Chapter 0 - You Should Be Careful at Midnight
Just how many men in the Empire have seen the Princess naked?
I don't know for sure, but probably none at all.
The Princess is the woman of the most noble status in this vast Empire, a being who receives the praise of all people.
For such a woman to walk around stripped of her clothes in front of others is something that could only happen in the delusions of ignorant fools.
"Kyaaaa! J-just who are you?"
Yes, that's why this situation right now is all unfolding inside my imagination. It has to be.
Long silver hair cascading down, gleaming in the moonlight.
Her left hand covering breasts that looked ready to spill over. Her right hand barely covering her crotch. That woman screaming with an expression of utter terror...
She looks exactly like the Princess, to an uncanny degree.
Perhaps the desires I'd been unable to sate on the battlefield had built up too much, causing a mental breakdown, or maybe I was dreaming without realizing it.
"Fuck."
I squeezed my eyes shut and quietly muttered the curse that had stuck to my tongue from rubbing shoulders with rough men.
It was a meaningless act, but if I didn't do at least this, I felt like I'd go insane.
"I-I asked who you are! W-why are you here at this hour...? How did you get here?"
However she interpreted my appearance, the woman began slowly backing away.
Despite being utterly terrified, her attempt to feign composure was unbearably pathetic.
—Thud!
But it was ultimately nothing more than a futile struggle.
Before long, the woman's legs seemed to give out, and she sank down onto the grass as if collapsing.
'Shit.'
I wish she'd just stayed still. Just what kind of obscene posture is that?
A bashful slit tightly shut in a straight line, nestled between soft-looking thighs. To think she was openly revealing to me the secret parts of a woman that should never be shown to anyone...
"D-don't look!"
Even now, even after ending up in such a state, she was desperately trying to cover her breasts. If ever there was a time for the phrase 'pointless act,' this is it.
Witnessing that miserable yet obscene sight, I finally had no choice but to admit it.
That this moment was unmistakable reality, not some delusion.
Pushing aside my chaotic emotions and my pathetic lower half stirring of its own accord, I slowly moved my feet toward her with the feeling of passing a death sentence upon myself.
In order to confirm one final fact.
Could it be that she's simply someone who looks alike? If so, I could just tell her to enjoy her depraved hobby in moderation and send her home.
"A-aaaah...! N-no, don't come closer! P-please...!"
But, as if mocking me for harboring even a shred of hope, the result was as expected.
Piercingly blue eyes looking up at me, brimming with anxiety.
Silver hair and blue eyes are each physical traits that can appear any number of times, but a woman possessing both at the same time is, to my knowledge, only one in the entire Empire.
The golden branch and jade leaf of the Imperial Family. Alicia von Diana Solaris.
I wonder just what she's doing here, but the Princess is human too.
It's a situation I can hardly accept, but I can understand. Tastes vary, after all.
Now then, if that's the case, I have probably... become the first man in the Empire to lay eyes upon the Princess's pure naked body, never before permitted to anyone!
So, what are my thoughts on fully savoring this overwhelming glory far exceeding my station?
"Good God..."
It's the worst.
I came out for a late-night walk and ended up running into the Princess, who was enjoying a secret hobby in the nude in a secluded place of all things.
Isn't this a situation straight out of the opening of a lewd book, truly not funny in the slightest?
My head is starting to ache. How am I supposed to handle this?
...I shouldn't have gone out for a walk at night.