War on the Table (4): An Unintended Misunderstanding
Deceiving and humiliating people for the sake of my goals is my specialty—but
'That's something I only do to people who deserve to die anyway.'
Whispering false love to bring down a family. Corrupting ideologies and narrowing minds until they self-destruct. Indulging in the dream of the past until they ignore reality. All those were actions against my 'enemies,' not for my allies.
So perhaps now was the perfect time to clear up this twisted misunderstanding about me. The misunderstanding with this woman who had been my ally in the future—and could now be called my ally in the present.
"Your Majesty. Wasn't this seat meant for my father?"
I had been summoned. To the rooftop of the orphanage.
"It was. Until I came up here."
Carmen Queen filled her glass to the brim with the finest smuggled imperial wine meant for her and Father to share alone, then raised it by herself.
It was night. The afternoon schedule had been entirely canceled. After her candid talk with Father, Carmen Queen had gone straight to her room and simply waited for nightfall.
—Follow me. Quietly.
And so, guided by Viscount Hex Romana, I headed to the orphanage rooftop. Even though the afternoon schedule was canceled and no escort was provided, the Queen was already waiting for me there.
As if she intended to lay everything bare right now. As if she had been eagerly awaiting this very moment.
"But after talking with your father, I realized I needed to speak with you more deeply. So I called you."
"This place..."
"It's quiet, isn't it? It can get even quieter."
Snap.
With a flick of Carmen Queen's fingers, a mana barrier unfolded over the rooftop garden.
"A silence spell. Now it's just you and me here."
"What about those two over there?"
I glanced toward Lady Mente and Sir Robert at the rooftop entrance.
"They say some knights can pierce barriers and eavesdrop. Is that all right?"
"It's fine if they hear. Those two won't mind."
Carmen Queen took a light sip of her wine. The alcohol wasn't that strong, but the rich grape aroma wafted through the night air, tickling my nose.
"I had a big misunderstanding. I thought you'd fallen for Princess Naria at first sight."
"It's true that I did fall for her at first sight."
Carmen Queen was a frightening woman.
"Not a single lie? On your honor?"
"Yes. I was smitten."
Especially when she treated me like a 'rival' like this—I had to state the facts as they were.
"Can I be really honest?"
"Speak."
"I wondered what a woman as cold and rational as stone would look like in love—and what it would be like if directed at me."
Whether before regression or now, that first moment was the same.
"But it wouldn't work."
"Why not?"
"Princess Naria seems like someone who could never fall in love, no matter how hard she tried."
I pulled a bottle of sparkling water from my pocket and poured it into my glass.
"You have to give up on a tree you can't climb, right?"
Before, I'd realized it too late.
"The princess showed no interest in romance whatsoever."
"You've only met her once."
"Once was enough to judge. Truly."
Even setting aside all past memories and judging solely by the princess I met in the garden, the answer was the same.
"The princess really takes after you, Your Majesty. The way her eyes calculated how to use me politically."
"......"
"You said I resembled you, but the one who truly does is Princess Naria. If I had to compare."
To be brutally honest.
"Princess Naria is you, Your Majesty, with the emotion of 'love' removed."
"......"
"You don't understand, Your Majesty. That relationships between humans—between man and woman—can form without the emotion of love."
"Of course they can. Isn't that obvious?"
Carmen Queen drained her glass again to wet her throat.
"No matter how genius, humans are still living beings. Feelings like affection are inevitable."
"Yes, exactly. If she'd been born into a family full of love from childhood, Princess Naria would be far more emotionally rich than she is now."
"...What are you saying?"
"You already understand."
Carmen Queen's gaze darkened with anger, but I didn't back down.
"There's no love between the king and queen, and no one in the royal family treats her with love."
"......"
"The princess takes after you—she's smart. She's probably understood for a long time: 'I'm not a child born from my parents' love, but from a political marriage.'"
"......"
Carmen Queen covered her face with one hand. Through the gaps in her fingers, her green eyes flickered with faint irritation—or so it seemed—but one eye was hidden by her palm.
"I can't control the princess's heart. But instead, I expressed my own with something more reliable than love: 'understanding.'"
