Waking up the next morning after the welcome party, no, around the noon, Will was completely exhausted.
After the banquet ended, young witches–me and coral included–decided to hold the after party just by ourselves. Will got caught by the lonely Phantom and was apparently made to listen to him endlessly bragging about his beloved daughter till the late at night.
Looks like both I and Will are types of people who don"t get hangovers, but the tiredness still carried over. My body feels heavy.
“Haa~ I"d love to lazy around, but I have to go for groceries today. I"ll be counting on you to carry things.”
“N…Guess it can"t be helped.”
There was a possibility of actually marrying the Prince, so the inside of the house is tidied up. In other words, it"s empty. I haven"t left any ingredients and seasonings, and I gave most of my clothes to the younger girls. The same with the everyday necessities and the materials for the medicine. Only the furniture is barely left.
Buying everything again is troublesome, but the people of the castle bought the trousseau for the high price so I can use money leisurely. Plus, I have to buy things for Will too.
“For today, we will be buying urgent things at the nearby town and――”
“Sonichan~ Escort from the Aspinell family has come~”
Just as I was making plans for going out, Coral called out to me. Apparently, there was a dragon carriage waiting at the entrance of the forest.
“Oh my! Brother is as forceful as ever.”
“…..Brother?”
Receiving Will"s gaze that"s almost asking me “Weren"t you supposed to be an only child?”, I nodded.
“Brother is the Lord of Azurite, Sanigue Aspinell-sama. He"s been doting on me like his real sister since the childhood. He acts as my guardian in the n.o.ble society….whenever I call him “brother”, his mood turns better.”
I was already intending to go and greet him soon and anyway, there"s no way I could turn brother"s invitation down. I merely put on a dress and boarded the escorting carriage along with Will.
The destination was Azzurro, the capital of the Azurite domain. It takes about 2 hours even with the dragon carriage.
Azurite is a land located in the western part of Mistria. Because it"s blessed with fertile land and a warm climate, the cultivation of vegetables and fruits is thriving. There is a big lake too, so the region is also rich with the seafood, and since there is no need to worry about the food in the first place, people are more gentle and big-hearted.
However, perhaps because of the stream of magic power flowing through the earth, Magic Beasts appear in swarms compared to other areas and there are many dangerous forests and mountains that have never been explored by mankind before.
50 years ago, when the Aspinell family was first bestowed Azurite, they used the danger of the magic beasts to their advantage and successfully attracted adventurers and mercenaries, developing Azzurro to the point that it was turned into the capital.
Due to the nature of the land, many rare plants and war spoilt end up gathering in one place, so even the merchants from distant countries come to buy things. It"s also popular with the witches because they can acquire the materials for sorcery.
In the vehicle, I explained my relationship with Brother to Will while interweaving the basic information about Azurite.
“I was first recognized as a full-fledged witch when I was 8 years old. Magical power in my body was stable and I could already use magic better than adult witches. I was mostly self-taught because my mother was busy with the research of the gem and didn"t have time to train me. I was a so-called prodigy basically.”
“Aren"t you just bragging?”
“I guess so. Anyway, it was judged that there wouldn"t be any problems even if I went out to the town and it was decided that this time I would be learning how to be more ladylike. It was already set in stone that I would be the future Queen of Mistria, after all. Cultural refinement and the knowledge of etiquette would be essential, right? That"s why I ended up studying at the Lord"s place.”
Table manners and the basics of dancing, appropriate behavior at social meetings and aesthetic sense training, lessons of geography and reading and writing in a foreign language… I stayed at the Aspinell mansion during a week in January and perfectly finished the curriculum.
“I want to praise the past me. She did well holding up.”
“…..With the annulment of engagement, all that effort came to a naught, huh.”
“That"s not true, because all the knowledge I acquired is something that will be useful for a lifetime. Also, from the bottom of my heart, I"m glad that I didn"t end up marrying Rain-sama just like that. But…Brother might not be fully satisfied. He must be very angry right now.”
I sighed and pressed down on my temples.
In the whole world, only Sanigue can make me worry to this extent.
“Does Lord…not know anything about the truth?”
“No, brother knows the whole truth about the matter 20 years ago too, and on top of that, he"s been ordered by His Majesty the King to keep a watch over Cucurouge. Given his position as a n.o.ble of Mistria, he"s an ally of the Royal family.”
“Wh!”
The reason he was affectionate with me was also to get close to me and make me put me guard down.
Probing into the progress on the research of the gem, monitoring whether I"m connected to any other influential people and attacking and destroying Cucurouge if the need arises. That is the role of the Aspinell family given to them by the His Majesty.
“Is it okay to meet him now?”
