The Capital's Groom of the Year - 5
It felt awkward. As if I were wearing clothes that did not fit my body at all.
The warm, harmonious atmosphere; the in-laws offering handshakes with smiling faces; the future daughters-in-law bowing in greeting. Every one of those things felt utterly foreign. They clashed with every scrap of common sense I possessed.
Is this what common sense looks like?
I stared blankly down at the hand that had just shaken Baron Artini's. Perhaps this kind of atmosphere was normal. It might be the perfectly ordinary common sense that neither I—nor my wife—had ever experienced.
Back when I was still only the heir, I defied my father's will and bound myself to my wife. After that I ignored even the talk of forming ties with other houses and kept her as my sole companion. Because of that, Father had been stiff and cold at our meeting with House Aras, and afterward he treated our couple coldly as well.
He had been a cold man to begin with, even without that incident.
There's no need to pass that on.
Fortunately, this meeting—the connections Karl had brought—was different from what my wife and I had gone through.
I never forced Karl into marriage. I never imposed any expectations or duties. And so Karl brought the partners he wanted, and unlike in Father's time, we could celebrate purely.
The result was the scene before me. The formal meeting might be a little awkward, but it was harmonious. The daughters-in-law treated their parents-in-law warmly without watching their every expression. It was common sense that should have been utterly natural—yet something my wife and I had never gotten to experience.
I'm glad.
I brought the wine glass in my left hand to my lips. There wasn't much left, so I drained it all.
Yes, I was glad. Glad I had not passed misfortune on to Karl. Glad I had not inflicted on my daughters-in-law the same suffering my wife had endured. So I could gladly endure this awkwardness. If the clothes did not fit, I would keep wearing them until they did.
"Father. May I pour for you?"
But no matter how I thought about it, I did not believe I could overcome this awkwardness.
"...Yes. Please do, Your Grace."
"Heh heh. Speak comfortably. What father-in-law would use formal speech with his daughter-in-law?"
The Demon Duke smiled softly as she poured fresh wine. I nearly let out a hollow laugh at her demure manner.
Father, she says.
The Demon Duke was not wrong. Being called Father by a daughter-in-law was correct, and a father-in-law using informal speech with his daughter-in-law was also correct.
Even so—no matter how one looked at it, this just was not right. My father and grandfather had treated the Demon Duke with the utmost respect, and yet I was supposed to treat her as a daughter-in-law? Did that make any sense? If we had simply met as in-laws, it would not have been this awkward.
"We haven't even held the formal wedding yet. It wouldn't be proper for me to treat Your Grace so casually already."
After working my mouth for a moment, I finally managed something that sounded plausible.
Even if the marriage was a foregone conclusion, we had not officially held the ceremony yet, so I would remain formal. Anyone could accept that reason.
"Is that so? A pity, but I'll have to wait until the wedding, then."
Cold sweat ran down my back at those words. It was a reason solid enough for even the Demon Duke to accept—but at the same time, it had a very clear expiration date.
If I was treating her formally because we were not officially joined yet, then the moment we married I would have to switch to casual speech, would I not? If I kept insisting on honorifics even after the wedding, I might hurt the Demon Duke's feelings.
"Thank you for understanding."
"Understanding? You only said what was natural. Why speak of understanding?"
I simply agreed along with the Demon Duke's warm voice.
I have to get used to it.
And I made a resolution inwardly. Until Karl married the Demon Duke, I would set aside common sense and reason somehow. I would get used to using informal speech with a Duke who was my older daughter-in-law.
The one saving grace was that Karl's first marriage partner was not the Demon Duke but Lady Margeta. And since he said he had no intention of marrying until Lady Margeta graduated, I had at least a year left. How fortunate—
...Was it really fortunate?
A Duke as the second wife.
I felt dizzy. The situation of a Duke being not the sole wife but one among several was already astonishing—and she was not even the first wife. Had there ever been anything like this in the history of the continent?
"Lady Margeta is from a ducal house, and so am I. Since the two houses are of equal standing, there is no problem even if Lady Margeta is the first wife."
But what could I do? The Demon Duke had boldly declared that being second was fine.
The Iron Blood Duke's expression upon hearing that was quite something. He must have been pleased that a powerful rival was voluntarily yielding the position of first wife—while at the same time feeling as if existing common sense was collapsing. I understood. Everyone gathered here had probably felt the same.
Clearly both were ducal houses, but a Duke outranked a young lady of a ducal house, did she not? Yet if one set titles aside and looked only at the houses, they were indeed equal...
...
This isn't something for me to worry about.
I quickly organized my thoughts. Legal issues and matters of custom were for the Ministry of Justice and the high justices to handle. I trusted they would sort it out in the direction the Demon Duke wanted.
"Sorry I'm late."
And the moment I emptied my head, Karl appeared with the Iron Blood Duke.
Why only now—
I hastily shook off the resentment that had flashed through my mind.
What a wretched thought. Karl had been summoned by His Majesty the Emperor and was attending a luncheon. I should feel proud and honored, not resentful. Did I even have the right to hold resentment toward Karl in the first place?
