This Money Is Now Mine (3)
Unlike his father, who only had eyes for his mother, she had committed adultery. Who was at fault? To drive the nail in first: ultimately, the mother who cheated bore the blame. No matter how much the father had provided the cause.
"Mother. I'm aware that you and Father have scarcely spent any nights together lately."
"Oh, that's not something a child should say...!"
"Yes. But things have reached a point where the child has no choice but to intervene."
This was undoubtedly a matter for adults to handle among themselves.
"I simply remained ignorant, doing nothing at all...."
But if I didn't tidy things up a bit now, the situation would only worsen.
"And so I'm filled with regret."
In a way that would harm both me and Princess Naria.
"If you'd persuaded Father somehow, Mother wouldn't have succumbed to that momentary temptation."
"Wha...!"
Slap—!
"Ah, aaah...! Gr-Grey...!"
"It's fine, Mother."
It stung a little, but far less than the tortures I'd endured in the future.
"I deserved it for speaking the truth."
"......."
"But even so, I have to say what needs saying. After all, I'm your child."
I took a light sip of tea to wet my throat.
"Are you satisfied with your married life with Father, Mother?"
"Of course I am. I married him out of love, and I love him still."
"Yes. You do love him. That's why you rejected the proposal from Saint Geo, then crown prince and now king. Before I was born."
"......."
To sum up Mother's youth in one line: the heroine of an imperial romance novel. Choosing the iron-blooded margrave who was cold to others but warm to her amid a love triangle, securing her happy ending.
But that was the story of her late teens and early twenties, when love burned hottest.
"Mother is thirty-one now. Father must be... thirty-five? Six? Something like that, I think."
"Five."
"Ah, right. Sorry, I get a bit fuzzy on numbers since regressing."
"In any case, you married Father out of love, Mother. But I wonder if that's still true now."
With three children born and the mid-thirties approaching, a certain disconnect had arisen between Father and Mother.
"From what I've analyzed... in the two months before the incident blew up, you and Father kissed just once."
"!!"
"A kiss. An act of sharing love. A way to confirm each other's affection. That's what I learned from books. Isn't it?"
Of course, I knew everything. But since Mother wished I was 'not quite like her son, but still just a child,' I'd play along.
"...What do you think a kiss is, then?"
"Naturally, something lovers do. Between a man and woman in love."
"......."
"I know all about it. That when a man and woman kiss and share a bed at night, a child is born."
Mother's eyebrows dipped slightly, her expression easing with relief. Still just a kid, she'd think.
"So did you kiss the king too?"
"......!!"
But that didn't make her affair vanish.
"No matter how seldom Father kissed you, kissing another man crossed the line."
"Eek...."
"Have you ever had an honest talk with Father? If you had, he would've gladly kissed you seven times a day."
Father was that kind of man. Mad with love.
"But from what I see, you never did."
"......."
"Of course, you wouldn't have offered yourself to the king. He got drunk, forced you into an embrace, and lured you to a private room under pretense of talking."
"Wa-wait."
Mother cut me off.
"How do you know about that room?"
"...Sigh."
The royal palace, third bedroom. Prepared for the first queen consort—and one that Queen Consort Carmen currently didn't use.
"That room had sat empty since the king's marriage."
"......."
"Even Queen Consort Carmen knows who it was meant for."
A woman's pride. She wouldn't want to be anyone's replacement or step into a room prepared for someone else. Carmen was too proud for that.
"The king surely took you there, Mother. And kissed you. Probably by force. Drunk."
"......."
"You probably ended up yielding your body in the end."
"......."
Mother offered no rebuttal. Likely some emotional tangle hard to voice to others—especially her son.
"Shall I say what happened?"
"...Yes. It's getting hard to treat you as a child anymore."
Mother straightened her posture demurely.
"From now on, I'll speak to you as an adult. Is that all right?"
"It's what I wanted."
"...Then guess my feelings now."
"You felt your love had cooled, so you wavered before the king, who still burned hot for you."
"......."
Mother fell silent.
"That's why you didn't resist. Why you hid the truth."
Because that hit the nail on the head.
"It started the moment you were invited to the capital. Old memories, tender recollections with the king, set your heart racing. So you allowed it. His lips on yours."
"......."
"Once it happened and the king sobered up, regret must have hit. Even an incompetent king knows when he's 'screwed up.'"
He'd know the fallout if word got out. So he kept it from Queen Consort Carmen too. Had she known, she'd have stayed here, pushing for divorce by any means—for both to divorce and remarry Father.
"It could've ended as 'just a hug from behind, some groping, a drunken mistake.' But you never expected Father to rage like that."
"......Yes."
Mother let out a deep sigh.
"I thought he was plotting treason, scheming to hand the kingdom to the empire, set on assassinating the king."
"Yes. Even slaughtering all the attendants to cover it up."
In crude terms, she must've thought, We're fucked.
"So my knowing must trouble you, but on the other hand, it reassures you that I'm on your side."
"......Can you keep the secret to the end?"
"A secret? That depends on you, Mother."
