The Marriage Proposal and the Sudden Alarm
“It really hits me all over again just how brilliant it was to bring in Marquis Lawrence.”
“You flatter me.”
I gave a light shrug at the sight of the Crown Prince chuckling with unmistakable delight.
The more I saw of him, the less he seemed suited to the heavy role of Crown Prince. His demeanor was far too light.
That very lightness made it all the harder to read his true intentions.
“Flatter? Not at all. This is an unexpected windfall. The gap between us and the Second Prince’s faction has narrowed considerably.”
“If it wouldn’t be rude, could you tell me the current balance of power between both sides?”
The Lheinhatz Kingdom had two dukes, six marquises, six border counts, and seventeen earls, for a total of thirty-one high-ranking nobles.
Beneath them, excluding single-generation titles, there were forty-one viscounts and seventy-five barons who held their own lands.
Thirty-one senior nobles and one hundred twenty-six landed viscounts and barons.
The heart of this struggle for the throne came down to who could draw more of them to their side.
The current power structure was said to have tilted slightly in favor of the Second Prince’s faction after they took both me and Arsia, but the exact numbers remained unclear.
That was why I had asked the Crown Prince.
“If we add Marquis Lawrence and Count Klein to the Second Prince’s side, they hold forty-five percent while we hold forty-one. Should the two of you join us instead, those numbers would flip.”
It was far more fiercely contested than I had imagined, and the value placed on both me and Arsia was higher than expected.
But something felt off.
Forty-five percent versus forty-one percent?
Not forty-five versus fifty-five?
I wondered why they were subtracting fourteen percent from the total, but the answer came to me quickly.
“Does the empty space represent His Majesty the King?”
“Correct.”
The indecisive king.
That was how I thought of the current monarch.
He had failed to uproot the seeds of unrest when he still could, allowing the kingdom’s politics to split in two.
Yet the faction that supported the king could not be ignored, because the Heinz ducal house—the kingdom’s foremost magical family and the backbone of the mage community from the Age of Magic—stood behind him.
Just as the Crown Prince’s maternal family was the Aragon marquisate and the Second Prince’s was the Enerheim ducal house, the king naturally had his own maternal family.
And that family was House Heinz.
The fourteen percent represented the nobles who supported only the king and maintained strict neutrality, including the Heinz ducal house.
“So no matter how fiercely we fight among ourselves, the side His Majesty chooses will hold the advantage?”
“That’s right.”
If the king sided with us, nothing could be better.
But if he chose the Second Prince’s faction, any schemes we devised would be meaningless.
“Still, you needn’t worry. His Majesty will either support me as the Crown Prince or, at the very least, remain neutral.”
“Because of tradition?”
“That is something a king cannot easily disregard. But beyond that, he holds roughly three ‘chance cards’ prepared for emergencies.”
Chance cards, huh.
I examined him through Mankyung. There was no sign of deception anywhere.
Then I could trust him.
“What I want is not a razor-thin victory. I want a complete, overwhelming triumph. A civil war is an act that carves away the nation’s own flesh, isn’t it?”
He was right about that.
If national strength grew unstable because of a civil war, the Croisen Empire—our enemy—might once again reveal its ambitions.
“If the marquis betrays the Second Prince at the perfect moment, the entire board will flip and chaos will erupt. Then we will use that chaos to drag the Second Prince down.”
And in the process, they would shatter the hostile forces supporting the Second Prince and restore political stability?
That was surely the full scenario the Crown Prince had drawn up.
“I understand.”
He truly was no ordinary man.
In the end, everything was within his calculations.
“Thanks to Marquis Lawrence, things have become much easier. I’d like to give you some sort of gift.”
“Please save the gift for later. I’d rather you collect points and give me one big one all at once.”
“Haha! Shall I?”
He gave me a look that asked whether the information on the power balance was the answer I had hoped for. I nodded immediately.
“May I ask about your future plans?”
To Michael’s question, I answered with deliberate nonchalance.
“Until the ‘right time’ Your Highness spoke of arrives, I’ll be busy handling all the things I’ve put off. There’s territory management to deal with, but I also have quite a few business ventures underway.”
No matter how dirty and brutal politics could be, a strategy built on the premise of betrayal was bound to weigh on the heart.
That would be the normal human reaction…
Unfortunately, I felt not even the slightest twinge of guilt about betraying the Second Prince.
The reason was simple.
“When will the operation begin?”
“It still needs more time. Is something wrong?”
“The Second Prince keeps making advances on our Arsia. If this continues, I might end up causing an incident.”
“Pardon?”
It was because the Second Prince’s interest in Arsia had gone too far.
Not long ago, he had even sent people to her territory behind my back.
But since Arsia and I were essentially bound by our souls, his clumsy schemes could never succeed. After being thoroughly rebuffed, he had received an official letter of protest from me.
“Did something like that happen?”
“Yes. I understand wanting to show interest since our Arsia is so beautiful and a fellow Aura Master, but his behavior has been far too reckless. What does he plan to do if I turn my back on him…?”
“As her family, I apologize on his behalf. Ever since he became an Aura Master, his confidence has grown a bit excessive. He seems to believe there isn’t a single woman who wouldn’t fall for him if he tried.”
Really?
What a nuisance.
He was a man I simply could not bring myself to feel any affection for.
On the surface he acted bold and caring toward his subordinates, yet he coveted another man’s woman. His attitude was far too two-faced.
No matter how loose noble attitudes toward romance may be, this is crossing the line.
Arsia could cut people down as casually as drinking tea, but she was still an innocent child who didn’t know much about the world.
If he kept approaching her with such frivolous intentions, I might end up blowing his head off before the decisive moment arrived.
Even the usually unflappable Crown Prince hadn’t expected this. He frowned, lost in thought for a moment, then came up with a solution.
