Ezekiel, who had been frozen in shock, spoke up after a while.
“…Arcne?”
“Yes, my lord.”
Arcne looked at Ezekiel, licking his finger as if it were the most precious thing in the world, her long tongue still sticking out. The combination of her slobber-covered finger and warm breath was quite… ahem risqué.
Such a sight might have been savored if the situation had been more relaxed, that is.
Ezekiel hesitated to ask a rather sensitive question.
“Princesses… if you’re sisters, can you really call each other that? Didn’t you have any thoughts on that? I expected there’d be a bit of a tense vibe or some serious discussions.”
“First of all, I don’t feel even a hint of sisterly affection. If I did, I think I’d be even more disgusted. Someone who shares my blood… should not exist except for you, my lord. Ah, my dear lord.”
That was probably a reasonable reaction.
Arcne harbored hatred for the fact that she had originally been a princess, yet she showed no sign of treating the other princesses as special or precious.
After all, Arcne was the only one discarded among princesses who grew up comfortably. She had no reason to think highly of anything related to the imperial family.
“That aside…”
Ezekiel was still puzzled.
The meeting must have proceeded with the princesses interrogating Arcne, so how on earth did Arcne end up having the opportunity to spill all her thoughts?
“I don’t understand how you had the chance to blabber on. They must have been busy asking about the demon realm, and you ignored them to speak your mind?”
At that, the movement of Arcne licking his finger paused for a moment, a silver line connecting his finger to her lips.
In that moment, Arcne tilted her head.
“…Information about the demon realm? They didn’t ask me at all?”
For Ezekiel, that was hard to comprehend.
Then what on earth were they asking during the meeting?
“They only asked why I called you ‘my lord’, and what kind of relationship we had… The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd princess were all about that. No exceptions.”
Hearing that, Ezekiel could only swallow hard.
To think the princesses prioritized that over information about the demon realm. Should he be grateful for their interest in him, or should he be scared?
Both.
He felt both gratitude and fear.
“Don’t worry, my lord. I explained it well.”
“What do you mean?”
“I explained what kind of feelings and resolutions I have towards you, and what I can do for you… I made sure they understood everything without missing a thing.”
“What you can do…?”
“Things like being your exclusive concubine or your exclusive toilet, you know? Ah, you should’ve seen the princesses’ faces, they were completely stunned.”
“….”
A cold sweat ran down Ezekiel’s back.
The reason he had tolerated the conversation with Arcne was that it was something he couldn’t change in one go, and it was just between the two of them.
In other words, no matter how provocative Arcne’s words were, it was fine because they wouldn’t reach others’ ears. But now…
‘Wait, have the princesses heard all that?’
The thoughts and words Arcne had shared with Ezekiel had surely reached the princesses’ ears as well. He couldn’t even begin to guess the extent of the repercussions.
“After that, every time they came to visit, it was all about you, my lord. Those human women are unnaturally interested in you? Hoohoo…”
Ezekiel asked, incredulous.
“Don’t they get tired of talking about just me all day long?”
But all Arcne did was tilt her head again.
“Is that even possible?”
“Surely you have various thoughts in your head. Like wondering what you’ll become in the future, or asking them to improve your treatment, or negotiating something…”
“Ah.”
Arcne smiled as if she didn’t need to think about it.
“There’s only you in my head, my lord.”
Ezekiel sighed in resignation.
It was still an incomprehensible way of thinking, but there was no way to change the already transpired events.
He was already worried about how the princesses would behave after having a drastic conversation with Arcne, but there was no choice but to tackle it head-on.
He could only say this to Arcne.
“When I have time later, let’s go around together.”
“Ah…. Is that a honeymoon…?”
He sighed deeply at Arcne’s daring thoughts.
It seemed she enjoyed how flustered humans got when she said shocking things, which was undeniably a problematic attitude.
When he finally had the time, he would take her around the continent and teach her a thing or two. That was the simple plan residing in Ezekiel’s heart.
However, did Arcne misunderstand Ezekiel’s silence as agreement?
She began to let her imagination run wild.
“Indeed, always uniting in the same scenery might bore you, my lord. What if we moved to different places and had some sticky time together… huhu… I might just melt away. I’m already heating up.”
Ezekiel could only slowly shake his head.
“That’s not the reason; it’s that I have a lot to teach you. We should take a look around the continent.”
