Chapter 4 — Prince’s Secrets Revealed, and Prince’s Secrets Exposed

Time went by, then the hottest, harshest season in Capua finally passed.

The inner palace was currently engulfed in a previously unseen tension. Aura had postponed her morning duties, and Zenjirou had canceled all of his plans for the day, quite ready to remain right where he was. Both of them could barely breathe as they waited.

The maids in the room had grown close to their master and mistress over the year and change since Zenjirou’s arrival, but they were unable to so much as fulfill their usual duties of serving tea, let alone talk casually with their lord as they stood stiffly along the walls.

The prickling silence continued until a knock came at the door.

Zenjirou started.

“Enter!” called Aura, her voice like the sharp crack of a whip, prompting the person at the door to do exactly that.

“Excuse me,” said the older man, not flinching at her tone as he entered. He had long hair that was flecked with white and similarly colored facial hair. He wore a long white piece of clothing. It was the royal physician, Michel.

Michel closed the door behind him and stayed by it without approaching the royal couple. The lack of rebuke from Aura or Zenjirou indicated that this had been prearranged as the doctor looked evenly between the two of them, the pair gazing at him intensely.

“To begin with the diagnosis, Prince Carlos is suffering from red-splotch fever,” he said bluntly, offering the facts.

Naturally, the first to notice that something was amiss with the kingdom’s first prince was his wet nurse, Cassandra. It was normal for him to cry at dawn, but his cries had been different that night. Cassandra was an accomplished wet nurse and able to tell, based entirely on the sounds of Carlos’s cries, whether he needed feeding, changing, or was simply unsettled.

His cries had been shriller than usual, yet also weaker, so Cassandra had immediately roused the sleeping maids and sent one apiece to alert Aura and Michel.

The name of the disease told Zenjirou nothing, so the nervous expression remained on his face as he questioned the physician. “Doctor, what is this red-splotch fever?”

“As the name implies, the disease causes a fever while also causing the patient to break out in red spots over their face and body. The hives are merely a visual symptom and cause no pain or itching, but the disease leads to a relatively long and high fever and swelling of the throat. The fever usually lasts for around three days. Generally, healthy adults are unlikely to lose their life if they rest and stay well-nourished; however, it is not uncommon for less resilient infants and the elderly to succumb.”

Understanding, Zenjirou rubbed his suddenly numb fingers together on the sofa. “So it is life and death for Zenkichi?”

“Fortunately, Prince Carlos has been well provided for until now and is growing well. He is blessed with resilience for an infant, so I do not believe the situation to be quite so dire. I would give him a ninety percent chance.”

Zenjirou let out a sigh of relief at that, but Aura’s severe expression didn’t ease from where she sat next to him.

“Zenjirou, Doctor Michel means exactly what he said. To put it another way, if ten patients were in the same condition and circumstances, one of them would die.”

“Ah...” he managed, lost for words.

The other side to a ninety percent survival rate was a ten percent death rate. From that perspective, he couldn’t be optimistic at all. There likely weren’t many parents who would be able to stay objective in such a situation. Zenjirou, of course, was not one of them, and he strained his frazzled brain in search of a solution.

“Then we can use a healing stone!”

Magic tools that could heal all kinds of injuries or illnesses in an instant. Zenjirou leaped at the chance as soon as it came to mind, but the queen’s response was not as eager. She bit her lip with a hard expression before replying.

“That is a difficult proposition. We currently have only three healing stones and no way of knowing if or when we will gain a fourth. The reaction from the nobles, if we were to use one of those precious stones for a child with a ninety percent chance of survival, would be extreme.”

“Zenkichi is the first prince, though, isn’t he?!” Zenjirou demanded, growing unusually enraged by her emotionless words. “Are you saying that damn stone is worth more than the life of the only heir to the throne?!”

Aura looked briefly pained upon hearing him snap at her for the first time since they met before her “queen’s face” resurfaced and she explained.

“Carlos is indeed one of the most important people in the country, but he is not someone who would have an immediate impact on the kingdom if he were to pass away.”

Zenjirou drew in a quick breath, but Michel’s calm voice interrupted before he could say anything.

“Sir Zenjirou, this will sound extremely blunt, but in this country, it is the norm for even the children of high-ranking nobles to be this ill four or five times before they reach the age of ten.”

