Lazy Sigh of the Villainess

Chapter 2.24 – The Queen is the Heart of the Nation

One day, one month after the inquisition at the state church. Eseria contacted Magdalena and went to the royal palace with Killing.

「Queen-sama, I’m thankful for sparing me some of your precious time today.」

Magdalena smiled and found Eseria, who politely greeted her as a duchess should, amusing.

「Eseria, it is unusual for you to greet me formally. Rather than talking about that, you came with someone unexpected today. It’s been a while, Archbishop Killing.」

「It’s been a while, your majesty. We are very grateful for letting us visit you.」

「Let’s stop with the courtesy and get to the main point now. Duke Sjogren has spoken with me privately about why you and Eseria are here. I thought it was interesting so I would like to hear more details. 」

「Thank you very much. Then, your highness, please take a look at these documents. 」

Without wasting time, Eseria secretly thought of her father, who was not there, as she watches the two of them exchanging opinions across the table.

(After the inquisition, everyone at home got worried so I told them everything that happened. However, I never thought that father would secretly tell the queen about it without informing me.)

She’s grateful but she’s still a little confused.

(That saved us a lot but there’s no need for him to hide it from me. Did he want to surprise me? He did a good job making a fool of me. My father is kind of childish in strange aspects.)

While she was thinking of that, the two had finished their question-and-answer explanations. They reached out the tea that they never laid their hands on while talking. After taking a sip, Magdalena came to a conclusion.

「I understand the church’s idea. I’ll have the ministers involved to immediately legalize it. 」

「Thank you for your support. The church will continue to fulfill its duty sincerely for the development of the country. 」

「Of course, this will develop the country but won’t it develop the church more? We are going to place restrictions on some places to prevent the church from taking it too far.」

「We never plan on doing things privately and it is up to the royal family to do as they wish.」

Magdalena, who made an immediate decision, and pierced a nail while Killing dodged it with a laugh. While the two are laughing “ahaha” and “ohoho”, Eseria are watching them on the side.

(Uwaa, this is basically a match between a fox and a tanuki. And the queen didn’t even bother asking the opinion of the king, is that alright? Somehow, I feel like the queen and the ministers are in charge of national politics and not the queen…or is that really what’s happening?)

Eseria suddenly thought of such a thing but did not say anything about it and just smiled in silence. Then, Magdalena casually says.

「Speaking of which, Eseria…」

「Yes, what is it?」

「I received a gift from Cornelia saying it is something you wrote that completely differs from the normal trend. I heard from Miredia that you used it to get in touch with the upper echelon of the church.」

「….eh?」

After receiving an unexpected straight ball that she forgot to patch up, Eseria raised a silly voice. Killing himself spilled the tea he had been drinking.

(What! Ehhhh!? No way, aneesama, how can you give a BL book to the queen!? That was indeed intended to be gifted but how can you do this!? Even archbishop-sama was stunned!!)

Magdalena is still smiling softly but Eseria asked for some details while sweating coldly.

「Ano….queen-sama, did you read it?」

「My cute niece gave it to me, how can I not read it?」

「…..I see.」

(She read it! Moreover, it seems like she read it till the end!!)

Eseria realized that she can’t escape. Killing is just nearby so Magdalena can only calmly scold her.

「Then, Eseria?」

「Y-yes!!」

「You may be free to express what you want but you must think of the content first. You can’t be too mischievous to demean others or incite criminal activity, okay?」

「I-I’ll engrave it to my heart!」

After Eseria swore, she nodded satisfactorily and then turned to Killing.

「I think various kinds of discussions are being held within the church and there are those who want to do something. I think tolerance is necessary to govern. What does the archbishop think?」

「I agree with her majesty.」

While watching him bow his head, Eseria was still in a state of disarray, thinking hard.

(Well, let’s see….then, if “that” is not too radical, it means the queen won’t mind it, right? Does this mean that the queen has become a rotte….no, her majesty’s grace is just far-reaching.)

While Eseria was impressed with the queen, a maid walked up to their table and reported something.

「Your grace, please pardon my rudeness. Dione-sama and Gradict-sama are here. We sent them to the parlor.」

「Good timing. Send them here.」

「Yes, your grace.」

(Hey!? Why did Gradict come here?!! I have no plan to meet the royal capture target!!)

Eseria was upset with what she heard. She instinctively opened her mouth.

「A-ano…queen-sama. If you have an appointment with someone else, it will be impolite for us to stay here.」

「Oh, it’s okay. I especially called them for you. I will also introduce them to Killing-dono this time.」

「….is that so?」

「As you wish.」

Eseria, whose exit route has been cut, and Killing, who nodded suspiciously, sat quietly while waiting for the two to appear.

(I have a very bad feeling about this. No way….)

Unfortunately, Eseria’s premonition came true.