I sipped strong whiskey and once again carefully scrutinized the Crown Prince before me.
Surely during the day he had glared at me with eyes that looked ready to grind me into a pile of documents, yet the moment drinking began, Maximilian did not bring up even the first letter of administration.
Rather, the topics he brought up were extremely personal and hedonistic things like rare liquors from across the continent, precious artworks, or stories of beasts caught in hunting grounds.
When he asked if I had ever hunted a strange and powerful monster, I told him about the blue marlin I had caught while out fishing.
“—so eventually the bastard leapt up onto the boat, swinging its massive bill. Called it a bill, but it was a monstrous weapon no different from a giant greatsword made of bone.”
“So what did you do?”
“Fortunately it was a stupid fish, so its attack direction was obvious, and I survived. Dodged twice, then drew my sword and plunged it between the thing’s eyes.”
“Haha… a truly thrilling hunting tale. Who would have thought a mere sea fish could make for such an exhilarating story.”
As the liquor gradually took effect, I could speak to the Crown Prince a bit more comfortably.
“Your Highness. I honestly thought you would engage in a heated debate about imperial administration all evening. I had prepared myself mentally.”
“Hahaha! Have I gone mad? I’ve escaped that hellish office; why would I talk about work again?”
Maximilian shook his head with genuine disgust.
“From the moment I enter this room after work, it is my ironclad rule to never speak of state affairs or work. Only alcohol, women, and talk of pleasure are permitted. Nothing else.”
“You certainly have a clear boundary between work and rest.”
“That is how I can work like a madman the next day. By the way, drinking alone makes my mouth feel rather bored. I need a side dish.”
Maximilian slightly raised his languidly reclining body and smirked.
His purple pupils narrowed like a snake’s.
“Ian. Would you like to see one more very rare sight?”
“A rare sight… you say?”
When I tilted my head quizzically, Maximilian snapped his fingers.
*Snap*
Then the massive door of the firmly closed reception room opened silently.
And from within, a naked woman slowly walked in, both hands raised high above her head, holding a large silver fruit platter.
She was a woman beautiful like a statue, boasting skin so white it was blinding and flawless, perfect curves.
Her black hair hung long below her shoulders, and her distinct features harbored deep shadows, boasting a dark, decadent beauty.
*She’s pretty. Another maid?*
But unlike the other naked maids in the room who behaved naturally without any shame about their bodies, the attitude of the newly entered woman was completely different.
Her face was flushed red as if about to burst from shame, and her slender arms and thighs holding the platter above her head trembled like aspen leaves.
Her tightly bitten lower lip looked as though it would bleed at any moment, and with her head bowed deeply, tears dripping down, she looked utterly wretched.
“Come here and stand in the middle of the room. And do not lower your arms until I permit; remain just as you are.”
“…Y-Yes, Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
At Maximilian’s cold command, she stood in the center of the room in a humiliating posture.
Maximilian, who had been observing her trembling naked body with apparent interest, turned his gaze to me.
“Do you know who this child is?”
“…I have no idea.”
“Past the eastern end of the continent stretches an endless, rough sea. And beyond that sea lies an archipelago of barren islands, where there once was a kingdom that ruled over them.”
Maximilian swirled his whiskey glass filled with ice and continued leisurely.
“Insolently, those savage islanders called themselves descendants of the sun, and dared call their king—who ruled a mere handful of islands—Emperor. Even during the reign of the late Emperor, they sent an extremely arrogant diplomatic letter. Saying that the Emperor of the land where the sun rises greets the Emperor of the land where the sun sets.”
“…They had no fear.”
“Right? It was truly blasphemous, insulting the Imperial House of the great empire. There can only be one Emperor. But they possessed a fairly powerful navy. It was impossible to subjugate them immediately.”
“So what did you do?”
“We accepted it for the time being. While those fools stupidly mistook themselves as equals to the Empire and let their guard down, the Empire diligently built up its navy and gathered its strength.”
Maximilian gestured with his chin toward the woman standing in the middle of the room, trembling in shame.
“And a few years ago, finally the Imperial Navy’s fleet commander led a massive fleet and sortied to the eastern sea. Those island bastards must have believed some divine wind protecting them would blow, showing off on the sea, but our fleet commander sank their proud fleet to the bottom of the ocean. And landing Imperial troops on the mainland, we exterminated that arrogant clan root and branch. The kingdom was burned, resistors were all killed, and those impudent wretches who called themselves imperial kin were fed to the pigs.”
“….”
“And that child is the sole survivor of the royal family of that burned archipelago kingdom. The princess, the only daughter of the false emperor, the last remaining bloodline of the island kingdom’s royal house. The Imperial Navy offered her as spoils of war to the Imperial House, and I took her.”
I swallowed dryly.
He had dragged a princess of a nation here as spoils of war, stripped her naked, and set her up for mockery?
“However. Unlike you, that princess is merely pretty-faced and good-natured to a fault; she holds no ability or value whatsoever useful to the Empire.”
Maximilian’s voice grew cold like a midwinter blade wind.
“No matter how kind and good a person, if inept they are nothing but useless trash. But while goodness may be useless, does not beauty serve a purpose as an object of amusement like this?”
“…”
“That is why I stripped her completely bare, making her a spectacle for my nights and a piece of living furniture. The sight of a princess who acted noble standing stripped naked as punishment. Where could there be a better side dish than this?”
Maximilian gazed straight at me and whispered in a very weighty tone, as if warning, or perhaps praising.
“Ian, the reason you receive such good treatment in the Empire now is not because you are a prince. Original status means nothing in the Empire. The reason you are treated so well is thanks to the competence emanating from that extraordinary brain of yours.”
“…”
“Bear this in mind. If you cannot continue to prove your own worth and show incompetence, that child will be your future.”
“…Do you mean I will become someone who serves in Your Highness’s detached palace naked like that?”
To my stupid question that slipped out in my drunkenness, Maximilian closed his eyes tightly, savoring the liquor in his mouth deeply, and answered languidly.
“Yes, of course.”
“Yes?”
“…Hmm?”
One second after spitting out the answer, Maximilian’s eyes snapped open, realizing something was terribly wrong.
Looking alternately at my expression twisted in bewilderment, the gazes of the maids looking at him as if he were a strange fellow, and the princess who couldn’t hold back laughter even while crying, her cheeks puffed up, he shouted as if making excuses.
“A-ah, no! What I meant was not that you would strip naked and attend me at night, but that it was a metaphorical expression that you would fall into such a miserable state! I absolutely did not mean that I want to see a man’s naked body…!”
“…Aha. Yes, I understand. If… if you need my body, I would gladly offer it… j-just a little time to prepare myself…”
“I said no!! Don’t really misunderstand! I like women! I like beautiful women! I hate men!”
“Your Highness, you don’t have to deny it so vehemently…”
“I said no!!!!!”
Maximilian, suddenly wide sober, stood up and shouted, then sat back down in his chair as if the reality of the situation had dawned on him.
“…I suppose I should sleep now. Ian, farewell. I shall retire first.”
“Sleep well, Your Highness.”
From behind the Crown Prince, who got up as if tired and trudged toward the door, I threw out one more jest.
“…If you need my nightly attendance—”
“Get lost!”
The Crown Prince slammed the door and left.