New Year's Audience - 4

My steps felt heavy. Before I knew it, I was consciously managing every inhale and every exhale. I was even thinking about where to put my tongue. It was dreadful. Why would Enen impose such a trial upon me?

Only a few hours ago, it had been a happy time. I had finally seen my precious daughter again, and we were even attending the New Year's Audience together. It was an event I would never have urged on a tender girl still in her teens—too tedious, too heavy—and yet here I was, going with her.

How could I not be glad? Even if the purpose of my attendance was not simply to spend time with family, that was a trivial matter. No—it was not a problem at all. If that purpose was my daughter's love, I would answer it willingly. My only remaining daughter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wished to love someone. What could a father possibly refuse her?

I simply had not expected this ordeal the moment the proceedings began.

"It is my first time entering alongside another house. A rather novel sensation."

"Y-yes. Quite so for me as well."

I had been trying my hardest not to look sideways, but when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a Duke himself opened his mouth, I could hardly ignore him.

My head was still spinning. The Iron Blood Duke. Walking side by side with one of the Dukes of the realm. Was that not an excessively cruel punishment for a mere Baron?

Still—perhaps it is a mercy.

I thought of Luise following behind with her mother. From my perspective this was an unlooked-for sentence, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for Luise it was a blessing. It meant her relationship with the Duke's daughter was so good that the Iron Blood Duke would even acknowledge a minor baronial house.

I had worried a great deal. When Luise put on the ring and smiled so happily, I had been happy with her—but the moment I heard the man she had set her heart on was the Audit Department Chief, I had seriously considered talking her out of it. Even a man who never leaves his territory hears the gossip of high society. The man who had captivated the Iron Blood Duke's youngest daughter and the Demon Duke. The miracle of a fellow with two ducal houses flanking him. And then they told me Luise was inserting herself into that arrangement—I nearly fell over from the shock.

If they simply ignored her, and that indifference dashed Luise's love, that would still be an acceptable ending. In the worst case, both ducal houses might take furious offense that a baron's daughter dared to insert herself. It would not merely be a failed romance—Luise's entire future would darken.

"It's all right. My brother has already accepted my feelings. And my senior encouraged me, too."

But when I saw the face of a girl truly in love, I could not bring myself to stop her. After Hilda had left on that long journey because of these clumsy parents of hers, Luise had quietly drawn lines between herself and other people. Now she was finally erasing those lines. What right did I have to hold her back?

And somehow—whatever had happened—the Iron Blood Duke's youngest daughter was close enough to Luise to actively support her.

If Luise likes him, I suppose anyone will do.

Luise's happiness. The young lady's support. Under those conditions, inventing a reason to object was harder than simply accepting it. I had already decided that if Luise, who had built walls around her heart, ever truly fell in love, I would permit the match even if the man were a commoner.

...I simply had never imagined the problem would be that his station was not too low, but far too high. Noble marriages ordinarily joined houses of roughly comparable rank, after all.

"There they come. They seem to have spotted us."

"Ah—yes, so they have."

The Iron Blood Duke surveyed the surroundings, fixed his gaze on one point as if he had found something, and I answered on pure instinct without even knowing whom he had discovered—

Good heavens.

A young man in black formal dress, and five people trailing after him in a line. The instant I saw them, my body locked solid.

I had never met them in person, but that appearance, that composition—there was only one group they could be.

Just as expected, the people entering with the Iron Blood Duke were the Nyad family. The blond man who had been suddenly sentenced to walk beside a Duke was none other than Baron Artini, Luise's father.

"Your Grace is too much. Walking him along at your side must be a terrible strain on a Baron."

The Minister murmured beside me with what sounded like genuine pity, and my eyes slid toward him of their own accord.

Where on earth is your conscience?

The words And you're one to talk? circled inside my mouth. Having a Duke next to him was bad enough—but a whole pack of Ministry of Finance executives trailing behind the Audit Department Chief was no less excessive.

I had fully intended to go pay my respects alone, but as always this party of old hands had come swarming after me like an RPG raid group. There isn't even a Demon King here—why do they travel in packs? Please, all of you, just go away.

"I apologize for only greeting you now. I should have sent word far earlier."

"Haha, not at all. You are a man kept busy with affairs of state."

In any case, Baron Artini—flanked by a Duke on one side and encircled by Ministry of Finance executives in front—now possessed trembling pupils and a wildly pounding heart. Unlike Count Flanbel, who had developed a certain immunity to high nobility, Baron Artini was an ordinary provincial lord.

Looking at him like that, how could I possibly detain him? I said we would greet each other properly once His Majesty the Emperor arrived, and we parted on that polite note. The Baron nodded so quickly that he clearly wanted to escape. As for the Iron Blood Duke, we had eaten and slept under the same roof in Ulken not long ago, so there was no need for a lengthy conversation.

