Chapter 119 — Because You Need a Moment to Breathe (1)
It had been a long day.
The conversation with the Count had kept him on edge.
An unexpectedly lengthy exchange.
The Count might, when all was said and done, have been far more ordinary than Roan had assumed—merely someone with a somewhat stronger thirst for knowledge and a sharper sense of purpose.
Within demon society, a powerful demon killing someone weaker was still something people accepted as unavoidable.
From a demon's perspective, the Count was not a man with any particular flaw.
That was why Shwikviena must have called him the 'Hero of Dos.'
'It would be nice if I could change that atmosphere too.'
The easiest way to grant the weak grounds to survive without persecution, to provide fair grounds for everyone, was the law.
But making laws was simple; enforcing them was hard.
Fists were, quite literally, closer than the law.
He knew that fact better than anyone.
Lost in such thoughts, Roan moved to change his clothes when he suddenly realized he had carried the crystal powder here in his pocket.
"Get away from me. And bring any box or container with a lid."
The two attendants were flustered, but neither asked, 'Right now? Why?'
"What size should it be, Your Majesty?"
"About the size of a fist will do."
The attendants brought a small wooden box.
Roan shook out all the crystal powder from his trouser pocket into it.
Since it was a substance that absorbed mana, he could not be sure how it might affect anyone.
The attendants did not know where to look as the emperor personally emptied his own trouser pocket, but the emperor's command was absolute.
Their eyes watched his actions with uncertainty and unease.
After confirming all the powder was in the box,
Roan carried it himself to a corner of the dressing room and set it down.
Only after the attendants finished helping him change and had withdrawn did Roan quietly invoke the 'Blessing of the Stars' and cast the sealing magic he had recently learned from Helen upon the box.
A warm energy flowed into the box.
For a moment, the box glowed faintly before returning to its ordinary state.
"...Hoo."
Only after the entire process was finished did Roan let out a sigh of relief.
"Is something troubling Your Majesty?"
Grünent, who had been waiting in the bedroom, asked with concern. Roan shook his head.
"I am fine."
But Grünent's eyes did not seem easily reassured.
"I heard that Your Majesty instructed the Count and Helen to observe their working hours, yet should Your Majesty not abide by them as well?"
"...Hm."
"When one's superior does not go home, those below have no choice but to work more, do they? Your Majesty."
Roan looked at Grünent with slightly narrowed eyes. She nagged with nothing but perfectly correct words, so he had no rebuttal.
Grünent, who had been smiling softly, looked at the small box in Roan's hand.
"What is it, Your Majesty?"
"Mm. This is what the Lord of the North White Territory and Helen have been experimenting with lately."
"Ah... The crystal powder, is it?"
Grünent apparently regularly heard updates on the progress from Helen.
"May this concubine see it?"
"Yes. I have sealed it, so it is safe."
The sealing magic was applied to both the box body and the lid, so there was no problem even if the lid was opened to view the contents.
When Roan opened it and showed the inside, Grünent let out a fresh sound of admiration.
"It is beautiful even on second sight. This sort of transparency is different from glass's."
Once someone saw a crystal turn transparent after receiving Roan's magic, they could thereafter distinguish crystals that had received Roan's power from those that had not, no matter where they saw other crystals.
If they were to go back to the cave where Roan had been trapped and see the places where he had shone his 'Starlight.'
Grünent, Aina, the Lord of the West Blood Territory, and the like would likely find where Roan had stayed in an instant.
To an ordinary person, however, it would simply be a cave of dark ore and earth.
It was a truly peculiar trait.
"Hm. If crafted, it would yield a unique texture... but it is too dangerous an object for that. Nor can one seal every single piece individually. Is that not so, Aina?"
"...Ngh."
Aina let out a groan, at a loss simply because Roan had spoken her name. Seeing that, Grünent smiled with her eyes.
"Aina is very shy, Your Majesty. That is why she is so endearing. You should have seen how restless she was while getting ready."
"Grünent has worked hard, I see."
"Fufu. Praise me, Your Majesty."
Grünent nestled into Roan's arms.
Tonight's bed service was Grünent and Aina.
The two of them.
Grünent seemed to have started adjusting the rotation of the four bed attendants, including Lisa, after learning that Helen and Aina had entered into relations with him.
Once Erenier entered the castle, even more discipline would become necessary. Grünent was preparing for that.
Using her head,
and solidifying her position.
That was what she had done her entire life.
"Are you pleased with Aina's appearance?"
"Hm. It is rather novel."
What Aina usually wore was a tunic shirt like those of knights or soldiers, with leather armor to protect her chest.
On her lower half, she typically donned fitted trousers or a knee-length skirt for mobility.
Her long hair was tied back,
and her face was always plain with no hint of makeup.
Tonight, however, Aina was adorned in a look put together entirely for Roan.
A gossamer gown.
Through the open front, a tightly laced corset that cinched her waist and pushed up her breasts was visible, along with lingerie lavishly trimmed in lace.
Her red hair flowed long and full, and her face bore light makeup that brought life to her lips. The sharp corners of her eyes seemed deeper than ever tonight.
"You are pretty. Aina."
"...Thank you. Your Majesty."
"Aina. I told you, did I not? That His Majesty would find Aina lovely no matter how she looked."
"...Yeah."
Roan stroked Grünent's hair and pressed a kiss to her lips. Grünent's expression colored with delight.
"Hoo... mm... Your Majesty..."
The kiss between the two seated on the bed was deep.
And Aina, watching the scene directly, tried to avert her gaze as if flustered.
