SON OF THE HERO KING

When Sol uttered her true name, Pandora was quite shocked by this revelation.

But in hindsight, she realized that she should not be so much surprised. She already had an inkling about it from the start and it was her mistake for ignoring her instincts and doubts.

She shook her head with a sigh, "You really got me. You knew all along, didn’t you?"

Her demeanor seemed to have changed from the usual self that she showed to him till now.

She did not care if Sol was sounding her out or if she had fallen into his trap.

Succubus considered tricks and deception as a form of art and Sol had more than earned her respect with his act. Enough for her to candidly reveal her true self to him.

She had made the mistake of thinking the son would be like the father. Gullible and awkward around women.

She should have listened to Arachne's warnings. But what happened, happened. There was no point in lamenting what had already transpired.

"Will you not take off your disguise?"

"I am sorry but no. I am already in quite a compromising situation. There is no reason to give you more ammunition to fire against me."

The situation was looking pretty bad for her.

Not only was she a King-ranked warrior, but she was also the Queen of Envilya. The literal queen of an entire kingdom had come to another kingdom in disguise. This was no joking matter.

By trespassing in Lustburg as she did, she was violating so many international laws that just thinking about them was causing her a headache and if she was discovered, Lustburg could make Envilya pay quite a heavy price for her transgressions.

Since the royal family didn't really have a good place in Envilya now in the first place, this would be the last straw that would break the camel's back. They would be annihilated by the church side with no way to retaliate.

"Truly incredible. I guess we can call this a Check?"

She was not totally checkmated. She could still flee if she so wished. It didn't matter that there were other Kings in this place.

Even though she could not beat them she sure as hell could leave as long as that demigod didn't interfere.

Furthermore, no matter what she said or did right now, Sol had no substantial proof

except for his own words…

Even if he had a recorder going on right now, she could simply argue that she was truly Anastasia and that she was only using <<Acting>> to humor the future king of Lustburg. A little far-fetched but it would work out some way.

But the moment she revealed her true appearance, it would be game over for her in all senses of the word.

After all, no one could copy the appearance of a Blessed.

"So this is your Majesty's true personality, I presume?"

Looking at Pandora as her eyes flickered with seemingly hundreds of thoughts, he had a hard time believing that she was the same panicked woman from the reports.

But this also made sense. No matter what, Pandora was a King-ranked being who already went through a war against Greed Dyke and was constantly fighting off the attempts of the church to eradicate them and seize control of Envilya.

"I recognize it. I underestimated you. Because I only saw you as Mars' son, I walked into such a classic trap."

"Trap is such an ugly word to use. But I guess it's accurate in this case."

He gave a meaningful smile to her and leaned further in as he spoke…

"Your Majesty or should I simply call you Pandora."

"Do as you wish."

"Very well then. Pandora, I would like to make something clear. The outcome of this meeting will have a far-reaching outcome on the relationship between our two kingdoms."

Pandora closed her eyes and mused, "The situation is what you already presume it to be. I need the help of Lustburg."

"See? This is what I do not understand. At the end of the day, the church and the royal family are under the twin goddesses of your kingdom, right?"

The difference between internal and external intervention was truly great. Even if the church gained full control, there were limits that they could not cross without receiving divine punishment and intervention from the goddesses.

This was why, even when the nobles basically took control of Lustburg, they still could do nothing to Neptune and could do nothing as Mars grew in power and took back the power that they had snatched from their side.

But once a foreign country was involved, things would be totally different.

In the far past, humans were completely enslaved by the Elves. It was only after Jupiter was born and obtained the help of the witches that Humans were able to leave the control of the Elves and form their own kingdom.

In the same way, for a great part of history, Beastkin and Dwarves were also under the control of Demons.

"Don't tell me, you thought that you just had to come to meet us and we would give you our help unconditionally, right?"

He grinned and said this mostly as a joke but seeing her stiffened reaction, he could not help but take a pause.

"You really thought about that?"

This was so far out of the left field that Sol stammered a little in absolute disbelief.

"You are telling me that you thought… We would give you possible military and diplomatic help with no particular rewards in sight or demands? What made you think… Wait. Forget it. I can guess what made you think that way."

Sol groaned and covered his face with his hand. It was easy to connect the dots and determine that Pandora had thought of simply using the friendship card and getting a free pass.

Pandora coughed a little but still tried to defend herself, "I participated in the war alongside Mars unconditionally. Sorry if I expected to receive some help in return."

Sol squinted his eyes after hearing those words, "There is nothing wrong with that indeed. I would be willing to help you personally. Simply as a token of friendship. But you see, that is only on a personal level.

“As the king of Lustburg, I cannot, will not, in good conscience, help you with the resources of my country and ask for nothing in return."

Sol spoke words he did not think of without batting an eyelid. Whether he would disregard the interest of the kingdom depended on how close he was to a person.

