Ulsro Kingdom - Wrapping Up and Preparing (2)
Mercedes's office.
The mistress of the room was enjoying a leisurely tea break after lunch with her younger sister and her lover.
She had never been especially fond of tea and refreshments, but her younger sister had recently grown even clingier than before and kept insisting, so in the end she had been forced to lend them the room. Of course, the refreshments, the tableware, and even the tea table itself had all been brought by Mari.
This was their third tea time together, and yet Mercedes found herself enjoying it far more than she had expected.
She could not tell whether it was simply because she was with her lover and her sister, or whether some other factor was at work, but it seemed as though she had finally learned how to savor moments like this.
Heh. This is nice.
Just as the tea party was starting to wind down and the conversation was running thin, Valdes spoke up.
"Come to think of it, you said you'd tell us your secret once things were more or less settled, didn't you?"
Mercedes was curious about what, exactly, he meant by "things," but she was even more interested in the secret itself.
"The truth is, I'm the demon realm's prince, and the reincarnation of the Hero Pedro."
"...Huh?"
"Uh... what?"
The sisters stared blankly at him, their faces stunned by the absurd, out-of-nowhere declaration.
Valdes repeated the same thing, as if to confirm that they had heard him correctly. But even then, it was not something they could understand so easily. The meaning behind his words was simply too shocking, and so they could only gape at him in a daze.
"Mm... Elsa? Did you know?"
After a moment of silence, the princess turned to the one servant who seemed strangely calm.
"No. But that doesn't change the fact that my master is my master, does it?"
"Yeah, that's true..."
"I was surprised, of course, but at this point it doesn't seem like such an important detail."
Is that so?
Mercedes tilted her head and asked herself the question. The answer she came up with was, naturally, no. Elsa might not care, but she herself was not only Valdes's woman, but also the First Princess of the Ulsro Kingdom, and its heir.
If things went badly, it could be treated not merely as a betrayal of the kingdom, but as a grave act of treason on a continental scale.
The so-called corruption. It happened occasionally among commoners, and among nobles only very rarely. No royal family had ever been said to have fallen so far.
Valdes noticed her unease.
"Don't worry. Beatris knows too."
"Beatris... Beatris? You mean Mother?"
"...What? You even got to Mother?"
"It's a bit strange to say, but Beatris was my main target from the start. You two were just a bonus."
Only then did Mercedes realize that Valdes's tone and cadence were subtly different. He was speaking casually, of course, but there was also an unmistakable force to his voice, and beneath it all lingered a faintly old-fashioned resonance that lent his words an odd, almost persuasive credibility.
Setting that aside, the fact that they were merely a bonus was deeply irritating. Mari's face had also darkened in a scowl.
"Could you explain that in a little more... detail?"
"Sure."
Nodding, Valdes began to tell them everything that had happened.
How he had died not at the hands of a demon assault, but through betrayal. How he had been reborn as a demon-blooded half-demon and the son of the hidden Demon Queen. How, after a long span of time, he had infiltrated this place for the sake of revenge. How he had engineered the downfall of the kingdom's nobles by stirring them against one another.
How, aside from the three women before him now—the royal mother and daughters—he had already taken four women from the Pedro Knights. And, most importantly of all, that his primary wife was the Demon Queen herself.
On the matter of betrayal, Mari already knew part of the truth, so that helped a little in making the story easier to digest. As for the claim that he was the reincarnation of Hero Pedro, he managed to convince them by telling them about Mercedes's childhood self and by saying that Beatris would eventually confirm it herself.
What, surprisingly, made them bristle was the last part.
Mari slapped the tea table with a thud and cried out,
"Why is that Demon Queen... your primary wife?!"
"Why wouldn't she be?"
"Because, well, that Demon Queen... I mean, never mind! The Demon Queen is your mother, isn't she?"
"Right."
At this point, the family tree had already become tangled beyond repair, but what mattered to them was not that—it was the matter of the primary wife. That was especially true because the two of them had been quietly assuming that one of them would end up filling that role.
"Well, it wasn't as if she actually gave birth to me, so does it really matter?"
"Huh? You mean you were reborn after going into her womb?"
"That's what I thought too."
"It's closer to the Demon Queen's blood and flesh entering the Hero's body and rebuilding it anew. Not even half, maybe around thirty percent? In truth, it's not even really half-demon, either."
Even after hearing his explanation, the sisters still wore sullen expressions. They did not truly understand it, but because it was Valdes saying it, they had no choice but to accept it.
Valdes thought it could not be helped. Once the number of women started increasing, it was impossible for them all to laugh and get along so easily. He could intervene to a certain extent and prevent outright fighting, but anything beyond that would be difficult.
I'll figure that out later somehow.
"......"
"......"
To give them more time to think, he sipped his tea in silence. Mercedes and Mari sat quietly, each lost in deep thought, not moving an inch. After a while, they went to the far side of the room and whispered among themselves.
Only after waiting twenty minutes did the sisters finally return to the tea table.
"So, have you decided?"
"What else can we do? We'll follow you. We already..."
"We've fallen in love with Vald."
Seeing Mercedes shyly confess her love, a satisfied smile spread across his face.
"But answer me one thing honestly."
"What is it?"
"That Vald..."
"Does my brother love us?"
Cutting off her sister's words, Mari looked straight into his eyes and asked. Mercedes did the same. Right now, this was the most important thing to them.
If Valdes's words were true, then Ulsro Kingdom was already, in effect, half under the demon realm's influence. Of course, the three women who carried the royal bloodline alone were not enough. After the war, ordinary commoners still harbored deep resentment toward demons.