It isn't as though we'll only see each other for a single day, anyway.

The New Year's Audience does not end after one or two days. Having gathered titled nobles from every corner of the Empire, it would be absurd to send them home the moment they arrived.

There would be plenty of time for separate greetings. Once the Emperor's New Year address was finished, the remaining schedule was essentially banquet, banquet, banquet, banquet, banquet.

"Why don't you go with them?"

While I watched the bizarre combination of Duke-plus-Baron recede into the distance, the Minister spoke up lightly.

"No, thank you. If the Audit Department Chief joins a Duke, just how much more attention do you think that would draw?"

It was the sort of remark that casually throws a subordinate into a death trap, so I shook my head at once.

Besides, if I inserted myself into that group now, I would only be interrupting family time. Margeta was one thing, but Luise was reuniting with her family after a long while. She deserved a chance to enjoy it quietly. It wasn't as if we would never have another opportunity to meet.

"Fair enough. If any more eyes gathered over there, the Baron would drop dead."

I nodded at that.

In the original work I had only seen the parts where Luise was still a little girl, so I did not know what kind of man the Baron was now—but at least in the past he had been an ordinary, unassuming, picture-perfect kindly father and lord. Not particularly capable, but free of ambition. If that temperament had held to this day, the Baron must be dying inside.

Having the Audit Department Chief as his only son-in-law was already enough to make his hands shake—and now that same son-in-law was connected to a ducal house as well? A man without greed who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only wanted a peaceful daily life, suddenly and unwillingly tangled up with power on a grand scale?

I understood that pain and sorrow perfectly well. I was living it in real time myself.

...Will he even be able to greet me?

I had a feeling that even after the New Year address, the Baron would spend the rest of the event dodging me.

The nobles who had been scattered throughout the Imperial Palace's open grounds began to gather in one place. The Emperor's New Year address was about to begin.

His lofty Majesty had deigned to greet his subordinates in person. Naturally those subordinates had to assemble before the Emperor of their own accord. One could not dare keep the Emperor waiting, nor force him to wander about seeking them.

"It's grander than last year."

"Last year was the modest one. This is the normal scale."

An open area broader than last year's. Decorations that had not been visible before. More knights than last time.

Even a glance made it clear more effort had gone into it, so I asked the Minister—only to be told it was not extra force being applied, but force being restored.

"It's a display that the scars of war and strife have been completely shaken off."

At the added remark, Dorgon—still flaunting his insane presence in the North—unbidden rose in my mind, and I deliberately shoved the thought to the back of my memory.

Regardless of that bastard's existence, it was true that the Empire was recovering its pre-war capacity. No—if anything, they needed this kind of display so the nobles would stop thinking about Dorgon. Even if he appeared again, they would believe the Empire could handle him with ease.

No helping it.

Every act of throwing money around has its reasons. If authority and majesty can be purchased with coin, that is actually a profitable bargain...

I was staring blankly toward the dais where the Emperor would appear when the doors opened and the Minister of Palace Affairs emerged first. So it was starting.

"Nobles who heed the Mandate of Heaven—kneel!"

Appearing ahead of the Emperor, the Minister of Palace Affairs drew something like a scroll from his robes and roared in a voice that made it impossible to believe he was an old man.

At the Minister's cry, the nobles knelt as one and bowed their heads. In this situation, the only man who would not kneel was a traitor.

Having confirmed that the nobles were kneeling, the Minister of Palace Affairs rapidly recited the Emperor's titles. Frankly, I wondered whether simply saying "Emperor of the Empire" would not suffice—but stringing on all these ranks and offices was a means of flaunting overwhelming superiority over every other noble, so there was no help for it.

Besides, it was a tradition handed down from the time of Great Emperor Aimanka, so it could not be changed—and it was not the sort of tradition that caused enough harm to be worth the trouble of forcing a reform...

...Has it gotten shorter?

Something was odd. Compared to last year, the Minister of Palace Affairs was speaking less.

What was this? I had not heard any word of titles being consolidated. And there was no chance they would start omitting some of them at this late date.

Ah.

I realized it a beat late. If the titles attached to the Emperor had decreased, the reason was obvious.

He got dumped with them.

He had passed them on to the Crown Prince.

The moment I understood that, a profound sense of ease washed over me. Imagining that bastard's workload increasing was more soothing than anything else.

Ahh, good for him. With titles and territories hanging all over him, his wallet would never run dry.

Even if I inherited everything, all I would get was a single Imperial Countship and a handful of baronies.

Ah! I was so envious!