Uncle-in-Law - 2
No matter how many times you go through it, a child's marriage never gets easier. Even when that child is not your own by blood, but one you have carried in your heart all the same.
A nephew with navy-blue hair just like his mother's. Because he was not my own, there was much I did not know about him and few days we had truly spent together—yet it was precisely for that reason that I had only ever seen him polite and demure, and so he felt all the more precious to me.
And then there was the girl who, regrettably, took after me rather than my wife, and so possessed not even a scrap of charm—no, wait. The girl who took after my wife in her youth, lively and sweet, the complete opposite of my own children who had inherited none of that coquettishness. If I claimed she never lingered in my thoughts, it would be a lie; if I said I did not want to look after her, I would have to have no heart at all.
"Uncle! Look, a dragonfly!"
"So it is. Quite a big one."
She was the child who, from her earliest years, had never been frightened by my rather fierce appearance and had always come running to greet me. Whenever I stopped by the Count Ailas territory on a courtesy visit, I would hoist her onto my shoulders and carry her once around the estate.
She had grown into a young lady who blushed if you mentioned such things now, but the closeness built since childhood had never faded. Enough that I felt her less as a mere niece by marriage and more like a daughter of my own.
Time really does fly.
That daughter-like child, the one who used to grin toothlessly with a missing front tooth, was now a bride on the verge of marriage. Never before had the passage of years felt so starkly clear.
It was a pity, in its way, that the result of those years should look like this.
...A nephew-in-law.
I turned my gaze, eyes half-lidded and carefully reading the room, toward the Section Chief of Section 2 of the Audit Department—now my niece's husband-to-be.
The man Christina had chosen was someone I had never imagined. Officially we belonged to the same Ministry of Finance, so he was a familiar face, but I had never expected to meet him in a personal capacity.
To be honest, I was not particularly pleased. No—at first I had wanted to oppose it outright. I knew perfectly well how colorful and varied that fellow's romantic history was. The thought that my niece might become just another passing name in that history made me deeply uneasy.
— Uncle. Lafayette says he's your subordinate. Is that true?
Especially when Christina had called me through a communication orb, I had been ready to pour my entire soul into urging her to break it off.
Of course, after that I had intended to pulverize Section Chief 2. The man had been sent on official dispatch and had gone around seducing a perfectly respectable young woman—and he had even used his real name, not an alias? He had clearly lost his mind. They say a mad superior only breeds mad subordinates, and the Audit Department was the living proof of it.
But I had failed. Far from breaking up, their relationship had only grown firmer, until it became an officially recognized one.
They say no parent can win against their child.
I was not her real parent, but having a parent's heart had been my undoing. Setting aside the liveliness of her childhood, she had always been a demure girl without much personal desire. When a child like that pleaded with such an earnest face, how could I refuse?
A member of a count's house, the niece of the Minister of Finance, a girl who had voluntarily taken the hard road of becoming an assistant teacher—this was the first person she had ever truly set her heart on. If I forced her to break with him, she would be wounded and might never open her heart again.
Even thinking about it now made me want to lose my mind. Of all the men in the world, why did it have to be Section Chief 2?
"Here. This is what you asked for."
Still, I pushed the negative thoughts aside as best I could and drew a ring case from my coat.
Regretting what had already happened would only make the girl watch my face for cues. I had given my permission; I might as well accept it willingly.
"Th-thank you so much!"
Watching Christina's eyes light up as she took the ring case, the last faint traces of unease melted away at once.
Right. Before my own marriage I had not exactly been a prize husband either. Just as meeting my wife had changed me, that nephew-in-law of mine could change as well.
In any case, Christina opened the case with a flushed face, and when she saw the ring split cleanly in half, her smile became so bright it could not possibly have grown any brighter.
Is it really that wonderful?
I could not pretend to understand the tastes of young people these days. She was a girl who rarely asked for anything, so of course I had granted the request—but why on earth did that half-ring make her smile so purely?
Of course, whether I understood it or not, that bizarre ring was going to set a trend. The ring worn by a man who already drew quiet attention simply by marrying anyone at all. Add to that the fact that the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess, a duke, and a duke's daughter all wore matching ones. This was an unstoppable current. Fail to ride it and you became a noble left behind by fashion.
— I forgot to buy couple rings. I split one in a hurry, and she seemed to like it, but...
"If you don't want a divorce, keep that story buried for the rest of your life."
The old saying that ignorance is bliss rose unbidden. If I had never known the sordid origin of that ring, I could have simply thought, Well, I suppose that's the fashion these days, and moved on.
Honestly, the young fool was already showing early signs of dementia. What kind of man on this earth forgets to buy couple rings for himself and his lover?
"Lafayette, look at this. Isn't it pretty?"
"...Yes. Truly beautiful. A treasure I will keep for the rest of my life."
When Christina, beaming, showed the ring to her fiancé, the nephew-in-law hesitated for a beat before he managed to answer.
I understood. He knew the secret of that ring too. The ring he himself had once mocked so thoroughly had circled all the way around and was now being slipped onto his own finger; of course the situation felt complicated.
And that ring had not even been made by me—the original had made it. I had simply taken the chance of running into him at the New Year's Audience to ask in person.
