The second day of the Social Season had ended.
Until now, things had felt somewhat slow, but once classes began in earnest, and six months later when the basic course ended and the mutual assistance between factions and houses began, time would fly like an arrow.
Even so, Yurien found it difficult to conceal his frustration.
He had expected as much, but there were no nobles who showed him favor or respect.
After all, he was merely a sickly and frail younger brother who had fortunately survived beneath the shadow of his elder sister who had become queen.
Moreover, it was his first time officially stepping into the fray; the Social Season itself was his first.
Until then, Earei had protected him and Seorin had kept him close, so he had never needed to step onto the political stage.
In that sense, recruiting the Bashuporte and Nerasmun families—who, though low in rank, were core figures of the royal palace—as his solid power base had been a tremendous achievement.
They were families currently treated like cold leftovers, but they were ones who had been put to good use and fulfilled their duties for generations in the kingdom.
The queen was displaying her inadequacy, unable to utilize them due to personal sentiment and the checks of the great houses.
“Hah.”
At the sigh that escaped him unwittingly, the guide secretly gauged Yurien’s mood.
Of late, the queen had grown suspicious.
If things went awry, these watchers of the queen might exaggerate and inflate each of his actions in their reports, tightening the noose around the royal brother’s neck.
If it came to that, the fate of the Kingdom of Revantorte would truly hang by a thread, so whether he possessed power or not, he would have to carry out a coup.
“This way, Your Highness. Only Her Majesty is present.”
“I see.”
In a corner of the royal palace, the door to a small reception room opened.
It was called small by palace standards, but it was by no means narrow.
A grand table was laid out with various dishes, and at its far end, Queen Seorin welcomed Yurien with a smile.
“I pay my respects to Your Majesty.”
“Sit, little brother. Between us siblings, such empty formalities are unnecessary.”
Seorin regarded Yurien with special affection.
He was the only blood relative who had been with her since childhood, and though it had not been conspicuous, Yurien too had exerted himself for Seorin in small ways.
For instance, acting as a lookout on the hill in front of the mansion where they had been confined as children.
The queen knew of her younger brother’s labors, and thus did not doubt him, but trusted him.
“So, you held the debut ceremony yesterday, and today was the second day. How was it?”
Hardly before he had taken his seat, Seorin asked.
Yurien briefly explained the circumstances of how the four factions had been formed.
The fact that the heads of those factions were all great houses and second-ranked houses of the north and south displeased the queen.
“The faculty?”
“For the martial course, Meria Su….”
“Meria Su? The Church has recruited the Su family?”
“On top of that, they brought in the Shurazm couple and the widow of Nerasmun as members.”
“They are all people to whom the kingdom owes debts.”
Paranglin Shurazm was a magnate and a genius investor who, along with his wife, had stood as guarantor when the kingdom took a loan from the World Postal Bank.
Nerasmun, as was already known, was a house that had defected to Seorin’s faction when it was still unfavorable during the rebellion, sacrificing even the life of the family head to render meritorious service.
Indeed, it was precisely because the great houses demanded recompense for their sacrifices that the past three years of marriage and state affairs had unfolded.
“Strange. The head of the Su family is one interested only in martial arts. Why on earth did he accept the Church’s bothersome proposal?”
“In my humble opinion.”
Yurien personally cut the duck meat and served it onto Seorin’s plate.
Seorin accepted it willingly, watched Yurien eat first, and then began her meal.
“I believe he accepted the professorship in order to see Your Majesty’s wings and disciples at this Social Season.”
“My wings? Is Charten among them?”
“Yes, and it seems he expected Brother to attend as well.”
“…….”
It seemed the list of debutants for the Social Season had not yet been reported to the other husbands or to Seorin.
Originally, she had planned to attend the debut ceremony personally to confirm with her own eyes, but Earei’s letter had arrived late, resulting in her canceling an entire day’s schedule.
She had been famous for her hot temper even in her days as a princess, but now that she was king, she had to restrain such irrational behavior.
Thanks to that, Seorin was missing a great deal of information.
This had shown the same pattern not only at this debut ceremony, but also in state affairs over the past three years.
“Your Majesty.”
“What is it, little brother?”
“You must appear together with Brother at official functions.”
Seorin closed her mouth again.
She always closed her mouth like this when the situation was unfavorable.
Unless it was Earei, she never told anyone the reason she was angry or displeased.
With a beautiful face and the status of a princess, it might seem a somewhat petulant sulk, but for a reigning king who ought to conduct herself as one, keeping silent was no small torment.
Yurien decided to press hard.
“The Holy Maiden and successor to the Saint, Jenau, has repeatedly called Brother a paladin since the day of the debut ceremony and issued a commission that she would bestow Holy Dew made by her own hand upon whoever finds his whereabouts.”
“What? Holy Dew?”
“The people, too, are curious about Brother’s whereabouts.”
“…….”
“Sister!”
Yurien called out to his sister with his last hope.
He hoped she would cast off the pathetic figure of a worthless king that even her own blood could not help but shake his head at.
“…Even I have not been able to see him. How could other lowly creatures be permitted to lay eyes on my treasure?”
