A vote was held in Palma.
To be exact, it was a revote.
A vote to decide the greatest beauty in Palma City.
Since the previous vote had been canceled due to some incident, they had set a time and decided to hold it again.
However, there was one problem here.
"Are those two the only candidates?"
"Mm......."
When people heard that the existing candidates, Bruna and Lupina, were running again, they could not hide their lingering disappointment.
They still had a vivid memory.
Up until they had suddenly been overcome by a strange energy and fainted, many beauties had appeared before them.
Those beauties had appearances that were undoubtedly superior to Bruna and Lupina. Not only that, each of them was radiating a strong color of her own.
Originally, it had been a vote to select one person among the humans designated by both Hera and Aphrodite. For that reason, even if their mouths tore open, they could not say at the time that someone else’s looks were superior.
The two gods disappeared.
Whatever had happened, Hera and Aphrodite left Palma, leaving behind Bruna and Lupina, whom they supported.
Had someone in Palma perhaps enraged the two gods? The citizens trembled in fear, but nothing changed as time passed.
The two gods had simply disappeared just like that. Without any change.
With no gods, the forces that had moved centering on the gods vanished as well, there was no longer any reason for Bruna and Lupina to fight each other, and the fever of the vote that had been set up as a stage for the gods completely cooled.
In the midst of that, the vote began again. There was no way the citizens’ hearts could be excited.
Except.
"Do I just stand here?"
Until they learned of the existence of a woman who had quietly submitted an official entry application without people knowing.
On the day of the vote, there were three beauties standing side by side. Two of them were, of course, Bruna and Lupina.
The moment the remaining one stepped forward, the citizens knew the result of this vote.
"Hmm, things were a bit chaotic last time, so taking part properly like this makes me feel at ease."
Cybel Forte.
She brushed back her long pink hair and simply sparkled.
'Frondier.'
However, behind that confident attitude and self-assured smile, there was deep concern.
She had heard the situation from Gregory.
Atjie had died. Frondier had left to confirm that. And not long after, Elodie had gone after him.
'Right now I don’t know what the situation over there is like.'
Frondier had entrusted this place to Cybel. He had hoped she would be elected in Palma City.
However, he could not have predicted Atjie’s death.
Frondier does not predict tragedies. The moment he predicts one, he would devote all his strength to preventing it.
So his wishing for Cybel to be elected in this vote must have nothing to do with Atjie.
Frondier had said he was interested in the prize, so that must have been his original objective.
However, she was here now.
She was Cybel Forte.
'There must be a reason I am here.'
Fate takes her side. Ever since she became convinced of that, Cybel’s way of thinking has been different from others’.
Caw─
At that moment, a crow cried out.
Cybel sensed something and lifted her head.
As expected, the crow perched on her shoulder.
[......Report.]
"Right, tell me."
The crow whispered in a small voice into Cybel’s ear.
So that no one around them could hear.
As Cybel listened, her eyes gradually sank.
"......For now."
With Lupina and Bruna looking at her from both sides, Cybel quietly let her voice slip out.
"If I don’t like the prize, I can do as I please, right."
***
Palma Royal Palace, the king’s private chamber.
The king of Palma had recently fallen into deep gloom.
Aphrodite would not meet him.
There was no doubt she was inside the annex. She always answered him.
However, all those answers were nothing but gentle refusals. It had been a long time since the king of Palma had seen Aphrodite’s face.
After the incident, Aphrodite hid herself from people.
Everyone believed she had left Palma entirely, but in truth she was still within Palma, and in fact at its very center.
"Your Majesty."
A retainer came to the king’s office and delivered a long report.
The king of Palma all but let it go in one ear and out the other. What mattered to him now was not things like the monarchy.
How could he win back Aphrodite’s heart.......
"And the results of the revote have come out."
"......The revote?"
The king of Palma, who had been letting almost everything slide past him, pricked up his ears at that word.
Right. There was a revote. The beauty election had been interrupted midway, and they had decided to carry out a revote.
In truth, that too had been started with the hope that Aphrodite, who had given divine power to Lupina, might show her face again when they held the revote.
However, Aphrodite had not appeared even on the day of the revote, so it had been meaningless.
"All right, who was chosen?"
The king of Palma asked in a voice from which his interest had already quickly cooled.
"It is Cybel Forte."
