Dawn passed, and morning came.
Earei had long since risen and was taking a morning walk.
Though it was called a morning walk, it was closer to removing himself so the servants would not feel awkward.
And when he ran into the servants, Earei felt awkward as well.
It was easier on his mind to endure things alone than to inconvenience others.
Charten had scolded him, saying that went beyond being kind and into being a pushover, but Earei acted in whatever way put his own heart at ease.
Boooom—! Boom—!
Not long after he climbed the hill behind the manor, the sound of celebratory cannon fire rang out from afar.
Earei knew what that cannon fire was for.
It signaled the beginning of the Restoration Festival, now in its third year.
At the very beginning, he had heard that cannon fire from close by, wearing a happy expression together with Seorin, but not anymore.
The queen’s favor had been cut off, and here remained only one foolish man who could not leave because even permission had not been granted, chewing over his useless glory through the sound of distant cannon fire.
Earei had already half given up.
A commoner at the king’s side—he and she had lived in different worlds from the very beginning.
He now knew that he had been a fool to believe, even for a time, that they could be together.
His usefulness had come to an end.
He knew he should be grateful enough that, like a hunting dog after the hunt was over, he had not been boiled and eaten.
Besides, the queen sent him gifts every day.
Those gifts made Earei cling to a thread of hope, and they tormented him.
The expectation that she had not forgotten him, and the suspicion that it was merely a matter of courtesy.
If the latter was true, then he thought it wrong for him to monopolize those gifts, so Earei simply let the servants take them.
Only then could the manservants and maidservants feed the families they had at home.
Earei sat on a tree stump and felt, on the wind, the sound of cannon fire and cheering coming from the royal palace.
“……”
The queen would be there, waving together with her other husbands, and the people would be responding fervently to the sight of them.
He envied them.
It was not the glory they enjoyed that he envied.
He envied the privilege of being by the queen’s side.
The more poignant Earei’s love became, the more it turned into a sharp sword.
The sheath that held that sword was Earei’s tender heart, and every time he embraced the sword called affection, his heart was wounded and torn.
Before long, it was affecting his soul as well.
After gazing endlessly for a long time toward the palace, Earei realized that it had become the hour when the servants would have finished breakfast and would be spending time outside the manor walking or exercising.
He hurried down the mountain and entered through the back door.
Normally, he would have gone to the kitchen and cooked himself something with the ingredients they had eaten and left behind, but today he had no appetite.
Even though more ingredients had come in because of the Restoration Festival, even bacon, Earei went to his room.
It was not as if it had ever been cleaned just because he had left it vacant.
It had been like that in the early days, but not anymore.
Earei sat in his chair and pressed firmly at the corners of his eyes.
He was not tired, yet his eyelids trembled.
Even so, Earei dipped his pen into the inkwell to write a letter today as well.
Usually, as the sun began to set, longing would come over him and make him want to write, but because it was the Restoration Festival, and because he thought the queen would be at that celebration, the urge came even sooner.
After confirming that the pen had taken up enough ink, Earei lowered his gaze to the paper.
“Hm?”
There lay an envelope of very luxurious material, not the cheap sort he usually used.
Seeing the royal crest stamped in the center of the envelope, Earei caught his breath.
He tore off the seal at once and checked the contents.
[To the esteemed Lord Earei.]
Unfortunately, it was not a letter written personally by Queen Seorin.
However, the letter emphasized that today was the Restoration Festival and said that he was invited to the banquet that evening.
“Finally…!”
At long last, after a long estrangement, the queen had called him in.
An evening banquet was a highly important occasion where people from every class, excluding commoners, gathered.
The fact that she had called him there must mean that the queen had finally set aside her disappointment and anger toward him and was expressing her intention to actively continue their married life.
The reason she had not written the letter herself must be because some feelings still remained.
Earei’s face darkened for an instant.
If it had been three years of marriage, including with the other husbands, it was more than enough time for her to have become pregnant.
It might be that she was only calling him now because, just as she had told him, she had become pregnant with the first child.
It was a miserable thought, but Earei tried to understand that this too was an answer and a breakthrough that Seorin had reached after long hardship.
A heavy pain settled between his chest, but his love for Seorin was greater and more desperate than his resentment toward the world, so he was only barely able to endure it.
Still, was it not something that she had called for him?
At the thought of seeing his wife and liege after such a long time, Earei’s heart began to race.
Holding that fluttering excitement, Earei opened his wardrobe and immediately found himself at a loss.
His eyes fell on the dust piled thickly on his tailcoat and its faded color.
Earei let out a sigh, picked up the tailcoat for the time being, and went to the window to shake off the dust.
--
The evening banquet of the Restoration Festival.
