Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Ulstro Kingdom - The Women Falling Apart (14)
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"I, I... I've committed a sin worthy of death... Waaah... Even if I become a whore, even as a whore... I'll only, hic, love Pedro... Sob, sniff, waaah..."
"Huh?"
'This... isn't what I expected...?'
Beatrice's love was far more steadfast than Valdes had imagined.
She burst into heartbroken sobs that were utterly pitiful to witness. Anyone could see her tears were genuine. An outsider who knew nothing would have been moved to tears themselves, weeping right alongside her in shared sorrow.
Instead, he was starting to feel guilty.
'W-What do I do now?'
Valdes's plan had been for her to fall for the carrot-and-stick approach and choose his cock as her home—then reveal the truth that he really was Pedro.
He had aimed to mock her love to the fullest and plunge her into despair. But this situation was beyond his expectations. He'd figured her involvement in the assassination plot meant she held him in low regard at best. Apparently, over those 18 years, she had matured, and her love had deepened even further.
"...Haa, this is driving me crazy."
It was awkward.
Beatrice was the kind of woman who wore a gentle smile on the surface while harboring a nest of venomous snakes within. With her sharp mind and dark heart, she had devoted most of it to consolidating her royal authority, purging most of her political enemies and trimming their factions down to size. She was Ulstro's first reigning queen in her own right.
For that Beatrice to be crying like this. This was only the second time he'd seen her tears, but even 18 years ago, she hadn't sobbed this hard. Just a few drops back then.
'...And in the middle of all this, the Royal Guards just standing there unmoving. They're something else. Does the queen's command always take priority, no matter the situation?'
It was an unpleasant kind of loyalty.
Not true devotion to a person, but blind obedience to orders from the one in command—like golems. Convenient for him in this moment, sure, but pretty useless as bodyguards.
'Ah, this isn't the time for those thoughts.'
Valdes pondered briefly, then lifted Beatrice—still impaled on his cock and leaning against the wall in tearful sobs—as if she weighed nothing. Picking up one woman was no trouble at all.
Even then, the queen wouldn't stop crying. Carrying her, he walked to the bed, pulled out, and tossed her lightly onto it.
"W-Waaah, sob... Hic!Sob! He-sob, sob, waaah..."
She kept crying even as she landed on the bed and afterward. It was starting to get impressive.
"Can't you stop already?"
"Hic!Sob, nooo, sob! Just... do whatever, hic, you want with me..."
"......"
"Anyway, hic! from now on, sob, I'm not a queen anymore, just a whore, hic!"
"...Haa."
He let out a short sigh.
For some reason, Yueli, Serennia, and now Beatrice too. Why were all these women over 30 so damn teary-eyed? No, maybe they'd just gotten more emotional with age.
"Hic! One thing... p-please, sob..."
"...What?"
"P-Pedro... don't... hic. Show me... to Pedro..."
"......"
"Or I'll... k-kill myself, hic! ...right then...!"
For a moment, it felt like his breath caught in his throat.
Beatrice's love ran this deep. It was purer and more devoted than he'd thought. Of course, given her past actions, it was a dangerously obsessive kind of love—but if he could control it, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
He'd already accepted another crazy bitch like Yueli. True, the power of real lunatics like them only shone after they bonded with their beloved, but he could handle it now.
"Princess Beatrice."
"...?"
The queen trembled at Valdes's changed expression, tone, and form of address.
Was he switching to "princess" because he planned to turn her into a camp follower for demon soldiers? But why princess and not queen? Was he mimicking Pedro now, adopting his expressions and speech?
As those complicated thoughts swirled in her head, he continued.
"Stop those tears."
"... Sob, n-no..."
"Didn't I tell you? Tears don't suit you, Princess."
"...?"
"I said there'd be someone better suited to you than me, even if it wasn't me. Looks like there wasn't."
"Wha, what? Eh? P-Pedro...?"
Beatrice's eyes widened.
Those words.
They were what he'd said the eighth time he rejected her confession. Overflowing with emotion, she'd shed tears, and he'd comforted her while firmly refusing—telling her not to cry.
How did Valdes know those words? If he'd heard from her father Pedro, why share this story? To deceive her?
"I told you you'd regret it. You've regretted it in other ways until now, but this time... it's the way you meant it."
"... Sob, sob, ahh..."
"You said we'd be husband and wife in the next life. Looks like it'll happen that way... sort of. Well, it's my next life."
"P-Pedro... Pedro, the real Pedro, right...?"
"Come here."
"W-Waaah...!!"
Princess Beatrice clung to the reincarnation of her beloved hero Pedro, burying her face in his chest and sobbing uncontrollably.
Only after several dozen minutes of crying did she finally calm down a bit.
"...R-Really... you're Pedro? Not a lie?"
"Yeah, it's me."
"Why... why lie like that...?"
"You betrayed me."
"......I'm sorry..."
And that was that.
Valdes said nothing more about the betrayal, and Beatrice didn't apologize again. The resentment wasn't fully resolved, but he decided to forgive her a little.
The queen sensed it from the mood and stayed quiet. Her guilt and remorse weren't gone, but with the man himself saying nothing, she couldn't press further.
"Th-This might sound weird, but... what happened to you?"
