Ch.90The Final Stratagem – 3

“Is it over?”

I asked Io, who was sitting on the windowsill. Despite this being her second visit, she still managed to remain undetected, which amazed me. Io nodded.

“Yes. I’ve definitely spread the word. Everyone said they’d respond within an hour. I’ll collect all the replies and bring them at once.”

“Good work. For this request, your payment—”

“Just one fairy coin will do. I took so much last time.”

Io stuck out her tongue slightly and smiled cutely.

“After what you told me, I really went all out. I even packed several magic pouches. It was definitely worth the fuss. I took enough that I could quit mercenary work and support my siblings for life without any problems. The money I brought back that time was far more than what I’ve earned in my entire life. So consider this job a service.”

“Your entire life? That’s what, ten years at most? Aren’t you 18? You talk like you’ve lived through everything.”

“……”

Her mouth snapped shut immediately. Her eyeballs rolled around restlessly. She had the look of someone who just realized they’d made a mistake.

She had accidentally spoken about her actual age rather than the ancient relic age she was pretending to be. Perhaps her guard was down because her pockets had been so full lately they were practically bursting.

“A-anyway, I’ll be going now!”

With those words, Io jumped down from the window and disappeared like an arrow. None of Igor’s knights filling the imperial garden noticed her movement.

It was thanks to the magic I had cast on her.

“Mira Crate.”

Laura, who had been leisurely enjoying a book with her legs crossed on the sofa, called out to me. I closed the window and turned around.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I was wondering how much longer until this plan of yours. We’ve been cooped up here for a full day already. Just thinking about that person’s smug face makes my mood sour.”

After heading to the imperial palace, we had been confined to this room the entire time. And it was the room that Laura had used in the past.

I don’t know why, but Laura herself chose this place for our confinement. Thanks to that, I unexpectedly found myself in the Crown Princess’s former room with the Crown Princess herself.

“Since we’ve received word that the entire Mage Association will respond within an hour, we should be able to start soon.”

“The Mage Association, you say?”

Laura frowned. For that Crown Princess to show such a reaction, they truly were a remarkable group in many ways.

“You seem confident, so I won’t ask about your methods, but dealing with those people will require considerable care. If forced to choose between their lives and their magic, they would choose magic without hesitation.”

“And for that very reason, if we have the means to control them, they can become the finest hunting dogs. To borrow Your Highness’s expression.”

I was about to sit across from Laura when I noticed her slender fingers silently tapping the seat beside her. I obediently sat next to her. Laura closed her book and turned her upper body toward me.

“All we need to do is present them with a target. The rest is simply waiting comfortably for the results—that both the deposed Crown Prince and the Order have been dealt with.”

Since I had previously told her to look forward to how I would handle the Starlight Order, her eyes were filled with curiosity.

“It’s truly fascinating.”

Laura reached out her hand. Her right hand touched my cheek. Her delicate fingers traced my earlobe, cheek, neck, and collarbone in sequence.

In the past, I would have been horrified by such actions, considering them a betrayal of kindness. But now that I knew her true gender, it didn’t bother me at all. There’s a world of difference between experiencing this from a man versus a woman.

“I’ve spent my entire life reigning above others, yet no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot imagine myself reigning above you.”

“……”

“Even I don’t understand why. So I ask you, Mira Crate. Do you know why I’m like this?”

“I don’t know either. I apologize, Your Highness.”

How would I know what she doesn’t? Especially such an abstract and vague question.

‘…More importantly, she’s becoming increasingly blatant.’

The fingers that had been caressing my cheek were now moving toward my lips. Our thighs were pressed together, and the distance between our upper bodies had narrowed considerably compared to before.

This person—did she forget that she hasn’t revealed her true gender yet? If she had acted like this when I still thought she was a man, I would have flipped everything over, regardless of her status.

“You don’t know? How disappointing. I should punish—”

As she smiled seductively, Laura suddenly trembled. Her blood-red eyes grew hazy, and her breath became mixed with pleasure.

“Haah… huh?!”

After letting out a sensual moan, Laura was startled and covered her mouth. She seemed to have just realized that something was wrong with her condition.

‘I thought so.’

I had noticed the physical contact becoming too blatant, but it seems that time had come again.

This had been happening roughly every three to four hours since yesterday. I suspected it was the effect of exposure to succubus pheromones. It must have been a tiny amount, but a succubus is still a succubus.

“Hnngh…! Mmph…!”

She said that at first it was just her body heating up briefly, but the symptoms had worsened over time. Now she had reached the point of openly moaning and writhing.

Of course, Laura had tried to endure or hide the symptoms in her own way. But that was only possible at the beginning.

“Your Highness.”

“Ugh, haaah… W-what is it…?”

There was a reason I had left Laura in that state.

First, Laura herself had refused treatment out of unnecessary pride, claiming she could endure it. Second, I had something to ask her when she reached this state.

“Do you remember? You said you would tell me your greatest weakness and secret in exchange for my loyalty.”

It seemed like her instincts were starting to overtake her reason, so it was a good time to bring it up.

“O-of course I remember… nngh, ahh… N-not now, later…! I’ll tell you later…!”

“There’s no need. I can pretty much guess. Was the secret that you’re actually a woman, Your Highness?”

“……!!!!!!”

Laura’s pupils shook violently. She tried to stand up in surprise, but due to her increasingly heated body, she tripped and fell toward me instead.

