334 Hey!

She was a Queen, something not many others could understand fully, the weight, the responsibilities, the need to be on good terms with people she personally hated, the need to overlook so many wrongs in the face of a bigger view, the facts she wouldn't ever, ever by herself, at, least no on public, and even in private her life would be with a man she didn't love, not like with... Wales...

May his soul rest with Brimir...

After all, what was her happiness against the prosperity of her kingdom?

But even that no longer was viable protection for her kingdom, after all, the traitorous Wardes was very thorough, after gaining her message for Wales and letting the world know of her feelings, breaking the engagement she had with Germania Emperor, leaving her country without allies against the Reconquesta...

She was to be always seen as noble, gracious, and elegant, with a good amount of aloofness into it, just like her father...

Oh, how she missed her father, she had never thought how heavy the weight of kingdom ever was, now, now she wished she wouldn't ever feel it in the first place, alas, Brimir didn't seem to be merciful on her...

And now, now she witnessed a different kind of power, a not one born from knowing you had army, nor wealth, or prestige...

No, this was raw power, outside of anything she ever felt, even Karin the Heavy Wind could never hope to approach this kind of... Power...

She half-mindlessly listened to how each of the place occupants introduced themselves, from Headmaster Osmond, professor Colbert to students the red-haired Kirche who even now sported a flirty look, completely inappropriate for a noble as her... To a blue-haired girl with a dragon named Tabitha, who even now looked both troubled and as if she found a treasure...

Finally came up her dear friend's name, Louise de La Valliere, even now it still hurts to think about her friend, who was responsible for her Wales death...

No, no... It wasn't Louise's fault, the error rested with her, who sent the traitor Wardes with Louise, it was her fault and none others...

Even the impossible quick and strong Lady Summer was unable to save Wales, even if she was able to catch Wardes, who now enjoyed his time within Royal prison, just next to his lapdog Fonquete or her real name, Matilda...

Henrietta noticed the look Lady Summer was constantly sending to the supposed but powerful King Aegis...

It was a look of confusion and sadness, but happiness too... A strange mix...

And then, finally, came her turn, not surprisingly, her loyal Agnes didn't introduce herself, staying true to her role as her protector and guardian...

"Henrietta de Tristain, the Queen of Tristain."

She regally introduced herself, ignoring the looks others gave her, she didn't need to spend an hour introducing all titles she held, time was the essence in there, and she had little need of such ego-boosting, as Lady Summer always called it...

"A fellow royalty hm? Glad to meet you, Queen Henriette, don't mind my manner of speech, or lack of any noble etiquette, I find all of it a meaningless thing, especially in my country where everyone knows how I behave, so no need to act differently."

Henriette blinked at the... Kings words.

"Heh."

"M-My Queen?"

"Hehehheheeeee, why yes! All of it is a rather meaningless thing, isn't it? Heheheee."

She laughed and then laughed some more... As the absurdity of everything was beginning to show...

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Hmmm, interesting reaction, Aegis thought, watching the purple-haired Queen laugh without care, not minding her subject's confusion and outrage as she laughed to the literal tears, her voice quite melodious to the ears...

Aegis could see it did somehow help her, as invisible weight suddenly became much more bearable.

"And your name?"

Aegis looked at the orange-haired girl who stood by Henriette's side and was now looking a little troubled by her Queen's action, but Aegis's words waked her up, with the rest of the people, as even Henriette, who no longer was laughing, but quietly chuckling looked at him.

"Agnes Chevalier de Milan! Captain of the Royal Musketeers and protector of my Queen!"

Hmm? Aegis noted the hostile and measuring look this Agnes sent him when she called herself a Musketeer, ah... A noble scorning, wasn't it? Aegis was very aware of the ugliness in these societies, one of many reasons the sole Noble family in Solitas was the Schnee royal family, and all others were raised by a meritocracy system...

Or Schnee's family member, Aegis, knew there were some background plays, but at the same time, Aegis knew that Album wouldn't let any disloyal or unworthy person into high or essential position...

"Nice to meet you."

Aegis simply said with a nod of his head and smile, which seemed to throw Agnes off her rails as Aegis had done an unexpected thing.

"Ruby, did you have a good conversation with your mother?"

Aegis looked at Ruby, and Summer had already introduced herself to him, even now, Aegis could see she had a hard time believing he was the sole ruler of Remnant.

"Yes... Thank you."

Ruby simply said, throwing a smile at Aegis but unwilling to leave her mother's side.

"And does she knows of your... Situation?"

"I do, and alternate or not, she is my daughter, well, one of them."

Summer said with a smile and resolve, making Aegis smile too, it was good that Summer was seemingly such a good mother, even if her hero hunting could get problematic.

Well then, we still have time, and even if I cant take you back, miss Summer."

"Call me Summer, after all, Ruby told me about you and Rae."

Summer interrupted Aegis, something that made others look at her in shock, after all, not many could interrupt a royalty and go unpunished.

"Well then, Summer, you can call me Aegis, after all, by all means, we are already family, with Ruby and Yang, or more Ruby looking at me as her big brother."

