Rejoice, the Imperial Grandchild Has Arrived! - 1
The banquet celebrating our safe return ended in a bright, cheerful atmosphere. With only family—or soon-to-be family—in attendance, there was no need to mind other guests, and even the servants who had devoted themselves to the house and the county could enjoy themselves. The entire castle might as well have been one vast banquet hall.
If there was any minor blemish, it was the discovery of a truth that should never have come to light right before the feast. Aside from that single stain, there had been no commotion at all. Even that incident had been treated with a measure of leniency; I had only been scolded in words.
"I would have liked to celebrate for a whole week straight."
"A pity. If it had been vacation, we could have taken our time enjoying it."
Just before returning to the Academy after the banquet ended, Mother took my hand and spoke. I answered with a soft smile.
At those words, Mother erased the faint lingering regret and smiled back at me. It had been a playful reply, yet it also meant I had been thoroughly satisfied with the feast we had just enjoyed.
"This winter, we simply must do it properly."
"Yes, of course."
I nodded with an even deeper smile at the words she casually added. This coming winter, holding a banquet for a whole month instead of a week would not be strange at all.
It is a day worth celebrating, after all.
The winter we were about to meet was not simply the season when snow fell. It was the monumental period when Mar would finish her three years at the Academy and graduate—and, put another way, the day Mar and I would be wed.
It was truly a joyous day. Privately, our family would grow; publicly, House Crassius would forge an official bond with a ducal house. Even if Mother opened the family vaults for it, I could understand.
"Next time I see you, I hope you'll be wearing a white dress."
"Yes, Mother!"
After a smiling farewell hug with me, Mother had already approached Mar and spoken the words gently.
Naturally, Mar lit up with the brightest smile she had ever worn at that blatant well-wishing.
A white dress, huh.
Imagining Mar—who normally favored red dresses—in white made me smile without thinking. It would suit her beautifully, but Mar wearing a white dress would be a first and last this winter.
I decided to think of it that way, because anything else would be a problem.
After returning to the Academy, I spent peaceful days. During regular class hours I went to the student council room and lazed around with Mar; when Beatrix had free periods we played together; when club time came, Luise and Irina joined us. It was a daily routine soft enough to melt both body and mind completely.
"Mar, did you change your perfume?"
"Ah, yes. Does it smell strange...?"
"Of course not. Any scent suits you perfectly."
Even now I was passing the time with Mar seated on my lap while she worked.
At first she had been embarrassed, but as time passed she seemed to grow used to it; when she grew tired while working she would simply lean against my chest and close her eyes for a moment. It was so cute—like a cat purring in one's arms.
Of course, to others we must have looked like a sickeningly sweet couple, but this combined seating arrangement had its own advantages.
"By the way, Karl. Could you take a quick look at this?"
"Of course."
The excellent advantage of being able to help Mar with her work on the spot. An advantage every person could understand and accept.
"The inter-class tournament will be held soon, and the students' enthusiasm is greater this year than last. I think we need to recheck the budget proposal."
At Mar's words as she handed over the documents, my body stiffened for a moment.
"...There are certainly more expense items than last year."
"Right? There are a lot of new students who enrolled after seeing the princes and Sister Beatrix, so their passion is overflowing."
I forced my stiff body to move and opened my mouth; Mar muttered as if she were tired.
The inter-class tournament, one of the official Academy schedules for the second semester. As an Academy inspector I knew every official schedule by heart, yet the inter-class tournament was something I would never forget even if I stepped down from the post.
No human being could forget it. There was the bitter memory of failing to control my strength, making a highborn royal spit blood, and receiving the unprecedented punishment of confinement to my workplace. Unless I came down with amnesia, I would never forget the inter-class tournament.
At any rate, among the second-semester schedules the inter-class tournament tended to start somewhat early—
It's already right around the corner.
This time it felt as if it were starting even sooner. How long had it been since I returned to the Academy for an event to explode already? Even machines break if run without rest; how much more so for people.
Of course the Academy was operating on schedule without postponing or advancing anything. It only felt early because I had burned the beginning of the second semester on the war.
...Surely nothing like last year will happen this time.
Last year's nightmare flashed quickly through my mind. Everything had proceeded without incident until the final match, when a massive accident erupted. The desperate memory of an outside personnel attached to Luise's class suddenly fleeing, forcing me to fill the vacancy.
It remained such a trauma that I still kicked my blankets in my sleep, but no such catastrophe would occur this year.
There are no variables.
Last year, because of the northern disturbances, every mage of the Magic Tower had received a summons. That summons had also called away the outside personnel belonging to Luise's class. But this year the North had been pacified, and the East had been quiet for decades. There was no way an incident requiring the Magic Tower to issue an emergency summons would occur.
