I punched Laszles, knocked him out.

　Now, what are we going to do with this guy?

　Erica is unconscious, too.
　This guy was working to keep Erica from knowing what he did in the first place, so Erica doesn't know what he did yet.

　I don't really care about this guy, but it doesn't feel good somehow to be in the form of a tell-all.
　I'll either scare him to death or get another tattoo on my face to make sure he can't do this again.
　I'll just do that and then dump it somewhere else.

In any case, do you want to gather the hate exactly on me so that the resentment won't turn on Erika?

　That's what I thought, because this guy is crazy.

　He said he liked Erika, but he used Erika as bait to get me to come out.
　You can't trust this kind of guy's "love".

　It's not surprising that he resents Erika for it.

　........that.
　He's like a bad husband who is violent towards his wife after coming home after losing at the gambling.

　Yeah, that's easy to imagine.
　Well, I guess we better make sure he doesn't go to Erica's again.
　Well--

Thank you, darling.
Wow!

　Despite my moist tone, I was greatly surprised.
　I turned around, surprised as much as I could.

　Erica was sitting up, her princess skirt splayed softly on the ground.

'Oh, you're awake,'
Yeah, right from the start.
From the beginning?

　What do you mean?

　Erica smiled and gently laid her hands over her own chest.

'Actually, darling, this dress is custom made.
Custom-made dress?
'Yes, bespoke for the Queen. As well as life, but custom-made to protect your chastity.
"Chastity.

　Me returning the oomph.

"Chastity belt, is that like a chastity belt?
It's a super awesome version of that.
Super awesome version.
Yeah, the super awesome version.

　Erica smiled proudly.

''It's resistant to physical and magical attacks, and it also has an effect that can nullify things like coma and paralysis, things that directly threaten one's chastity. Furthermore, it has an effect that can nullify coma, paralysis, and other things that can lead directly to a chastity crisis like that.
I don't know what that is but it's expensive.
Hmmm, is that enough for a houseful of darlings?
High!
I think it's cheap.

　Hmmm.....
　No, well, it's cheap.
　If you think about it, it might be cheap.

　If you think of it as a queen's chastity, then surely that much money is cheap?

　I stared at Erica's dress, saying, "Anyway.......
　I stared into the eyes and took a different "view" than before.

　It's true.

　I'm not sure if you have to look closely to notice that the triggered type of magic is contained at the thread level.
　Each thread is a magic item.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about it.

Oh, just in case. I've got a system that will automatically purge itself if my darling touches it.
What?
'It's just to let you know that Erica is always waiting for you to open up to your darling. Oh, maybe Darling is the one who prefers to get himself off?
It's...

　.........
　................................
　................

.............no comment.

　I avoided stating the obvious because I had a feeling that no matter what I answered, the story would only turn out to be bad in every sense of the word.
　And then he went off topic, too.

　I glanced at Laszleth and turned the conversation in that direction.

'So you've heard me talking to this guy too?
Yeah. Thank you, darling. You helped Erica.
Yeah.

　No matter how things unfolded, there was no choice but to not help out there.
　I received that thanks in peace - but

"And thank you for thinking of Erica...
"Nug.

　I see, she asked me too.

　It's a good thing that you're not the only one who has been asked.
　I'm at a loss for words.

　It was so embarrassing.
　I wanted to go back a few minutes ago and mumble to myself and sew my mouth shut.

　I couldn't do that, no matter how much I wanted to, and even if I was serious, I could only rewind it for a second at most.
　So I decided to go through with it.

'But more importantly, what do we do with this guy?'
I've known for a long time that you had a crush on Erica.
Really?
'Yeah, I'm an idiot. I'm a confident person and I'm not very good at it. And yet he's annoying.
You're annoying.

　It's somehow understandable, Erica's impression of it.

It's no wonder they're so confident for no reason, they deserve to like you. If they don't, it's their fault and the people around them. He's the type who doesn't doubt that everything is like that and he's not the only one at fault.
This sucks.

　I laughed in disgust.
　That's one of the worst things I know.

