Courtship
"I've received word that the Imperial Princess will be visiting Bayorn Castle soon."
Kael relayed the contents of the letter he had hastily received to his mother, who had just finished the handover of duties. Darin nodded. She had more or less expected as much. She already knew the princess had taken an interest in her son.
The son who had been casting lecherous glances from right beside his mother smacked his lips and withdrew. He clearly wanted to take her then and there, but even he seemed troubled by the thought of completely disregarding his mother's feelings.
Kael dropped onto the sofa and spread his legs wide — the pillar inside his trousers still throbbing savagely.
Why is he being so shameless? Well, it's not as if I don't know why...
The way he was so blatantly putting it on display felt like a son's petulant demand for his mother to soothe his cock — as if to say, couldn't you just touch it for me yourself?
But Darin found even looking at her son's face overwhelming from sheer embarrassment. The best she could manage was to sip her tea and gaze at the distant mountains beyond the window.
"I clearly refused the meeting by letter, and yet she intends to barge in anyway. This so-called princess has no sense of propriety."
"…Watch your tongue. Imperial Princess or not, she is still a member of the imperial family. A mere viscount's house like ours has no business treating her so lightly."
"But look at this letter. Isn't it far too brazen?"
Darin slowly scanned the parchment Kael had set on the table. Skimming through it, the stated purpose was to commend a warrior who had returned after three years of campaigning against the Demon King.
"This letter wasn't even sent to the other members of the Hero's party."
Which made the pretense of "commendation" utterly absurd. In truth, she was coming to seduce the man named Kael.
"And what's wrong with that?"
But that was only absurd from Kael's perspective. To Darin, as his mother, it was the most welcome news imaginable. She wanted nothing more than for her son to dismiss the night he had spent with his own mother as a mere momentary lapse — and find himself a proper woman.
Darin was not so naive as to believe Kael's heart was likely to change. But that didn't mean she could simply become her son's bride, either. She had to offer some kind of solution.
"What are you saying?"
"Isn't it wonderful? She's the Imperial Princess, famed as the flower of the empire. And it could even be a chance for you to become the imperial son-in-law."
"I do not love the princess."
"Noble marriages don't always require love. And if you keep seeing each other, feelings might bloom later on…"
"Hmm. How strange. Mother, haven't you told me since I was a child that I should build a family with someone I love?"
"…I have, but if the other party is a highborn princess, even that might need to be reconsidered, don't you think?"
"The little girl may simply be lost in a fantasy, wearing rose-colored glasses."
"Then this might be the perfect opportunity, while those glasses are still on. And you, even from a third party's perspective — not just a mother's — are quite a catch as a husband. Wait, hang on…"
As the conversation continued, something struck Darin as odd. It was strange that a young woman of the Imperial Princess's rank would be the one pursuing Kael. Other nobles were one thing, but the greatest beneficiary of the war — the Hero himself — was still available.
Watching his adorable mother tilt her small head this way and that, Kael let out a faint laugh. Then he answered the thought written plainly across her face.
"I know what you're thinking. But the princess doesn't particularly care for the Hero. If anything, she despises him. She looks at him with open disgust, calling his nightlife debauched."
"Hmm? Even so, wouldn't marrying the Hero be the better way to strengthen imperial authority?"
"The current master of the empire is famously a doting father. As you said, he might recommend a marriage to the Hero — but he would never force it on his daughter."
"Th-that's strange. Aren't heroes popular even when they're womanizers?"
"I wouldn't know, but people's tastes vary, don't they? Lucas's casual attitude toward women is probably part of the problem as well."
"I see…"
Darin nodded in understanding and drained her tea. Asking the servants to add calming herbs had been the right choice. The longer the conversation went on, the more manageable talking with her son seemed to become.
She slowly lowered her gaze. As the anger and fear settled, her vision cleared.
Kael really is quite a fine man, isn't he.
Hearing her son's explanation, the princess's behavior made even more sense.
Her son, Akael Bayorn, may have been a barbarian — but he was still of noble blood. He was a war hero who had achieved great feats. He was set to receive a count's title in this generation, making him a high-ranking noble already.
Competence. Power. A suitable rank. And on top of that, handsome looks and a solid, reliable physique. The people of the empire — nobles included — generally regarded Heroes and dimensional wanderers from other worlds as lunatics. Unlike the commoner-born Hero, conversation with Kael would come easily. If one looked past surface appearances and valued substance, choosing Kael was the correct decision.
