Engagement Period (4)
Thrill.
That was the one thing I wanted.
You know the feeling.
The rush you get when you're pirating, when you're robbing, when you're kidnapping brats or beating up your little brother.
I just wanted that.
This marriage was no different. I hated the idea of Lady Roent, sure—but more than that, I wanted to marry a pretty woman. That was a kind of thrill too.
I just wanted those little scraps of happiness.
But then suddenly, what—become a king?
That was nowhere in my retirement plans.
But what could I do? If he says do it, you do it.
Father didn't bother with tedious, pedantic persuasion. He simply chose the straightforward approach—
—Become king. Don't want to? Then die.
Refusing and standing up to Father was an option, but it didn't feel like a good one. It would only raise the difficulty.
So in the end, whether I became king or whatever else, I had to reach the absolute peak of power…
How the hell do you even do that?
You need experience to know. I had been a duke's son from the moment I was born. There was no rags-to-riches success story climbing up from the bottom for me.
So I convened the First Cabinet Meeting. Participants were limited to those I could trust—Vargas people I had known for a long time.
First, of course, myself, plus the butler I had dragged along on the way here. Then the navigator and boatswain from the ship I had brought, and to keep the number odd, the cabin boy as well. It was a legendary lineup, if I do say so myself.
"Alright. Everyone's here, so let's begin. I've already explained the situation, so if you have any good ideas, speak up."
For the record, the meeting place was the deck of my ship.
"Uh…"
"Hmm…"
No one seemed to have anything come to mind; they didn't speak easily. Well, that was fine. In times like these, the leader—me—just had to take the lead.
"Starting with the cabin boy. Any opinions?"
"Uh… well, nothing's really coming to mind?"
"Is that so?"
-Splash!
I shoved the cabin boy overboard.
"Eek!"
"Y-Young Master?"
"Next. Navigator. Any opinions?"
"Yes! Of course I do!"
As expected. Once I provided a little motivation, everyone participated in the meeting with passion. Led by the navigator, they poured out opinions with blood, sweat, and tears, as if their very lives depended on it. I watched the scene with satisfaction.
The opinions split into two. First:
"If we fail, it's treason! If we succeed, it's a revolution!"
The idea to stage a coup right now and seize power. The other opinion was the opposite.
"Are you insane? It's not that urgent a plan—we should go the safe route!"
The radicals and moderates split east and west, opposing each other, calling one another the Easterners and Westerners. Then after Easterners and Westerners came Northerners and Southerners, the Old Doctrine and Young Doctrine, all the way to the Radical Enlightenment Faction and Moderate Enlightenment Faction, until finally a conclusion was reached.
Wait—there were only three of us meeting besides me. How did the factions split like that?
The victors were the moderates.
"Young Master. For now, we need to gather information first and then make a plan."
We lacked too much information to take over the kingdom. We could charge in with the troops we had just received, but the risk was far too great.
"First we need to figure out the queen's or the princess's information. Young Master."
The butler continued.
"In the end, power is about crushing someone underfoot and climbing up. We need to find the queen's weakness to purge her, or get into a position where we can use her, in order to approach power."
He was well-educated, so his words flowed like a river. I thought he was right too. I had no intention of staging a coup right away, so I agreed. I hadn't even gotten married yet.
No justification either.
So ultimately I had to find the queen's weakness. I had a rough idea of where to start looking.
I returned to the royal castle. Even though Sir Hubert had died, I wasn't heavily reprimanded. The castle's retainers were just relieved that the Vargas hadn't invaded.
I made a short report and went to find Princess Elizabeth.
"Did I rape Dad?"
"No, right? Dad liked it a lot too, right?"
"It was consensual. Answer if you don't want to get hit."
That was something I had seen in a book I randomly opened once. A story about the shocking love between father and daughter, and the lines were so memorable I still remembered them.
Honestly, how would a daughter even see her dad as a man? Even while reading it I had thought, damn, that's too much fantasy—but maybe not. Apparently daughters were supposed to do that to their dads as common sense.
Why did I suddenly think of this? Because of what I had just heard.
"Tonight, please come to my room in secret, without anyone knowing."
Those were the words of my daughter-to-be, Elizabeth. My brain froze for a few seconds, then I asked back in fluster.
"…Isn't this progressing a bit too fast?"
"Progressing? What do you mean…?"
Elizabeth thought for a moment, then her face turned bright red.
"That's not! That's not what I meant!"
Then what did she mean? Was there another meaning to calling someone at night?
Is she going to show me a glow-in-the-dark dinosaur or something?
What on earth.
"What on earth are you thinking! It's not about doing some… indecent act!"
"Then why exactly do you want me to come at night?"
"You said you wanted evidence that Queen Mary is a witch! I have the evidence in my room."