I caught her. As my arms wrapped around her shoulders, Laura trembled as if struck by lightning. Looking up at me while practically cradled in my arms, she swallowed hard, her throat visibly pulsing.

“H-how did, nngh… you f-find out…?”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know?”

Judging by the current situation, I probably would have figured it out soon even if Igor hadn’t told me. With her coming on to me so blatantly, even I would have become suspicious at some point.

“Why did you hide it all this time? I understand our first meeting, but you had several opportunities to tell me afterward. Did you want me to misunderstand that you enjoyed male companionship?”

“Th-that is absolutely not the case…!”

“Then what was the reason?”

I leaned my face slightly closer. Laura recoiled in alarm, shrinking back. Yet her gaze remained fixed on my lips. The pace of her heated breathing, “haa, haa,” grew increasingly rapid.

“M-must I… hnngh… tell you…?”

Laura’s eyes were spinning. Her hands were already feeling my abdomen. At first, she would touch me as if by accident and then withdraw, but now she was being completely obvious.

“Remember what you did to me before? Consider this me returning the favor.”

The hand touching my abdomen fell away. Laura, who had been fidgeting with her thighs while clasping her hands in front of her lower abdomen, averted her gaze and spoke in a tiny voice, her face completely flushed.

“I-I was embarrassed…”

“…You were embarrassed?”

“Whenever I looked at you, my mind kept feeling strange!”

Laura raised her voice, but only for a moment. Her voice dropped back down.

“I wanted to be, hah, by your side… somehow, hnng, make you mine… I kept wanting to, ngh, act spoiled… How could I reveal the truth…?”

“……”

If it were anyone else but Laura saying she couldn’t speak because she was embarrassed, I would have dismissed it as a lie.

But as she looked up at me with tears welling in her eyes, her cheeks deeply flushed with embarrassment, her hands demurely clasped together, her heated body twisting while constantly rubbing her thighs together—it was incredibly convincing.

“Even now… Even now I want to be held by—”

Blink, blink. Laura stopped mid-sentence and blinked her eyes.

Her heated body cooled instantly, and her breathing returned to normal. The effect of the pheromones seemed to have subsided.

I released her shoulders. Laura retreated to the far end of the sofa, trembling with clenched fists and avoiding my gaze.

After a long silence, she finally managed to speak.

“…Please. Could you go to the bed for a while? I’d like to be alone for now.”

“That’s fine, but let’s treat you first. The symptoms are getting worse. If we leave it any longer, I don’t know what you might do.”

Laura nodded weakly. Despite my offering to help several times since the symptoms first appeared, she had stubbornly refused out of pride. Now that she had openly displayed such behavior, she seemed to have changed her mind.

Well, being embarrassed about her shameful display was her business. I got the answer I wanted.

“I don’t know what method you plan to use, but I’ll comply…”

As Laura approached, muttering in a small voice, I stopped her and cast a highest-grade barrier around the entire room.

It might seem excessive, but considering the value of the magic I was about to use, there was sufficient reason.

Laura, who had been standing there blankly not knowing what I was about to do, only came to her senses after the mint-colored light characteristic of status ailment removal magic penetrated her body.

“…What did you just do?”

“I treated a status ailment… no, a negative physical symptom.”

“With magic?”

“Yes.”

Blood-red eyes filled with astonishment. I raised my index finger vertically to my lips.

“Please keep this secret until I say it’s alright to speak of it. It shouldn’t leak outside. At least not yet.”

“……”

Laura was so shocked she couldn’t even respond, just opening and closing her mouth.

The job was done, so I was about to remove the barrier when I paused. A very faint magical reaction was being detected by the barrier.

“Your Highness. Do you have any other magic cast in this room?”

“…None except defensive magic. Why do you ask?”

Instead of answering, I stood up and walked to where the magic was detected. Laura followed behind me, tilting her head in confusion.

The magical reaction was coming from an old drawer in the corner of the room.

“There’s a magical reaction coming from here. It’s very thoroughly concealed. Even decent detection magic wouldn’t have found it.”

Laura’s expression suddenly sharpened.

“Open it.”

“Understood.”

I carefully opened the first drawer.

It was completely empty.

I checked the second and third drawers as well, but they were the same. There was nothing inside the old cabinet.

“…It’s empty.”

“I’m still detecting a magical reaction.”

The barrier couldn’t be wrong. If so, it must be something that can’t be seen with the naked eye. Concentrating more to read the flow of mana, I finally began to see the outlines of a magic circle.

“It’s a sealing spell. And an incredibly complex one at that. Did you ever try to hide something here in the past?”

“I have no such memory… Can you remove the seal? I won’t hold it against you even if you have to break it.”

“I’ll try.”

I immediately began unraveling the magic circle. It was a complex spell that required considerable effort even for me to undo. I wondered who would use such a high-level sealing spell and what they were trying to hide.

After struggling with it for a full 30 minutes, I finally managed to break the seal. The magic circle dissolved, revealing the object that had been hidden inside.

It was a thin, worn notebook with a blue cover.

I opened it. The inside was completely empty. Not a single word or drawing was written in it. From beginning to end, there were only blank pages.

“It’s a notebook with nothing written in it. Do you have any idea what—?”

As I turned my head, I saw Laura standing there, frozen like a statue.