“Yeah, it"s fine. On the surface, Brother is the guardian who dotes on me while behind the scenes, he"s a spy who leaks information through His Majesty the King. But he"s also a nimble person who can do the opposite too.”
2 years ago, Brother told me everything about the duty given to the Aspinell family and provocatively added that ultimately he would「become an ally of the side with more benefits」.
He didn"t need to bother to say it but he"s an honest and straightforward person.
“Brother won"t abandon me yet. When we met Sednyl the other day, he was taking me lightly, right? I think that it was because Brother hadn"t accurately told the King to what extent I could fight.”
Sanigue doesn"t appear in the original “anime”.
Even I cannot gauge her att.i.tude so I"m nervous to meet him.
“Will, it would be better if you didn"t say anything unnecessary today too. Many people go in and out of Brother"s mansion, so there"s no way of knowing where the spy might be hiding. You will have to listen to a rather cold conversation so prepare yourself.”
The first thing Brother said after opening his mouth was something outrageous.
“All right, let"s let the stupid Prince which humiliated my cute Sonia have a taste of a guillotine, shall we? Commander, how many soldiers can we gather?”
“Yes! If the Lord calls out to them, at least ten thousand would be guaranteed.”
“That"s not enough. I need thirty thousand more. I"m not planning a mere civil war, this is a one-sided trampling in order to make the incompetent Royal family realize their own sins!”
“…..Stop it, Brother. Mistria will be destroyed.”
Sanigue Aspinell cheerfully responded with 「Umu, it was a joke」and let the stern Corps Commander return to his post. I"m sorry that you were made to accompany this farce.
“Don"t talk about a civil war even as a joke, there"s no way of knowing who might be listening.”
“If they want to question be for the treason they should just try it. I will annihilate them with numerous arguments.”
Sanigue is 28 years old, so as a Lord he"s quite young. Because the previous generation ―― his father wanted to retire earlier, he succeeded two years ago.
He"s also very popular within the ma.s.ses because he"s cool and very capable. After Brother took over as the Lord, Azzurro has prospered even further and the tax revenue has stabilized. And yet, the crime rate is lower than anywhere else.
Being in possession of several organized army corps for the sake of Magic Beast subjugation, there is no person in the western Mistria who could go against Brother. Be it with financial strength or military power, he"s one level above of others.
For the Royalty of Mistria, the Feudal Lord possessing such huge military power must be a reason for concern, but…they are tolerating it because he has the role to attack and destroy Cucurouge if the circ.u.mstances call for it. The King seems to completely think of Brother as his ally.
We were led into Aspinell family"s splendid reception room, and Brother and I sat facing each other. Will tried to wait by the door, but he was ordered to sit down by Sanigue and perplexed, he took a place next to me.
Current Brother is the Head of Aspinell family, who dotes on me like his actual little sister. He"s angry at Prince Rain"s reckless action during the marriage ceremony and I have no idea that he"s keeping in touch with the King. That"s the kind of setting we are going with.
Today"s summoning must be in order to probe into how am I going to move from now in.
The King must intend to test whether I will truly keep quiet about the secret. Now that the contract has been annulled, there is a chance that I would run crying to Brother who I"ve been getting along with since childhood and reveal the truth.
If it"s decided that I have no intentions of keeping the secret, the King will do anything to kill me. Loose-tongued little girl can"t be trusted, right?
I just have to act like I did before. Brother must intend to do the same too.
“Forgive me, Brother. Everything that Aspinell family spent on me turned out to be all for nothing…”
For the time being, I decided to apologize.
A considerable amount of time and money was spent in order to educate me. Aspinell family was the one that lost the most due to me not marrying Prince Rain. Also, if I really married the Prince, they"d be able to get rid of the bothersome task of having to keep a watch on me.
Sorry, Brother.
“It was without a doubt a false charge, but I shouldn"t have been suspected in the first place. People of the fief must"ve been very disappointed in me. Will I cause inconvenience to this family because of my broken engagement?”
When I cast my eyes down, Brother laughed,「by no means」.
“I doubted my ears when I heard a report from my proxy who attended the marriage ceremony. On top of condemning innocent Sonia at a public place, also breaking the engagement that concerned the whole country….what an unforgivable barbarism. Nothing is your fault and such trivial thing won"t be able to damage my family"s name. Quite opposite, people are instead angry at the Royal family. I was really planning to gather soldiers because your heart was deeply hurt, but…”
“I"m fine. I don"t care about it.”
“Looks so. You even look radiant.”
