Ventorino Kingdom - Conference (4)
When he woke up, he’d become a hero.
It was exactly the situation Valdes had wanted, and exactly the one he now found himself in. He’d deliberately used his mana to sink himself into a slightly deeper sleep, because waking too early would have looked suspicious. And so he slept the entire day through, only opening his eyes the following morning.
And by then, he was a hero.
Even if the attack had only struck the outskirts, the fact remained that the royal palace had been assaulted. Of course the rumor spread like wildfire. Mercede and Mari had also quietly fanned the flames a little, which only helped. Before long, the tale of the demon-hybrid boy who had become Ventorino’s hero was racing through the commoners and nobility alike.
A foreign demon-hybrid. Not even a knight, but a squire. And, to top it off, still just a boy.
There were more than enough details that made him hard to praise without qualification, but the scale of his accomplishments was simply too great to ignore. He had summoned the Royal Guard commander, Heik, saved a number of royals and nobles from both kingdoms, and wiped out the enemy completely. With Heik—the one who had done the most to save them—dead, the living Valdes was all the more worthy of recognition.
Nothing lifted morale better than turning someone into a hero when mistakes and casualties had dragged everyone down. Besides, King Marc of Ventorino had made the promise himself, which only gave the whole hero-making effort extra momentum.
And so Valdes, the boy hero of two kingdoms, never once dropped the act.
The moment he opened his eyes, he made sure the royals were safe, and he did not hide the tears he shed for the death of Heik, the Royal Guard commander who had fought beside him. The incident had taken place inside the palace, but even that news spread quickly through the capital.
In any case, it was now the third day since the attack, and the second day since Valdes had awakened. Even then, he was still lying in bed and pretending to recuperate.
“Ugh… should I get up around tomorrow? This is getting way too boring...”
“You shouldn’t push yourself, Vald.”
“That’s right, oraboni. You fought through such a vicious battle... sob sob.”
“...Aren’t you both getting a little too into it? There’s no one else in here besides us.”
Valdes looked at the princess sisters, who were putting on an exaggerated performance, and spoke with blatant disbelief.
“Too into it?! How can you say something like that...!”
“Exactly! Do you know how heartbroken we are?”
“You’re only acting like this because I didn’t tell you the whole plan.”
“...Hehe.”
An awkward laugh slipped from Mercede’s lips.
At the moment, the two of them were staging what amounted to a protest against Valdes. They were letting him know exactly how angry they were that he’d gone off and done something so dangerous alone. They trusted him, yes, but they also loved him, which made leaving him behind to face danger by himself unbearable.
And then they found him sprawled out as if dead, his whole body covered in wounds. On top of that, he’d slept straight through for twenty-four hours, and if things had gone just a little worse, he might have truly collapsed. If he’d taken even a little longer to wake up, they might have really stormed Ventorino Kingdom itself.
“But this is all your fault, anyway!”
“Exactly! Do you have any idea how worried we were?”
In the end, Valdes surrendered to their two-day-long barrage of complaints.
“All right, all right. I’m sorry. If anything like this happens again, I’ll make sure to tell you.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“Yay!”
Smiling brightly, the sisters high-fived each other. Watching them, Valdes let out a snort of dry laughter. They really were adorable princesses. Even while subtly competing and getting jealous of each other, they could still come together like this when it mattered. Sisters really were sisters.
“So, what’s the atmosphere like outside?”
It was the same question he’d asked yesterday. What he wanted to know was whether anything had changed over the course of the day. Especially when it came to the dark elf twins he had taken prisoner. The younger one mattered less, but the older sister was an important asset to the Demon King’s army. If some revenge-hungry fool suddenly decided to execute her, it would be a problem.
“It’s basically the same as yesterday.”
“The Ventorino side is racking their brains over how to clean up this mess, and we’ve taken to the bed to make sure we get the upper hand at the later conference.”
“We didn’t lose anyone on our side, but...”
Mercede’s face darkened.
To be honest, that part had been pure luck. The knights attached to the delegation had been few in number, and because they’d been caught in a subtle standoff with the Ventorino Royal Guard and knights, they’d stuck together on their own. Then they’d seen Valdes head off to rescue the princesses. That let them respond a little more efficiently.
