“Hahaha. What an interesting way to complete the mission.”

The count said heartily as he drank his wine.

Clyde and the others came back yesterday with the survivors. Since he was so drowsy, he fell asleep immediately when ge laid down. It felt similar to when he used to donate blood in his previous life. Well, the good thing was that they were successful on their mission.

Charlotte was also relieved to see them back again.

“Now…” The count set down his glass and gazed at Clyde and Charlotte. “What would you like as a reward? Gold? A title?” He then glanced at Clyde.

“Women?”

“I’m still 13 years old...” He muttered with a sigh.

Charlotte shook her head. She took a deep breath.

“You know about the teleportation gates that were recently set up, correct?”

“Of course. All the nobles of the kingdom contributed to its development. Only the lower class nobility couldn’t sponsor its creation. Why do you ask?”

“We would like you to write us an entry pass.”

The count raised an eyebrow.

“You should be aware that just operating it once each time can cost 1000 gold. I have only used it once before.”

Charlotte bit her lips.

“Consider the loss you would have gotten if not for our intervention in your crisis of taking on a vampire. Vampires are said to be strong undead that can collapse an entire nation if they are a True variant. If you lost people important to the growth of your city then you would have lost thousands of gold….”

“I could just hire more people. You even let my son die.”

“I–“

He held up his hand with a bitter smile.

“Do not worry. I will arrange it for you. The next gate schedule is in a week. This is great news to you since I must inform the Queen of our success in saving my city and tell her of my decision to change my daughter into the head of the house since I lost my son. We shall go together.”

Charlotte’s eyes brightened.

“Truly…?”

“Indeed. All of you must go get ready as we will leave tomorrow morning in my carriage. I will give a separate reward later on.”

◇◇◇

‘We can finally go home…’

Charlotte thought as she laid down in the warm bath.

‘Mother… are you still alive? You must be, right?’

She felt it in her heart. Rather, she believed her mother was still alive. Melodia was a woman that fought her way to the Queen seat. She was once a commoner waiter in a bar that had no chance to further her studies due to their dire financial traits. People always called her bright and intelligent.

Her parents were but normal farmers that managed to get her a job in the kingdom. That was how it was before she met the first prince.

It was a cold starry night. A civil war was ongoing for 6 nights at the time.

An injured young man came knocking on the only remaining building standing in the district.

The bar where Melodia worked.

Charlotte always used to hear her mother tell her this story when she was little. She always had a warm glint in her eyes when she spoke about their love story.

The injured young man was none other than Philip J. Colchis. The first born prince that was on the path to becoming king. The nobles turned against him since he was such a weak prince.

–I want to become king without shedding blood.

Those were his own naïve words. The nobles, taking advantage of this turned against him and sided with the first princess faction.

The White Order were on an important mission to take care of a disaster class monster from another world that could destroy nations. That was the perfect chance for the people to rise up against the crown prince. Many died by the hands of the princess faction.

The prince was a weak man despite uttering such bold words: “I will not shed the blood of my people”.

Many were touched by this but there were also those that took advantage.

Melodia was given a choice.

Abandon him or protect him until he asked help from the Northern Dukes.

She chose the latter. She was an adventurer before becoming a bar maid. Her former rank was A.

She defended the weak man known as Philip for six nights. Even with all the injuries piling up, she still protected him.

They succeeded. Three of the four northern Dukes were close with Philip originally. They believed in his words thus they were kept in the dark about what happened by the remaining duke.

They won the succession war. Philip kept true to his words. He didn’t kill his sister but kept her locked up in the Inner Palace on the top most floor. She was already 56 years old but kept pushing to ascend the throne.

Since she was heavily guarded by strong knights of the Knight Order, there had been no worries of her being a threat to the royal family.

After the chaos, Melodia returned back to the village where she grew up. The enemy nobles were bound to kill her if she stuck around. She was the reason the king managed to survive, after all.

But then a white horse came to their village; accompanied by knights . On the horse, a handsome man with a royal military uniform descended.

–Miss Melodia!

He screamed for the one he was seeking.

The villagers couldn’t believe their eyes. The king personally visited their village. And that was right after his coronation. And for who? The girl everyone called a smartass.

He proposed when Melodia came out of her house with a shocked face.

The man who couldn’t even lift a sword and had to be protected like a maiden in distress came to confess to her. Naturally–

–No.

Melodia refused him.

