Chapter 205 – How To Use the Request: In The Case of the Second Daughter

“…..”

“…..”

If this had been a sleepy eye, I might have been able to get by with a quiet fade out, but it was clearly a wide-open eye. You’re a good sleeper, aren’t you?

How should I do it? What to do? Think, think, Kosuke! It’s okay; fortunately, I have stone wall blocks in my shortcut, thanks to the prisoner of war camp I had built the other day. So if I sense danger, I can immediately defend myself. That’s what I’m going to do here…!

“…..”

“…..”

Kosuke is waiting to see what happens!

“…..”

“…Say something!”

“I thought you had a pretty sleeping face.”

“What’s with the formal tone? It’s your style to not think of royalty as royalty, isn’t it?”

“You’re the one who’s talking about style…”

Ifrita, not at all interested in what I had to say, raised herself up and gave a small yawn. As a princess or a young lady, how can you yawn in front of people?

“So? What? Did you come to rape me like Sylphy, Melty, and many others?”

“No, I just don’t understand people who choose to wear a red jersey for everyday wear.”

“I don’t know what it is, but I know I’m being ridiculed.”

Sitting across the table from each other, I pass over Ifrita’s cold stare and decide to sit down. Well, what should I do now that I’m sitting down? I am glad to see that her reaction was more conciliatory than I had expected.

“So what was it? Uh, am I going to rape you, you say? No, I don’t think so. In many ways.”

“What do you mean by in many ways?”

“First of all, I don’t think I have the guts to touch a woman myself. It is impossible to touch a woman who is sleeping.”

“I don’t think that’s something you need to talk about.”

“I’d like to clear up a misconception. I’m not eating them up. Instead, I’m the one being eaten by them.

“I-is that so…?”

I don’t know if she sensed the seriousness in my eyes, but Ifrita gave me a sorry look while pulling back a little. I think it’s fair to say that I jumped at the opportunity to make a move or that I was bonded by the feelings that were directed straight at me, but I think it’s fair to claim that I’ve simply preyed upon every night since we first started our relationship.

“I told Poizo what had happened, and she told me that it would be good for me to come here. The task was over, so I came to see what it was all about, and there was no one here. I walked through the entrance to sit on the sofa and found you sleeping. Your sleeping face was so cute that I couldn’t help gazing at it. But it doesn’t change the fact that I gazed at your sleeping face without permission. I’m sorry about that.”

“You apologized honestly, huh?”

“If you feel I’ve done something wrong, I’ll apologize. And I said too much the other day. I don’t want to take back what I said, but I think there was a way to put it. I’m sorry.”

Saying this, I bowed my head once again.

“…Right.”

Ifrita lowered her eyes and said in a small voice. What the heck, you’re looking pretty meek, aren’t you? I wonder if she’s not feeling well unless she’s wearing the red jersey, after all.

“Ah… what is it? Uh. You see. I owe you two things for seeing you sleeping and for saying too much.”

“…And?”

“I’ll do you a favor or two, to the best of my ability. That’s my way of apologizing.”

It was not nice to watch this fellow smoldering in the sun. It was out of this feeling that the words came out.

“…You’ll do me two favors, you say?”

“Yeah. If you like the food you ate last time, I’ll serve it to you, and I’ll make you beautiful ornaments, clothes, swords, spears, armor, or anything else you like. A sword or a spear for a girl might be too much, though.”

“Are you willing to do whatever that is within your power?”

“As long as I can. But no taking you to fight the Holy Kingdom, or destroying every last one of the Holy Kingdom’s people, or dying on the spot, or anything like that. Please keep it within the bounds of common sense.”

“Well then…”

Ifrita uttered the strangest words!

“…Come again?”

I want to repeat what you said to me 10 seconds ago. No, stop, don’t be too hasty!

☆★☆

“…Kosuke?”

“Yes.”

“What does this mean?”

“Uh… to be honest, I don’t really know what’s going on either, you know?”

“You are not lying, but you are not telling the truth either.”

The Saint of Truth!

“Okay, I’ll be precise. I can explain how it happened, but I don’t know how it happened. This fellow won’t talk to me either.”

Sylphy and Ellen look down at me with a cold stare. Beyond their gaze, they saw Ifrita with her head resting on my lap, looking back at them unconcernedly. Yes, she was on my lap.

