Chapter 110: Chapter 110

Cheryn was used to gazes of desire directed at her.

With a face resembling her mother Aste, who had been the greatest beauty in Paless (though Cheryn had a far fiercer and more aggressive impression) a mature physique, and her status as a princess that stimulated men’s fantasies, it was inevitable.

Moreover, thanks to eavesdropping on rumors through her spider-controlling magic, she had heard many things that people would never dare utter to her face.

Things like how a young wench already radiated such sensuality that she must have gone through a hundred men, or how they wondered what kind of sound she would make if they spanked those generous hips…

Having grown up hearing such harassment since her early to mid-teens, the girl naturally came to harbor a disgust for sexual things.

Even more so given that her mother had lost her life due to her father’s venereal disease.

That was also why she had felt comfortable spending time with Shan.

Whether tightly hugging her or holding her hands, this Altoan boy treated Cheryn not as a sexual object of desire, but as a person to be comforted and protected.

One could say he was like a cute yet dependable younger brother.

As time passed and his body grew, Cheryn felt a strange sense of regret that his attitude remained unchanged.

Inwardly she wanted to take a step further, but the other party showed no such intention at all.

Even so, if she made a more proactive approach now, she felt she would look like the ‘lewd woman’ people talked about behind her back.

Though she usually mocked passive, quiet women educated by the Old Faith, when it came to her own affairs, she was reluctant to appear that way.

Yet right now, that boy who felt like a younger brother had suddenly confessed.

That after almost rolling around with a woman taking her form, he was finding it hard to control the sexual desires he had realized for the first time.

Hearing it directly before her eyes, and from someone she had never even imagined would say such a thing, the mental impact was even greater.

Just as being ambushed from behind while letting one’s guard down hurt more than being struck by an opponent growling for a fight.

‘I should have worn another coat.’

‘I shouldn’t have asked.’

‘It wasn’t because he grew to dislike me, what a relief.’

‘Why did he come all the way here to say that? Surely not right here…’

‘Does he really like me that much?’

‘How dare a mere monster…’

Embarrassment, shame, relief, fear, pride, jealousy.

Emotions far too complex to summarize in a few words swirled within Cheryn’s head.

After a long silence, it was Cheryn who spoke first.

“It’s fine, that sort of thing is completely natural for boys your age!?”

Overly tense, her voice cracked, so Cheryn stopped speaking and drank some tea steeped from rosehips and mixed with honey.

The well-blended sour and sweet flavors awakened her somewhat dazed mind.

“, phenomenon. You’re not particularly strange, so there’s no need to worry.”

Resolving to guide him properly as someone two or three years older, Cheryn slowly approached, grabbed Shan’s collar, and turned him around to face her.

It was a cautious touch, like a trainer handling a wild beast.

“I trust you. Even being this close, you would never do anything awful if I said I didn’t want to. Right?”

“……Yes.”

Although the somewhat delayed answer made her a bit anxious, Cheryn did not let it show and tried to maintain a confident demeanor.

Because if she showed anxiety, Shan would likely become anxious in turn.

“Still, I don’t really know. My squires, Vico and Tavera, are of a similar age, but I’ve never seen them act like this. I don’t know if everyone is just hiding it well, or if I’m the strange one.”

“Then let’s start with a physical exam, just as I mentioned earlier. Maybe it’s a side effect of the incense you said you inhaled back then.”

The two left the Red Palace as they were and headed toward the detached palace Cheryn used as her residence.

Walking ahead, Cheryn felt as though a wolf behind her might pounce on her at any moment.

Stopping in her tracks and looking back, Shan, who had been staring at her figure from behind as if to devour it, hastily averted his gaze.

“……You walk in front.”

Shan nodded silently.

*

Cheryn’s magic laboratory was built in the basement of the detached palace.

In the past, when Conrad occupied Hasra, everything inside had been smashed under the pretense of being ‘wicked tools,’ leaving it closed until equipment was brought over from Paless not long ago.

“Entering with just the two of us is a bit……”

“It’s fine. Sir Ravana is outside the door.”

Though it was something they had done several times before, for some reason Shan looked at Cheryn with a sheepish expression before taking off his upper garment.

Looking at him lying on the apparatus with his shirt off, Cheryn swallowed hard without realizing it.

‘Ah……’

She recalled the time she had examined Shan’s body for the first time several years ago.

Traces of countless abuses and violence remained on the slender boyish body that, although fairly well-trained, was still lean back then.

Seeing those, she had felt a sympathy similar to what one might feel when encountering a starving, beaten puppy or kitten on the street.

But today, no traces of abuse remained on the once small, young boy’s body.

It was thanks to having all the scars removed while receiving treatment from Asha.

Added to that was a height a full head taller than Cheryn, broad shoulders, and muscles tightly covering his upper body like armor.