“Four or five?” he asked, the clear, heartless numbers dousing his burning anger.

The kingdom had three stones, and Carlos would be, on average, as ill as he currently was four or five times during his childhood. The numbers just didn’t add up.

Of course, he and Aura intended to have more children, so the harsh reality was that they didn’t have enough stones to use that precious last resort on something of this severity—a fact that Zenjirou gradually came to understand.

“Sorry...I lost my head a little.”

Aura simply replied, “No matter,” as she saw him slump back against the sofa.

Truthfully, if not for Zenjirou, Aura might have used one of the stones on Carlos herself. She was the person in the kingdom with the strongest ties to the royal bloodline, but she was a woman. There was a hard limit on the number of children a woman could bring into the world during her lifetime. Furthermore, the risks of birth were far from mitigated in this world, and it was certainly possible that a woman could become incapable of carrying a pregnancy to term after her first child.

Zenjirou, however, had strong bloodline ties in addition to being a grown man, immediately canceling out the objective irreplaceability of that child. He had already proven that he was fertile by conceiving Carlos. In extreme cases, nobles without an emotional attachment to the prince would likely offer brief condolences before simply wishing him luck with the next child.

Conversely, if Zenjirou had been equally ill, the nobles would likely advocate for the stone’s use. The well-educated were aware of the fact that even if a man survived the long fever, it might have an impact on his fertility. It was a ruthless outlook, but from the perspective of Capua’s national interest, Carlos’s life weighed lighter on the scales than Zenjirou’s seed.

But Aura could never tell him that and instead remained silent. Her husband, meanwhile, had calmed down, but it didn’t necessarily follow that he would have any good alternatives to suggest.

“What about getting a healer from the Gilbelle family?”

“I am currently the only one capable of using teleportation magic, so that would require me to go to the Twin Kingdoms alone.”

“Is there a specialist in red-splotch fever there?”

“You do Doctor Michel a disservice. He is the preeminent physician in the country. Finding someone more skilled in any sphere of medicine is not a simple task.”

“And obviously, there’s no medicine that’s particularly effective on it?” Zenjirou asked.

“If there was, we would be using it.”

“Yeah, figures...”

The few ideas Zenjirou could think of were immediately cut down by the queen, and the room fell into a depressed silence. There was nothing to be done.

Actually, it would have been better if that were true. More accurately, he could have given up if they had nothing but the option of the healing stone, but local politics stayed their hand.

So, this is what it means to be royalty, Zenjirou thought, truly feeling the gravity of the position he was in for the first time.

If he persisted in his selfishness, he could likely force the use of the stone, but that would lead to a backlash from the nobility and scorn from foreign royals. If those sentiments were directed solely at Zenjirou, it would perhaps even be a desirable outcome, but the negativity was also liable to spread to Aura for failing to stop him in her role as queen.

Regardless, the guilt of allowing political reasons to get in the way of giving his child all the help he could when the boy was fighting for his life wouldn’t subside, and he felt like it meant he didn’t love Zenkichi enough.

“It would have been less dire if he had contracted the Blessing of the Forest first. Your Majesty, do you know of anyone who currently has the disease?” Michel asked, changing the subject slightly to draw attention away from the worst-case scenario.

“I do not,” Aura answered, taking advantage of the change of topic. “There is currently no one with the disease who can enter the inner palace.”

The Blessing of the Forest was an endemic disease that Zenjirou had already contracted. The name was no metaphor; it was a disease that a person only caught once in their life, and as long as there were no complications, it was rarely fatal. Contracting the disease also provided the patient with antibodies that offered a level of effectiveness against all diseases—something that made it best described as an all-purpose prophylactic.

Weak infants lost their lives to the illness on a fairly regular basis, but considering what health concerns they would face later in life, it was far better for their chances if they caught it early on. Aura had planned to have a trustworthy noble girl with the disease pass it on to Carlos but had not had the opportunity before he contracted the red-splotch fever.

A heavy silence reigned once more. There was nothing she could do for her child, and with her duties as queen, she could not personally tend to him either. The monarch was not allowed to come into contact with a patient suffering from a contagious illness.

