“Where did the person who was about to beat someone half to death go?”
‘Oh, damn it! That little...!’
Because Friedrich kept teasing her as though muttering to himself, Maria’s face burned. Instead of helping his sister with her youthful romantic prospects, the brother directly below her was trying to throw ashes over them!
Even when Maria lowered her head and revealed killing intent, Friedrich instead smiled broadly, as if showing off.
‘Oh no!’
At the sight of the two siblings bickering, Reinhardt’s face also flushed. To think he had shown himself being distracted by a woman at an official gathering where the imperial assemblymen and their families were present!
Moreover, he was currently here in place of his “Imperial Grandfather,” acting on his behalf in the Imperial Banquet Hall. Realizing his position, Reinhardt cleared his throat and let the heat leave his face.
“Ahem! Ahem! Then! I will see you next time!”
After lifting his deeply bowed head, Reinhardt fled the spot as if escaping. Watching him, Friedrich smiled warmly.
‘It is nice to be young, hehe.’
‘Just what is that boy...?’
‘He has never even dated a girl...’
Wilhelm and Johanna looked at Friedrich, who wore a smile like an old soul, with absurd expressions. And then...
“Whew...”
A young man who had been watching them from a distance without making it obvious let out a sigh, lowered his head, and trudged away.
He had bold, masculine features and broad shoulders. Like the people of House Schwarzen, he was dressed in black formal attire.
Behind the man walking away weakly, there was a girl watching him.
“Hmm...”
She looked from Friedrich to the man in black formal attire, and both her expression and her eyes seemed full of concern.
***
With the banquet, which had been full of incidents and uproar, the first Imperial Diet in imperial history to be attended by families came to an end. All the imperial assemblymen were packing up their encampments and returning to their respective homelands.
“Do you not even know how to distinguish between words and actions that may be said and done, and words and actions that must never be said or done? You pathetic fools!”
“We are sorry, Father!”
After shouting at his second, third, and fourth sons, who answered crisply, Schwarzen let out a sigh.
“I will let it pass this once. If I had not started a war last autumn, you would never have had cause to show such disgrace.”
Only after sleeping for a night did reason seem to return, and Schwarzen keenly felt his own fault.
However, because of the enormous incident his children had caused at the Imperial Diet banquet, having to offer Nodenburg-Treisen’s Imperial Voting Rights to the medicine peddlers of Etilant for one hundred years was a painful loss.
CRUNCH!
Unable to overcome his rage, Schwarzen drove his fist into the wall of the carriage. He struck so hard that a fist-sized hole opened in the carriage wall.
“Please calm yourself, Father. If we wait, a chance for revenge will come someday. Our family was not the only one harmed by those southern medicine peddlers at this banquet, was it?”
Unlike his younger brothers, who had bullied Julian, the eldest son, Walter von Schwarzen, had been mingling and conversing with adults of his own age.
Schwarzen calmly pulled the wooden splinters lodged between his fingers, then looked at that son with narrowed eyes.
“Do you mean Sütern?”
“Yes. Compared to the elite soldiers of our Nodenburg-Treisen, they are rabble, but their position is good in terms of checking House Medichin.”
Unlike the three who were still immature, Walter was the only one among his sons who was unusually cool-headed and intelligent, and he also served as his advisor.
As if even Schwarzen could not ignore Walter’s opinion, he let out a low hum.
“Hmm... That is true.”
“If we send our officers to Sütern and train their soldiers moderately, they should at least rise above the level of being completely useless. Of course, we cannot do it for free.”
Walter’s proposal was not unfamiliar to Schwarzen. Was it not similar to Nodenburg-Treisen’s state enterprise, the mercenary business?
However, instead of the existing method of sending large and small units to fight in battles or wars in exchange for compensation, this would be the first attempt at dispatching only officers to handle training. After pondering for a moment, Schwarzen gave a sinister smile.
“Not bad. It will also be an opportunity to add and test a new form of mercenary business.”
“Exactly, Father. Of course, we must not allow the essence of our Nodenburg-Treisen Army to leak.”
A master always kept thirty percent of his ability hidden.
After hearing Walter’s additional explanation that they should train another country’s army by providing only know-how while excluding the core, Schwarzen smiled in satisfaction.
“Good! I will entrust that matter to you, Walter. As soon as we return, send an envoy to Sütern and propose the business you have devised. The Zeiss bastards must have resentment piled up as well, so it should be worth attempting, heh heh.”
Thanks to his eldest son, who was like a well-honed famous sword unlike the other three sons, Marx’s mood was improving. However...