"And that was your declaration to make Princess Naria queen?"
"Yes."
The princess understood. Because she grew up without learning love.
"I'm not blaming you, Your Majesty. The root cause is, of course, the root of all evil: King Saint Geo Nostrum."
"I thought you'd say the cause was me."
"Your relationship was worse than strangers even before marriage, wasn't it?"
"Yes. And it's the same now. I'm preparing to drag him down by any means, while he indulges in his debauchery."
Carmen Queen twisted her lips in a sneer.
"As if he's determined to squander the national treasury on luxury until Naria comes of age in seven years."
"Without leaving a single coin for his daughter. Seeing that..."
I shrugged lightly.
"A family with no love and no pretense of it must be utter agony for a child."
"Are you condemning me now?"
"No. Just stating the facts. If you feel condemned by that, then you're still a good person, Your Majesty."
"I'm good?"
"Yes. At least you feel guilt, regret, and a mother's love toward Princess Naria."
That's why, from our first meeting at the palace, even labeling her as political, I'd chosen to treat Carmen Queen as a 'mother.'
"That's why I decided to help Princess Naria."
"Out of pity?"
"Yes. In several ways."
Publicly, it could only be called cheap sympathy. And my reason for helping her did stem from pity, ultimately.
"So pitying a child who became a doll from lack of love, when you grew up surrounded by it? Ridiculous."
Carmen Queen tilted her glass in self-mockery.
"So you'd even marry Princess Naria if needed?"
"Yes."
"Without love—just pure pity?"
"That's right."
"As long as it benefits Gibraltar and yourself?"
"Naturally."
"You're a monster."
Carmen Queen shook her head coldly, staring at me.
"I could die and resurrect, and still not understand you."
"No. You understand me better than anyone, Your Majesty."
"What?"
"I'd do anything for the person I love, too."
"...Ah, yes. Finally, I get it."
Carmen Queen closed her eyes briefly, her whole body trembling faintly.
"Saint Geo Nostrum is that to me, as Naria Geo Nostrum is to you?"
"In terms of pure human emotion, something like that. Though the current king and future queen are as different as a flea and a dragon."
"......A poor metaphor for the flea. He's more like a mosquito."
Carmen Queen set her glass down.
"Let me pour you one."
Her glass was empty before I knew it, and I refilled it from the wine bottle.
"Then let me ask. If you marry Naria and then meet a woman you truly love, what will you do?"
"Princess Naria would probably say, 'Just give me a son and you're free to go.'"
"......And you?"
"Me? One of two things."
I'm different from Carmen Queen.
"I'd either keep knocking on a door that never opens until I finally give up."
Even after thirteen years since my birth, Carmen Queen still held onto her love, but I had ultimately given up.
"Or."
Though Carmen Queen had thoroughly rejected the advances of countless married nobles reaching for her.
"I'd fall into the arms of someone who soothes my wounded heart and comforts me, awakening to a love that rewards."
Unlike Carmen Queen, I couldn't do that.
"I deeply respect you. Enough to want you as a mother."
It's admirable. This woman who kept her love for Father until the moment he died.
"So I'm preparing in advance. Just in case. This is purely hypothetical."
Words Father and others—especially Father—must never hear.
"If Mother were to suddenly pass away."
"......!!"
"I'd be fine, but my siblings would need someone to fill the mother's role, right?"
"You..."
"Ah, of course."
I raised my glass.
"I'm not some unfilial son plotting to assassinate his mother for a stepmother. Me."
Gulp.
"That wouldn't benefit Princess Naria, me, or anyone."
"...But 'if.'"
"Unless you pass away through no fault of mine—like something falling from the sky. Otherwise, you'll live on, right?"
"......You're a scary son. Truly."
Carmen Queen extended her glass to me.
"Fine. I'll play along. And watch. To see who—not my daughter—you fall for."
"Look forward to it."
I'd loved the past her, but whether I'd fall for the current her again was questionable.
'Same roots, but she's already a different person.'
I didn't know if I'd fall in love or not.
"By the way."
"Yes."
"If you fall for an imperial woman, what will you do?"
"After marrying Princess Naria?"
"No. Right now. This moment."
