Redcliffe castle. (Hiro's Point of View)

“Aah…Lord Hiro…so vigorous…”

In the swanky bedroom, I was making love to Isolde.

I finally managed to make  love to her after almost a year — and the experience was as delightful as expected.

“Please, please, give me more of your love…Lord Hiro…”

“Of course. I’m not going to stop anytime soon.”

Isolde pleaded for me, an expression of ecstasy on her face. In stark contrast to her usual calm and collected demeanor, she now looked just like a female in heat.

(Well damn…this feels really good.)

Making love to Isolde made me feel, other than the obvious pleasure of doing it with a beautiful woman, a rather curious emotion.

The House of Guerrin had been the foundation of Ferelden for generations and now, its highest authority, one of Ferelden's great noble was moaning in my arms.

It felt like I had the part of the massive country in the palm of my hand.

“Hn…more…more…”

“Hey now, if we keep this up,  you won’t be able to work at all tomorrow!”

Marchioness Isolde Guerrin of Redcliffe or now known as Duchess Isolde Guerrin of Hezri Kingdom, her refined persona completely discarded, sought me without restraint.

“It’s…fine…I put in a bit more effort than usual, and took care of one week’s worth of work. The court is guarded by my most trusted maids and knights, so no one will suspect anything…even if I did not leave my room for one week.”

“Which means, you want me to stay with you the whole week?”

“…do not make me say it, please. I don’t know when we will meet again, or if we ever will…Lord Hiro, please carve more memories onto this poor woman…”

“You’re pretty passionate, aren’t you…and I have to say, I like it!”

“Aah…!!”

I was going to grant her request. I savored every nook and cranny of Rossellia’s body to my heart’s content.

***

Noon of the following day.

We had continued making love, taking breaks and naps every now and then. Isolde and I, thus turned into lustful beasts, received visitors.

“Your Majesty, aren’t you going a bit overboard?”

“Hiro-sama, I must say it is unfair for you to occupy yourself only with Isolde-sama.”

Two visitors, in fact: the chief of Dalish tribe, Lanaya and the heiress of Sarutobi ninja clan, Kurotsuchi.

Lanaya shook her head and sighed, while Kurotsuchi looked positively dissatisfied.

They were holding a jug of water and some light snacks: they had come to bring us a meal, apparently.

“We can hear you all the way from the hallway, actually. The younger maids were eavesdropping, red as beets.”

“Aah…how shameful…”

“I mean, nothing wrong with the act itself. But maybe keep your voice down a bit.”

Lanaya’s warning brought Isolde back to reality, and she hid her face behind the sheets.

I started munching on a sandwich and turned towards Kurotsuchi.

“I’m grateful for the food, but…why are you taking off your clothes?”

“I thought I might as well join you. I have worked my share for Hiro-sama. Surely I deserve a reward.”

“Well, that’s true.”

During the Castall subjugation, Kurotsuchi had sneaked into many fortresses and performed repeated feats of assassinations. 

It was not far-fetched to even say that she was a pillar of my rule, in the shadows. She did indeed deserve a reward.

“Duchezs Isolde, you must be exhausted, with all the work she has to do every day. We shall take your place in entertaining His Majesty, so please take a well-deserved rest.”

“Hey, it’s rare to see you so proactive, Lanaya. You only experienced sex three times.” I tease her.

The dalish maiden boldly took off her clothes and slipped under the covers. She had never been very forward in such “physical” matters, so it was unusual for her to act like that.

"Please don't say that!" She blushed.

I let Isolde rest and switched to the two visitors.

***

“I’m only here because I promised, all right!?”

“I care little about you, but I wish to let Her Majesty rest. Do not get any funny ideas.”

The next day, two more interlopers barged in. They were Princess Scarlet who resided in Redcliffe Castle, and her best friend, Demia Harviala.

They both looked rather upset, but were wearing rather flashy underwear and got into bed all on their own. Scarlet’s was a sexy purple, while Demia had a sporty yellow piece.

“What? You two too?”

I wasn’t sure I ever did anything to make them like me, nor were there any reasons why they would sleep with me voluntarily. I stole their birthright and country from them after all.

“As I said just now, I am only doing this for the Princess. If I left her to a beast like you, she might break down.” 

She looked at me and Scarlet and lashed out. The loyal vassal of Scarlet thus meant to “sacrifice” herself for the sake of her mistress.

“I-I don’t really…I mean…”

In contrast with Demia’s clear-cut intentions, Scarlet was fidgeting, like she couldn’t find the right words. It was hard to imagine she was the same person who fought like a tiger against Lyla.

After a while, the former princess finally summoned her courage and answered,

"Y..you..had swallowed my kingdom. If I am discarded with nothing, it is a betrayal to my father. I want to be an important part of this new kingdom."

I frowned at Scarlet’s words. I wasn’t convinced with their loyalty and agenda, but Scarlet and Demia were both top class beauties in their own right.

If they asked me to take them, I sure as hell would.

“Well, don’t worry, I’m not going to shame you by refusing. We’re going to have a good time.”

“Aah…why is this happening…”

“You should rather worry about yourself, you monster. Defiler of princesses!”

I noticed someone was sneaking from behind the slightly opened door. No. There were two persons.

"Nina. Valena. Just join in." I called them.

Two girls wearing maid uniforms came in. A girl with an extremely curly and spicy coloured hair. She was Nina, the former refugees cum prostitute I picked up from Saint Albion. Another girl with Shoulder-Length Straight Hair with Face-Framing. Her ginger coloured hair that featured gradual elongation toward the front balanced by shorter layers placed around the face. She was as Valena, Isolde's personal maid who was also the daughter of Owen, Redcliffe's blacksmith.

I embraced the two dissatisfied newcomers and pulled the two maids them closer. Under the collective weight of 8 people, the palatial bed wailed loudly.

It was the third day of my return: the seven days of the beast had barely begun.

***

Prior to his departure from Halstatt 8 days ago, Hiro dealt a shocking blow to surviving Castall nobles with a coronation.

Different to his usual practical fighting attire, Riheet Tirvac was wearing a royal robe owned by the former king of Castall. 

Standing in two lines, left and right before him, were surviving nobles in the southern region. Most of the prominent families had their leaders killed and many families had their whole family members put to death, but Cass Brankovic had summoned discarded members of big families and appointed them as new heads of the leaderless families while low ranked families were spared. The search teams were sent out to the southern wilderness for nomadic and barbaric tribes as they were all dark elves. Later, several thousands of dark elves relocated to the southern region. While there was no concept of aristocratic ranks among the dark elves, they lived in the human land with their custom. This was for reestablishing dark elves' dominance. Decades ago, the west and eastern Castall were largely inhabited by dark elves, but as human villages were there now, the only available region to fill in the whole dark elves was the southern region. Nevertheless, the surviving humans in the south had to coexist with the dark elves. 

Observing the mixture of humans and dark elves as his vassals bowing in the hall, Riheet returned to sit on the throne of the former king.

A brown skinned man donning a gambeson stepped into the throne hall with a dark elf girl and a bespectacled woman following him. 

Recognizing the man as the ultimate ruler of this land, everyone bowed including Riheet Tirvac who was on the throne.

Calmly stopped just before the throne, he called,

"Count Riheet Tirvac, the Voivode of Castall state."

Riheet raised his hand gallantly, as a cue to his vassals to vacate the hall.

They bowed to both of the rulers and left the hall. The bespectacled woman and the dark elf girl remained. 

"His majesty, King Hiro." 

The dark elf man stood from the throne and walked to Hiro. 

The dark elf girl walked to Riheet and held his left hand.

"My sister and I had never expected to reach our goal this soon. Without you, we would still be wandering aimlessly, risking our life to no avail. Is it right, Lupine?" He said while smiling at the dark girl holding his arm. 

Lupine nodded.

Hiro walked to the throne and sat.

"Are you leaving? We could still venture further south." Riheet suggested.

"I would like nothing more than to enjoy adventure in the unknown but ..." Hiro declared in a firm tone before looking at the bespectacled woman and then at Riheet.

"There are pressing matters in the east with the scheming Orlais and Dioral. And I am anxious to see my family back in Redcliffe and Hinterland."

Riheet nodded to the king's words.

The king added, "I am leaving my right hand man, Jascha Alatt here with some knights to help you restore this ravaged land."

Hiro stood up, and took out an ornate sword from his waist.

"We had taken the while royal treasure to Redcliffe as our spoils of war except this.."

Hiro passed the sword in golden scabbard to the dark elven ruler. 

"Thank you.."

Then, the King walked away from the throne and pointed there as a cue for Riheet to return to his place. 

Riheet humbly nodded and strode.

While sitting on the throne with the toyal sword, he bowed.

Hiro proclaimed, 

"Be the ruler Charlemagne Carolingian should have been."

Riheet nodded several times.

Hiro opened his arm gallantly and declared,

"Long may you rein, Voivode of Castall, Count Riheet Tirvac!"

Riheet stood up and bowed.

"Please take care of my sister, your majesty."

Hiro thumbed up and turned back followed by Cass Brankovic, the bespectacled woman.

Lupine ran to her brother and embraced him.

"Brother..I will miss you."

"Lupine...be a good woman to your man."