“How about holding the ceremony instead?”
“You mean marriage?”
“Yes. When it comes to creating political stability, I can’t think of a better method. You two are already engaged, after all.”
It was certainly the best option in this situation…
But Arsia and I were only lovers on the surface. We weren’t actually in a romantic relationship, so the suggestion left me in an awkward position.
She could never betray me.
In fact, she could not disobey my orders at all.
If I decided on it, she would follow without a single complaint.
Yet even though she had been created for my sake, was it right to use her in marriage however I pleased?
Regardless of her own feelings?
I don’t know.
In the past I would have used her without hesitation, but now that she had begun to express emotions like a human being, I couldn’t make the decision so easily.
“I’ll have to think about it.”
If Arsia had heard the Crown Prince’s suggestion, how would she have reacted?
She might have tilted her head innocently and asked, ‘If we get married, can I eat more delicious things?’
“Let’s end things here for today. Why don’t you speak with Count Klein? Sometimes the straightforward approach is the best.”
“Haha.”
Incidentally, Arsia was not present at this meeting.
She had gone personally to whip the newly formed knight order of her territory, the County of Klein, into shape.
The knights of House Klein who had not participated in the recent territorial war knew very little about their new mistress, Arsia.
No matter that she was an Aura Master, her delicate appearance and small frame made her an easy target for contempt.
So I had ordered her to display her martial prowess before the entire knight order.
Once they faced an Aura Master’s power directly, the knights would be left in awe. By the end of today, the discipline of House Klein’s knight order should be firmly established.
Marriage, though…
I scratched my head and rose from my seat.
Then I headed for Glendale City, which belonged to Arsia’s territory.
* * *
A short while later, I arrived at the lord’s castle of the County of Klein and found myself standing with my mouth agape at a scene I could never have imagined.
“What the hell happened here?”
Countess Arsia Klein was using the former city hall of Glendale, which had belonged to the royal domain.
Among the royal territories, Glendale’s city hall was famous for its splendor, so even though it was a little small for a count’s castle, it didn’t feel beneath her station.
Besides, we planned to expand or rebuild the lord’s castles of House Lawrence viscount, House Lawrence marquis, and House Klein into magical fortresses anyway, so this was only a temporary residence until then.
In any case, on the training grounds of the ‘former Glendale City Hall’—now ‘Klein Count’s Castle’—an utterly absurd scene was unfolding.
“Master Adrian.”
Arsia spotted me and came trotting over.
The sight was oddly cute, but…
Behind her stretched a horrifying battlefield drenched in blood.
“Uh, Arsia… what is all this?”
It wasn’t even a metaphor. The scene truly looked like a battlefield.
Knights lay sprawled like corpses inside craters gouged into the ground. Others hung limply over destroyed walls and resting tents like rags.
No one seemed to be dead, but the situation looked like anyone could die at any moment.
“I gave them a little education.”
“When you say education, you mean real education, right?”
“It was sparring.”
Only then did I realize that the word ‘moderation’ was completely missing from her vocabulary.
Come to think of it, I had heard something similar had happened back at the Lawrence viscounty as well.
I let out a hollow laugh, then used magic to restore the destroyed facilities and heal the injured.
“T-thank you, Your Grace the Marquis. You saved our lives.”
“I went to see my late father. If Your Grace hadn’t helped us, I might have taken his hand instead. Sob!”
The knights of House Klein, now fully awake, stood in perfect ranks like soldiers on parade, their discipline visibly heightened.
While I cleaned up the aftermath, I took a table and chairs out of my subspace and prepared a tea spread for Arsia. Having worked up an appetite from the intense exercise, the culprit behind the whole scene sat comfortably enjoying her snacks.
Was it just me, or did she look exactly like the Joker right now?
No, judging by the terrified faces of the knights who kept stealing glances at her, it wasn’t my imagination at all.
I gave a small chuckle and spoke to the knights.
“I trust you will serve her well.”
“Yes! We will devote our loyalty!”
Their discipline was so intense it felt like several of them might desert at any moment.
Still, the survivors would probably train their juniors properly.
I dismissed the rigidly standing knights and pulled out an extra chair at the tea table to sit down.
“How is your territory?”
“It’s good. However, managing it with my current knowledge seems difficult.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. Both my territory and yours will be entrusted to professional administrators.”
“Then there should be no problem. Though…”
“Though what?”
“My dedicated maid is noisy.”
“Haha.”
I would set the broad strokes—territory management policy, tax rates, and so on—but the fine adjustments would be left to professional administrators.
I had told the Crown Prince I would handle the work myself, but until I fully claimed all the legacies inside Chronicle Online, I couldn’t afford to be tied down by territory management alone.
As long as we linked the audit system to the intelligence department and built double and triple layers of oversight to prevent administrators from getting any funny ideas, there shouldn’t be any issues.
I looked at her and recalled the conversation I had shared with the Crown Prince.
But then—
“My lord! My lord!”
Catherine, who had become Arsia’s dedicated maid, came running frantically from afar, causing the word ‘marriage’ that had settled in my mind to vanish completely.
Because the look on Catherine’s face was far too urgent, as if some major incident had occurred.
“Huk!? Your Grace the Marquis.”
Catherine, noticing me belatedly, swallowed a gasp and clapped a hand over her mouth.
I could only tilt my head in confusion.
“What? Weren’t you in a hurry?”
“W-well, that is…”
She had become completely Arsia’s person at some point. Caught between the two of us, she could only roll her eyes and struggled to answer my question.
“What is it?”
However, she couldn’t simply ignore a question from a marquis, so she answered with an awkward expression, forcing the words out.
“His Highness the Second Prince has sent someone.”
“Is that bastard crazy?”
Before I knew it, I had committed the crime of insulting the royal family.