Ventorino Kingdom - Budding (7)
Valdes muttered to himself that it had been easier than he’d expected.
Even easier than her mother.
If the two of them had heard that, they would have screamed in outrage and humiliation. But for him, it wasn’t mockery so much as simple observation. That didn’t mean it was a flattering one, of course.
Still, it was good news for Valdes. Because Clara was falling so readily, he was saving more time than he had anticipated.
He had used a little enchanting magic, yes, but he had assumed Clara would run. Even if she knew where the secret passage was, that knowledge would be almost useless if she didn’t know how to use it. Whether the princess had considered that or not, he couldn’t say.
Even if she had fled, he had planned to catch her again on another night stroll a few days later, and then he was certain that instead of sinking into despair, she would surrender in a state of feverish delight. Two encounters in a row, after all, were enough to turn coincidence into fate.
“Ahh, ngh, lick, mm… chuup…♡”
But looking down at the sight of her kneeling below him, shamelessly licking his cock like her mind had melted away, it seemed that mere coincidence had been more than enough.
This means I can change the plan a little….
Valdes lost himself in thought, feeling the cool night air and the wet, sticky warmth of the princess’s tongue on his cock. The contrast between the chill around him and the damp pleasure licking at his shaft helped sharpen his concentration.
Let me sort the situation out for a moment.
His final goal in the Ventorino Kingdom was simple.
King Marc’s endless despair.
Compared to Ulsro, this kingdom had far fewer people directly involved in the Hero Pedro’s death. That was only natural; the nobles here had actually wanted the Hero to kill the Demon King quickly, and they had hoped he would keep Marc, the leading candidate for the throne, in check. From their perspective, the Hero staying alive had been more profitable.
As for the few who had been involved in his death, every last one of them was already dead and buried.
And by Marc’s hand, no less.
Unlike Beatris, Marc had been directly implicated in the Hero’s death, which meant it could easily become his weakness. So he had used every means at his disposal to mercilessly drive those people to their deaths.
For Valdes, who could not avenge Pedro with his own hands, it was a pity. On the other hand, it also made things easier—because he only needed to bring down one man: Marc.
And his revenge against Marc was nearing its end. The many seeds he had planted were slowly beginning to sprout. Their growth was slow, but once they reached the proper point, they would burst forth all at once, blooming into flowers and bearing fruit.
By comparison, he wasn’t putting much effort into seizing the kingdom from behind the scenes.
If a war breaks out, the respect and goodwill people have for me will twist back into hostility.
Unless Valdes intended to hide his identity all the way to the end, he was going to make sure the continent knew exactly who was conquering it and cementing himself on the Demon King’s throne. He didn’t care much about foreign nations, but the people of Ventorino, who had always harbored intense hatred for demons, would not be easy to calm through behind-the-scenes manipulation.
So that task was being left to the intelligence unit.
Even if he left this country, the twin dark elves and the rest of the spy network, along with the royal mother and daughter he would fully bring to heel, would work hard in his place and handle the rest for him.
“So the only problem left is….”
For now, it was this woman, perhaps.
“Huh?”
Clara flinched at the word problem, which Valdes had casually let slip without meaning to say it aloud.
For an instant she worried she had done something wrong. Then, belatedly, she became aware of what she was doing and blushed hotly. Her face, already red from arousal, looked as though it might burst at any moment.
“Ngh, ahhh….”
“What’re you doing? Is my slave slacking off?”
“Ah… n, no, s-sorry…♡”
Clara had been rubbing her lips against his cock in confusion, but at Valdes’s sharp rebuke she slipped back into the role of slave and female and quickly resumed her duty. She kissed his cock, licked it, tasted it. For a princess it was unbearably lewd, but as a female slave it was a flawless performance.
“Mm, nnngh… hah, lick… chuup♥”
Tastes… so good…♡
She had moved beyond merely licking and had even brought her lips and tongue properly to bear on his cock, yet Clara served him with surprising skill. From behind, no one would have guessed she was the princess of this country. The way she moaned obscenely was fit for a prostitute dragged out of a brothel.
“Do you like cock that much?”
“Haa, ngh, y-yes… I like cock….”
“You like it and you’re skilled at sucking it too… you’re not doing this for the first time, are you?”
“Hrk…! N-no… it’s my first time with cock… I, I….”
She trailed off, hesitating, then pressed her cheek against his cock and whispered in a tiny voice.
“I’m just a perverted slave… who only belongs to my master’s cock…♡”
“Oh? You’re so perverted it’s hard to believe you.”
“I-it’s true…! It’s just that… right now, I… was… usi…ng… i-it….”
Clara mumbled hesitantly under her breath. It was an extremely faint whisper, but Valdes could hear her perfectly well. Even so, he acted as though he hadn’t heard and forced her to say it louder.
“What was that? I can’t hear you very well.”
“Ah, um….”
The princess shut her eyes tightly.
Every time she talked about things like this, it felt as though she was climbing higher and higher over a wall she should never cross. One step. Another. If she kept going and reached the top, what would happen then? She had a vague idea. She would no longer merely call herself a slave with her mouth; she would become a real one.
And if she truly leaped over the wall and went beyond it, then the person she became would likely be very different from who she was now.
That was why she hesitated.
But—
“Clara.”
“Ah… nghk.”
His voice—no, the boy’s voice—kept urging her on.
“Your master is talking. Louder. Say it.”
As though telling her to hurry up and climb over the wall already.
“...I, I just… used it….”
“Used what?”
“What I learned from kissing my fi-fiance… Lloyd… nghk. ...The way I move my tongue, when, when we kiss….”
“Ah, I see. So you’re licking another man’s cock with the tongue you learned from kissing your fiancé… I’m sure he’d be thrilled to hear that.”
