I think I saw situations like this once in my previous life.
A cutthroat war of nerves between two women over one man.
Something a man could never understand, and never should.
A battle that only women could wage, belonging to them alone.
“So this was why you would not give a definite answer about the betrothal.”
Arte seemed to have already decided that this was the reason for my hesitation.
Naturally, I had explained to her as well the unspoken rules of the imperial nobility.
No matter what, a foreigner could absolutely never become the first wife.
Arte, too, had reacted as though she clearly recognized and understood that point.
She probably wasn’t saying this now because she meant to blame me.
The problem was that, from where I stood, it didn’t sound that way at all.
“Uh, um. So there was someone you invited home before me?”
Polia also looked rather flustered by all this.
She had gotten her hopes up when some fine noble from the capital suddenly proposed to her.
And after leaving her hometown and coming here, a new woman suddenly appeared.
If I thought about it from the opposite perspective, it was enough to make someone ask, Are you kidding me?
To be honest, I felt wronged too. I was a victim here too.
Did I go east to get engaged? No. I was just there on envoy business.
And the north? I didn’t know being invited there meant a proposal!
Looking at the results, yes, I was the bad guy! But that wasn’t my intention!
—Rattle, rattle, rattle.
Unlike those inner thoughts, my body was extremely honest.
I was pointlessly nervous, my leg shaking, when Arte opened her mouth.
“I am from the Urut tribe. A descendant of the Blue Wolf and the White Deer of the east. My name is Arte.”
“Uh, wow. That’s an incredibly grand introduction. You can just call me Polia.”
“I heard you came from the north. You seem quite strong.”
“Not at all! I was actually the type to shut myself in my room, read books, and tinker with tools.”
Somehow, somehow the atmosphere seemed much better than I had imagined?
I had thought they would immediately start a war of nerves and fight with killing intent blazing.
As if to prove that my worries had been needless, the two of them were getting along fine.
After listening to them talk a little more, I figured out why.
“In my homeland, one fine wolf keeps many deer.”
“Same for us. It’s not exactly an easy place to live, so there are many families trying to send their daughters into better households.”
“The betrothal came first, but I know imperial law well. I cannot be the first.”
“I may be an imperial citizen, but if you go by status alone, I’m far below you, Arte. If it weren’t for imperial law, I would’ve been confirmed as a concubine with no way out, you know?”
Imperial citizen or not. That was the only difference.
The lifestyles of the places where the two of them had lived were remarkably similar.
They had seen, heard, and experienced similar things, so it was easy for them to understand each other.
For a guy like me, it was a stroke of heavenly luck. There had been no reason for sparks to fly.
“Ah, do not misunderstand, Ethan. I think Polia is fine. But I do find this matter a little displeasing.”
“Eek.”
“It would have been better if you had told me even a little sooner. First. In advance. Even though there was time after arriving in the capital, Ethan said nothing to me.”
“That’s… I was a little busy…”
“I feel the same way. Even if she’s from a grassland tribe, you should have told me there was a betrothal! Now it’s become difficult to explain to my grandfather later.”
“That, too, was entirely my oversight…”
This is unfair! I’m really so wronged I could cry! Waaah!
Nothing of the sort happened. Nor did I intend to do it.
Both of them had only voiced their dissatisfaction like this as a formality.
They were not truly hurt or angry.
If anything, it felt like they had dispelled my anxiety with this.
“Tell me a story, Ethan.”
“So, with Polia, really, nothing happened…”
“Not that. I heard you went to the north. I want to know what the imperial wolf, whom even our eastern wolves acknowledged, did in the north.”
“Uh. Well. There really wasn’t anything worth mentioning, Arte.”
It wasn’t as though I had fought tooth and nail like I did on the eastern envoy mission.
I had not even met the barbarians directly and done anything with them.
I went there, did a bit of inspection, and was startled when I heard the barbarians were attacking.
I said we should hurry and make preparations using the gunpowder I had brought.
After that, Hessen and Polia worked hard and barely made it in time.
On top of that, Cedrun won the preliminary battle with the volunteer soldiers.
What was I doing in the meantime? Nothing. Truly nothing at all.
Like an inspector, I simply watched with my own two eyes from a safe place.
“Oh, come on. Aren’t you underestimating yourself too much?”
At that moment, Polia cut in and said that wasn’t all.
It was true that Hessen and she had made a new weapon using gunpowder.
But I was the one who had presented the most important concept.
I was also the one who had asked the administrative officer to allow the new weapon to be used.
And the one who had persuaded the local notables so Cedrun could lead the volunteer soldiers.
She explained all of it to Arte, saying they were all things I had accomplished.
“You did a great deal, Ethan.”
“He really did. Though the inspector himself doesn’t seem to think any of it was particularly impressive!”
“Polia is a good person. No one else says things like that.”
“I only did what I had to do. When you keep saying that, it just makes me embarrassed.”
The one improving the gunpowder was Hessen, not me.
The one who helped with the production of the hwacha was Polia, not me.
