Volume 11 Chapter 12 Interlude ② – Naje and Eileen Returned
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The Lesta Kingdom—mocked across the continent as the world’s poorest nation. Even its capital offered little but lean, barren fields and patched earth. The so-called royal palace was nothing more than an ancient structure, worn and starved of funds, so frail that the idea of repairing it had long been abandoned.
Eileen hurried through its halls, her long green hair fluttering like a pennant in the stagnant air. She offered a fleeting wave to the maids who stopped to bow, too pressed for time to return their greetings properly, and made her way straight toward the training grounds.
”Ne-sama, Naje-neesama!”
Her elder sister’s stern voice cut back. “Again, Eileen? I’m in the middle of training.”
”But… I had to tell you once more.”
”I want to believe your words are not lies. But these memories you claim to hold—I, I, do not share them.”
The other woman, with the same sweeping green hair, was none other than Naje Lesta, the kingdom’s famed beauty-general. Once executed as Takumi’s captive slave, she had been restored alongside the First Emperor. Freed now from that collar, she had returned to the past without her memories, unlike Eileen.
”Then, Sister, let me prove it. I’ll bring evidence.”
”What kind of evidence?”
”There’s a girl in this kingdom, gifted with the makings of a witch. I’ll bring her to you. Will you believe me then?”
That girl had not yet been discovered—the future Witch of Plenty, Clarice. Eileen knew where to find her. If Naje refused to trust her words alone, then she would drag the future into the present by force.
”That is indeed remarkable. In the latest Ranking, the Adamantine Witch is hardly considered powerful. If our kingdom can match numbers with the Seron Duchy, even without a court witch, we may finally stand against them.”
Naje’s smile was tender, brimming with sisterly warmth, yet her eyes glinted with the cool edge of a soldier.
”But, Eileen, consider this. You might be hoarding such knowledge as a bargaining chip. As leverage in negotiation. That is why, I’m sorry, but I still cannot trust you.”
”Ne-sama… please. Won’t you believe your little sister? Otherwise, Lesta will face a famine. A great famine. Countless people will die… truly countless…”
Her throat caught as the image of the maid she had greeted earlier flashed in her mind. That girl too would starve. And after the famine, there would be war, and the deaths would multiply.
”And when my brother and I march upon Bakdu Fortress? By what means do we take it?”
”That… I don’t know. I was left behind, staying here at the palace.”
”Even less believable. That fortress has always been our wall. It was precisely because of that natural barrier that we quarreled, but no full war ever broke.”
In this time, Naje’s common sense allowed no path for Bakdu Fortress to fall. She did not know the unspeakable strategy that future Lestans had been driven to—stacking corpses to build a ramp, pressed forward by famine’s desperation.
”Come now, Eileen. Isn’t it your time to study sexual techniques? I must see to the fields.”
”…Yes, Ne-sama.”
”To become a courtesan is our noble duty. Like Natalie-neesama, you will save countless children from hunger.”
”I know…”
”And that witch-gifted girl—summon her to the capital. With Father’s approval, we’ll conscript her into the army.”
With that, Naje ended the session and dismissed her troops.
Eileen, frustration clawing at her chest, moved quickly to the secret training chamber. Inside, the daughters of other noble families knelt in rows, practicing on wooden phalluses with their mouths. It was obscene, humiliating, yet essential education for the courtesans of Lesta.
Their curriculum avoided real flesh to preserve the girls’ first bloom of innocence. Instead, they were made to watch the act of sex before their eyes, to learn the mannerisms, the words to entrap men. When fully prepared, these noble courtesans were sold abroad for precious foreign coin.
”Still… isn’t it strange?”
”Yes. We were supposed to be courtesans, paying reparations to Takumi-sama…”
The voices drifted around her. Eileen’s head snapped toward them, eyes sharp. She stepped close, cutting into the circle.
”You… you remember Takumi-sama too?”
”Ah! Lady Eileen remembers as well?”
”Oh. I thought it was a dream, but it wasn’t after all?”
”My family only stared blankly when I mentioned it, so I never dared tell anyone…”
More girls joined the whispering knot, confiding in one another, while others only blinked, confused.
”Wait, what do you mean?”
”I… don’t remember anything like that.”
”What are you saying? You served reparations as a courtesan too—you lost your virginity at McGaref’s brothel, with me at your side. You sucked cocks together with me, and even sold your backdoor purity to the same man!”
”I—I don’t remember. And I’m meant to work in Gonan Kingdom, not McGaref…”
Eileen met their eyes, the chill of something uncanny running between them. She invoked her authority as princess, halted the lesson, and divided the girls—those who remembered, and those who did not.
”Is there… anything common to us?”
She tilted her head in doubt, but the other girls were quick to smile knowingly.
”We’ve figured it out, Lady Eileen.”
”Yes, it’s obvious now.”
”And the reason we remember?”
”Because of love. Our love for Takumi-sama. The ones who forgot? They were the girls who longed for other men, or who hated McGaref for taking their families.”
One girl spoke with absolute confidence. The others nodded, radiant with conviction.
”Yes. I adored Takumi-sama.”
”Of course. I envied you and Lady Natalie, able to offer him such service.”
”But he embraced us too. He even bought my backdoor virginity. From me!”
”Ahh… lucky…”
The chatter wound on, voices bubbling, and Eileen found her heart clenching with unease.
(Then… does that mean Ne-sama never loved Takumi-sama? She was executed, after all. But… the last letter she left behind… oh, I don’t know. I don’t understand her heart at all…)
Eileen pressed further, questioning those who had been wives, married women forced into courtesan service as reparations.
None of them had retained their memories. And so, knowing nothing of the true condition—that only Takumi’s slaves remembered—Eileen came to the mistaken conclusion that it was love, and love alone, that preserved memory. It was this misunderstanding that would, in time, lead to a far more dangerous outcome.
Notes:
• Lesta Kingdom – A kingdom neighboring the Quvarian Empire; currently at war with the Seron Dukedom and potentially the Empire.
• Eileen – The second princess of Lesta Kingdom, encountered as part of reparations.
• Naje – First princess of the Lesta Kingdom and deputy commander. The tragic princess of the Lesta Kingdom who was executed for her country.
• Clarice – The ‘Witch of Abundance’ from Lesta Kingdom.
• Adamantine Witch – Beria. Ex-Seron court witch, slain and revived in the Ghost Army but still herself. Aristocratic, cruel to subordinates, yet hopelessly devoted to her sister Scaya—defecting mid-battle to rejoin her. Wields adamantine barrier magic, proud and scornful of ‘paupers.’ First appears v9c11. Reminder: Noble witch whose pride hides desperate love for Scaya.
• Bakdu Fortress – A key fortress of the Seron Dukedom; its unexpected fall prompts concern in McGaref.
• Natalie – A famous courtesan and former noblewoman; platinum blonde, busty, and elegant; known as Natalie Barklem, daughter of the Duke of Lesta Kingdom.
• McGaref – Fortress city, adventurer hub.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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