I used threats to make Mito agree to have my child.
The princess general once called Selseta’s Silver Arrow1 is now mine. Naturally, I stripped Mito naked that same day, took her virginity, and enjoyed the king’s sister’s body as much as I wanted-or so I’d like to say, but I’m not going to rush things that far.
Soldiers value speed, but when it comes to sex, slow and skillful wins.
…Or so I said something that sounded smart, but my real reason is much simpler. If I push her too hard into a corner, Mito might snap and bite off my throat or my you-know-what, so I just figured I’d take my time and train her slowly.
The first thing I did was show Mito-who had been forced to agree to have my child against her will-a single sheet of paper.
Mito, her face covered in humiliation and pain, furrowed her brows and scanned the paper thrust in front of her, a puzzled voice escaping her lips as she asked, “This is…”
”These are the names of the high-ranking Selseta soldiers who became prisoners. Now that the king’s sister has agreed to bear my child, I will release the prisoners as promised. But even if I say I’ve ‘released’ them, the king’s sister probably won’t believe me, right?” I explained, gesturing to the text.
When I asked, Mito made a complicated face and gave a small nod.
Seeing that, I made a low chuckle in my throat.
”So, I’ll have someone the king’s sister trusts act as a witness. After that person confirms the prisoners’ release, I’ll bring them before the king’s sister to testify. That way, the king’s sister can believe I fulfilled the agreement. Starting the baby-making can wait until after that,” I added smoothly.
The moment she heard “baby-making,” Mito’s shoulders jumped with a start.
For an instant, fear seemed to cross her blue eyes, but she quickly pushed it away with sheer willpower, and Mito glared back at me bravely.
”…Once the prisoners are released, I won’t have any reason to follow your orders anymore, you know?” Mito pointed out sharply.
”Oh? The king’s sister of Selseta will break an agreement she once gave her word on?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
”There’s no reason to blame someone for breaking an agreement that was forced by threats,” Mito countered firmly.
Mito’s words were correct. But people who truly think that way don’t bother saying it out loud to warn their opponent.
I grinned and answered the good-natured king’s sister.
”In that case-let me think. As payback for the king’s sister breaking the agreement, I’ll have about ten Selseta villages along the border burned down. No letting the women or children escape-everyone dies,” I proposed with a nonchalant shrug.
”W-What kind of monster…! You would kill innocent people!? You were the one who said the Horned Cavalry2 are warriors, not bandits!” Mito gasped, her voice trembling.
”The first one to go back on their word was the king’s sister. There’s no reason to blame me for going back on my word either,” I retorted calmly.
When I said that back to her, copying her own words from just before, the king’s sister was left speechless.
I spoke gently to Mito, who was biting her lip in frustration.
”Come now, all the king’s sister has to do is keep her agreement with me. There’s no need to overthink it,” I urged in a soothing tone.
”…Ngh,” Mito grimaced.
Mito glared at me with sharp eyes, but she didn’t try to talk back.
I showed Mito the prisoner list again.
”So, who will you choose? Just to be clear, I won’t do anything like keeping the person the king’s sister chooses locked up as a prisoner. After the king’s sister has them testify that the prisoners were released, I’ll properly send them back to Selseta. Choose without worry,” I prompted smoothly.
Hearing that, Mito seemed to struggle with the decision for a while, but perhaps she judged that I wasn’t lying, because she said the name of the person at the very top of the list. Apparently one of the unit commanders Mito trusted.
If released, this person would be a problem for the Urgalia Army going forward, but precisely because they are such a person, after being released they would surely beg the King of Selseta to rescue Mito. That would spread word of the king’s sister’s survival within Selseta.
Compared to carelessly spreading rumors on our side, this is a far more reliable and efficient way to spread word of Mito’s survival and throw Selseta into chaos.
In that sense, this person has more benefits than drawbacks when it comes to releasing them-if I explain it that way, the Chancellor probably won’t oppose my plan either.
Thinking about such things, I left the prison where Mito was locked up.
At the end, I thought about giving the king’s sister’s chest-who couldn’t move-one last squeeze, but I decided it was better not to give her too much stimulation right now, and somehow held back my dirty urges.
When I turned around at the door, Mito-tied to a chair with rope-was staring at me with a glare.
Someday I’ll make that angry face melt with pleasure, and turn her into a lewd elf who willingly sucks my penis. Just thinking about it made a low laugh escape me naturally.
After that, for about a month, I was buried in work sending the captured Selseta soldiers back to their homeland.