Knowing that, Aura let out a sigh and stood energetically. “Right, Doctor Michel, I entrust Carlos’s care to you and Cassandra. Late though I may be, I have a meeting I must attend. I am confident in your abilities; do your best.”

“Of course, I will do all that is in my power.”

The doctor gave her a bow, his calm demeanor never changing, and Aura’s gaze moved to her husband, who was looking up at her from his place on the sofa.

“Zenjirou, what of you?”

Her husband remained seated and thought it over for a while. “Today’s a write-off. I know that I’m no use here, but I’m in no mental state to work in the palace; I’d probably screw something up entirely.”

“I see. Your duties are nothing to strain yourself over, so very well. However, you must not visit Carlos in person, is that understood?” she warned.

“Yeah, I get it.”

Zenjirou was a healthy adult and had already had the Blessing of the Forest, so there was no real danger even if he caught the fever, but it would still lead to him being bedridden for two or three days, and that bed was one he shared with Aura. The disease could pass from Carlos to Zenjirou, and then on to Aura from there, and the country would be unable to function without its monarch, even if it was only for a short time.

“The words may be of little comfort, but do not let it weigh too heavily on you,” Aura told him before walking off briskly as if to give an example of her words as she left the inner palace.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Ugh...grghh...!”

Having been left alone in the living room, Zenjirou was putting his self-directed anger into practicing magic. The focus of his practice was on controlling his mana—something he’d grown more capable at as of late. The skill was indispensable for a range of spells.

If he could use teleportation magic, perhaps he could have gone to the Twin Kingdoms for a healer himself. The idea spurred him on.

Of course, even if he was capable of such a feat, it was unlikely he would have been allowed to spend so much mana on summoning a healer for something with a ninety percent survival rate.

“Phew... Guh...”

The exercise was not one that usually used physical stamina, so it wouldn’t normally be so tiring. Zenjirou hadn’t quite gotten the knack yet, though, so he was tensing up pointlessly. That tensing meant his body had gradually become quite sweaty.

Yet no matter what he did, he couldn’t shake the image of his beloved son suffering from that illness, so his concentration was shot, and he wasn’t getting anything out of the exercise.

“Argh, fuck!”

Resorting to profanity wasn’t something he often did, but Zenjirou shook off some of the sweat and stood up from the sofa, heading for the fridge by the wall. He poured a glass of water and quickly drained it.

“This is all pointless,” he lamented.

Magic did often require concentration to practice, so considering he currently couldn’t bring any of that concentration to bear, it was true that he was getting nothing out of it.

“Aura said not to let it weigh too heavily, but that’s easier said than done...”

He genuinely admired her for being able to act like nothing was wrong when she was probably just as worried as he was inside.

“Would I have been the same if I had gotten married in Japan and had a kid there?” he mused idly as he returned to his seat.

If so, it would have been a rather severe shortcoming as far as his job went. Of course, he trusted modern Japanese medical institutions far more, so he might have been able to relax and leave things to the doctors back home.

“Argh, this is no good; let’s game for a bit.”

His thoughts kept turning to his son no matter what he did. He pulled out the console from where it had been for a while to try and distract himself and had just connected it when there was a sudden knock at the door.

“Excuse me, Sir Zenjirou,” came the familiar voice of one of the maids.

“Go ahead and come in,” he answered instinctively, but doubtful at the same time.

What had happened? It was still too early for lunch, and the maids knew that he wasn’t fond of them entering the room while he was inside, so there must have been a specific reason.

Maybe something happened to Zenkichi?

It was hardly surprising that his thoughts started spiraling downward, considering the situation.

The woman who entered was the middle-aged head maid, Amanda, wearing her dark red uniform neatly. Zenjirou’s nerves ratcheted up even more, since for her to personally come there meant it was no trivial matter.

Whether she was aware of his worries or not, she gave an almost ceremonially perfect bow before beginning to speak dispassionately.

“Sir Zenjirou, a message from Sir Fabio arrived recently. It would appear that Prince Francesco of the Twin Kingdoms has expressed a desire to visit Prince Carlos.”

“What?” Zenjirou managed dully, not expecting the conversation to go in that direction.

After several moments, the actual meaning of the words penetrated his mind, and he waved a hand in front of his face to dismiss it.

