Chapter 163: The Road to Taiwan
The Man-At-Arms and most of the Knights of the Ten Thousand Temple stay in standard rooms.
The more luxurious suites and royal suites were reserved for Leon, the HOly Knights, and some of the Knights of the Burning Sword.
The Royal Suite, of which there are only two, was easy to find. Ha-ri strode down the hall in her bathing suit and entered the room where Beatrice would be.
“Queen, are you there?”
She asked.
She knocked on the door, and there was no answer but she did hear a muffled voice.
“Queen?”
Wondering what was going on, Ha-ri cautiously opened the door. Beatrice hadn’t closed it properly and the door to her room was open.
“Uh, may I come in?”
Ha-ri peeked inside the room, but there was no sign of Beatrice. However she could definitely feel her presence.
“????”
She pushed open the bathroom door and something grabbed her.
“What?”
‘Why? Why did she stop me from opening the door? Did something happen to the Queen?’
“Queen! Are you okay!?”
-Boom!
The door slammed open and Ha-ri stepped into the bathroom, where she was greeted by a luxurious marble backdrop and Beatrice, who stepped back to avoid the door being forced open.
“Oh——.”
Seeing Beatrice, Ha-ri was mesmerized and let out a series of exclamations.
“Oooh, oooh——.”
“Ha-ri?”
She hadn’t covered her face with her usual cotton cloth. She was dressed in a monokini swimsuit that showed off her height and body curves.
From head to toe, there was nothing about her that wasn’t seductive, a natural aura that could mesmerize men–nay, even sane women–with just a glance.
Black rosebud tattoos on her eyes, chest, and thighs, inked with dots and fleur-de-lis, are reminiscent of mythical points of enchantment.
This is what a beauty who shakes up a nation must look like. Beatrice was indeed a woman of such power.
“Wow— Queen. Wow—— you are so beautiful.”
Ha-ri is resistant to magic and as a blessed priestess, she was quite resistant to this near-curse but she couldn’t help but feel her face flush and her cheeks heat up.
“Ugh——.”
Apart from that, Beatrice was busy covering her body with her fern-like arms, but how could she cover the sky with her palms?
“Queen, why are you here, even in a swimsuit?”
“Ugh— is this really a swimsuit?”
“What? Of course it is——.”
Beatrice stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror with a blush.
She was dressed in a swimsuit that showed off her raunchy, tortured lines.
“Queen?”
“How could I be so brazen as to go out in public wearing something like this?”
Beatrice, who had lived her life as a noble royalty from birth until now, could not tolerate an outfit that revealed her bare skin to such an extent.
As she wondered if she should stand in front of the people in this ridiculous outfit or change again, even though this was modern Earth with a civilization completely different from her own, Ha-ri walked in.
“My queen, you look so beautiful!”
“Ugh— Miss Ha-ri, are you all right?”
Beatrice was appalled at Ha-ri’s swimsuit, which was just as revealing as her own.
“How can an over-aged maiden bare her belly button— so embarrassingly——.”
“My queen, you’re usually quite modest in your attire, and many of your dresses reveal your sternum and thighs.”
“It’s fashion.”
Ha-ri wondered at Beatrice’s standards, which were only strict in swimwear.
As if reading her gaze, Beatrice crossed her arms over her chest and spoke with dignity.
“I’ve been a socialite ever since my debutante ball, and as a fashion-forward first lady, I’ve worn many different styles of dresses──”
Ha-ri didn’t quite understand, but apparently there were different standards for dresses and swimsuits that showed off a socialite’s figure.
“His Majesty is expecting me, so I’ll have to see you later.”
“I’ll go to ——.”
“No, I thought you said you’re not so brazen to go in public in that swimsuit.”
“Well, apart from that, His Majesty has business to attend to, and there’s a lot to look forward to.”
Beatrice exits the restroom as if she has no choice in the matter when suddenly, a large shower towel catches her eye.
* * * *
After the commotion was over, they took a hot bath in the pool reserved for the royal suite.
“Ack, why are you hitting me, Lord Yappy!”
-Checking your reflexes.
Soo-ho was grilling meat on a barbecue machine while Yappy was floating on top of the pool, wielding a wire whip.
Jae-hyuk opened the refrigerator door, wishing His Majesty the Lionheart King a long reign.