‘It is over, Walter. Give up.’
Walter von Schwarzen had fallen in love at first sight with Maria Medichin at last night’s banquet.
Unable to muster the courage to approach her and say even a single word, he had hidden his aching heart and merely watched from afar.
Even though, in the tent, he was a prodigy called “Walter the Ever-Victorious” for tactical acumen as sharp as that of a general with decades of experience, and on the battlefield, for the bravery with which he always stood at the front and cut down countless enemies!
However.
Because of this incident, a chasm of resentment had opened between Medichin and Schwarzen that could never be filled.
And so, as if letting go of a romantic affection that could never be permitted to him, Walter now looked out the window with sorrowful eyes.
***
The House of the Count Palatine of Sütern, which Nodenburg-Treisen had chosen as a partner, was also grinding its teeth because of this incident.
“You worthless fool, the sort even a total scoundrel would mock! You are a man who will one day become an Elector, yet not only did you cling to some wench, you were beaten unconscious by her!”
Since attending the Imperial Diet, Liam had never experienced anything as dreadful as this. He burst with indignation and flew into a rage, spitting as he spoke, while Herman stammered.
“I-I am sorry, Father!”
“That is why I told you again and again! Do not neglect Aura training!”
After House Berstein, which had effectively served as the martial arts instructors for the nobles of Sütern, including House Zeiss, the Count Palatine family, moved to Etilant, Sütern had not produced a single Aura Master. For hundreds of years!
Because of that, even Liam himself had trained and trained again, not caring if he ended up literally covered in blood, but he had still failed to overcome the wall of becoming an Aura Master. That said everything.
And yet!
The fellow who was supposed to be his eldest son had held himself back because he feared his body being injured.
Thus!
Because of his son, who had suffered such shame this time, Liam’s anger did not ease even when he beat his own chest.
THUD! THUD!
Each time Liam struck his chest and the sound echoed, not only Herman, but his younger siblings as well flinched.
Even after beating his chest like a drum, Liam could not soothe the fire inside him. He glared fiercely at Herman and shouted.
“Nothing else matters! Herman, as soon as we return, you will train as this father of yours did!”
“Th-the training you did, Father...?”
“Yes! Healers, Mages, Potions! I will provide them without stint, so devote yourself to training! Even if your bones break and your flesh tears!”
At his father’s overbearing roar, Herman’s face turned blank, as if he had lost the whole world. He was telling him to do that insane training!
“If you want to faint from another slap by that medicine peddler’s daughter, you need not do it. However! If you behave that way, I will never hand over everything I possess to you! Never!”
Would it be training so painful it felt like death?
Or would it be giving up the position of an Elector of the empire?
For a single mistake at a banquet, Herman von Zeiss now stood at an unbearably harsh crossroads.
‘Someone else grew up under his grandfather without parents or siblings, yet at that age, he is already acknowledged as a candidate for the next emperor...’
The catch was that the person in question was Reinhardt.
At the sight of his eldest son hesitating before his eyes, anger surged up in Liam von Zeiss from the depths of his heart.
***
That very Reinhardt was also drinking tea and conversing with Magnus in a tea room of the Asteldorf Imperial Palace.
“Thanks to House Medichin, your future has been made firm, Reinhardt.”
“It would have been impossible without Imperial Grandfather’s keen wit.”
At Reinhardt’s response, Magnus nodded with a satisfied expression and brought the teacup to his lips. For some reason, the flavor spreading through his mouth today lifted Magnus’s spirits even more.
After setting down the teacup, Magnus gazed steadily at Reinhardt.
“When your father and mother died and I took you in, I never imagined you would grow this splendidly. Back then, you were my most adorable and pitiful grandchild.”
“I was able to grow this way because of Imperial Grandfather’s instruction.”
To Reinhardt, who had lost the mother who bore him as her first child the moment he was born, and who had lost his father before he could even walk, Magnus was like a father. Even if the title he used was Imperial Grandfather.
At the sight of his grandson answering so calmly that it went beyond composure, Magnus felt both pleased and pitying.
‘If my son and daughter-in-law had still been alive, they would have held him close and doted on him...’
Because of the reality of House Bessen, which had continued through only sons for four generations, and because there was no buffer called parents, Reinhardt had to inherit everything Magnus had built directly.
Because of that, Magnus had no choice but to raise his one and only beloved grandson to be strong and cool-headed.
That was why Magnus could not reveal, just as they were, the feelings of apology and gratitude he had toward the grandson who had grown so upright and dignified. If he himself did not set an example, what meaning would all his instruction until now have?
