The Tanaka Family Reincarnates

Chapter 373

The Queen’s Letter [Part 1]

While thinking it definitely didn’t have to be now, the King helplessly took the letter from Emma in this tense situation.

“…This is—!”

The King’s gaze immediately changed upon seeing the black wax seal with a red tint stamped on that letter. That wax seal which indicated a state of emergency would be used for not just any ordinary matter.

The King tossed aside his earlier thoughts about how he didn’t have to deal with this now. He opened the sealed envelope roughly and read the letter inside.

“H-How could this… Maximilian is b-brainwashed? And betrayed the Kingdom…? HUH?! Attacks from the Empire’s ships…? And ar…tillery…?”

The more he read, the more unbelievable the things written in the letter were, making the King lost for words.

First Prince Maximilian returned home just after the King left for the extracurricular lesson. Although saying good things about his own son would sound biased, Maximilian was truly a diligent, sincere, and accomplished prince who was also popular among the citizens.

And that very son of his was brainwashed by the Empire and assisted them to attack the Kingdom.

The content of the letter was shocking right from the opening sentence.

The Imperial ships permitted to enter the port in the guise of the ships Maximilian’s friends traveled on were loaded with artillery whose firepower could reach the Royal Capital. That artillery had already been set in a position ready to fire any time. Thus, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say the Royal Capital might be attacked this very night.

The Queen closed her letter by urging the King to return immediately.

This seemingly untrue letter was undoubtedly handwritten by the Queen, proving that everything inside it was the truth.

“Oh goodness… I have to… I must return to the Royal Capital as soon as possible!”

The country’s most important figure, the King, lifted his head suddenly with vigor.

…but a pair of cold hands stretched out to cup the King’s cheeks and forced him to look back down.

“!”

“Your Majesty, you mustn’t lift your head. You might accidentally lock eyes with the rainbow raccoons.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

When the King looked down again because his face was pulled back, he saw Emma standing on tiptoes to prop up the tall King’s cheeks.

“B-But… Emma-chan, the letter mentioned that the Royal Capital is in danger right now…”

The Kingdom’s capital was about to be attacked by the Empire.

As the King, this wasn’t the time to pay attention to small monsters in this kind of place.

“Even so, please calm down, Your Majesty. You must not show fear or anxiety before rainbow raccoons. You will be targeted if they perceive it.”

Emma sensed the rainbow raccoons started moving around restlessly after seeing the King agitated. Emma tried her best to keep the King’s eyes on her to prevent any chance for the psychic-attacking monsters to take advantage of his current unstable mind.

‘I would hate it if the King went on a second rampage… and well, personally speaking, I don’t want to miss the chance to be gazed on by a handsome old man.’

However,

“A-Argghhhh!”

The knight near the King suddenly screamed.

Because the rainbow raccoons moved closer while trying to enter the King’s line of sight, the knight standing nearby became prey to the monsters’ eyes.

Even though the knight had been careful not to look into the monsters’ eyes as he was told, he had been keeping a close watch on the King’s situation only to perform his duty as a guard.

But when Emma tried hard to stretch out her hands to cup the king’s cheeks, and they started looking into each other’s eyes, the knight averted his gaze out of reflex, thinking, ‘This is something I’m not allowed to see.’

‘The forbidden relationship between the King and a young lady’ …Turning a blind eye would of course be the right course of action.

It was a correct and sensible behavior as an Imperial Guard who protected the Royal Family closely, but this place was the hunting ground. You should never think that the usual common sense could be applied here.

The knight had previously heard that rainbow raccoons would use human fear of monsters as their weapon. Still, he had taken psychic-attacking monsters too lightly because he wasn’t familiar with hunting.

Monsters were indeed frightening.

But he couldn’t imagine how possibly a trained, robust knight like him could be frightened until he turned strange in the head.