“……”
Clara couldn’t even lift her head from the humiliation. It was truly shameful. As a woman, and as a princess. And yet, even as she thought that, the part of her that had climbed one step higher up that wall was boiling with pleasure and excitement. More precisely, it was her lower abdomen—her womb.
Perhaps if she gave him her virginity, and allowed him to ravish the inside of her womb, she would come closer to the top of that wall. With just a little more resolve, she might be able to reach its end without difficulty. That was why she was still hesitating, still embarrassed.
Then, over her head, she felt a hand. Not exactly familiar, and yet not strange either.
A hand that somehow felt warm and pleasant.
“Ahh…♡”
It was a touch that made her feel truly happy.
Clara reflexively lifted her head. Then she opened her eyes.
In her field of vision, her master wore a satisfied smile. She could tell without difficulty that the reason he was smiling like that was because of what she had said, and the princess felt the corners of her own mouth slowly creeping upward.
“Good.”
And then came his praise.
“Eek! ...H, hehe♥”
Even without a mirror, she knew. Her face was probably slack and shameless in a way no woman should ever look. But somehow that seemed all right too.
At this moment, she was a woman, yes—but also his slave, and his female.
“You’re a filthy little perverted female slave, but you’re useful enough.”
“T-thank you….”
“From now on, don’t go on night strolls alone. You’ll always go with me. Understand?”
“Y-yes, o-of course. ...Th-thank you, ma-master… for accompanying this perverted slave on her walk….”
“Mm. That answer sounded like a slave’s too.”
“H-hehee…♥”
Clara laughed. It was a laugh that sounded thoroughly lewd, but she was happy. Happy enough that, just for this moment, she couldn’t even think of the fiancé she loved most.
Jurina, the former vice-captain of the royal guard, was in turmoil.
“W-what in the world is going on…?”
She couldn’t make sense of the situation unfolding in the back alleys at this late hour.
She had been investigating the demon attack, but she hadn’t returned to the royal guard. If she was mistaken, she would only cause trouble for her acquaintances and colleagues. Besides, while serving in the guard, she had never had the time to properly look into the matter.
She had finally started investigating, but she had no idea where to begin. There were far too few clues to work with.
So after much thought, Jurina began looking into the other people who had been present at the scene where Commander Heik had died.
There were three living targets.
The first was the half-demon boy Valdes, who had become the kingdom and royal family’s benefactor and hero.
The second was the twin dark elves who had initially been the culprits behind the attack, only to suddenly defect.
The dark elves’ defection had not yet been made public. That was because she had deliberately kept her distance from her former comrades in the royal guard. Even that bit of information had been hard to dig up. And because of that, she didn’t know Valdes had been involved in their defection.
In any case, if she grouped the dark elves together, there were really only two directions she could investigate. Naturally, she chose the first. Information about the latter dark elves was extremely difficult to access. That meant Jurina only had one real choice to begin with.
Even after she began, the investigation quickly ran into trouble.
Valdes was from Ulsro, not Ventorino. More than that, he had been staying inside the royal castle recently. Jurina, who wasn’t even a member of the royal guard anymore, had very few ways to enter the castle herself.
“Haah… what should I do…?”
The reason she happened to spot Valdes on the street was pure coincidence.
She had been on her way back after grabbing a drink or two to loosen up her frustrated mind. That was when she saw Valdes in the distance. Since she had spent the whole day thinking about him, Jurina recognized him at a glance despite the distance.
The alcohol she had drunk to get herself tipsy seemed to vanish in an instant, and she immediately began following him in secret.
What happened next was more than enough to leave her head spinning.
At first it looked like he was on patrol, but then he suddenly strode into an alleyway and caught a half-naked, perverted woman. It was nighttime, and the surrounding walls blocked out much of the moonlight, leaving the alley dark. Jurina’s night vision was not especially good.
So she couldn’t make out the woman’s face.
But she had excellent hearing. And from the conversation alone, she could identify the pervert.
Princess Clara.
As a result, Jurina, who was secretly eavesdropping on them, nearly screamed aloud.
She even wondered if it might not actually be the princess, but someone playing out a perverted role-play with that sort of theme. But she could not reach an answer. Since she couldn’t see the face, she hid where she could only hear their voices, and she wasn’t familiar enough with Clara to recognize her immediately from sound alone.
Still, it was close.
And that only made everything more confusing.
If it was fake, then why was Valdes playing along with something like that? If it was real, then were the two of them in that kind of relationship, doing this sort of play together? Or had Valdes really just stumbled across a princess with exhibitionist tendencies by pure chance? Jurina couldn’t come to a conclusion.
After that, she continued hiding and listening to their conversation.
“Haa, ngh, mm, hehee…♥”
Lewd sounds drifted to her ears.
The sounds of a maybe-princess, maybe-pervert woman eagerly sucking and biting the boy’s cock. She was so diligent about it that Jurina could imagine the scene in her head without even seeing it. That was especially true for a beastman like her, whose hearing was sharper than that of ordinary humans.
The vivid, breathy moans ringing in her ears sent an odd shiver through her thighs.
“Ugh… ngh, haa….”
Calm down… I’m not one of those perverts….
Jurina steadied herself and sorted through everything she had heard so far in her mind.
From the way they spoke, it didn’t sound like a planned play at all. It really did seem like they had met by chance.
But that was exactly why she grew suspicious.
By coincidence, she had found Valdes tonight, and Valdes had found Clara.
Of all nights?
Her usually underused brain began working furiously.
I need to investigate that boy a little more.
Jurina’s black eyes gleamed.
For some reason, it felt as though a path had finally begun to reveal itself.
All the while, she remained completely unaware that she was already dancing in the palm of that boy’s hand.