"......Who?"
It was a name the king of Palma was hearing for the first time, neither Lupina nor Bruna.
"Your Majesty will remember her as well. The pink-haired woman."
"......Ah, that woman."
During the original vote, there had been a woman who stole the gaze of everyone in the plaza midway through.
After that woman appeared, the vote became a complete mess.
"So that woman’s name was Cybel Forte."
The king of Palma recalled Cybel’s appearance.
Her looks had certainly been outstanding. Lupina and Bruna too were the greatest beauties, carefully selected from Palma City. On top of that, they had become even more beautiful after receiving divine power.
'......Her looks were close enough to approach a god.'
This was not exaggerated praise or a formal expression. All the more so because the king of Palma knew Aphrodite’s face. He was merely saying what he had seen.
"However, there is a problem."
"A problem?"
"We had originally planned to give a golden apple as a prize to the one chosen as the beauty, but it was stolen and we have not yet been able to find it."
Frondier already had the golden apple. The leader of the Nine had stolen it and given it to him.
Now it had fused with his body and no longer existed.
The golden apple, which could not possibly be anywhere. So they had to give some other prize.
"So at first we tried to give her gold, but the woman refused. We promised her a position, but she refused that as well."
"Then what does she want? Does she perhaps need a man?"
If this contest had been aimed at men, that method would have been possible as well.
However, it was a beauty contest, and it was hard to think that the woman elected in this contest would be lacking in men.
"She says she wishes to meet Your Majesty."
"......Me?"
The king of Palma opened his eyes wide as if it were unexpected.
Curiosity stirred in his eyes. The retainer read it.
'......That woman, I don’t know what she is really after, but.'
The retainer recalled what Cybel had said earlier.
─I heard. That Your Majesty has lost interest in duties and politics and is spending a dull life.
─I want to be of help to you somehow; would that not be possible?
As Cybel had said, the king of Palma’s lethargic lifestyle had, before they knew it, taken root among the citizens as a shared perception.
The king neglects his duties. Even if that were only a rumor, the situation would be serious, but this time it was real.
The high-ranking retainers at least knew that the reason was Aphrodite, but the ordinary citizens had no way of knowing.
'It is a good proposal at just the right time.'
For once, a woman who wanted to come to the king’s side had appeared.
And not only that, she was the most beautiful in the city—no, a woman whose looks surpassed even the ones who had been called beauties before.
There was nothing to lose. As a retainer, he naturally welcomed Cybel’s proposal.
'......But will His Majesty truly take interest.......'
The king of Palma was utterly absorbed in Aphrodite.
And the retainers could not caution him about that.
Aphrodite was not a human but a god.
Aphrodite was a god, and so serving her was not a problem even for a king.
That excuse had broken the king of Palma’s brakes.
The king built an annex solely for Aphrodite and, whenever he had time—or rather, by forcing time—tried to meet Aphrodite. If one were to look at the contents of the work the king sometimes did in his duties, one could easily infer that Aphrodite’s influence had been there.
However, what problem was there in serving a god? For that reason, the retainers said nothing.
Even though they knew that it was not that the king was serving a god, but that he was wrapped up in a woman’s skirts.
"Good."
Yet the king of Palma readily gave his consent.
The retainer looked at the king with slightly surprised eyes.
"......You will meet her?"
"If that is the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° level of the prize, it is cheap. What problem would there be?"
"Understood. I will bring her at once."
The retainer, thinking it unexpected, left without asking. Of course he had to do so.
However, the king of Palma did not have any particularly grand thought.
He had not seen Aphrodite’s face for a long time.
'Her face is said to be comparable to that; I might as well see it once.'
He simply needed a new stimulus.
Not long after.
"I am Cybel Forte."
Cybel lowered her body politely before the king of Palma.
"So, you wished to see me?"
"Yes."
Cybel’s tone was plain.
It was neither rude nor serving him with extreme devotion; it was simply a manner of speaking toward someone above herself.
The retainers at the king’s side slightly furrowed their brows at that.
Cybel’s tone was less impudent than unsettling. It was polite yet light. As if she might even toss a joke at the king.
The king of Palma spoke.
"You wished to meet me as the prize for being chosen in the beauty contest, you say. What were you thinking?"
The content of his words carried suspicion, but his face was smiling.