“No way, that ain’t happening. Making Zenkichi meet a foreign royal while he’s ill won’t do any good for anyone. Besides, I could understand Princess Bona making the request, but Prince Francesco can’t because of the ban on men, right? What, does he want us to drag our son out of the inner palace?”

After that purely emotional reaction, Zenjirou had a sudden realization. This absurd suggestion had been brought to him by Fabio. As one would expect, Amanda had simply let his words so far wash over her before continuing her report.

“From what I understand, Prince Francesco was given a number of healing stones by the Gilbelle family in case of any emergency while he was here. If he is allowed to visit the prince, he intends to use one on Prince Carlos.”

Zenjirou choked before giving a dramatic yell. “I’ll see him right away! I’m going to the palace, so get my clothes ready!”

“At once. Please proceed to the next room; everything is ready there,” she answered her overexcited master calmly.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Having rushed to change his clothes, Zenjirou did his best to suppress the urge to sprint as he strode through the corridors of the royal palace, but when he entered the room, Francesco and Aura were already there talking.

“Ah, you are here, Zenjirou,” Aura said, pausing their conversation to greet him.

“Good day, Your Majesty,” Francesco added. “My apologies for starting without you.”

Zenjirou was startled by Aura’s presence for a moment, but it wasn’t surprising after some thought. Zenjirou alone could do nothing to allow the prince access to the inner palace, nor to receive the healing stone. When Fabio contacted Zenjirou, he would have certainly contacted Aura as well.

Immediately reaching that conclusion, Zenjirou offered a brief apology for his tardiness and sat down next to Aura. This was a conversation between a foreign prince and the reigning queen and her consort. Ordinarily, despite the urgency and unofficial nature of it, there would have been some small talk around the season and such, but Zenjirou didn’t have the composure to bother with any of that at the moment, and Francesco was not so invested in the formalities.

“Your Majesty, I am glad you could come, and I apologize for the suddenness,” the foreign prince said with his usual innocent smile and easy tone.

“Not at all,” Zenjirou answered before asking about the thing that was most weighing on his mind. “It is a worthwhile cause to meet about. Incidentally, I do not see Princess Bona. Where is she?”

Francesco’s expression grew slightly awkward as he answered, “I kept it a secret. It would just be a hassle if I told her.”

Zenjirou and Aura answered in turn.

“I can see that.”

“I suppose that would be the case.”

It seemed all too likely that Bona, as serious and diligent as she was, would not be willing to turn over a healing stone. She and her companion were in a foreign country, and Francesco was being rash by so readily offering their hosts one of his lifelines. Bona was sensible enough she would stop him if she caught wind of it.

That said, Zenjirou and Aura would both rather have dealt with Francesco’s rashness, so it was somewhat fortunate that the more logical of the two wasn’t present.

They quickly exchanged glances to make sure they were on the same page.

“In that case, there is no need to go out of our way to summon Princess Bona.”

“Indeed, I imagine she is rather busy.”

Thus, Bona’s non-involvement was decided quickly.

“So, Prince Francesco,” Aura continued with a calm expression, “I have heard you are willing to provide us with a healing stone.”

Despite the look on her face, she had made no allowances with her mental state and moved smoothly to the main topic.

Francesco replied at once. “I am. I brought one with me. Please take a look,” he answered, pulling a palm-sized stone from his pocket and placing it on the table.

It was a cuboid with rounded corners, finely carved, and a slight marbling pattern on its clean white surface, but the actual item was probably close to worthless. However, anyone who could see mana would be able to observe that the stone was giving off as much mana as the average mage.

“And you will give us this?” Aura asked cautiously, as the prince had not mentioned compensation but had instead taken the item out immediately.

Thus far, the young man had been quite free with classified information concerning the marbles to an extent that could only be called foolish, but that didn’t necessarily mean he would seek no compensation here.

His response was far from what Aura had expected, though. “No, I won’t turn it over to you; I will take it and use it on Prince Carlos, so I would like permission to visit him.”

He sought no compensation but required a visit with the prince, as he would be using the tool personally. If Aura had seen nothing suspicious in this, she would have been negligent as both a mother and a queen. Francesco’s request was extremely suspicious, and she probed deeper.