“Yes, Reinhardt. Your father and mother, who must be in the arms of the gods, are surely watching over you with joy.”
“I believe that is so, Imperial Grandfather.”
After that, Reinhardt drank tea in silence while watching his “Imperial Grandfather’s” mood. Noticing that sign, Magnus spoke.
“You have something to say.”
“Yes. I have one request.”
“Speak.”
“If I marry Young Lady Maria Medichin, I do not wish to make the crests of the Etilant Autonomous Territory and House Medichin our family’s own.”
It was House Bessen’s long-standing tradition to expand its territory through political marriages generation after generation.
Looking at his grandson with a stern expression, a grandson who wished to seize Maria Medichin even if he had to go against that tradition, Magnus asked, “Our family has expanded its territory through marriage for generations. What is your reason for rejecting that tradition?”
“Because I believe it is time to strengthen our substance rather than our outward appearance.”
“Our substance rather than our outward appearance?”
As soon as Reinhardt sensed that Magnus’s reaction was not bad, he began answering smoothly, as though he had been prepared.
“That is correct, Imperial Grandfather. It is true that our family has built the broadest territory among the imperial domains thanks to political marriages, but in exchange, we have earned the vigilance of the neighboring territorial domains. We are also failing to make full use of the potential of the territories under our rule.”
“Hmm...”
His grandson’s point stung, but it was not wrong.
The capability of Midenmark-Hengania, which failed to match its size, had been a problem unsolved for hundreds of years.
Even Magnus himself had tried every possible means to solve that problem from the time he ruled the domain in place of his late father, the previous emperor, until he entrusted it to Reinhardt, but had he not failed?
“Then what future do you intend to draw?”
“I wish to join hands with House Medichin and strengthen the substance of Midenmark-Hengania. Their experience in turning Etilant, once undeveloped land, into the most prosperous place in the empire in only a few hundred years, and...”
“Oh...”
Reinhardt explained in such a coherent manner that Magnus listened closely.
The fact that he was speaking whatever came to mind because he could not put love forward as his reason was Reinhardt’s secret alone.
***
The Medichin family had made Reinhardt preach a new form of political marriage to Magnus in order to win what seemed likely to be the first and last love of his life.
House Billen was also worrying over that same Medichin family.
“I do not think the rumor that the eldest son of House Medichin is weak is true, dear.”
“What do you mean, wife?”
Helena Billen, Orenje’s wife, carefully watched her husband’s mood as she answered his indifferent question.
“They say that child used to pursue nothing but art, but after what happened yesterday, I do not think that is true.”
As one of the witnesses to the chaos that had unfolded yesterday, Helena had been able to feel something from Friedrich as she watched him.
A strong will to stand and fight without fleeing if someone tried to harm his family, even if that person was stronger than he was!
However, Orenje gave a faint laugh and waved his hand dismissively.
“In the end, it was only children scuffling among themselves, wife. It was rather violent, though.”
‘I do not think so...’
Margarete Billen, the only legitimate heir of House Billen, who sat beside Helena, wanted to tell her father that he was wrong.
However.
If she fell out of her father’s favor even by chance, her dream of becoming the heir of House Billen would shatter, and everything belonging to her mother’s family, which had been absorbed into House Billen, would pass to one of her younger half-brothers.
‘Absolutely not! Never!’
Because of that fear, Margarete kept her mouth firmly shut. Orenje asked her,
“Did you meet Lord Walter at last night’s banquet, Margarete?”
“Yes? Yes, Father. He was a good person.”
Good person, my ass.
Thanks to her father, who had pursued a natural meeting, Margarete had been able to comfortably meet Walter von Schwarzen alone—or rather, watch him.
And by watching him like that, she had realized whom Walter had feelings for.
‘Still...’
If she told her father the truth, she might receive a furious scolding or be pushed farther from the position of heir, so she ended up lying. After all, the initiative had been stolen from her not by just any woman, but by a Young Lady of House Medichin. And...
‘Honestly, he is not my type either...’
Walter, whose age difference with her was far too large, seemed like an opponent too difficult for Margarete.
So she defied her father’s command and chose to watch instead.
Whatever connection might form, that side would be easier to evaluate objectively. There was no burden, either.
‘That child might be better instead...’
The figure that appeared in Margarete’s mind was
the eldest son of House Medichin, Friedrich Medichin, who, at last night’s banquet, had shattered three ruffians to protect his younger brother, and had even shouted and stood against that terrifying powerhouse, Marx von Schwarzen.