But Roan, pausing the kiss for a moment, gave an order.
"Aina. Take off the gown. It would be a waste to hide that figure. And kneel right there."
"......Huh?"
Aina's face twisted.
Her cheeks flushed.
"What... what are you telling me to do, right now..."
"Once you enter my bedchamber, there is only one task. But there is such a thing as order, is there not?"
Nestled in Roan's arms, Grünent cast an intrigued glance at Aina.
Aina stammered, asking what he intended to do.
But the anticipation emanating from her was something even without 'Attentive Hearing' one could easily perceive.
Roan let out a chuckle and pulled Grünent's waist close.
"Grünent, who always places me first, shall be rewarded first. As for you, I shall grant you the next opportunity. Until then, sit there quietly and delight my eyes."
"Hh... kh."
Aina let out a groan through clenched teeth, as if resentful.
Slowly, she removed the gown that had dazzlingly revealed her entire body through its sheerness.
The light fabric slithered down.
What was revealed was the long, straight-lined body of a forest elf.
A figure and proportions that would be called model-like in the modern era.
Yet she could not move further and remained hesitating.
"Oh my. Aina. Why are you standing there like that?"
It was Grünent who, having wrapped her arms around Roan's neck and shared saliva with him for some time, now looked back at Aina and cast her a sidelong, impish glance.
"It is His Majesty's command. Will you not obey?"
"But... kneeling, of all things."
Aina's brows drooped downward.
She was troubled.
But the emotion felt in her words was half embarrassment, half anticipation.
Showing a humiliating sight before Grünent—and moreover, perhaps revealing all of her most private areas and lewd expressions to Grünent.
The anticipation was making Aina's heart pound as if it would burst.
"It is only natural for His Majesty's female to wait humbly for her turn. Aina."
Grünent spoke as if admonishing Aina.
At those words, Aina bit her lip lightly. No one had ever ordered her to kneel. Much less before demons and humans.
But this.
This feeling that made her breath light
was not excitement born of displeasure.
Standing in her undergarments beneath the cozy, warm, flickering lamplight before someone was a trembling thing.
To look beautiful.
To seize someone's gaze.
The man who lately never left her mind was exploring another woman's lips with his alluring mouth.
Aina's legs, which had been pressed together, fidgeted. The anticipation seeping out between them gradually soaked into her undergarments.
Aina slowly knelt.
Only then did he turn to look at her with his usual languid eyes.
'He's... watching.'
Aina was bewildered.
Whether she wanted him to look at her,
or wanted him to avert his eyes from such an embarrassing sight—
even Aina herself did not know.
"Is... is this enough...?"
Roan smiled with satisfaction and nodded. Meanwhile, Grünent was opening Roan's garments with soft hand movements.
"No matter how often I see it... Your Majesty's body is beautiful."
Grünent inhaled deeply as she caressed Roan's exposed upper body.
Her body, clothed in thin lingerie, pressed snugly against Roan's.
Her soft breasts were crushed against Roan's firm chest. At that tender sensation, the corners of Roan's mouth lifted.
The nubs at the tips of Grünent's breasts stood taut, anticipating the pleasure to come.
So clearly that they were visible even through the lingerie covering her chest.
Roan squeezed Grünent's plush buttocks hard. A breathy moan escaped her.
"Ha... nn... hng..."
The emperor and his concubine entwined more and more intensely. Aina bit her lip tightly.
'What... what am I even doing...?'
In this bedroom, which must originally have been their space alone,
she felt disillusionment at the sight of herself kneeling beside the bed.
Her own figure, waiting to offer her body to Roan, was humiliating no matter who looked.
Her face burned.
Aina could tell she was flushed all the way to the tips of her ears.
Were they not embarrassed?
Yet from Roan and Grünent, who pressed their lips together and caressed each other's bodies, not a trace of such a feeling could be detected.
They were absorbed in each other without sparing Aina a single glance.
Roan was touching Grünent's body while giving her affectionate looks. The sight stirred an odd emotion in Aina.
Possessiveness. Jealousy, perhaps.
Sorrow.
And something suggestive.
Heat rose from the gap between her thighs where they pressed together as she knelt.
Aina brought her hands together as if to cover her lower region. Listening to Grünent's panting breaths, Aina's heart raced.
Little by little,
just as her fingers were about to creep downward—
"Aina."
Aina flinched in surprise.
Roan, who had been buried in Grünent's chest pulling down her lingerie, was looking straight at the forest elf.
"No."
"Wh... what."
"Last time you eavesdropped in secret, and now you intend to enjoy yourself alone while openly watching?"
"Haaang, what are... hnn..."
Grünent, who had been making wet, squelching sounds between her legs, leaned against Roan to support herself and asked.
"Aina has a secret hobby, you see."
"Heeh... is that so... ...Hahng...!"
Roan's fingers burrowed into her tight inner walls. Grünent arched her back and thrashed.
But Roan, firmly embracing that body, bit her breast playfully and stirred inside her as he spoke.
"But as Grünent said, you must know how to wait humbly. Is merely kneeling not enough? It seems you have forgotten the way to beg that I taught you last time."
"Kh..."
Aina was chewing her lip.
With her chest bared to Roan and arousal dripping below, Grünent gazed at Aina through hazy eyes.
"To grant an opportunity... hng, even to a female who still... does not know Your Majesty's preciousness. Your Majesty... truly, haahng, is so kind..."
With her cheeks flushed bright red, Grünent smiled and embraced her emperor adoringly.