"Evidence that can only be seen at night?"
"Yes. I can definitely show you that Queen Mary is a witch. Just come here at night."
I said okay and left Elizabeth's room. The biggest weakness of Queen Mary that I could think of was the fact that she was a witch.
I was lying in my room. After the engagement was confirmed, Queen Mary had provided me a room to stay in.
The bed was wide and large and extremely luxurious. The furniture in the room likewise reeked of expensive quality at a glance. She had given me a very nice room.
Whose portrait is that?
In the middle of the wall hung a large portrait, but I didn't know who it was. It was a face that gave off a strangely unpleasant feeling.
Looking out the window, the moon hung right in the center of the sky.
Time to head out slowly.
-Creak.
I cracked the door open and stepped outside. As per Elizabeth's request earlier, I planned to visit her room.
I recalled the precautions in my head. Precautions for wandering the castle at night—things Elizabeth had told me.
Naturally I had thought it would be about when the guards patrolled, where the servants were stationed, that sort of thing. But she had said some rather bizarre things.
If on the way up you see someone banging their head against the wall, you must not acknowledge them.
The castle only goes up to the fourth floor, and above that is the tower where I am. If you see stairs leading to a fifth floor, you must absolutely not go there.
What the hell was all that. It sounded like ghost stories. If that was real, the royal castle must be completely unhinged.
Still, just in case—just in case—I proceeded carefully toward the room.
As I was walking slowly, slowly,
-Thud!
"Shit!"
A thud came from around the corner. I carefully poked just my head out to look beyond.
What, it's a window.
One of the two window panes had just closed, making the sound. Someone had left a window open and forgotten about it, and the wind had slammed it shut. I sighed in relief.
Yeah. No point hiding it. I was scared of ghosts.
The reason was simple. If ghosts existed, I was in serious danger.
How many people have I killed so far.
If all those people became ghosts and came after me, I'd have to take on at least one versus two thousand alone. And you can't even hit ghosts. It's unfair, is what it is.
Fortunately nothing happened on the way to the top of the tower. I checked the stairs several times just in case I might accidentally head toward a nonexistent fifth floor, and arrived safely.
I knocked on the door.
-Knock knock.
"Is that you, Sir Henry? Come in."
A clear voice answered, and I opened the door and entered. Inside was Elizabeth in thinner clothes than during the day. It was casual wear, but closer to sleepwear.
"Uh, um. Welcome."
"Ah, yes."
Elizabeth greeted me a bit awkwardly. I accepted the greeting a bit awkwardly too.
"Uh, first, sit here."
Elizabeth pointed to the side of her bed. There was nowhere to sit besides the bed.
I sat next to her. The distance was quite close—if I scooted just a little more, our thighs would touch.
Lilac?
I could roughly smell the scent of the perfume she used.
"So, what's the evidence you can show me?"
"Ah, yes. It may be hard to believe, but near my room, a ghost appears every night."
"Every day? A ghost?"
"Yes. It's complicated to explain, but looking at the time, it should come out soon. Please wait a little."
"Understood."
A ghost every single day. How did she even put up with that?
Awkward silence filled the room. We had been in this room together during the day too, but it felt different somehow. The night air was strange.
Elizabeth also seemed embarrassed, constantly fidgeting with her hair. I could also see her bare white feet fidgeting under the bed. And somehow, I found myself swallowing dryly too. We sat without speaking for about five minutes.
Should I just jump her.
To break the awkward atmosphere, maybe a bold decision was needed. Of course that would cause big trouble, but looking at Elizabeth's beautiful face next to me, it seemed worth risking.
Naturally, it stopped at a thought.
"…Is there really a ghost coming out?"
I tried speaking just because it was awkward.
"It's real, I tell you! Otherwise I wouldn't call you like this at night…"
Elizabeth also seemed awkward, answering as she whipped her head around at my question. You know that thing—when you're awkward, you overreact more.
The problem was that as she whipped her head around, our faces got too close.
"At night… uh…"
Close enough to feel her breath. The tips of her ears turned bright red.
-Swoosh.
Elizabeth slightly increased the distance from me. Then she turned her head back forward and said,
"There's no way I'd call you like this at night for that…"
The princess sat at the edge of the bed, clutching her knees together and hiding her flushed face.
"Princess."
"Yes?"
I moved about a handspan closer to the princess.
"Why, why are you coming closer."
The princess backed away. Why would I come closer?
I picked up the princess,
"Kyaaak! What are you doing right now!"
swapped positions with her and hid behind her.
"Princess, over there. That window, that window!"
The princess looked where I pointed.
"Kyaaaak!"
A face was visible in the corner of the window. On the window at the top of the tower, that is. The face was staring straight at us.
Staring.