As if she had had enough, the Deposed Queen asked,
“If I die, my father will come to attack this country, you know?”
So she had no intention of dying after all.
In the end, she was looking to her father, the Emperor.
“I will bury your father alongside you. Though I will let the children kick his head around as a ball.”
“Huh?”
“If you do not want to die, stop making a scene and get out. I know what you wish to say. But remember this.”
“What?”
“Her Majesty will choose the successor. A monarch can choose the next monarch. Not even the eldest son among one’s children is guaranteed it unconditionally.”
As for a throne, people generally thought that it should pass to the king’s eldest son.
But if the eldest son was exceptionally worthless, the king certainly had the power to choose another option.
The nobles who would oppose this were all people holding titles themselves, so they wanted to hold the power of succession in their own hands.
Few welcomed the transfer of power to the next successor merely because he was the eldest son of the lawful wife.
Therefore, no matter how much she demanded the position of Her Majesty’s successor, that position would be decided by Her Majesty.
“And you are throwing a tantrum over a succession that presumes Her Majesty’s demise before even wishing for the flourishing of Her Majesty’s house? I understand well that this is an act meant to provoke discourtesy.”
“You will regret what you did today.”
“You will regret not hanging yourself here.”
“After leaving the North so empty, what gives you such confidence? It seems you have not heard, but the Eastern nomad cavalry my husband prepared numbers more than ten thousand horsemen.”
“Then I shall gain ten thousand fine Eastern horses, extend the Kingdom’s border as far as Feltkirch, and acquire the head of the Deposed Queen, a headache to the Kingdom.”
It seemed she intended to station troops at the border, come in herself to raise the issue of discourtesy, then use that as grounds to declare war. That was why I dealt with her so perfunctorily.
At last, perhaps enraged, she sprang to her feet.
“I will not leave you alive.”
“I intend to slaughter even your bloodline, so you ought to have at least that resolve.”
“Move aside!”
The Deposed Queen finally shoved aside the attendant who entered behind her carrying unbleached cloth, then walked out.
As soon as the coronation was over—perhaps even on the day of the coronation itself—the Deposed Queen would invade, claiming her daughter’s royal authority, with her new husband and the Eastern nomad cavalry he had hired.
‘She could fabricate a stronger pretext and devise a scheme to stir confusion in the capital.’
I briefly closed my eyes, then opened them.
At least, if it was a plot devised in the Royal Castle or its environs, anything was acceptable.
***
“Was that so wrong? What would a mother be unable to do for her child?”
“Indeed, Your Highness.”
Perhaps her anger had not yet subsided, Elined was still fuming as she poured out resentful complaints steeped in rage.
The knights who had come as an escort with the delegation merely echoed her anger by rote.
‘No matter how extraordinary her beauty may be, and no matter how generously the Emperor has granted territory and a pretext for the sake of his remarried daughter, this crazy bitch is exhausting.’
She claimed it was all for her child, yet Princess Aisia’s cheeks were covered in scratch marks, and there were even sounds of Elined beating her.
She even openly complained that the girl’s eyes resembled those of the late King of Palatina, her former husband, making people frown.
From the standpoint of her new husband, the Grand Duke of Feltkirch, or of those who tried to view it favorably,
‘The more she demeans her former husband and that child, the more she is declaring that she loves her new husband.’
That was how they put it. Even those who said such things, however, were closer to speaking against their hearts, since their homeland was the Empire and the Emperor was their backing.
Elined, who had been throwing one hysterical fit after another, glared at the escort knight who had been agreeing with her rage by saying, “Indeed, Your Highness.”
“Is ‘indeed’ the only thing you have to say?”
“Indeed...... Urgh?!”
CRASH.
Elined’s perfume bottle flew across the tent.
The knight had the strength to avoid it, but he had been caught responding with a mechanical “indeed,” so he simply took the blow.
There had even been times in the past when she had told him to agree with her, only to strike him after he did.
The knight’s mind was full of curses, but he had no grounds on which to resist.
