Vol 2 Chapter 0 – Various People’s Schemes

Yumeba Reio Saionji, eldest daughter of House Saionji in the Alcian Empire, awoke abruptly in the dead of night.

At the same moment, she was consumed by an inexplicable sense of loneliness.

An anxiety like a small child lost in a vast city, as if she had been left behind alone in the entire world.

Confusion, bewilderment, terror, and despair plunged Yumeba into a state of panic, and she was on the verge of bursting into tears and thrashing about…

“…What’s wrong?”

“Ah.”

That voice, filled with such tenderness, reached her and instantly brought her back to her senses.

Simultaneously, all the emotions born from that loneliness she’d been feeling dissipated in an instant—and infinite affection overflowed from the depths of her heart.

Now stabilized, Yumeba was able to properly recognize her current situation.

Her current location: the bedroom in House Saionji’s mansion—her former private room, now the couple’s bedroom, specifically on the bed.

Her state: completely naked, unabashedly displaying her beautiful body—recently growing more voluptuous—along with the Saionji family’s characteristic features unbefitting of nobles: red hair extending to her waist and crimson eyes.

“…It’s nothing♪”

And she was in the arms of her most beloved husband in this world—Emilio Geio Saionji.

The man who had been the former Fourth Prince of the Alcian Empire, Emilio Orteando Alcian, but was now married to Yumeba and had become the son-in-law of House Saionji.

The discarded prince with features unbefitting of nobility like Yumeba’s: black hair and heterochromia—his right eye red and his left eye green.

Beyond that, he possessed memories of a previous life as a Japanese person, was one who had mastered sorcery to reach magic itself, held the god-slaying weapon [Lucifer, King of Pride], and carried various other roles as a demon lord.

But what mattered to Yumeba was simply the fact that Emilio—nickname Lio—was by her side and loved her. Everything else was irrelevant.

(Ahh… I’m so happy♡)

Embraced by Emilio, who was as naked as she was, listening to his heartbeat, she was already forgetting the fact that moments ago she’d been gripped by anxiety.

They were clearly post-coital—a couple who had made love, then fallen asleep in each other’s arms while naked—and they drifted back to sleep just like that.

House Saionji is famous.

Not only within the Empire they belong to, but anyone who knows of the Empire inevitably knows of House Saionji, the Empire’s guardians, as a package deal.

Hard to believe from their beauty, but their martial prowess—capable of overwhelming and annihilating an entire army single-handedly—is renowned. “You can pick a fight with the Empire, but don’t pick a fight with House Saionji” is a famous maxim.

The holy swords passed down through generations of the Saionji family are one characteristic that makes their martial prowess known, but those who truly know House Saionji understand that they’re more than strong enough without relying on holy swords.

That strength can only be described as superhuman, and there’s no argument against calling them the strongest creatures in the world.

However, House Saionji’s true characteristic isn’t their overwhelming martial prowess, but rather their abnormal possessiveness and bottomless affection—that’s their real specialty.

They must monopolize everything about the man who becomes their husband.

All of his heart, starting with his affection; all of his blood, flesh, bones, and hair; truly everything and anything—if they don’t possess it all, the jealousy drives them nearly mad. That’s the Saionji family’s defining trait.

Should their husband even think of cheating, they wouldn’t hesitate to cut off his manhood and spend the rest of their lives with him imprisoned—yandere candidates through and through.

Both their martial prowess and characteristics are the type that ordinary people would avoid, but…

“~♡”

As long as they can monopolize their husband, they have adorable personalities, are devoted wives who spoil excessively with infinite affection, and become the ideal woman who matches whatever style and personality their husband desires.

Currently, as long as Emilio had no intention of cheating and could focus his affection solely on Yumeba, there were no problems whatsoever.

As long as he didn’t cheat and could focus his affection only on Yumeba.

　◇◆◇

A Different Scheme

Here stands an assassin of sorts.

(Things are going smoothly.)

A girl whose precious past memories had been distorted by her parents, subjected to treatment bordering on brainwashing, and had her beloved Emilio stolen by Yumeba—Serinael Norda Kairinin, eldest daughter of House Kairinin. Nickname: Serina.

After being brainwashed into forgetting about Emilio and Yumeba, who had been her best friends, her naturally scatterbrained personality led her to mistake the location of their eight-year reunion, resulting in her becoming engaged to Emilio’s twin brother—a turbulent life path.

When the Alcian Empire was invaded by the Allied Forces—the Continental Public Safety Alliance—she broke free of the brainwashing through her own power and recovered her memories. She is currently plotting to break off her engagement with her current fiancé, Yunix.

Fully intending to snatch Emilio away from Yumeba as an assassin, she first needs to eliminate the obstacle that is her fiancé, Yunix. The conversation can’t even begin otherwise.

As part of that plan, she committed the outrageous act of putting Yunix to sleep with magic, stripping him completely naked, tying both his hands behind his back, and abandoning him in a palace corridor.

Just as planned, Yunix’s reputation within the palace plummeted.

(But it’s still not enough.)

Judging that one scandal alone was insufficient to declare the engagement broken, Serina was still devising more schemes to bring Yunix down.

“Fu. Ufufu. Ufufufufu…!”

