“You think the queen of Villendorf’s a threat?” Zabine laughed scornfully. “She’s Catalina, the Coldhearted Queen.”
“Huh?”
“That’s her nickname in Villendorf. Unlike Reckenbell, the hero of Villendorf, the queen doesn’t enjoy a good reputation in her kingdom. She’s rumored to be more coldhearted and far more terrifying than our crown princess, Her Highness Anastasia.”
How the hell does she know so much about an enemy nation? The corps member was a knight as well, but not once had she heard such rumors. Is the scuttlebutt about her true? Unlike us failures, the third or fourth-eldest daughters of our households, is Zabine actually the eldest daughter of her own house? Now that I think about it, she has received a decent education for some inexplicable reason.
Zabine oddly seemed to have proper training as a knight—if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have been able to spout convincing speeches. Was her personality the issue? Had her family abandoned her and revoked her claim to succeed her house?
Word on the street was that she came from a household that excelled in espionage. They were a vital pawn for Anhalt. It was a silly piece of gossip that a bureaucrat had let slip in the palace, but perhaps Zabine’s abilities and sources were still alive and well. Is that why she’s so skilled at gathering information? She can’t seem to get her hands on Sir Polidoro’s info, though, which she ought to want more than anything. Maybe she’s blinded by her horniness.
“She isn’t a true citizen of Villendorf,” Zabine explained. “She has no honor—she’s just someone who tries to understand the world purely through logic. At fourteen, she engaged in a duel to succeed the throne and thrust her training sword into the throat of her oldest sister, who was twenty at the time. As her sister fell to the ground, the queen kicked her skull in and killed her. I did hear that the eldest sister was an insidious woman with very little talent, and that she’d often bullied Queen Catalina in her youth.”
Zabine paused before she continued. “The queen then pushed down her father, who condemned her for murdering her sister, and killed him with the hilt of her blade. Amid the screams that echoed through the arena, the overseers of the duel rushed to hold her back. She said to them, ‘The strongest one here will succeed the throne of Villendorf. That’s what Reckenbell taught me. Since this was a good opportunity, I was told to kill my older sister and father.’ Or so the story goes.”
Zabine poured herself a pint of ale from the cask and slowly emptied her mug before she resumed the tale.
“The people there were dumbfounded,” she said. “As for the second-eldest princess of Villendorf, she abdicated her claim to the throne, intuiting that she couldn’t possibly win. Catalina, the queen of Villendorf, is an insane woman. She’s a monster who lives only on logic. She killed her mother, her father, and her sister—the Holy Trinity of murder. Do you think a creature like her could become enamored with a human like Sir Polidoro? It’s impossible, if you ask me.”
“I’m not so sure,” the corps member replied.
Faust was the man who’d claimed Duke Astarte as his comrade in arms—he dazzled like the sun. I’ll say again that as a citizen of Anhalt, I can’t quite see his charm as a man. But even I, who can only spend a few moments with the advisor of Her Highness as a member of her corps, can see how beautifully pure his heart is. Furthermore, Faust would be seen as a stunning man in Villendorf; even a cold and calculating woman might take an unexpected liking to a man like him.
“A man like Sir Polidoro may just be the very knight who can hack a monster’s heart into shreds,” the corps member said.
“It’s always a human who can defeat a monster, huh? How very knightly and noble those words are,” Zabine replied with a mocking laugh. “In any case, what’s clear is that my Sir Polidoro won’t have his heart stolen away by a woman of Villendorf. In truth, he’s quite innocent when it comes to relationships between men and women. That side of him is cute, but deep down, underneath all that, he’ll never waver on his values. He’ll never abandon his fief and his people; thus, he’ll never let a woman of an enemy nation win him ov—”
“What if, as a condition for the peace treaty, Sir Polidoro is asked to take a Villendorfian woman as his wife? Then what?”
Zabine froze. She looked as though she hadn’t even considered that possibility.
“Could that really happen?” she asked.
“I’m not certain, but logic dictates that superhumans are more likely to give birth to superhumans,” the corps member replied. “If Villendorf wants more talented children, they just might offer a woman for him to take as his wife. Villendorf would take all his children barring the eldest daughter. I’d think that such a scenario is possible.”
“But that benefits the enemy. I can’t imagine Anhalt—Princess Valiele—accepting those terms.”
Zabine turned away, disappointed at the corps member’s explanation.
“I wonder,” the corps member mused. “While Princess Valiele is the head of these negotiations…”
“Are you saying that the real negotiator is actually Sir Polidoro?” Zabine asked.
“Am I wrong?”
It was Faust who’d participated in the Campaign of Villendorf, and as the princess’s advisor, he was the brains behind her strategies. Princess Valiele had grown considerably since her first battle and had even gotten close with Princess Anastasia to the point where the crown princess would offer advice to her sister. But nevertheless…
“I don’t mean to degrade Her Highness Valiele,” the corps member said. “But it’s true that the real negotiations will be done by him, and he’ll probably say a word or two from behind Her Highness as her advisor. And it’s plain to see that Anhalt is currently in an unfavorable position.”
“So, you’re saying that if the conditions aren’t too horrid, Sir Polidoro would be willing to accept those terms for peace?” Zabine asked.
“The palace is gloomy these days, isn’t it? Even an idiot like me can tell just how dire our circumstances are.”
The corps member was a life peer and had the right to visit the royal palace. Her scant visits helped her understand the kingdom’s current straits. Anhalt feared that Villendorf might invade again, and they couldn’t bring their full strength to bear against Villendorf while the war in the north against the nomads raged on. If that matter remained unresolved, Anhalt would have little choice but to fight with Duke Astarte’s army of five hundred once more. But that wasn’t all.
“We might be forced to fight in the second Campaign of Villendorf,” the corps member said. “And we just might die in battle.”
“Even so, do you think Sir Polidoro—that man—will sacrifice himself for others despite his sharp tongue?” Zabine asked.
“I don’t know him as well as you do, but I feel like it’s not out of character for him to do so.”
Zabine held her head in her hands. “Ugh… I just wanna have sex with him, man…”
“I don’t care.”
We’ve come full circle with this conversation… We’re all drunk, so I guess that’s fair.
“I just wanna indulge in a degenerate life filled with pleasure! I just wanna have sex!” Zabine wailed. “I’d like to ride him at least thrice a day.”
“I don’t care,” the corps member replied.
Isn’t that the number of times she masturbates each day?
“Why is this world so fleeting?” Zabine asked.
“Mope all you want, but your reality won’t change,” the corps member replied.
I think she’s underestimating Villendorf a bit too much. Who knows what’ll happen to Sir Polidoro’s chastity when those savages can finally welcome their ideal man into their kingdom? What fate awaits him? No one knows—at least not yet. The member of Princess Valiele’s corps was lost in her thoughts.
“By the way, none of you guys have had any romantic experiences, and you’re all virgins, right?” Zabine asked. “See, at least I found a man to fall in love with. His name’s Sir Polidoro. Do you envy me? Do you? Do you? You do, don’t you? Do any of you guys have a single lover? No? So, like, none of you guys have a man.”
“Shut up and drop dead,” the member of the corps snapped. “I’ll chop off all your hair in one slice and use that to strangle your sorry ass.”
Angered by Zabine’s cheap provocations, the other thirteen members of the corps stood up. The same thought ran through all their minds. I’ll punch Zabine.