Since it was my own suggestion, I couldn’t just dump everything on the Chancellor and watch from above.
Well, even so, I had to leave most of the actual work to the Chancellor, but thanks to telling him upfront about the benefits of releasing the prisoners and the plan to get Mito pregnant that came with it, the Chancellor kept his usual iron face and silently handled the work.
Also, I explained the benefits of prisoner release to General Oswald and the other military people-I didn’t tell them about the pregnancy plan, of course-and got their approval for the prisoner release in advance. The ones who actually captured enemy soldiers were the officers and men who fought on the battlefield, so if I released prisoners on my own, they’d resent me. I avoided that.
Even an Emperor needs to report, communicate, and consult. Well, if I keep asking my subordinates for their opinions on everything, then every time I do something I’ll need my subordinates’ approval, and as a result the Emperor’s authority might be damaged-but I’ve decided not to worry too much about that. I told myself there’s no point in a puppet Emperor worrying about authority.
Anyway, the prisoner release went smoothly with the cooperation of both civil and military officials.
By the way, during that time I also visited Mito regularly. Not to do lewd things, but to tell her the prisoner release was going smoothly-that was the official reason, of course, but the real reason was to soften Mito’s heart even a little.
If you’re locked in a room all day with no one to talk to, even the strongest person gets depressed. Of course, she probably doesn’t want to talk to the hated Urgalia Emperor, but Mito must want to know how the prisoner release is going.
I used that to keep having conversations with Mito.
Even so, at first Mito didn’t drop her stubborn attitude, as if to say, “I have nothing to talk to you about!” But as the days passed, she gradually softened. More precisely, she lost the energy to keep up her stubborn attitude.
The reason wasn’t because the stress of being locked up built up-no, that was partly it, but the main reason was that I ordered the salt to be slowly removed from Mito’s food.
This was based on a story about Han Xin from the Former Han dynasty.
To explain the story simply: at one point Han Xin captured a soldier who had been violent in his own army and threw him in a cage to make him behave. But the soldier wouldn’t behave at all even in the cage. So Han Xin used the advice of a subordinate named Li Zuoche and slowly removed salt from the soldier’s food, which made the violent soldier calm down.
Humans can’t live without salt. He used that to control his army.
Why do I know such a story? Because I’d read a few business books like “Tips to Avoid Failure Learned from the Matchless Scholar3 (Han Xin’s nickname)!”
Honestly, I was half-doubtful about how well it would work, but when I actually tried it on Mito, it definitely had an effect. I wasn’t reducing the amount of food, so Mito probably thinks it’s just fatigue from being locked up.
After weakening Mito just the right amount, the prisoner release finished at a good time, and Mito’s subordinate who witnessed it returned to the Imperial Capital.
After that, all I had to do was have Mito’s subordinate tell her that I fulfilled the agreement, and the condition for having a child4 with Mito would be met.
Just thinking that I could finally hold that elf girl made my mouth naturally loosen.
Naturally, I planned to bring Mito and her subordinate together right away, but before I could do it, urgent news came to me.
It was news that my father-who had been bedridden ever since losing three sons in the earlier civil war-had fallen into critical condition.
Trivia:
1. The Emperor’s use of salt deprivation on Mito is based on a historical anecdote about Han Xin from the Former Han dynasty, showing how past life knowledge from Earth is being applied as psychological warfare in this world.
2. The Emperor’s decision to release a capable Selseta commander is calculated to spread word of Mito’s survival through enemy channels, turning a potential liability into an asset and demonstrating his strategic thinking.
3. The news of the Emperor’s father falling into critical condition arrives just as the Emperor is about to consummate his agreement with Mito, potentially disrupting his plans and hinting at future political instability.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ A title given to Mito, referring to her reputation as a skilled archer and princess general of Selseta. The title carries legendary weight, indicating she was once a celebrated military figure before her capture.
2 ↩ The elite military unit of Urgalia. The name references their distinctive horned helmets or possibly a connection to beast-mounted warfare. Mito invokes their identity as warriors rather than bandits to appeal to the Emperor’s sense of honor.
3 ↩ A nickname for Han Xin, a famous military strategist from the Former Han dynasty. The original Japanese uses a specific honorific title that emphasizes his unparalleled intellect and strategic genius, which the Emperor references as the source of his salt-deprivation tactic.
4 ↩ A euphemistic translation of the original Japanese term for procreation. The casual, almost crude phrasing reflects the Emperor’s flippant attitude toward the act and his view of it as a transactional arrangement rather than an intimate one.