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In the past, I saw a similar animal in a book. What was its name again?
Farna wondered as she was hit by a breath reeking of alcohol while looking up to the man leaning over her as he shook his hips ― Ramal the Fifth.
Over the years, Ramal had grown fat. His belly was bulging with multiple layers of greasy flab, and his thin hair, covered by sebum, was shining glossily, obviously wet with sweat. This was the direct result of him having spent half his life indulging in alcohol and excessive feasts.
Now that he had passed the age of fifty, he couldn’t hide his decline anymore, no matter how much attention he paid to his hygiene. The captain of the 2nd Imperial Knight Order ― Count Taur Ernat ― possessed a physique that wasn’t inferior to minotaurs or lizardmen in the least, but Farna had heard that he was recently investing a lot of effort into rearing the reserve troops while being aware of his own weakening. Given that even a knight, who had never missed a single day of training, was affected by age-driven decay, it was only natural for Ramal the Fifth to have grown so obese.
Ramal was a man who couldn’t discipline himself, but he was being extolled as a wise ruler. Him having been able to make a name for himself as a monarch dated back to the events of thirty years ago ― in the Year 400 of the Imperial Calendar.
Back then, the Empire was embroiled in a maelstrom of chaos and strife. Starting with the death of the previous king, the dispute over the throne’s succession split the Empire in half, leading to a brutal civil war. Taking advantage of the internal turmoil, savage tribes invaded the imperial realm from the south. On top of that, several cities in the northeastern part of the Empire declared their independence after reinforcing their military forces with the tremendous funds they had amassed through trade. Those cities formed a military and economic alliance, establishing a new power that would later be referred to as the Free City States Union.
As result of the cities breaking away, the Empire lost a third of its territory and trade routes, and in spite of the realm being in danger of losing the remaining territory to the ever-advancing tribes, the nobles of both royal factions were unable to put their differences aside, let alone take any effective measures to repel the encroaching enemies.
Ramal the Fifth, a young man at the tender age of eighteen at that time, weathered through this perilous situation by appointing skilled people to the crucial posts, regardless of their social standing. Overruling the opinions of the older noble families in his faction, he had a mercenary band join his cause as junior division of his regular forces. That mercenary band performed magnificently, breaking down the deadlock between both royal factions and thus guiding the royal forces under Ramal to victory.
After becoming emperor, Ramal the Fifth executed all the ringleaders of the opposing faction, beginning with his younger brother Alfort, and departed to put down the tribes. Eventually, after a chain of intense battles, he succeeded in driving the tribes into the Aleos Mountains, and prevented another invasion by appointing the leader of the mercenaries as lord of the region commonly referred to as southern borderlands.
This was how the Empire had escaped its ruin, but all the conflicts had resulted in plenty of problems that had to be resolved such as a reconstruction of the military and administrative body and a revitalization of the impoverished domain. Ramal entrusted a certain official with the problem-solving.
That very official, a man called Alkor, nowadays served as Prime Minister of Cepheus. And although he dealt with all the problems efficiently, his biggest achievement probably lay in founding an administrative organization with clearly defined authorities and responsibilities for each department ― something that hadn’t existed thus far. Moreover, he drastically regulated the authority of individuals within the governmental body. You could also say that he made sure that the administration would be able to swiftly cope with any problem that might crop up.
Because of this chain of events, Ramal the Fifth was evaluated as a wise ruler since he possessed a keen perception allowing him to find people with outstanding talents and the broad-mindedness to assign them to important posts and heavy authority.
But, Farna’s evaluation of Ramal was different. In her eyes, Ramal was trash. He was utter scum who even made moves on betrothed court ladies by using exceedingly savage methods, all the while drowning day and night in alcohol. That was Ramal as Farna knew him.
