Chapter 96 - Chapter 96: The Maiden
Cecily glared at Nancy while sitting up in bed.
"Even though you are the Ace of Chalice, you were removed from military duty and transferred to the Royal Capital because your sister betrayed us, spending days being scolded and looked down upon by imperial subjects, not even colleagues. And yet, Nancy, you were making love with that husband of yours. Don't you feel sorry for the dead comrades?"
"I understand your feelings criticizing me, but I think you should thank my husband first."
When Nancy said that, Cecily's tone became even stronger.
"Who is that husband?"
"Isn't he right in front of you?"
"It seems it is Nancy's husband, Steve Archibalt."
Steve greeted with an uncomfortable face.
He knew he was not well thought of in the Empire.
"Dragon Head!"
Louis stopped Cecily who was trying to stand up excitedly.
"Cecily, it is better to rest for now. Besides, Lord Archibalt is the one who saved my life. It is not good for us who have no allies or travel funds to oppose them."
"I am sorry, His Highness. And Lord Archibalt."
"Well, even though we have a ceasefire, I suppose I am hated by the Empire."
Steve smiled bitterly at Cecily's apology. Just because the war ended doesn't mean no more sides. He had factored that in, so he didn't get angry.
When Cecily calmed down, Nancy continued the story.
"I don't know if Cecily will accept it, but I will tell you why I became like this. I infiltrated my husband's territory on a mission, but my identity was discovered and I was charmed by Charm Magic."
"Can Lord Archibalt use Charm Magic too?"
"Yes. But I want you to keep it secret. So, due to the magic's effect, I fell in love, and my husband treated me carefully. Even though the king of this country told me to kill me, he pleaded for my life even kicking aside other rewards. Since then, I was treated very carefully, just like Christina-sama's fiancée. So, before the battle between Ace of Sword and King of Sword, when the Charm Magic was released, I asked to fight together."
"Is it something you do even betraying your country?"
Cecily's gaze became fierce again. Nancy accepted that and nodded.
"Yes. Because if the king didn't withdraw the order to kill me, I think my husband would have opposed the king."
"That might be a misunderstanding."
"It's not like that. Even when my husband's older sister fell in love with a prince of an enemy country, she tried to do that. In the last war, I was allowed to include forgiving all parties' crimes in the ceasefire agreement just to free me. As a result, even though we won against the Empire, our territory didn't increase. Where is there someone who sees value in me up to that point?"
"Are you still under Charm Magic?"
"If you say anything bad about my husband anymore, I will get angry."
Now Nancy's gaze became fierce. Louis quickly followed up.
"That is not the case. It has been confirmed that Queen of Sword is not under the influence of mental magic. I also couldn't believe it at first, but it is probably the truth."
Told by Louis, Cecily did not ask anything further. Steve felt the air was heavy and proposed a meal.
"Well, I'm hungry too, shall we eat? It is shameful for me to cook at Lord Sowell's castle, but I have some Ramen, so let's serve that."
Louis asked for an explanation about the unfamiliar dish called Ramen.
"I haven't heard of it, but what kind of dish is it?"
"It is easiest to say it is pasta put in soup. There are several flavors, so if you say you want your favorite, it might be hard to understand for the first time. I will prepare it for a moment."
Ramen and pasta are different things, but if it is standard in this world and Louis and others can understand, then such an explanation. This is the same for children's education. For example, if teaching a lion to a child who only knows cats, you gradually understand from the common points of cats and lions.
The social studies subject of the curriculum is learned in the order of neighborhood, school district, city and town, prefecture, Japan, world. That is why.
Adults have many drawers, so it is possible to teach skipping the order a bit more, but basically the teaching method is the same.
Still, it is easier to understand if there is a physical object. Steve took out a wooden cup containing soup from the subspace and placed it on the table in the room. All of them were steaming.
"Soy sauce, salt, miso, and each pork bone, and chicken bone soup, seven types. Please taste test. I will serve the flavor you like."
Louis timidly put the ramen soup Steve served into his mouth. Cecily similarly tasted it.
"Miso is good."
"Understood. His Highness will have miso."
Louis chose miso. When Cecily ate soy sauce pork bone, she clearly grimaced.
"Is this pork bone something for humans to eat?"
"Cecily doesn't understand the wonderfulness of this pork bone?"
