The Capital's Groom of the Year - 1
The New Year's Audience. The grand occasion when every titled noble of the Empire gathered before His Majesty the Emperor to renew their oaths of loyalty. Of all the ceremonies in the realm, none was more magnificent or more dazzling—and none more crushing in its weight of expectation.
That was why, for all my curiosity about the event, I had never once wished to attend. Once I inherited a title of my own I would have to go whether I liked it or not, so there was no rush.
I had heard that some people showed up of their own free will simply to expand their connections, but I planned to live quietly on my barony even after I became a baron, so I stayed put. Father understood my feelings perfectly and never so much as suggested we travel up to the Imperial Capital.
So this is what it's like.
Yet this year I had come to the New Year's Audience after all—and not because Father urged me, but by my own will. The look on his face when I suddenly announced I wanted to go with him was priceless.
Or, more precisely, I had decided after listening to the young lady, so perhaps it was her will rather than mine.
What does it matter either way?
Whether the decision had been mine or hers, the fact remained that I was attending the New Year's Audience for the first time. So for now I would simply look around. Since I was already here, I might as well enjoy myself as much as possible.
While I was turning that thought over and letting my eyes wander every which way, something ice-cold suddenly pressed against my cheek.
"Eep—!"
"Aha, did I startle you?"
I spun around, still trembling, and found Irina smiling at me with a small glass in her hand.
"You must be thirsty—drink this. It's juice, not wine, so don't feel pressured."
She held out the glass that had apparently just been against my cheek. It was so cold that frost seemed to have formed on the surface. Even if the hall was warm, shoving something like that at a person in the middle of winter was just cruel.
"You could have just handed it to me normally."
"You looked completely lost in thought."
I spoke with a touch of reproach, but Irina only laughed softly, and I couldn't bring myself to deny it. This was a place I had never intended to visit, yet curiosity had always lingered. Everywhere I turned there was something I had never seen, somewhere I had never been—how could anyone keep their wits about them?
And this was not just any place; it was the Imperial Palace. Even high-ranking nobles rarely set foot here except for the New Year's Audience. Of course I was wide-eyed.
"...Was it that obvious?"
"Mm-hm. Extremely."
Still, looking like "the country girl who finds everything fascinating" in front of everyone was mortifying—especially since that description was, unfortunately, accurate.
"I was the same earlier. I've already had my look around, so I'm fine now."
As if she had read the slight dejection on my face, Irina gave a light laugh and patted my shoulder. She had been staring around in wonder herself a little while ago, she said; now that she was used to it, everything was all right.
Sadly, that warm comfort only made me more embarrassed. Looked at another way, my appearance must have been so disastrous that she felt obliged to console me.
"That's a relief..."
Even so, I could not ignore Irina's kindness, so I pretended my mood had recovered and let the matter drop.
...Right. Sightseeing? What sightseeing? I had come here to make my relationship with my older brother visible, not to play tourist.
If looking around made me stand out so much, I would simply look at nothing. With that resolution I sipped the juice and fixed my gaze on the floor—only for the young lady to appear at my side and rest a hand on my shoulder.
"It's natural the first time. I was the same, so don't worry too much, Young Lady Luise."
"Ah—Senior."
"Sorry to interrupt while you two are having fun, but let me join you. It's dreadfully dull over there."
At those words I glanced toward where she had been standing and immediately understood why she had called it dull. The elders of three great houses were clustered together in conversation. Even for a young lady of her standing, that was not a circle one could casually enter.
"That's why Karl is heading this way as well, you know."
The young lady laughed softly and pointed straight ahead; Irina and I both snapped our eyes in that direction at once.
He was fast. The Iron Blood Duke had only just left to fetch my older brother, yet he had already found him and returned?
This place isn't exactly small.
It was indoors, yes, but the hall was far from cramped. If anything, it was spacious—fitting for the place where His Majesty delivered the New Year's address. To locate someone so quickly in a crowd like this... was that a power one gained upon becoming a duke?
"...It looks like it might take a little longer?"
Irina murmured, spotting my older brother among the throng with a faintly awkward expression.
I found him a beat later and could only manage a stiff smile of my own. Could one really call that "heading this way"? "Being seized" seemed far more accurate.
My older brother was cutting through the crowd, inevitably brushing against noble after noble; those same nobles were pressing in for even a single word of greeting. The Iron Blood Duke walking beside him did nothing to shield him—if anything, the duke's presence only made the nobles more eager to approach.
"It can't be helped. Karl almost never appears in high society except on occasions like this."
The young lady shrugged, and her face held more pride than regret—as though she were proud to see my older brother standing at the very center of the nobility.
I felt the same. I was watching a side of him I had never seen before—or rather, the real him I had never been allowed to see. Not the club advisor, but the Audit Department Chief.
A man whom even high nobles who lacked for nothing approached first and bowed their heads to. A man only a few years older than me who still commanded the awe of everyone around him.
He's magnificent...
My heart, which already fluttered whenever I looked at him, pounded even harder. So this was the real older brother. Not the kind and gentle one, but the noble one.