"Split it."
"What? You want me to make more of these abominations with my own hands?"
I casually held out the ring, and he recoiled with a full-body shudder—
"It's the ring that will be worn by the owner of the thesis you tore up."
"I wish you a hundred years of happy marriage."
—and with that single line he split it at once.
Even if he had immediately seized on another topic and successfully submitted a replacement the moment the first thesis was ruined, the fact remained that one thesis had been destroyed. Anyone with a functioning conscience could never have refused.
"Allow me to put it on for you myself."
"Th-thank you."
I watched the product of that conscience being slid onto Christina's and the nephew-in-law's fingers, then quietly closed my eyes.
The process had been strange, but in the end, if my precious niece was happy, that was enough.
The New Year's Audience: the one occasion when civil servants could legally take a break. Put another way, it meant you had to report for duty the very next day after it ended.
After days spent sampling every delicacy in a glittering banquet hall and, when tired, borrowing a side room for a nap, you had to drag yourself back to the dreary workplace. What a dreadful fall from grace.
"...What are you doing?"
But the moment I walked in, I knew.
Today would not be a dreadful fall. Today would be a joyous ascent to heaven. Not a valley of despair, but a climb up Mount Absolute Delight.
"Section Chief 2's wedding celebration party!"
Section Chief 1 answered my dazed voice with radiant cheer. And in Section Chief 1's hands was a dazzling placard.
Section Chief 2 Escapes Bachelorhood!
Oh.
Instinctively I recalled last year. The moment my Academy dispatch had been confirmed, I had been subjected to a spectacular round of teabagging. The memory of ripping that heart-rending placard to shreds.
That memory had leapt across a full year and descended upon us once more. Only this time, Section Chief 2 had fallen from instigator to victim, and the celebration was all for him.
"Whose idea was this?"
"Mine!"
"Well done."
Good girl.
I ruffled Section Chief 1's hair with genuine feeling. Truly well done. When a workplace colleague gets married, simply letting it pass is no way to behave. If the last remaining bachelor is getting married, you invent leave you do not even have and throw a celebration, do you not?
Looking around with warm satisfaction, I saw that the other senior staff had already claimed their places. Section Chief 3 was laughing heartily as he poured drinks for the Vice Minister; Section Chief 5 was rummaging through a crate, apparently hunting for liquor that suited his palate.
How wholesome.
Seeing officers ready and willing to celebrate a colleague's marriage warmed my heart. Never before had the fact that drinking on duty was permitted felt so delightful.
"Oh, Director! Would you care for a glass as well?"
Hearing my exchange with Section Chief 1, the Vice Minister dipped his head in a quick bow, and Section Chief 3, still pouring for him, waggled the bottle in invitation.
"I'm fine. You all drink."
Of course I declined. I wanted to savor this joy and pleasure with a clear head.
If alcohol of all things stole the pleasure that was mine to enjoy, I did not think I could bear it. This feeling belonged to me alone...
"Well, if you insist."
Section Chief 3, apparently deciding to share the pleasure with the alcohol after all, tilted the bottle straight to his lips the instant I refused.
Yes, drink up. Today was a day when even drinking yourself to death would be ruled not guilty.
"Section Chief 2 hasn't arrived yet, I take it?"
I nodded at Section Chief 5's polite greeting, then turned my gaze back to Section Chief 1.
Enjoying the celebration was important, but without the guest of honor the dish lacked its salt. A wedding party for Section Chief 2 without Section Chief 2 was a rather grim prospect, was it not?
Of course these bastards had once thrown a celebration for me in my absence, so it was hardly surprising.
"He'll probably come as late as he can. I think he caught on."
I snorted at Section Chief 1's words. Meat is best eaten by those who have tasted it before, and the one who knows exactly where it hurts is the one who does the hitting.
Section Chief 2 already had a long and storied career of provocation against me. He would have guessed that that karma would come flying back like a spinning tai chi palm, and he would know that today was the day of reckoning.
"Even if he catches on, what can he do about it?"
"True enough."
Unfortunately for Section Chief 2, knowing changed nothing.
Refuse to come to work? Then we would go fetch him. Apply for a business trip? I could simply reject it. The cartwheel rolling toward Section Chief 2 could never be stopped.
My heart was racing. To encounter an event like this on the very first day of the new year—my fortune for the year was already at its peak.
Even as the start of office hours slipped past, there was still no word of Section Chief 2.
"Has he gone on the run?"
"While we're out catching him, shall we eat lunch outside?"
I ignored the muttering section chiefs and stroked my chin.
Strange. That bastard was not the type to be late. Nor was he the type to go so far as an unauthorized absence. He would sooner have taken a bold early leave.
And that mystery did not last long.
— Come collect your subordinate. He's in the Minister's office.
"Pardon?"
A sudden call from the Minister, and Section Chief 2's whereabouts revealed out of nowhere.
What the hell.
The words so thoroughly defied common sense that my mind seized up. Why on earth was that bastard in the Minister's office? That was like finding a battalion commander in the corps commander's quarters.
"...I'll be right there."
That bastard—had he seriously bolted to the Minister's office just to dodge the teabagging?