My mother's love song

"You don't like this name?"

Altria tilted her head in confusion.

Rod said as he neatly cut the tenderloin into strips, “That’s not the case… It reminds me of the time when we fought together in Fuyuki. I miss it a lot.

I don’t really dislike this name, but I still hope you can just call me by my name.”

"...Yeah, that's what I thought, too."

Altria gave a faint smile that was elegant and noble.

"Please give me more advice in the future, Rhodes."

"Ah."

"Can we have noodles later?"

"Of course, thank you."

Peace returned to the kitchen.

Since the two of them didn't have much to talk about, there didn't seem to be any need to force a conversation.

After cutting the meat into shreds, Rhodes cleaned the chopping board and wiped the knife while cooking the noodles.

At the same time, take out the soy sauce, salt and other condiments and prepare to start stir-frying the pickled mustard greens and shredded pork.

Rhodes' unexpectedly perfect knife skills and a series of neat movements when stir-frying were all seen clearly by Altria's cyan-gold pupils.

"What a surprise... Rod. After living together for a year, I didn't know you were so good at cooking." The Knight King said frankly.

It was not surprising that she thought so, because not only at Satsuki's house, but even during the Holy Grail War when he lived in Einzbern Castle, he never cooked once.

"Rather than being good at it, it's more like a blessing or a curse."

Rhode smiled and said, "It seems to be due to the reason of my birth. I have never learned or practiced it, but the [Cooking Skills] were automatically recorded in my soul. To be honest, I feel a little uncomfortable.

If possible, it would be great to change to a more useful skill? For example, when playing Pachinko, you can always pull out [777] or something like that. "

Altria smiled and said, "You? That's impossible. Isn't 777 the number of God?"

"Don't say such a spoiler, really... If I conquer the world, the first thing I'll do is change the first prize of Pachinko Sao to [666]."

"That's good. To prevent that from happening, I will be the first to stand up and stop you."

While you and I were chatting about extremely boring topics, the hot noodles were ready.

The two of them carried the noodles back to the living room and sat down at the coffee table.

The late-night TV station was rebroadcasting a Japanese variety show, and Rhodes stared at Altria's beautiful face nervously.

"How's it going? Is it delicious?"

“Mmm, mmm… slurp, delicious!”

Wrapped in the billowing white mist, Altria slurped some noodles and uttered incoherent compliments.

With a satisfied expression, she made the highest judgment: "It is not inferior to Ai Ge."

"That's good. I haven't cooked for tens of thousands of years so I'm not sure."

Rhode suddenly put himself in the shoes of the heroine in a youth novel who feeds the hero and smiled happily.

He pried open the can of luncheon meat he had taken out of the refrigerator: "The amount of pickled mustard greens and shredded pork is a little small. Please use it, Wang... Please treat this as Meili."

"Thank you. By the way, Rod, have you not cooked for a long time?"

Altria continued the topic that they had not had time to talk about in the kitchen.

"In fact, you are the first person to eat the food I made."

Rhodes spoke calmly, causing Altria to almost choke on her soup.

"Hey?"

Altria stopped eating and looked at him in surprise.

"You haven't cooked for anyone else?"

"No." Rhodes shook his head.

"After all, the kitchen is Aige's sanctuary, not a place for someone like me to get involved."

When he was not with Ai Ge, girls would usually cook for him.

Or they could be like Tiamat, Ishtar, and Elei... the type who can "directly" provide him with nutrition.

"Is that so?" Altria paused and said happily, "I am the first person to taste Rhodes's cooking. It's really an honor."

"Yes, feel honored, King Arthur!"

"Really... I started to get carried away again after I praised you a few times."

The Knight King rolled her eyes at him and returned to her "battle".

Both Rhodes and Altria were well-known gluttons. They finished their respective huge bowls of ramen in no time.

"It's really delicious. Thank you for your hospitality, Rod."

Altria glanced at the empty bowl without even a drop of soup left in it and praised sincerely.

"Don't compliment me. It's far inferior to Ai Ge. You'll be able to eat better when she comes back."

Hearing this, Artoria said seriously: "That's not the case at all, it's really..."

She was halfway through her words when suddenly an ungraceful sound came out of her mouth.

Altria hurriedly covered her shiny lips with her slender hands, glanced sideways, and her pretty face was full of embarrassment.

The young man smiled and teased: "Well, it seems that my craftsmanship really satisfies His Majesty the King."

"Woo...please don't laugh at me, Rod!"

Altria said angrily, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed.

"Yes~Yes~I'll go back to the kitchen to clean up. You can have a good rest here."

