Ventorino Kingdom - The Seed of Discord (2)
Rumors spread with frightening speed.
A new dynasty had taken root in Ventorino Kingdom, and the first half-demon to set foot in the newly built royal castle was the talk of the capital. Even on only the second day, the entire palace was already buzzing about the boy. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the story reached not only the capital but the noble houses as well.
What made it worse was that the one who had publicly vouched for his identity was the queen herself.
And yet, that never happened.
By the very next day, the rumors about the half-demon had been stamped out with astonishing speed.
Even the queen could not have suppressed every whisper drifting through the palace. Only one person in the world could do that: King Marc de Ventorino.
"I had them all properly silenced."
"...I see."
Katarina nodded at her husband's words.
Marc, who was now gathering popularity by ruling with a show of benevolence, had once been a warrior who swung his deathly greatsword with brutal enthusiasm at demons, half-demons, and traitors alike. That had been true even right after he ascended the throne.
He had pursued bloodstained policies both to create a common enemy for the kingdom and to show the other nobles circling the throne that he was not a man to be trifled with. In terms of sheer intimidation, the queen did not even come close to reaching his heel.
"So what's the reason?"
"Reason for what?"
"That half-demon. Why on earth did you bring him here?"
It was a question he could not possibly avoid asking. It was especially suspicious because the servants had already begun to whisper that the half-demon was the queen's newest lover. Given Katarina's history, Marc had every reason to suspect her.
"......"
When she did not answer at once, he frowned.
"Have you forgotten? It was the queen who told me we needed an anti-demon and anti-hybrid policy."
Marc had no particular hostility toward half-demons. Demons themselves, yes; but half-demons? Not so much.
His family had not fallen because of demons, and in fact demons had become both his stress relief and his source of income. In the end, they had even been one of the reasons he had risen to the throne. For the record, he considered the queen the number-one contributor, and Hero Pedro the third. The second, in his opinion, had been the demons themselves.
In any case, the reason Marc had maintained that hostile policy from the beginning was entirely because of Katarina.
"Or perhaps..."
"Me."
"......"
"Are you saying you don't trust me?"
The king fell silent.
Don't trust her? Hah.
A man asking whether he could not trust his wife. Under normal circumstances, that should have been a question that made any husband flustered or deny it with all his might. But Marc was not that kind of man. He simply could not say what he was thinking out loud, for the sake of the kingdom's stability.
He believed she was hiding something from him, if not an affair then at least some other scheme, and that right now she was feeling uneasy.
As proof, Katarina was unusually silent even when he used a tone she would normally have corrected at once. If she had behaved as usual, he would have been suspicious enough already; but acting like this only made it harder to trust her. That was especially true because the intelligent woman in front of him had not even noticed how strange her own behavior was.
"Haa... That boy is a half-demon, yes, but he's an extraordinary talent."
"A talent?"
Marc gave a flat response, and inwardly snorted again.
Suppressing her irritation as well, Katarina told him everything she had heard from Mercede and everything she herself had learned over the past few days.
Runner-up in the Heroic Origins Martial Tournament. Humble enough to begin as a squire despite having the skill to become a knight immediately, all in order to help change the way people viewed half-demons. His ability had improved dramatically in just a few short months, bringing his swordsmanship to the level of Mercede's. He was Countess Serenia Bernstein's disciple. And, apparently, even the princesses were secretly fond of him.
That did catch Marc's attention, at least a little. But there was no need to show it.
"...So? What are you suggesting?"
"If possible, I was thinking of recruiting him."
"What?"
"And even if that doesn't work, we could still win Ulsro's favor and ask them to send us a knight instructor."
"Hmm..."
It was a fairly plausible justification. For now, there was nothing obvious to criticize.
Unlike Ulsro Kingdom, which had become famous as a kingdom of knights after the war, Ventorino Kingdom was constantly suffering from a chronic shortage of knights. Whether it was winning over a future Sword Master or asking for an instructor who could train knights, both options were tempting.
