🌹💘🌹
EXACTLY half an hour before I ran into Miss Monica and Xenu, I’d been secluded in my office doing my job. I had been there the whole morning. Though we saw the end of the monsters running wild in Kophe, dealing with the aftermath kept me incredibly busy for days on end. I made so many trips from Viscount Telestraza’s to the royal capital in a day, and back again, that I barely had time to sleep most days.
Day after day, I met with Kophe’s king and ministers to discuss a variety of issues. What to do about our limited garrison of knights in the country. Reporting situational updates to the Empire and dispatching experts and collaborating with them. Notifications to the nobles and commoners in the country as well as official announcements to other countries. Conferences with merchants in Xenu’s network.
The most important issue I dedicated myself to was the elevation of saints. The Great Church of Kophe was completely restructured with the priests of the Saints Faction now in charge. We worked diligently together to create a new ranking system for holy women.
I had summoned a few people I trusted from the Empire to assist me, but I tried my best to read through all the topics and retained the final decision-making authority. I was now at an important stage in my work to solidify the foundations for the Arousing Priestess Monica as well as myself, so I had no intention of relaxing my grip just yet.
I didn’t mind being inundated with work as both the imperial prince and the knight commander. In fact, I welcomed it if my efforts led directly to a peaceful life for my older brother and security for Miss Monica.
However… Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of a mountain of things in my office that made me frown. Genealogy charts, personal backgrounds, handkerchiefs, love letters, gifts, and more. The young noblewomen of Kophe started their heated battle to claim Prince Richard. Me. Just looking at the pile brought back memories of all the ways imperial ladies had attacked me and I felt myself getting fed up all over again.
“Haaa…” I sighed.
“How about a break, Your Highness?” Darius smiled ruefully as he poured me a cup of strong fish wort medicinal tea. “This is all certainly a nuisance, isn’t it? The dunces who put offering their daughters over the country’s revival think nothing of your efforts and I personally view it as an affront to you.”
“I suggest you rein in the frankness in mixed company, Darius. I can do what I want here because they’re idiots. And I need them to remain that way.”
“Hahaha! Well, it makes sense, since their actions mean they’re willing to obey you.”
Speaking of those daughters offered by their parents, once I ascertained their backgrounds and personalities, I set up marriage meetings between them and my subordinates whom they would be compatible with. At first, both the daughters and their parents didn’t bother concealing their discontent and grumbling with my tactic. They tried to hound me for a while longer (if they had so much time on their hands, I wish they would just do their bloody work), but over time, their meetings with my men progressed smoothly to the point of engagements. In any case, I placed all the ambitious idiots as pawns under my control and focused on rebuilding the country.
It didn’t seem like any magical tools were mixed in with the various gifts. Even so, Darius opened and shook each item carefully and he complained while doing so.
“Honestly…how does an embroidered handkerchief count as a worthy gift for someone who worked day and night to salvage a country on the brink of extermination?”
“Nothing we can do about it. Politics and monsters and all of that might as well be in another world for the daughters of Kophe’s nobility,” I said.
During peaceful circumstances, their actions would be considered extremely proper. Their abilities and positions in high society might even be regarded as superior. But in these unusual times, I found their conduct, frankly speaking, revolting.
“Ah, an inconspicuous incantation is embroidered into these garter socks. Allow me to burn them.” Before he even finished speaking, the cursed item in Darius’s palm went up in flames. He commented while brushing away the ash in his hand in the unlit fireplace. “What you need the most right now, Your Highness, isn’t an embroidered handkerchief or the fanciest tea snacks. It’s sleep, meat, and Madam Monica, though perhaps not necessarily in that order.”
“…Miss Monica.”
The second I heard her name.
Krak, krak, krak, krak, krak!
A few of the magic stones inside the room exploded.
“Yikes.”
“Don’t tell me… I destroyed them all again, didn’t I?” I groaned.
“Hahaha… Well, that’s just how magic stones work. They’ll break even if you don’t wear them.”
Even Darius flinched at the ferocity of the shattering.
“I want to see Miss Monica,” I said.
“I know… Trust me, I know.”
“How long has it been since we last met…? More than a month now? This is…hell.”
“And even when you do manage to free up time, you’re either attacked by the young ladies or overwhelmed with unexpected work.”