“Why? I am sure the stone is important to you, so I wish to know the reason behind your suggestion.”

“Ah, well, I guess I feel a kinship with Prince Carlos. Besides, I’m from the Twin Kingdoms and in a position where I can get the healing stones more easily than most. So just using one isn’t a problem.”

The word “kinship” lingered in Zenjirou’s mind as he sat to the side, watching the prince speak with an absent-minded expression.

Huh, I think he said something similar before... Right, when we met at that ball. He said he felt the same about me.

The prince felt a kinship with both Carlos and his father. Was that something he could let go as just a simple turn of phrase? Zenjirou decided to check with Aura later as the conversation continued.

“So it is entirely a suggestion from the heart?” Aura asked.

“Indeed. If I can free Prince Carlos from his suffering, nothing would please me more.”

“In that case, there is no need for you to use the stone personally, is there? If you wish to meet him, we can bring him along to the royal palace once he has recovered.”

“Ah, that won’t work. Forgive my rudeness, but a healing stone is a precious commodity. While Prince Carlos may be your first prince, there is no guarantee you will use it on him, is there?”

It was put a little too bluntly, but what he was saying was understandable. If they looked at things from a purely calculative perspective, they could get a lot out of the situation if they took the healing stone, lied about using it, and simply bet on the infant’s ninety percent chance of survival.

Of course, if the ten percent chance ended up bearing out, they would lose both their first prince and the Twin Kingdoms’ trust, so it wasn’t an option they were likely to take. However, the concern Francesco displayed in his words was understandable from a foreign royal’s perspective.

Whatever else happens, this tells us one thing. Francesco is definitely not an idiot. It’s just an act, Zenjirou concluded, keeping his cool as he watched the two from the side. The man’s usual stupidity had to be theater, but why would he abandon the veneer he used to trick even his own countrymen just for a meeting with Carlos?

“What do you say? I really will be satisfied with the visit. I won’t bring anything but the healing stone, of course, and I don’t mind being alone. If it requires a search then I’ll be willing to undergo that too,” he offered, making every other allowance as Aura hesitated.

“Hrmm...”

His insistence suggested to Aura that he must have had some major goal behind his desire to visit her son.

“Please, I vow I will do nothing to harm either you or your country,” Francesco pleaded, holding his right hand up in front of his face entreatingly. The sight was amusing, but the actual events were far less so.

Still, in the short term, taking Francesco into the inner palace under such strict conditions meant he could pose no threat while there. With no weapons, no attendants, the second that he tried something, they could easily take him down.

Francesco’s bearing made it obvious that he had received very little in the way of martial training. He was relatively tall and fairly well built, but even Aura on her own could probably get him under control with little effort if she tried.

And above all else, Aura was a mother. From that position, she could not let the chance to use a healing stone on her child slip through her fingers.

“Very well,” she yielded after a long pause. “The visit and healing will be conducted under the same rules that medics and the healers of the Gilbelle family may enter under, and you will be allowed access to the inner palace. Dealing with the aftermath if it is later discovered that you were invited inside in secret would be bothersome, so I will make public the reason you are entering. Are you willing to abide by this?”

“I am; thank you very much,” Francesco answered with a satisfied smile.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

An hour later found Zenjirou, Aura, and the visiting prince walking through the corridors of the inner palace. Francesco had been searched before they entered, and everything but the healing stone had been taken from him. Conversely, Aura and Zenjirou both had short swords hanging from their waists—something they normally never bothered with.

While Zenjirou wielding a blade was not much of a threat, Aura was as proficient as the average knight. Regardless of his build, Francesco was uninitiated in martial arts, so dealing with him on his own would be no issue.

That said, the prince’s goal in gaining entrance to the inner palace remained unclear, so they were still feeling somewhat uneasy about it.

Aura had originally intended to have an escort accompany them into the palace, but after considering the risks, pros, and cons, had decided not to. Allowing him entry in the first place was a show of trust to some degree. While she and Zenjirou being armed was one thing, allowing armed soldiers in—in defiance of the usual allowances—would be another and would show that they didn’t trust his statements.

“Huh,” Francesco marveled, “it’s pretty different from our inner palace. Of course, I only remember it vaguely from before I was six, so I can’t say for sure, aha ha.”