I was already in love with him, and I felt myself falling all over again. Mother had always said a man absorbed in his work was the most dashing sight of all. Now I understood exactly what she meant.
Ah, for fuck's sake. Just let me walk, damn it.
What am I, a Pokémon trainer? The second our eyes meet they charge straight at me. Do I at least get prize money if I beat them?
"Ah, it's been far too long. I heard you've been promoted to Commander of the Eastern Theater Army. With Your Excellency's prestige, the neighboring kingdoms won't even dare lift their heads."
"I received the gift you sent last time with gratitude. I would love to return the favor, but a man of Your Excellency the Chief Justice's stature lacks for nothing, so I truly cannot decide what would be appropriate."
"I understand your son is serving at General Headquarters. Even the Duke of Victory has taken notice of how sharp the lad is."
The problem was that anyone bold enough to address me was a heavyweight in his own right. Brush them off carelessly or answer half-heartedly and the backlash would twist my entire future into knots—that much was obvious.
Even now it was the same. Active giants like theater army commanders and the Chief Justice, plus great nobles who still carried real weight in political circles, were the only ones who approached. And of course they weren't strangers; I had to wring every last drop of memory dry just to keep the conversation going. Exhausting.
But what choice did I have? For a smooth, peaceful civil-service life, the first rule was never to make enemies.
A man can't live entirely alone, after all.
"The prodigy who became department chief at nineteen." It sounded impressive until you said it out loud: a green kid who had vaulted over age and experience alike to stand above everyone else. The Crown Prince's will might have put me here, but there was no denying I was the black sheep of both the administration and the political world.
If the malcontents got too loud I could sweep them away—but only inside the Audit Department, which I actually controlled. Start purging officials from other ministries just because they talked behind my back and I would simply be a mad dog.
So I had to show only my best face. If I had been the kind of self-important thug who did whatever he pleased, I would have been beaten black and blue and cut off by the Crown Prince long ago. What he needed was a hunting dog that chased the prey he pointed at—not a rabid mutt that barked at anyone in sight.
...Which, when I thought about it, meant all this suffering was the Crown Prince's fault in the end.
Son of a bitch.
A completely useless bastard. Not that the realization was new.
"I find myself frequently in the Audit Department Chief's debt; it is almost embarrassing. I shall send a generous congratulatory gift, at the very least."
The moment one noble slipped that little request into the conversation and I casually accepted it, the keyword that would flip the entire atmosphere came flying out.
"I'm grateful for the kind words. May I look forward to it, then?"
"Of course. I shall send enough to satisfy you several times over."
The instant those words left his mouth, every gaze in the half-circle snapped toward me with physical force. If stares had mass, my hand would have vanished on the spot.
Here we go.
I nearly let a bitter smile slip under that burning attention. The nobles who had been playing the waiting game with polite small talk had finally decided to gun their engines.
From the perspective of titled gentlemen of a certain age, "the marriage of a noble scion decades younger than themselves" was an awkward subject to raise first. But once another noble had already mentioned it? Then joining in became the height of courtesy.
"So the Audit Department Chief will soon have a partner of his own. Truly a blessing for the Empire."
"Indeed. And that partner is none other than the treasure of House Valenti."
At words that would have made most people writhe with secondhand embarrassment, the Iron Blood Duke's lips twitched.
No one else may have noticed—or they pretended not to—but I saw it clearly. The old man was quietly delighted that someone had called Margeta a treasure.
"Congratulations, Your Grace. Where else could one find a son-in-law like the Audit Department Chief?"
The well-timed congratulations drew a gruff reply from the Iron Blood Duke.
"Save the congratulations for this boy. Where else could he find a wife like Mar?"
"Haha, true enough. My thoughts were shortsighted."
The surrounding nobles laughed and agreed with the overflowing paternal affection. The Iron Blood Duke was famous for his love of family and of his youngest daughter; such a reaction was only natural. Any other answer would have left the well-wisher flustered.
What mattered was that he had not denied the word "son-in-law." I was now, officially, a recognized part of House Valenti.
"I feel the same. She is a wife far beyond what I deserve."
When I added that quiet agreement, the corner of the duke's mouth climbed even higher.
"And to think I have met six such women—I can hardly express how happy I am."
Even that somewhat dampening remark left the duke's smile unchanged.
Thank the heavens. He truly did not care that I had multiple wives. As long as Margeta's position as the first was secure, the man was endlessly merciful.
Well, of course. He himself kept several wives; being harsh only with me would have been excessive.
"Hearing you say so makes me happy as well."
Then a reply came back so naturally that my entire body went rigid.
"Heh. But do remember this, my dear. To the little one I may be only one of six—yet to me, the little one is the only one."
A voice I knew all too well, and at the same moment the crowd on my right began to part.
Parting the sea by pure presence alone... as expected of a duke.
"My dear. Have you been well?"
The moment I saw the Magic Lord smiling sweetly at me, my mouth gave an involuntary twitch.
What would happen if I called her Beatrix here...?