{T/N: I understand not Voting, even if it's disheartening at this point in the TRANSLATION... But no Reviews? Really? Y'all are something else...}
...
'Have you ever experienced what it's like to sleep underwater? If not, let me reveal it to you now...'
Staring at the ceiling of the Queen's bedroom in the underwater city of Océando, Haruya idly thought to himself.
First of all, sleeping underwater requires magical protection (otherwise, it's eternal rest). Thanks to the spell Plum cast earlier, Haruya could now breathe freely underwater.
In fact, whether he was actually breathing or not was up for debate. It was possible that Haruya only thought he was breathing, while in reality, he was simply opening his mouth to isolate the air in the water through magic…
Regardless, sleeping underwater felt quite peculiar, as if everything around him could float away at any moment.
"Here, my darling. This is a dish I made myself, lava-grilled meat. Even after sleeping for eight hundred years, my skills haven't deteriorated at all. Say ah~"
"I can eat by myself, Your Majesty."
"Just call me Laila, darling~... Now come on, say ah~"
"I said, I can–"
"Ah~"
Right now, the Siren Queen, Laila Lorelei, was feeding Haruya a dish she had personally prepared in the kitchen.
Her expression was serious, and when Haruya refused the first time, she pouted like a child, "Hurry up, or I'll get angry!"
"Fine, fine. But underwater grilled meat is a pretty strange dish." Facing Laila who was swishing her tail in dissatisfaction, Haruya finally opened his mouth.
Laila happily watched as Haruya chewed the meat she had fed him, "H-how is it?"
"...."
It tasted like someone had melted candles and caterpillars together, boiled them, and then let them cool. It was a flavor Haruya never wanted to experience again.
"My honest opinion is… it's disgusting." Said Haruya.
"Ahhh!!!~" Hearing Haruya's honest response, Laila threw the utensils aside and hugged Haruya's waist.
"What?!"
"That's wonderful! You said the dish I made is disgusting. It's truly a masterpiece of disgusting cuisine that I spent three hours perfecting!"
"You did it on purpose, didn't you?! You idiot Queen!"
"Thank you, thank you, darling, for saying that! Amira and Plum who were the test subjects are still collapsed at the kitchen entrance. I'll send someone to tend to them later."
"What on earth did you put in that dish?"
"Nothing much~ Just a whole lot of my love for you, my darling Haruya!"
No, no, that was pure malice, wasn't it?! Just to get him to scold her…
'Whatever.' Haruya pressed his index finger against Laila's forehead as she leaned in, adopting a resigned expression, "If you want to be punished, I'll discipline you properly when I have time. But now's not the time."
"What are we going to do, darling?" Tilting her head, Laila sat down on the bed, her tail swishing as bubbles floated up and filled the room.
After thinking for a moment, Haruya explained his goals and subsequent steps.
The reason was simple. Now that Haruya was the Sirens' representative, he had the authority to challenge the representatives of other nations.
This allowed him to take the next step... Conquering the Werebeasts…
The Immanity side had Sora and Shiro, making things more difficult, but the Werebeasts didn't have such concerns.
"Laila, do you want to make the Sirens' lives happier?"
"Of course~ I'm already happy with you, darling. I want everyone to be happy too, but I won't share you with anyone!"
"That goes without saying! I don't have the ability to clone myself after all." Haruya shrugged.
"No, no," Laila shook her head, her gaze falling between Haruya's legs, "If we use your… white essence, combined with the Dhampirs' magic, we might be able to create many copies of you!"
"That's really…" Haruya was lost for words.
"That way, your punishments would multiply too. Hehe~" Added the degenerate Queen in a dreamy state.
"Snap out of it, Laila!" Haruya shook Laila, who was about to be consumed by her delusions. After all, Haruya didn't want any clones of himself.
Back to her senses, Laila went back to the initial discussion, "So, darling, what's the plan?"
Haruya: "Declare war on another nation."
Laila: "The Flügel? The Elves? We can't win against them."
Haruya: "Are you an idiot?"
"Yes, I am! Now scold me more, darling~" Laila said in anticipation...
".…"
Declaring war on the Flügel and Elves right off the bat was way too reckless.
Ignoring Laila's request to 'scold her more', Haruya gave her a light chop on the head.
"Ouch…"
Facing Laila, who was rubbing her head, Haruya continued, "Our primary target is obviously the nearby Werebeasts."
"The Werebeasts… I see. I don't get it at all." Laila admitted.
"…."
'I didn't expect you to in the first place...'
Haruya noticed Laila suddenly became deep in thought...
Then she just stood up from the bed and said, "Darling, I'm going out for a bit."
"Okay, okay. I want some alone time anyway."
Laila patted Haruya's head and swam out of the bedroom.
'Alright, time to think.'
The primary target was the Werebeasts, specifically Izuna's tribe.
Aside from his fondness for beast ears, Haruya was also quite familiar with the Werebeasts' abilities.
Their Blood Break, their high-frequency communication, and the types of games they played.
~~~
Several hours later, Laila still hadn't come back to bother Haruya, which made him curious.
Walking into the hallway, Haruya asked Amira, who had recovered but still looked slightly pale.
"Amira-san, where's Laila…"
"Sorry, Your Majesty, I can't eat that 'Super Dreamy Kilogram Lava Salad'! I still have to draft documents to let everyone know our Queen has awakened, even though it's probably useless!!!" Amira shouted some nonsense in a daze, clearly traumatized by Laila's cooking.
Haruya could understand. That 'low-tier' flavor was hard to forget...
Haruya never wanted to eat Laila's cooking again. Hopefully, that would be the case.
But for now, Haruya interrupted Amira and clarified, "No, no. I just want to know where Laila went."
"Her Majesty…" Amira patted her cheeks.
With a serious look, she stared at Haruya, "Her Majesty said she's going to have your child…"
"Huh?!"