Chapter 7: The End of the Banquet
「What is the meaning of this really!」
After I immodestly, instinctively kiss him, I could not help my cheeks blush and faced down after all.
I do not know what expression Wilhelm-sama was making. But, I think that it had got through for sure how much I have been deeply yearning for Wilhelm-sama. I feel bad that I had lied, but I thought for sure that Wilhelm-sama would not be convinced how much I talked through.
Butーーthe one that destroyed that lingering of mine, was a hysteric voice like that.
「……Rayford, Withdraw, I am sure that I had told you」
「Father! W-Why, are you forgiving Carol’s act of a fool! Even though you have opposed about Mary and me, why did Carol who needs to protect her chast.i.ty, did something like that to Wilhelm!」
「You, do you really understand what you are saying……」
Ha〜, the King His Majesty had left out a deep sigh while looking to the ceiling.
Of course, the hysteric voice’s owner was my ex-fiancé, Rayford-denka desu. It looks like, this Denka seems to not accept that I had expressed my yearning love for Wilhelm-sama since earlier.
Although the first one who threw me away, was Denka.
「No, I cannot accept this, Father! With how Carol had said it, she meant that she had yearned for Wilhelm since she was young! Then, while having a fiance like me, did she not do adultery!」
*Gii*, Rayford-denka glared at me.
But, I wonder why. There was nothing to be scared at all.
「Carol! I am disappointed in you! To think that you had me as your fiance, you were like that towards Wilhelm!」
「I do not understand what is Denka thinking, but it is the truth that I am yearning for Wilhelm-sama. But, I had never shown that to Wilhelm-sama until this day」
It is the truth. Until this day, I had prepared my will to live while having this feeling.
Until Denka had discarded our engagement, I was planning on supporting Denka.
But, Denka had nothing to do with that.
「Hmph! You’re a woman whose excuses are even annoying!」
「Your Majesty」
「Rayfore……you, you were that stupid huh……」
Even though Father had just called His Majesty by his name, His Majesty was looking at Denka with an almost crying expression.
However you thought of it, Denka’s words are only accusations. I wonder why Denka, thought that everyone would be convinced by those words. In addition to that, the curses against me were gradually increasing.
Probably, I was, being hated by Denka even since I was his fiancée.
「Father! Please, punish this woman!」
「Today’s banquet will be closed. The matters with Lady Carol and Wilhelm, it is too hasty. It is not like it is needed to be decided by tonight」
「Father!!」
「Shut up, Rayford! Right now, I am infuriated that I had a son like you from the bottom of my heart!」
To Denka’s continuous calls, His Majesty finally roared strongly.
Probably, he did not think that he was going to be yelled at in that way. *Biku*, Denka trembled to his surprise.
Please do not tell me, he had never been scolded before. If it was like that, His Majesty’s education policy for him would have problems.
「R-Rayford-sama……」
「Mary……I’m sorry」
「I-It’s okay. I, if only I’m on Denka’s side……」
「Mary……」
And Denka and Lady Mary, had created something with they own worlds by themselves. Honestly, I could not bear watching it.
*Ohon*, His Majesty cleared his throat silently.
「Wilhelm」
「……Ha」
「I am, not planning to oppose, your engagement with Lady Carol. But rather, to compensate the selfishness that was done by my son, I would rather recommend your engagement. But, Lady Carol had not meant of making Wilhelm troubled. The final decision, I will leave it to you」
「……」
To His Majesty’s words, Wilhelm-sama was still lowering his head, not moving.
For a little bit, I wonder if I had said too much. The feelings that I had kept inside my heart ever since I was 7 years old had overflowed, and I could not stop even myself.
It was until now, that it started getting embarra.s.sing.
「Lady Carol」
「Yes」
「You know, that there is no transient rumor about Wilhelm」
To His Majesty’s words, I nodded.
Something like that, of course, I knew it. He was always by himself since he was young, and they told that he did not have a wife. Wilhelm-sama himself is the third son of an Earl’s House, together with his stature, I had heard that that was one of the reasons that he was not forced to get married.