Fifteen years ago ― at a time when she had barely managed to enter the imperial palace as court lady, Farna became Ramal’s mistress. Of course, that didn’t mean it happened because she wished for it. She had an older fiancé who had grown up with her as a close childhood friend, and she loved him from the bottom of her heart. To the extent that she considered taking her own life when she discovered her pregnancy. In the end, she gave up on suicide after a lengthy persuasion by Prime Minister Alkor――
Afterwards, Farna became the emperor’s official concubine with the help of Prime Minister Alkor, and gave birth to Ramal’s child ― and to get some revenge on the emperor, she named the boy Alfort.
She had planned to give her undivided attention to raise the child, but she chose to continue working as a court lady since she had reached a position allowing her to order many subordinates as Chief Court Lady while also taking care of any new hires. Of course, she wasn’t so arrogant to think that she had attained that position solely through her own efforts, but she was convinced to have performed her duties properly.
Still, what was the name of that animal? If I remember correctly――
“Oohhh, Farna! Farnaaa!”
“Aahh, Your Majesty! You’re so good!”
Ah, now I remember. It was called a walrus, wasn’t it?
Farna moaned and twined her legs around Ramaru’s waist while thinking about something like that.
“Yeaaah! Uuuuhh!”
“Aaahhh!”
Ramal the Fifth roared like a beast and shot his seed deep into Farna. Once he finished ejaculating, he pulled his now limp dick out of her and extended a hand for the bottle of wine standing on a small table next to the bed. These days he was drinking high-class wine like water.
Farna sighed while gazing at his back. She couldn’t suppress the feeling of wanting to be finally released from this nightmare. She had to prepare the ball, and constantly pretending to feel something from their sex was surprisingly tiresome. In the first place, she couldn’t fathom how he hadn’t realized that she was faking her orgasms despite them having slept with each other countless times.
Ramal roughly wiped the overflowing wine from his lips and turned back towards Farna. Revealing a lustful smile, he sidled up to her. Farna returned the smile while internally feeling fed up with this whole act. She believed that she had managed to show him a sweet smile, but she wasn’t quite sure.
At that moment, a small noise occurred. It was just the shattering of the glass after falling down, but――
“Hii, hiiiyaaaaaiiiii!” Ramaru dropped on the floor while squealing, and tried to crawl under the bed.
So far as it goes, there’s indeed a space between bed bottom and floor, but I think only insects would fit in there.
Suddenly Ramaru turned around, just for his face to cramp up.
“F-Forgive me! P-Please forgive me, Alfort! I didn’t want to kill you!” The emperor yelled while staring at thin air.
Farna’s eyes couldn’t see anything over there, but probably because of the alcohol or maybe because his mind was sick, Ramal could apparently see Alfort ― his little brother whom he had executed.
With this, her duty here was done, but it didn’t change her appall. As soon as she recalled that this was the most powerful man in the Empire, she started to feel terribly depressed.
Farna sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down on the emperor.
“Your Majesty, please calm yourself!”
“Oohhh! Farna!”
Ramal clung to her feet like a drowning man to a blank of wood.
It’d feel great to kick this blob away, but even if he’s such a piece of trash, he’s still the Emperor. I must uphold the least amount of courtesy when dealing with him.
“What…What should I do to be saved? No matter how much wine I drink and no matter how many women I screw, Alfort’s shadow won’t leave me alone! He’s torturing me by repeatedly telling me to return the country to him!”
“Hmm, let me think,” Farna pressed a finger against her lips while considering Ramal to be utterly useless. “How about you write a letter that you are conceding the nation to His Highness Alfort?”
“Is that going to save me?”
“Yes, of course.”
Of course, there’s no way it will, dumb walrus, Farna ridiculed the emperor in her mind while casting a smile on her face.
Immediately following, Ramal’s eyes flew wide open, and he dashed out of his bedroom while stark naked.
Farna tidied up the disheveled sheet and buried her face in a pillow.
“At this rate, it looks like he’s going to croak early. If possible, I’d like him to assign a territory to my child, though.”
Farna never wished for her own child ― Alfort ― to become the next emperor. She loved him as a mother, but she didn’t think that he’d be able to find happiness as emperor. Besides――
“My boy doesn’t have the necessary caliber to rule over a nation,” Farna whispered with a sigh, before slowly closing her eyes.
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