If—just if—something urgent erupted somewhere that was neither North nor East, I could not guarantee how the situation would unfold, but surely nothing like that would happen.
In the first place, if such an incident occurred, it would not only be the Magic Tower receiving summons; I would be dragged back to the Imperial Capital myself.
I paced endlessly along the corridor. This sense of powerlessness and anxiety was something I had not felt since becoming Crown Prince.
I was going mad. If only I could do something—if I could move busily for the best possible outcome—I would never have felt this way. If the result changed according to my efforts, I would have focused on reason rather than emotion.
But in the present situation there was nothing I could do. I had to entrust everything to another's hands, to the heavens.
Please.
And so I offered prayers to Enen of the heavens and to the Great Emperor who protected the Empire. Please grant your protection. Please let this end safely.
Please let the Crown Princess give birth safely, and let the child be healthy without any discomfort.
Please, let them both be healthy.
I could not accept either the Crown Princess dying in childbirth or the child coming to harm. A future in which either of them left my side was something I could not bear.
She was the light who had approached me when I was merely waiting for the day I would die. She was the one who had supported me so that I could move forward as Crown Prince.
This was the child we had barely managed to conceive amid excessive work. A child who absolutely had to be born for the sake of this Imperial Family and the Empire.
Therefore I could lose nothing. I could abandon nothing.
"──! ────!"
"───!"
Damn it.
I bit my lip at the screams and groans coming from beyond the door.
I wanted to rush in at once, but I held back. My entering would only be a hindrance; it would be of no help whatsoever to the Crown Princess or the child.
...They'll be all right, won't they?
Before I knew it, the powerlessness and anxiety that had been gnawing at my chest were turning into dread. In truth, the Crown Princess's due date was not today.
Of course some margin of error around the due date was understandable, but if that error stretched into weeks the story changed. All sorts of anxieties flooded in—had something gone wrong? Would the child be all right?
At least it was not a premature birth that would be classified as premature, which was fortunate.
"Your Highness, do not be so anxious. The finest medical staff in the Empire have gathered; nothing will go wrong."
Sensing my anxiety, Sir Hendrick, my escort knight, spoke quietly.
Receiving consolation from a subordinate instead of showing a composed face as Crown Prince was an embarrassing matter. Yet for this moment alone I was not the Crown Prince but simply a father; how could I remain composed?
"Yes, you're right. Besides, the Crown Princess has always been healthy."
Yet my mouth feigned calm, contrary to my heart. That was the last scrap of reason remaining to me as Crown Prince.
"Your Highness."
"Minister of the Imperial Household?"
While I stopped pacing and stared at the door that stood between me and the Crown Princess, the Minister of the Imperial Household arrived.
"What brings the Minister of the Imperial Household all the way here?"
"The legitimate bloodline of the Imperial Family is about to appear in this world; how could this humble servant remain still?"
At those words the corner of my mouth lifted ever so slightly.
The Minister of the Imperial Household, true to the title, handled the affairs of the Imperial Family, and one of those duties was updating the imperial register. His presence meant he had come in advance because the Crown Princess would safely give birth.
Sir Hendrick's direct comfort and the Minister's indirect encouragement. Being patted on the back from both sides, my heart seemed to ease a little—
"Your Highness!"
Suddenly the tightly closed door opened.
"It is safely over! Her Highness the Crown Princess is healthy, and a lovely—"
I could not properly hear the words that followed. The baby's cry rang out as if to display its own health.
My mind went blank. Even though it was the news I had desperately longed for, even though I had waited only for this moment, I somehow stood there in a daze.
"Your Excellency the Chancellor, this is the Minister of the Imperial Household. The Imperial Grandchild has been born. Her Highness the Crown Princess is healthy as well."
Only after hearing the Minister hastily take out a communication crystal and make the report did my body move.
Only then did I see the Crown Princess, lying on the bed with a weary smile, who had just received the child.
"Your Highness."
Seeing me approach, the Crown Princess spoke with a smile that was still exhausted, yet bright.
"She's a beautiful daughter who looks like me."
I found myself weeping without realizing it.
Just as I arrived at the dormitory and was about to sleep, the communication crystal let out a roaring alarm.
It was not the unpleasant warning tone from the previous summons, but a lively sound like a fanfare; still, it was little comfort. The louder a communication crystal rang, the more enormous the message that had arrived.
Shit, and that was even purple light. Imperial-related content.
Whoa.
The moment I saw the text that had flown into the communication crystal, sleep fled completely.
Under the blessing of Enen and the protection of the Great Emperor, a noble Imperial Grandchild has been born. Therefore, all subjects who serve the House of Livnoman ought rightfully to rejoice that the legitimate bloodline of Livnoman has descended upon this world.
The first child born between the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess.
The ultimate embodiment of legitimacy that would put an end to the current Imperial Family's sole weakness had been born.