The little girl is wearing rose-colored glasses. Darin did not agree with her son's assessment. The fact that the princess hadn't simply snapped up the Hero suggested she was, young as she was, a rather shrewd woman.
Kael watched with a wry smile as his mother rolled her small head this way and that. She had already taken her son's seed into her lower body, and still she couldn't come to her senses. Her scheme to treat her son as a problem and foist him off on some daughter-in-law was written all over her face.
His woman was not some immature little princess. She was supposed to be a thoughtful woman with vermilion hair.
"Then all the more reason not to let the princess slip away. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for House Bayorn as well."
"Oh? A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for House Bayorn. I had no idea Mother was aiming for a foothold in the central capital."
"Stop playing word games, Kael. Setting my personal ambitions aside — this is a chance for you, the next head of House Bayorn, and for all our people to prosper. What possible reason could a provincial noble house like ours have for turning down a proposal from the Imperial Princess?"
Rather than listening carefully to his mother's words, Kael simply fixed her amber eyes with a look of clear displeasure. It was the kind of gaze a man gives a woman he loves when she is being needlessly cold to him.
"…I prefer a wildflower that has grown naturally in the wind over some artificial bloom raised in a greenhouse."
That man's gaze was thoroughly persistent. Darin felt her body slowly stiffen as she met those unblinking blue eyes fixed on her. A wildflower of a woman — she knew all too well who that was supposed to be.
"My heart is already decided. I don't understand why you keep trying to push other women on me."
"Are you really asking because you don't know?"
Darin shot back sharply before she could stop herself. Was it not utterly absurd for a man about to become head of the house to lose his mind and go lifting his own mother's skirts?
"…At the very least, meet her once. In the end, this is a request from the Imperial Princess herself. Even you can't simply ignore it."
At her irritable tone, the man's face twisted. It wasn't that he was hurt by his mother's anger — it was that her attitude seemed far too free of lingering attachment, and that was what filled him with discontent.
"Haa…"
Kael showed no reaction for a brief moment, then let out a lamenting sigh through his teeth. Immediately after, he drained the entire cup of tea his mother had been drinking in a single gulp. It should have been quite hot, yet he looked completely unbothered.
"I had hoped you might show even a little jealousy. It's a pity that all you do is push me away."
"Don't say such nonsense."
"Nonsense, is it… As expected, unrequited love is painful."
"Wh-what is there to be so disappointed about? You've done enough already, haven't you? You've done everything you wanted…"
"You seem to be under a misunderstanding. What I truly desire is not Mother's body, but her heart. Since the latter will clearly take a long time, I simply claimed the former in advance."
Kael looked down at the teacup in his hand, then casually sucked at the spot where his mother's red lip print remained. Tasting the faint orange fragrance that rose from it, he grinned. Watching him, Darin felt irritation surge at the way her own flesh-and-blood son kept treating his mother like a female.
"That's enough!"
Darin glared at her son, then shot to her feet with a cry of exasperation. The handover was finished. Continuing this conversation would only give her a fit of rage. And since another "accident" might occur, it was better to simply leave.
If she got swept up in that strange atmosphere without realizing it, she might end up taken as helplessly as last time.
"Mother, where do you think you're going?"
"…I'm going back to the annex to rest."
"We haven't finished talking."
"No! The conversation is over. If there's anything further to discuss, send word through Emma."
Her voice rose before she was even conscious of it. Darin realized it — if she stayed here any longer, she would only end up snapping at her son without meaning to. And unlike before, he no longer seemed inclined to simply take it. She needed to get back to her room quickly.
— Grip.
But of course, Kael did not let his mother go.
— Ugh!?
Darin flinched in surprise and briefly grimaced, but she did not writhe in pain. He hadn't squeezed hard enough for that.
The white beast pressed the woman's shoulder in his massive grip and continued speaking.
"Mother. Are you satisfied being a viscountess?"
"…What?"
She answered as though the sudden question were absurd. But her son's expression was far too serious for it to be a joke.
"If you have even the slightest ambition… how about becoming a countess? If you wish it, your son will aim for a dukedom. No — even higher. A grand dukedom."
"L-let go of me! What on earth are you talking about!?"
She swung her free hand, trying to push her son away, but the steel-like grip did not budge. Kael, seemingly a little angry now, pressed his lips right against her ear and began to growl.
"Stop these pointless antics and be honest with me. What exactly does your son have to do to win your heart?"
One spoonful of courtship.
"And you haven't even let me touch you for over four days. Now you just want to walk away like this…"
Plus one spoonful of his personal desire.
"Why do you keep being so selfish?"