"Impossible!" The empress shouted angrily. "How did that happen!?"
I shrugged. "How can I know? However, that rumor should be true."
The empress fell silent. Taking a deep breath, she calmed down her emotions before looking at me.
"Where did you heard about that?"
"… You should know about my ties to the church, right? They were the ones that told me. I don't know about the specifics, though. You should ask your husband about that."
Lilia bit her lips.
"… Damn it, how did this happen!? Damn these old men! How do they dare to choose that little slut instead of my son!?"
I raised an eyebrow when I heard that. For an instant, a sliver of killing intent appeared on my heart.
However, I suppressed it immediately.
I don't need to hurry. I will have enough chances to humiliate her later.
Suddenly, the empress's eyes flashed.
The next instant, she stared at me with a sharp gaze.
"… By the way, I think I heard someone to say that Claus and Dina were related to the church as well… You… Could it be you are on their side? Is this their plot as well?"
I could feel a slight killing intent surrounding the empress body. She seemed prepared to did me if she did not hear a satisfactory answer.
I did not panic, though. I was already ready for this.
Raising my hand, I opened my mouth.
"I swear to the goddess that I will never betray Empress Lilia. If my words are false, might the goddess to smite my soul with lightning and send it to the deepest parts of hell."
As soon as my words sounded–
*Rumble!!!*
A loud thunderous sound resounded in the skies of the capital.
The empress was startled.
"… What was that?"
"An oath in the name of the goddess. It's something the church uses to guarantee the loyalty of its high-ranking members. The thunder you heard before was the goddess accepting my oath. In other words, if I was lying, I would be dead right now."
An expression of surprise appeared on the empress's face.
"Something like that exists!?"
Of course not, it's just a load of crap.
As for the thunder? Doing something like that can't be easier for me.
But the empress seemed to believe my words. The thunder of before was too much to be a coincidence after all.
Plus, she did not feel any sign of me using mana, so it added more credibility to my words.
Of course, she was not as naïve as to trust my words with just that.
"… I'm sorry, but that is not enough. I have never heard of such an oath before."
"What do I need to do then?" I asked with utmost seriousness.
The empress hesitated slightly. She then cast a strange spell and looked at me when it was ready.
"This spell is called [Truth of the Soul]. It allows me to know if someone is lying or not. If you are truly sincere, allow me to use it on you."
Mm? That is an interesting spell.
To think it can feel the fluctuations in the soul to determine that is true and what is a lie.
The person that created this should have a pretty good understanding of the soul.
Even so, an expert on the soul like me can fool this kind of spell easily.
It's child's play.
"Sure, I don't mind," I replied without hesitation.
The empress sighed in relief and cast the spell on me.
When she was sure the spell was doing effect, she started her questions.
"… Are you truly on my side? Are you not trying to fool me to tend me a trap?"
"I'm not." I did not hesitate to reply.
"… Will you betray me in the future?"
"Never. As long as your majesty doesn't betray me first."
"... Why are you helping me?"
"Because you are a beauty. Plus, we slept together once. This is the least I can do."
Almost instantly, the empress sighed in relief, and the last bit of doubt in her heart disappeared.
"Sorry about that... It's just I don't know who to trust right now… This way, at least I know you will not betray me and I can trust you."
I would have considered you a fool if you don't do something like this at the very least.
"I don't mind, your majesty. However, don't you think I deserve an apology for your distrust?"
"An apology?"
"A kiss would be more than enough," I smiled playfully.
The empress was stunned.
"… I told you I can't betray my husband again."
I grinned playfully. Then, I hugged the empress waist and planted a kiss on her lips.
The empress opened her eyes wide. She tried to struggle at the start, but soon, she sighed in resignation and started cooperating with my kiss.
When we separated our lips, a sticky line of saliva was connecting both of our mouths.
"As expected, your lips are very tasty."
The empress blushed slightly and rolled her eyes at me.
"Don't you fear I'll execute for this disrespect."
"Oh? I guess I should continue then. That way, I'll feel it was worth it when I'm being executed." I said and hugged the empress again. Then, I pushed her down the bed and pressed her body against mine.
This time, the empress was truly panicking.
She knew that this was wrong. But at the same time, she could not deny she was touched by my help and was anticipating what was about to happen next.
In this situation where she did not know who to trust, she could not help but feel some strange feelings towards me.
Plus, she still remembered how good it felt when we did it last time.
"… I'm the empress, Mr. Clark… We should not do this…"
"Well, nobody will know about this…" I smirked and kissed her neck. Then, my hands started taking off her clothes.
"S-Stop r-right now." The empress moaned softly. "W-We need to talk about Alan's situation."
"We can talk about that later."
"I-I t-told you to s-stop! H-How do you dare to do t-this to the e-empr–Hmmghp!?"
"Don't worry, I promise you it will felt better than last time."