Just as Rhodes was about to return to the kitchen to wash the dishes, Altria grabbed the corner of his clothes.

"Rod... after all, let me wash the dishes, right?"

"No need for that. What if the dishes are broken?"

"……Well."

Altria hung her head in slight frustration.

She was Her Majesty the King of Britain, so it was impossible for her to have had any experience of washing dishes in her lifetime.

As Rhodes said, if she was asked to wash the dishes, she might break them.

"That's true. It would be bad if the dishes were broken."

Seeing that Altria looked a little disappointed, Rhodes spoke in his usual smooth-talking manner.

"Right? It would be bad if you hurt the king's beautiful fingers."

"……Um?"

After getting no response from the Knight King for a long time, Rhodes turned around in confusion.

But he noticed that Altria was holding onto the corner of her skirt, with a light blush on her slightly drooping cheeks.

Tsk tsk tsk… The shy expression of the Lord Knight King is really a great dessert after the meal.

By the time Rod finished cleaning the kitchen and took off Ai Ge's teddy bear apron, the clock in the living room had already pointed to 11:40.

"Haven't you gone to rest yet?"

Rhodes came over with two cups of hot coffee and sat down next to Altria.

Only big eaters like them can drink coffee right after finishing a big bowl of soy sauce noodles.

"Thank you." She took the coffee from Rod, "I'm not sleepy today."

Actually, it's because I'm still working in the kitchen so I'm embarrassed to go to bed, Rod thought secretly.

"After you finish your coffee, go take a break."

"Ah."

The bitterness of the coffee beans melted in Rod's mouth, and he silently enjoyed the leisure of the late night.

The rough voice of a comedian came from the TV, and the aroma of coffee mixed with the scent of women's shampoo filled my nose.

It's incredible, there's a sense of security when I sit side by side with Altria.

If it was before.

For example, when they were in Fuyuki, Rod would never miss the opportunity to be in the same room with them at night.

He would find an excuse to climb into Altria's bed and then secretly touch her butt in the middle of the night.

But now I don't have that desire anymore.

Is it because my feelings towards her changed from [I want to take advantage of her because she has big breasts and butt] to [a relative living together]?

Well, she is my sister-in-law after all...

No wonder Ai Ge would let me and her look after the house with confidence.

As the saying goes, the end of love is family affection.

Really? My feelings towards Altria now are...

"Tonight was incredible, getting to know a whole new side of Rod."

Altria suddenly broke the silence: "Even though we have lived together for so long, I didn't know you had this side.

How should I put it, she seems very virtuous and capable...?"

Haha, is that so.

Rhodes smiled bitterly. In her mind, he was probably just a frivolous kid who only knew how to have fun.

At this moment, Rhodes suddenly remembered an unsolved mystery that remained in his mind during the seventh singularity.

"Speak of it."

He glanced at the king beside him and said, "Altria, do you know a guy called [Demon Concubine Corrado]?"

Rod said the name that Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu had once told him.

According to them, the Lion King in the sixth singularity has a princess with this name.

When Rhodes returned to the modern era and happened to think of it, he looked up relevant information, but he did not find such a historical figure.

The Lion King is the future tense of the Holy Lancer King, the result of his goddess transformation.

The experience of the Knight King in this world is somewhat different from normal history.

So he couldn't help but think, could it be that this [Demon Concubine Corrado] was someone that Altria knew before she died?

Altria shook her head: "I don't know him, who is he?"

"It's okay if I don't know him. Maybe I made a mistake."

As expected, Ritsuka and the others were mistaken. How could Altria possibly marry a new princess?

After all, when it comes to King Arthur's marriage, it can be said to be the beginning and origin of her tragic life.

After Altria inherited the throne, in order to hide her true gender, she married Princess Guinevere as a king and held a grand wedding to announce it to the world.

Of course, marriage is just a facade.

On the wedding night, Artoria confessed everything to the princess. Although Guinevere, who had always admired the king, was sad, she still expressed understanding.

The king confessed to Guinevere that he had disguised his gender, and Guinevere said that she accepted the secret in order to govern Britain.

Although Princess Guinevere knew the truth, she still supported the king and presented herself as a princess. The marriage was blessed by everyone, but in fact, it was like a bird in a cage for her.

Although the king was always worried about this matter, she could only accept the kindness of the princess who forced a smile.

Even though the relationship between the king and the queen is fake, the friendship that develops between them is real.

To others, that trusting relationship looks like that of a loving couple.

Later, Lancelot, the chief knight of the Round Table, wanted to relieve the king's worries and talked to the queen in person. He accidentally learned the king's true identity and discovered the burden that Guinevere had been carrying for all these years.