This Money is Now Mine (5)
Carmen Queen had invited me to her private bedchamber. One could spin this into something profoundly suggestive, but no one would dare entertain such vulgar notions.
"You're the first man to enter my bedchamber like this."
"It's an honor, Your Majesty."
"Hehe, the more we talk, the more entertaining you become."
Still in her dress, she perched on the edge of the bed, gazing at me with eyes brimming with mischief as she giggled.
"I want to speak with him alone. Everyone, leave us."
"Your Majesty?"
"I said leave. Surely you don't think a ten-year-old boy is going to do something to me? Assassinate me, perhaps?"
"......"
The maids and knights hesitated, exchanging uneasy glances, but soon bowed their heads and filed out of the room.
"Now you're truly the first man to enter my bedchamber."
"Has Grand Duke Morgania never visited?"
"Ahahaha!!"
Carmen Queen clutched her stomach and laughed heartily.
"The more we talk, the more I wonder—"
Wiping away tears, she smiled bittersweetly.
"—how you can be so much like me."
"......"
"You've suffered greatly since childhood. Being far smarter and more mature than your peers means being robbed early of the blessing of growing up blissfully ignorant."
She was saying this because she saw me as someone who had walked the same thorny path as her.
"I've only just heard that Grey Gibraltar is a genius. Why reveal yourself now?"
"I feared my father might storm the palace with a sword if I didn't."
"...Every word you say is so amusing. And all the more shocking because it rings true."
Carmen Queen crossed her legs and propped her chin on her hand.
"Grey. Why did you mention Morgania's grand duke—my father?"
"Because Your Majesty has never brought His Majesty the King here."
"Should I take that as an insult to the royal family?"
"I'm merely stating the truth as I see it."
"And what makes your presumptuous guess the truth?"
"If I'm wrong, I'll offer my neck. But I believe I'm right."
She was still smiling. Her lips curved deeply, but her eyes had grown cold, probing me intently.
"Outwardly, a harmonious king and queen. In truth, a political union. Aside from one child born between them, they are presumed not to share a marital bed."
"To speak such words with the party herself—the queen—right before you. Do you have a death wish?"
"Will you kill me?"
"Because you're that woman's son?"
"But I'm also my father's son."
Before she could strike, I played my card to preserve my life.
"Here is a letter."
"......What?"
"It's one my father wrote directly to Your Majesty."
"W-what did you say?"
Carmen Queen shot up from her seat.
"Lies. He would never write to me. He's never—"
"You said he's never written to you even once."
Father's letters had always been for Mother.
"So I asked him to write one. As a gift for Your Majesty."
"......"
"Shall I read it to you?"
"......You're insufferably clever, like a noble in a child's guise."
Carmen Queen accepted the letter from me as if receiving a treasure. As she broke the seal stamped with Gibraltar's wax emblem, the corners of her eyes began to droop.
Crimson...
"My son asked me to write to you? Haha, couldn't you have lied a little, at least?"
The letter recounts our family matters. The canyon's affairs. Less a personal missive than a status report to the royal house—but that alone was enough.
"Among all the gifts I've received in the past year, this is by far the most precious and splendid. Very well. For today, I forgive all your rudeness."
Carmen Queen carefully refolded the letter and slipped it into the drawer of the nightstand beside her bed.
"Where to begin... I merely wanted you to tell me about your father, but it seems you have more pressing matters."
"Yes. Some public, some private, and a few requests."
"Quite a list."
"If you grant them all, I could regale you with tales of my father until the moon sets and dawn breaks."
"......Then perhaps we should enjoy some tea leisurely."
Carmen Queen rose from the bed.
"Do you take tea? Or do sweets suit your palate more? Cookies, perhaps?"
"I prefer black tea. Chocolate over cookies."
"Such firm tastes."
"My father's."
She flinched.
"Sir Crimson likes chocolate?"
"Were you asking my preference? I eat anything."
"If that was a ploy to score points, you're not just brilliant—you're downright cunning."
Grumbling, Carmen Queen personally prepared the tea. Fine teacups held black tea, premium candies, and the finest chocolates.
"Sit. And stop bringing up the margrave to unsettle me."
"Is it acceptable if I raise it in official matters?"
"Even understanding that much—you're excessively clever. The capital might come to despise a child like you."
"No central nobles favor Gibraltar. That's why I've come to build alliances myself."
"......"
Carmen Queen lifted her teacup. Though her gaze was on the tea, a noblewoman sipping mid-conversation was akin to a knight assuming their stance.
"You're neither like the margrave nor that woman. A breed unto yourself. Fine. Here's your answer."
With half-lidded eyes, she unrolled the parchment on the table.
"How bold."
"No point mincing words with someone like you. For me..."
"You wish to hasten this so you can hear about my father?"
"I told you not to do that."
"Hehe."
I had subtly seized the initiative.
"At least let me persuade you. 50 billion gold isn't mere construction costs—it's compensation."
"Compensation?"
"A settlement. For the countess being sexually harassed by her husband."
"......"
"Surely you're not suggesting a single punch to the face wipes the slate clean?"
"You're no ten-year-old."
Carmen Queen's body tilted slightly. She cocked her head, propping her chin with one hand again.
"I was clever too, but never this brazen."
