Chapter 278

Daphne

I purposely interrupted their little moment.

Ain’t no way was I going to let the male lead slip back into her coils, or let whatever nostalgic, tragic eye-contact was happening reach its natural, stupid conclusion. Nope.

Him, all lonely lion king with his tragic jawline scar. Her, all repressed devotion and coiled snake readiness. It was practically dripping with "should we, shouldn’t we" angst. Bor-ing.

The harem’s broken. The mission is functionally complete. I’m not about to let some melodramatic, unresolved sexual tension sprout a new, problematic side-plot.

"Congratulations on your coronation. Sure, I’m a couple of months late, but I was busy," I say, waving a dismissive hand. Busy is an understatement. I’d watched the whole thing via a System-generated live feed.

"Thank you," he says, his voice cautious. He pauses, and leans forward on the desk, his fingers moving restlessly.

"About what happened at the duel... you... how..." he starts, his words halting, grappling with the impossible memory. "What... how..."

I raise my hand, a simple, silencing gesture.

"It’s best you don’t ask those questions, Your Majesty."

He falls silent. His fingers, resting on the polished wood of the desk, tremble slightly.Finally, he nods, a sharp, stiff motion. Wow with his reaction you’d think he was in the presence of the devil himself.

"What matters," I continue, my voice smooth and mercantile, "is that you owe me. A life for a throne. And I’m here to receive my payment."

I purposely hold his gaze. The fear is there, bright and stark in his lion’s eyes. He really does think I’m some kind of devil, doesn’t he?

I’m almost, almost tempted to ask for the life of his firstborn, just to fuck with him. Watch the blood drain from his face.

[HOST!!!] the System shrieks in my mind, a burst of panicked static.

Okay, fine, I think back, rolling my eyes internally. I won’t. Not because the System asked nicely, but because he might actually die of a heart attack right here, and that would just waste all my previous effort.

"What is it?" he asks.

"I need you to change a law for me."

He looks at me, warily.

"The marriage one."

His face transforms from wary to pure, unadulterated confusion. The kingly mask slips, revealing the utterly baffled young man underneath. "What?"

He sure is asking a lot of questions today.

"I know most people forget, but I am female, a woman," I say.

He looks confused, like what am I talking about?

"My beloved is also female," I say dryly.

The silence stretches. Then, comprehension dawns, followed by a flicker of something that looks dangerously like... dismissal. "You want... to change the marriage law... for that?"

Now that pisses me off. That tone.

"That?" I say, and my voice is a low growl that vibrates in the air between us, thick with promise. The temperature in the room seems to drop.

"Wanting to have a legal union with the love of my life?" My tail lashes once, a sharp crack against the leg of my chair.

"No, it’s just—" he starts, finally recognizing the precipice he’s stepped onto.

I cut him off, my words precise and cold as shards of ice.

"I suggest you think of your next words very carefully. Be very sure you can handle the consequences."

He gulps, the sound audible in the frozen quiet. The terror is back, deeper now, mixed with the dawning realization that he has profoundly insulted the one creature in his kingdom he truly cannot afford to offend.

"It’s... just not the norm," he finishes, his voice barely a whisper, deflating under the weight of my glare.

"My love for her," I say, each word a deliberate, weighted drop, "is not any less than what some males feel for their partners. Arguably, I actually love her."

"I am not asking for your blessing on a perversion. I am demanding your recognition of a fact."

He swallows again, hard.

"Is marriage not a union of two people?" I ask, my tone deceptively light, conversational.

"...It is," he responds, the words dragged out of him. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"And what," I continue, leaning forward slightly, "is the fundamental, legal difference between my desired union and literally every other married couple in this kingdom? Strip away the ceremony. The flowers. The politics. At its bones, what is it?"

He shifts in his seat, the crown suddenly looking too heavy, too ornate for this conversation. "...Well, the continuation of the family line, and—"

"Oh, really?" I snap, the pretense of patience vanishing. The word cracks through the room like a whip.

"So by that sterling logic, every couple in your kingdom who cannot have children, or chooses not to, their marriage is null and void? Should we start annulling them tomorrow? Shall I draw up the list? We can start with the elderly. Move on to the infertile. It’ll be a grand, kingdom-wide purge of ’invalid’ unions."

He pales. "That’s not what I—"

"Then what do you imply?" I growl back, actually losing my temper. The air in the room feels charged, too tight. At this point, I might make a decision I’ll regret.

"I am not here to convince you," I say, my voice dropping into a cold, flat calm that is far more dangerous than the growl. "I am here to inform you."

"But—the council—how am I supposed to convince them? How do I justify—" he starts again.

I cut him off with a sharp gesture.

"Well, that is precisely why I am informing you and not them. The ’how’ is your job. You are the king.I do not care about your methods. I only want the results."

I stand up, the movement fluid and final. I look down at him, not as a subject to a monarch, but as a creditor who has just presented an invoice that cannot be ignored.

"Or else," I say, the words soft, almost pleasant, "we’re going to do things my way."

The threat isn’t spelled out. I turn and walk towards the door.

"And, Your Majesty?" I pause at the edge of the door, not looking back.

"Do not make me regret putting in that seat."