I was standing with a very unpleasant face in front of the prince who was a rumored hero.
Before I came into the room, I had taken off my mask so we all revealed our faces, but⊠how should I put it⊠The princeâs little sister, Angelica, and his attendant, a black haired young man, showed their admiration with a âWhoaâŠâ as they saw my face for the first time. Well, I could understand that. Everyone usually had similar reactions.
Then, we both stared at each other sharply, appraising each other. It was only natural since we were both in the same position.
However, what in the world is this gaze?! It feels like my skin has been exposed, and that there are slugs crawling all over, licking the side of my breasts and around my waist. What is this unpleasant feeling!?
Itâs often said that a woman instantly notices when a man stares at her breasts, even a little. Never in all my days had I understood that meaning like today!
ââŠOnii-sama. It is impolite to stare at a lady so much.â
Hearing Angelicaâs warning, the prince said âOopsâŠâ and finally turned his gaze away and skillfully went down on one knee.
âForgive my discourtesy, your majesty. I am the third prince of the Amitia Kingdom, Ashyl Cloud Amitia. It is an honor for me to have you spend your precious time here today.â
After saying so, he took the back of hand like it was the natural thing to do, and kissed it.  âŠS-so fast, I didnât even have a time to prepare myself.
Mikoto twitched and in an instant raised her eyebrow, ăCan I kill him?ă, she appealed by gazing at me, but I silently replied ăNo, this is a normal greeting for royalty and nobles!ă which somehow stopped her.
âI am the sovereign of the demon kingdom, Imperial Crimson, Hiyuki the Graceful Lady of the Sky. Today I am visiting as per your invitation.â Â I made my self-introduction, thinking that itâs better to give a proper long name for the time being and use my nickname later.
After that, we each introduced our attendants, mine is Mikoto, and his is Sir Carlos, a black haired young man who has a cold atmosphere, and then we sat in our seats. Iâm pretty much like a king which means my social status is higher, therefore I sat in the seat of honor, and Ashyl sat on the lesser sofa together with Angelica next to him. Lastly, each attendant stood behind their respective master.
âNeverthelessâ. Prince Ashyl just sat and stared at my face which was right in front of him, âI heard the rumors that said that your majesty Hiyuki is a beauty, but it turns out you are a peerless beauty who would make even the moon blush.â  He gave me high praise with unrestrained emotion, then he suddenly turned serious and timidly asked me a question.  ââTo be honest, I do not believe there is anyone in this world who could match your majesty. Is this not some kind of transformation spell?â
âMy figure is what you see, unfortunately I donât possess such an spell. âSo then, your highness, please call me âHiyukiâ or âPrincessâ, as I am accustomed to being called in that way.â
The three people sighed in relief after I said so.
âThatâs right! Then, from now on I can call you âOnee-samaâ, right, Hiyuki-sama?â
Replying to Angelicaâs lively voice, there is no other choice but for me to say âSure, if it suits Angelica-samaâ, and smile awkwardly, giving her a nod.  I really canât reject herâŠ
Even so, itâs Onee-sama⊠Onee-sama âŠan elder sister! I feel like Iâm hearing a high pitched scraping noise of something eroding my almost dissipated male dignity or my proof of existence. (In the first place, with Tengai washing my body on the first day, putting on bra and panties, and going to the bathroom, almost 90% had already disappeared)
(ED Note: What? What male dignity?)
âOnee-sama?â
Angelica nodded enthusiastically at her brotherâs question.
âI asked her before! Because when talking with Hiyuki-sama, she really gives off an âOnee-samaâ feeling!â
O-onee-sama feelingâ. I wonder if with this my remaining dignity is finally gone?
ââŠHmm, Onee-sama huh? âHiyuki-hime.â Perhaps facing a problem, Prince Ashyl ponders deeply, then looks at me with serious eerie look.
âWhat is it?â
âIâŠno, will you marry me?â
(TL/ED Note: Here he starts off with äżș {ore}, but then switches to ç§ {watashi}, a more formal way of speech)
â*SLIP!*
Three people excluding Prince Ashyl and Angelica all fell over.
âOh my! Onii-sama, thatâs a great idea! In that case, I could even openly call her âOnee-samaâ as my sister in law!â
No-no! Even the person himself looks so proud, like he just saw a Columbus egg. From where exactly did he jump to get to that senseless conclusion?!
âAre you a fool!?â I reflexively yelled that even against this countryâs prince.
Then his attendant in the back, Carlos, who normally is supposed to make an unpleasant face when his master is treated poorly, also appears to be nodding twice in agreement. Perhaps this kind of statement is an everyday occurrence for him.  This guy also has it hard doesnât he?
ââŠWhat exactly is this foolishness?â
A question mark floated on Prince Ashylâs handsome face. Itâs not an exaggeration to say that he was a high profile handsome man with his mixture of elegance, wild looks ,and his nearly red blonde hair. While thinking about why I had to explain this simple question to him, I gave him the answer in an easy-to-understand manner.
âFine, hereâs why. Presently, this country does not acknowledge our country. Not to mention that our country is composed of demons, and humankind does not approve of demons having the same privileges as humans. Even now there is no legal resolution. With me being a demon, there is no reason for you and I to have a legal marriage with this gap!â
Both Mikoto and Sir Carlos nodded in consent, but the on-topic prince said,
âThat is where we have to make the people around us accept our love, right? If thatâs the case, how about we make one or two children first before the de-facto marriage?â He gave another over the top proposal again.
