We had fast travel artifacts—we could spend every night in the comfort of the castle. But of course, the Queen didn't think that was fun. So, after a little cleanup, we set up camp right there, in the Boss room.
Ted prepared a lovely dinner using the monster's meat. Watching a giant bear butcher the flesh of an even bigger orc is something I never want to see again in my life. But I must admit, the meat was delicious.
We had a truly pleasant evening that day, not even the elf's lute could ruin the mood. Later that night, we sat around the campfire to chat.
"Let's play a game," the Queen proposed.
Her games always end up being very enjoyable for me, so I asked excitedly:
"What do you have in mind, my Queen?"
Well, I soon found out that tonight's game wouldn't be quite so favorable for me.
"The game is called 'Revealing Dirty Secrets from the Past.' Mary, you start—tell a secret about the prince," the Queen revealed her idea. Watch what you're going to say, Mary.
"Hmm… Oh. I used to be part of the Prince's Three Marys." She confessed.
Seriously? You're going to reveal that? It was just a little joke between us.
"Who are the other Marys? What's the dirty secret behind that?" the Queen asked, now extremely curious.
"Me, Mary Jane, his ex-fiancée Mary Antonietta, and…" Mary began to say the third name, but before she could, the elf guessed it.
"Mary Victoria? You're really dirty, scam bag prince," she completed the list.
"Mary Victoria? Who's she?" the Queen asked.
Someone I didn't want you to know about, Queen—not like this.
"His aunt, his father's sister, Regent Queen of the Kingdom of Long Valley, and his childhood crush," Mary nailed the final blow.
"She's a redhead too, by any chance?" the Queen asked.
"Yes, according to the prince, I look like her. He used to call me Victoria during the deed," Mary added.
And here I thought it couldn't get worse.
"Should I dye my hair red?" the Queen asked.
"No, you're already perfect as you are," I replied.
The answer came out so naturally, no hesitation—it wasn't part of some roleplay. The Queen must have noticed. She blushed, then quickly changed the subject.
"You seem to know Arthur's life well, Sylph. Did you know each other before?" Now it was the elf who was embarrassed and quickly changed the subject too.
"Ted has a small dick," she casually dropped that bomb.
I'm fairly certain that, under all that fur, the one turning red now was the bear.
"L' flower!" was all he managed to say.
"But that's a good thing, Ted. If you were proportional, our relationship would be... very painful," Sylph explained.
Yeah, when they say there's a lid for every pot...
"Mah flower's got a lil' dick too" now it was the bear's turn to drop a bomb.
"What? You're trans?" the Queen asked Sylph, but before she could reply: "And you knew?" she asked me.
Well, in my defense, I didn't recognize her right away. She looks very different from when I met her.
"I don't go around telling other people's secrets," I tried to defend myself.
"You'll have to tell us how you two met," the Queen demanded.
"No way," I replied.
"You know I just need to snap my fingers to read your memory," the Queen pointed out.
By then, Sylph had already disappeared. Where she was, there was only a bell pepper. Or maybe it was just the elf who had turned red?
"Then you'll have to read my mind if you want to know," I insisted.
The Queen snapped her fingers, and suddenly she knew all about my past with Sylph.
"How romantic—two teenage princes discovering their sexuality. You were so beautiful in your femboy version, Sylph," the Queen announced.
"What are the odds? We go out to recruit party members and find two out of three people the prince has already... been involved with." Sabrina joined the conversation for the first time.
"Given the prince's past, it was actually pretty likely," Mary noted.
No, Mary, this has nothing to do with my past. I'm the protagonist of this story, after all. Of course everything revolves around me.
"There are still the three of you left." I pointed to the other party members who hadn't revealed any secrets. Anything to take the spotlight off me.
"My life is an open book. The Queen can read my mind and reveal any secret she wants," Mary announced.
No, Mary, there are things that happened between us that I don't want the Queen to know. But before I could protest, the Queen snapped her fingers. Then she looked directly at me with a mischievous look. Then at Mary.
"You really had an interesting life, naughty girl," the Queen said, but she didn't reveal anything.
That's it. My whole life gets exposed, and hers—nothing?
"Sabrina is all prim and proper, so there's no dirty secret about her to tell. But to be fair, anything I reveal will just embarrass her," the Queen announced, and I could see the terror on Sabrina's face.
"She's the daughter of Archduke Lucifer, supreme commander of the Abyss, and the man I was supposed to marry—but I ran away. Her father sent her here to bring me back, but she chose to side with me and become my most loyal servant. She could easily become a Demon Queen far more powerful than I am, but she chose to serve me. And for that, I am very grateful," the Queen said.
Indeed, there was nothing embarrassing in that. In fact, that revelation dignified Sabrina. But apparently, to her, it didn't make a difference. I'd never seen Sabrina so embarrassed. Actually, during the slime incident she looked pretty much the same.
"As for me, no dirty secret I tell will embarrass me, so I'll share something I really don't like people knowing."
The Queen was different tonight. Something that happened during the fight with the orc really meant a lot to her. It felt like she had set up this whole game just to justify the revelation that was coming.
Between us, since all our actions come from the author's mind, of course this game was just a narrative device to set up what comes next.
"I have a sister," the Queen said, lowering her tone."One who hates me. And wants to kill me."
Then the Queen said nothing more. She just sat there, staring into the fire, as if she already knew the night had stopped being just a game.
If you're wondering why I didn't say anything about the revelation that the Queen has an extremely powerful fiancé lost out there somewhere, the name for that is fear.