Philip proposed countless times. He truly loved Melodia. He used all sorts of things to win her heart.

After countless failures, he succeeded in the end. That was all her mother told her. But Charlotte wanted to know why her mother accepted him in the end even though she kept denying his love.

She told Charlotte:

“You’ll understand someday my child. That’ll happen only if you were to fall in love too. I only thought of protecting me and my family by denying your father’s proposal. Remember my words… If you ever find the man you love, bring him to me. Then I’ll tell you why I accepted your annoying father.”

Little Charlotte never forgot her mother’s words.

‘Bring him to her…’

As a princess fighting for the throne, there were many inconsistencies if she married. If she were to choose to marry for political reasons then her husband will have too much power as the king. He could even overthrow her by using his power even if Charlotte was the one that fought for the throne of Queen. She could become his slave that only does his bidding.

Her only options to give the throne to another generation was to either adopt a noble child or find a lover and have children with him.

Charlotte was never the type of person to have a strong libido. They say that when dealing with such pressure like being a princess, then they choose to have multiple lovers to ease their stress. Many of the girls in her faction do the same. For her, she found it disgusting that women can be so weak-willed and have a harem of men.

But that’s only her opinion. It’s not like she could change that.

So far she had only been surrounded by female attendants to avoid rumours such as her having male servants for sexual relations from circulating. Even her guards were female.

Clyde was her first male knight. The two are actually more like friends in private and lord and knight in public. They grew up together, after all.

‘Clyde… wait… could it be?’

She felt her heart beat. It was quicker than her normal heartrate. This hadn’t happened once before in her life.

“C-Could I be it be that I have feeling for him?”

They’ve been together for 5 years now. Charlotte watched him grow up. She knew that he could become even more amazing.

–In a few more years he might be the next Head Mage of the Mage Association.

Philip, the monarch of the kingdom said those words. If it were any other person then they would be laughed at. But it was the king and his words held a lot of weight.

Head Mage.

Viria was the most gifted mage on the continent. But, her talents were limited unlike Clyde. She was only able to unlock her current power with the help of the [Ascension rune]. His potential was limitless unlike hers. There’s no telling what he’ll achieve in 20 or so years.

Charlotte definitely made the right choice to make him her knight. The one that’ll protect her once she sits on that throne.

“Haa…”

Charlotte let out a hot sigh as she got up from the bath.

‘We’ll finally be able to go home tomorrow…’

◇◇◇

(CLYDE ASTLEY POV)

We departed early the next morning. The sun was glaring down on us but the snow still didn’t melt. It’s like this nation had a curse that made it snow all year round. Luckily, the roads were maintained and easy to pass through.

The ride wasn’t bumpy at all. It was even smooth as we rode behind the count’s carriage. Since it was etiquette, Count Steinburg told us we should get on another carriage.

It took a week but we were finally back at the kingdom again. The kingdom’s defence walls looked so old and crumbly. Like it’ll collapse from one earthquake.

It’s a shame that the previous king was killed just like he killed his father. He died before he could fix the kingdom. There was no choice but for the current queen to take the throne.

Many call her incompetent but would never dare do that in her face. The knight that swore to protect her was merciless to those that oppose his queen after all.

We travelled so slow. I wished this damn world would develop their technology already. I miss modern transport. Should I bring those ideas over here?

As I pondered seriously, we finally arrived at the palace. A bit smaller what you would expect of a monarch of a kingdom. How the hell was their military not fighting the surrounding nations to take their supplies?

War was meant for profit, after all.

“Act proper in front of her Majesty. She might be a child but she’s still the Queen.”

Count Steinburg gave us a warning as we waited in the reception room.

To that we all nodded. I noticed that Helen looked a bit nervous.

‘Well, it’s the first time she’s leaving the kingdom. And for good too.’

Considering her skills, she could become a famous knight in no time in our kingdom.

The second thing I should do when I get home was train. The first was spending time with family after all.

The question was: How do I get stronger?

“You stand before the matriarch of the Kingdom of Habsburg!”

The knight captain shouted as we were led through the big throne door.

I looked around and only saw an inferior version of our kingdom’s throne room.

Sitting on the fairly large throne was a little girl. No, she looked about my age. She had blonde hair and a childish body that hadn’t finished with puberty yet. She was wearing a red royal dress. A golden crown rested on top of her head.

“Count Steinburg.” The little girl smiled. “Are you leaving the kingdom once again?”