Their spirited young Grand Duke had already become infatuated with this older enchantress.
There would surely be times when even he grew sick of her, but if they gossiped about her then, the young Grand Duke’s spear would pierce their solar plexuses instead of a perfume bottle.
“At the very least, you must not look at me with such expressions! Is it not a good thing, if only for my husband?”
“Forgive us, Your Highness.”
The knight who had been struck by the perfume bottle knelt at her side.
“I cannot punish him with my own hand, so you do it.”
“Pardon?”
“Now!”
The knight struck by the perfume bottle was far more senior than the other knights standing in formation with him.
That was why he had been granted even the right to answer.
Because such a senior man had his own measure of standing, the younger knight hesitated.
“If you do not hurry, I will tell my husband about this.”
When the knight drenched in perfume simply nodded, the beardless young knight finally squeezed his eyes shut and began striking the wrinkled middle-aged knight across the face.
Elined did not stop him until blood ran from the man’s nose, and finally called a halt around the time a tooth flew out.
“Enough. Get out, all of you.”
“We are your escort—urk?!”
“Rather than look at the sorry state of wretches like you, I would sooner die alone in lofty solitude.”
The knights had no way to endure the whims of the lady they served, so they fled as though escaping.
Being slapped by their lord for failing to stand a proper guard would have been preferable.
“It is time.”
Elined’s tantrum was not entirely without calculation.
The Kingdom had offered her the use of the caravan lodging for merchant traders, but she had taken it as an insult and left the Royal Castle.
Afterward, she set up the tents of the Eastern nomad cavalry she had brought with her.
This was a symbol meant to display, ‘We have those savage Eastern nomad cavalry,’ and a warning to the current Regent and Queen.
However, the Kingdom paid it no heed. As soon as she left the castle, the Kingdom withdrew all the watchers it had attached in the name of guarding her.
And when she had withdrawn her own watchers as well, a bee drawn by the scent soon flew in.
“The smell is overpowering......”
“Welcome. Please come in.”
Elined was exceedingly kind to the hooded man.
Though all the knights had withdrawn, the man did not remove his hood as he answered.
“What in the world do you think you are doing?”
“What do you mean, what am I doing? I am trying to reclaim my daughter’s country.”
“Haa, I promised that friend I would go on the Eastern Expedition. So no matter how many troops you gather, you will not defeat the Royal Domain and the North.”
“The Empire’s forces can bind the North. If you merely keep the Lion Unit tied down as you are doing now, there will be no problem. You need only refrain from intervening. Then we will make you the new Royal Father-in-Law and give you the Regent’s and Queen’s heads.”
“What about your new husband, that you say such things?”
Elined smiled darkly and lowered her voice.
“How could we hand this most sacred Kingdom over to a black-haired barbarian with the blood of some small-eyed eastern people mixed in him?”
The reason ten thousand Eastern nomad cavalry had answered the call was that a great deal of money, backed by Imperial support, had been paid as their fee.
But another reason was that the Grand Duke of Feltkirch had blood from immigrant lines who had submitted among the Eastern nomad cavalry when they swept through the eastern reaches of the continent.
The bloodline he had thought had largely faded over four generations manifested in his generation as black hair and monolid eyes, perhaps making him a kind of rallying point for the Eastern nomad cavalry wandering after the loss of their Great Khan.
“Be quiet. At the coronation, he will guarantee my daughter’s place in the succession.”
“That Grand Duke of the North is renowned for his cunning. Do you trust him? And.”
Elined’s voice was naturally high and loud, but she lowered it again.
“Your daughter is not...... your only one, is she?”
Though the hood concealed his eyes and nose, his chin and cheeks were red enough to show.
“Be quiet. What are you babbling about?!”
“Hehe, ahahahahaha. I shared a bed with my husband before I came. How does that sound? The Grand Duchy might become your country as well. Ah, would the child have to have black hair? Ahahahahaha. It seems my new husband would prefer a blond child.”
“You truly are mad.”