“Yes, please teach me plenty, my lord. What kind of treatment should an exclusive slave like me receive? What should I do to please you?”
The misunderstanding wasn’t getting cleared up.
Instead, Arcne went a step further and asked.
“My lord, when would be the best time to depart? We can untie all these bindings and travel across the continent immediately, right?”
“Calm down.”
As soon as the talk of leaving came up, she became more impatient, prompting Ezekiel to quickly calm her down.
“First, we have to finish all the tasks we’ve been given. Only after punishing the Purple Magic Tower will we have the luxury.”
“Oh, the Purple Magic Tower. Right. They betrayed you, didn’t they? But the emperor directly handed out a license to kill, right?”
“…How did you know that?”
“All the spiders in the tribunal are my eyes and ears. I can hear the chatter of the heretical judges even now! So much information!”
Was it because it was related to Ezekiel? Arcne’s tone was filled with sincerity. At this moment, she truly seemed to be considering it with earnest.
“The emperor is quite strong, but since he’s not directly punishing the Magic Tower, there must be some other intention behind it. Am I feeling it right?”
“That’s right.”
Ezekiel nodded.
Even after pondering several times, he still hadn’t come up with a solution, and since he knew Arcne was genuinely helping, there was no reason to hide anything.
“He’s hoping to punish the Magic Tower while simultaneously raising the dignity of the imperial family. He’s betting on the Sun Elixir.”
“Hmm… The Sun Elixir is necessary. You need to live long so my happiness will last longer too.”
After closing her eyes and opening them a few times…
“Oh, my lord, what do you think about this?”
“Did something pop into your head?”
“Yes. The remnants of Han-shin are still creating slaves all over the continent, aren’t they? I’ll find out how to locate their base by any means.”
Arcne continued with an unexpectedly serious tone.
“My lord, you should lead the charge with the Purple Magic Tower. We can use the Magic Tower’s mages as meat shields while also increasing the number of fiend kills, right?”
“…”
Ezekiel briefly fell silent.
The method Arcne proposed was indeed a clever one.
‘This method might also be useful in selecting executioners.’
Just as the Black Magic Tower’s master, a witch, turned out to be an upstanding individual, not all mages from the Purple Magic Tower were deserving of death.
Ezekiel had been troubled by that. Killing indiscriminately could result in excellent mages losing their lives.
However, Arcne’s method was truly brilliant.
If they led the Purple Magic Tower into the foray against the fiends, it would allow them to swiftly identify which of the tower’s mages were worth sparing.
Unconsciously, Ezekiel reached out.
It was a trajectory aimed at Arcne’s head.
“Arcne.”
“Yes, my lord… Huh?!”
Arcne’s typical response was cut short. After a few light pats, she let out a squeal.
“U-uh, the stimulation is too strong…”
At that moment, just as Ezekiel withdrew his hand, he had no choice but to praise her. Her idea was outstanding.
“Thank you. Because of you, I gathered a clue.”
“Fuhuhut, fuhuhuh… The fact that I could help… Just a bit more petting will do…”
Ezekiel disregarded that request and adjusted his collar. It was about time for the ice that had frozen the guards to melt. It was time to leave.
“I’ll finish things up quickly and be right back. Just wait a bit.”
However.
It didn’t take long for Ezekiel to realize that stimulating Arcne was a mistake.
Whoosh—!
Ezekiel’s body was swiftly ensnared by spider silk. Before he knew it, Arcne was standing upright on the ground.
“…Arcne?”
“It means it’s time to punish the Purple Magic Tower, which means that other matters have been resolved. For example, destroying cities in the demon realm and rescuing all the hostages…”
Her sunset-colored eyes sparkled for a moment.
“…We promised each other, didn’t we? That if we achieved our goals splendidly, we’d surely unite.”
He suddenly remembered that promise they made.
“Well, saying ‘surely’ might be a bit…”
Arcne began to step closer.
While she seductively licked her lower lip.
“It’s your fault, my lord. I was trying hard to suppress myself, but if you give such intense stimulation and burn away my reason, and make my body wet… I can’t really help it…”
Arcne started to untangle the spider silk binding Ezekiel. Especially around her lower half, as if she’d strip him right away and devour him whole.
At the same time, Ezekiel felt a tremendous surge of energy.
“…!”
There was no doubt about it.
The princess was approaching him.
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