Chapter 16

“Your cold has not gotten any better at all!” Her Majesty tried to force herself to smile, but she was too unwell; the smile came out strained. “Oh, I know I’m…cough…sick…” In the end, I brought Her Majesty to my bedroom. I had no other rooms with a bed. Strictly speaking, there were other rooms within the manor that did count as guest rooms, but there was enough dust in them to make a healthy person sick. I laid her down in the bed. She was sweating, but I had a feeling that the best way to go about this was to warm her up and let her sweat it out. I pulled up the covers as well. “I feel all dizzy just coming this way~” “Of course you do. ’Tis what happens when you walk around outside while ill.” I placed the wet towel I had prepared over her forehead. “But I believe this could be an opportunity on its own…” Exhausted, the demon king smiled. “For what? An opportunity to worsen your cold, perhaps.” “My candidate for the role of my elder sister will be taking care of me, that’s what~ Eh-heh-heh…” Then I realized why I had been chosen for the visitation. “The little-sister figure sleeping over at the big-sister figure’s house—so that’s what you wanted to do.” “Yes, yes. I see you know well~” I was appalled. I cannot believe I was so anxious over something so insignificant. “Allow me to confirm just one thing, Your Majesty, but do the people at the castle know about this? You have not simply left of your own accord, have you?” “They do. I made an excuse that I had to run an errand~” So her errand was coming here to rest, was it? She was always so meticulous with her jokes. “What you are doing is quite reckless, but I suppose I appreciate your enthusiasm.” I wiped away the sweat at the nape of Her Majesty’s neck. “Very well. I shall stay up to look after you, so get some rest.” “Thank you very much, Elder Sister.” The demon king smiled in delight. “Despite all your complaints, you would do everything you could for your little sister~ You do have the makings of an elder sister.” “Even if you were not my ‘little sister,’ any vassal would do the same if the demon king showed up sick at their doorstep.” “So cruel, Elder Sister.” “I am not your elder sister,” I shot back. The towel quickly grew warm, so I swapped it out with a cold one. “Ah, it’s so nice and cool.” “You should keep your eyes closed. You’ll fall asleep soon enough if you do.” “Aww, but this is our sleepover. I want to chat with you~ What a waste it would be if I slept all our time away~” “Your cold will only get worse, so you must—” No, this sort of conversation would go on forever. I might tell her to sleep, but of course, she would not listen. In fact, it might instead give her the energy to be even more stubborn. It was quite embarrassing, but…I suppose it was time to try acting as an older sister. If I satisfied Her Majesty that way, she might fall asleep. I leaned in close to her ear. “Get some rest now, Pecora,” I said in my smoothest voice. Her Majesty’s ears went bright-red, and her smile disappeared. It seems I gave her a shock. And ’twas a good thing, too—if she’d had a comeback, I had no other tricks up my sleeve. “A-all right… I shall do as you say, Elder Sister…” “Yes, good girl. Don’t make me worry.” Even saying it was rather embarrassing… But I would persevere. Now, how about that?! That was my plan. Perhaps she would listen to orders if they were coming from her older sister… Her Majesty closed her eyes and spoke no more. A little while later, I started to hear her soft snores. Yes, my plan was perfect. I did not wish to do such a thing a second time… I placed both my hands on the wall to support myself, panting. “That was painful… What punishment is this…? I suppose it was exactly what she wanted to hear…” All that was left was for me to watch over her the whole night. It was not going to be easy, but it was nothing compared with the line I had to deliver earlier. I went to fetch water for the wet towels. “Perhaps I should wash my own face, too…” It was burning up, after all. Her Majesty awoke early the next morning. I suppose it was because she had fallen asleep so early the night before. “Good morning, Miss Beelzebub—no, Elder Sister.” She was in a good mood from the moment she opened her eyes. “Good morning, Your Majesty.” I gave her the vassal’s bow beside the bed. “What? Aren’t you going to call me Pecora?” “I do not know of what you speak. You must have had some strange dreams due to your cold.” I had decided to blatantly dodge the topic. There was no proof of what had happened anyway. “What? What?! That is not true! You called me Pecora right before I went to sleep! You said, Good night, my dear Pecora!” That was even worse than what I actually said! “I said no such thing!” I decided to dig in my heels and feign complete ignorance. There would be a great deal of trouble if Her Majesty remained away from the castle, so I took her back. I carried her the whole way, too, so that she wouldn’t collapse on me. “Oh, bridal style~” “I would appreciate it if you would not use such phrases.” “You did call me Pecora yesterday, didn’t you, Elder Sister?” “I cannot recall doing such a thing, no. Your symptoms seem to be quite severe. Please take care of yourself.” The castle guards seemed shocked when they saw Her Majesty and me, but— “I just made sure to carry out the visitation as scheduled, ” Her Majesty said, and they appeared to accept that answer. They seemed accustomed to her unreasonable behavior. One way or another, I managed to return her to her own room. That was quite a long journey… “Thank you so much for escorting me all the way back, Miss Beelzebub. ” Her Majesty offered her thanks just outside her room. “Oh, think nothing of it. I am delighted to see that your cough is less noticeable than yesterday,” I responded with a smile. It was a relief knowing my job was done. “Please feel free to call me Pecora again—” “You are quite insistent about that, aren’t you? I haven’t the slightest clue what you are talking about.” I rebuffed her flatly, so she pouted like a child. “You are so rigid!” “You simply rely too much on shortcuts.” It seemed that at this point, she understood she was not going to get her way. A firm attitude is crucial to dealing with these things. “Well, I suppose that’s all right. It is like you to never do entirely what I want, after all.” Rrrgh… She would always turn things to her favor, wouldn’t she…? “Now then, I have work to attend to at the ministry, so I must be off.” I bowed, turned away, proceeded down the corridor— —and suddenly started to cough. “Cough, cough, cough, cough! Cough!” Now that I thought about it, I felt rather hot. And my head was heavy. Was it the all-nighter…? My face has been hot since yesterday… I had just experienced a triple whammy—the possibility that I’d caught Her Majesty’s cold after being with her all night, the weakness of being awake for so long, and the immense relaxation once the burden of returning Her Majesty to the castle had been lifted from my shoulders… That day, I went to the ministry, applied for paid time off due to how unwell I felt, and went home.