The day of the Jungheung Festival was dawning.
The sun had only just shown its face, but the queen’s duties had begun long before.
Fortunately, because her schedule was packed today with the Jungheung Festival proceedings, the work of producing an heir had also been finished quickly.
Seolin, who had been looking in the mirror naked, frowned at the handprint on her buttocks.
“To lay a hand on a king’s body is worthy of a thousand deaths.”
“If it means bearing a child to stabilize the succession of this nation, I would do so as much as Your Majesty pleases.”
At this cheeky retort from her second husband, Marvin Derbek, killing intent settled in the queen’s eyes.
“Do you speak the truth?”
“…I shall be more careful next time.”
The queen’s flesh was supple, but her temper was extraordinary.
It was in the very genes of the Rionera royal family.
Orban Rionera, the late king and her half-brother, the half-year tyrant, was if anything more extreme than Seolin, not less.
He was a madman who had beaten to death the dog he doted on with his own hands, then wept at the top of his lungs.
Compared to that tyrant, Seolin’s irritation was justified.
When the coup succeeded, the northern margrave’s house of Derbek had provided a formidable military force, and the wealthy southern House of Hairan had supplied massive amounts of war materiel.
And Earei had led the coup—which was believed likely to fail despite all that—to victory.
An outstanding commander, military strength, and supplies.
All three were crucial elements, yet only the great general was blocked and denied the queen’s favor solely because he was a commoner.
The two great houses wanted compensation for their contribution to the coup, and with naught but a single commoner husband and severely weakened royal authority, governing the realm was out of the question; indeed, another coup might occur.
The queen accepted the opinions of the two great houses and took second and third husbands.
She also heeded the advice not to give birth to a commoner’s child as the eldest son and thereby destabilize the succession; rather, she should first bear a child of noble blood to lend stability to the state administration and royal succession.
Therefore, even before she could spend her first night with her first husband, Seolin had alternately performed the deed with the two men, Marvin Derbek and Shuruseu Hairan.
One year was Marvin’s, one year Shuruseu’s; still, when no child resulted, in the third year she began rotating between her husbands every three months.
The noble husbands held some affection for Seolin, but the queen did not.
Yet rather than her heart, it was the carnal desire born of over two years that had grown stronger—and she loathed admitting even that.
The bodily intimacy that should have been built with Earei, which would have strengthened their mutual love, was tangled up with those baby-making tools instead; it was horrifying.
However, the queen had not accepted such an unfair bargain unconditionally.
“The first child shall be thus. But from the moment the eldest son is born, I shall spend my time only with my treasure.”
“How could there be any issue? The eldest son is a public matter, while what follows with a lover is private; even the gods understand. Worry not, Your Majesty.”
“He is not a lover, but my husband—the great general who led the war to victory!”
Even Anthony Hairan, head of the House of Hairan, had flinched at the queen’s fury.
Her devotion to him was so fierce, yet the result was pitifully meager.
What man would wish to see his wife shared?
Earei had rebelled against the queen.
The queen felt slighted by him, for he failed to understand that she had done her best given her circumstances.
To Seolin, who fumed, asking whether he knew the duties of royalty, whether he knew how it felt to be reduced to a brood hen, Earei said he was sorry.
But when he opened his mouth, it felt as though the fresh wounds carved into his tender heart would pour forth, so he remained closed for a long time.
The queen sensed his true feelings as well, and snapped that if he did not wish to understand her, he was welcome to leave, then rose from her seat.
She stopped her steps and had her attendants watch to see what Earei would do.
He did not leave his quarters.
Satisfied, the queen confirmed that her first husband had no intention of leaving her.
To show that she too loved him, she sent all manner of gifts, but from then on, the great houses’ machinations began.
Distorted results were delivered to her, and Seolin was overcome with pique.
When even the letters from Earei ceased, the queen resolved to correct her husband’s incomprehension and bad temper.
Until that happened, the queen’s body was busy with her noble husbands, and it remained so afterward as well.
Marvin Derbek and Shuruseu Hairan came to know every corner of the queen’s body.
Seolin, too, came to know—despite herself—how to excite her husbands and finish them more quickly.
But Earei was a blank slate who knew nothing of the queen’s body.
On top of that, countless obstructive schemes came between them, so it became impossible to know even what was in Seolin’s heart.
The same was true for Seolin.
Once, they had been close enough to read each other’s intentions with a glance, but having grown distant over a trivial quarrel, it was as if both stood in fog.
The queen remained buried in royal duty, unaware that Earei was still waiting for her in anguish.
“The eldest shall be of our great nobles’ seed, the next of the great general’s seed, and after that, you shall be free to enjoy yourself as you please.”
Marvin Derbek subtly twisted the details of his agreement with the queen.
The condition had been that after the eldest son, she would enjoy her married life as she pleased; he meant that when that time came, she should continue with him, a great noble husband, as well.
