The World Is Mine For The Taking

"W-What do you mean by that?" I asked him, unable to keep the confusion from slipping into my voice.

"I meant exactly what I said," he replied in a calm and steady tone. "You don’t have to carry the entire kingdom on your shoulders by yourself. At least, that isn’t something you need to force yourself to do right now."

After hearing that, I couldn’t think of anything to say for several long moments.

Even though he spoke as if he wanted me to return to the way things had been before all of this happened, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was still missing a very important piece of the puzzle. It felt like everyone else had already figured something out while I was still trying to catch up.

I was the Queen of Bethlan now.

That title alone carried more responsibility than I had ever imagined growing up.

The people living within this kingdom were now depending on me, whether I liked it or not.

Because of that, simply returning to Milham Academy and living as an ordinary student again didn’t feel like something I could realistically do anymore.

"You see, Nia..." Leon began gently. "I think you already understand this deep down, even if you don’t want to admit it to yourself yet. As things stand right now, you still aren’t ready to become a queen."

He paused for a brief moment before continuing.

"I’m sure hearing that isn’t exactly pleasant, and you might even feel offended by it. Still, I’d rather be honest with you than tell you something just because it sounds nice."

I quietly lowered my gaze again.

His words definitely sounded harsh at first.

Even so, I never felt as though he had said them with the intention of hurting me.

Leon had always been the type of person who spoke honestly whenever he thought it mattered, even if that honesty wasn’t particularly easy to hear.

To be completely honest with myself...

I agreed with everything he had just said.

He was right.

Right now, I wasn’t prepared to become a queen.

That simply wasn’t something I could deny anymore, no matter how much I wanted to.

The problem was that reality didn’t exactly care whether I was ready or not.

Father had already passed away.

There wasn’t anyone else who could step forward and take the throne in my place.

"For now, you don’t have to force yourself into doing absolutely everything," Leon continued. "There are only a few months left before you graduate from the academy."

He smiled at me in the same reassuring way he always did.

"I think you should spend those remaining months working on the things you’ve always wanted to improve. Stay with everyone at the academy, enjoy your time together, and make memories while you still can. You don’t have to lock yourself away or throw aside everything you enjoy just because you’ve suddenly become responsible for an entire kingdom."

His smile softened just a little more.

"Honestly, I think staying true to yourself is one of the most responsible choices you can make right now."

I remained silent for another moment while letting his words settle inside my heart.

Eventually, I raised my head and looked directly into his eyes.

"Is it really... okay for me to do that?" I asked quietly, still uncertain despite everything he had said.

"It’s your choice in the end," Leon answered without any hesitation. "I’m not going to decide your future for you. Still, I honestly think you’ll become a much better queen if you give yourself a little more time to prepare instead of rushing into everything."

The moment those words reached me, it honestly felt as though an enormous weight had finally been lifted off my shoulders.

The pressure that had been building inside my chest since Father’s death slowly began to disappear.

Breathing somehow felt easier than it had only a few minutes ago.

Father really had been right about Leon all along.

He once told me that no matter what happened, I should never let Leon drift too far away from my side.

Back then, I hadn’t completely understood why he believed that so strongly.

Now, I finally understood exactly what he had meant.

Leon wasn’t simply someone who solved problems.

He was the kind of person who helped others find the strength to solve their own.

Without even realizing it, I stepped forward until I was standing directly in front of him.

Then I wrapped my arms around him as tightly as I could.

"Thank you..." I whispered softly, my voice trembling just a little.

I held onto him for another moment before speaking again.

"I really mean it... thank you so much, Leon. I don’t think I would’ve figured this out without you."

***

Leon’s POV

The entire coup d’état that had lasted for years that had broken out within the Kingdom of Bethlan ended up being resolved in less than three weeks.

Honestly, even I hadn’t expected everything to wrap up that quickly.

Looking back on everything that had happened, it was honestly kind of impressive that we’d managed to settle the whole situation before it dragged on for months.

Kinda a little bit anticlimactic, honestly.

Of course, I couldn’t really take all the credit for it.

A huge part of that success belonged to Beelzebub.

She had been ridiculously helpful throughout the entire operation.

Before all of this, I never realized just how useful her abilities actually were outside of combat.

Being a slime came with a surprising number of advantages.

She could sneak into places almost nobody else could reach, gather information without attracting attention, and adapt to situations faster than most people I knew.

Honestly, bringing her along was beginning to feel like cheating a little.

She could literally fit inside a backpack if she wanted to.

That alone made traveling with her incredibly convenient.

Right now, though, she was lying flat on my bed with her stomach pressed against the mattress while completely absorbed in a game on my phone.

It happened to be one of the games developed by the company. It was called Wizard Rush.

Her legs lazily swung back and forth behind her while she focused entirely on clearing another stage.

Watching her like this honestly felt a little surreal.

Anybody walking into the room right now would probably assume she was just an ordinary girl wasting an afternoon playing games.

Almost nobody would ever guess she was one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Appearances really could be hilariously misleading sometimes.

"Beelze, we’re heading back to Milham," I called over to her.

"Huh?"

Beelzebub looked away from the screen for a moment before tilting her head to one side with a puzzled expression.

Apparently, she hadn’t actually been paying attention to anything I’d just said.

"I said we’re heading back to Milham," I repeated.

"Oh."

She blinked once as if her brain had finally caught up.

"Okay, got it. Give me just another minute after this stage."

Then she immediately turned her attention back to the game as though nothing particularly important had been discussed.

Seriously, she switched back to gaming so quickly that I almost laughed.

Anybody seeing her now would never believe she ranked among the Seven Deadly Sins.

Sometimes she looked less like one and more like someone who had discovered mobile games five minutes ago and refused to stop playing.

I eventually left my room and stepped into the hallway outside.

Almost the instant I did, someone was already waiting there for me.

It was one of the kingdom’s knights, which was the one I fought last time.

Curiously enough, I still hadn’t actually learned his name after everything that had happened.

At this point, I might as well call him Mr. Knight.

"I’d like to speak with you for a moment," he said.