"T-that makes no sense. There's no way... I even found dirty books in his room before!" Mary blurted out.
Theodora flinched.
To soothe his raging teenage hormones, Deviang had kept explicit novels on his bookshelf. Although the meticulous Deviang had even changed the book covers, Mary had eventually caught him.
"I saw him reading them a few times in the past," Mary added.
"Ah... come to think of it, I think I heard about that from you," Octavia recalled.
Mary nodded grimly. "Yeah. I was so shocked back then, I almost stopped talking to him."
Theodora flinched again, her curiosity thoroughly piqued. Her husband always ran away or deliberately ruined the mood whenever she tried to seduce him. As his wife, it would be a lie to say she wasn't curious about his tastes.
"Well, Devi is a man after all..." Theodora murmured.
"Does he... really read those kinds of things?"
If Deviang read explicit novels, why didn't he satisfy his desires with her? Theodora was deeply confused. No matter what anyone said, she was his wife. She was someone he could legally view as an object of desire, so why hadn't he laid a hand on her?
Moreover, she had clearly made advances, so he must know she no longer disliked him. This only added to her confusion.
"Yes, sister-in-law. And he reads really dirty ones," Mary whispered conspiratorially.
Theodora gulped.
'Could it be... is my husband a pervert? Is he too embarrassed to let me find out?'
Feeling a bit anxious, Theodora asked, "R-really dirty ones?"
"Like... making a woman submit? That kind of thing? Or like, asking a maid to wake him up with caresses in the morning?"
Theodora stared in sheer shock and horror.
"Kyaaa~ I didn't think my brother-in-law was like that. How vulgar!" Joy squealed, covering her face.
Theodora found Joy's reaction utterly absurd. Deviang's tastes might not be criminal, but Joy was an author who wrote books that would get her burned at the stake by the Holy See if she weren't an imperial princess! Knowing this, Theodora found Joy's hypocrisy disgusting.
'Seriously... look who's calling who vulgar.'
Theodora seriously thought that if Lady Mary, who was marrying for love, ever found out that her future husband and her brother were the stars of Joy's explicit BL novels, she might literally fold Joy in half. Mary certainly had the strength for it.
Regardless, Theodora now knew that her husband had a high sex drive and a taste for submissive, maid-like women. This sparked an intense curiosity.
"Mary. That book your brother got caught reading... do you still have it?"
Mary looked thoughtful. "Uh... it's probably still in his room? You know, the room you and my brother share?"
Theodora's heart raced at the thought that a book containing the exact key to Deviang's desires was nearby.
'If I read that book... I'll find something that will make Deviang unable to resist me.'
"Could you help me find it later? I'm a little curious about Deviang's tastes," Theodora said, offering a gentle, innocent smile.
Seeing her smile, Mary nodded without thinking much of it. "Ah~ It's hidden on the largest bookshelf under a book cover called The Robin Chronicles."
Theodora immediately stood up.
"Well, I have some business to attend to, so I must be going."
Watching Theodora hastily depart, the remaining women all thought the same thing:
'She went to find the book.'
'She's definitely looking for the book.'
'Yep, she went to get the book.'