"Nancy, it is strange to be happy with such a thing."
"Fine. If Cecily doesn't eat, I don't have to reduce my portion. Husband, please give me two bowls of soy sauce pork bone for me and the child in my stomach."
Here the sisters' quarrel started again.
Aurora ignored it and placed her own order.
"I will have salt ramen. It has been quite a while since I instructed my cooks to reproduce it, but they have not reached here yet. Will you deliver it every day?"
"Every day is too much, I think."
Like with Soba, Steve taught Lord Sowell's cooks the ramen soup, and in return, he was taught cooking methods for ingredients that can be procured in this world made of materials. The cooks who received the teaching are challenging reproduction, but they have not reached the ramen soup Steve creates with magic.
"You might think slurping noodles with sound is rude, but for Ramen and Soba, this is the correct etiquette."
Saying that, Steve took out the ramen everyone ordered. Bowls of ramen lined up on the table. And, as if showing me the example, he took out chopsticks and started eating ramen.
As expected, Aurora and Nancy still cannot use chopsticks well, so the two use forks.
"Well, please eat while it is hot."
Recommended by Steve, Louis and Cecily came to eat ramen for the first time in their lives.
"This is certainly something you want to eat every day."
"I made the soup with water magic, but it consumes huge magic power, so 10 meals a day is the limit. If I tried to provide it every day, there is also Teleportation magic used for delivery, so maybe 5 meals."
Hearing that, Aurora chuckled.
"Your Majesty also desires it, but since I cannot consume the precious mage's magic power just for that, I allow it to be served only on special occasions."
"Is it okay for us to be provided with such a precious thing?"
"Well, it might be painful to show only Lord Sowell eating, so isn't it fine?"
Hearing that even the King cannot eat even if he desires, Louis and Cecily were embarrassed.
The King's cooks also try to reproduce, but it was difficult to reproduce completely. So, at the crucial moment, they requested Steve to provide the soup.
Despite such background, Steve was not so worried because it is just made with surplus magic power.
When the meal ended, Steve decided to return with Nancy.
"Then we will take our leave now."
"Thank you very much."
Louis and Cecily bowed deeply to Steve. Nancy said nothing in particular and returned with Steve.
Immediately after the two disappeared, Aurora brought up the reward to Louis.
"Well, now we have treated that Ace of Chalice as promised, shall we get paid?"
Hearing the word reward, Cecily looked at Louis.
"His Highness, what is the reward?"
"I promised Lord Sowell that I would offer anything I could offer to get Cecily treated."
"Such, there was no need for His Highness to go that far for me."
Cecily was confused that Louis was pushed further because of her. However, Louis did not seem to mind.
"Do not say that. Now the only retainer left to me. If I lose Cecily, I am alone."
"That is so..."
"So, what does Lord Archibalt desire of me?"
Louis asked Aurora.
Aurora laughed fufu and answered.
"Nothing difficult. If His Highness returns to the Empire, I want you to marry that Ace of Chalice."
"Marry Cecily?"
Louis was surprised by Aurora's request. Cecily was the same. To the surprised two, Aurora continued words.
"It doesn't matter if it is a principal wife or a concubine, but I want you to marry and announce the fact. It is better if children are born, but there are things that cannot be done about this, so I do not wish that far."
"Certainly if that is so, I can pay, but what is the merit for Lord Archibalt?"
"There is no obligation to answer. This is a contract, so I will be troubled if you do not fulfill it for any reason."
Aurora sharply refused Louis's request.
Cecily who heard that conversation was looking down, but soon raised her face and decided to ask Aurora for a conversation alone.
"Lord Sowell, can you let us talk alone?"
"If it is a maiden's conversation about marriage, it is fine. There are many things you cannot talk to His Highness. But if you say you have someone you vowed to marry, I cannot hear that."
"It is not like that!"
Cecily denied with a red face teased by Aurora. Seeing that, Aurora chuckled.
"Well, whether that is true or not, let His Highness leave the room and talk alone. However, Harry will remain. He is a guard but his mouth is tight, so rest assured."
"Understood."
Thus Louis left the room, and Aurora, Cecily, and Harry remained.
When three people, Cecily asked Aurora a question.
"Why do you want me to marry His Highness? Isn't it a greater benefit to marry someone related to Lord Sowell?"
"There is no obligation to answer that."
