In the Doghouse - Chapter 226
Even as she approached, Richard didn’t so much as blink. As if his nerves had grown too bold for his own good, he kept acting dignified, rummaging through the wardrobe.
“Courtney, I understand that you prepared a special night for me. However… this all seems a bit excessive.”
“Are you actually out of your mind?”
Courtney grabbed Richard’s arm. Naturally, his head turned to face her. The tail plug he’d been holding dropped to the floor with a thud. Courtney’s gaze followed it down.
Twitch—
Richard’s c**k, which had been shrunken in embarrassment until now, slowly began to rise. So all that strange behavior up until now had been an act? Before Courtney could feel any relief, Richard quickly pulled her robe closed for her.
“Well… Courtney, you look wonderful, but I think you should maintain your dignity a little. Both as the Empress of this nation and as the mother of two children.”
“…What the—”
Courtney’s jaw dropped open. Who would have thought there’d come a day when she’d be scolded about propriety by a perverted dog?
Her head spun with confusion. Richard cleared his throat and, without any preamble, started babbling nonsense.
“I want to treat you like a gentleman would. So I don’t think we need such vulgar… objects.”
“Ha, you’re insane…”
“I do appreciate your forthright personality, but we are mature adults, aren’t we? Even in our private time as a couple, we should treat each other with respect.”
Courtney’s face was drained of all energy, disbelief replaced by utter emptiness. Now even her dog was talking like a person. As she staggered, losing her balance, Richard hurriedly supported her.
“Are you feeling unwell? Of course you would, wearing something so thin…”
“Shut up. Please.”
Richard’s face went pale at her outburst. As if ‘shut up’ was some terrible insult.
Courtney clutched her aching head. An internal scream rang silently in her mind. Richard continued to chatter, uttering perfectly sensible advice befitting public perception, but words he had never said before. Spicy play? There was no way to even try.
No matter how unbelievable, this was reality. The dog had escaped from the doghouse.
* * *
The next day, all the imperial physicians were summoned to the Emperor’s bedroom. While they bustled about, turning Richard’s eyelids and tapping his skull, Courtney could only sigh repeatedly.
“One, two…”
The younger physicians held a broad magical device over the Emperor’s head.
An old physician, his beard completely white, stepped forward to peer at the instrument. He was the former chief physician who had retired last year. No one on the current staff could find the cause, so even the retired elder was called in.
After examining the patterns inside the tool for a long time, he spoke.
“Other than being a little fatigued, His Majesty is completely normal.”
Normal. Normal. Normal. She’d heard nothing but ‘normal’ since morning.
Well, of course he’d be tired. Courtney had stayed up all night checking and double-checking his mental state. In fact, she was probably the one who knew his condition best in this room.
As his wife, she ought to be happy at such news, but once again, Courtney clutched her aching head. As far as she could tell, Richard’s memory was mostly intact. He didn’t confuse the date, nor did he fail to recognize anyone. He even remembered which song they’d danced to at the harvest festival banquet.
He recognized the children, too. He remembered making them with her… Only, the process itself was a little off. Or rather, perhaps it was right to say that his once-distorted view of s*x had now returned to ‘normal’.
The current Richard firmly believed that the two of them had conceived the twins through ‘normal intercourse’.
He was so thoroughly ‘normal’ that, by the end, Courtney was starting to doubt her own memory. While she was left speechless, Anton spoke up on her behalf.
“Please check him again. His Majesty’s head must really have gone wrong…”
“I told you, there’s nothing wrong with me.”
Richard, who’d been poked and prodded all morning, replied sullenly. The loyal aide quickly corrected himself.
“Your Majesty’s head has been strange since time immemorial. Now that you’re suddenly normal, that’s the real problem.”
Richard let out an incredulous laugh. But Courtney silently agreed with the aide’s opinion. Richard being strange was normal. If he wasn’t strange, then he simply wasn’t Richard. Being a pervert was his baseline.