"Father was too furious for me to play the soft, innocent son. With people dropping dead mid-meal, I couldn't just sit idle."
"......"
"Father doesn't know. Those present at the table..."
I lightly tapped my eye with a finger.
"...are the eyes and ears of Nostrum—or rather, Morgania."
"......"
"Bad luck. The slain servants were all spies planted by the count's family."
"And the margrave didn't know?"
"Yes. He killed them for failing to protect Mother. They had personally escorted her to the capital."
"......"
Carmen Queen took another sip of tea. Her second.
"If the business passes, it won't become public scandal. High society will recognize it as the royal family's olive branch, and no one in Nostrum will speak of it further."
"But 50 billion is excessive."
"We're not using it all for construction anyway."
"...What?"
I reached for the dish of small candies and placed five on an empty one.
"Actual construction will cost about 30 billion. For the remaining 20..."
I left three as they were, then placed one before myself and one before Carmen Queen.
"What do you think?"
"...Who oversees management and auditing?"
"From Morgania."
"......"
Carmen Queen frowned, covering her face with her hand, staring at me in disbelief.
"Does the margrave know of this?"
"He delegated full authority to me."
"So this is purely your doing?"
"Yes. And he approved it."
"The margrave approved? Not to entrap me?"
"Yes."
"......"
Her expression grew graver. Gibraltar's margrave, who tolerated no waste in tax usage—especially for defense—had overlooked 'overexpenditure'.
"This is..."
"Corruption. A secret pact between Morgania and Gibraltar."
I interlaced my fingers leisurely and leaned back on the sofa.
"Who would suspect? Even in the queen's bedchamber with a ten-year-old, they'd assume it's mere gossip about my father's private life."
"...No one would anticipate such a political deal."
"Even ten-year-old Lady Carmen could foresee it."
"That genius lady would be at a loss against someone so audacious and eccentric."
Was that an insult?
"Where in the world is a ten-year-old declaring to the palace, 'We shall commit corruption'?"
"Hehe."
"That's not praise. Sigh... Was the margrave like this as a boy? No, perhaps you take after your mother."
"The good from my father, the bad from my mother?"
"Why? Upset at hearing ill of her?"
"Neither good nor bad. I understand Your Majesty's hatred for my mother."
"......What did you say?"
For the first time, Carmen Queen showed genuine emotional turmoil.
"What was that just now?"
"I understand you, Your Majesty. Losing what you desire is the greatest sorrow."
She had been robbed of it. In truth, an unrequited love, but she didn't see it that way.
"One reason you despise His Majesty—is it because he failed to properly seduce my mother?"
"......"
"Had Mother chosen the king over Father then, the countess's seat would have been Carmen Morgania's."
"......"
Carmen Queen fell silent. Her face was stiff, but with each of my words, she seemed lost in thoughts of what might have been.
"Ah. Then you'd be my mother."
"...Better to bear Naria with the margrave than have a son like you."
She raised both hands in surrender, chuckling wryly.
"Fine, son who might have been mine. What do you desire?"
"Become my political mother?"
"......What?"
"Exactly as I said."
I took a casual sip of black tea.
"For Gibraltar's political maneuvers, is there a sturdier backing than Carmen Queen and House Morgania?"
"Do you grasp the weight of your words?"
"Yes. As I said in the audience hall—gratitude for the room prepared for Gibraltar in Morgania's estate."
"That was...!"
"Not childish banter, but political rhetoric."
An alliance between Gibraltar's margrave and the queen could upend the capital's political landscape overnight.
"A single Sword Master in the capital bolsters their faction immensely."
"The margrave must stay in Gibraltar. He has no reason to be here. Because..."
"Charlotte Gibraltar remains there. But there's a way."
"You don't mean..."
"We create a situation where the margrave must come to the palace. Even with Mother in Gibraltar. For instance..."
I glanced out the window.
"Abdication. Rebellion. Riots. Civil war."
"!!"
I had crossed the line.
"Divorcing a deposed king is unremarkable. Remarrying a hero who saved the realm, equally so."
"You..."
"Am I wrong?"
"...I told you not to use the margrave to shake me."
"My apologies. Hehe."
Yet even after my perilous words, the queen's heart was already teetering on that line. Deep down, she yearned to oust the incompetent king.
"A chaotic capital needing a Sword Master's might to quell it. But bringing a powerless wife risks her as a hostage."
"...To make only the margrave come to the capital."
"Above all, the gates of the canyon Gibraltar guards must be impregnable."
"So that's it."
"Yes."
The business plan centered on gate maintenance and 'defensive reinforcement'.
"I'll set the board. Turning Father's lonely heart in the capital—that's up to you, Your Majesty."
"You'd accept me as your stepmother? What of your real mother?"
"Your Majesty. I believe... for everyone..."
This was it.
"Loving someone isn't a sin, is it?"
I meant it.
"One would do anything for the one they love."
I offered her my candy, extending it politely toward her lips.
"If needed, I'd even give you this. For now, at least."
"......Ha."
Carmen Queen brushed her hair behind one ear.
"The margrave truly sired a fine son."
She bit lightly into the candy still in my hand.
"You."
*Smack.*
"I'll steal motherhood from that woman. Don't resent me."
A bold imprint of her lipstick remained on my finger.
"I'll take it."
With the scent of black tea and a shimmering water-blue gleam.