“Your Majesty~ Are you drinking, oh, there’s some expensive looking wine!”
Jae-hyuk pulled out bottles from the wine cellar and refrigerator. The boy reads the French alphabet on the expensive-looking wine bottle in a language he doesn’t recognize.
“Hey, you’re underage.”
So-yeon gives him a one-word tackle.
Soo-ho, Jae-hyuk, and So-yeon are still third-year cadets at Hunter Academy. While most academies spend their third year as guild trainees, they are technically minors.
“Don’t be so hard on me, we’re graduating soon.”
Jae-hyuk is trying to gloss over the fact that he only has a few months left until his coming of age. Just then, Ha-ri’s voice rang out sharply.
“Ouch! Jae-hyuk, what are you holding in your hand?”
Ha-ri, who had been traveling somewhere, rushed over and snatched the beer bottle from Jae-hyuk’s hand.
“Ha, senior Ha-ri, this is a misunderstanding——.”
“Junior, you’re still underage, right? Han Soo-ho!”
“No, I’m not why——.”
“Were you going to drink too?!”
“No, no! I was grilling meat!”
“Good job, Soo-ho, it’s too early for you to drink!”
Ha-ri had been the big sister at the orphanage until she entered the academy. As such, she was sensitive to her younger siblings who were prone to delinquency.
“Anyway, this stuff is for grown-ups, okay?”
The eyes of the three minors–one year apart–subtly turned to Ha-ri, but she poured the beer into her glass anyway.
“By the way, sister, where have you been?”
“The queen isn’t here, so I went to the suite for a bit— Huh? Why hasn’t she come in yet?”
Ha-ri’s gaze fell on Beatrice, pacing at the pool’s entrance. Wrapped tightly in a towel, she still hesitated.
“Ummm——.”
It’s a sight to behold.
Men and women stripping down to their bare skin in a bathhouse-a pool?
Somehow, she didn’t think Leon would, and she felt betrayed by his nonchalant presence in the pool.
“Beatrice, what are you doing in there? The water is warm and pleasant, come in.”
“Ugh, Your Majesty——.”
Leon’s Lionheart Kingdom had the same glamorous social life and glorious culture as Beatrice’s Spero Kingdom, but with a slightly different twist.
Whereas the magician-centered Spero Kingdom celebrated the virtues of understated rigor amidst the glamor, the Lionheart Kingdom boasted a free-spirited and active love life centered on knights.
Whether it was a knight wooing a commoner or a knight battling an evil monster to save a princess, love stories were a popular genre of fiction and many were based on real life.
Leon alone had been a romantic of his time, sacrificing a temple of purity for the sake of love.
“Your Majesty–you don’t seem to mind.”
Beatrice wrapped her towel tightly around her like a suit of armor and dipped her feet into the pool.
She was used to drinking with Leon, but this situation, with her skin peeking out from beneath the towel, seemed to put her off.
“Well, it’s royal culture, and the kingdom’s banquet halls have quite a few rest rooms for men and women who have had their eyes struck that day.”
“Your Majesty—!”
“Haha, was that a little early for you, over-aged one?”
Beatrice glared at Leon with a rare pointed look. It was clear that this man was mocking her.
“That, by the way, Your Majesty, is a story for another time.”
Beatrice said, still covering herself with the towel. The buoyancy of the water was causing some of the towel to float, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“This time, in the Republic of Taiwan──”
At that moment, Leon’s index finger closed over Beatrice’s lips. Leon smirks at her wide-eyed expression.
“We can talk about work later. For now, let’s eat, drink, and be merry.”
Red paint began to smear across Beatrice’s white hydrangea skin.
“Isn’t it time to enjoy the scenery, and the ocean waves that greet us in this period?”
“Your Majesty–you are quite familiar with the customs of the planet, though not with its electronics, are you not?”
Leon flushed at Beatrice’s point. His true home was Earth, after all.
So even though he had lived for 300 years as a medieval Lionheart King, he had easily adapted to Earth’s customs.
“Alas, I’ll never get used to that damn smartphone thing.”
Leon shrugged and held up a bottle of wine.
“Here, the Lionheart King’s wine. Here’s one for each of you.”
“Sis——.”
Soo-ho glances at his sister, but Ha-ri is too distracted by Leon’s drink to notice.
“I’ll take it.”
