Love Beyond Fetishes

Sly Plan

"You look oddly happy, Your Majesty, and that's quite surprising considering that you always have a smile." Elalude, who was standing next to me said.

I looked at him before putting my index finger on my chin and looking forward and replied.

"Oh? Hmm... Let's just say that Tempest's festival and negotiation went better than expected, especially with Rimuru himself. So am excited to go there again. Maybe I should ask him to let his chefs teach ours?" My smile grew slightly bigger as I drifted off to unrelated subjects.

"I understand that. your majesty. But, isn't that a bit excessive?" He had an apprehensive look while saying that, looking in the same direction as me.

We were standing on the wall of the capital. In front of the gate (but inside the capital) were dozens of carriages beings filled with boxes and barrels of all types of goods.

"What do you mean 'excessive'? We now have an official alliance with Tempest, so we obviously have to announce it to the world as loud as we can! After all, how can an alliance between elves and monsters be a small matter? And how can we not give them anything, especially considering that they are going to build a road to us all by themselves."

While I was explaining, Elalude's expression turned more and more exhausted, probably thinking something along the lines of 'That's just an excuse to go to tempest again...'.

'Fufufu~ Elalude, it's not an excuse to go there. Other than giving us some public support and leverage in future deals due to this gift, I'm not interested in any of that. What I actually want is to see his expression, especially when he hears my "proposal", fufufuf~'

While thinking of that, I couldn't help but let out a light chuckle. Elalude, who was looking at me, just shook his head. He probably already has a headache and is dreading the rest of the day. Haa... He sure worries a lot.

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'To my dear lovely boyfriend.

'Hi Rimuru! Did you miss me? Well, you don't have to be in anguish any longer because I and a bunch of my people are coming to Tempest and we will reach it in three hours. I have brought a lot of gifts to announce our alliance and to celebrate!

'From your one girlfriend, Elmesia .'

'What the hell is with this message? It sounds like she's sarcastic asking me for a date! Also, since when did we become lovers?! W-was she serious about what she said at the festival?!'

I was utterly shocked by this supposedly official message from a sovereign. I was extremely flustered because I didn't know how to deal with and/or interpret this, and absolutely not because this reminded me of that time when my high school crush pranked me. 

《Notice: Looking at the situation and considering the deal she made with Tempest, what she did was 100% a political play so that she has more control over the dividends Sarion receives from the road.》

Raphael quickly said when I was starting to wonder if she truly loved me, she also said the same thing that day. But with how quickly she shot down my assumption and her worried tone, it all was a bit suspicious. Before I could ask her about it, someone else talked.

"Rimuru-Sama, are you alright?" Shuna, who was standing next to me while I read the message asked with a concerned voice.

"W-what do you mean? I'm totally fine! It's just that this came out of nowhere" I replied to her while thanking Elesia in my heart for putting a strong encrypting magic on the message, making it so no one other than me could read it.

"But, your face is read, Rimuru-Sama. Are you sick?" She asked again while looking me in the face with a worried frown.

"W-what do you mean red? I-I'm a slime, I'm physically incapable of blushing or being sick!" I quickly retorted.

'Raphael... Is my face red?' Fear was starting to swell in my mind, because if that was true, then it would mean that my thoughts were clear every time I stared at Shion's chest, Hinata, Luminous, or Elmesia herself!

(Note: Couldn't get better wording but here is what he meant. When Shion, stare at Booba. When other hot girl: Stare at everything)

《Affermative. The reason for that is to mimic bodily human behavior and make Master more comfortable in human form.》

'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!' At that moment, I swore to become a monk to preserve my dignity.

"Maybe because you're in your human form you're susceptible to sickness?" Shuna, who was unaware of the horrifying revelation that I had, asked me.

"A-ahem! That's not important right now! Emissaries from Sarion including Elmesia-san are coming in three hours, so we should prepare to receive them!" After saying redirecting the conversation to what is important, I stood up and teleported.

I had to convey that to the others, I wasn't just running away because I felt too embarrassed about where the conversation was going.

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A.N/ 818. That's hella short, I know.

So it has been a long ass while, and my magnanimous return was just 800 words that were supposed to be the first half of a chapter and sit up the rest of the chapter, but honestly, I just really don't feel like writing.

Do you know that feeling when you eat so much that you get full but force yourself to eat more? You feel like you just want to stop and can't do this for more. That's what I was feeling. I wanted to make it at least 1.5k but couldn't

I'm sorry for you all if you were disappointed, but I will try my best for the next chapter, and hopefully, it will be better since I have most of it planned in my mind. Again, sorry for this stupidly short of a chapter, but I just couldn't write more.

See you hopefully in two days, I will try to at least write something every other day, but that doesn't mean I will post at that pace, because it's likely for chapters to need more than a single day. 

Have a good life!