In addition to that, he had the position of the Captain of the Knights, he had a status that he needed to go to the battlefields immediately if there was a war with other countries. It was being said that rather than making his family sad after he died in the war, he had chosen to be alone.
And because Wilhelm-sama was like that, that I was yearning for him.
「You had probably heard a lot of things. With the status that he has, he needed to go battlefields and die anytime, he did not want to leave a family, he was saying those things that sound good, but in reality, he is only a shy type. If it was not like that, he would not have fallen into a panic this much with Lady Carol’s words」
「Y-Your Majesty……!」
To His Majesty’s words, Wilhelm-sama’s face blushed.
Inside the banquet that had become quiet because of Rayford-denka being scolded, it was a voice that echoed very well. Being said by that in front of the public, I wonder what Wilhelm-sama is feeling right now.
「With how he looked, he was not someone who was popular with women. With an intimidating beard, body that was like a bear, in addition to that, his voice is very low and does not talk a lot so he was hard to approach. He was approximately the best example of someone who had reached an old age without getting involved with women in his whole life」
Ma〜.
Then, other than me, was there no one else who had yearned for Wilhelm-sama.
That is a very happy thing, but I rather felt that it was strange. A person that was as wonderful as him, I wonder why women did not yearn for him that much.
「I am looking forward to it. Lady Carol……if it was you, you might be able to live together with Wilhelm」
「Thank you very much, Your Majesty」
「Well then, you can go now. Tonight, has been a great cause!」
His Majesty said that, together with the declaration of the end of the banquet.
The night where the distance between Wilhelm-sama and I had suddenly closed up, had ended.
「……that was unexpected, that was wonderful, Carol」
「Yes, Father」
「If Wilhelm-dono could be welcomed into our House, the House of the Duke would get stronger from now on. Carol also, whispering sweet words to an old man like that, I had let you do an embarra.s.sing thing」
*KuKuKu*, Father who was making a villainous expression, had a.s.sessed my words like that. I had just purely let out what was inside my heart, though.
To Father, at least that I want to let him know.
「His Majesty right now is a very wonderful person, but the if it was the turn of Rayford-denka in the next generation……the palace would get messy. And the thing needed for that, is a rock-solid domain and strong military powers. Our Ambrose House of the Duke, has a very wide domain granted by His Majesty. Then the thing needed is military powers……if something happens, in this situation that we might rebel against the kingdom anytime, being able to welcome the Captain of the Knights, Wilhelm Waiblinger, to our House is huge. The child born, would surely be treated as the successor of Wilhelm-dono」
「Father」
「If Wilhelm-dono, the captain of the knights, was on our side, we can also command the order of knights on our side. In addition to that, we can to make training for our domain’s private soldiers that was on the same level of the order of knights. It is wonderful. To think in that instant, I did not expect that you had read the changing state of affairs and nominated Wilhelm-dono. Carol, you are truly a wonderful daughter」
「Father」
He had greatly misunderstood.
I am only a 16-year-old girl. I had not lived like Father within the aristocratic society that was full of forethought and foresight. It should be easy to figure out, that there was no way that I had understood that in that instant.
For even a little, even Father has probably prejudice towards his own child.
「Firstly, I want to say something」
「But, the problem is if Wilhelm-dono could make a child in his age……when it comes to it, leave the child making to someone else……mu, what is it?」
「No, Father. I am……」
Father was, thinking that all of the things I had done during the banquet was only an act.
He was thinking that, I proposed an engagement with Wilhelm-sama a.s.suming that I had seen the state of affairs of the politics. Probably, the only person who was thinking of that was Father.
「I am, really yearning for Wilhelm-sama」
「……Carol, it is only me in here. Jokes are」
「It is the truth. I have the resolution, at the time Wilhelm-sama would point his spears to the Ambrose, House of the Duke, that I would line my bridles with him. I am……Carol have, from the time since she was young, yearned for Wilhelm-sama」
To my declaration.
Fatherーーwith his expression with overflowing confidence as it was, dropped his jaw open.