As she had promised, Minnera made a kiss painting of each of the girls with me while… I was occupied doing her from behind.

Well, we know for sure that the painting she did of Emilia and I was definitely not a fluke as all the paintings she did like that afterwards could be said to be on the same level as well.

And yes, she also did the 'self-portrait' where she first kissed me so that Eins could perfectly mimic her when she transformed into Minnera to kiss me as well.

How was Eins able to do that? I have no idea… But Minnera seemed content with her performance so I didn't question it.

All of them really brought out the same feelings I had when I was kissing the girls at the moment and if I were to focus enough on the paintings themselves, it also felt like I could understand the emotions of the girls when they were kissing me too.

Not saying that I never understood their feelings before this but somehow it felt like the painting gave it from their point of view when they were kissing me too.

In Odeta's case, it felt a lot like an excited puppy licking their owner's face, like she was really enthusiastic in showing her affection and wanted to express it as much as possible.

And no, I wasn't just saying that her love for me was akin to puppy love, it was just that she was very enthusiastic in showing her love for me.

I could certainly tell that she really wanted us to remain as 'family' as much as she could.

For Delmare, it was ironically a little bit similar to Minnera. Both my Siren and my Comissar saw me as their muse though Delmare was slightly different from Minnera's.

For my Siren, her songs quite literally revolved around me and she was not shy in showing that. Even in that painting, it really felt like she was already composing a song even while our lips were connected.

And for Lisa… I suppose you would guess that my Infrid would be thinking of lewd stuff when she kissed me but surprisingly…

If you did… Then you'd be right.

Even just by looking at the painting of Lisa and myself kissing, I could just feel the love and lust rolling off the painting from her picture.

And yes, I actually got a little turned on just looking at it…

Going back to look at Emilia's painting just to see what kind of feeling I got from it… Well… If I had to describe it in one word, it would be 'transactional'.

I suppose it's in her nature to see things from a business perspective so even just looking at the painting, it felt like she was internally calculating how much money the kiss was worth and how much she had to pay me for it.

As I said earlier, Minnera was also another one who treated me like her muse but in her case, I was like the catalyst for her art instead of the focus.

I suppose one way to see it was a painter viewing their favourite paintbrush?

It could also just be a personal bias because she's the painter herself but the emotion I got from looking at the painting was all the love, desire and the feeling of perfection coming from Minnera.

With all the paintings done, Minnera and I showcased all of them to the girls to admire and it went about just as well as you might imagine…

I got jumped by them once more and I got stuck under them and made to kiss them for the next few hours just because they wanted to reenact the painting.

Since we know what kind of effect these paintings had on the girls, it was eventually decided that I will keep them in my Bangle of Folding and only take them out when the girls want to see them.

If they were allowed to keep them, I'd think they would not be able to control themselves and would constantly seek my lips out.

The only person who did not get a painting was, unfortunately, Katsuki and even though she claimed that she did not need one, I've been with her long enough to know that she secretly also wanted one for herself.

It's ok though. I believe it's just a matter of time before I claim those lips of hers~

And when I do… I'll definitely get Minnera to paint a picture of it as well~ In fact, I'll make sure that the painting she makes would be when we have our very first kiss!

Ehehehe~ I'm actually looking forward to that~ It would definitely be worth the wait.

Speaking of which, Masuyama, the Prime Minister, ended up sending someone to deliver a letter addressed to me the day after he visited me.

It seems like I was invited to a formal award ceremony that will take place inside the palace itself.

When he said that he was going to make a big deal out of this, I didn't actually think he meant 'bring it up to the Royal Family' type of big…

And apparently I was the only one invited since I was the only one involved in that event, which meant that I was expected to head there all by myself.

To say that I never entertained the thought of just running away and pretending I never received the letter would be a lie.

Thankfully, he didn't hang me out to dry as he came over to give me a rundown of what I was expected to do and say during the event itself.

He told me that the plan was that I was 'officially' a Mercenary that was personally hired by him and sent in as an undercover agent to investigate the police force for corruption.

Basically, he wanted it to be a planned event where he's supposed to be in on it instead of being left in the dark.

I understood that this was basically a way to save his reputation because if people realised that he didn't know about this and someone else had to step in to solve this problem for him, he might even be asked to resign.

I didn't have a problem with him claiming some of the credit since he's technically one of our people anyway and it would be beneficial for us in the long term if he is more indebted to us.

Honestly though… Doing it this way would also allow me to let him take centre stage and all the attention while I just play the part of a co-conspirator.

Despite that, I was still expected to dress and act a certain way while appearing in front of the Royal Family so I was basically given a quick crash course on their court etiquette.

I was afraid that it might be something really complicated but it turns out that it was pretty much the same as back in Lehcarouc Kingdom so I learnt it pretty easily.

I just have to avoid looking at any of the Royal Family members directly unless I was being spoken to and I have to keep my head lowered while speaking to them.

Easy.

Masuyama also assured me that he would back me up if anything happened so I wasn't as nervous as compared to the first time I got the news.

When I asked him what kind of award I could expect to receive though, he mentioned that I would most likely be given honorary 'middle' citizen status on top of being paid a monetary reward.

"What does that even give me?" I asked.

"For starters… You would be treated like a citizen of the Kingdom instead of just a visitor."

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, I figured that. What I meant was what difference does it make and what even is a 'middle citizen'?"

"For starters, you don't need to get the visitation permit to visit the upper districts anymore. As you might have figured out, there's different levels to the hierarchy in the Kingdom and this award would basically put you on the same level as low ranking government officials. You could purchase property in the city and even be allowed to benefit from government subsidies if you do."

I stared at him, "You came up with all of this, didn't you?"

"You mean the government subsidies? If you would believe it, there was already something like that in place before I took over. I merely refined it."

"Right… Is that all? Because while being able to visit that place is nice, it's not like I really need it to begin with… Neither did I plan to buy a property here either…"

"You no longer need to go through any of the checkpoints and the people you bring with you are also exempted."

Ok, that's a pretty good deal.

"But you're not afraid that I might abuse this and smuggle something in?" I pointed out.

He gave me a wry smile, "Lady Aster… You forgot that I am on your side… Although I have to warn you that if you were caught doing so… That benefit would be revoked and even I can't help with that."

Right…

Oh well, I guess I have nothing to do but wait for the actual award ceremony then.

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