There are no perfect secrets. Like how Father learned of Mother's infidelity at his execution in the previous timeline.
The emperor probably spilled it while killing the king.
What a guy, that emperor. Holding onto that secret for years, only revealing it before killing Father.
"I'll help Father, but I don't want war."
"......."
"I'll play the sly bat in the middle, restraining and persuading him my way. So he can be satisfied without war."
"You mean a coup?"
"That's the best I can think of right now."
Telling Father 'just depose him' wouldn't fly.
"Mother."
No telling if it could work even in the future, but the man I was talking to now wasn't Father.
"Still, he's your first love. You want to save him. From Father."
"......."
Mother nodded faintly.
"That's answer enough. Now, then—write a letter."
I pointed to the ink and quill on the table.
"Write the letter and seal the envelope."
"You'll deliver it yourself?"
"Yes. I'll deliver both the plan and the letter personally. When I go to the capital."
"Even as the eldest son of a margrave house, a private audience... that's not—"
"I'll make it happen."
"...Good grief."
Mother's hands trembled.
"You're my son, but too clever by half."
"I figure you need a son like this right now, so here we are."
"...Suppose."
Mother pulled a small sheet from a drawer and asked,
"If this hadn't happened, would you have stayed the sweet, gentle boy I hoped for?"
"Mm, I'd probably have kept playing the 'meek and good son' you wanted, at least."
"......I see."
Mother quietly took up the quill.
"Wait. It's embarrassing, so let me write it alone...."
"No."
"What?"
"I need to see it before you seal it."
"...What?"
"Can't have you writing 'my son knows.' I'm your son, but also the son of Margrave Gibraltar."
I wanted to go to the capital, sure.
"But I don't fancy getting murdered by the king to keep the secret."
"......."
Mother's arched brows softened a touch.
"You're a bit infuriating, but you wouldn't want your own son killed by your lover, right? Then Father would—"
Slash.
"Either way, if the truth spreads, we're all dead."
"......."
"Mother?"
"...Hearing you call me 'Mother' weighs so heavy."
Mother clenched her trembling hand and dipped the quill in ink.
"Fine. I'll write."
Thirty minutes later.
"...Is this good?"
I took the letter. No major issues with the content.
"Thank you, Mother."
Her flushed face had calmed, and after confirming the contents—
"Write another one when I leave later."
"...Ah?!"
I burned it in the candle flame.
"Why the surprise? Did you think I'd take it now? Right away?"
"Ah, um, right. You're not heading to the capital immediately."
"Yes. I'll let you know later. Call me then and write it."
"...You'll see it."
"Of course."
I'll check the content again then.
"...Fine."
Mother watched the paper curl to ash and sighed in deep relief.
"You've grown so much. I thought you were still just a child."
"......."
"When you go to the capital, watch out for Queen Consort Carmen. She... rather dislikes me."
Naturally. After all, Mother stole her first love.
Maybe from the kingdom's perspective, it would've been true happiness if they'd ended up together?
Sometimes I wondered.
No. Then Princess Naria wouldn't exist.
Hm. Best to let bygones be and change things from now on.
"Mother. One request."
"Wh-what is it?"
"From tonight, share Father's room. His bed."
"......."
Mother's face stiffened.
"You don't want to?"
"No, it's just... the margrave might not like it?"
Margrave. Even as marchioness, Mother sometimes called Father that. Her pet name, perhaps.
"He'll love it. Who knows—maybe this incident brings you closer again."
"......."
"I'll tell Father myself. That you crave an adult kiss."
"N-no, don't!"
Mother startled and cried out.
"...I'll tell him. Now go to bed. It's late."
"...True. Already eight o'clock."
Time for Noir and Letar to prepare for bed.
"I'm truly sorry. I must've hurt you deeply."
"Hurt?"
"Yes. And you might get hurt again later."
"It's fine."
Love makes fools of us all.
"But Mother, may I ask something personal?"
"...What?"
"Why did things grow distant with Father?"
"......."
For the first time, Mother scowled in irritation.
"I know you're not the type to act on impulse."
"Impulse...."
"Something built up?"
"Built up? ...Sigh. Yes, it did. Maybe it finally exploded."
Mother gazed out the window, then closed her eyes.
"You'll understand when you're grown. Why I acted that way then. Reckless, but I couldn't hold back."
"When I'm grown."
"Yes. I did betray him, but...."
Grind.
"Three years."
"...Pardon?"
"Three years without a proper kiss."
"......Pardon?"
A chill ran down my spine for a moment.
"What do you—"
"There are simple pecks, and adult kisses."
Mother opened her eyes with a faintly eerie glint and rose.
"When you're of age, I'll tell you."
"......."
Quite the adult excuse.
You still cheated.
No amount of excuses changed that fact.
Adults are selfish creatures.
Mother never apologized to Father, not even before me. I thought she'd manage at least those words.
Just... a bit bitter.
All I could hope was empty words before Father. Sorry, somehow.
Three days later.
"Shall we?"
The plan was ready, and the carriage to the capital stood prepared.
"Time to squeeze out that settlement gold."