Chapter 412: .
Chapter 412: .
After a pleasant morning with Leia, I came downstairs feeling lighthearted.
Even though it was just Leia, I couldn't feel more relieved now that my lie was out in the open.
Better yet, I’d gotten confirmation that Sara and Diana didn't know, so I headed down to the dining hall with a spring in my step.
As usual, everyone else had arrived before us.
Sara, Diana, and Matilda. And Silvia, too.
“G-Guwon-nim! I-I’m back!”
Instead of hiding in her usual corner, Silvia approached me and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
Right, Silvia was supposed to come back yesterday.
My time with Leia was so passionate that I’d completely forgotten.
“Oh, right. Silvia. Welcome back. How was it? Did everything go well?”
“Ah, n-no. I mean. Yes. The trip back was fine. But as for work…”
Silvia trailed off, hesitating.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“W-Well, it’s…”
But Silvia just kept her head down, reluctant to answer.
Puzzled, I glanced over at Sara and Diana, but they both just shook their heads.
“She was like this when we asked, too. It must be something difficult to talk about.”
“I can understand her not telling Sara, but it’s hard to talk about even with Diana? Ah, Sara. I mean that in the purest…”
“I know, you dummy.”
Sara replied with a cool expression, looking not the least bit offended.
Though, I’m pretty sure that’s something that could have easily offended her, even if she understood.
Thanking Sara for being so cool about it, I sat down.
“Silvia, if it’s that hard to talk about, you don’t have to. But, it’s not like you’re in some kind of trouble, or having a hard time, is it? If it’s something like that, you have to tell me.”
“Y-Yesh! I’m fime!”
Even though I’d only been away from her for a day, it felt like it had been a while since I’d seen her trembling and desperately trying to answer.
It really does feel empty when she’s not around.
“And the fact that you’re back means your work is all finished, right?”
“Ah, w-well, that’s…”
“Hm? It’s not?”
“No. Actually… I came to report. I think it would be best for me to stay at the castle for a while…”
“I see. What on earth is going on… No. Do you think it will take long?”
“…I-I’m not sure.”
Silvia said, looking at me with eyes that seemed to be asking for something.
Hm? What is it? Does she want me to pat her head since we won’t see each other for a few days?
“Hyaaaah!”
The moment I gently patted Silvia’s head, she shot like an arrow to the seat at the far end of the table.
Seeing that, at least I know she’s not hurt anywhere.
“You can at least stay for a meal, right? Let’s eat first.”
“D-Does that mean you’ll permit me to go to the castle?” Silvia asked, her breathing steadying now that she was a safe distance away from me.
“Yeah. I can’t just leave a friend in need, can I? Besides, if something’s weighing on your mind, you won’t be able to focus in the dungeon. It’s fine. If it takes a long time, we’ll just mess around near the 1st Floor.”
Whatever secret that pond held, as long as it was near the 1st Floor, it wouldn’t pose a major threat to us.
We’d be fine even without Silvia.
With that thought, I decided we should eat.
I was a little curious about what was happening at the castle, but it seemed like it wasn't my place to worry about it.
It’s probably something to do with that princess. It has to be something trivial.
Nothing I need to concern myself with.
However, after we finished eating, Silvia’s request to speak with me alone before she left for the castle proved that assumption wrong.
Because the very first thing Silvia said once we were alone in my room was this:
“W-Well, actually… it’s not entirely unrelated to you, Guwon-nim.”
Unlike in the dining hall, Silvia spoke with a very serious expression.
This was Silvia in her ‘focused-on-something-other-than-me’ mode.
“Huh? What is?”
“It’s about the Princess. It seems the fact that she is refusing to have relations with the Hero has reached the Queen’s ears.”
“Wh-What?!”
I couldn’t help but be shocked by a statement I had never seen coming.
This wasn’t just ‘not entirely unrelated’—it was all because of me!
So that’s why Silvia was so hesitant to talk about it earlier. My girls still don’t know about the bet I made with the princess!
Silvia! You did well!
“S-So?”
“Naturally, the Queen confronted the Princess. The Princess tried to deny it at first, but of course, the Queen also heard that it had something to do with you, Guwon-nim…”
Damn it. Of course she did.
Felicia was so blatant about trying to fuck me.
The rumors must have spread like wildfire among the castle staff. There was no way it wouldn’t get out.
“But please rest assured. The Queen will likely not even lodge a protest with you, Guwon-nim.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because the Church recognizes you as the Goddess’s Apostle. I heard the Pope himself gave his official recognition a short while ago.”
What?! When did that happen?! How did things get to that point without me knowing?!
Could it have been when I went to the temple with Matilda before?!
“The fact that you are the Goddess’s Apostle alone makes you difficult to touch, and on top of that, you have Diana-nim with you. As you are now, Guwon-nim, you’ve reached a position where not only the Queen, but no one can touch you carelessly.”
Is that so? To be honest, I’m a complete novice in these matters, so it doesn’t really feel real, but does that mean I’ve become a much bigger shot than I thought?
It’s like I have the Church of the Goddess and the Mage Association backing me. I guess that makes sense.
“Anyway, so what happened then?”
“Yes. The Queen has decided to focus her inquiries solely on the Princess. In the first place, the bet itself stemmed from the Princess’s desire to have more pleasurable sex.”
Yeah… well, that’s true.
I was the one who proposed the bet, sure, but it would have been over if the princess hadn’t accepted it.
