The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 224: Red Queen

Chapter 224: Red Queen

The tarts were a hit!

Sure, it took what seemed like half an hour for each individual tart to be magically tested for poison, but as soon as that was done and they began to be distributed to the high table, the way peoples’ eyes lit up at the combination of strong coffee and mild white chocolate flavor validated Kir’s work in making them.

Unfortunately, the tarts never left the high table. Mostly because Lumin wound up regifting the second box to the Queen.

But at least Kordia’s ears and tails twitched and swished with delight as she tried the tarts.

Kir was still admiring them when a pair of shadows covered his part of the table.

"The Queen will speak with you," one guard, a monkey-like beastkin said.

"Right. One moment," Kir stood and stepped out from the table. The guards had him walk in front of them as he approached the high table.

As he approached, Queen Fruhe turned but remained seated. "Ah, you are the one responsible for these delicacies?" she gestured at the unopened box of tarts.

"Delightful. I permit you to bow," she raised a ringed hand, presenting it for him to kiss. Her black claws were inlaid with gold, which complemented her red-orange fur and hair quite nicely.

"With respect, I am not a citizen of your country," Kir remained standing, as half the high-table gasped and Lumin gave Kir a look of detached interest.

"Such insolence! I have not tolerated the like since my husband." She snapped her fingers and both guards reached up to place hands on Kir’s shoulders, only to be rebuffed by Kir’s latticed shield flickering into existence.

"It is not insolence but self-respect," Kir said.

Another snap of her fingers and the guards stopped trying to make Kir kneel.

"Professor Kiryu Nasumi, yes?" the Queen said, standing up. Her ears brought her up to his height. "I thought Rethani were used to bowing, but it would seem you are of a differing disposition... is that why you are here instead of halfway around the world?"

"I am here to teach, Your Highness, nothing more."

"Nothing more except refusing to respect one in a position of power? And in front of all your colleagues... But, as you say, Norneau is not of my domain... yet. So I will permit you your little show of ’self-respect’ in exchange for your recipe for this delectable little pie."

"Tart," Kir corrected.

"Excuse me?"

"Lacking an upper crust, they are tarts. Not pies." Kir reached into his jacket and produced a recipe card he had prepared for Lumin to give to the school chefs. "Just a little lesson, Your Highness." He reached out with the card and she gestured for a guard to take it.

Then she smiled, baring her fangs just a little. "May you have a wonderful teaching career. While it lasts." With a wave of her hand, Kir was dismissed back to his seat, the guards accompanying him with death glares on their faces.

"Good job, Kid." Kiryu chuckled in Kir’s head. "You’ve probably just alienated half the Academy and guests."

"What? You don’t approve?"

"Oh, I absolutely approve. Especially if you can hold your own when she sends the assassins. People on the rise rarely tolerate being slowed down in the slightest."

Kir had been briefed a long time ago on the situation between Norneau and Queen Fruhe Karabodur. Long story short, Norneau had been positioned between the established power of Montmorency and the new power of Gra’Rhuel, which had yet to reach the largest lake in the Lakelands. With Queen Fruhe having aided the city in their fight against the demons, popular support seemed to tilt toward joining Norneau with the new queendom.

It was probably why Fruhe could get away with having Princess Lapins van Montmorency seated so far away from her, assuming she had made the decisions on seating.

"I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Besides, staying shielded all the time won’t be difficult unless someone attacks me all the time. Remember what that teacher said?"

"He said to stay shielded during class... but I suppose you’re out to teach the world about industrialization, ending slavery, and now standing up to royalty. Are you sure you can juggle all that?"

Kir didn’t feel doubt. He felt resolved. "Call it a test. If my bio-mom is really pushing around my future, then I doubt anything that happens while I’m here will wind up fatal. You know as well as I do that she will probably want to meet us."

"Sound logic. I’m sure many martyrs have thought the same thing, only they shoved God to the top of their excuses."

With half the room whispering about him, Kir decided it was time to take some fresh air.

After only a minute of sitting and bantering with Kiryu, Kir stood and walked out the nearest door.

The guards glared at him but made no move to stop him.

*

Based on the orientation of the manor, the garden where Noir was buried next to "Kir" was now to the northwest.