“What do you mean, Your Majesty?”
“Those wretched great house bastards are keeping him away and forcing me to produce a successor with the seed of those bastards. You know this, do you not?”
“Producing a successor and keeping Brother at your side are separate matters….”
“Earei was jealous that I was sleeping with my other husbands!”
*Bang!*
A fist gripping a knife struck the table violently.
“Do you think I do this because I enjoy it? But right now the royal authority is no different from a candle before the wind. I extracted a promise that if I bear successors as they wish, from then on I could freely enjoy my married life with him. Thus I personally beseeched him to endure for a short while, yet he refused and showed me an angry face!”
“Your Majesty…!”
“He said he would devote his life to me! Yet he dares to be angry at me…! And not just anyone, but him!”
Precisely because he had devoted his life to Seorin, Earei had held out for fifteen days in the capital with only a small elite force, without retreating, until Derebek of the north and Highland of the south marched to join him.
He had narrowly escaped death, did not retreat from the capital’s bounds, and blocked the tyrant Orban from touching the quarters of Holy Maiden Jenau, which lay right behind Earei’s encampment.
The moment he crossed the threshold of her quarters, Jenau—who had declared she would excommunicate and annihilate the Kingdom of Revantorte—sought to take Earei away by proclaiming him a paladin of the Church because of this very matter.
The incident at the debut ceremony was also an extension of that attempt.
“Through Brother, have the Church issue a stern warning to the great houses of the north and south. If you do that….”
“If I do that, do you not know the Church will use the debt owed them as an excuse to take him from me!”
“Your Majesty….”
“He is my only sword and the kingdom’s strongest sword! My first subject and husband, who said he would serve me—how can he fail to understand my heart!”
Seorin threw the knife onto the table.
Yurien gazed darkly at the knife reflecting the candlelight.
“It pains me as well that I cannot bear the first child from his seed. But I have received a promise that if I endure just that, they will not interfere further.”
Promises are bound to change according to circumstances.
No one knows how Derebek and Highland will act.
The queen had put in place no safety measures against this.
“He is the man who melted this heart I had frozen into ice with tears. How could he not be precious to me! But I could not permit my one and only other half to behave in such a manner. I am the king. The king of this country, I tell you.”
If even Earei treated her that way, Seorin was as good as alone.
That the only person to whom she could show affection was angry was a great despair.
Yurien lamented inwardly.
He knew his sister’s temperament better than anyone.
Perhaps even better than Earei.
“I am not without a plan either.”
“Then?”
Holding onto his last hope, Yurien asked in return.
Reading that hope, the queen also wore a faint smile.
“After bearing the first child, and also giving birth to his child, I will kill the first one and throw him in the fields.”
“…Pardon?”
“It is only natural. The seed of those who groveled to that bastard Orban until I rose up with my will. How dare they plant such seed in me and try to bring it into the world.”
Yurien was speechless, his mouth hanging open, before barely coming to his senses.
“If you do that, they will again demand that you bear successors through their own seed.”
“I need only pin the crime of killing the first child on Derebek and Highland and sweep them away for treason.”
It was a mind-reeling statement.
Radical as it was, the problem was that it was the queen’s thought alone, and a plan that would take far too long.
The great houses were not fools.
There were always enemies within and without; they were beasts who moved swiftly in their own ways to bite throats.
Yurien offered his final, earnest remonstration.
“Meet Brother personally and extract an apology from him.”
“You mean I should go myself? I already tried! When I did, he extinguished every light in the mansion and refused me! The gall… the gall…!”
It had been a play orchestrated by Count Shures Highland’s scheme on the Day of Revival..
The real Earei, however, had suffered a great shock due to Marvin Derebek’s machinations, his soul torn asunder, wandering between life and death.
Seorin spoke, fluttering the letter.
“Be thankful that he has at least started sending letters like this again! My rage has yet to cool!”
Unable to contain her anger, she even threw the letter to the floor.
Seorin, fuming, gritted her teeth and commanded Yurien.
“Little brother, do not dare offer useless remonstrations that you would never have dared make to me before. Do properly the task I have assigned you.”
Seorin approached and grasped Yurien’s shoulders.
“Go and identify those who will be loyal to me, and bring back weaknesses and pretexts to execute those who are not.”
When Yurien nodded, Seorin returned to her seat and slumped down helplessly.
Then she rose again, looked at the floor, picked up the letter she had thrown, dusted it off, and began reading with narrowed eyes.
No more words were spoken.
After enduring the silence for a while, Yurien bowed to the queen and stood.
“I shall return with better news next time.”
“…….”
The queen, absorbed in the letter, said nothing.
Yurien turned away bitterly.
It would not do.
Bisyaren is already in my hands, yet…
I want to embrace her right now and wrap her slender shoulders trembling in the cold, but while her body may be weak, her spirit is not.
Do not be hasty.
After all, the will of the heavens rests with me.
Yurien cast aside hesitation and resolved.
That he would become king and watch over the people and rule the nobles.
To do that,
one day he would have to drive a sword into his sister’s back.
And that, too, with Bisyaren’s blade.