The Main Academy Library had a lot of hidden nooks and crannies dotted around the location. Shelf arrangements that hide a corner from view, closets underneath stairs, and several more besides.

Officially, it was just a design quirk.

Unofficially, it was an open secret that lovers took advantage of those locations in order to have secret trysts.

So, why did I find myself in one of these hidden areas? Who was I with? Angie? Clarice? Both? I wasn't quite that lucky, sadly.

"Big Brotheeeer~" It was actually Marie. I was seated on the floor in seiza while my reincarnated little sister took full advantage of the available lap pillow. She was laying on her side and I just sort of ended up stroking her hair with my hand. Obviously, we couldn't do stuff like this in public as it would absolutely be interpreted as something romantic. I shuddered to think what the girls I was engaged to would do if they saw us like this.

This had become a common occurrence between us for the past several days after the school trip. Whenever we had some free time, we ended up spending them together doing pretty much nothing. Marie said that she was making up for lost time. I was a bit worried about how she kept deflecting whenever I would ask how her life was after I passed away, but I trusted her to open up to me about it once she was ready.

"So, about apologizing to Angie and Clarice." I casually brought up, chuckling at how Marie suddenly stiffened up.

"Urk! I'm working on it?" She answered with obvious uncertainty.

"How? You literally have to just apologize to them." I pointed out. Marie turned her head to glance up at me.

"For what? Stealing their men?"

"Well, yeah." I dryly stated and sighed when she rolled her eyes. "Look, I can be there when you do it if you're scared. I can even set it up as a Tea Party to make it less serious."

She was quiet for a few moments and I was starting to think that she was just going to ignore me. "I can trade with them."

"What?" I blinked at her.

"They can have Julius and Jilk back. I can even give up the others to Olivia. I just want them to give you back to me." I reached down and pinched her cheek. Honestly, this girl. "Owwie!"

"First of all, that didn't actually hurt. Secondly, you know it doesn't work like that." I said as I gently stroked the cheek I had just pinched. "Besides, you already have me back anyway. Isn't that enough?"

Marie turned her head away and remained silent. I just shook my head and went back to stroking her hair. At least she was more affectionate than Finley. I shuddered when I thought about that.

Marie and FInley must never meet.

…

Something else that happened unexpectedly was that I got a secret unmarked letter in my room one night. To my surprise, it wasn't a death threat nor was it a bomb. Instead, the letter stated that the transfer student from Repard would visit for tea. Well, okay then.

That was how I found myself waiting in my usual tea room a few days later. The selection of drinks and snacks this time were much more simple and casual. I didn't want my guest to think that this was a formal event after all. There was a knock on the door and I took one last check of everything before getting into character.

"Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise. Please, come in." I greeted the girl on the other side of the door. She swiftly entered the room and took off the wide brimmed hat on her head. She shyly held it in front of her as if trying to shield herself with the headwear.

"W-well, you did say that it was an open invitation…" Mylene, the mysterious transfer student, said with a blush on her face as she looked in every direction other than my eyes.

"And I am glad that you finally took me up on the offer." I gently pried the hat from her hands to hang it on the hatstand nearby. When I turned back, I almost felt my legs turn to jelly. Despite the confident smile on my face, I was pretty sure that I was blushing as hard as she was.

Queen Mylene Rapha Holfort was standing in front of me wearing the Academy uniform for girls. She fidgeted from my gaze but I couldn't deny the rush I felt as I took in her perfection. She actually looked really good, the blue ribbon in her hair making her look young enough to pass for a third year if you didn't actually know who she was.

"Well, it would have been rude to not try it at least once." She said with a shy smile. That was when I noticed the only modification she made to the uniform, a pair of elbow length white gloves.

"A true shame if you hadn't." I walked past her to the table and offered her a seat. "Please, have a seat while I prepare today's selection."

She seemed to become more comfortable as she sat down and watched me prepare the tea and snacks with a smile. A few moments later, we were both seated and savored some simple honey lemon tea. Angie, Clarice, and Livia really liked the blend and it looked like Mylene was the same.

"Thank you, I really needed this." A bit of the Queen slipped back on with her words. Despite that, it was clear that she was finally really relaxing.

"I saw all the paperwork in your office the last time I was there. You looked like you really needed the break." I said, my smile turning a bit teasing when I took another look at what she was wearing. "Though, I am surprised you came here dressed like a student."

"It's called a disguise! And I happen to think that I pulled it off quite well, thank you very much!" She vehemently defended her choice of clothing even as she tried to hide her embarrassment by drinking more tea.

"You do actually. If I didn't know who you really are, I would have thought you a pretty senior." Oh, she definitely went red with that. Why was the Queen so fun to tease? It didn't make sense when I thought about it normally.

"Honestly, to say such things to a married woman!" She pouted but I could see the mischief in the way her eyes sparkled.

The two of us went on to talk about pretty much nothing in particular. I made sure to steer the conversation away from her work as much as possible. That meant that we talked about school life instead.

"I'm not saying that the girl would be a bad match for Julius, but she doesn't seem to think about the consequences of her actions as much as she should." Mylene was going full protective mother mode as she started to rant about Marie. It was a pretty unique experience for me since I now knew that she was complaining about my little sister.

