Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

Chapter 267: A pile of wood and a pile of flesh

"To say that I expected to meet again with you, your majesty, so soon, would be no less than an outright lie."

Even if Etaria requested us to drop the formalities when we talked the day before, right now we were surrounded by way too many of her soldiers to allow such convenience to pass.

"You asked me to bring you a head on a silver platter, didn't you?" Etaria replied as soon as her entourage reached a comfortable distance for us to talk in a normal voice. She then turned sideways and beckoned at one of the two men that accompanied her.

"You will have to forgive me for the lack of the platter thought. Silverware is not the kind of luxury I tend to bring to the field of battle," Etaria spoke outright as one of her men approached the wooden table and placed a small chest he held in his hands right on top of it.

"And that's…?" I started a question only to turn my eyes to the princess and give her a questioning look.

"The head of Duke Salvador," the princess answered in a voice louder than before, clearly aimed to bring the news to more than just me. "He's the man who ignored my orders and sent his army off to attack your forest in spite of an expressed order not to."

I took a look over the princess' shoulder, to where just a small portion of said duke's army remained to finish the job the princess ordered them to do as per my request.

And with just this single look, I noticed quite a few different stares that those people exchanged upon hearing the news.

For a split second, I saw all sorts of emotions appear on their faces. But no matter how hard I looked, I failed to find a single man who would express even the remotest form of grief or regret…

That is before the spell of the instant broke and their genuine expressions were taken over by well-practiced empty looks and faces full of grief so fake, it was actually hard to look at.

"Head of a duke…" I allowed the corner of my mouth to rise before averting my eyes away from the soldiers ahead and turning them back towards the princess. "He wouldn't happen to be the man I saw that officer of yours," I turned my eyes towards the other of the princess' two escorts, "kill mere moments before our meeting yesterday?"

The air instantly tensed up.

Quite notably, though, it wasn't the princess that was behind the change. And even more noticeably, I felt the aura all around me shake… only for Madam to appear right at the edge of my field of vision, her eyes glued to the hardly noticeable man by the princess' side.

"You asked for a head," the princess spoke, ignoring the change in the air and shrugging her shoulders. "You never specified whose head you wanted."

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Etaria's eyes grew a bit sharper than before, her look threatening to drill holes into my face.

"I didn't specify it indeed," I admitted before turning to face the princess… and then lowering my head in apology. "I was just taken aback by the station of the sacrifice of your choosing. And I'm quite… delighted by your dedication," I stated, only to raise my head and give the princess a genuinely amused look.

"As for whether or not it only gave you an excuse to justify ridding your camp of a corrupted element…"

This time it was my turn to shrug my shoulders.

"Why would I care?" I concluded my response with my smile growing even brighter than before.

And to my surprise, the princess actually returned the smile, making the two of us look like a pair of vile schemers amused by the extent of the other's villainy.

"It's good to see that we are on the same page, even if only in this matter," Etaria replied after a few moments, once we calmed ourselves down and erased the cheeky smirks from our faces.

But the words she said…

They struck quite a sensitive note in my soul.

"May we talk in private for a moment?" Out of nowhere, I asked.

"Did you finally start falling for my charms?" the princess failed to take my words seriously, opting to turn it all into a joke instead.

But I had no plans of letting her slip away so easily.

"Guys," I turned my head and looked at Makary before moving my eyes over to where I could sense a whole group of celestials and divines getting themselves ready for a suicidal charge if that's what it would take for them to save me from the clutches of the human supreme were the princess to make a move. "Leave us."

There was no hint of hesitation or doubt in my voice.

If I wanted to have the princess answer the questions I had, I could only ask when she could be sure no one unnecessary was listening.

"But sir Peter…"

One of the celestials came out to protest, only to be shot down by my furious stare.

"I hope your order didn't include me, hon," Fay grew out by my side, already wrapping her hands around my arm by the time I noticed her return from the depths of the forest where she was to check the state of the frame of the yet-to-be-active permanent gate.

"Of course it didn't, dearest," I replied without even a second of hesitation. "Oh, right," I then turned my face back to the princess. "Allow me to introduce you.

Fay, this is the golden princess of the empire, the leader of the armies attacking your forest, the supreme that singlehandedly holds Madam back from just ending this conflict on her own," I spoke out before turning my eyes away from Fay and towards the princess.

"Your Highness, if I may, this little cutie here is Fay," I stated, only for my entire disposition to change.

All the joy, sympathy, and amusement vanished from my eyes, replaced with nothing but endless devotion and determination.

"She is my wife-to-be and someone for whom I would set the whole world to a torch if she so desired."