"Eh, a lot of things."
He seemed a bit annoyed, but he explained his circumstances to Beatrice anyway.
"Ah..."
"So I look like a mid-teen on the outside, but I've been 'alive' for... hm, bad phrasing. Anyway, 18 years, and mentally I'm in my thirties."
"Th-That's... demons are fascinating."
"There's a lot we don't know. Reincarnation magic is forbidden knowledge known only to a select few demons."
"I see..."
"......"
"......"
The mood grew awkward.
Beatrice felt lingering guilt and shame over past events, while Valdes was thrown off by the unplanned turn. He'd meant to torment her more after revealing himself as Pedro, but their relationship felt strangely off now.
"...Well, things got a bit weird. But the conclusion is one."
Valdes.
The Demon King's son. The lover and heir of the Demon King declared:
"You've been mine... no, you were mine from the start."
He gripped her chin,
"That lewd body of yours, your unwavering love, this kingdom, everything you have. All of it is mine. Right?"
And kissed her.
"......Beth."
The short, intense kiss ended,
"......Yes♥"
And the queen surrendered everything to him.
"......"
Queen Beatrice's chief personal maid, Nina Zelcit, was a woman of few words and minimal emotional expression.
Nina knew it well herself. It was a flaw for a noble, but she had no major complaints about her personality. She ignored the whispers calling her unpleasant or odd.
On the contrary, she believed this trait, combined with her loyalty to the queen, had allowed her to become a personal maid—and the chief among them. And she was right.
At just over 30, being chief maid was impressive. Among all the palace maids, including the head maid, it was the third highest position. Factoring in direct service to the queen, her status rivaled even the head maid's.
It spoke volumes of her loyalty to Beatrice, and she was one of the few privileged to see the queen asleep in bed.
As on any other day, she visited the queen's bedroom to wake her.
And received a shock that nearly cracked her stoic face.
"What in the world..."
An unfamiliar man lay in the queen's bed. The queen wasn't absent.
She was simply pressed right against him, using the boy's arm as a pillow, clinging tightly in sleep. Both stark naked. They looked every bit the loving couple. And the thick scent of last night's passion wafted from the bed.
She knew the boy's identity.
A commoner half-demon who'd taken second place in the martial tournament and joined the Pedro Knight Order as a squire. She had little interest in the tournament or knights, but the queen summoning him to her bedroom twice personally had clued her in.
She'd found it odd but her loyalty advised against prying into the queen's affairs. So she'd thought nothing more—until the boy himself came to the queen's bedroom. Asking just in case, the queen had lit up and permitted it.
She hadn't confirmed if he left late, but with the Royal Guard present, she'd assumed it fine and gone to sleep first. And this was the result.
A few days ago had been shocking enough, but this was no less so.
"Uh... Wynn?"
At Nina's call, a woman appeared from somewhere.
"What happened here?"
"I don't know."
"...Pardon?"
"Her Majesty said not to interfere with last night's events. So I don't know."
Wynn, leader of the Royal Guard, said so.
"Hm. So last night's events started when that boy arrived?"
"Yes."
"Understood."
With that, Wynn vanished.
The Royal Guard leader's duties were primarily protecting the queen, monitoring the palace interior, and commanding the guard as needed. But the queen's orders came first above all, so that was all she could share.
That Nina was the queen's chief maid meant she knew of the Royal Guard and could ask basic questions.
"......"
As she debated waking the queen and boy, a voice came from the bed.
"...Ah, my mistake."
It was the boy's.
Nina turned awkwardly and greeted him.
"Pardon the intrusion. Should I wake Her Majesty...?"
"Sorry, but could you cancel all morning schedules? Beth probably can't make it."
"...Understood. Then."
She bowed quickly and sent back the other maids waiting outside. Fortunately, there were no major morning appointments. The kingdom was in a peaceful boom, so skipping family councils or ministerial meetings for a day was fine.
'Still, excuses will be tricky.'
No good pretext came to mind. A touch of illness was the safest bet.
'Beth, though...'
Such a blatant pet name. Or maybe it slipped out unconsciously.
One thing was clear: he was the queen's man. But public knowledge would bring no good. A teenage-looking half-demon boy? Plenty would condemn the queen.
'More headaches to deal with...'
Once again today, the queen—her mother—skipped breakfast and the palace council.
One might think she was unwell, but it wasn't that time of the month, and just yesterday Beatrice had seemed fine. A bit troubled, perhaps, but not health-related.
Mercedes's suspicions naturally turned to Valdes.
"Vald. Know anything?"
"Why ask me?"
"You skipped dawn training and breakfast too."
"That was from overdoing it with Master yesterday."
"Hmmm..."
Despite his calm nonchalance, the princess still suspected him.
It was her woman's intuition—and as someone who knew Valdes well, a natural conclusion. He'd already touched her sister; why not her mother? Especially a beautiful widow.
She trusted the queen, but the unease lingered.
"More importantly, you know what today is, right?"
"...Ah!"
Valdes poked her anus. His finger didn't penetrate, stopped at the entrance by the anal plug stretching her.
"Day five already. You're getting used to it pretty well, huh?"
"Y-Yeah♡"
"I'll come by tonight. Take the enema prep in advance."
"G-Got it...♥"