The Nearby Wife's Territory - 1
The Cervez Grand Duchy. One of the Empire’s five duchies, a vast territory lying southwest of the Imperial Capital. As part of the capital region, it led every other duchy in both population and development.
Being the duchy nearest the capital also made it one of the pillars of the capital’s defense. In fact, successive Dukes of Cervez had monopolized the dual reputation of the Empire’s greatest mage and its final shield. Trixie might be peerless, but her predecessors had been monsters in their own right.
Given that importance, I myself had visited several times on official business. The irony was that after Trixie and I became lovers I had never once set foot there.
I had therefore planned to go with her in the near future. Before we were formally husband and wife, I at least needed to greet her retainers.
A school trip…
I simply had not expected to go so soon.
Of course I had considered that the Cervez Grand Duchy might be among this year’s candidates. The year before last we had gone to the Boyar Duchy; last year it had been the Cenes Duchy. So this year it would be another duchy’s turn.
Yet neither Trixie, Duchess of Cervez, nor Mar, daughter of the Duke of Ulken, had said a word, so I had assumed the destination was the Hablem Duchy. I had even been about to tell the Duke of Victory that we would soon drop by his territory for a visit and to pay our respects.
When I looked at Trixie with eyes still a little dazed by the unexpected surprise, she broke off her conversation with Mar and offered a faint smile.
“I’m sorry for keeping it secret. I wanted it to feel like a surprise gift, so I hid it.”
At the admission that she had truly been aiming for a surprise, I nodded in a half-bewildered daze.
It was true I had been singing for months about going to the Cervez Grand Duchy together. Trixie knew how much I wanted it, so she must have been delighted that we could now go perfectly legitimately.
“I never imagined Mar would know as well.”
“I’m the one who taught the current student-council president. I found out while we were talking a few days ago.”
Trixie added the remark with a touch of regret, and Mar answered with a soft chuckle.
For all of Trixie’s secrecy, Mar had learned the duke’s secret through her own independent network.
Well, of course. The student council would hardly be ignorant of the school-trip destination, and there was no need to keep secrets from Mar—an upperclassman and a duke’s daughter. Trixie had simply forgotten about academic connections.
“I’ve visited Ulken before, but I’ve never actually been to Cervez. It’s right next to Elder Brother’s territory, too.”
Rory, who had been blinking in surprise, clapped her hands with open delight.
The Cervez Grand Duchy lay southwest of the capital, but it also bordered the western edge of the Tailglehen County. They were practically neighbors; even a leisurely carriage ride would get you there in no time.
Despite being so close, overlapping schedules had always prevented a visit. Now that the school trip gave them a perfect excuse, Rory was clearly pleased.
“I’ve heard the forest park in Cervez is absolutely beautiful. At last I’ll be able to see it for myself.”
“Heh-heh, so that rumor has spread? As the lord of the land, I’m delighted to hear it.”
At Rory’s follow-up, Trixie’s ears fluttered and she made no effort to hide her satisfaction. It was not the look of someone merely pleased by tourist praise.
That place is far too meaningful to call a mere tourist spot.
The forest park Rory mentioned had been created by magic by the previous Duke of Cervez—Trixie’s father—for the sake of his elf wife who loved forests.
Trixie herself had even been born in a villa inside that park. To her, the forest park was a place steeped in familial affection; to mages it was practically a holy ground where an industry legend had once walked the earth. Her strong reaction was only natural.
“There’s a place inside the forest park that only members of the Catovan family may enter. It would be dull to go alone, so we can go together.”
“W-would that really be all right?”
“Of course. We’re family, after all.”
Watching the warm exchange, I quietly chewed a cookie. The surprise had been brief, but if the school-trip destination was the Cervez Grand Duchy, that was only a good thing. Even Rory, who was still a student, was happy about it.
Should I bring a gift?
That aside, visiting my fiancée’s home empty-handed felt wrong. I ought at least to send a token of gratitude to the steward who managed the territory in Trixie’s stead.
The problem was that the steward of a grand duchy was a man who wanted for nothing. As the duchy’s second-in-command he was the sort of figure even marquises eyed carefully; ordinary gifts would not even register.
…I’ll send furs.
After lengthy deliberation I settled on one of the North’s staple products.
Yes, furs would be just right. They carried the symbolic weight of the northern faction’s leader gifting northern goods, and furs themselves ranked as something of a luxury item.
A generous hundred pelts ought to do.
