Chapter 28: A Determined Drowning Man

Naturally, Minerva wasn’t a smiling woman.

Ask any servant in the Emerald Palace. They’d tell you the Fourth Queen was the one who smiled the least. Cold ruby eyes. Lips perpetually set in a thin line. A presence that made maids lower their heads and guards straighten their backs.

So when Mariella Soron found herself standing before the Fifth Prince’s door, tray in hand, and saw Queen Minerva standing there with an expression that could sour milk, she should have known something was different.

But Mariella smiled innocently.

"Your Majesty."

Minerva’s eye twitched.

This bitch.

She didn’t say it. Of course she didn’t. She was a queen. Queens didn’t curse at ducal daughters in servant corridors. So she just stared expressionlessly. The same look she’d give a cockroach that had somehow survived getting squashed.

Mariella lifted the tray slightly.

Soup, fresh bread, pastry drizzled with honey, that were all arranged with admirable effort.

"I made these myself for the Fifth Prince. I was hoping I could speak with him for a mo—"

"No."

"I understand, Your Majesty. But he asked for me, you see."

Minerva’s frown deepened.

’Tch, this girl...’

Where’d she get off? Where’d she get the audacity? Adonis certainly didn’t want to see her. In Minerva’s eyes, the only good thing about Mariella was her breaking off her engagement that led Adonis to her.

’Hmph. I need to humble her.’

Minerva made sure Mariella saw them.

The smudged lipstick around her lips. The faint redness on her neck. The way her raven hair was just slightly disheveled in a way that spoke of certain... activities.

"Fufu~ I’m quite busy with him right now, perhaps you should come back later. Hm?"

She watched Mariella’s face carefully to see the hurt bloom behind those pretty blue eyes.

That’s her own little revenge. In fact, she was so proud of herself that she waved Mariella away like some pest.

"Could you leave? Like I said, busy."

"Okay, th-, that’s... fine..."

Mariella left with her tray of steaming dishes.

Seeing her walk away, Minerva saw the way the Soron lady’s legs tremble like she’d collapse at any moment. Clearly, she’s so hurt she couldn’t even stand. Or so Minerva thought.

’WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT BEING A SHAMELESS CUCK COULD FEEL SO GOOD?’

Mariella had a satisfied, dreamy smile on her face.

It was already late into the evening when Minerva was returning to her chambers. The corridors were quiet and most of the palace had settled for the night.

Clack... she saw someone and stopped.

Old Hershant stood in the middle of the hallway.

He was just standing there and staring at her with an empty look on his wrinkled face. His hands were folded behind his back and his eyes were flat.

"Grand Chamberlain."

She greeted him with a nod, but took a step back.

"What are you doing here, Lady Mariella?"

"I should be asking you that..."

"Bad answer. Did you, the Third Prince’s fiancée, go to meet Prince Adonis? That’s no good."

There’s a way the man spoke that always came off as gentle yet could anyone uncomfortable.

Mariella’s eyes narrowed.

"I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean."

"Again, bad answer. You really shouldn’t be going to the Fifth Prince’s chambers, Milady. Considering you’re engaged to his brother, and all."

"..."

Mariella said nothing and wanted to leave but Old Hershant stepped in front of her, still smiling.

"If you don’t want to make life hard for Prince Adonis, then I hope you actually listen to me."

"My affairs are none of your business. You should focus on being the King’s errand boy."

She marched past him.

...

Adonis had been impatiently waiting in the bedroom for Minerva to return for so long that the hardness in his pants was starting to feel like hellish torture.

’Where is she?’

The pressure down there was getting uncomfortable. He got up and meticulously adjusted his pants so it wasn’t poking out so much. Yet, even with the adjustment, it still looked like he was hiding a flashlight down there.

Whatever. Close enough.

He walked to the door and pulled it open.

Minerva was standing there.

"Who was it?" Adonis asked.

Minerva didn’t turn around.

"...Mariella."

"Oh."

"Nice lady, I’d say. She brought you some food and said you wanted to see her. Is that true?"

He smiled a little.

"Are you jealous?"

Minerva’s face went through about six different expressions in the span of two seconds.

She started fixing her dress. Pulling it up until her majestic collar and cleavage were completely hidden. Then, she closed her eyes in a performative manner and tightly folded her arms under her breasts.

