Shucks!
Must be nice being Princess Pride's most trusted imperial knight.
Since you stand guard outside her room at night,
it's obviously the perfect chance to chat her up, eh?
Look, it's not like that.
I mean, talking with her isn't against the rules or anything.
It's a perk of the job!
Didja make a pass at her in the heat of the moment?
I would never do that sort of thing!
I'm just joking!
Well, he's not wrong to call it a perk...
Tatta ichido kiri darake no kyou o
Mudatsukai shiten na yo
Tadashisa nante mon wa sa
Dareka ni totte tsugou no ii risouron
Atama no oku de kikoeru koe ni
Madowasareten na yo
Futa akerya karappo nanda kitto
Kokoro no ugoku mama ni ikite
Kodoku mo oikosenai kurai no speed de
Dareka ni totte no risou o michibiki dasu made
Ima, nanimo kamo o seotte
Kawaranai koto sae utagatte
Mukuwarenai nara mukuwareru made
Yamenakerya ii
Mada, dekiru koto ga arun nara
Mirai o torikaese yo
Daremo shiranai kotae ni tadoritsukeru made
Ima, nando demo taguriyosete miseru
The Audacious Queen and Alcohol
Can't sleep?
No.
Well, don't worry. Prince Leon is safe.
He'll be fine when he wakes up in the morning.
You gotta be in higher spirits, Princess.
You have a loyal following.
We're all on your side.
Like Captain Alan. He's extremely strong.
It's not just a matter of talent, though.
He trains an unbelievable amount every day.
He commands the respect of even the first squadron,
which is full of battle-hardened vets.
He's really something else.
Then there's Vice Captain Eric. He's a real go-getter.
He's so incredibly capable that it makes me wonder if there's anything he can't do.
And he's got a sharp mind.
It's not just for show, either.
He really puts blood, sweat, and tears into everything he does.
Then you have Captain Callum.
He's a sensitive guy who's quick to offer help
whenever he recognizes someone struggling.
Like when we were at that cliff five years ago,
he looked out for me even though I was just a foul-mouthed brat.
Makes me feel indebted.
I still can't act normal around him because of it.
They're a great team.
I have no doubt they'll keep you safe.
Not to mention my dad and Clark, the other knights,
Chancellor Gilbert, and Marianne. Sefec and Kemet, too.
Even Val, despite how awful I think he is.
And let's not forget the two who've been with you since forever, Tiara and Stale.
Stale is seriously strong even without his power.
Plus, all the training he's doing is only making him a superior fighter,
both with a sword and his fists.
Knowing that he's always with you gives me real peace of mind.
And of course...
you have me.
Can you open the door a little bit?
I'm here, too.
I've been honing my skills with the sword this whole time so that I can protect you.
And when the going gets rough, I'll always be there to offer a comforting hand.
Just like this.
You really are an amazing person, Princess Pride.
You're always out there building bridges by offering chances to people like me.
You notice our efforts and encourage us with your words.
You inspire faith.
That's why we're all willing to follow your lead.
I'm here for you.
And I will always be on your side.
Thanks, Arthur.
I love you.
So, uh...
Where was I again?
Um...
Captain Alan is extremely strong...
And everyone adores Captain Callum...
Please, stop talking about that!
Here I was thinking something special happened between you and Princess Pride.
But you just talked about us, of all things.
Arthur's always like this when he gets sloshed.
This looks like fun.
Would it be all right if I joined you?
Eyy, Stale...
Prince Stale!
What brings you here, sir?
You're too good for this grimy mess.
Don't insult my room like that!
May I sit next to him?
Please, go ahead.
So drunk you can't even sit straight, huh, Arthur?
Stale is really strong, and super smar-
Whoa, Arthur!
Where's this coming from?!
Go outside and sober up a bit!
Actually, this works out.
You see, there's something I wanted to ask you gentlemen
who work closely with Arthur.
Please be frank.
What do you honestly think about him?
I like him!
He's fun to have around, for sure.
Aside from his good pedigree as the commander's son,
he has a genuine talent for battle and always puts forth his best.
Even after outclassing the other knights
to be chosen as Princess Pride's personal guard, he remains as sharp as ever.
There are many new recruits who are inspired by him, too.
That said, I envy him for getting to guard Princess Pride!
I am also of the mind that Arthur is a good knight.
I see.
That's a relief.
Now I have no qualms.
Um... sorry.
I woke up and found myself outside for some reason.
Wha?! Stale?!
Why are you here?!
Well, at least you sober up quickly.
