Chapter 122
We had returned to the royal capital, but another commotion had broken out during our audience with the king.
I had been attacked by the queen, but I had no idea why she had attacked me.
Even Princess Lilith, who had discussed the matter with the other members of the royal family, did not know the reason.
The king, the chancellor, and the ministers all seemed unable to understand how things had come to this.
There had been a major incident, but afterward, the king promised to reward us.
The chancellor had bowed his head and asked me to stay, but as far as I was concerned, I no longer cared about the reward. I just wanted to go home.
With no choice, we returned to the castle's rear courtyard and ate an early dinner together.
Everyone had been enjoying a cheerful meal when their movements suddenly stopped. When I started to turn around at Akira's words, someone hugged me from behind.
The person hugging me in a white dress, giving off a sweet scent mixed with the smell of mustard, was the queen.
"The queen!"
"Holy Knight-sama..."
"Are you planning to challenge me again? I won't hold back this time."
"No—"
"Then what is it? I don't have time to indulge in royal games."
As I spat those hostile words at her, the queen said something outrageous.
"Holy Knight-sama, please take me along as your traveling companion..."
Still clinging to me, the queen began saying incomprehensible things with a dreamy expression on her face.
"Huh? Why do I have to take you with me? What happened to His Majesty, who carried you to bed?"
"He attempted to take advantage of me while I was unable to move, so I hurt him just enough that he would not die."
"What?! If you did that, then..."
"Hmph!"
The queen turned her face away and averted her eyes.
I glanced at Akira, and he had an expression that seemed to say, "Oh, dear."
Akira had said that some men had a fetish for women who could not move. Had that really been what happened?
"Besides, you're husband and wife..."
"Even between husband and wife, forcing intercourse against one's will is no different from treating one as a plaything, is it not?"
"That may be true, but..."
"Holy Knight-sama, you came to rescue me from that dark room, did you not?"
"Huh?"
Come to think of it, the queen had said something like that before. She had been tied to a small desk in a dark room and forced to study day after day.
"I waited for Holy Knight-sama day after day in that dark room... I continued waiting because I believed you would surely come for me..."
"I only became a Holy Knight recently, through the princess's power, didn't I?"
"No. I had a premonition from the moment I heard the rumors from Astrantia."
"Did you summon us because of that?"
"—Exactly. Then, when I saw the miracle with which you easily dispelled the darkness in my bedroom, where I had been plagued by nightmares, my premonition became certainty."
That did not explain why things had turned into a battle in the audience chamber.
"Why did that turn into a battle in the audience chamber?"
"To test the Holy Knight-sama's power, to knock that girl from Marquis Nasturtium down a peg, and then... um..."
"What do you mean, 'um'?"
"Because..."
"Because?"
"Because Holy Knight-sama kept ignoring me and playing with Lilith! I had been waiting in that dark room all this time! Choosing Lilith as your reward was cruel!"
"Don't tell me you seriously thought I might choose you as my reward?"
"..."
She remained silent, but apparently she had genuinely believed I would choose her as my reward.
This fucking psycho. As if that were ever going to happen!
"Besides, the princess is younger and a virgin, so of course I was going to choose her, right?"
"I am a virgin too!"
The queen said that, but...
"Then it wasn't that you were unable to have children—you simply never tried to make any..."
His Majesty the King had been somewhat unreliable, but this was far too pitiful.
If an ordinary man were glared at by that inexplicable intimidation ability, he would probably wilt into a helpless wreck—an old-fashioned expression.
She had said that she used to hunt, but even when she hooked a man, apparently she toyed with him mercilessly before repeating the cycle of catch and release.
In other words, that was her idea of a game. The men who had fallen for a woman like this were pitiful too.
"So your jealousy put my family in danger? And your own subordinates died too, you know?"
"That is the Holy Knight-sama's fault."
The queen turned away again with a dismissive huff.
"Don't screw with me—"
To pull the queen away, I grabbed her and used the Holy Knight's power—an overdose of Natural Heal.
"Ah! Eeeeeee!"
The queen immediately fell backward and began twitching and convulsing.
Apparently, the aftereffects of our earlier battle remained. Given her strength, she should have been able to dodge an attack like that with ease.
Seeing this, Lilith stood up and stepped between us.
"Mother, what have you done?!"
Although the queen had fallen over, she ignored Lilith, rose like a zombie, and clung to my leg.
Could she still move?
"Holy Knight-sama! I will do anything, so please take me with you!"
"You'll do anything?"
"Yes!"
The queen's face suddenly brightened.
"Then stand there and lift the hem of your white dress for me."
The queen silently stood up and began lifting the hem of her dress.
Her face flushed as she closed her eyes and turned away.
"Higher!"
"Um, you will be able to see..."
"I said show me."