"I honestly don’t care what you think."

She turned her head away.

"I don’t want to sound rude or judgmental, but young ladies are very superficial. They don’t appreciate a young man for his character. Only his looks. Or his money. If you want to waste your time with that Mariella, or ask me stupid questions about jealousy, that’s fine. It’s your life."

She was trying so hard to look proud and unbothered, but her pure white hair and bright red cheeks told a different story that made her anger look partly adorable.

Adonis sighed.

"Minerva. You know it’s not like that. I actually—"

She held a hand up in his face.

"I don’t want to hear it."

She looked down at the bulge in his pants, then left.

"If you like, you’re free to keep any woman at your side, you won’t hear me complain. I’d advise you to let Mariella take care of that thing in your pants. It’s unsightly. Hmph!"

She covered her lips with the tips of her perfect fingers and bashfully glanced to the side, adding—

"...and staggeringly big..."

"..."

Adonis stood in silence and watched her leave.

"Great. Messed it up again."

[Notice! It’s possible Queen Minerva isn’t actually angry. She may have used it as an excuse to leave because she doesn’t want to take advantage of you in your current state. She wants to get intimate with you, but not until you’re in a healthier state of mind.]

Adonis frowned like a goblin.

’Well, I get what she means. But who cares? A drowning man would take whatever he can to survive.’

He sighed and shut the door.

Still, sleeping with Minerva didn’t matter now. What mattered was that she’d gotten him back on his feet. He’s depressed before but her cheerful smile and posh attitude was all he needed.

He stared down at his determined fist.

"I need to prepare for the duel."

He pumped both fists in the air.

"YOSH! Let’s do this!"

...

The next day, preparations began.

The problem is simple: Adonis is a copper-class Enchanter with the combat potential of a wet napkin.

The solution is not.

He realized it three days after Prussia officially became his "maid-guard" —— a term she hated brutally. They were walking through the lower market district of Gilishon. Adonis was disguised in a plain cloak and hood up. Prussia wore something similar. It didn’t hide the sword at her hip or the size of her butt. A pickpocket tried to lift Adonis’s coin purse. Before Adonis could even react, Prussia had the man pinned to a stone wall with a bone dagger through his sleeve and her knee in his stomach.

"That’s mine..." she said flatly.

The pickpocket whimpered.

She let him go and he scrambled away.

Now he’s gone, Prussia looked at Adonis disappointedly.

"Are you really this helpless? It makes me worry how you’ve been able to survive this long without me."

Adonis wrapped his arm around her slender waist and pulled her into a close side hug. Prussia’s pretty blue eyes flew open in shock, but her face itself stayed expressionless.

"Thanks, you’re my knight in shining armor!"

"Oh..."

Prussia looked at him softly. It was the first time he’d genuinely thanked her and it made her feel weird. She quickly shoved her hand in his face.

"Don’t touch me like that, pervert."

"Huuu, I didn’t do anything perverted though?"

"You have no shame!"

But her ears were slightly pink.

...

That was weeks ago.

Tonight, Adonis sat in his servant quarters, staring at the [Core of the Nereids] resting on his desk.

He’d used fragments of it already.

A tiny piece for Minerva’s necklace.

Shavings for the forged fairy soil.

Each cut had reduced its overall potency, but the core itself was still large.

He drummed his fingers on the desk.

"Tsk, tsk. Shame on you, Adonis. You can’t keep relying on others to protect you. Prussia is strong, but she’s one woman. And Minerva has her own business as queen. I need something that makes ME dangerous."

He looked at the three thick volumes on Runic Language.

"I’m an Enchanter. Enchanters make things. So... what if I make a powerful weapon?"

He paused.

Not a sword. He had no talent for swordsmanship. A magic staff isn’t bad either... but the reality of waving a stick around and shouting incantations and accounting for precise mana control made him bored from thinking about it.

"Hmmm..."

He imagined himself standing in an arena. Facing his brothers. Two of the three depended on close-range attacks. They’d try to close the distance as quickly as possible using a high-speed movement spell.

Then, it hit him. He closed one eye like a sniper and aimed his finger gun at a wooden bowl across from him.

"Something that turns raw mana into pure destruction..."

The idea was fairly simple.

"Heh, I’ll make a gun."