“Freely after that as well?”
“Yes, we too are Your Majesty’s husbands…”
“You have taken my body for three years. If a child is not conceived this year, it will be the same next year. But Earei, my lord husband—since taking a modest vow before a church priest, he has never once seen his wife’s naked body, and yet you would have me care for you?”
Naturally, the queen’s feelings twisted in disgust at Marvin’s vain scheming.
Her eyes glaring over her shoulder, bathed in sunlight, were fierce, but Marvin was instead excited by the sight.
The queen was naked, and so was he.
Marvin’s gaze lingered only on the curves of her beautiful flesh.
Seolin noticed the change in her partner’s body as well.
Marvin approached leisurely and caressed the queen’s white flesh.
Both Marvin and Shuruseu knew well where and how to touch to prepare the queen.
Separate from affection, she accepted every demand of the bed; no matter how crossly she behaved, it was merely foreplay before the main event.
“I cannot.”
“I have engagements from this morning. I and my husbands must stand at official functions.”
“You have not yet filled today’s quota.”
“Today is only just beginning.”
When the queen finally shook off his hand and widened the distance between them, Marvin clicked his tongue in regret.
Instead, he decided to torment her with the characteristic smugness of a male who had shared her bed.
“It is already the third Jungheung Festival; will you show the great general Earei to the myriad people this time?”
“I wish to, but my lord husband still finds the world burdensome; nothing can be done.”
The words sounded plausible, but simply put, it meant the queen was sulking and had no intention of bringing him.
Over a year had passed since Earei’s well-wishing letters had ceased because of her own stubborn games.
The queen was angry about this, yet she approached very carefully.
Judging that if even the ever-gentle Earei was acting this way, he must be quite upset, she sent gifts nearly every day.
But no letters came containing words of forgiveness or that he missed her.
Having never experienced this before, the queen was flustered and could only wait helplessly.
Why did she not go to him herself?
It was also the queen’s last indulgence.
He was the only one upon whom she, whose life had hung half in the underworld amidst persecution and contempt, could wholly rely and act spoiled.
It was also vexing that Earei, who had always been there for her, had become so resolute, so she had entered a battle of wills.
Thanks to that, Marvin and Shuruseu’s scheming only grew smoother.
In fact, Earei had been sending letters every single day, but the queen did not look at them.
She simply waited endlessly.
All the while performing the duty of producing an heir with her other husbands nearly every single day.
As time passed, the queen grew sulky with Earei instead, resolving not to see him first until he came to her on his own.
Her earlier answer had also been in that context.
Knowing this, Marvin feigned a casual probe, churning the queen’s insides by bringing up the fact that she had refused his advances.
But Marvin, who had been smiling in relief on one hand, failed to notice that today, unlike usual, the queen was mulling something over for a moment.
“But it has been too long since I saw my lord husband. After the Jungheung Festival party today, I should stop by briefly to take his measure.”
“What?! But Your Majesty, today’s quota is not yet…”
“I am only going to see him and return; what are you so jealous of? Though I press my flesh to you so, would you bar me even from conversation? He is my first husband.”
How laughable.
The so-called “first” husband was treated worse than if he did not exist.
At the queen’s firmness, Marvin hemmed and hawed.
He thought he would have to confer with that bastard Shuruseu, distasteful as it was.
“Very well. But you must fill today’s quota before you go.”
“I have no intention of neglecting my duty.”
Having confirmed that Marvin’s excitement had subsided, Seolin roughly threw on a thin garment and rang the bell to call her maid.
“We shall eat at the opening ceremony, so you should prepare as well. The Margrave of Derbek will also attend, so see that there is no fault in your dress.”
“Worry not, Your Majesty.”
Her father, who always regarded her with displeasure, was attending the Jungheung Festival; her stomach churned at the thought.
After the queen left the room with her maid, Marvin perched on the bed where the two had entangled.
He felt somewhat empty.
Though he held the queen with her beautiful, supple flesh in his arms every day, it felt empty once it was over.
It had been pleasant at first, but the queen’s attitude of embracing him against her will was all too stark, leaving even Marvin ill at ease.
On top of that, his father was coming today.
No doubt he would come to check how the checks on Earei were progressing.
“Very well, it may not be very Derbek-like, but let’s use some trickery.”
Marvin called not a valet but a manservant.
That manservant was one of those who frequented Earei’s mansion.
“You called?”
“Before the afternoon passes today, leave this letter somewhere conspicuous where Earei can see it. Earei must find and read it before the afternoon passes.”
“Understood.”
After handing over the letter sealed with the royal palace’s crest, Marvin smiled viciously.
“This affair will make that Earei bastard lose every last bit of Her Majesty’s affection.”
Unaware of what consequences this vileness would bring upon him in the future.