And even something asserting its presence below his waist.

With all of this combined, she was once again reminded that the person sitting before her was a man, not a boy.

Intentionally shifting her gaze upward so Shan would not feel embarrassed, Cheryn twirled her hair around her fingers without realizing it.

Even though it was a sight she had seen several times during examinations in Paless, why was she feeling so embarrassed yet fluttered?

“S-Starting now.”

Fortunately, her mind, which had become dazed while looking at Shan’s upper body, returned to normal once the full-fledged examination began.

Before being a princess, she was also a mage and seeker of truth filled with more passion than anyone else.

As she drew hair and blood, using various tools to observe several areas such as his heart and head, her face was exceedingly serious without a trace of distraction.

Seeing that sight, Shan also felt his surging desires gradually subside for some reason.

His posture, which had been sitting with his legs awkwardly twisted and his hips pulled far back, returned to normal.

After a long time passed, Cheryn let out a soft sigh and spoke.

“I’ll need to analyze it from a different angle using the succubus corpse brought back this time, but for now, it’s certain that its spirituality has settled in your body.”

“Is that so? But I didn’t get covered in blood this time.”

Shan had simply snapped its neck and thrown it aside, so naturally not a single drop of blood had splashed on him.

Thus he had thought he wouldn’t have absorbed its spirituality like before, but that seemed to have been wrong.

“Yeah. It seems that when it comes to absorbing a monster’s spirituality, only the act of killing is important, while blood has nothing to do with it. It has even already manifested quite strongly. To the point of exceeding the cockatrice’s spirituality.”

Within Shan’s spiritual body, the spiritualities of quite a diverse array of monsters resided.

First, the one that revealed its traits most firmly was the ogre.

The spirituality of that monster, which had even been a pack lord, exerted a profound influence on Shan’s spiritual body with just a fraction of its immense power.

Under its influence, Shan’s already formidable strength grew even stronger, reaching a level where he could roughly clash in pure strength with Lug, who had a far larger build, or Roden, who was born with mighty monstrous strength.

Next was the cockatrice, thanks to which Shan’s skin was somewhat tougher than that of an ordinary person.

But this was only to a very slight degree, making it hard to even feel directly.

The last was the hydra’s trait, which had the effect of enhancing regenerative ability and endurance, though that effect was weak to the point of being practically nonexistent.

Considering that more than a dozen knights had participated in the hunt back then, it was likely because the monster was a beast that had lived for over a thousand years that even a trace of it remained.

Aside from those, the spiritualities of trolls, werewolves, and banshees hunted multiple times were complexly mixed together, but these were not strong enough to produce any meaningful effect.

And the spirituality of the succubus, which had suddenly barged into such a lineup, instantly rose to second in rank.

“What about the effects?”

“Your appearance might change in a more positive direction, that is, toward being sexually attractive. Related functions…… will also be enhanced.”

Along with those words, the eyes of both Shan and Cheryn turned toward one place.

Toward something that had exerted an overwhelming presence until just a moment ago, even though it had subsided slightly earlier.

“By any chance, how was it when you looked at other women?”

“Not at all, I felt nothing.”

From exotic women staying in Beshalia, daughters or wives of lords encountered along the way, groups of prostitutes following the army, Ravana and Asha met during banquets, noble ladies like the countess, down to maidservants.

Recalling all the women he had met since hunting Yure, Shan shook his head.

Unlike with Cheryn, he truly felt not the slightest attraction toward them.

“Is that so.”

Putting on a troubled expression, Cheryn suppressed the corners of her mouth that kept trying to curl upward with all her strength.

“To be precise, I’ll have to investigate further, but for now, what you’re experiencing is very likely a side effect of absorbing the succubus’s spirituality. The components of the incense said to have been used back then don’t remain in your blood at all.”

“A side effect……”

At Cheryn’s words, Shan let out a sigh of relief internally.

Because if this was simply an inborn nature with no underlying reason, it meant he would have to live exercising self-restraint for the rest of his life.

He truly had no confidence in that.

“Then is there any way to calm this down?”

“Since there is no method yet to extract or erase a spirituality residing in a human spiritual body, there are two options. First is to wait until the spirituality completely settles in your body and stabilizes, and second is…… getting used to it and adapting.”

Saying so, Cheryn took hold of Shan’s hands as he still sat atop the examination apparatus.

His hands, roughly half again as large as hers, had thick knuckles and clearly bulging veins.

Finding it surprising that she had been able to sleep while holding something like this, Cheryn thought of an idea absurdly identical to Shan’s.

“W-Wait a moment. My hand……”

At the unexpected stimulus, Shan involuntarily took a deep breath, his hands trembling.

A hand with ink stains on the tips of the fingernails and slightly twisted, which he had recalled when being tempted by Yure.