To the question of the same content, Aurora was dumbfounded.
But to the words that came out of Cecily's mouth next, Aurora was interested.
"This is my imagination, but probably it is important that I am my older sister's younger sister. Lord Sowell wants to connect the relationship with the Empire to Lord Archibalt through me. So, the precondition of marriage is if returning to the Empire, right? That means, Lord Archibalt will cooperate with His Highness's revenge, right? If that cooperation exists, His Highness gets the throne and gets the position of wife's relative."
"It is nice that your head moves well. I don't know if Lord Archibalt will cooperate, but if he cooperates, think about the future. If you understand that much, I will talk, but the boy will help you if he is told by his wife to help you. You might not be interested in His Highness. I cannot say that to His Highness, so keep it secret."
"Yes. But will my older sister ask me to help you?"
Cecily could not believe Aurora's words. Even if they return to the Empire with His Highness and aim for Leonard's head, she thought she would not stop it, and even if successful or failed, her heart would not move so much.
"I don't know how you sisters were in the past, but now you are very round influenced by the boy, and you worry about family matters. Otherwise, there is no way you come here with a pregnant body. You can imagine what will be said. I confirmed when I saw your face when you fainted."
"Even if that is the fact, isn't it better not to think you can manipulate His Highness through me?"
"I don't think I will manipulate. The target is our domestic affairs."
"Domestic affairs?"
Towards Cecily who made a suspicious face, Aurora showed a seductive face.
"Now, the Kingdom of Cascade is under the boy's influence in all four directions east, west, south, north. And if the power of the four great nobles of the four directions combines even three, it is reaching a place surpassing the royal family. Doesn't Your Majesty think that is a problem?"
"It is an extremely dangerous situation."
"That's right. If the threat of the Empire is removed there, the most dangerous will be the boy. The cunning rabbit dies and the hunting dog is cooked (T/N: Chinese idiom meaning 'when the rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked', implying useful tools are discarded after use). I understand Your Majesty judges to remove dangerous things. So, I want a relative relationship with the Emperor's wife. If you touch the boy, the Empire will also become an enemy."
"Is that Lord Sowell's benefit?"
"It won't be. If forced, it is that we can prevent the nobles' power from being reduced after Lord Sowell is eliminated, but I don't know if it will come to that now. This is just because I worry about the boy. If you wish, you can live a better life, and you can change the territory to make management easy, but he says he cannot abandon the people who worked hard with him in the father's territory, and he is still struggling with territory management even now. While having a seat equivalent to Duke. Well, that's why His Majesty doesn't bluntly try to cut that power either. You can see it today. Even though the curse was released, he didn't talk about rewards, and even if he served precious Ramen, he didn't ask for payment. Nobles should move with profit and loss, but he doesn't do that. Should I say he doesn't do that often. Sometimes he is surprisingly thorough. But basically, he is absent-minded. So, he is used well, but it's pitiful if he is discarded at the end."
Hearing Aurora's words, Cecily laughed.
"Listening to it, it sounds like Lord Sowell is in love with Lord Archibalt. It sounds like a boast of a lover."
Aurora did not deny that.
"Yes. If I were younger, I would definitely try to get him. There is no one who makes my heart flutter so dangerously. It might be disqualified as the head of the house. Every time a big incident happens, it makes my heart painful. Even now, I want to throw everything away and marry him. I understand your older sister's feelings well. But this is a secret here."
"I think the guard is listening."
"Harry knows it long ago, so it's fine. So, I don't want His Majesty to like my lover. The wedge for that is your marriage with His Highness. If you hate His Highness, I am sorry."
"No, it is never such a thing."
"Then there is no problem. If revenge succeeds, she will be the Emperor's wife. If it fails, dying is no different."
"Revenge sounds like a predetermined route."
"Yes. At least that Prince thinks so."
As Aurora pointed out, Louis was trying to avenge his father. However, there was no posture to do so now, and he was not going to return to the Empire blindly and do something.
So, it was inevitable that Cecily did not notice that thought. Rather, Aurora should be said to have noticed well.
"I understood the circumstances, but I will keep this in my chest."
"Yes. It is a maiden's secret."
Aurora who felt no fragment of a maiden said that, and Harry burst out laughing behind and was scolded by Aurora.
[Author's Note]
Thank you as always for typo reports.