I came to find out what you and Elder Sister talked about the other night.
And while I'm here, I have one more piece of news.
Mother has given me her approval.
Starting tomorrow, I will shadow Uncle Vest.
To see him work as seneschal firsthand.
To prepare me for serving as the next regent.
I won't be able to stay by Pride's side, like I have up until now.
My appointment was actually supposed to be postponed
after the engagement was called off.
However, I beseeched Mother to let me go through with it.
That way I'm prepared whenever a new fiancé appears-
Keeping all your feelings bottled up again, huh?!
It's a really bad habit both you and Princess Pride have!
This was obviously going to happen.
No one's as capable of being regent as you.
So what?
You expect me to fuss about it?
Give me a break!
Listen!
I just came to make sure you heard it from me first!
Fine, but if you wanna vent about it, then you should've done it way sooner!
Well, excuse me!
Frankly speaking, I was at a loss when the idea first came up!
Because it felt like I would be breaking my oath to you!
Huh? That doesn't make any sense.
I can see the bigger picture, ya know?
You want to learn the job now so you can keep Princess Pride
and our people safe in the future, right?
What part of that am I supposed to be upset about?!
Come on, man!
It pisses me off when you just bottle everything up like this!
Jeez.
So?
So what?
I know there's no way you just leave
Princess Pride's side without doing something.
Well, he's right.
Which brings me back to you gentlemen.
As I'm sure you already know, Arthur and I are old friends.
Shucks.
It's been ages since I've heard Arthur use such rough language.
Arthur. Friendship is no excuse.
Let's use words instead of fists, okay?
Like I was just telling Arthur, I will be away from Elder Sister more often.
There are many other people who can protect her while I'm gone, but...
That still gives me no peace of mind.
To be blunt, I don't want a single person who I do not trust to get near her.
The people I trust wholeheartedly are Elder Sister, Tiara,
the commander and vice commander of the knights,
and Arthur here.
That hasn't changed for the past five years.
I can't be any more frank than that.
So, with that said...
Captain Alan Berners of the first squadron,
Captain Callum Bordeaux of the third squadron,
Vice Captain Eric Gilchrist of the first squadron.
I would like you all to become Elder Sister's personal guard.
From now on, I want the three of you to work alongside Arthur
to protect the first-born princess of our nation,
as her official guardsmen.
Well, I am very honored by your request, but may I ask why?
Based on what you said earlier, I got the impression that you don't fully trust us.
That is true.
However, Arthur is someone who I place my absolute trust in
and he trusts you wholeheartedly.
Furthermore, you've shown yourselves to understand and trust Arthur in turn.
I need people like you.
Please be frank.
What do you honestly think about him?
That's a relief.
Now I have no qualms.
Arthur.
Are Captains Alan and Callum, and Vice Captain Eric...
worthy of becoming members of Elder Sister's personal guard?
When it comes to Princess Pride,
I want you gentlemen to think of yourselves as a spear.
You will protect her by actively keeping evildoers at bay,
rather than acting as a mere shield.
Yes, sir!
Thank you.
Now then, what do you say we celebrate early?
We can drink to the newly formed personal guard.
Heck yeah!
Alan, you're way too excited about this.
Aw, get off my back.
What do you think, Arthur?
Don't drink too much.
What do you think, Arthur?
I know!
More than enough to keep her safe
when I'm not around, right?
Sure.
But you're still the best partner I've got, though.
We'll always be a team who safeguards Princess Pride, won't we?
Of course.
Now then...
what would you like to drink today?
This is real gutsy of you, Prince.
I have fun drinking with you.
Do you like the fruits, Kemet, Sefec?
Why'd you have my mistress exempt you from the rules of my contract?
What kinda game are you playing here?
I've already answered that question, haven't I?
I want you to be my friend.
That again?
How does the Anemone Kingdom look from your point of view?
I've been focusing a lot on improving food distribution recently.
How friggin' dumb.
Let me get this straight,
you're boozing me up cuz you want to hear the perspective of someone at rock bottom?
That's not quite right.
I want to befriend people who have different perspectives
and no attachment to me.
People who may lie or even betray me.
I want to better understand them and form a friendship.
That way, we won't have a repeat of what happened last time.
Besides, you're a good person at heart.
Huh?
You got a screw loose or what?
You're kind enough to entertain me with a chat.
That's all I really need right now.
So long as you keep providing the drinks.
By the way, how do you figure out when someone reaches the level of "friend"?
Let me think...
When we can speak of romance... I suppose?