Her skirt stopped just short of exposing everything, but if I crouched down and looked from below, I could see a golden thicket.
When I extended a finger and touched it, the queen dropped to the ground and began trembling.
"Good! I understand your resolve now!"
"Then! Please take me with you!"
The queen's face brightened again.
"Hahaha! But I refuse!!"
When she heard those words, the queen threw her arms around me.
"Nooo! Holy Knight-sama! I will do anything!"
"You're annoying! Let go, you fucking psycho!"
I desperately pulled the clinging queen away. As expected, I could not feel her usual strength, so her body was not back to normal.
Of course. She had been sprayed with bear spray, shocked with a stun gun, and subjected to the full force of the Holy Knight's power. An ordinary person should have been unable to move for several days.
The fact that she could move at all proved that she was no ordinary person, but so what? What benefit would my family or I gain from traveling with a psycho like this?
"Then take a look at this!"
The queen took out some kind of black ring. It was about ten centimeters in diameter and decorated with elaborate designs.
"Mother, what are you planning to do with that?!"
The queen stopped her shouting daughter. Lilith apparently knew what the ring was.
Then she took my finger and put it inside the ring together with her own.
"In accordance with ancient custom, I enter into a contract of servitude here. Amaranthus Rana Kadan, do you consent to this contract? Yes!"
As the queen spoke, the black ring emitted a blue light.
Her grip on my finger was too tight for me to pull it free, and some kind of contract was completed.
The light then wrapped around the queen's neck and became a pattern resembling black chains.
"Mother, what have you done?!"
"What the hell is this?!"
The queen proudly showed off the black chains around her neck.
"Kenichi, that is a slave contract. In other words, Mother has become your slave..."
"Huh?! What the hell does that mean?!"
Come to think of it, Akira had mentioned that there was an item that could create slave contracts.
"Now Holy Knight-sama and I are one in body and soul! We can never be separated again!"
"Hey, don't screw with me! Cancel the contract!"
"No! Aaaaaah!"
When the queen denied my order, she began rolling around on the ground.
"What happened?"
"A contract slave must obey her master's commands absolutely. If she resists, intense pain shoots through her entire body."
"H-hih..."
The queen rolled on the ground, barely able to breathe.
"I don't understand any of this. What are we supposed to do?"
"You simply need to revoke the command."
"Command revoked!"
The queen sat up and began breathing heavily.
"T-this means I can go with Holy Knight-sama..."
"I see! I accept your feelings."
"Then!"
The queen's face brightened.
"But I refuse!!"
"N-no! Please! I beg you! Take me with you, Holy Knight-sama!"
"You're so annoying! Let go!"
"No! Aaaah!"
Once again, the queen rolled around on the ground.
"Command canceled!"
"..."
Everyone was speechless. Of course they were. None of this made any sense at all.
"All right! I get it! I'll give you my command!"
"Y-yes! Then..."
The queen got to her feet. She really was tough.
"You will stay here and bear a child with His Majesty the King!"
"No! Aaaaaah!"
The queen disobeyed my command and began rolling around again.
I revoked the command while she continued rolling on the ground.
"There, command revoked!"
I crouched down, grabbed the queen, and used the Holy Knight's power at full strength.
"Nghhhhhhh!"
The queen arched backward on the spot, soaking her white dress until it dripped, and then became completely still.
It would be bad if she started rampaging again and people got injured. There had to be some way—
"That's it!"
I remembered that I had bought a pair of adamantite manacles in an Imperial city.
I took the black manacles from my Item Box and fastened them around the queen's wrists.
Then I stood up, looked around, and shouted.
"Hey, Mairen-san! You're here, aren't you?"
At my words, Mairen-san emerged from behind a pillar and walked briskly toward us.
I had no idea how long she had been there, but apparently she remained hidden in the shadows so she could be summoned at any moment, just like this.
"Did you call for me?"
"The queen has gone mad. You saw everything, right?"
"...Yes."
"Take her to her bedroom and report everything to His Majesty. Also tell him about the bruise around her neck. And these manacles are made of adamantite, so even the queen should not be able to break them."
"Understood."
When she gave a signal, the other maids also came hurrying over.
"I shall go too. Father may not believe me unless I explain it to him myself."
"Lilith, please take care of it."
"Leave it to me. Still... at this rate, there will be another Royal Family Round Table Conference, won't there?"
Lilith followed the queen, who was being carried away by the maids, toward the castle with an exasperated expression.
I was also concerned about His Majesty the King's condition after the queen had nearly killed him, so I had them check on him.
The other members of the royal family would probably be at their wits' end over the queen's bizarre behavior too.
"Ugh... what the hell was that?"
I sank down where I stood.
"Hey! Now we're fellow wife-stealers."
"I haven't stolen anyone's wife yet! Was that the item Akira mentioned for making slave contracts?"