He looked just like a tourist as he swiveled his head to look interestedly around while they walked, showing no sign of any tension. He was acting like enough of an idiot that it made the thought of him actually being that stupid pass through Zenjirou’s mind again.

Finally, they reached Carlos’s bedchamber.

“It is me,” Aura said with no fanfare, having already sent word of the circumstances.

The door opened from the inside with no real sign of surprise. “Your Majesty, Sir Zenjirou, Prince Francesco,” the blonde maid greeted them with a respectful bow. “Doctor Michel and Ma’am Cassandra are waiting inside.”

Another maid had been nursing the prince until just a little earlier, but Aura had given the blonde an order to relieve her when she brought the news. This maid was one of Aura’s confidants, on the same level as Fabio and Espiridion. She might not have looked it, but she was one of only two inner palace maids who possessed direct combat skills.

“Good work,” Aura told her. “How is he?”

“He settled down a few moments ago. His throat seems to be causing him pain, and he was crying while he was awake.”

“I see...” Aura replied, biting her lip hard as she entered the room.

Francesco followed her, and Zenjirou brought up the rear. Aura had told her husband not to hesitate if the worst came to pass and Francesco tried anything.

Their beloved son was sleeping on a small bed in the room, and standing on either side were his wet nurse—Cassandra—and Doctor Michel. In contrast to Cassandra, who bent her plump body into a deep bow, Michel shot an intense look at Aura and Zenjirou.

“Your Majesty, sir, I have heard the circumstances. However, if you will permit me to say so, I think this is rash. Red-splotch fever is not a disease you can catch only once. I am sure the two of you were forbidden entry until I permitted it.”

Zenjirou reflexively shrank back at the aging doctor’s glare, and Aura seemed to do the same.

“I apologize, but the situation has changed, forgive me,” she said apologetically.

The doctor seemed to realize that further preaching would have no benefit, and he sighed gustily before backing off. “I assume that you are Prince Francesco? You have brought the healing stone for Prince Carlos?”

Michel was a mere doctor, and his conversation partner was royalty. Ordinarily, it would have been an extremely rude interaction, but he was there as Carlos’s attending physician. When it came to anything relating to his charge’s health, Michel had significantly stronger standing.

“Yeah, that’s right. Here it is,” the visiting royal answered unconcernedly as he lifted the white stone in his hand, either because the custom was the same in the Twin Kingdoms or simply because it didn’t bother him.

Seeing the waves of mana emanating from the stone, Michel’s expression finally relaxed a bit. “I see. The prince is stable for now, but a quicker recovery is nothing to reject. Unlike the Blessing of the Forest, there is no benefit to overcoming it on your own.”

While the doctor had thus far shown no signs of unease, he had been entrusted with the life of the first prince as the child suffered from a disease that killed one in ten people, so it must have been a fair amount of pressure. His face shifted to display a clear impression of relief.

Francesco’s smile didn’t falter as he took a step towards the small bed where the prince was resting.

“Yeah, leave it to me; I’ll make sure he’s cured,” he declared, thumping his empty hand against his chest.

“Prince Francesco, pardon my hurrying, but if you would begin...” Aura pressed bluntly, holding her position from where she could interpose herself between the princes if need be.

Francesco gave another nod before saying something utterly inexcusable in a perfectly even tone. “I will. There is something I need to apologize for first, though.”

“Apologize?” Aura asked dangerously, her entire body coiling like a spring.

Behind them, Zenjirou reflexively put a hand on his blade. With smooth motions, the blonde maid moved so that she could easily remove the blade she always carried strapped to her thigh.

With a sideways glance at Michel as the doctor gasped, watching the situation unfold, Francesco continued with the smile on his face. “Indeed, I have actually told a lie. I said that I have several healing stones because I am from the Twin Kingdoms, but that was false. We have the Gilbelle family of healers, and our own family never leaves the country, so if we were to be wounded, we could immediately acquire a healer, which means there aren’t many healing stones specifically for royalty.”

“Then what is that white stone? Something other than a healing stone?” Aura asked sharply, her voice sounding like a bared blade.

Their visitor’s smile didn’t falter as he answered brightly. “No, it certainly is a healing stone. I only have the one, though, and Bona would be rather angry with me if I used it.”

