I Married the Beautiful Female Protagonist In Order To Survive

45. Feeling Heated? Eat Something Light

What the Queen promised, she wouldn’t renege on, nor would she “coo coo coo”: Keefeir and I were to stay here, continuing to maintain peace in Northern Ireland with the knights of the Great British Empire until we found and resolved the source of “Chaos,” while the Queen would leave first – and once this decision was made, the Queen quickly began preparations for her departure.

Scheduling time; arranging contacts; ensuring “secrecy”… the Queen’s status was different from everyone else, precluding any spur-of-the-moment trips, so I was content to wait with the Queen for a while.

After a few days, the Queen had finally finished all the preparations for her departure, with just one thing remaining, and for this, I was summoned.

I found myself in the Queen’s chambers.

I wasn’t sure if it was because she was getting ready to return, but Louise was wearing that light, flimsy little dress again, the kind only idols wear onstage, and those legs… when she first came to Northern Ireland, she said things like “wearing black tights in the cold will make your legs chunky~,” but now she was “showing them off.”

Wasn’t this outfit practically the same as when I first met her? Even though it wasn’t like I “hadn’t seen it” before, I felt a little out of my element. Because…

“Could you not stare at my legs the moment you walk in?”

The Queen looked over with a smile, but because it was a “smile,” I could clearly understand how serious she was.

“I only just put them on, and tearing them feels like such a hassle. Besides, it’s cold, and if I catch a cold, the journey back will be even more of a pain~ so…”

With that, Louise held up two fingers, making an “X” shape. And this… was what I’d been finding hard to deal with lately.

To put it simply – the Queen hadn’t let me touch her for days!

Even though it sounded rather… *roguish*, Louise had been maintaining a “Queen Mode” these past few days, whether intentionally or not. One moment she was all over me like she hadn’t tasted meat in years, a flurry of playful *gnawing*, and the next she’d retreat into a state of near-ascetic detachment, barely bothering to touch her lips lest she smudge her freshly applied lipstick.

It wasn’t like I was *starving*, but the stark contrast in her attitude was hard to ignore.

Like… right now.

“Stop staring, darling. I told you, not recently. I don’t want to jeopardize my trip back.”

The tap-tap-tapping of her heels echoed as the Queen swayed back to her desk. Only after I’d managed to banish the chaotic thoughts from my mind did she speak, a playful “you really are just a filthy man, aren’t you?” laced in her tone.

“My return itinerary is set, and the arrangements in the capital are ready. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to leave within the next few days.”

“Then I’ll escort y–”

“However, before I depart, I have a *personal* matter I’d like to entrust to you, *Master*~”

Whenever… the Queen slipped into her fae persona in front of me, whatever came next was never good news.

But this time, her request was surprisingly straightforward.

“The Chieftain of my Great Britannia’s War Knight Legion, the eighth-tier Arthur, was… eliminated by *you* personally, wasn’t he?”

【Louise IV desires information regarding Arthur’s cause of death.】

With the script appearing, there was no point in hiding it. I nodded. “Yes, I told you before, she was affected by ‘Chaos.’ I couldn’t find a way to make the ‘Chaos’ vanish without ‘eliminating’ her.”

However, that wasn’t what Louise wanted to know.

“Don’t worry, I’m not blaming you. I just… want to know the location where you encountered Arthur. I want to go there to hold a memorial for her. After all, even if she was corrupted, she was still… one of Great Britannia’s most trusted subjects. To vanish like that, lost in some unknown snowfield, is far too desolate.”

【Louise IV desires to travel to Arthur’s location.】

Louise’s idea put me in a bit of a bind. “But Louise, I didn’t see any remains. After removing the ‘Chaos,’ she… Arthur herself was reduced to nothing but dust. Of course, if you just want to visit the site, I can locate it.”

“Yes~ I must go before returning to the Empire~ Even if it’s just a ceremony, I refuse to let a Britannia subject be forgotten.”

A hint of loneliness lingered in her smile, making it difficult for Louise to maintain her usual “idol mode.” Even if I couldn’t discern the “sincerity” of the Queen’s emotions, the surface appearance was enough to soften and stir the sympathy of any man.

Did I… did I have any choice but to agree?

“I’ll take you, but…”

“Yes~ I know~ Of course it won’t just be the two of us.”

As if she were waiting for my words, Louise said, her expression brightening slightly, “Let’s have Kefier and that fae, Lancelot, come along. My cousin can provide us some protection, and Lancelot was Arthur’s familiar in the first place. It wouldn’t be proper to leave her out.”

She paused, turning to me and meeting my gaze directly. “Is that… alright?”

Being questioned so directly by the Queen caught me off guard, but just as she said, at least on the surface, her suggestion made perfect sense. Safe, sound, and considerate of everyone involved. I had no reason to refuse.

And… I couldn’t refuse.

“Yes, but…”

If there was anything that felt odd, it was…

“I thought you’d pout and say you wanted to go alone with me…”

Louise immediately scowled. “I told you! No ‘that’ recently! Look at that brain of yours, stuffed with impure thoughts! How can you be thinking of such things after only a few days!?”

She started pushing me toward the door as she spoke.

Well, isn’t this just great. After eating me clean as a whistle the other day, smoking that post-coital cigarette, she’s already turning on me!

“Shoo, shoo, don’t go spreading weird ideas in my room. I want to set up Arthur’s meeting for tomorrow, so go tell Kefier, and I’ll inform Lance – shoo, shoo!”

Right now, I feel like *I’m* the one who got “played.” Forget about “doing anything;” at this point, I can’t even touch her little hand, just getting hustled out of the room by Louise.

Naturally, after the door was closed and I was gone, I wouldn’t be able to hear the girl’s mutterings to herself.

—

“Don’t rush, Master.”

“Before too long, we can do whatever we want together.”

“With no ‘outsiders’ to interfere.”

—

New chibi art is coming soon. If monthly tickets exceed 3000 by the end of the month, there will be a new body pillow design ~