"The shape is a little different, but it exists in this country too, apparently."
"But I think I can understand the queen's feelings. She was forced to sleep with someone she did not want because of her family and country's circumstances."
Annerose-san was the one who murmured that.
She too had been married off to a merchant to settle her family's debts, and had even borne him a child.
"Even so, there has to be a limit. People died because of her little stunt."
"That is true, but you never know what a woman driven to desperation might do."
"Well, Annerose abandoned her country too. It wouldn't be strange for the queen to abandon hers."
Akira did have a point.
"Seriously...?"
"The Emperor had plenty of problems too, but this country seems to be in trouble as well."
"Sensei, the high and mighty have too much free time. Poor people worrying about whether they will live or die don't have time for this sort of thing."
Akira, talking with Reiran-san, had it exactly right.
I was tired, so I took an air mattress from my Item Box and lay down on it.
Bell came over and climbed onto my stomach.
"Nyaa."
"What should I do, Mom?"
I stroked Bell as I worried.
"But knowing the boss, I figured you'd just take her along."
"Nyamena, even I have standards when it comes to people."
"But nya, somehow I feel like you'll get swept along and take her with you in the end, nya."
Myaree said that, but would the king and the royal family even allow it?
Besides, I doubted they would allow Lilith to leave the castle either.
"Mmph!"
Anemone was in a bad mood, but there was nothing I could do. This whole thing was completely unexpected.
Primula seemed to have given up.
This was a real mess, but there was no point agonizing over something so ridiculous.
I brought the house out of my Item Box, and we decided to take a bath together. While I was preparing the bath, a maid came over.
She said we could use the castle's baths.
"Then the women can use the castle baths. You can take soap, shampoo, towels, and whatever else you need from my place too."
"Then we will do so, thank you."
Reiran-san stood up, looking delighted at the mention of a bath.
"Primula, go with them."
"Understood."
Primula gathered the bathing supplies and began preparing.
"Reiran-san's hair has become so beautiful."
"It really is thanks to the shampoo and rinse. You can't get anything like them in this world."
"It seems like soap exists here, so maybe we could make it..."
When I searched Shangri-La, I found a book about handmade skincare and cosmetics.
"I couldn't make rinse, but I did an egg pack for Sensei's hair."
"Ah, I see. That's another option... But eggs are luxury goods here too."
"Yeah."
When I spoke with the maid, she said they would also prepare rooms for us to stay in.
We had completely switched into guest mode. The women would probably be better off staying in the castle rooms.
"Anemone can go in too."
"I am going in with Kenichi, so I don't need to."
"Isn't bathing together a little much?"
Akira was right.
"I think so too, but she won't listen to me. Anemone, you're already an adult, so take a bath by yourself."
"No!"
Primula headed for the castle baths. She and Annerose-san were chatting happily.
There had been no woman she could really talk with before.
The women headed into the castle, but the beastfolk could not enter, so they had to bathe here.
I had barely managed to get permission for Myaree and Nyamena to enter the audience chamber in the first place.
There was no chance they would be allowed into the baths.
Still, after all the trouble, I wanted to relax.
In contrast to us, the members of the royal family would probably spend the whole night arguing over the queen's bizarre behavior.
I was stressed, so I decided to sleep together with the beastfolk, who had become fluffy after bathing and using the jet heater.
It was the best form of comfort in this world. No luxury blanket could compare.
------◇◇◇------
――The next morning, I woke up and ate breakfast.
Primula, Reiran-san, and the others, who had used the castle baths, had not returned.
According to the maid who came in the morning, they would also eat breakfast in the castle dining hall.
Lilith had not returned, so I did not know how the royal family's discussions had gone.
I did not really want to hear the results and wanted to go home as soon as possible, but I had to receive a reward for opening the pass. Otherwise, all that trouble would not have been worth it.
If something was being offered, I had to take it—but why had things become this complicated?
With Primula absent, we all ate a simple breakfast of granola.
Anemone had baked the bread.
"Ohhh! Freshly baked bread is damn good!"
While Akira was enjoying it, Anemone peered into my face.
"Kenichi, you look angry."
"Sorry, Anemone."
"For Kenichi, who's kind to everyone, to get angry, it must be serious, nya."
"The boss would get angry too. None of this makes any sense."
Nyamena was right. None of it made any sense at all.
"Well, they've let us use the castle baths and are even serving us breakfast, so maybe the crisis has passed?"
Akira answered while stuffing bread into his mouth.
"The fact that there was any danger in the first place makes no sense, though."
"The queen told us herself. It was just jealousy."
I could do without people dying over simple jealousy, though...
Just then, Lilith returned.
"Kenichi, breakfast."
"Sure thing."
"Though granola alone won't do for Lilith..."