If you wanna talk about that garbage,
then just ask the prince or bratty knight who hang around my mistress!
Huh? But...
Don't you have a thing for Pride?
Are you kidding?! I hate that stupid brat!
Ah, okay.
This is nice.
Do the commoners of the lower city enjoy these sorts of conversations every day?
Why, you jealous?
Why don'tcha sneak down there for real next time and find out?
Goodness no. I would never.
I'm going to hold onto my integrity until the day I die.
I will live and die for this country and its people.
Life as a royal ain't all it's cracked up to be, huh?
I'd love to hear your honest opinion someday.
Next time, I want you to call me "Leon".
Friends call each other by name, right?
What?
You better learn to handle as much booze as I do
before you try getting friendly with me, pal.
Then let's get started, shall we?
I imported some ingredients from Leon and tried changing up the recipes a little.
These are original dishes that I came up with.
I had the castle's chefs make them for us.
And over here are a series of desserts that Tiara and I worked together to make.
Please, help yourselves.
All these foods and desserts are ones that I made in my past life.
It's basically a miracle I managed to recreate them here.
Compared to two years ago at the party celebrating Maria's recovery...
As the heretical last boss of the game...
Rolled Omelet
Melon Bread
Cookies
Ginger Pork
Melon Bread
Rolled Omelet
Cookies
Any household task I attempted ended in failure, like I was cursed.
But this time,
thanks to Tiara's main character girl power cheat...
Whoa, this is really delicious!
I can see myself getting addicted to this texture.
So you like it?
It's so tasty!
It's incredibly delicious!
Elder Brother, Arthur, you must try this one as well!
I'll have one!
Well, this seems like a good opportunity...
for you to feed them to Stale and Arthur personally!
After all, you put your heart and soul into making these sweets!
Well, I guess...
Here, Arthur.
I'm so sorry!
Don't worry, you didn't bite me. What do you think?
Awesome. So delicious.
Oh, good!
Arthur, thanks for always worrying about me.
It feels so reassuring.
Your turn, Stale.
I've never had bread so delicious in my life.
Stale.
Hold still.
You had crumbs on you.
Thank you for always listening to me.
It makes me so happy.
And you too, Tiara.
Thank you for rightfully getting mad at me back then.
Val, would you like to come drink again sometime?
I've procured some good alcohol.
Long as you don't mind me drinking you dry, Leon.
Don't you get tired of eating the same thing over and over?
You can mix and match. I would recommend trying that...
with a bite of this.
Not bad.
Do you like it that much?
Want some too, Mistress?
Mmm, delicious.
Not very princess-y of you...
Despite how stressed out everyone was after my engagement was first announced,
now they're full of smiles, including Leon.
However...
Tararebabanashi de yume mitai
Mirai yochi ga dekitara
Hyaku ten juu hyakunijuu ten no mainichi de kuraseru no kana
Tatoeba ano toki iezu ni
Koukai shita gomen ne mo
Ietetara soba ni ita kana
Moshi umare kawaretemo
Mata kono sekai o erabu kana
Doushite? tte
Sonna yabo na koto kikanaide yo
Takai pride ni kokoro odorasereteirun da
Mattaku shou ga nai na mou
Kotoba ga nakutatte wakaru yo
Hitori de kakaekomu nante gohatto
Tsuyosou ni miete dare demo igai to
Yoru wa sentimental ni
Naru no ga kimarirashii
Tararebabanashi de yume mitai
Mirai yochi ga dekitara
Hyaku ten juu hyakunijuu ten no mainichi de kuraseru no kana
Tatoeba ano toki iezu ni
Koukai shita gomen ne mo
Ietetara soba ni ita kana
Tararebabanashi de yume mitai
Mirai yochi ga dekitara
Hyaku ten juu hyakunijuu ten no mainichi de kuraseru no kana
Tatoeba ano toki iezu ni
Koukai shita gomen ne mo
Ietetara soba ni ita kana
What?
Pigeons already? Why the hell?
It's only been two days, right?
Why're they using our emergency line of contact right off the bat?
Good grief.
They wouldn't use this for some nonsense business, right?
If that's the case, I'm gonna kick their-
Oh hell!
Here I was, ready to spend at least a month taking it easy!
Well, whatever.
At the very least...
this puts us one step closer to Freesia becoming a product on the shelf.
And that could be pretty entertaining.
Ya know?
The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior.
Episode 7:
"The Cruel Queen and Alliance Negotiations".
The Cruel Queen and Alliance Negotiations