But if the royal family, the nobles who were loyal to them first and foremost, and even those nobles with only the most superficial patriotism—nobles who might easily switch sides if the demons offered them a better deal—were to declare that they would submit to the Demon Queen's rule, then the common people would not have much reason to object. So long as Valdes did not suddenly become strange, their lives would remain exactly as they had always been.
Considering all of that, if one assumed that the demon army would eventually seize at least half the continent, then surrendering to Demon Queen Valdes did not seem like such a bad choice.
So, in the end, what mattered now was love.
"Of course. Even if this began as a false relationship, I love you both. Maybe my feelings aren't as deep as yours, but as long as you love me, I'll love you too."
"...Heeheehee."
"Th-that settles it. But... if we're going to build Vald's empire with as little trouble as possible, we'll need a lot of preparation."
Unlike Mari, who was grinning foolishly, Mercedes was already analyzing the situation with a sober mind, but she still could not hide the corners of her mouth from twitching upward.
"It'll probably be two years before I can properly start. Or rather, from where we are now, maybe a year and a half?"
"I see. ...B-but..."
Mercedes fidgeted and could not quite finish her sentence. She knew it was a rather embarrassing question, which made it hard to bring herself to say it.
"Why? Just say it."
"......Th-then, you won't make us call you sister anymore... right? O-or rather, should I be speaking to you more formally...?"
Valdes, the reincarnation of Hero Pedro.
Until now, she had thought of him only as a boy in his mid-teens, but now that she knew the truth, she was at a loss as to how she was supposed to treat him. Mari, too, belatedly caught on to the issue and let out a gasp of surprise.
Thinking of him as Hero Pedro meant he was practically the same generation as their parents.
"Just treat me as you always have. It'll be different once I start acting openly as the Demon Prince—no, as the Demon King. For now, it doesn't matter. I did speak casually for a bit just now, but I'll still call you sister in private, too."
"Ah..."
The princess's cheeks slowly turned pink.
She really does have a very clear type.
Everyone except her had the exact same thought at once. Unlike Mercedes and their mother, Mari preferred older men over younger ones. That was why she had been so happy to call Valdes "older brother," even when she had only known him as her younger sibling in all but name.
"Oh! Then, brother, what about the talks with Ventorino?"
Mari clapped her hands as though she had just realized something.
"Yeah, I asked Beatris to handle that too."
Thanks to Beatris's efforts, the details of the summit had been settled quickly.
The date, the location, the number of participants, the points to discuss—practically everything that needed to be decided was already in place.
Unlike what Valdes had wanted, the date was set for a month and a half later. Since the delegation would include royalty, Ventorino Kingdom had apparently insisted that they needed more time to prepare. Beneath that, of course, was preparation for laying the groundwork for a marriage alliance.
Beatris had later made excuses to Valdes, saying it was nothing more than a pretext for the summit. In truth, she had not exactly accepted it either, and since he had been the one who asked her to arrange it in the first place, he could hardly blame her outright.
Still, I suppose I ought to teach her a lesson once more.
With that thought hidden in his heart, Valdes heard the rest of the details from Beatris.
The location and the participants had been settled more or less exactly as he had wanted, and orders would soon be passed down to the officials beneath them.
The same went for the Pedro Knights, the queen's own sword and shield.
"Sis. You said we're scheduled to leave in two weeks, right?"
"Yes. Mother told us to finish all our preparations before then."
Mercedes was the overall leader of this delegation.
On the surface, it was because this was an important summit and because Valdes was going along as her attendant. Added to that, by Valdes's request, Ethylene was also included, which meant that this mission would take every one of his women except Beatris and Serenia.
Beatris only realized that after the fact and regretted having done something so foolish, but by then it was already too late to take it back.
"Heehee. I was a little annoyed when Mother said those strange things, but I'm still glad I get to go with you, brother!"
Quite unlike her cheerful present mood, when she had first heard the news from Beatris, she had nearly gone completely berserk for the first time in her life. Even if she had been told that it was merely ceremonial and meant only to preserve the other side's pride, it was impossible not to feel a little prickly about it.
"Well, I'll make sure to give her a proper scolding for that."
"...In bed?"
"In bed. Or..."
"Do you have some good idea in mind?"
"Now that all three of you know the truth, spending some time together before you leave wouldn't be a bad idea."
At his words, both sisters' eyes gleamed.
Mari wanted a little revenge on their mother, and above all, she wanted to see the always-stern, always-elegant queen sobbing beneath Valdes. She wondered how different it would be from herself and her sister, and how similar.
Mercedes felt much the same. After the intoxicating experience the three of them had shared only the day before yesterday, she wanted to try something new as well. If it was a night with all three women together, she was certain it would become another unforgettable memory.
"I approve!"
"I do too...."
"Then I'll let you know the plan later. It'll probably be the night before we leave."
Valdes had already worked out the rough shape of the plan because he had expected them to be delighted by the suggestion. He might have told them ahead of time, but it seemed much more entertaining to let them know right at the last moment. Naturally, Beatris would not be told a thing.
"Ahh... I'm already excited...♡"
Just imagining it was enough to make Mari squirm her thighs together.
Watching her younger sister breathe out in heated little gasps, Mercedes felt her own cheeks gradually redden as well.
"You two, what does your schedule look like after this?"
"I-I've got nothing!"
"...Elsa."
"I will make myself available."
"There you have it."
The tea table was pushed aside, and Valdes's two hands moved toward the space between the sisters' thighs.