"My dear."
Still, seeing the Demon Duke go to Karl so quickly, I could not help a very faint resentment stirring.
"Think of it as being punished."
"Dear."
While the daughters-in-law and in-laws gathered around Karl one by one, my wife approached me and whispered softly.
"If you'd gathered the in-laws from the first day like I said, this wouldn't have happened."
"……."
At my wife's sharp glance, my mouth shut. Exactly as she said—if we had met from day one, Karl would not have had to leave his seat, and I would not have had to face the Demon Duke alone.
Of course I had excuses. Hadn't Karl himself told his wife he would meet later? So even if I had made time on the first day, it would not have meant much.
I shouldn't have said anything.
The problem was that my wife had found out I held out even when His Highness the Crown Prince suggested I go see Karl on the first day of the New Year's Audience.
What could I do? I could not just leave my wife fretting as she watched Karl from afar. If I had any sin, it was that I brought up every possible conversation topic to soothe her—and in the process let slip words that should have stayed buried forever.
"When we return to the territory, separate rooms for a while."
My wife, who had been fretting, suddenly turned cold and said that.
Still, I had succeeded in soothing her, so I considered it a rather acceptable sacrifice.
The formal meeting ended without any particular disturbance. We had already been sticking close to the in-laws throughout the New Year's Audience period, and while I was dragged off by the Emperor, the family head and Mother had apparently had plenty of conversation with the in-laws as well.
The family head only nodded with his usual blunt face, but Mother's face never lost its smile. Not only Margeta, whom she had already marked as a daughter-in-law, but even Luise and Irina whom she had met once, and the First Section Chief whom she was meeting for the first time—she looked at them with truly loving eyes.
She even treated the Demon Duke with a smiling, kind face, only a little awkward. I realized how strong a mother's heart is when sending her eldest son off to marry.
And so the formal meeting ended without any problems.
Only the formal meeting.
"Aren't you the one who's set the social season ablaze this year? At last we meet."
The formal meeting was over, but the New Year's Audience continued. That meant I still had to make contact with countless nobles.
Even though I was glued to my in-laws and refusing contact with other nobles, I still could not block every single one. The Empire had steamrollers who could smash through any fence.
"This year? It's still only January."
"I don't see any news that could surpass yours, no matter how I look at it."
For example, the Golden Duke casually launching a dagger of a remark.
"Even so, Audit Department Chief, news like this is always welcome."
And people like the Duke of Victory laughing along.
I did not know where the Wise Duke had gone. She was probably in some corner mixing vodka into whiskey or something.
"I'm glad if it brought even a little pleasure to both of Your Graces' ears."
I bowed my head in greeting to the two dukes for now.
Meanwhile, the contrast between the Golden Duke's twelve wives nearby and the Duke of Victory who had come alone nearly brought tears to my eyes. They were both dukes—why were their characters so different?
"It looks like the enjoyment will continue for a while, so don't mind it."
"Yes..."
The Golden Duke, who had said something that made me mind it a whole damn lot, gave a short laugh and looked at my left hand.
"At last I get to see the artifact I'd only heard rumors of."
Artifact—a bizarre object. I almost admired the Golden Duke's eye for piercing the very identity of this Bar/ji.
Yeah. No matter how you looked at it, this was an artifact—not something meant to lead a fashion trend. As expected of the man who held the Empire's economy in his grip, his taste was—
"As expected, fashion is led by artifacts."
Goo... goo... go— fuck—
"You flatter me."
"Still, I'm a little disappointed. If you had an idea like this, you should have told me. I'd have given you a generous share."
"I never imagined it would become this popular."
I answered with a forced smile to the Golden Duke's words.
I had cobbled the rings together in a rush because I forgot to buy couple rings—what kind of lunatic would pitch that to a duke as an "idea"?
"Even so, it seems Count Flanbel is preparing a business. I can understand it if you think of it as a gift the Audit Department Chief is giving his father-in-law."
I smiled even more awkwardly at those words. I had heard it from the Iron Blood Duke too, but hearing it from the Golden Duke's mouth made me want to lose my mind.
If even the Golden Duke was mentioning it, then it was a business being prepared in all seriousness. No matter that Count Flanbel was in the Golden Duke's faction, the Golden Duke was not going to remember every single business of every subordinate.
A business the Golden Duke was allocating memory space to remember... it was too terrifying...
"When the business starts, I plan to place an order myself. At last I'll be able to put all twelve on my fingers."
"Y-yes, congratulations."
My gaze went helplessly to the hands of the Golden Duke, who was laughing as if he were truly delighted.
The Golden Duke with twelve wives and thus twelve rings. Naturally one ring sat on each of his ten fingers, and on both wrists were rings—bracelets he insisted were rings.
...Good for him.
I forcibly tore my gaze away from those bracelets—no, rings, fuck, no matter how you looked at them they were bracelets.
Yeah, if they were Bar/ji size, he could wear all twelve on his fingers.
I had brought peace to the Golden Duke.