From what he recalled of the new divisions within the manor, the male students and teachers were housed in the east, females in the west, with the gardens as neutral spaces. Nonbinary students were allowed to pick which dorm side they preferred. As he walked the quiet halls, he saw the occasional male student, nodding politely as they gawked at his height and wolfkin appearance.

From what Kir had learned about wolf beastkin before being glamoured as one, wolfkin were "early evolver" types, tending to have their wolfish features fully integrated by adulthood, as well as a significant bent toward mavenry and enhancement magic. Rarely would one ever expect to meet a wolfkin mage.

Kir meandered his way through the hall before taking the far exit into the garden. For a moment he paused in utter shock at the statue of himself that had been added to the gravestone, sitting on it with a cocky-ass smile and features that seemed a bit more chiseled than he actually was. There were no wings on the statue’s back, which made sense from the point of view of not revealing he was a hybrid. Or for the sake of saving some money and not overlapping the other grave.

"The likeness is uncanny."

Kir could feel Kiryu’s smirk. He ignored his other half.

As he approached his lover’s grave, he could see that someone had left a small vase of flowers for both, but the one on his grave was knocked over.

With a little sigh, he bent and set the glass vase aright, delicately picking up the flowers one by one with his claws before returning them to their container. A little magic, and fresh water condensed for them, refilling the vase.

"That was a foolish thing you did, refusing to bow," Lumin’s voice sounded from behind Kir.

He turned to find the diminutive human standing there, only his manasight told him that it was a projected illusion.

"The Queen let you cast near her?" Kir shot back. "I’m surprised."

"Oh, I have retired for the evening. Right now a few professors are making a spectacle out of their magic for her."

"Are you planning on turning Norneau over to her?" Kir’s tail twitched in irritation at the memory of Queen Fruhe’s little warning.

"This city is my legacy, Kiryu Nasumi. I will join it to whoever I wish if it will result in Norneau flourishing. But to answer your question, independence is preferable to me. And since I cannot be seen with you at the moment, I wish to deliver a simple message."

"I’m listening," Kir replied.

"Don’t. Mess. With. My. City," Lumin said, enunciating each word as her kindly persona fully left her. "Leave the politicking to me, and stick to your little vendetta, because I do not want the Syndicate in it. Understood?"

"Understood, Chancellor," Kir answered. He was testing Lumin’s patience, but then again he knew of no other way to figure out what she wanted, since asking, directly and indirectly, had all been evaded. A gallows smile crossed his face as he thought about their honest little exchange. Both of them had things to hide, and things to gain from each other.

"Good. I expect a formal apology to Queen Fruhe in written form tomorrow." Without waiting for Kir to respond, the projection ended, leaving Kir alone in the dark garden as he turned back to face the gravestones.

Well, almost alone.

"I think my opinion of her just shot up to ten out of ten," Kiryu said. "For a hidden tyrant, she sure knows her limits."

It was almost a whim, but Kir could see how an independent Norneau would help check the powers on the continent. "If she wants Norneau free, then this city needs to be valuable and strong enough to stand alone..."

"I can tell you’re thinking what I’m thinking," Kiryu chuckled.

"Time to kick off an industrial revolution." His exact thoughts were to accelerate things with Moshui.

Their brief moment of unity was stomped out as armored footsteps began to approach. Eight beastkin guards, including the armadillo quadruplets, made their way toward Kir, weapons at rest.

The biggest of them, a hippopotamus beastkin - Hippopotikin? Hippokin? - approached.

"You insulted our Queen," she said in a slightly deep voice. "As Captain of her guard, I cannot tolerate this." She tried to slap Kir with a gargantuan gauntlet, only it scraped along his magical shield. "A duel. Do you accept?"

Kir sighed. He took a long moment to look at the ground before looking up and saying, "Can we take this to the other garden? I’d hate to disturb the graves."

"You respect the dead more than your Queen, wolfkin? Your mind must be broken."

"She’s not my queen. But tell me, did she put you up to this?"

"She did not," the Captain answered firmly. "I protect her honor upon my own volition. And the honor of my guards, my people, and my nation."

"Ah, the automatic enforcement upon which tyranny thrives," Kiryu snarked. "Feels like home, but less corpo."

"Are my terms acceptable?" Kir asked.

With a scowl, the guardswoman eyed Kir, before nodding her head.

"Eastward, then," Kir said, proceeding to show them the way as he turned his back to the assembled guards.