“Were you not the one who drove me mad? You may trust it.”
“Trust what?”
“Because a mother can be certain.”
“I remember that you were in the late King’s bedchamber at the time as well. And the Frost Sword—”
“You have royal blood too, so how could it tell the difference? I do not lie. Did I not say clearly then that I had come while being held in someone’s arms? Still, it is true that there is a high chance it was you. Would you understand if I said the strength was different? Ahahahaha.”
Her lewd talk was so coarse that it was hard to believe she was a highborn lady of Imperial descent, but she had always been like that.
She had not only flirted with the king’s unmarried younger brother, but had also expressed interest in the Grand Duke of the North, a loyal subject of the king, upon hearing that he had lost his wife.
As a spy whose purpose was to entangle the kingdom’s major male ministers and make them lose their senses, she had fulfilled her role sufficiently.
“Do not speak such things carelessly from now on. Is it not disgraceful? What if someone hears?”
“It would be troublesome for you too, but I am not worried. You are someone who can fully sense the vigor of weaklings, are you not? Is anyone outside? Hmm?”
“Then do you think I cannot kill you?”
“You could not forget me for years, could you? I heard that you did not so much as look at your wife for a long time.”
“How far do you intend to insult me......”
Elined pulled down the front of her dress.
“I shall offer a greater insult. Could you not return it with a greater insult?”
“Shut up. I am loyal to the new Queen, and I have decided to go east. If you invade, I will naturally stand with Her Majesty the Queen.”
“Oh my, you used to be adorable. I may not know about other things, but my body has not aged so much.”
“......Someone is coming, so I will be going.”
Elined seized the man’s hand.
“Would it not be enough simply to kill anyone like that? It has been a long time......”
***
As a royal guest, the Duke of the East was allowed to stay in the Royal Castle rather than a detached palace, unlike the other nobles and foreign envoys.
When he returned, the Grand Duke of the North, the Lord Protector, was in the reception room of his temporary quarters.
“What brings you all the way here?”
“The smell of perfume is strong.”
“Is that so? I cannot smell it.”
“I believed it was only a rumor I had heard, but this is surprising.”
The Duke of the East broke out in a cold sweat.
It was true that the scent of perfume clung to him heavily.
The Lord Protector would obviously suspect that he had gone out to amuse himself.
But that was not much of a problem.
For a high-ranking noble to keep a mistress and have affairs was not even a blemish.
It was a private matter of the bed, so he could be embarrassed by it, and there was no problem in keeping it unspoken.
But.
“I have heard of your loyalty, so that is all right. However, you must prove that loyalty. You must accept all three: return the Lion Unit, undertake the Eastern Expedition, and offer your daughter as Her Majesty’s goddaughter.”
The demands, which he had been told to accept only one of, had increased.
“I have never been disloyal.”
“It would be best not to deny it.”
The Grand Duke of the North spoke as though he knew something.
That made the Duke of the East even more flustered.
‘There were certainly no pursuers or watchers. Yet how? Could it be that bitch?! Or is he making a leap because of the perfume? Or does he truly see the future?’
There had been no mistake in going to meet his deposed former sister-in-law.
An exceptional warrior’s senses were developed enough to discern a person’s presence.
Whether it was inside a tent or several meters outside it, he could have slipped in without notice by avoiding the signs of human presence.
The only mistake was that the perfume’s scent had clung to him.
When Elined came to the Royal Castle, she had left behind the scent of perfume. Perhaps the Lord Protector had detected that, then set out to probe him. Or perhaps Elined had told the Grand Duke of the North.
Or did he see the future, as suspected?
At that moment, the Frost Sword touched the Duke of the East’s throat.
“......What are you doing?!”
“You truly look startled. You cannot even avoid something like this. Or has your skill declined, and you are frightened?”
“What are you doing? Why?”
“The Grand Duchy of Feltkirch is the state that protects the Deposed Queen and Princess Aisia, and its border meets the North. Did you think I would not have planted even one spy there?”
“......!”