SHK CH 13: DUCHESS

Sol stood before a floor mirror— made from the finest crystal essence that clearly reflected his features— and scrutinized his attire.

A white tailored suit he adorned, with the hem reaching his buttocks and the buttons embedded in the regal piece of clothing being made out of gold. 

For his hands, he wore a pair of white fingerless gloves that had the motifs of the royal family and the church etched on them. His right glove had the insignia of a vermillion phoenix embedded on its back while the insignia of a dark as night snake was stitched on the back of the left glove. 

They represented the church and the royal family respectively.

To finish his formal attire, he wore matching white formal pants and a pair of regal white shoes. Every part of him oozed grace and nobility.

When you added his handsome looks, his golden blonde hair, and his deep and vibrant sky blue eyes into the mix of regality and elegance, Sol was truly a wonderful sight to behold.

“*Sigh* I always feel weird wearing these classy clothes.”

“Your highness, this is necessary. Normally it wouldn’t have been a problem to meet up with the supreme daughter while wearing casual clothes. But it seems like Duchess Milaris got wind of your meeting and decided to participate with her cohort.”

Milia spoke with a calm tone as she inspected his clothes and made some small adjustments. Sol, hearing her reasonings crunched his face in distaste, 

“*Ugh* That woman…”

Mirth was evident in Milia’s face as she heard Sol’s bleak response, but she didn’t continue the discussion. It wasn’t her, a palace maid’s, place to insult the leader of one of the four highest noble families aside from the royal one.

“Now this is good. Perfect.” 

Sol inspected himself in the mirror for the final time before nodding as he turned and took Milia in his arms and gave her a soft loving kiss. Milia’s eyes widened a little at his action before closing as she seemingly melted in his arms. 

The kiss lasted for a few seconds before ending, Milia’s face flushed red in ecstasy while Sol had a confident smile on his face,

“Thanks for everything you do for me.”

Expressing his gratitude to Milia, he didn’t wait for her answer and began to stride away from his room to another one.

The room he was now venturing towards was rather special. The fact that two silent guards stood in front of its entrance just emphasized how important it was. 

Once he reached the door, he smiled at the two stoic women standing guard and entered.

The room was very sparsely decorated. No, even saying sparsely was too much. It was basically empty. The only form of decoration was a magic circle drawn on the floor at the very middle of the room and next to it stood an old woman wearing a white robe with a crow perched on her shoulder. 

‘A Nightmare Crow.’

It was a special type of beast, with a quality of C rank. It wasn’t particularly strong, but It specialized in space travel AKA teleportation, so it was a very useful species. For this very reason, anyone able to contract with the beast had a good chance to obtain its power. 

The woman wasn’t the only one present in the room though. Next to her, a young blue-haired and blue-eyed girl stood with an apathetic face devoid of any emotions. It was Setsuna, his childhood friend.

She was wearing a long, black kimono that stretched to her thighs with an armor plate covering her chest and two arms guards of equally dark colors. A bluish-black obi was wrapped around her waist and held her assortment of clothes together. Seeing her, it was like he was facing a samurai-like girl.

He gave a small smile to her but otherwise did not speak before facing the old woman again, 

“Good evening, your highness, I hope you had a good day. Forgive me for not being able to give a full bow, my back is causing me some problems as of late, you see.”

The woman gave a short bow with her head dipping slightly as she wore a slightly embarrassed expression and explained the cause of her rudeness.

“Gatekeeper, please do not mind. How could some silly convention be more important than your health? If it wasn’t because of how weak I was I could have simply made the travels by myself. Once again my aunt is doing too much.”

Yes, the distance between the church, where the meeting would take place, and the tower was just about three or four kilometers. It was such a short distance that it was incredible how they were going to use a dimensional portal to reach it.

“Ohohoh~! Your Highness, please do not worry. Her majesty is only doing so for your own good. As the last heir of the royal family, your security is paramount to anything else. Tiring my old bones for your protection is in no way a waste.”

Sol gave a wry smile and left it at that. This old woman was from the same generation as Gerald, his uncle. Her position as gatekeeper was extremely important. She was responsible for the space protection of the kingdom, after all.