"Knights... huh."
As the kingdom was destroyed in war and rebuilt from the ashes, countless veteran knights had lost their lives. And among those now trying to become knights, there were not many worthwhile talents.
People who wanted to become knights usually fell into one of three categories.
They were obsessed with martial arts, they were seeking fame and fortune, or knighthood was simply the easiest option.
The last group was not even worth considering. Those were the second sons and beyond of noble houses—people who could not inherit anything, hated scholarship, found magic difficult, and had no real talent, so they aimed for the most accessible path. As long as they could handle a weapon decently, their family influence made it easy enough to earn a knight's title.
Most of the fame-and-fortune crowd were commoners. But among commoners who wanted to become knights, the majority were mercenaries, and they had little loyalty to any country. So they pretended to work, crossed the border, and became knights in Ulsro or Dezac instead. If you wanted to make a good living, there was no reason to become a knight in a harsh country where demon conflicts were common.
Talents were mostly found among the first group, but their overall numbers were small. Knights who had both talent and loyalty were rarer still.
Ventorino had fewer knights, but its soldiers were of higher quality. Unfortunately, war could not be fought with soldiers alone. Knights who could lead men on the battlefield and match a hundred enemies by themselves were indispensable.
"Haa, very well. I'll believe you."
"...That makes it sound like you didn't believe me until just now."
"Well... Hmm. No, never mind."
"......"
"......"
A cold silence settled over the study.
If anyone else had been there, they might have wondered whether a mage had cast an ice spell.
How could you say something like that?
Katarina clenched her fist so hard that the skin on her hand turned white. Her fingernails, grown long for the sake of beauty, bit into her flesh. Only after the pain snapped her back to her senses did she offer a frosty farewell, turn on her heel, and leave the study.
Tap, tap, tap.
With the queen's wrath still hanging over her like frost, the servants instinctively gave her a wide berth as she strode through the corridor.
Without thinking about where she was going, Katarina wandered down the hallway until the pain in her hand made her open her palm and inspect the wound. Fortunately it was not serious, though the sharp edge of her middle fingernail had drawn a little blood.
"...I should go see the palace physician."
She muttered that softly, then lifted her head.
"...Oh?"
"Ah, Your Majesty. Good morning. I trust you have been well."
"Ah, y-yes, I, I have..."
There, still standing as if he belonged there, was Valdes, his face as handsome as ever. Startled, Katarina stammered in embarrassment and returned his greeting shyly.
She had deliberately avoided him all day yesterday, which meant this was their first meeting in the palace. It had only been two days since she had seen him, and yet for some reason she felt as though she had not seen him in ages. Even though this was only their second meeting.
The irritation she had felt toward her husband seemed to melt away the moment she looked at him.
"I'm truly grateful to Your Majesty. Thanks to you, a lowly half-demon like me was honored enough to set foot in this royal castle."
"F-fufu. It's not that I wanted... Ah."
She almost let her true feelings slip, then panicked and covered her mouth with her injured hand. At once, the pain in her fingers made her wince and furrow her brow.
"Are you hurt? I can smell blood..."
"Hm, yes. A little, but..."
"Forgive me for cutting you off. Still, even a small wound should be treated carefully. If you don't mind, may I bandage it for you?"
"Huh...?"
Katarina's eyes widened as Valdes took a bandage and some medicine from his pocket.
It was one thing that he carried those sorts of supplies on him, but the fact that he intended to bandage her wound himself instead of calling for the palace physician made her chest flutter in a strange, almost ticklish way. It had been a long time since anyone had done something like that for her.
Back when they had still been nothing more than a mercenary warrior and a noble mage on the battlefield, before they had become king and queen, they had tended each other's wounds and even shared the occasional touch. The sudden memory of those old days made her cheeks turn red.
"...Fine. I shall grant you the special honor of touching my hand."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Just as Katarina reached out to him, she abruptly stopped.
"Ah..."
"Your Majesty?"
"There are too many eyes here. We might invite the wrong sort of suspicion... Come to my room."