“Yes. I"m sorry to you, Brother, but I feel relieved instead. I didn"t think that I would be able to serve as the Queen, I didn"t have any kind of attachment towards Rain-sama and more than anything, I"m happy to have come back to Cucurouge. If it also means that I will be able to meet Brother without any constraint, I consider it to be okay that the engagement was broken.
Brother laughed in high spirits.
“I see, I see. Of course, I"m also happy. There isn"t any other girl who would become a better Queen than you, but life in the castle would be too boring for you in the first place. His Highness Crown Prince is wasteful sometimes. This might actually be better.”
He spoils me way too much. I think that Brother"s existence has greatly influenced the formation of my personality. I feel like our arrogant parts are quite similar.
“Still, I was planning to find the best-quality man for you instead, but…is it unnecessary?”
Brother"s gaze moved towards next to me. Will seemed to be so uncomfortable that he couldn"t get words out. He"s totally overwhelmed.
“Thank you, Brother. But since I"ve at last become free to love anybody I want, I"d prefer to choose the partner myself if possible. Is that not okay?”
“I don"t mind it, but confide in me if anything happens. Regardless of if it is connected to love or not. Even if you didn"t marry into the Royal family, I will always be on your side.”
“Thank you very much. I will also always be Brother"s ally. Don"t hesitate to tell me if you ever need to borrow the power of a witch.”
Nodding with “of course”, Brother put his lips on the teacup. I also decided to enjoy the tea with an elegant fragrance. Yup. It"s doesn"t seem to be poisoned. Well, Brother knows that poison doesn"t work on me so there"s no way it would be poisoned though.
Watching me and Brother, Will seemed to be creeped out. When you know the truth, the current conversation must look absolutely eerie.
At this moment, the door of the reception room opened up.
“So you have really returned, Sonisan. How truly pitiful.”
It was Judia Aspinell – a girl older than me by 2 years. She was showing off a haughty smile befitting of a n.o.bleman"s daughter.
She came at a good time, I was already getting tired of looking for each other"s true intentions. I smiled back.
“Judisama, long time…hasn"t been since we have last seen each other, but I"m glad to see that you are in a good humor. I did return shamefully, but there is nothing to pity me for.”
“Is that so? then I"m relieved. I hope that you will continue getting along with me and my husband from now on too.”
“Yes, please do go easy on me.”
“Husband….?”
I answered Will"s murmur.
“Judia is Brother"s wife. They got married just 6 months ago.”
Will opened his eyes wide. The age gap between Brother and Judia makes them seem like nothing but siblings when put together, so the thought of them being married must"ve not occurred to him at all. Well~ they are both also beautiful so I do think that they"re well-suited.
Judia still shouldn"t be aware of the true relationship between me and Brother, so when she"s present, we stop trying to see through each other"s thoughts. That"s why she saved me.
I introduced Judia to Will once again.
“I often met Judie at parties since a very young age so we"re something like childhood friends. She"s a very good paying friend who nows buys the perfume and beauty liquids that I make.”
“That"s correct. Sonisan is a wonderful friend with high utility value in my eyes.”
Will was astounded, looking at us laughing with “fufufu” and “hahaha”. No, more like, he was afraid?
“So, that"s the Lord Knight which you brought back? I see. Sonisan prefers this kind of gentlemen…”
“Are you relieved that he doesn"t look much like Sanigue?”
Judia"s cheeks become dyed with red in an instant.
I know that Judia has been pining for Sanigue since she was young, and also that she"s been jealous of me, who"s been noticeably pampered by Brother. She must"ve been restless after hearing that I"ve returned without marrying the Prince, thinking that her beloved husband would be stolen away.
It"s troublesome being one-sidedly set up as a rival since the childhood, but Judia was always prideful and didn"t bully me. She was vexed at her traits that were inferior to me and tried to overtake me by refining herself. She"s a hard working-type.
That"s why I like her. I find it cute how she tries hard for the sake of her beloved person.
Brother unexpectedly bursted into laughter.
“Haha, what a cute fellow. Are you still jealous of Sonia even after becoming my wife?”
“Geez, milord! Please don"t tease me. I wasn"t thinking of anything like that at all!”
Looks like everything is going well between the married couple.
I want those two to be happy.
If Brother fully became my ally it would be very promising, but that would also imply betraying the Royal family. The fact that he has already betrayed them sufficiently aside…I can"t ask for more than this, can I?
I don"t intend to really fight with Mistria"s Royal family.
An unnecessary conflict would break the current happiness.
Coral and Phantom, witches in Cucurouge, Sanigue and Judia, and the people of Azurite, with obviously me included too, want to lead days full of happiness.
Will is of course included in that too. It"s true, you know?
On our way home, the dragon carriage was filled with souvenirs. