Princess Rosaria of the Human Kingdom is one peculiar kind of royalty. She is a young woman whose skin, face, and hair are all breathtakingly beautiful. Beautiful curves in just the right places, and a slender figure. Beautiful voice, enviable even by elvish standards, despite being only human. Beauty on the level of divinity and for many, it is like the goddess herself has decided to descend and grace everyone with her presence. To the rabble and the nobility alike then, she is a woman who fits all the meanings of the word — beautiful.

That's why people also claim her to be the coming of the third Goddess, a true vision of loveliness.

Being held in such high regard and placed on a pedestal hasn't been easy for princess Rosaria. From a young age, those around her saw her as exceptional, and for someone like her, this meant that there have always been more foes than friends — those who have approached her without any twisted ulterior motives could be counted on her delicate fingers. The pressure from her royal family, who saw her as a trophy, to be polished and nurtured for the sake of the world, also didn't help.

While the war led by the Demon King and his army had been ravaging the lands for centuries, a beacon of hope had appeared like a shining light in the darkness, and the people's pleas were finally heard.

As soon as she turned twelve, the number of times the two Goddesses line up their respective moons in front of the sun in a heavenly cycle, her father, the king, had ordered Pope Leminas and his archbishops to undergo the ancient ritual of illumination which confirmed all the rumors surrounding the beautiful little princess. She had been blessed by the Goddess.

It had been over a century since the last blessing, which proved to be useless after the Demon King easily defeated the appointed Elf Heroine. This time, however, would be different. That's what the four major kingdoms promised each other, to work together like a well-oiled machine and not end up in endless disputes, which ultimately floundered their chance at winning the last time. And at the center of this new given chance was Princess Rosaria, a shining star promised to unite them among the chaos of war.

Already as a little girl, with all attention on her, she was tasked to find the Hero, the one individual she had to pass all her blessings onto so they could defeat the Demon King, just as the first part of the prophecy foretold. For all intents and purposes, her path had already been laid out, stable and locked, like the orbits of the two moons owned by the Goddesses. After the defeat of the Demon King, she was to marry the Hero and complete the latter part of the prophecy, to ensure the prosperity of mankind. She had everything going for her, riches, looks, and authority. On her end, life seemed merely like a cruise on a boat sailing through calm waters of a channel.

Yet, now, she finds herself snuggling up to Xal on a big mahogany bed while wearing a revealing light pink negligee with a purple thong.

The sheets are all crumpled up, with wet stains all over. They extend down the sides of the bed and are scattered all over the marble floor, a remnant of a heated night with the man next to her.

While leaning on Xal's shoulder, she tries to catch her breath and stares vacantly at the ceiling.

「We need to talk about this... I can feel it... We are both nearing our limits, aren't we?」 she mutters while slowly caressing Xal's chest. She likes how rugged and rough his skin feels under her hand.

「What are you talking about?」

「Oh come on... Don't you dare pretend not to know,」 she looks at him disapprovingly, trying to lock eyes, but he averts her gaze. The princess is used to people doing so, but usually, it's because they are nervous and get self-conscious — but not this man. She places her face in his field of vision, making sure he won't be able to move his golden-brown eyes away.

「I've already told you not to worry about it. I'm fine, really」 he finally responds, staring straight back into her emerald green eyes.

「But I know you're not! Stop trying to brush it off as nothing!」 Rosaria pokes Xal's chest repeatedly as she puffs out her cheeks. 「Even now⸺ just touching you like this... I am⸺! ❤」

Cutting herself off, she blushes heavily while gazing down toward her crotch where she can feel the heat gather. Despite having just finished an hours-long session where — as usual — she had to throw in the towel, her body seems to have a mind of its own. She fears that soon that disconnect will start having adverse effects. No, she knows it will.

Xal grins, revealing a healthy pair of white teeth, and gives her a quick impish glance. Idiot, why can't he take her seriously? The princess lies back down on her side of the bed and lifts the sheets up to her chest to hide her shame.

「What shall we do about... this...?」 she asks, shifting her eyes from herself to him.

「Well, I do have some ideas of my own, like...」 he says before tapering off.

But that is enough to make Rosaria spring up with excitement, causing the bed to creak and her long blonde hair to swing over her face and onto her ample breasts. Clearing the long strands of hair out of the way, she urges him, 「Like what? Tell me!」

She has already tried her best to rid them of this issue, without success. Now it's his turn. After a moment of silent eye contact, Xal rolls over, facing her, and rests his head on his hand, looking up at her lazily.

「You won't like it... but if you insist,」 he warns, taking a short pause, before revealing with a nonchalant expression, 「How about another woman?」

What? All color seems to leave the princess' face and her excited demeanor quickly shifts to icy as she gives him a grave stare. After everything she'd done for him, the studying and learning, having had to curb her pride and shame to pursue indecencies for his fancy, this is how he wants to repay her! Rosaria is furious. Yes, she likes his honesty, and how he won't shy away from her like many others, but she is a princess. How dare—

「What? You wanted a solution,」 Xal interrupts her thoughts, keeping his nonchalant look, shrugs, and adds 「I'm sure even I won't be able to handle the intensity of—」

「How can you even suggest something like that?!」 Rosaria blows her fuse. She leaps forward and begins throwing a continuous onslaught of punches, pelleting his chest like fireballs from a mage's staff.

「Hey, hey wait, it was just a suggestion!」 Xal cowers under his sheets. The bed creaks and bounces as Rosaria flails her arms around, shuffling on her knees on top of his chest while Xal tries to restrain her. If he knew she wouldn't like it, he should have kept it to his thoughtless self. Fuming, exhausted and red in the face, she gives him a final, icy glare before relenting and dropping her head on the pillow next to his. She turns around quickly, away from him, pulling most of the quilt with her and leaving almost none for him while sniffling. She feels worthless and invalidated, like a piece of throwaway tea towel. Feelings she isn't used to. At least not ones caused by a man. Throughout her life, male-female relations always felt like a matter of contractual obligation and without any genuine emotions involved.

Xal scratches his belly and looks at the ceiling with a resigned face. The bedroom falls silent with the only noises being those coming from outside through the blinds of an open window. In the inky darkness, the chirping of crickets and the low hoots of owls signify the passage of midnight.

Despite the cold and quiet of the night, Rosaria's heart is restless. She remembers the comfort and peace of life at the court, where a simple snap of her fingers would bring a maid to close the windows without her having to ask. The chill from the wind running down her spine makes her shudder. The palace would never allow her to be this cold. The bed would be bigger, quilt thicker, and fire stones placed in every corner of the room would ensure the temperature stayed warm. There's none of that here, her body isn't used to this uneasiness. Yet, she finds her current situation to be comforting, even though she can't explain why.

The princess shifts in bed and with a tiny, almost inaudible voice, says, 「If... if it’s just a concubine... I might be fine with it. Also... go close the window.」

Xal gets out of his daze and whips his head wide-eyed to his side. Rosaria is keeping the quilt close to her face, right below her eyes. She knows this makes her look endearing. Just as Xal is about to utter something, she interrupts him with her strong gaze, shifting his attention from her to the window, in pleading. He gets up, naked, allowing the burn of her gaze to follow his lightly muscled body as he strides over to close the window. Turning around, he studies her eyes as the two keep staring at each other in silence, looking for any sign of deceit.

「... Are you sure?」 he carefully asks.

「Don't make me repeat myself,」 she mumbles, and after a short pause, she adds, 「but I do have some conditions. For one, I will be the one choosing her.」

She knows there won't be any other woman left to match her qualities, fortunately, the elf princess was sequestered away in some mountain retreat after the shame she brought to her bloodline and race during the war, and after that her sisters in the Elf Kingdom were wise enough to keep away from Xal.

She raises her head from the pillow and props it up using her hand. As she's still looking at him and admiring how defined his abs are starting to become, she flutters her eyes and asks, 「Do you have any preferences I need to look out for?」

Xal averts his gaze, and the princess, once again, doesn't mind it. She watches him scratch his head in sudden embarrassment, with guilt creeping up his face. She likes how he can be cute like that. She takes in his raw emotion while holding back a chuckle.

「A-a different race maybe?」 he finally mutters.

「Oh a different race, is it?」 Rosaria's emerald eyes light up and her fine eyebrows crease while she tugs on a lock of hair.

After the Demon King devastated the world, many different races, particularly those of demon-kind were almost completely wiped from the face of the earth. Now only a handful of the previously diverse races remain. Many of them have chosen to blend in with already-established societies in order to avoid being targeted by those who are still fanatical acolytes of the Demon King or by misguided organizations that continue to view them as enemies due to their association with the demonkind.

If they had to pick someone non-human, it would need to be from a more widely accepted race in order to avoid any potential issues, on top of the ones they already have. The two closest and most friendly races to the humans are the elves and dwarves, both of which are part of the four major kingdoms. While an elf would likely be the most compatible choice, it wouldn't be wise to poke the nest of beehives that is the Elf Kingdom in the current situation.

Rosaria now has locks of her hair between her fingers, twirling and jerking them around while Xal takes it upon himself to also make a gesture looking as if he is in deep thought, although the princess knows he's just pretending.

So the woman will have to be from the Dwarven Kingdom. Who does she know from there? Rosaria thinks back to when she and the party visited the kingdom's capital to augment their gear with powerful dwarven magic, a skill they are quite good at. They weren't particularly friendly with her for some reason but, if she recalls correctly, Xal wanted to spend an unusual amount of time there compared to the other places they visited. He should be fine with a dwarf woman.

「Do you know any dwarven women?」 she asks.

Xal chokes on his spit and his face turns a shade darker. He looks at Rosaria with stern eyes and declares「Out of the question. I don’t want anything to do with the dwarves nor halflings... ever again.」

「Huh? Did something happen?」 she starts caressing her hair, straightening the twists and knots she made absentmindedly.

「Bad memories… I’d rather not talk about it」 he replies with a sour look on his face.

「Fine… Then what about a beast-woman? Like from that cat-folk village we visited when we had Hero try and learn their battle roars?」 Rosaria continues.

Xal shakes his head. She proposes a few more candidates from their journey's itinerary, but Xal rejects them all. Finally having enough, she puffs her cheeks in anger. 「Fine! If that’s how you want it, I'll just go pick up some random woman myself! Hmph!」 she reproaches before turning around in a swift motion to cover herself completely with the quilt so she can pretend to sleep.

Xal smiles helplessly before sighing and getting back on the bed. With a lazy wave of his hand, he casts a spell to turn off the light so he can join her.

Morning comes with light dew carrying birdsong from afar. Streaks of light shining through the window land on Rosaria's half-naked body as she's putting on a white one-piece summer dress where each movement, full of grace and delicacy, reveals years of training at the court. She hums a little tune, one that the birds seem to join in on as she's enjoying the morning warmth from the window. And also the lecherous glare from behind her.

Xal is lying on the bed with his head propped up with his hand while his eyes are licking Rosaria's body up and down. A sweet, womanly fragrance is emanating from her body, which he is happy to take in deeply with flared nostrils. He nods approvingly as he traces how the one-piece dress clings tightly to her body, revealing the shape of her bra-less soft breasts and, when she turns, how the indentation along at her back, in the middle, also molds the shape of her ass cheeks.

Rosaria straightens the cloth around her hips, making sure to emphasize the area around her crotch to show that she fulfilled his request of not wearing any panties. The court would have a field day were they to get wind of this. Sometimes she can't believe the lengths she's been willing to go just to satisfy this savage man's desires. What has become of me? Thinking about it makes her nether regions hot.

She can only relish in knowing that men are simple creatures. Their requests always pertain to profane or immaterial things. The years of always being the center of attention wherever she went have taught her that. The men would talk to her pretending otherwise, or feign respect and worship her title or looks, but with the help of her mother — who wanted her to know how to avoid trouble — her eyes have learned to pick up the cues, which have become more blatant and easy to spot with the passage of her teenage years.

Vain, all of them. She throws a coquettish glance at Xal who responds impishly before she moves her attention to his now-hardened member. Even Xal.

The corner of her mouth turns upwards. The only one who doesn't fit this pattern is Hero, but he's more of a paragon of perfection than a man.

She feels a pang of guilt sting her heart for a moment.

After tying her hair into a ponytail in front of a mirror, the princess heads to the kitchen, escaping both her thoughts and Xal. She drapes an apron over her one-piece dress.

「Alright!」 she says and as if to steel herself mentally, she claps herself on the face with both palms.

Walking up to the kitchen counter, she takes out ingredients and looks at them, trying to weigh them mentally and remember their uses. This is just another mountain she has to climb in order to acclimate to her new surroundings. As a princess, she was never required to lift a finger — a delicate flower, shielded from all the menial tasks. Even during their journey in the war campaign, she mostly stood in the middle, protected from all sides, and just had to make sure everyone stayed alive.

She tries fixing up some breakfast for herself and Xal but quickly ends up with a burned pan. Looking at the questionable food makes her clench her teeth. A woman of royal blood, the princess of the world's most powerful kingdom, the woman who was right then and there with the Hero in defeating the all-powerful Demon King, is continually being defeated by mere cooking.

Sighing, she wistfully reminisces about how every kind of food was always prepared for her by world-class chefs. When young, before their journey, she would take Hero and sneak him into the palace kitchen, where she would feed him the delectable dishes prepared by the skilled cooks — otherworldly, compared to the ordinary dishes Hero was used to as a commoner.

Another pang of guilt pricks her heart.

Shaking her head to perish the thoughts, she internally apologizes, first to Hero, and then thanks Xal for never complaining about her poor cooking skills. Although, in her opinion, bad food coming from a princess is still food. He should be grateful...

Just as she's carrying the plate with food to Xal, a knocking sound echoes from the magic-imbued front door in the hallway. She casts her eyes in the direction of the door suspiciously.

Another knock. This time louder. For a brief moment, confusion washes over her face but then, as if a ghost went through her body, she starts trembling and takes a step back, dropping the plate and letting the silverware hit the floor with a loud clang, leaving food scattered all over.

「Princess Rosaria! I know you're in there, open up!」 a manly voice resounds clearly through the magically soundproofed walls.

Only one person has this voice - clear, bright and vibrant, exuding the blessing of the Goddess.

「N..no... Hero? Why?」 she shakes her head.

A touch suddenly felt on her ass makes her look up and behind where she sees Xal, who just walked out of their bedroom.

Eyes shaking, she locks onto his gaze and asks nervously, 「W..what.. do we do?」

Xal gives her a firm look before settling his eyes straight toward the front door.

「Stay here,」 he commands.

Having put on a short, grey cape he took from a coathanger near the room's entrance, he walks out the front door with confident steps.