Intermission — The Twin Kingdoms’s Actions
Intermission — The Twin Kingdoms’s Actions
In the midst of the uproar over the arrival of the Northern Continent’s princess, the prince and princess of the Twin Kingdoms of Sharou-Gilbelle were having a somewhat serious meeting in their loaned corner of the palace.
“Seriously, what a surprise. That Northern princess is so assertive.”
“Indeed. Perhaps it is a sign of the difference in culture?”
Even Bona wasn’t able to hold in her curiosity, despite not normally being a fan of gossip, but her purple eyes were sparkling as she answered Francesco.
Bona had a slightly different perspective on things than most royals. She was born a low-ranking noble, and even after becoming royalty she had prioritized her training in enchantment and engraving, so she only had a basic level of royal etiquette.
“I cannot imagine the courage required to make such an offer in public as a woman. Will it work out, though? Marriage between royals is the greatest taboo, is it not?”
Her worried comment made her knowledge only being in general terms obvious. Conversely, Francesco might have seemed like a frivolous idiot, and indeed was precisely that much of the time, yet he was brought up as a pure royal and had more knowledge on that front than Bona.
“No, there’s actually a fair few royal families on the Northern Continent that have no lineal magic. In such cases, rather than being taboo, marriages are common. It’s similar to marrying influential nobles within our own countries.”
“Ah, I see. In the same way that regional nobles expand within a country.”
Bona wasn’t unintelligent, so she soon understood.
“Fairly similar, yes. So Princess Freya aiming for a political marriage outside her country is within the realm of sensibility. If anything, I would imagine Their Majesties were more shocked. After all, Capua is a country of its continent.”
“Ah, I see,” Bona answered. “Then does that mean there is a high chance of her not being accepted?” Her concerned face made her seem purely worried about Freya.
“Hmm? I’m not so sure about that. The war means that Capua has dangerously few wielders of their lineal magic. His Majesty is receiving requests for concubines. Princess Freya cannot use any lineal magic herself, but she still has a fair amount of mana. Things might come together easier than you think.”
It would cause issues for the secret agreement between their nations, but Francesco spoke quite indifferently as if it were no concern. Bona, with her position being the lowest in the Sharou family, was unaware of those complicating factors and just nodded in wonder.
“So His Majesty will be ‘given’ many concubines in future. That will be hard on him,” she said sympathetically. Their values were close enough that Bona felt a certain kinship with Zenjirou, and she understood him the best of anyone in a certain way.
Marrying multiple women was only the norm for wealthy merchants and high-ranking nobles. Commoners and lower nobles usually had a single husband and wife, and adding a second or third woman into the mix would only be a disruption. Born as a lower noble, Bona had an intuitive sense of that. It was something that Francesco, a royal through and through, would never understand.
“Hm? Her Majesty is fine, as you can see, and Princess Freya is a wonderful woman as well. If anything, he’s in an enviable position. Still, if you’re concerned, why not offer yourself as a candidate?”
Francesco had his usual artless smile without a hint of malice as he cut to the heart of the matter. However, with no way of knowing the plans of the Sharou family’s leaders, Bona’s reaction was awfully blunt.
“Truly, Prince Francesco, you jest about such things far too easily. You cannot. Even though we may be the only two here, you must not voice such inappropriate jokes so carelessly.”
Her expression was scolding as she spoke to the older prince but held no embarrassment or surprise. It was the expression of a woman who had never entertained the idea of becoming the prince consort’s concubine, even in jest. It was not even based on whether she found him attractive or not; she had simply made no assumptions about such a development.
Bona had no doubt that she would be returning to the Twin Kingdoms of Sharou-Gilbelle before long, and for his part, Zenjirou was the prince consort of Capua. Regardless of social status, royals on the Southern Continent who held lineal magic of their own would never intermarry. That preexisting problem and the way she would be living her life were too separated, and she didn’t see him as someone she could marry.
Regardless, the blond prince continued his frivolity to spur her on. “But you have seen the pair of rings Their Majesties have, right? You know, the one with the three linked diamonds. Those are called wedding rings and are from His Majesty’s world. It’s apparently something that a man gives to his wife there.”
“Y-You mean that I’d get such a wonderful ring if I married him?” Bona gulped and her expression morphed into one of deep thought.
“Yup, but he probably can’t get anything else from his homeland, so concubines would probably have rings made here.”
Hearing the obvious statement from Francesco, Bona looked up in shock with a shudder.
“P-Prince Francesco, stop your trickery, please! I was almost taken in!”
“Come on, don’t fall for something like that. It just makes me feel bad.”
Francesco scratched awkwardly at his head, averting his gaze from Bona and mumbling quietly to himself, “She turns into an idiot once jewelry gets brought up.”