"Hm..."
Clink.
"Naturally."
If I fell in love.
"I'd dedicate everything to the future she desires."
"Everything?"
"Yes. Literally everything. If she wants 'imperial rule over the kingdom'..."
I glanced up at the pitch-black night sky.
"You'd become governor of the Nostrum colony, Your Majesty, and I'd sell the kingdom for that woman. I'd become a traitor."
"......."
"Morgania's power would only solidify further. Just under the empire instead of the kingdom."
"......."
We'd even toasted, but Carmen Queen sat frozen, silent.
"Ah."
I forgot to mention this part.
"In exchange, I'll give you Father."
"......."
"The mad son blinded by love who opens the gorge gates. Unable to kill him, you evacuate everyone with Morgania and save the kingdom's people as heroic saviors and queen. It's a simplistic picture, but not impossible to paint."
Carmen Queen answered very quietly by swallowing her wine.
"......Go now. There's another night guest coming, and the rest I'll discuss urgently with your father."
"Yes."
I picked up my glass and stood.
"It's a rare night date you've arranged. I trust it won't be all stiff talk."
"......Enough. Go already."
Carmen Queen waved me away impatiently, and I bowed before leaving the rooftop.
A moment later.
As I arrived at the mansion, I caught sight of a red shadow darting out from the terrace into the darkness.
I had no idea what those two discussed that night—but
"Grey. The margrave... did he perhaps with Carmen Queen..."
"Just sleep, Mother."
"Ugh..."
"Frankly, even if they got intimate, it's no big deal, right? Nobles keeping mistresses is common. A stepmother is different, though."
"......."
I placed a chair in the couple's bedroom and sat by Mother, keeping her company until Father returned.
"With the youngest here, I'll hold my tongue."
"......What would you have said without the youngest?"
"That as long as no child comes from it."
"......The queen and the margrave?"
"99 out of 100 Nostrum citizens would cheer."
Finally, the margrave has come to his senses. Freed from the witch's spell, he's made the heroic decision for the nation.
They'd all shout that.
"Children born between Gibraltar and Morgania have always grown into Masters, heroes of the nation."
"......."
"No one sides with Mother but me here."
I stayed by her side until dawn, reading a book from the study.
* * *
The next morning.
"I expected it, but still."
"......."
"If my chatter last night broke your resolve, Father isn't some pure romantic."
Carmen Queen radiated low pressure laced with killing intent, and I stuck by her side to handle yesterday's canceled schedule.
"I support you, but it failed after all?"
"......Ha."
"Should I spike the wine with a drug next time? Something even a Sword Master can't resist."
"What nonsense. ...Is what I should say."
Carmen pounded her chest in frustration and sighed deeply.
"Might need it after all. Better prepare options."
"Why not just pounce? If you're this regretful."
"Do you think I haven't tried that yet?"
Carmen Queen threw off her coat, revealing red bruises on her sleeve.
"Damn..."
"Mind your language, Your Majesty."
"How can you just talk till dawn? Huh?"
Last night.
"Did I have to discuss Grey Gibraltar's true intentions with your father until dawn? Huh?"
Nothing happened.
At all.
"Still."
"There was progress."
"What?"
"If something happens to her or she passes early, she asked me to help you."
"......Congrats on the godmother approval?"
Correction.
"Yes. Exactly."
She'd crossed the first hurdle.
"I've claimed the mother spot for now, so have him call me Mother from here on."
"Father probably only allowed 'godmother.'"
"Don't call me godmother so stiffly—Mother. I'll be your mother-in-law eventually anyway?"
"......Do as you like."
She'll live long, that's for sure.
"Mother."
Two mothers now.
"Ah."
Come to think of it.
"Or should I call you Mom?"
I whispered into Carmen Queen's ear.
"......Naria's never called me Mom either."
Carmen Queen's face flushed as her lips quivered.
"......."
"If you hate it—"
"......Mom's a bit cringy, so just Mother."
Carmen's ears turned bright red.
"Enough. Let's go greet the guests."
Carmen Queen composed her expression and turned her gaze west.
"Whether defending Nostrum or selling it out, something big is coming from the Empire."
Toward the gorge.