“M-My lady! That laugh is inappropriate for a duke’s daughter!”

“Oh my, how careless of me.”

Serina suppressed her laughter after being admonished by a longtime trusted maid.

(Yumeba-san. I’ll be taking back what was stolen from me!)

The duke’s daughter with far too much backbone continued plotting her next scheme, her laughter stopped.

　◇◆◇

The Fallen Prince

(How did it come to this?)

Yunix Orteando Alcian, Fifth Prince of the Alcian Empire, was holding his head in his hands in his private chambers.

Until recently, he should have been competing for the top spot with his eldest brother Friedrich in the imperial succession struggle, yet before he knew it, he found himself actively tumbling downward.

The first sign of trouble began when he lost Sebas, his head butler and right-hand man—a loyal subordinate.

Looking back now, Yunix understands that was definitely a bad move.

He’d sent his right-hand man Sebas to summon his twin brother Emilio, ordering him to kill Emilio if he wouldn’t listen.

At the time, Yunix had scorned Emilio as incompetent, but knowing now that Emilio is an extraordinary master of sorcery, he understands how reckless that was.

Sebas was undoubtedly killed by Emilio.

(In the first place, even if I needed to eliminate him, there was no need to use my right-hand man Sebas. What was I thinking back then?)

Yunix agonizes and regrets the past, but to be blunt, he hadn’t been thinking at all—that’s the correct answer.

At the time, Yunix couldn’t even imagine that Emilio would defy him.

As a result of losing his right-hand man Sebas, he fell behind his eldest brother Friedrich in the imperial succession struggle and even had the crown prince position stolen from him.

But his next move was an even worse blunder.

(I never imagined House Saionji would be that formidable…)

He’d provoked Second Prince Zigserk into staging a coup and further incited First Princess Cassandra and Second Princess Cardia to cooperate, resulting in him being forced to witness the extraordinary strength of Yukina, the head of House Saionji.

Yunix isn’t reckless enough to pick a fight with that, so he’s been outwardly docile while plotting in his head how to reclaim his position, but…

(What on earth was that?)

Before he knew it, he’d been thrown out naked into a palace corridor, hands bound behind his back so he couldn’t even cover his groin.

And to make matters worse, he was spotted by Emilio and Yumeba, who happened to pass by…

(Damn it!)

Yumeba had shredded his male pride to tatters.

Furthermore, his disgraceful state was witnessed by numerous people working in the palace, and the Emperor sighed while reprimanding him.

On top of that, he was told things like, “Be a little more like Emilio and have some composure.”

In Yunix’s entire life, there had been no greater humiliation than this.

(I have to do something… I have to do something!)

Yunix gnawed at his nails, searching for a way to break through his current situation—but the fatal flaw was that he couldn’t notice Serina, who was patiently watching for opportunities to bring him down, nor could he realize he was sinking deeper into a quagmire.

　◇◆◇

The Tiger Mercenaries

The Fierce Tiger Mercenary Corps.

On the Argol Continent, there exists a group called by that name.

Mercenaries, unlike adventurers, don’t receive requests from an organization called the Adventurers’ Guild but are instead hired exclusively by organizations to do rough work—that’s the common term for them.

The Fierce Tiger Mercenary Corps was a mercenary group that particularly excelled in warfare—combat against humans—among such mercenaries.

All members possess steel bodies and are mighty warriors, each worth a thousand soldiers.

This expression is not metaphorical—without a single exception, those belonging to this mercenary corps have their bodies coated with a special metal called mithril using a secret technique passed down through the mercenary corps for generations.

Thus they possess bodies with the hardness of steel—the hardness of mithril—and as a characteristic of mithril, they have strong resistance to magic, making most spells ineffective against them.

The Fierce Tiger Mercenary Corps consisted of 300 such elite warriors.

“The next opponent is… the Alcian Empire, huh?”

Tortellas, the leader of the Fierce Tiger Mercenary Corps, laughed while showing off his physique—over two meters tall with bulging muscles coated in gleaming mithril.

“Gufufu. Looks like I might finally have some fun.”

Tortellas was always starving.

Not for food, but for battle.

Though he’d committed the act that could be called a cheat—coating his body with mithril—even setting that aside, lately he hadn’t been able to taste satisfying battles.

Battle junkie.

That was the word that accurately described Tortellas and the Fierce Tiger Mercenary Corps at their core.

Fighting strong opponents was their purpose; rewards and honor were secondary.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how good the Alcian Empire’s rumored guardian… House Saionji really is. Gufufu.”

Tortellas let out a laugh that would give Yumeba herself goosebumps if she heard it.

As the price for the insane procedure of coating his body with mithril, he had long ago lost his function as a man.

Therefore, he couldn’t satisfy his hunger with women, but even before that…

“Summon Torte! Tonight I’ll celebrate in advance by doting on him!”

He’d never been interested in women in the first place, being homosexual by nature.

“Gufufu. Come to think of it, the Alcian Empire has that discarded prince. He looks delicious too.”

Tortellas muttered something that would make Emilio turn pale and flee at top speed if he heard it, then laughed.

And so, with various schemes intertwining, the Alcian Empire’s chaos continued to accelerate.