He had been willing to not give the death penalty to Gerald even though he should have. No matter what was the reason for his betrayal or how he redeemed himself later on didn’t matter. The fact of the matter was that… Betrayal against his motherland meant a straight death penalty…

But Pandora was not his friend nor his lover. Their only relationship as of now was that of business partners and he would treat her as such.

"What do you want exactly?"

Sol scoffed in response. "What I want isn't important, is it? What matters is what you are willing to give me. How much do you think the control over your kingdom is worth?"

Silence fell as the two continued to observe each other. Pandora considered many things.

Sol was a wild card.

She had no information about him until now outside of what was known by the populace and she had deduced that he was just a spoiled kid that had been smothered by Lilith all his life.

Furthermore, after Mars and Blaze's death as well as the recent rebellion, she was sure that Lustburg’s power would have dropped sharply and that they would be in great need of allies for the incoming war.

But while she had no idea about the lower level, the high level of power gathered in this tower alone was insane.

Since the four witches were reunited it also means Sol might soon get the help of the witches of Salem into the fray. Which would definitely boost the development of Lustburg to an insane level.

The witches were perhaps the closest to competing with the angels when it came to innovation. Though they followed starkly different roads.

The productivity of the country as a whole would increase exponentially in a few years.

She could already imagine how prosperous Lustburg would become in the future.

She could also imagine how dangerous of a kingdom it would become.

"Tell me, do you wish to conquer the world?"

Sol smiled softly, "I do not wish to conquer this world, dear Pandora— I will do it. That is inevitable"

His words were spoken with absolute confidence. She could see the light in his eyes shining with absolute surety of his victory.

He had absolutely no doubts about his eventual success.

Pandora closed her eyes.

In such a situation, the choices at her disposition were rather small.

Neutrality was impossible.

Either oppose him or join him.

Unconsciously, the topic of the discussion had changed from Lustburg helping Envilya's royal family to her needing to decide whether she would follow him or not.

She wondered what his chances of success were.

The Angels would never accept a unified ruler. The Chimera were mortal enemies of Lustburg. The Elves were too proud and the Dwarves too greedy.

No matter how she looked at it, his chances of success were very small and would be even smaller if she refused to help.

So, what made him so sure? What gave him the confidence?

"Do you plan to rely on the witches to conquer the world?"

She had to ask. She wondered how he would answer.

"The witches? Well, I guess having their help would be helpful. But no."

"Then where does this confidence come from?"

"Myself."

A simple and blunt answer.

Seeing that Sol refused to elaborate further, Pandora sighed.

This was without a doubt the most important decision of her entire life.

The smart thing to do here would be to take a step back and think more deeply about all the ramifications this would entail.

But there was no way Sol would let her get back her bearings. He had worked hard in order to continuously hit her confidence and reduce it to powder for this exact moment.

If he missed this opportunity, future negotiations might become a little harder or downright impossible.

"I need an answer now. Will you join me? Or be against me?"

"What will Envilya gain by allying with you?"

"You should understand clearly what being one of the earliest allies means during a Conquest."

Territory, wealth, power. There was no need to say this and they already knew that by asking Pandora was slowly capitulating.

"I need insurance. After all, you could still double-cross us in the future."

"Hmmm… what kind of insurance exactly?"

She smiled, seemingly getting back a little of her confidence.

"The greatest alliances are always forged in the same way. Political marriage might be unsavory but they are useful nonetheless."

"Oh my!?"

"I believe I don't need to say more. A wedding with one of my daughters would give more weight to this alliance."

Pandora decided to bet on Sol. She did not know if it was the right decision but even if his plan of world conquest failed, at least she would be able to get his help for her most urgent problem.

After all, if Sol became part of her family, he would have more justification to intervene in the internal affairs of Envilya.

Smiling, Sol stood up and walked towards her.

For some reason, Pandora felt her heartbeat accelerate greatly. Even though she was a King and he was only a Duke. She felt as if he was a predator stalking prey.

She suddenly felt like the room was a little too cramped as Sol stopped walking after he circled behind her chair and bent down behind her.

Placing his lips close to her ears, she felt shivers go through her spine as he muttered with a hot breath,

"Rather than the princesses I know nothing about, I am far more interested in you, dear Pandora."

Pandora realized once again that she had underestimated how dangerous this young boy truly was.

———

(AN: Not really in good mood today since WN went ahead and decided to fuck up non-exclusive books like mine. Now it seems like we can’t participate in the win-win. There was no announcement. No warnings. Just like that snap. I guess I just have to roll with the punches. Their website, their rules.

This might have affected my writing today as I made Sol a little more aggressive than usual. But I believe this chapter came out pretty well. What do you think? Though this is perhaps the first time Sol makes a move not purely out of lust. Interested in some succubus domination?)