The expo concluded without incident. Count Nerkaf, who had come for the secret pact, spent the remaining time with Ryutis before returning home at a reasonable hour. Duke Kilanas discussed magic with Trixie every single day until he attained enlightenment and departed. Cardinal Alexandriana wandered about like a pure sightseer and then vanished.
Of the three heavyweights, only one had brought a bothersome agenda. An excellent ratio. And even that one bothersome agenda had concerned only the contents of the pact; the signing itself had gone smoothly. Better than excellent—practically heavenly.
A mild flavor for the final expo.
Truly fortunate. Ever since becoming Enen’s Apostle, honorary high priest of the Eternal Blue Sky, and Constantina’s benefactor, my luck this year seemed to have soared. Was this why people believed in religion…?
Has that bastard been an atheist until now?
That was why I found myself staring, half-soulless, at Erich. Seeing my younger brother possess such catastrophically bad social sense—and suffer the consequent headaches—made it obvious he had never believed in any god.
Filthy unbeliever.
That unbeliever had been the club expo’s star attraction. If some guy is strolling everywhere with a woman on each arm, of course people stare. Whether it was Erich’s own will or not meant nothing to the spectators.
According to eyewitness accounts, Sera and Zenobia, who had him pinned from both sides, had engaged in rather unambiguous physical affection. Right in front of Academy students and faculty, right in front of guests from the Empire and foreign lands, they had flaunted that their relationship was no ordinary one.
The flashy display had the side effect of making onlookers mistake the three for lovers. In reality Erich was far from a lover; he was still stunned from successive confession attacks.
“Erich.”
“Y-yeah?”
Lying on Sera’s lap (half by force) with increasingly vacant eyes, Erich hastily gathered his wits at the sound of her voice.
“Here—say aah~”
His pupils trembled violently under the powerful assault.
Yet he obediently opened his mouth and accepted the macaron, so it seemed even Erich had resigned himself to the situation.
People really can change.
I almost teared up. Someone who had looked hopeless was finally evolving. The future in which the Crassius family would have no nephews, only children, was beginning to shift.
Zenobia was no longer present now that the expo had ended, but her bright expression during farewell made it clear she too had made significant progress. I chose to believe that.
“How is it? Delicious?”
“Yeah… it’s good.”
Suddenly forced to eat a macaron while lying down, Erich twisted his head this way and that as if his throat were blocked. Eating while supine was indeed a little cruel.
No one cared. The number of times Erich had made us feel stifled far exceeded the number of times Sera had made him feel stifled.
“By the way, Tanian, where did you put your coat?”
After watching Erich for a moment, Later naturally turned the conversation to Tanian. As an older brother I felt a warm glow at the consideration that kept from interrupting Erich and Sera’s intimate time.
“Ah, I presented it to Sister Alexandriana as a souvenir.”
“A souvenir? Your uniform?”
“To us it’s everyday wear, but for a sister raised in the Holy Kingdom it’s clothing she would never have a chance to wear in her life. Fortunately she liked it.”
At Tanian’s answer Later tilted his head with a subtle expression. Even so, coming all the way to the expo just to take a school uniform as a souvenir struck him as odd.
The doubt was short-lived; he soon nodded. Strictly speaking, even if someone carted off a pebble rolling around the Academy and called it a souvenir, that was the taker’s business. A third party had no cause to interfere.
“I see. If you don’t have a spare coat, just say so. I’ll give you one anytime.”
“Haha, thank you.”
Watching him show such consideration for a friend’s wardrobe made me think that not only Erich but the entire Class of ’79 had become proper human beings.
At this rate the Imperial Academy might truly be the continent’s finest educational institution. Foreign royalty who had barged in without mercy had acquired ordinary human conscience. What better education could there be?
There’s no need to prove it like this, though.
Of course even the headmaster would not have wanted to prove the school’s supremacy by hosting foreign royalty and a future saint for three full years. Prove it this way and the next thing you know other countries’ royals start applying.
…Other countries’ royals.
Even the briefest flash of that future sent a chill through me.
If such a future ever arrived, I would simply offer my condolences to the future headmaster and the future Academy inspectors.
“Oh, right—I heard the next school trip is to the Cervez Grand Duchy—”
While I was offering silent condolences to someone in the future, Ryutis, who had somehow picked up the news, changed the subject.
Yes. For now I should just think about the school trip. There was no point fretting over a future that might or might not come.