"She does give that vibe. Honestly, I thought of her as an annoying gremlin for the longest time." That comment actually got the Queen to snort–snort–before she could catch herself. I couldn't help myself, I started laughing.

"You are being quite rude to your lady by laughing at her expense, Leon." She said with indignance. I actually froze when I processed her words. It seemed that she also realized it and we both looked away from each other.

"Oh? You're my lady now huh?" I jokingly asked. I gave her an out to be able to deny that–

"W-well, right now I'm just a simple transfer student." –or she could double down with her claim. I guess that was another way to go about things. "So at this moment, I suppose I am."

Calm down, me. That wasn't what she meant. You're being delusional. Besides, you literally have two beautiful girls who have already expressed that they wanted to jump you when you least expect it!

"Then I apologize, that was very rude of me." I responded with an exaggerated snooty accent and bow. That seemed to break the weird energy as the two of us shared a laugh.

Things were going pretty well until someone knocked on the door. Before either of us could react fast enough, it opened to reveal one of the last people I wanted to see the current situation.

"Leon, I apologize for barging in but I wanted to ask about any plans you might have over the winter brea–" Julius Rapha Holfort's words died in his throat as he took in the scene before him. His expression flattened to reveal nothing as he looked between myself, his mother, and his mother's attire. Oh no! I had to head this off before he flew off the handle!

"Look, it's no–" Julius ignored my words, closing the door, walking up to his mother before kneeling in front of her.

"Are you happy, mother?" He asked as he looked into her eyes. Queen Mylene's face went through a number of expressions before she closed her eyes. When she opened them a moment later, she said one word.

"Yes."

"Then I saw nothing." Julius said to my utter shock.

"Leon, you have my friendship and trust. I know that you are a man of integrity who would do anything for the people you love." He said as he stood back up. He turned to me and gave me a look that made a chill go down my spine. "However, if you ever break my mother's heart, I will find a way to break your face."

"We're not even like that!" I exclaimed, spreading my arms wide. Besides, that was the kind of thing I was supposed to threaten you and the boys with when it came to Marie!

"Hm? Well, I'm sure that the misconception will be cleared up soon enough." He said before turning around and heading to the door.

"You're leaving? What about the thing you were going to ask me? Something about winter break?" I asked, did he and the boys want to do some training during the break or something?

"It can wait. I can see that you are in the middle of a Tea Party after all." Julius shook his head and gave me a perfect smile. He then proceeded to just exit the room without another word. What the hell man?!

"I am so sorry about that, your majesty. I'll talk to Julius later and clear things up." I quickly said, trying to salvage the situation. What was Julius thinking?!

"No, it's quite alright." I shook my head at her words. She was just trying to save me the embarrassment, but she was a victim in the misunderstanding as well.

"It's not. I can't let him have the wrong impression about the two of us and–" The rest of my words vanished when I looked at the tears that were starting to form in her eyes.

"I suppose that you are correct." She said as she wiped her eyes with a napkin.

"Your majes–Mylene?" I quickly got up and walked around the table to take her hands in mine. I gave her hands a reassuring squeeze, but I wasn't sure what else I could even do.

"There's no way that anyone would truly love a woman like me." She said sadly, a bitter certainty was in her voice. "Not in the way I always hoped for."

At that moment, I knew that I never want to see that expression on her face ever again. I then remembered something about a tradition between a knight and a lady from Repard when I looked down at the gloves she was wearing.

Ah, I was about to do something rash, wasn't I?

Before I could stop myself, I looked back up into Mylene's eyes and pulled one of her gloves off. I knew that I probably went too far when she looked at the glove in my hand. She then looked me in the eye, jumped forward to wrap her arms around my neck, and shoved her tongue down my throat.

Several minutes after that, we both ended up being unable to look at each other for a few moments. The both of us took advantage of the time to straighten our rumpled clothes. It turned out that Mylene was a very aggressive kisser.

The silence was finally broken when Mylene started giggling to herself. "Look at us, Leon. Acting like a pair of shy children."

"To be fair, this isn't exactly a normal situation." I replied, still unable to look at her face.

"No, it is special." I felt myself blush at the way she said that. Why am I acting like the shy maiden now?!

"I already have Angie and Clarice. Plus, you're married. And the Queen. And the mother of one of my friends." I began to list out all the reasons why the two of us having this sort of relationship was probably a bad idea. Yes, I was aware that I was the one who broke the camel's back in the first place.

"If Roland can have her mistresses, then I can have a secret lover as well." The King had mistresses? With Mylene as his wife?! Why did that man have such shit taste in women? I hated him even more now. "As you saw earlier, Julius didn't seem bothered by it either."

"And I certainly felt how much you enjoyed our kisses, Leon." She said with a smile that made me feel very certain things.

"As for Angie and Clarice, these things are better discussed between the women. I'll take care of it." She said as she reached out to stroke my cheek with her hand. "Till next time then, my sweet Leon."

I could only stand there, unable to move as Mylene put her hat back on and left after giving me one more kiss. I looked down on the floor and picked up the glove I pulled off her. I probably dropped it during the events of our rather enthusiastic make out.

I suggest planning on how to apologize to both Angelica and Clarice after they explicitly asked you not to seduce the Queen.

All I could do was bury my face in my hands when I heard the voice. Of course Control was here.

"What is even my life anymore?" I muttered to no one in particular.

Recently? It seems to be violence and confusion.