“So the Queen, unable to bear it any longer, finally exploded. She had deliberately placed the Princess in a place with many adventurers so she could learn about administration, yet the Princess ignored all the adventurers available to her and even disobeyed the order to bear the Hero’s child.”
“…Huh? Wait a minute. She deliberately placed her in a place with many adventurers? Does that mean the Queen acknowledges the Princess’s… proclivities?”
“…Yes. In fact, for a long time, the members of the royal bloodline have all… had stronger libidos than others… The Princess is on the more extreme side, but… the Queen was at least understanding of it.”
So that’s how it was.
Something had felt off.
Come to think of it, it had been like that from the start.
Even when I heard how strong the Princess’s libido was, Diana’s reaction was lukewarm, and the people at the castle reacted similarly.
No matter what kind of world this is, you’d think there would be some backlash if a princess was that promiscuous.
So all the royals are like that.
Are they actually Succubi or something?
Now that Analyze can identify a person’s race, I should check next time I see her.
No. It’d be best if I just never saw her again.
“The Princess, who used to relieve her urges with famous adventurers, was unable to do even that after being ordered to bear the Hero’s child. I thought it was understandable, but… it seems the Queen felt differently. She apparently scolded the Princess quite severely.”
Relieve her urges with what?
At this point, I was listening with a sense of resignation.
Is this something I really need to hear?
The conclusion seems to be that the princess is sulking because she got scolded, so can’t you just go and comfort her for a while?
“But then the Princess got angry and talked back…”
Seriously?! I thought the story was over?! It’s still going?!
“To be specific…”
No. I’m good! I don’t want to hear any more about some other family’s mother-daughter squabble!
“When the Queen scolded her, asking what the Princess gained from all this, the Princess retorted, asking why she thought there was no gain. She argued back, saying that since Guwon-nim is the most successful man in the world right now, how could seducing him not be a gain for the royal family…”
“Whaaat?! Sh-She was really trying to seduce me with that in mind?!”
I sometimes thought she was a sharp girl, but she was actually dangerous!
“No. It was likely something she said in the heat of the argument. I believe her true intention was simply to seduce you for her own pleasure.”
But Silvia flatly denied my question.
Hey. Felicia. Even your best friend thinks of you this way. You should reflect on your actions a little.
“Anyway, the Queen apparently got even angrier when the Princess talked back.”
Of course she did. I’d probably feel the same way. Your Majesty, whom I’ve never met, I completely understand.
“She scoffed, asking by what means she thought she could seduce Diana-nim’s man…”
Oops…
“The Princess insisted she could do it…”
…
“Eventually, the argument escalated, and it’s said the Queen even declared that if the Princess couldn’t seduce you, she wouldn’t inherit the throne.”
“…Let me make one thing clear, I have no intention of marrying the princess.”
“O-Of course! I have absolutely no intention of asking that of you!”
“Then why did you tell me?”
“I-I just thought it would be best for you to know…”
No… Silvia… I appreciate you looking out for me, but I really wanted to live in blissful ignorance…
“No. In the first place, what gave the princess the confidence to insist she could seduce me?”
“…She said that she would be able to have sex with you the next time you meet, and that she would melt you with her technique then.”
Has she still not learned her lesson?
She felt that much when I wasn’t even level 100, and now what?
Now that I’ve even mastered my ultimate combo, I could make her die from sex if I really wanted to.
Well, she wouldn’t actually die because of Healing Sex.
“So. What are you going to do about a situation like that?”
“I will somehow mediate between the Queen and the Princess. Thankfully, the Queen adores me like her own daughter, so if I try, I should be able to manage somehow…”
Is it really a problem that can be solved that easily?
I don’t know for sure, but if the Queen went as far as to say she wouldn’t let her inherit the throne, didn’t they have a really nasty, knock-down, drag-out fight?
“…Ah… yeah. Okay. I’ll think about what I can do, too.”
“Y-You will?!”
“Yeah. It’d be a problem for me, too, if you were stuck at the castle all the time.”
“G-G-G-Guwon-niiim…”
And she’s out of serious mode again.
“There, there.”
I placed my hand on Silvia’s trembling head, and her vibrations grew even more intense.
I pulled her into my arms, feeling the vibrations through my whole body as I sank into thought.
I said I’d think about it, but honestly, it doesn’t seem like a problem I can do anything about.
It’s not like I can solve it by consulting with the others, either.
Sara and Leia would be no help in this area, and even Diana can’t do anything about this.
From what Diana told me before, she seems to avoid interfering in politics altogether.
The country’s higher-ups all treat Diana with respect, but that doesn’t mean she gets involved in their affairs.
She’s treated like an elder stateswoman who has retired from the front lines, you could say.
If Diana were to step in, no one would have the courage to oppose her, and she apparently avoids getting involved because it would feel like she was just steamrolling them with power.
And as for the last one, Matilda, while she is a high-ranking figure, it seems religion and politics don’t interfere with each other.
From what I’ve heard, it seems I’ve become a big shot myself, but that’s only because I have the power of the Church and Diana behind me.
In other words, among all of us, Silvia is the only one who can mediate between the Queen and the Princess.
Are my hands completely tied?
If I had to, I could just give in to Felicia’s seduction, but I don’t feel that much loyalty to her.
“I guess there’s no choice. For now, Silvia, you should go… Silvia. Silvia?!”
“I’m… n-not… deeead…”
No, I didn’t say you were dead yet today.
I hurriedly released Silvia, who was melting in my arms.
“Anyway, do your best at the castle. We’ll think of a response on our end.”
In the end, saying that and sending Silvia back to the castle was the only option I had.