As it was also the kingdom’s social party, held over several days, it was an extremely important occasion.
However, for Queen Seorin and her husbands, Marvin Derbeck and Shurse Hylan, it was becoming an extremely burdensome party with each passing year.
“Why does Lord Earei not appear at the opening ceremony?”
“This is already the third year. Is he ill somewhere?”
“If the queen’s first husband has not appeared for three years, then perhaps he is no longer of this world due to exhaustion from the war…”
“If so, then those northern barbarians of Epalencia will surely come south, aiming for our Kingdom of Levantort.”
Those were the words that had come out at the opening ceremony of the Restoration Festival, where even commoners participated.
It was only natural that Earei, a renowned commander from commoner origins, was popular among the people.
The marriage between a commoner knight who had overcome adversity and a royal stirred a fairy-tale romance as well, and had even led to support for Seorin’s early reign.
But now, only rumors circulated that the queen had cast aside her first husband, become infatuated with her two noble husbands, and was neglecting affairs of state.
Throughout the opening ceremony, the queen had broken into a cold sweat trying to keep her expression under control.
Marvin and Shurse had also watched the queen’s mood, but there was nothing they could do.
The two of them were merely faithfully carrying out the orders of the heads of their great noble houses.
As part of that, Marvin intended to push forward with a scheme at this evening banquet to bring an end to the relationship between the queen and Earei.
He had also asked Shurse for cooperation.
Shurse had not liked it at all, but because their interests aligned, he had reluctantly agreed.
He was a clever fellow, so the aftermath could be left to him.
Without hesitation, Marvin spoke to the queen.
“Your Majesty.”
“What is it?”
“Today will be over soon.”
“And?”
“You have not fulfilled today’s quota at all since dawn.”
For him to say such a thing even with Shurse present—the queen and her third husband both furrowed their brows at the same time.
But Marvin was confident.
It was still his turn, and once the three months ended, Shurse would have Seorin all to himself for three months.
If Earei joined in on top of that, things would become even more troublesome.
For that reason, Shurse smiled even while gritting his teeth.
“We cannot neglect our duty.”
“But…”
“I will take charge of this place. Your Majesty.”
Several glasses of champagne had already gone around, and the greetings with the nobles and merchants were over, so the atmosphere had shifted to dancing.
So he was determined to do it after all.
There had been several occasions like this in the past.
Sometimes it had been Marvin, sometimes Shurse.
Today, it was merely Marvin who was urging her on.
She was displeased, but Seorin had declared that she would go see Earei that evening.
In order to put an end to the unease among the commoners that had surfaced during the opening ceremony, that necessity had grown all the stronger.
Unease was also dissatisfaction, so no matter that they were a margrave and an archduke, they would not oppose the queen’s course of action.
“…Very well.”
To do that, she had to fulfill the quota for producing an heir.
Otherwise, this evening party might drag on until dawn, and she might not be able to go see Earei.
“Let us move elsewhere.”
The place Marvin led her to was the terrace.
It was a wide terrace connected to other rooms as well, but Shurse and Marvin had already instructed the knights and soldiers to ensure that no one passed beyond the curtains concealing the terrace.
“Ugh.”
Marvin skillfully took out a bottle containing lubricant and devoted himself to the task.
The queen also cooperated obediently so they could begin and end it quickly.
Before long, with the clinking sound of a belt buckle, the two assumed their positions.
As a woman, the queen was rather sensitive.
For that reason, she clamped her lips shut all the more firmly and tensed her throat so no sounds would escape her mouth.
“Hoo…”
Sweat beaded on Marvin’s forehead as he savored the queen’s tight warmth.
He was hurrying more than usual.
It was as if he were deliberately pushing the pace faster, whipping himself onward toward the climax.
When?
Where are you?
If it is you, who sees only the queen, then surely you must have already arrived.
As Marvin anxiously waited for his guest, a very faint breath from a third person reached his ears.
“Ah…”
Marvin grinned broadly.
So you came.
With even more exaggerated movements, he lashed the invisible whip against the queen and himself.
“Aah!”
As the force of the lashing changed, a sharp nasal cry slipped from the queen’s mouth.
She even bit down hard on her lower lip and grabbed Marvin’s arm, meaning for him to stop for a moment.
With her eyes squeezed shut, concentrating on suppressing the aftershocks, she did not hear the hurried footsteps moving away.
But Marvin heard them clearly.
Those footsteps were trying to hide their presence as much as possible, yet could not conceal the emotions shaking within them.
‘Now you understand, don’t you? The queen is too much for you, Earei. Only a great noble like me can take her in my arms.’
Filled with a vulgar satisfaction, Marvin wrapped his arms tightly around the queen’s back and shuddered.