Betrayal

10 minutes later. The Empress was tied up and hung in midair. She struggled to get free at first but Diaroze promptly beat her up and she now looked so miserable that no one would believe that she was the ruler of a country.

“STOPPPP! FORGIVE ME! NOT THE GUILLOTINE!!”

While curling up like a caterpillar, the half-crying Empress shouted. Looking at her, Kisei’s gaze turned into a complicated one.

“You know……..”

“What?”

“……….why did we have this kind of rope in the cockpit?”

As Kisei said, the Empress was roped up with straw ropes. For some reason, it kind of gives the scene an obscene atmosphere. That said, this is Diaroze’s handiwork so it is probably something she took from her hobby collection tucked inside her seat’s storage compartment.

“……I thought that I might get in the mood during mission.”

“…….”

Face palming, Kisei fell silent. With a slight blush, Diaroze also averts her eyes away.

“Don’t mess with me! You tied me up and just started flirting in front of me!? Unforgivable!”

Diaroze wordlessly struck the Empress’s behind with her whip. She let out an exaggerated scream but the Empress would not back down because due to a punishment of this degree.

“That man is your lover right? Damn it……..while I have to sleep alone every night, you’re bringing your man to the battlefield!?”

“She still sleeps alone even with that many daughters huh……..”

“Mother and Father have not been on good terms for the past ten years……they are practically on the brink of divorce actually…….”

Diaroze tells Kisei in a small voice but the Empress’s face turned bright red.

“Shut up Shut up Shut up! Argghhh……you’re going to execute me anyway right? At least give me a night with that man. I don’t want to die feeling miserable like this!”

“Hey, stop embarrassing yourself! It’s not that it will be effective but at least just beg for your life!”

“ABABBABAB!”

Diaroze switched her whip to electrocute mode. As it was already coiled around the Empress’s neck, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

“Now then, all that left is to hand this woman to the main force…….”

With a deep sigh of relief, Diaroze turned her gaze to Kisei. Perhaps because of the long battle and the relief that they finally managed to capture the Empress, she clearly looked exhausted.

“Yeah, we can’t fit 3 people inside [Ex-Caliburn]. Most of our force should have already landed on the surface too, let’s have them send us a transport ship once the communication is restored.”

While the Noredian force is routed, the Calencian main force is still intact. When the broken communication and poor visibility from the storm get back to normal, there’s no reason for them to lose. Their only worry right now is Tersis’s group who was left to deal with the clone soldiers.

“Right…….Haa, so it’s finally over huh.”

After taking a deep breath, Kisei felt the exhaustion finally set in. They had been in combat for half a day straight and he had already hit his limit.

“……fufufu.”

However, Kisei and Diaroze had to brace themselves in a panic at the sudden laughter they heard. It was not the Empress’s. After all, she’s already unconscious.

“……..ahh, how wonderful. With this, we can finally advance our story to the next chapter.”

What followed was the peculiar footstep of magnet boots. The place is a vacuum so naturally, the sound was coming from the comm so they have no idea where it originated from.

“Valentina…….!”

Diaroze snarled. Beyond her line of sight was a tall woman illuminated by the dim red light.

It’s Valentina who has a pistol in her right hand.

“So it’s you after all huh? Where’s Schleer?”

“I left her behind. She has no use left after the emergency repair after all…….ah, don’t worry. I didn’t hurt her. I don’t want My Love to hate me after all.”

Fluttering her hair with her left hand, Valentina directed a lustrous sideways glance at Kisei.

He shut his mouth and took a step back.

“Your role is over now, Diaroze. Now, hand over the Empress and My Love.”

“I will ask just in case. What are you planning to do after you get Master and Mother”?”

If her goal was to get the Empress and hand her over to the main force herself to obtain credit then there would be no need for her to demand Diaroze to hand over Kisei. It’s clear that she has some sort of big plan in mind.

“Reorganize my force and return to Nored. I will use the Empress to gain control of the Empire’s politics and military at the same time. Thanks to you capturing her alive, it looks like I will be able to smoothly install myself as the next Empress. I’m grateful you know?”

“……and, what about me?”

“Of course, you will become my husband. You will become the next Emperor of the great Nored Empire…….this shouldn’t be a bad deal for My Love, no?”

With a grin, Valentina revealed her plan.