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That night, Francesco was doing some kind of work at his desk, alone, which was unusual. On his desk was a magic tool, the same kind of shape as a candlestick that created a ball of fire.
This ball of fire was maintained by mana, and unlike natural flames, it lit the area evenly without flickering, so it was superlative for illumination. Of course, the properties of the fire itself remained constant, and it was usable as a heat source as well as a light source.
Francesco was using the metal-tipped stone in his hand, a peculiar type of pen, heating it in the ball of fire before using the hot metal to write on the parchment spread on his desk.
“I don’t want to write anything too provocative, but I can’t lie to father either. How to go about this? ‘Someone has asked for His Majesty Zenjirou’s hand in marriage. It is Princess Freya from the Northern Continent. Our little Princess Bona is friendly with him, but neither of them seem to harbor romantic feelings for the other,’ I guess?”
Francesco burned the letters into the drake parchment as he spoke. These sheets were known as dual-burn parchment and were a magic tool. Two sheets were linked as one, and burning one sheet would burn the other in an identical way. It had originally been developed as a way to safely light fires in distant locations, but someone had noticed that the characteristics of the burns were identical and thought of burning letters into them, and they became used for long-distance communication.
“Still, I guess him getting a concubine, even if it is a foreign royal, is good news for the Sharou family? With the secret agreement, any children he has with a concubine can study in the Twin Kingdoms. Father and Grandfather might use this breakthrough to push a Sharou princess on him as well, though.”
The leading candidate for that play was none other than Bona. She was a particularly easy “piece” for the Sharou family to use. She had just about the standard level of magic to use her lineal magic, and she was born as a lower noble. She was obedient, though, and not bad-looking despite being relatively plain. Disregarding her profession, hobby, and raison d’être of jewelry crafting, she had no real attachments. Her birth and upbringing intertwined in a rather complex way, and she had an almost laughably easy personality to manipulate.
Essentially, her origin as a lower noble meant that she had an inherent tendency to obey the royal family, starting with the king himself. Her later ascension meant that she also felt the duty to serve the country as a royal. Therefore she felt the usual sense of duty that a royal did while also following the orders of higher-ranking royals. With her dual upbringing as both a lower noble and royalty, it meant she could interact with any stratum of people without causing them discomfort.
With Bona, whatever kind of man Zenjirou was, she should be able to grow closer to him rather naturally. Even in the worst case, there was almost no possibility he would grow to hate her. Such feelings on the part of the Sharou family were in some ways right on the money and in other ways as far from the mark as possible.
“The two of them are well matched and get on nicely, but perhaps they’re a bit too well matched. More than matched, perhaps the word ‘similar’ is more appropriate.”
A smile slipped onto Francesco’s face as he thought back to the amiable chats the two had shared so easily. It was perhaps impressive how close they had grown in a mere three months, but that closeness was most certainly not the usual kind between a man and woman.
“It’s almost like watching two herbivores getting on and basking in the sun.”
If you described romance as involving both carnivores and herbivores, you would need at least one of the former to actively go for romance or nothing would happen. Two herbivores wouldn’t prey on each other—that is, court the other. Zenjirou was far from unreceptive to romance, but he was just that: receptive.
Compared to the actions Aura had taken when they first met and how Freya had acted a few days ago, Francesco had seen reactions from him but had never seen Zenjirou initiate.
Bona was much the same. Therefore, as both of them waited for an action to give a reaction to, things would constantly remain in their initial state.
“If my eyes don’t deceive me, the two of them could spend a century together and still just chat.”
Despite his thoughts, Francesco didn’t have any desire to record it on the dual-burn parchment. While he wouldn’t interfere with his father and grandfather’s plans, he wouldn’t support them either. After all, he and Bona were developing good relationships, and inviting extra strife was something he’d pass on.
His pen had cooled while he was muttering to himself, so he heated it up again and continued his writing.
“Princess Freya hails from the Kingdom of Uppasala, which is one of the few countries on the Northern Continent where the church holds little sway. Therefore I have made the decision that interacting will not cause any problems. Please grant your permission.”
Francesco was removed from politics in his homeland, so he didn’t know the details, but the Twin Kingdoms of Sharou-Gilbelle’s interactions with the Northern Continent were, as a rule, forbidden. Or more accurately, interactions with those with connections to the church.
Just in case, he decided he should stress her independence. However, while not to the same extent as Bona, Francesco was a craftsman at heart, and he was wildly curious in general, so a connection with an advanced country in the Northern Continent like Uppasala was something he wanted dearly.
“Their advancement is obvious with a glance of their soldiers’ weapons and armor. Still, they are fairly plain, and I don’t recall seeing many jewels. Lady Skaji’s spear is wonderfully decorated, though, so perhaps there would be a source of knowledge on that front. Truly, even though we both hail from the Northern Continent, how different we are.”
His grumblings petered out, not reaching anyone’s ears.