Looking at it coldly, I really had done almost nothing.
Still, listening to the two of them made me feel good.
“I intend to ask His Highness the Crown Prince to allow Polia to remain as a guest of the family and enter the Armaments Office.”
“Will that be possible? I heard the Armaments Office is where only the empire’s very best are gathered.”
“If it’s Polia, who worked together with Hessen, the head of that Armaments Office, everyone will welcome her with open arms.”
The Crown Prince seemed to want me to hurry up and firmly secure Polia.
He said there was nothing better for soothing the sentiments of the north.
I had also watched Polia closely the entire time I was in the north.
Was she truly someone I could bring all the way to the capital without issue?
Was she simply skilled in technique, while having problems with the more important matter of character?
The result went beyond passing. I was extremely satisfied. She had a very fine nature.
Though now, somehow, it had turned into a wife test.
“What will you do, Arte?”
“For now, I came with the envoys, so I must return. But I have spoken to the Crown Prince of the empire about the betrothal. And I have received a definite answer from Ethan as well, so all that remains is to wait for the groom.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, among the grassland tribes, the husband went to fetch his wife.
It meant, I will be taking your daughter, your tribeswoman, so please look favorably upon me.
In other words, before long, I would have to visit the Urut tribe again.
“I am giving you time. Time to accept Polia first.”
“Should I say thank you?”
“In exchange, when you come to receive me, I hope you come as the wolf I acknowledged.”
From now on, not as my fiancée, but as Beiler’s daughter and a member of the envoy delegation.
Saying she had many things to do within the capital, Arte rose first.
Seeing Polia and me send her off together made us feel like a real married couple.
It had not even been three months since I met her. There was still so much I didn’t know.
But because I had abruptly made a northern-style proposal, things had come this far.
“Mm.”
I worried for a moment, but then remembered that I was not an ordinary person.
After all, I was a noble and the head leading a family.
I had thought I might have to enter a marriage without a single shred of love.
Perhaps I might even have to spend my life with a woman who did not suit me at all.
Viewed from that perspective, Polia was quite a decent partner.
As I said, it had only been three months, but she was a good person.
“Polia.”
“Yes, Inspector.”
“I’m no longer an inspector, so let’s drop that title. From now on, you may call me by name.”
“Eh, really?”
“You’ll have to call me by name for the rest of your life, after all.”
Having to marry someone I did not want and live with them forever.
A husband. A wife. They could become the greatest enemy of one’s life.
That was the world nobles lived in. The place I had to walk.
Viewed from that perspective, this person was actually a stroke of luck.
“First… shall we go see my father and mother?”
“Isn’t that t-too soon?”
“It’s all right. Neither of them will say anything.”
Polia, this isn’t the kind of meeting you’re imagining.
*
Wow. That was cheating. This was really too much. He should have told me in advance.
I was so nervous. I was so startled when he said his parents.
“Father. Mother. This may be a little sudden, but… somehow, I ended up bringing home your daughter-in-law. Hahaha.”
Ethan approached a well-tended grave and scratched the back of his head.
Flustered, Polia asked him, unable to help herself.
“That’s right. Both of them have already passed away. So this was the only way I could introduce you.”
“Ah…”
She had worried about what in the world she should say if she met them.
She had heard quite a lot about the Montebello family on the way here.
A founding meritorious family. The previous head had been close to the founding emperor.
They might be local notables, but they were on a completely different level from her family in the north.
The nobles who stayed in the capital were far greater than provincial nobles.
“Um. Since I’m from the north, won’t they dislike me a little?”
“Not at all. My mother and father both were not the kind of people to judge others by their origins. Rather, they disliked seeing those without talent in high places.”
“I see.”
“Viewed from that perspective, they would be very happy to welcome you, Polia. You can be proud. Making something together with the Armaments Office is something an ordinary person could never do.”
Father, Mother. You’re listening, aren’t you? Your future daughter-in-law is that amazing.
Even His Highness the Crown Prince is urging me to hurry and show him her abilities!
And that’s not even the end. She can do even more from now on.
A son of a founding meritorious family, and a daughter-in-law who will make her name as the empire’s greatest engineer.
Doesn’t it paint a picture of the family prospering just by thinking about it?!
As Ethan laughed loudly, Polia instead felt a sense of longing from him.
They must have been good parents. That was why he looked so wistful like that.
Suddenly, she wanted to fill the place in Ethan’s family that had been so empty.
“I’ll introduce myself. Father, Mother. My name is Polia. Just as Ethan said, I will become the greatest engineer in the empire! So that I can show the two of you someday as well.”
“You promised, Polia. No giving up halfway.”
“Of course. I came all the way to the capital. I even received a proposal. Look forward to it. I’m going to make something truly incredible!”
There was not yet the burning love other people spoke of.
But as time passed, wouldn’t it naturally become that way?
It was not as if the beginning had been a mess. Things were good even now.
With a smile, Polia moved close to Ethan’s side.