Rather, a child huhâŠthat means I have to give birth.  A kid obviously is not obtained from a pumpkin field after being carried by a stork.  What has to be done, I have to bear with trying to make a baby with this prince every nightâŠYes, thatâs impossible.
As expected, my slightly remaining dignity is holding out, and my strong physiological rejection was showing.
âUnfortunately, I intend to keep my body pure until marriage, therefore I cannot accept that idea.â
I reject him softly and Angelica also nodded vehemently, agreeing with me.  âThatâs right. Onii-sama, you were too rash in proposing marriage!â
ââOr more precisely, I believe you were already too rash when you offered me the marriage just 5 minutes after we met.â I added to her words with an âAre you stupid?â tone.
âIf youâre telling me that, I donât have anything to say back, but youâŠah, itâs okay, right? Is my way of speaking a bit rough? You were charming me so much.I believed that it was a once in a lifetime fateful encounter, so I thought it wouldnât matter.â
(TL/ED Note: Now he switches back to äżș {ore}, which is more masculine and less polite, less like royalty)
Even though I was told earnestly with a passionate gaze, and even though I was confessed to by this sordid man, who appears to have cute child-like side like Joey on occasion, but has a height exceeding 180cm with a thick chest relative to his age and emitting male hormones from his entire body, my heart isnât throbbing at all.
âOnee-sama, maybe it is reasonable to not believe something that comes up so suddenly, but it is the first time I have seen my brother become so serious for someone. To strengthen my point, my brother surprisingly gets approached by a lot of women. Also, he gets marriage proposals often regardless of whether it is within the country or outside, but he rejects them all. It is the first time my brother has proposed to someone on his own. By no means is it just a temporary feeling, so with that would you please believe in it and accept his proposal?â
I was also appealed to by Angelica, passionately. Hmm, well itâs not that I donât believe it. Â But somewhere in her speech, I got that âI donât want to believe itâ feeling.
ââBe that as it may, your highness. Picking her majesty Hiyuki as a wife is impossible in reality.â Â Carlos who kept silent until now, opened his mouth.
âFor example, even if your highness manages to earn the consent of your royaltyâs origin, the house of nobles wonât approve it. On the contrary, they will take advantage of it and disinherit your highness as a traitor prince who sold his soul to a demon. âOr perhaps I should say, that would also happen if this conversation here were to leak out.â
Ahâ, well, thatâs true if I think about it normally. Â Yes, the flow of this conversation is kind of moving into a more serious discussion.
âHouse of nobles, huh? Those guys just keep hindering me all the time.â
With that, Prince Ashyl momentarily held a look that seemed as sharp as a swordâs edge.
Afterwards, he corrected his posture and turned toward me again.  ââWhich reminds me, my invitation was originally about this one issue.  Hiyuki-hime, werenât you contacted by the house of nobles?â
Hearing that, I shrugged my shoulders. Â âThere was a letter. Besides the princeâs passionate letter, the content was âAll of your things are mine, so present everything you haveâ.â
âHmm, thatâs really like what those guys would say. Then, Hiyuki-Hime, how will you respond to it?â
âThat would be, invading the capital with an army and massacring anyone resisting, along with this countryâs higher ups, of course? âAh, except you guys, the act of killing someone with good will is an unjust thing. Well, that is only as long as they are not opposing me.â
My words made Angelica and Carlos hold their breath.
âMassacring those who opposed you would be understandable, but the higher ups too? I think thatâs unreasonably excessive.â  Klang! Spontaneously, Sir Carlos who was criticizing me with such a tone was blown away together with a sound of broken metal, then his body crashed into the wall and made thundering sound.
âReally, such an unexpected person! Who permitted the likes of a servant such as yourself to speak directly to the princess?â  Mikoto raised her beautiful eyebrow and spit out her words while holding her favorite holy staff which, unknown to the rest of us, she had retrieved.
From his point of view, prince Ashyl was standing up and before he knew it, he was looking at his hand which held a broken sword.
That moment, the sword stopped Mikotoâs blow that was supposed to snatch Sir Carlosâs soul. Understanding that Ashylâs protection canât be penetrated, Mikoto instantly moved her legs to kick Sir Carlos out of her reach while simultaneously breaking Ashylâs sword into pieces in a few short moments. No one but Mikoto and IÂ saw it.
Of course, Angelica didnât understand the situation. She just nervously compared her brother and Sir Carlos who held still, leaning against the wall and breathing roughly.
âSorry, my subordinateâs impolite acts are my responsibility. I will apologize again and again. However, he is my important friend. Somehow would you at least please spare his life?â
Saying so, Prince Ashyl went down on both of his knees, bowed his head, and apologized right there.
ââŠYo-your highnessâŠâ  Looking at his figure, Sir Carlos was at a loss for words, he then bit his lips and lowered his face.â
âMy utterance was a concern about Prince Ashylâs and Princess Angelicaâs well-being, but it looks like it seemed rude. Please disregard it.â  Then I signaled to Mikoto with my eyes, she reluctantly pointed her holy staff towards the collapsed Sir Carlos.
Sheâs making the finishing blow?! Angelica left her seat in panic, but it seems Prince Ashyl had predicted what would happen. He lightly lowered his head in thanks.
ââŠYou better give your thanks to the Princess generosity.â  Healing light wrapped around Sir Carlosâs whole body.
âŠTh-thatâs good. If it was Tengai or Utsuho, they would absolutely kill him without any mercy.