“I always thought of myself as an austere man, but surprisingly enough, that might not be the case.”
“You are, Your Highness. Aside from Miss Monica, your constraint never breaks with anyone else.”
“Agh… I can’t think of her right now. If I do—”
Krak, krak…
I heard more magic stones shattering.
“Darius. What does my face look like right now?”
“Like you could impregnate a female legendary snow beast with your eyes alone.”
“Damn. I can’t depend on the magic stones anymore. Well, this isn’t good…” I clutched my head and sighed deeply. Darius guffawed.
“That’s just what happens when you’re tired. Hahaha! Survival instinct or reproductive instinct? You decide, my lord.”
“I want…to see…Miss Monica…”
“Your Highness… I think you shouldn’t see her right now, for a number of reasons…”
“I know, I know. I’m nothing but a fierce animal at the moment. I won’t risk her life like this.”
“I’m glad to hear you saying what I’m thinking.”
“Darius. Pour me another cup of the fish wort tea.”
“At once, sir. I never could have imagined the day would come when you needed it too, Your Highness.” Chuckling wryly, he poured me another cup.
“That’s it. I’m at my limit. I’ll be back after a visit with Miss Monica.”
“Enjoy. But remember to control yourself.”
“Of course.”
I tore through the urgent work needing my attention with a rush of energy and declined all invitations to the afternoon salons just so I could carve out time to see Miss Monica.
The emotions overflowing within me were so strong at this point that it was impossible to recast my constraint. Not to mention how easily the magic stones broke the second I dropped my guard. Though I knew I had to use my reason to keep my surging desire in check, I was fed up with it all and well past my limit of not seeing her.
But when I walked quickly to her private chambers, only Solarus was inside, cleaning. She spoke with a cool expression. “Just terrible timing, sir. Madam Monica took an attendant with her and went on a walk. She said she would be going to the garden.”
“The garden, huh? Thanks.”
The instant I heard her destination, I half ran toward it. Just the thought of being able to see her again made my fatigue, irritation, and everything else vanish.
I didn’t regret releasing my binding spell in the forest of Mayga Cieux. I had decided that once most of Kophe’s problems were taken care of, I would break the constraint and tell her everything—my true feelings, which she had never understood no matter how many times I’d told her, and everything else once the situation settled down.
Should I just tell her today?
I stepped into the garden with sweet exhilaration coursing through me, and I spied her from behind immediately in her pure white attire. Dappled by the shadows of the overhanging trees, she looked as beautiful as ever to me.
Just when I was about to call out to her, my feet froze. Xenu was standing in front of Monica like a black shadow. Immediately, I felt my emotions darkening.
She spoke to him in a bright tone of voice. “While I admit it’s painful to be by his side, I don’t want to marry anyone else either. Although I suppose the safe choice would be to enter a convent and spend the rest of my life cloistered there.”
“Ahhh, that actually suits you really well. I can imagine it easily.”
When did they get so close? Xenu spoke to her candidly.
“One attached to an orphanage might be nice, since you love children, Madam Monica.”
“Good point. If I won’t be having any of my own, I would enjoy taking care of others’.”
Then, Xenu and her attendant caught sight of me. When she followed their gazes and turned around, her eyes met mine—and she paled.
“Oh… Richard.”
My mind went blank upon seeing the awkward, uneasy expression on her face. The next thing I felt was an impulse jolt through me. From deep in my mind, emotions surged and boiled. Was it jealousy? Possessiveness? Lust? The feelings burned me from the inside out like melting steel.
I’m losing control.
I covered my face with my hands and turned away from Miss Monica. I didn’t want to expose any more of my ugliness to her than I already had. And I thought while I endured: Just how great was my desire that had been suppressed by the constraint?
Krak.
Once more, cracks appeared in the brand-new magic stone in the medal on my chest. At this rate, I would end up showing her the worst side of me.
“Miss Monica, I—”
Then—
“Nooooooo!!!”
A scream and the sounds of turmoil came from far away. The two of us automatically looked at each other. Based on her dignified expression, she was already in holy woman mode.
“Let’s go, Richard!” she said.
Ahhh, that’s right. I love her because this is the kind of person she is.
My heart, scorched by the dark emotions, was again dyed in a sweet tenderness.
I nodded and we both raced toward the direction the voice came from.