For some reason, that felt far more captivating than the spotless fake hand.

“Actually, I still can’t sleep well at night. I keep having nightmares about something dropping from the ceiling and pouncing on me.”

“Still?”

After a brief moment of surprise, Shan realized anew that signs of fatigue were evident on Cheryn’s face.

He could tell that it wasn’t simply because she was busy handling various duties.

“So just like before, let’s start with holding hands when going to sleep at night. Since Sir Ravana or Sir Aran will be nearby when sleeping anyway. How about it?”

“Honestly, I don’t know if that’ll be alright.”

“You can do it. Even right now with just the two of us, you’re fine, right? I trust you.”

Right, surely he wouldn’t go wild on the spot, beat Ravana or Aran to death with his bare hands, and then pounce on Cheryn.

Unless he intended to avoid her for the rest of his life, it would be right to adapt.

Hesitating for a long moment, Shan soon let out a deep sigh and nodded.

At this, Cheryn beamed warmly.

Couldn’t they just start by holding hands and gradually get used to it?

But that was only for a moment before she assumed a serious expression devoid of smiled.

“Ah, and there’s one more thing I confirmed while investigating this time.”

“What is it?”

“Besides the succubus, there’s another trait beginning to manifest anew inside you. It’s not at a level to exert any immediate impact right away, but I thought it would be better for you to know.”

What on earth was it that made her hesitate instead of bringing it up right away?

To the puzzled Shan, Cheryn inhaled once before speaking.

“The spirituality of a ‘human’ is taking root inside you.”

The moment he heard those words, he could easily guess where it originated.

The battle at Mount Aman.

The memory of stepping into a war among humans after receiving a blessing for the first time, fighting and fighting until the joints of his entire body wore down.

No one knew exactly how many hundreds of humans he had killed back then.

Thanks to that, Shan gained nicknames such as the ‘Red Knight of the Black Mountain,’ ‘Nightmare of Mount Aman,’ and ‘Thousand-Slayer Lord.’

“Then what will happen?”

“Even I don’t know what kind of outcome will arise from continuing to kill humans. However……”

As long as he lived as a warrior in the future, and as long as enemies remained outside Pendia, it might sprout someday.

Cheryn declared in a solemn tone.

*

That night, Shan entered Cheryn’s bedroom as promised.

Having heard about it in advance, Ravana condoned Shan holding her hand until she fell asleep.

However, unlike before, this time it took quite a long time to fall asleep.

‘Ah, why is my heart pounding like this……’

Realizing that she was lying in bed wearing only a thin nightgown while holding hands with Shan, her heart pounded so much that sleep refused to come.

The warmth felt from their clasped hands and the sensation of their palms rubbing together (dampened slightly with sweat from tension and excitement) were overly vivid.

Of course, the same was true for Shan.

Even after barely lulling Cheryn to sleep and returning to his own bedroom, his excitement did not subside, and he could only fall asleep after tossing and turning all night.

As a result, contrary to their original goal, neither of them could sleep comfortably.

Fortunately, perhaps these measures had some effect, as starting the next day, he became able to look Cheryn in the eyes in official settings.

Those who had been watching anxiously, wondering if the princess who would soon become queen and her sharpest sword were falling out with each other, let out sighs of either relief or disappointment.

Thus, on the morning of the exact third day since Shan and Roden returned to Beshalia.

Key figures of the Kingdom of Pendia gathered at St. Areka Church, situated next to the royal palace.

Count of Palles, Viscount of Treba, Count of Shedil…

Figurehead nobles who had lost real power, like Duke of Ranpel, also joined the gathering for the time being.

After all, there was a power that history and tradition brought with them.

What took place that morning was none other than the funeral of King Gizel III of Pendia.

“O King who devoted your entire life to this land and its people, rest in peace…”

Listening to the memorial address recited by Archbishop Vent, Shan had to struggle to suppress his laughter.

Because there was literally not a single true word in it.

Of course, that didn’t mean there was anything to gain by proclaiming Gizel III to be the world’s biggest bastard.

It would only damage the legitimacy and authority of Cheryn, who was inheriting the throne as his daughter.

At the end of the tedious funeral that lasted all morning, Gizel III was finally removed from the magical coffin preserving his body, laid to rest in an ordinary coffin, and taken into the underground tomb.

Thanks to Cheryn having stitched him up plausibly in advance and wrapped him in a layer of cloth, no one noticed that his body had been dissected.

Now Gizel III would rot inside that deep royal mausoleum, just as successive kings of Pendia had done.

Naturally, after something ended, there had to be another beginning.

In the afternoon, the coronation ceremony everyone had been waiting for was held.