Because he had been neglecting his royal duties, he had briefly forgotten, but a king by nature was a being lifted up by people like this. Cybel had awakened that sensation in him again.
"I have come because I wish to be of help to Your Majesty."
"......Come a little closer."
Whether because of how he had taken Cybel’s words, the king of Palma crooked a finger and called her over. Cybel, still in her lowered posture, took a few steps closer.
"How do you intend to help me?"
As he spoke, all sorts of imaginings passed through the king’s mind.
In response, Cybel spoke with a smile.
"I have heard that recently, Your Majesty has lost interest in the things around you and become lethargic."
"So, you will restore my vigor."
"Yes. I know the reason."
At Cybel’s words, the retainers looked at her.
She says she knows the reason. That he is deeply immersed in Aphrodite?
No, that could not be. It was merely something she had said to gain the king’s interest.
The king of Palma rested his chin on his hand.
With a short laugh, he asked.
"Very well, what is the reason I am lethargic. I am truly curious."
"The reason is,"
Cybel slowly lifted her head.
"Because this country is too small to contain Your Majesty’s great ambition."
Such an utterly unexpected statement.
At Cybel’s words, both the king and the retainers stopped for a moment.
There, Cybel called the king of Palma again.
"Your Imperial Majesty."
"......!"
Startled!
The king of Palma sprang up in fright.
With legs trembling, he stumbled backward.
"D-Do not call me that!"
"......It was a slip of the tongue. Please forgive me."
Cybel bowed her head deeply again.
The retainers stared at Cybel, frozen.
Those words and actions just now.
Cybel, who had changed the title she had been using from "Your Majesty" to "Your Imperial Majesty."
Was it proper to censure this?
For having made a mistake of calling the king by a "higher" title?
"Your Majesty. On this continent, there is only one nation, Palma."
"......Th-That is right."
The king of Palma now felt he could barely even answer.
What is this woman saying? What is she trying to say?
"The reason Your Majesty has become lethargic is because you have been enduring without being able to unfold your great ambition. That endurance has gone on for so long that you have grown weary."
"Enduring, you say I am enduring?"
"Of course. Your Majesty is a vessel capable of seizing the sea. Yet you are not doing so, so it is only natural you would grow weary."
At that moment, a retainer who could no longer stand it shouted.
"You wench, with what honeyed words are you trying to mock His Majesty—"
"Wait."
However, the king stopped him.
"I will listen and judge. Stay still."
"......Yes."
At that, the retainer closed his mouth.
Cybel looked into the eyes of the king of Palma.
Most of the emotions reflected in his pupils were filled with bewilderment.
However, she could see the ambition and spirit hidden deep within.
'Aphrodite’s means was "love." That is certainly powerful. If I had such power, I would want to use it to my heart’s content. But men, by nature, cannot stop there.'
Up to now, Cybel had bewitched many men, even without possessing such power.
Cybel was the woman who had the greatest popularity and fame in Constel. She inspired longing in men and jealousy in women.
Because she was such a Cybel, there was something she knew.
'Every man has his own ambition. An ambition he wants to achieve even if he stakes everything. Something that does not disappear just because he tries to forget it, something that appears before him when he tries to turn his eyes away. Even if he uses reality and the circumstances around him as excuses, the hunger only grows worse. As if his soul were crying out, as if fate were shouting.'
Among the men Cybel had spoken with, there had not been one who was not like that.
Each of them chose a safe path and compromised with reality, yet in the depths, there was a flame that would never go out.
'Love is powerful. That is why men do not wish to be subordinated to love.'
If Aphrodite’s power truly was "love."
If that was a power clearly distinguished from "charm" or "lust."
'If the king of Palma had truly fallen in love with Aphrodite, what he ultimately wants would not be to be in her arms. He would want to bring Aphrodite into his own arms.'
This was exactly what Cybel was thrusting into the king of Palma’s heart.
A man believes that taking steps forward for his own ambition is itself what draws love toward him.
'And, well, it is true.'
Cybel thought of Frondier.
Whenever she thought of Frondier, she did not recall his face from the front but his back.
'Because I like that flame.'
"Your Imperial Majesty."
Cybel once again addressed the king of Palma with that title.
From the beginning it had not been a mistake, and now she showed no intention of taking it back.
"It is time for you to become emperor."