“Then what is your intention here?” the queen demanded, lowering her center of gravity and keeping her hand on the hilt of her sword, sparing Zenjirou a glance to tell him not to rush things.

Francesco’s actions were certainly suspicious, but it was even stranger for him to have come this far to harm Carlos. He may not have been in line for the throne, but Francesco was still one of the Twin Kingdoms’ best enchanters, so it would have been a waste to use him as a sacrificial piece. With that in mind, it was possible that his goal was not to harm Carlos.

In the midst of the rising tension, Francesco reached a hand out over the sleeping baby. Not his right hand with the healing stone, but his empty left hand.

“I will do this. May this child’s afflictions be purged! I yield two hundred and eighty-six offerings of mana unto the spirits of life!” he chanted.

A faint glow of mana shone down on Carlos from the prince’s hand. The result was astonishing. The red-splotch fever, as the name suggested, left red markings all over the face and body. Until that moment, Carlos’s adorable visage had been covered in a heartbreaking number of them, but now they had completely vanished. If they had strained their ears, they would have heard that even his labored breathing had smoothed out. The effect of the prince’s spell was clear in an instant.

“Healing magic...” Zenjirou breathed after a long moment, finally understanding what he had witnessed.

“It cannot be!” Aura exclaimed, showing more surprise than Zenjirou had ever seen from her before. Her shock was to be expected. Francesco was a Sharou, but he had used the lineal magic of the Gilbelle family—something close to impossible by the rules of their world.

“Umm, could I explain the details somewhere else? Ah, it needs secrecy, though, so could you order everyone here to keep that to themselves?” he asked, as at-ease as ever.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“The only people there other than ourselves were Doctor Michel, Cassandra, and Margarette. They have been ordered to remain in the room for the time being. While I do not mean to cast aspersions on the efficacy of your magic, we cannot leave an infant alone in his convalescence, so they will look after him. Also, while he was ill, I gave an order that no one was to approach his room, so they will have no contact with anyone else. That should suffice for now.”

“Thank you, Queen Aura. I appreciate your consideration.”

The three of them had relocated to somewhere they could sit and talk. The room was the one that Zenjirou normally used for his lessons with Octavia. There was nothing he had brought from Earth there, and it was already prepared to receive guests, so it was the ideal place.

Aura and Francesco were seated on either side of the table, and Zenjirou was next to Aura—all their usual placements. The passing time and change of location had allowed Aura to regain her cool.

“Then let us begin. There is much I wish to say, but I will start with a direct question. Prince Francesco, who are you?”

The question was perhaps too direct, and Francesco was somewhat lost for an answer, giving an awkward smile as he scratched at his head. “I don’t know what to tell you. I am Francesco, the first son of the first prince of the Sharou family, Giuseppe; no one else.”

“Hmm, perhaps I was too vague. I shall ask each thing individually. Are you not a member of the Sharou family? No, that cannot be right; I have seen you using enchantment magic on a daily basis to create an item with future compensation. In that case, are you truly able to use healing magic as well? There was no sleight of hand?”

Aura’s questioning and tone were a little harsh for someone who had just healed her child and was also a prince of another country. But the events they had witnessed were so incomprehensible that the questions had to be asked.

Francesco himself seemed to realize it as well and showed no sign of displeasure as he answered. “It was not a trick. The magic was indeed healing magic. I can use both healing magic and enchantment.” His tone was stressing that it was an amazing feat as he spoke happily.

“Amazing” was an insufficient word, though, even as an understatement. It was then that Zenjirou decided to ask something that had been weighing on his mind for a while.

“Prince Francesco, you said you felt a kinship to me at the banquet, did you not? And you said the same about my son, Zenkichi. Answer truthfully: is that ‘kinship’ related to carrying the blood of two royal lines?”

Francesco blinked in slight surprise at the question before answering with a grin.

“Wow, you remembered. That’s exactly right. Just as you, Your Majesty, and Prince Carlos carry the blood of the Capua and Sharou families, I carry the blood of the Sharou and Gilbelle families.”