Still, because everyone had been scattered and the attack had come so abruptly, Ventorino’s side had suffered quite a few casualties. Mercede found even that deeply regrettable.
“Sis. That’s enough. Don’t worry so much.”
By contrast, Mari, who didn’t seem to feel much of anything about Ventorino’s losses, took her sister’s hand and comforted her.
“That’s right. There’s no need to worry so much, sis.”
“It’s all my responsibility anyway.”
“But...”
“I said it’s fine, sis...”
“A husband and wife are one heart, aren’t they? Then it only makes sense that I share the responsibility too.”
“...Mm. Come to think of it, I’m heartbroken too.”
Valdes was staring at Mercede and Mari in disbelief when there was a knock outside. The three of them quickly composed their expressions, and soon the door opened to reveal Queen Katarina.
She wore a gentle but slightly tense expression, and when she spotted the princess sisters, she looked a little surprised. About an hour had already passed since they’d come in here, so she must have assumed they’d left by now. Seeing them still there clearly caught her off guard.
“Oh my, both of you were here too.”
“Ah, yes. But we were just about to head out.”
Mari gave Valdes a sly wink, then slipped out of the room with Mercede. Once the maid had been sent away, Queen Katarina approached Valdes alone.
“How are you feeling?”
“Much better. I should be able to get up in another two days, I think.”
“I see...”
Katarina hesitated for a moment, then glanced around the room. After confirming once more that no one else was there, she placed a hand over her ample chest, took a deep breath, and finally spoke.
“V-Valdes.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“W-well, it’s just the two of us now, so... speak comfortably.”
“...All right, Katarina.”
At his answer, her face lit up. He knew their relationship had grown closer, but that seemed like a bit too strong a reaction. He watched her carefully and asked, just in case.
“Don’t tell me... Marc again yesterday?”
“...Haah, yes...”
Sitting in the chair beside the bed where Mercede had been only moments earlier, Katarina let out a deep sigh. The question Valdes had asked about yesterday was about her husband, Marc.
Apparently, astonishingly enough, Marc had slipped out of the palace in secret again yesterday to go see Rachel.
“Huh.”
He’s fallen harder than I thought.
Valdes was a little taken aback. Marc had only just survived a demon assault, and already he was sneaking off to meet a woman? It was a situation so absurd that common sense simply couldn’t account for it.
Still, he could understand why. The whole reason Marc had begun seeing Rachel in the first place was because he wanted the stress she caused him to melt away, to find some measure of mental stability with her. Which meant that, with his nerves stretched thin in the current situation, he would only seek her out more desperately.
But to do something like that when he should have been restraining himself as king... the man really was remarkable, in all the worst ways.
Or maybe Rachel is the remarkable one?
Whether it was Rachel’s talent, some instinct she had inherited through blood, or Marc simply being a monstrous pervert, Valdes couldn’t say. But looking at the situation now, he had the feeling that even without his help, Rachel would have eventually succeeded in getting revenge on Marc all by herself.
“That man is completely insane. How could he... Haah. Sorry. I always end up complaining to you like this.”
Katarina’s eyes were full of melancholy.
It was the first time she had ever apologized to Valdes. For a proud woman like her to apologize to someone was no common thing. It only showed how deeply she had come to rely on him, and how much affection she now felt for him.
Especially after this attack, both her rational affection and her human affection had surged dramatically. He had protected the husband and children she loved so dearly from the demons. Marc himself had even acknowledged that much, and he’d apologized to her for the first time in a long while, saying he was sorry for having made such a strange misunderstanding.
And it wasn’t just Marc.
Those who had once spread rumors that she’d brought him into the palace simply because he was a handsome new affair had vanished without a trace. In their place, what filled the air was praise for the queen’s foresight. There wasn’t a single brave fool in this place who dared gossip about the woman who had brought a demon-hybrid hero into the palace after he saved the royals from demon attackers.
“I’m fine. Honestly, this is good.”
“What?”
“Because, thanks to this, you’re wavering, Katarina. And because you’re cheating on me with me like this.”
“......”
Katarina stared at him with an exasperated expression as he smiled that shameless little smile of his. Then, with a soft sigh, she rose from the chair, sat down on the bed, and leaned her body against him.
