I didn’t mind that, but Queen Liesenlotte had promised to raise the ranks of the entire corps should peace negotiations be successful. But we hadn’t done anything. Even if we received this promotion, we’d be in an utterly awkward position.
“Couldn’t you have done something?” I asked.
I couldn’t keep myself from posing the question. I already knew Zabine’s response.
“If I could’ve, I would’ve risked my life and done it already!” Zabine shouted. “The entirety of Villendorf was after Sir Polidoro to begin with, and Queen Catalina probably saw all people aside from him as bugs crawling on the ground or something! She was so focused on him in the end! I didn’t even receive a personal invitation into the throne room—what exactly could I have done?”
Yeah, I expected as much. Zabine’s in love with Sir Polidoro too. She was probably fuming when an enemy kingdom’s queen asked for his seed. In fact, we might need to praise this ape for not causing a fuss when she heard the queen’s proposal. I guess… Well, Sir Polidoro’s a sinful man. He’d managed to skillfully melt the frozen heart of the Coldhearted Queen and voiced his regrets over his mother as though his life depended on it. It allowed the queen to empathize with his woes and fall in love with him. He truly is…
As a woman of Anhalt, I couldn’t find Sir Polidoro’s appearance attractive, and yet even I’d almost fallen in love with him as I heard what had transpired within the throne room. Sir Polidoro was a sinful man. How could any woman resist his charms after all that he’d done? Were we to blame for that?
“Princess Valiele, I truly believe that we all did our best in our own way,” I said.
I made an attempt to reassure the princess. In fact, Sir Polidoro should have been the one to blame for taking it too far. Was there any need to make the queen fall in love with him? I couldn’t help but provide some self-justification. We were here to negotiate peace; we hadn’t come to Villendorf simply to watch how Sir Polidoro used his enchanting allure to seduce women around him. I would go as far as to say that he’d forgotten his initial goal in the middle of his spiel.
When he’d desperately spoken of his regret with tears in his eyes, it must have come from the heart. He didn’t calculate that far ahead. His genuine side only added to his charm, however.
“W-we did our best…” Princess Val muttered.
She slowly rose from her bed. Did she feel a bit better? She turned to face us before she opened her mouth once more.
“How can I possibly reward Faust for what he did for us?” she asked.
“We should start thinking about that now,” I said. I urged her to become more positive and optimistic about the future, and her first course of action popped into my mind. “First, you should apologize to Queen Liesenlotte about stealing those roses.”
“That goes without saying. Next? Zabine, can’t you use your intelligence to come up with something?”
Princess Val turned to a pale-faced Zabine, who still seemed to be in a state of shock.
“What about allowing him to ravish the body of Corps Captain Zabine in bed as a reward?” Zabine suggested.
“What kind of benefit would that bring Faust?” Princess Val asked. “Aren’t you just voicing your own desires?”
What kind of merit is there in allowing a man to deflower a woman? Drop dead, Zabine. Sir Polidoro wasn’t a prostitute, nor was he a man who possessed an intense libido. The Knight of Wrath tended to become emotional at times, but usually, he was a serious, modest, and purehearted man.
“Give me a proper answer,” Princess Val said.
“The first thing that comes to mind is the lavish reward he was promised if peace negotiations went well,” Zabine said. “If we increased that amount, I’m quite certain that Sir Polidoro would be overjoyed. However…”
“However?”
Zabine shifted around awkwardly. “More people would see Sir Faust von Polidoro as a man who sold off his chastity for money.”
“Which means the royal family should give him some sort of reward aside from money.”
“You must. You must treat Sir Polidoro much better and reward him handsomely, or else we’ll end up in danger.” Zabine once again seemed hesitant about her words.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Sir Polidoro clearly voiced his discontent earlier when he spoke with Queen Catalina. Please try to recall what happened then, Your Highness.”
“Right…”
If memory serves…
“How could the hero of a kingdom not be provided with a wife with a good head on her shoulders?” the queen had asked. “In fact, the nobles and citizens dare to give the cold shoulder to a hero? Anhalt’s social mores truly boggle the mind.”
“I cannot deny that I have my own complaints on that front,” Sir Polidoro replied.
It was clear as day that Sir Polidoro held a few grievances toward the Anhaltish royal family. And I couldn’t blame him. The knight had been forced to serve outside his contract for these peace negotiations, and we’d worked him to the bone. If Sir Polidoro, the hero and savior of Anhalt, suddenly switched sides to Villendorf, it would bring shame to our kingdom. In fact, such a devastating act would forever be etched into history.
“Wh-what do I do?!” Princess Val asked. “Should I apologize to Faust about this entire negotiation?”
“No, I don’t think Sir Polidoro is angry with you, Your Highness,” Zabine said.
Well, yeah. Princess Val isn’t to blame. After all, it was Crown Princess Anastasia and Duke Astarte who’d dispatched the knight to Villendorf. Sir Polidoro had Princess Val act as the jester and agree to apologize with him for stealing the roses. It didn’t seem like he was upset with her at all. Still, it felt vital that we provided him with some form of reward that wasn’t monetary compensation.
“Why don’t we utilize the words of our enemy, Queen Catalina?” Zabine suggested. “What Sir Polidoro wants is quite clear.”
“Um… A wife with a good head on her shoulders, was it?” Princess Val asked. “That reminds me, Faust did once ask me to find a suitable noblewoman for him, but a lowly person like me couldn’t possibly find a wife who’s suitable for him. I ended up declining his request back then. It was a good while ago.” She unraveled her memories until she buried her head in her hands. “I still don’t have the power to find a suitable wife for a guy like him! Sure, my reputation may have improved a teensy bit over the years, but it hasn’t really been that long since my first battle! I don’t have any connections with nobles!”
“Princess Valiele,” Zabine said. She stood in front of Her Highness and flashed her pearly whites. “What about me?”
“Denied. I’d feel so bad for Faust that I’d have no choice but to offer my life as a token of apology.”
“Why not?!”
Don’t give her that, you moron. Sir Polidoro probably wants a wife befitting of his accomplishments until now and his diplomatic achievements. He needs a wife who won’t humiliate him as she strolls outside. You’re a wife who’d be an embarrassment no matter where you go. I assumed that he didn’t want a woman like her, even if Zabine yapped on and on about how her love was reciprocated and how she’d successfully wooed him.
Sir Polidoro, our hero and savior, must’ve temporarily found himself leaning toward a chimp like Zabine because he was so unpopular back at home. I couldn’t imagine him actually falling for her. Unfortunately, Zabine’s love would probably end unrequited.
“Seriously, what do I do?” Princess Val wailed.
She remained atop her bed, and I felt tempted to tell her that she should remove her shoes already. I had a different solution in mind, but I stopped myself from voicing my idea. Why can’t Princess Valiele just abdicate her claim to the throne and marry into Sir Polidoro’s household? I felt like it was a good plan, but perhaps it was a touch unrealistic. He might have been a hero and a savior, but he was a weak lord with only three hundred citizens to his name; his rank was a bit too low for a princess. First and foremost, I had no idea what Princess Val thought about him. And so, I ultimately stopped myself from speaking up. If she were in love with him, the entirety of her corps would fully assist her.
I found the sight of her agonizing with her head in her hands quite adorable as I expelled a very deep sigh.