Aegis said in return to Summer, who seemed to put a beamy smile at the idea of her little girl having such good life that even King was so close to her.

"That said, as I wanted to previously say, I cant take you back with us, Summer, but now I have the feel of this world, I can have my people open a true portal to this world, making the travel between our worlds possible, and if Queen Henriette is alright with this, Solitas would gladly open a portal above any land they want us to, successfully opening diplomatic talks between our nations, hm?"

Aegis said, as his head turned to Henriette, who now sported a thinking expression, after all, this was no easy matter for her to decide, and even if Aegis could open the portal where he wanted to, he had a chance to speak with Henriette, so why not ask her for permission, after all, even if she rejected, Aegis would open a portal above some other kingdom, this time without asking...

After that, the conversation moved, and Aegis answered any question they had for him without any problem, Summer seemed sad to not be able to see her Ruby so soon, but knowing she just needed to wait a few days didn't bother her so much, as leaving Louise alone, Summer knew how fragile the petite pink-haired girl was, even if she tried to look thought...

"A-A H-Harem? And with your own family too?!"

Aegis looked who asked, finding it was Henriette herself.

"Why, yes, somehow it works, don't ask me how, all I know is that my wives are very careful in making this all harem and sharing my work."

Aegis simply said, even with numerous women souls in his mind, Aegis still didn't or wanted to know how exactly his women made things work, knowing Weiss had a very sharp approach to these things...

"And yes, it is still growing, with each world I visit, it seems I pick women, as they say, left and right... That said, any woman that joins me is by her own volition, and I already made a promise to love them all..."

Aegis said, not mentioning Weiss, Krull's, and others more drastic women he loved, heavy approach...

There wasn't a need to scare them...

"Ohh? Harem hm? You must be a stallion in bed to keep with such a big number of women."

Kirche said with a predatory smile.

"Yes? I no longer have limits of the normal human body, sleep or rest is just for my wife's or women, who likes to cuddle."

Aegis simply said he wasn't ashamed of sharing his... Experiences...

"And children... Yours or?"

"Both, adopted and not long ago born my own by blood, being a father... Changes some things..."

Aegis mussed, and truly, even if he himself didn't see any change, the fact he was not much more open to women, not just the ones who were in his harem, was a thing.

Aegis noticed how he was now much more willing to bed a maid in Schnee manor or one of Krull's vampires, then again, they liked to drink his blood more than any fucking, or combining it...

It was... Bloody experience, in the literal sense...

That said, they still had time, and so Aegis spent it speaking with the people present, leaving Ruby and Summer to speak with themselves, but all the while, Aegis felt eyes on himself, not in any particular feeling, but like if the purple-haired princes found a saving straw...

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"Hhmmmmmmmmmmm? Ohoho... Ohhh..."

Merlin hummed in interest and little dread...

"So there they went... Ah... She wouldn't be happy with me, nope, not at all... Could I throw this at Morgana?"

Merlin hummed as she watched the magical sensors the Solitas put in that Divinity Earth or Monster Earth, or how they named the Earth with these Greek Gods return data she didn't expect...

"Eh, well, Aegis always could use that charm of his to save me from them, yep, let's go with this plan, just throw them at Aegis, yep, yep yep."

Merlin said with an easy smile as she found a way to not get another beating she truly didn't deserve, yes she could defeat them, but where was fun in that?

Merlin thought with a grin as the date of four crystals that housed three Heroic Spirits being found on that Earth, especially the four crystals that housed Medea, Medusa, Atalanta, and Hippolyta...

"Hmm, going with this theme, did these crystals travel to places they had a lot in common? I wonder, what we could find in other worlds that had a different theme..."

Merlin hummed, she had work to do, and she needed to hide this information from that battle freak Scathach, even if Scathach didn't seek out unnecessary fights, these were servants too, and as such, they could prove to be a good challenge for Scathach to let them by...

And Merlin didn't like that at all...

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"HEY, STOP POKING INTO ME!!!"

"Quiet, you red-winged lizard, I need to make sure you and your supposed rival would be a good gift for her royal princess."

Moira shushed the red gauntlet she was given by her king to look into its secrets and make sure if it could be tied to either Wynn or Wynne...

With the promise to find its counterpart, the white gauntlet that too would be taken and then given to her for tests...

Moira muted the spirit that resided in that gauntlet as she ran her tests...

All the while, Draig cried in the background at the unfairness of it all...

And at the same time, a giddiness and malevolent laughter as Draig realized that Albion would soon join him.

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*Author note*

Hey there! Sorry for the wait, work, and then sister gained a garden from the city, one big garden that was for ten years overlooked and had an enormous amount of garbage in it...

Fuck, if this wasn't heavy and truly filthy work in making that garden suitable for my nephews to in, so they wouldn't need to worry about getting any infection from anything that we found laying in there...

But god, this would take at least a week of heavy and filthy work in there...

That said, you can support me on my Patre.on account! :P

https://www.patre.on.com/nisirisff