“You can show such heroic qualities, and yet when it comes to women, you behave like such a lecher. You really are...”
“And what’s wrong with that?”
Valdes reached out and seized her wrist as she leaned closer, almost as if snatching it midair. Then he pulled her into his arms. Because the bed was so large, Katarina’s upper body collapsed forward, leaving her face pressed against his thigh.
“If there’s a beautiful woman in front of me, then doing as I please is what makes a real hero.”
“H-hmm...♡”
She couldn’t hold back the pleased little sound in her throat, and her cheeks flushed red.
“You’re cute when you get embarrassed. You were adorable two days ago, too.”
“D-don’t! T-that... forget it!”
“Come on, how could I forget that?”
The day Valdes woke up, Queen Katarina had hugged him tightly the moment she confirmed he was all right, thanking him over and over again for saving her husband and children. Even Valdes had looked slightly flustered by it. That was separate from the fact that the soft weight of her breasts pressing into him felt quite pleasant.
“And if I don’t forget?”
“I-I’ll... punish your cock.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll... p-punish it.”
She said that, then slipped her hand beneath the blanket and began groping at the front of Valdes’s trousers. The lust he hadn’t been able to properly tend to while lying in bed instantly drove his manhood hard. Even through the fabric, its powerful bulk was obvious, and the hungry gleam in Katarina’s eyes began to deepen.
Valdes wasn’t the only one who had built up desire. Katarina, too, had been holding back a desire that had swelled ever since she’d started sucking him off a few days ago, and her body was aching with need as well. Especially after discovering such immense pleasure in comparing him with her husband and delighting in sucking the cock of her affair partner, she couldn’t forget that memory and kept turning it over and over in her mind.
“Haaah...♡”
Clumsily fumbling under the blanket, she pulled his trousers open and kneaded his manhood with her hand while licking her lips with her tongue. Merely touching his cock was enough to send delicious little shivers racing between her thighs.
“Will a handjob be enough?”
“B-but...”
This was a guest room. They had no way of knowing when someone might come by. A maid was standing guard outside, but that would only buy them a little time.
“This bed is pretty big, isn’t it? And the blanket too...”
“...”
It was more than enough to hide one person.
Even without hearing the rest, the implication was obvious. And yet she still hesitated, wavering indecisively, when a knock suddenly came at the door and the maid’s voice followed.
“Y-your Majesty has come to see you. ...Lord Valdes.”
“!!”
The timing was absurdly, almost insultingly bad.
“So? What’ll it be? We don’t have time.”
“......”
Under normal circumstances, it would have been ridiculous for her to hesitate at all with her husband already on the way. But instead, Marc’s presence only set her heart on fire. The Betrayal Mark—the mark that made her feel even greater excitement the more she betrayed the husband she loved.
Drunk on the intense pleasure of that betrayal, Katarina quietly lifted the blanket. Then she carefully climbed upward, kicked off her shoes, and hid herself inside.
Marc entered the room immediately after that.
“Haa... haa...♡”
Inside the luxurious, puffy blanket, the queen covered her mouth with one hand and worked to steady her breathing.
What on earth am I doing...?
“Welcome, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, don’t get up. You’re still not well, so rest.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
As the two men spoke from outside the blanket, Katarina felt her heartbeat grow louder and louder. It was thundering so hard that it seemed as if it might be heard from outside. Shuddering with electrifying pleasure, she trembled.
Her husband was right outside, and yet she was so aroused she felt like she might go mad. The heat trapped beneath the blanket, combined with the thrill of betrayal, slowly numbed her mind. The thought that she wanted his cock juice in her mouth as quickly as possible began to creep up on her, and she moved little by little according to instinct, heading toward Valdes’s groin.
In the darkness there was a single slab of flesh, hotter than her own body heat. Drawn by its captivating scent and the delicious fluid that promised to come from it, Katarina carefully brought her mouth closer.
“...Ahn♥”
“Ugh...!”
Valdes suddenly jerked, and Marc panicked.
“A-are you all right, friend?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine. My wound just twinged for a moment... It’ll pass soon.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Marc nodded with an expression of relief.