“Now your majesty, step on this magic circle with your bodyguard and I will send you to the coordinates. At the end of the party, you just have to step on the identical magic circle that is present there and ask your bodyguard to fill it with her mana and it will promptly activate and transfer you back to the tower.”

Sol nodded to her instructions before doing as he was instructed. 

“Now your majesty, I hope you have a good trip.”

—-

“*Ugh*”

Sol stifled a groan from leaking out as he looked at his new surroundings. His stomach rumbled as if terribly upset and bile rose to the base of his throat, but he managed to keep it in and downed it back to its origin.

“Your highness are you alright? You should take your medication.”

“Thanks.”

Taking the pills Setsuna gave him, he swallowed them before finally calming himself. 

“*Sigh*. Undergoing dimensional travel without an ounce of magic is really bad for my health and conscience.”

“Fufufu. At least your Highness didn’t barf on her holiness robes this time.”

*Chuckle*

A light shade of red formed on Sol’s face as he remembered the embarrassing memory.

The barely hidden laugh from the nuns standing around didn’t help either. 

If Sol was asked where he spent most of his time a few years ago, it wouldn’t be the tower, but rather the church. The church of Castitas, the goddess of Chastity. He had many embarrassing and emotional memories here full of nostalgia. 

“How uncouth of you to shame his highness in public. Or is this how his highness raised his slave?”

A gentle but scathing voice broke the harmonic atmosphere as a jet black-haired woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Behind her, stood two young boys about Sol’s age as well as one girl. They were also accompanied by three bodyguards and one handsome man attired in butler clothes.

‘Shadow walk.’

Nightmare Crows weren’t the sole beast able to allow teleportation. 

Dark Phantom. 

Sol’s gaze settled on the raven-haired man standing with a smile close to ‘that’ woman.

It was a member of the demon race, quite highly ranked at that, with a quality of B+ rank. 

‘*Sigh~* I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to meet them so soon.’

“I am sorry for the display my servant showed. I will be sure to discipline her at a later date.”

Sol answered smoothly while ignoring the night perpetual scowl on the face of the woman who was taking the lead.

The Duchess Caria Milaris of the Milaris family. She was truly a beautiful woman. Even more so in her black as night evening gown and despite her clear lack of womanly charms. To quote a sage of culture, flat was justice. 

But she was equally as powerful as she was beautiful. Be it as an individual or as a noble. She was like a rose filled with thorns.

Despite never having married, she was still respected and feared because of her prowess.

Despite how sheltered he was, he still had to meet the members of the four great families from time to time. The other three weren’t much trouble. Some, even rather pleasant. 

But the Milaris family was different. It wouldn’t be a mistake to say that they hated him from the bottom of their hearts. 

The reason?

Well… Caria Milaris was the original fiancée of his father. 

‘*Sigh~* I feel like today will be quite a. eventful night.’

He sighed for the third time today as he prayed to the goddesses to give him the energy to get through this day.

—-

“Your holiness, they have come.”

A nun bowed as she conveyed the message with an expression of awe barely contained. 

If one was asked who was the most influential or powerful woman in this kingdom, the opinions would vary without a doubt.

But if one was asked, who was the most beautiful. They would receive a unanimous answer. 

Camelia Castitas. The Supreme daughter of the Goddess Castitas. 

Seven churches existed in this world. Those churches all prayed to their respective twin goddesses.

Camelia, as the daughter, was the highest authority in the church with absolutely no one to contend against her.

As the leader of the church, her power was in no way inferior to the royal family. In fact, you could even say that they were equal. This would have been dangerous in most situations but this was not the case for Lustburg. 

The reason?

“Hehe~! My little Sol is finally coming to see me. It has been such a long time. I was beginning to think he had forgotten me. This must be that woman’s fault. Lilith was always such a bitch. Always hogging him all to herself. Don’t you think so?” 

Camelia was what one could call a fangirl. And she was head over heels for Sol.

The nun did not answer the questions she posed. On one hand, she was already used to the eccentric antics of this mistress of hers, what’s more, she had to admit that Sol was really cute and partially agreed with her declarations.

He was basically the mascot of the nuns at this level. 

Finally, the other reason was, even though there were only the two of them present in this room, she knew that she wasn’t the one Camelia was talking with. 

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