Vent, who had recited the memorial address earlier, now served as an archbishop of the Eastern Holy See, bolstering the authority of the princess ascending as the new queen before her.

“O one who ended the kingdom’s hardships, O one who wiped away the tears of the people, what kind of queen will you become?”

“I shall illuminate the kingdom with wisdom and protect the people with valor.”

Cheryn using honorifics toward Vent was because this declaration was not addressed to the archbishop.

He merely served as a medium; this was an oath to the Goddess.

A ritual announcing what kind of monarch she would be and how she would lead the nation forward.

After several exchanges of questions and answers, Vent looked around and shouted.

“If anyone objects to the queen’s ascension, let them speak now.”

Naturally, there was no way such a person would step forward here.

The nobles who had once supported Conrad and Elvin and thus lost all real power had plenty to say, but everyone knew they would be finished if they dared bring it up.

After a silence of about ten seconds, Vent knelt before Cheryn and shouted.

Unlike the Pope of the Western Holy See personally placing the crown on the monarch’s head, this formality signaled that the archbishop was ultimately a subject of the king.

“O Cheryn Gizel Aste Hasra, you have now ascended as the twenty-sixth monarch of Pendia. O Goddess, protect our Queen!”

“Protect her!”

As everyone present shouted in response, Cheryn standing at the pulpit looked down at her subjects and smiled with confidence.

The princess who had once been driven out of the capital had now ascended as the conqueror and queen of Pendia.

‘Finally……’

Looking around, Cheryn’s eyes landed on Shan.

The boy who rejoiced at her ascension while wearing luxurious high-grade attire worn by high nobles instead of armor.

Looking at him, Cheryn unwittingly smiled not as a queen, but as a girl.

After completing the coronation ceremony according to procedure, the new queen led the gathered nobles straight to the royal palace.

The reception room of the Red Palace, the king’s residence.

In a place where everyone was gathered, she began doing what only a queen, not a princess, could do first and foremost.

“From now on, I will change this country. In a manner no one has ever seen. I hope you will all follow along. For those who cannot will be left behind.”

At the queen’s declaration, everyone swallowed hard.

Depending on what was said here, the position they would hold and the extent of influence they could exert in Pendia from now on would be determined.

Of course, that was merely the thought of small fry who didn’t know the proper inside story; most had already grasped the general outline to some extent.

This was especially true for those like Callion who had handled various administrative duties under her command from earlier on.

“First, I will reform the royal governing apparatus in earnest. Setting up the Ministry of the Prime Minister directly under me, and under it the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Administration, and the Ministry of Justice……”

The words declaring that existing haphazard positions would be completely swept away to implement a new bureaucracy made people’s eyes spin.

Of course, administrative work was already changing into a form similar to what was presented, but changing into official titles was another matter entirely.

Naturally, those appointed to these newly created positions were without exception individuals who had proven their competence under Cheryn’s command.

“Henceforth, lower-level officials to supplement these will be selected through examinations rather than recommendations as in the past. And likewise, we plan to newly establish a Royal Knight Academy in the capital to train knights.”

The one recommended as dean of the knight academy was none other than Sir Darkal.

Shan was inwardly curious about what kind of response would return when a letter reached him, secluded in the mansion of the Cordo family situated in the west.

After several political changes (mostly declaring that supervisors would be sent to the west and south to indirectly strip away various rights) were mentioned, the turn for rewarding merits finally arrived.

Naturally, the first to be mentioned was Shan.

“Shan Barendil-Kurt, as the heir to Count of Shedil, you have rendered great meritorious service for the stability of the kingdom.”

“Loyalty to the royal house.”

Shan responded politely, dropping to one knee before Cheryn.

“I appoint you as Lord Protector and Commander of the Royal Guard. You possess the freedom to carry a sword in the presence of the Queen, the freedom to freely enter and exit all parts of the royal palace, and the freedom to raise, maintain, and move armies in all regions, including the capital. Furthermore, I grant you the right of pardon regarding royal trials.”

At the feast of all kinds of privileges, the eyes of the people around them widened.

Even Marquis Abel himself had not possessed such immense privileges!

When the authority to command troops directly under the king and the authority to command royal knights were combined with such privileges, removing the monarch would be child’s play the moment he set his mind to it.

Of course, doing so would mean bearing dishonor until the day he died, just like Marquis Abel.

The rewards continued even after that.

Borrowing rights for several royal treasures, including the Red Oath that Marquis Abel had held, as well as money and a mansion.

Wealth that ordinary people could not achieve even if they died and were reborn several times poured forth.

Amid everyone’s envy, Cheryn declared at last.

“And I newly establish the title of Duke of Velakar, which encompasses the existing Shedil fief along with seven nearby royal domains. The Duke of Velakar, as the king’s foremost vassal, shall be exempt from all duties except the payment of taxes.”