“Then tell me how it happened. If you make any mistakes… you understand it, right?”

Sylphy glanced at Ellen. Ellen, whose gaze was directed at me by Sylphy, kept looking down at me with her red jade eyes. I was exposed to her gaze, and even if I told a lie, she would see right through it, just like before.

“After finishing my task in the courtyard, Poizo told me to come here for some good things to happen to me. Then I saw this fellow sleeping on this sofa. I was looking at her sleeping face, thinking how cute she was, and then she woke up.”

“I told you to call me by my name, not this fellow.”

The princess on my lap said something to me.

“…I thought it was bad manners to look at Ifrita’s sleeping face without permission, so I apologized. I also apologized to her for the way I had spoken to her the other day, regardless of the content of the conversation. Ifrita still seemed depressed, so I told her I would do her two favors for two apologies, that is, twice, to the best of my ability.”

Sylphy and Ellen squinted their eyes. Hyiee… I’m sorry that I was so careless, so please forgive me.

“Ifrita heard it and said, “Be mine.” I didn’t know why she said that, but I told her that I was already Sylphy’s and that I couldn’t do that. I said I can’t just be Ifrita’s now.”

“…Fumu.”

Sylphy’s cold, sharp gaze softened. Good.

“But Ifrita replied, “You said you would do whatever you could. And make me a part of your harem.” So I called Lime and invited the two of you to come. I thought I should go to you myself, but for the second favor, she asked for a lap pillow… I’m sorry.”

I had to do what she said because a lap pillow is not a ‘request’ to the extent that it is unfulfillable. 

“I didn’t lie, did I?”

“I see.”

Sylphy nodded and looked at Ifrita.

“Well then, let’s let If-aneesama explain the rest of this to us, shall we?”

“I don’t care. I don’t have any good reason.”

“That’s a lie.”

Ellen, with her red eyes that can see the truth, quickly denies Ifrita’s statement.

“…She was jealous of the fact that Sylphy had found a husband before her.”

“Indeed.”

“So you were just envious of me, but you don’t have any particular feelings for Kosuke, do you?”

“Of course not. From the moment I met this guy, there was no point that I had any feelings for him. I don’t care about him.”

Ifrita snorted at Sylphy’s comment as she said this on my lap. Yeah, I knew that was the case, but to be told so straightforwardly is going to crack my glass heart.

“That’s a lie.”

“””…..”””

Why?

“That is a lie.”

Since it was important, she said it twice. Ellen said so with an expressionless face, and Ifrita shook her head.

“Ugh, it’s not a lie! Stop saying random things!”

“It’s a lie, isn’t it? I swear to the Lord God Adol, it’s a lie.”

Ifrita vigorously raised herself from my lap pillow, her face turning red, and shouted.

In response, Ellen shook her head, saying so with a blank expression on her face, and waved her fingertips to cut the glowing cross, the holy seal. I heard later that this means that I swear to God I am telling the truth.

When I looked at Sylphy, she seemed to be thinking about something as she folded her arms and put her hand on her thin chin. No, you don’t have to consider it so seriously, okay?

“What’s the matter with you? You’ve been telling lies and telling the truth since a while ago! I’m not lying!”

“I swear I am only speaking the truth. The Lord God Adol gave me these eyes.”

“I had not yet told If-aneesama, but she is a saint of the Adol religion. According to Isla, her eye is like a kind of magic eye. She has the ability to tell if what others say is true or false. As a result of experiments, the accuracy rate is 100% so far.”

I don’t know if Isla was conducting such experiments without my knowledge… Well, I guess it was necessary for Sylphy and the others, which are not followers of the Adol religion or anything, to trust Ellen’s abilities.

“U…”

“U?”

“Uwaaaaa! Sylphy’s an idiot!”

Perhaps unable to stay due to embarrassment, Ifrita suddenly stood up and ran out of the salon crying. She was so quick.

“Should I, um, go after her?”

“Leave her alone. She will calm down and come back.”

Sylphy sat down next to me. Ellen sat on the other side. I was sandwiched between them.

“Now, let’s talk about what to do about this idiot who makes careless remarks.”

“Yes.”

“Forgive me.”

Sandwiched between the witch and the saint, there was only one thing left for me to do. It was the so-called first move of total surrender.