Crow and the Alpaca (Crossed Out) Reynold II (Continued)

Then, and then I remember, it seems I turned into Crow and pecked my teacher's face all over with my beak. He then turned into a vulture and fought with me, but let me tell you, he was too weak in combat. I pecked him until he was a real, bald vulture. Afterwards, he tearfully returned to human form and copied the sentence, "I repent to nature for my inappropriate remarks about gender bias. Please forgive my sins, Nature's Heart," a thousand times.

There's no rule that says girls have to speak softly and gently, okay?!

I admire Alessia more. It's exhilarating to see her swing her greatsword and send her teammates flying. On the other hand, the Speaker of the Federal Congress Madam Christine, is rather pretentious. She always wears those short skirts that restrict movement, sits sideways behind the tea table, and smiles with her lips pursed. Whether there are reporters around or not, she speaks in courtly jargon, which is really annoying... Although they are both speakers, the Speaker of the Magic Council is much more pleasing to the eye.

Hmm, especially the way he stubbornly endured torture at the hands of the kidnappers, although he was a mage with a frail body, I felt as if I could see his strong and delicious soul!

Oh no, sorry, I should have crossed out the word "delicious".

Um... Of course, I really don't want to lie. I only have a nodding acquaintance with Reynold. Although we in the army have a good impression of Reynold, he is ultimately a politician, not a comrade who can get along with us. The reason I have a good impression of him is because he once strongly opposed implanting chips in soldiers' brains and repeatedly demanded that the army's welfare benefits be improved. However, before he was kidnapped by the bandits, I really didn't have any feelings for him.

So, will confessing my feelings directly scare him away?

When he found out his ex-boyfriend was the Flame of Fury, he was so scared he fainted once. He looked so pitiful and cute!

Her stubborn little expression while being tortured by the kidnappers, looking like she was about to faint, was also adorable!

I put on the flying mech that my subordinate handed me. This thing flies much faster than I can transform, and it's effortless. If I were to fly all the way to the Holy Dragon while transformed, I'd be done for with my shoulder.

I had planned to get there in time to help with the battle, but the battle ended incredibly quickly. When I arrived, Reynold was talking to the human empress of the Holy Dragon Empire. The cyborgs and mech warriors were all lying under the spears of the Dragon Cavalry Corps, groaning in pain. From what they said, the reporters had arrived even before me, but they were all chasing after Ciprins and his group—it turned out that Ciprins and Mephistopheles were there to keep things under control. No wonder the battle ended so absurdly fast.

So I waited patiently until the Dragon Emperor finished speaking with him before waving from afar. Reynold seemed a little surprised by my arrival and walked towards me.

"How's your injury?" I asked, then cast a detection spell on it.

--Well, it's just overwork and prolonged mental stress, nothing else seems to be the case.

Reynold asked me with a puzzled look, "Your Excellency Warden, did you come alone?"

"Oh, I'm not on official business." I sized him up. Tsk, I hadn't really looked closely before. Reynold is actually quite good-looking. Come to think of it, for him to catch the eye of my male god, the Flame of Fury, he must not be an ugly, unkempt person, much less like those new recruits I trained the other day, whose underwear and socks hadn't been washed in ages. This is really great.

Even after all that commotion, Reynold in front of me was still clean and tidy, though his hair was a bit messy. But the half-length wisps falling on his face looked much better than his usual neat, gelled politician hairstyle! There were some red and swollen scratches on his face, and you could tell he was trying to look natural and not show too much pain.

Hmm, light green eyes, that's a really nice color.

"I'm here because I have something personal to discuss with you," I said, carefully choosing my words.

Reynold was visibly more confused. He nodded, politely indicating that he was all ears.

"Marry me," I said.

... Uh, should I have been more tactful? As soon as I finished speaking, Reynold almost fell to the ground. Then he glared at me, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. His expression was exactly the same as when I was nine years old and saw my teacher (male) turn into a female teddy bear and go into heat—a look that said, "Damn it, this dog is going to fuck me."

Am I fucking that bad?

"What... what nonsense are you talking about?" Reynold was terrified, clutching his shoulders. "You... you... you've been hit by Confusion Spell? Did you drink some unknown potion or did your experiment's spell malfunction and your head explode?"

Under my gaze, Reynold blushed with embarrassment, dropped his posture from that of someone facing a rapist, and stammered an apology, "I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean it that way, I was... uh..."

I braced myself against the cliff face, forcing him to the edge, which interrupted his speech. Reynold looked at me with a very... pitiful expression, it was truly...

This is absolutely delicious! How come I didn't discover this gem sooner?!

He leaned against the uneven rocks and shifted uneasily.

"Let me put it this way," I narrowed my eyes and listed out my prepared draft, "You're single right now, and I'm single too, so we can start dating right away; secondly, as the Speaker of the Magic Council, you need a partner who can assist your career and enhance your image, so I'm a very suitable candidate."

Reynold opened his mouth, but no sound came out for a long time.

I gave him a moment to pause before continuing, "Look, you're a high-ranking official from a commoner background. I think you'd agree that marrying a young lady or gentleman from an old aristocratic family, or forming an alliance with a magic family, would give those who oppose you ammunition to stir up trouble and potentially provoke public resentment, making them think you're trying to climb the social ladder—that's why you initially chose people from the Magic Research Institute, right?"

Reynold subconsciously hummed in agreement, then immediately shut his mouth, pressing it into a thin line, and said no more. So I pressed on:

"As for me, I am a soldier in the Federation. I have certain military power and can speak for myself in the military. Alessia and I have also agreed to compete for the next marshal, with the loser becoming the vice marshal. But regardless of the outcome, I can help you gain support in the Magitech Corps. My greater advantage is that I don't come from a noble family. I am like you, or even worse. I was an orphan and grew up in the Druid Southern Sect. In this respect, I am the same as Ciprins, which perfectly matches your conditions. Moreover, in terms of political influence and intellect, I am even better than Ciprins."

In terms of magic, I certainly can't compare to Ciprins, but in terms of politics, I think I could crush him even a tenth of his level.

Reynold's mouth remained agape, his gaze blank.

I was also very patient, letting Reynold digest this for a while. I could wait for him to accept this very impactful proposal—I was confident that he wouldn't refuse. Speaker Reynold wasn't the kind of boy who was easily swayed by romantic feelings; his intelligent political thinking would definitely allow him to see the value of this marriage. For politicians, "love" is never a prerequisite for marriage. It's not like an eight o'clock soap opera. Feelings can be cultivated slowly after marriage if both parties benefit from it. So I believed he had no reason to refuse me.

Half a day later Reynold regained his tongue and asked me in a shaky voice, "Can I... ask you... what can you get in return?"

Aha!

I couldn't help but smile, because judging from his tone, although he questioned me, he almost didn't mean to refuse at all. So I casually touched his slightly pale chin. Hmm... it was a bit rough. Looks like he'd been through a lot of abuse. He needs to rest a bit. Satisfied, I replied, "We in the military don't need all that image marketing to get promoted, so I'm not marrying you for political gain, but because... I can have you. After we're married, I can have you as much as I want, right?"

I heard Reynold gasp.

"Relax." I winked at him. "I don't have any other requests. You can't have all the benefits, right? This is my only small condition. It's okay, it won't interfere with your work during the day. In public during the day, I'll cooperate with you however you want. In return, you cooperate with me at home in the evenings. That's all."