　I guess I didn't get through to her...yeah, I didn't get through to her, yeah.

　While I was doing this, Erica stood up quickly.
　Then she slipped past me and stood in front of the fallen Laszleth.

　What do you do?　-- and then he took out a dagger and thrust it into the chest and heart of the fallen Laszleth.

''Erica!''

　I couldn't stop myself from doing too much.

　Erica stood up and turned to me with a stern look on her face.

'You're going to be put to death for harming the Queen.
That's...

　It's a fair ruling.
　Even if it is, it's not something the Queen herself would do here.

'I've increased the charge to first class because I tried to use Erica to harm my darling as well.
First class?
I won't give them the honor. Normally, when you put a nobleman to death, you can order him to commit suicide for various reasons.
Yeah I've heard of that.

　If it's suicide, you can do it at home, or you can cheat and die of illness.
　For example, if it's suicide by using drugs, it's just a matter of falling ill and staying that way.

　I'm not going to give you even that, is that it?

　I'm not going to be able to get rid of it.
　I'm not the usual smiling - or rather jaded - face of the Erika who says it's about me, but it's not the usual smiling - or rather jaded - face.

　You can find a stern and even caustic side to some people.
　I might have never seen it like this before.

　I've seen glimpses of it, but this is the first time I've actually seen it.

　Well, other than me, I go by as a normal, sensible queen.
　I guess that means she was capable of this much.

　She's really, thoroughly 'squeaky clean' in front of me, and I've been misunderstood because she's so thoroughly 'squeaky clean' and color-blind in front of me.

'So I'm going to pretend he was killed by a dagger with a lot of female scent on it.

　Erika says so matter-of-factly.
　It's not a lie at all, or rather, the fact that it's a complete fact is also egregious, I thought.

"Anyway, darling!

　Where was the stern face just before?
　Erica turned to me with a puff, and she was already back to her usual Erica.

''Hmm?　What?
You were so handsome back there, darling.
Me, right?

　Head nodded.
　Which one is it?

'That was when I was saying that line earlier. I'm not really into it yet. You know, the one.
Oh, that.
'That's what all boys tend to say, but it's really true, because no one can really get serious afterwards.
It's all right.
So, why don't you ask Erica again?　Show me the coolest darling.
'Oh no...'

　I scratched my cheek and chuckled.

　That was the air of tension in that moment.
　It's the kind of thing you can say when you're serious and angry.

　When you're in your normal state of mind, it's impossible to say "I haven't really gotten into it yet" in a hilarious way.

Please don't do that to me.
What, no...?

　Erica squirmed at me and "begged" me to look up at her.

'No, really, give me a break,'
Phew.

　Erica pulled away from me.
　I puffed up adorably.

　But it was only for a moment.

"...Well, it can't be helped. You can't get any better looking than that, even if you are forced to say it. Oh, darling, anything is cool, though.

　He said it like it was a good idea, but I laughed again because Erica seemed to really think so.

　Well, whatever.
　If you're willing to give up on this, it would be a tremendous help.

'I can't help it, so I'm going to write in my diary that the coolest thing about my darling is that I'm not serious yet.'
You keep a diary, man?
Oh, it's not really a diary.

　.... hmm?

So what's this all about?
You know, Erica, we had a kakel ceremony the other day.
Yeah, I've heard that one before.

　It's one of those things I don't like to mention.

'When I do that kakel ritual, I have to keep track of it. So, Erica, I'm writing down the coolest parts of my darling.
What?

　Is that... that can't be...

Hey Erica.
"Hey, darling.
Does that mean that someone will see you?
'Don't worry, no one will ever see Erica while she's alive. It'll just be a historical record after she's dead.
What?
'You can't just leave nothing to your posterity because you're Queen Erica...'

　Erika says apologetically.

''You're going to leave it to posterity?

　I screamed.
　And that's the Queen's memoirs, so that's a first class historical record!

　I'm still not in the thick of it.

　It seemed to me that this line was a definite matter of history for posterity.