Until just a moment ago, she had not bothered hiding the sharp mood she'd been in. Thanks to that, there was no one nearby now, but one could never be too careful. If someone saw the two of them together, they might well stir up the rumors Marc had only just quieted.
It was absolutely, certainly not because she wanted to be alone with him.
"...Understood."
At that perfectly reasonable concern, Valdes nodded and followed her to the queen's palace, leaving behind the physician's room that was closer by.
Fortunately for Katarina, they encountered almost no one on the way there. And most of the people they did encounter were servants who had either been cowed into silence or were loyal enough not to care about spreading rumors.
The queen felt an indescribable emotion at this strange situation.
It was as though something in the world was urging her to make a choice. She knew very well what that something was, but she refused to acknowledge it. Once she crossed that dangerous line, she had a feeling the lines that followed would become far easier to ignore.
......
So, if only a little, she regretted calling him here.
No, that's not it. I'm not thinking anything strange. This is just about recruiting a future Sword Master.
For her, "recruiting talent" was a wonderfully convenient excuse. Just as she had done with her husband, she could fool her own heart just as easily. A little flutter in her chest at the sight of him? That was nothing unusual; any woman could feel a little something for a handsome man.
Hadn't her own daughter Clara, with that lovey-dovey puppy-couple of hers, once said that he was handsome and made her heart race?
She had never actually said the latter out loud, but Katarina hypnotized herself with the thought anyway.
"Then I'll treat it now."
"...Yes."
The queen sat down and held out her hand to the handsome squire-knight. Valdes knelt on one knee and began applying ointment to her wound. It stung just a little, but it hurt far less than she had expected. She had been worried the medicine might be of poor quality and hurt like hell, so the result was almost embarrassing.
Unable to endure the brief silence, she spoke first.
"That's quite a good medicine."
"Yes, Princess Mercede gave it to me."
"Oh? She must care about you a great deal."
"I think she does, yes."
Valdes carefully spread the ointment across her palm, then took out a bandage and wrapped her hand. The bandage, too, was of excellent quality. The cloth felt soft rather than rough.
"Did Mercede give you this, too?"
"No, I've been using this one for a while."
"For a while? That must have been expensive for a mercenary to use..."
"It was, but life comes first. I've seen too many comrades die because a wound went bad."
"...Yes. That's true. Wounds are especially dangerous."
A wistful look touched Katarina's face.
The war from eighteen years ago rose in her memory. Among the demons, there had been many enemies who used poison or curses. Because of that, there had been countless soldiers and knights who died after receiving careless treatment on the battlefield. She had lost a friend that way herself.
"You... want to become a knight in order to change people's perception of half-demons?"
"Yes, that's right."
"It won't be an easy road."
"I know. But... I want to pass on the kindness I received from the master who raised me to other half-demons as well."
"I see..."
After hearing Valdes's answer, Katarina's face darkened in thought.
While she was thinking, he finished wrapping the bandage. The expertly tied cloth made moving her hand feel completely natural.
"There. All done. Then I'll be on my way..."
"You said your name was Valdes, correct?"
"That is correct, but..."
"If Ventorino reduced its discrimination against half-demons and made you a knight, would you come to me?"
The thought that had been troubling her just moments before had been how to draw him in. Having already explained to Marc and to her own heart that the reason she had brought him into the palace was either to soothe him or to win his favor, she at least needed to try. That way, she could ease her husband's suspicion as well.
She believed that, after eighteen years, policy toward half-demons could be revised to some extent. In fact, she thought such an offer would not be enough to sway the boy's heart at all.
"When you say come to Your Majesty... what do you mean? Do you mean becoming your knight? Or..."
"Huh? N-no, I..."
Startled that he did not reject her outright, Katarina froze. Then Valdes rose to his feet and took a long step closer to her.
"Do you mean... as a man?"
Katarina's body stiffened as his face came close enough to fill her vision. A moment later—
Smack.
"?!?"
She felt something soft against her lips.