"Kenichi, I want some fried bird."
"Fried chicken in the morning, huh... Will yesterday's do?"
"Of course."
Once again, I bought a bag of ○sho fried chicken from Shangri-La.
I put it on a large platter and had Anemone warm it. The brown fried chicken soon began to sizzle and give off white steam.
"Mmm, delicious."
"I'll have some too, nya."
"Can I have a piece too?"
"Me too."
Apparently, having food sitting right in front of them made everyone want to pick at it. Akira and Anemone were taking pieces from the platter too.
"Kenichi, don't you have any tartar sauce?"
"Tartar sauce... Give me a moment."
At Akira's words, I searched Shangri-La and found tartar sauce from the same company that made the mayonnaise.
"Click."
A tube of tartar sauce dropped down. Come to think of it, its ingredients were probably almost the same as mayonnaise...
"Akira, if you can make mayonnaise, couldn't you make tartar sauce too?"
"Huh? How would you make tartar sauce? I have no idea."
Now that he mentioned it, I had never made tartar sauce either.
"Whoa! This sauce is delicious!"
"It's delicious!"
Lilith and Anemone were delighted, but eating something like this first thing in the morning had to be bad for them.
No, tartar sauce was beside the point. What had happened at the castle?
"So, Lilith, what happened at the castle?"
"The people at the Round Table Conference were clutching their heads. They had never heard of a member of the royal family becoming a slave!"
It was apparently unprecedented, but since the first king had risen from slavery, you could also say things had returned to their origins.
"Royal families of fallen or conquered countries can end up sinking into slavery, though."
Lilith looked displeased at Akira's words, but the queen had not fallen from power. She was still an active member of the royal family.
"They decided that if the slave contract is not canceled, she will be stripped of her royal status."
"What about the queen herself?"
"She is refusing."
After hearing that, Akira picked up a piece of fried chicken, dipped it in tartar sauce, and muttered,
"That sounds troublesome. She might even kill herself if things go badly..."
"Akira, she's not that kind of woman. She's weak now because of what I did to her, but once she's back to full strength, the entire Knights' Order will be like specks of dust to her."
"That could become extremely troublesome. Will the castle turn into a sea of blood?"
"We must avoid that!"
I also asked about His Majesty the King's condition.
"His life is not in danger, but apparently he was extremely depressed. They have summoned all the grand archmages in the royal capital to treat him."
Speaking of grand archmages, did that mean Melissa had come too?
"So he's depressed because the queen rejected him, right, Princess?"
Lilith answered Akira while stuffing fried chicken into her mouth.
"You are correct. Apparently, she was the woman Father had admired since he was a child."
"But whenever he stood in front of the queen, he couldn't do anything."
"Ah, so that's it! This was his last chance, now that the queen was unable to move..."
Akira clapped his hands. There was no doubt that the king's love was somewhat twisted.
He had lost his last chance and she had entered into a slave contract with another man. Perhaps this turn of events had caused the king's feelings to turn away from the queen.
No, what good would that do? I had nothing but a bad feeling about this.
According to Lilith, it would be impossible to meet the king today.
Well, it couldn't be helped. We would take it easy for a day. Reiran-san and the others had been allowed to stay in the castle's guest rooms until we departed.
It was certainly better than sleeping rough in the rear courtyard.
That was what I thought, but then I heard what the maid who came to Lilith had to say.
Apparently, nobles had been crowding in because they wanted to meet Night Crow Reiran in person, after hearing the rumors somewhere.
The Empire's grand archmage, beautiful, and with enormous breasts. They absolutely had to meet her! That seemed to be the idea.
Apparently, the trend-chasers—an old-fashioned term—were the same even in another world.
And Primula was apparently trying to sell shampoo and rinse to the members of the royal family. She really would sell anything...
Then, in the afternoon, Primula came to me asking for more shampoo and rinse.
"Um, Kenichi. The members of the royal family also want some pearls..."
"Sure. If they're royalty, that's fine."
She planned to curry favor with the royal family using the products and make connections for the Marlowe Trading Company's expansion into the royal capital.
Until now, she had been trying to use connections with the queen and princess, but with those two becoming dangerous, perhaps she planned to switch to other members of the royal family.
As my wife, she was certainly shrewd.
As usual, we finished dinner and played games together to pass the time.
After that, all we had to do was sleep—but a problem arose.
Since the women were staying at the castle, I opened my house to the princess and the maids.
The beastfolk, Anemone, and I were in the tent.
But Lilith came over and said she was going to sleep with me.
She stood before me with her hands on her hips, having changed into her nightclothes.
The pale-pink nightgown with a ribbon that I had bought for her from Shangri-La suited her perfectly.
No, that wasn't the issue—the princess sharing my bed? Hmm... What should I do...?