Jae-hyuk smirks and takes the glass, seeing it as a chance to get some expensive alcohol. So-yeon doesn’t turn down Leon’s offer, either.
She casually accepts one drink after another. Beatrice was also a fan of alcohol, so she timidly drank the contents of her glass while covering herself with a towel.
“Hmm.”
Leon takes it and has a subtle look on his face. Apparently, he didn’t like the taste.
The queen is the only one who can discuss the flavor, so Leon slyly asks her opinion.
“How do you like the taste?”
“It’s an aperitif from your Majesty, so it’s bound to be sweet.”
“Eh——.”
Even humility is frustrating at this point. Leon stretches out his hand toward the subspace, and bottles of liquor are summoned from it.
“Made from grapes from the Lionheart province of Lebonia. It’s the most precious liquor I’ve ever seen.”
“Ohhhh!”
Beatrice accepted it with a wry smile. Her gaze was more expectant than before.
“Your Majesty has served it to me a few times. It is a very sweet wine.”
Beatrice’s approving words were met with anticipation as they slurped the wine down their throats. As they drank, they felt a sense of clarity, not dizziness or a faint sensation.
The intense pleasure on the tip of the tongue and the aroma that envelops the body make even beginners realize that this is no ordinary product.
“Wow, this is unbelievable.”
“I feel so energized just by drinking it.”
As a few more voices chimed in with their approval, Leon said proudly.
“Of course it does. It’s made from grapes that the Holy Knight of Life and Fertility grows once a year with great skill. It’s meant to be an aperitif to honor the knights.”
Leon says it’s a shame it’s not available in the modern era.
“Hehehe——.”
At that moment, Ha-ri staggered from the seat next to Leon.
“Sis, are you drunk?”
“No, I only had a few drinks.”
It was indeed a heavenly drink but the alcohol content wasn’t that high, just one beer and two glasses of wine, and Ha-ri staggered like an invalid.
” — give me a drink, please——.”
“You must be drunk.”
Leon looked down at Ha-ri with a rare compassionate gaze. He saw it many times in the kingdom, so it’s not a big deal.
-Can break down alcohol.
Yappy transformed his mechanical arm into a hideous drill, preparing to perform some unspeakable operation but Leon interrupted.
“Leave her alone, Lord Spinner. It’s a way of enjoying the drunkenness itself.”
-Hmm?
In any case, Ha-ri was so drunk she could hardly contain herself any longer so Soo-ho stood up.
“I’ll let her rest on the chair, she’s going to fall out.”
“Okay, put a quilt over her so she doesn’t get cold.”
That’s when Soo-ho picked Ha-ri up and carried her out of the pool. Ha-ri, who had a twinge in her foot, collapsed and fell to the bottom of the pool.
-Uh-oh! Uh-oh!
What a wretch. Leon shook his head and tried to pick Ha-ri up, but that’s when Ha-ri’s instinctive holy energy was transformed into a holy technique.
Holy Technique <Cutting Waves>
-Ka-ah!
The pool parted with a crack. Like the Red Sea of the Earth Bible, the split water instantly gushed over the pool.
“Aaah—”
Beatrice stared at the bath towel that floated up with the pool water.
“Ouch——.”
“Wow——.”
The two boys reacted in unison while Beatrice wordlessly blushed and squatted down.
Just as she was about to cringe in embarrassment at having exposed her navel, something fluttery enveloped her.
“Your Majesty?”
Covering Beatrice’s body was the cloak Leon had pulled out of subspace. It was the knight’s cloak that had protected her from the cold on the Demonic Glacier Continent.
This time, Leon spoke from inside the cloak that was spread out to cover Beatrice’s body.
“Well, let’s get used to it.”
Leon’s smile was the only thing that shone through the darkness that blocked out the sunlight.
[Good, good, good, she looks so good]
[Ha-ri, my bride, this is not the time to go to bed!]
[Quiet war, it’s not a good time.]
[Admit that the light has priority over my newborn!]
[Tsk, tsk, let’s just have it all.]
[I agree.]
[Silence the sea and the vengeance]
[Haven’t I got a daughter to fetch——.]
[What’s wrong with abundance——.]
The voices of the gods are not heard by the common people. Unless you are a high ranking knight or priest, close to the gods and fully endowed with their blessings.
It was unfortunate that there were no ordinary worshippers in attendance who could not hear the gods.
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