Zenjirou and Aura were struck speechless by Francesco’s easy admission. It certainly solved at least one mystery, though. Researchers of magic had hypothesized that a royal with two bloodlines and more mana than average would be able to use both lineal magics. Francesco had roughly double the mana of Zenjirou, so if he had the bloodlines of both royal families rather than just the Sharou blood, it followed that he could use both types of magic.

“Then your parents...” Zenjirou began, hesitant to suggest anything that would impugn their honor. Francesco’s answer, however, was not something he had expected.

“Not at all; my parents are most definitely First Prince Giuseppe and his consort, Tosca.”

“What? Then how?”

The prince’s smile was strained as he explained. “Your Highness, the Twin Kingdoms have had two royal families for centuries. Do you think so much time has passed without crossing the lines even once?”

It wasn’t Zenjirou who replied to the question, but Aura at his side. “I see, so from a certain perspective, you are the same as Princess Bona.”

“I am indeed.”

Bona, despite being born as a completely normal, low-class noble, had had the bloodline of the Sharou family lurking in her veins awakened. Likewise, despite being born legitimately to the Sharou family, Francesco had awoken the blood of the Gilbelle family lurking in his veins. One could most definitely call their positions similar.

“So, is that also the reason you have no right to succession despite descending directly from the first prince?” Aura asked with narrowed eyes.

Francesco’s smile remained in place but took on an air of tension as he confirmed her suspicions. “There is a secret agreement between the Sharou and Gilbelle families. It states that anyone who manifests the power of both bloodlines will remain celibate for their entire lives, bringing an end to their bloodline.”

The contract was, in all likelihood, to protect the claim that each of the families had on their own lineal magics. If the requirements were not met, it would have been rather difficult for their joint kingdom, with two rulers in command, to persist for long.

Yet however he glossed over it, it must have been rather unfair from Francesco’s point of view. Perhaps his constant innocent smile was to hide those gloomy thoughts, and with that in mind, Aura questioned him further.

“Then is your normal behavior a front for that? Perhaps some kind of act that the public can accept as the reason you lack a place in the line of succession? Since you cannot publicly state the true reason...”

Perhaps Francesco also felt a kinship to Zenjirou because of his need to purposely play the slothful fool to maintain the stability of the country, sacrificing his own image to do so.

But despite her conclusion, Francesco shook his head. “No, it’s truly how I am. I’m not too intelligent, and I always act before I think. I just say what I like without worrying about it, and do what I like the same way. The only time I act with the patience I was taught is times like this.”

“I see.”

Aura smiled ruefully at his words. The very fact that he could behave with that type of patience demonstrated that he wasn’t an idiot, but he probably wouldn’t make that connection. She imagined it would be rather difficult to overcome someone’s lifelong self-assessment based on the words of a third party.

Still, it did more or less explain why his act of stupidity came across as so natural. The only question left now was a big one. Frankly, she could imagine his answer, but it still needed to be asked.

Aura straightened her back and took a deep breath. Then, with an easy tone, she asked, almost mulling over the words as they left her mouth.

“Then my final question, Prince Francesco, is this: why did you reveal this to us? Further, what was the reason for your scheme to enter the inner palace and heal our son to provide incontrovertible proof that you could use healing magic? I presume that no one in the Twin Kingdoms knows this, and it is completely classified?”

Francesco straightened as well, almost in answer to Aura’s movements. Then the smile on his face became almost transparent, far from his usual innocent expression.

“Yes, the only people who know are His Majesty the king, His Excellency the pope, my parents, and my teacher of healing magic. Ah, Bona doesn’t know at all, so please keep that a secret from her too. The reason I revealed it was because I wanted both of you to know that someone with about the same level of mana as me, and two royal bloodlines, can use both families’ magic.”

At that answer, which was exactly what she had expected, Aura couldn’t help but close her eyes and remain silent.

“So you mean...” Zenjirou said, coming to the same conclusion as his wife a moment later, but not finishing the thought. He couldn’t hide his surprise and his vision swam.

When he looked at Aura, she nodded resolutely and answered quietly. “Indeed, our Carlos will be able to use both space-time magic and enchantment. Is that correct, Prince Francesco?”

Carlos’s mana capacity was on par with Francesco’s, and if the latter’s explanation was correct, such an outcome was inevitable.

“It is,” he answered shortly, his voice lingering in Zenjirou’s ears.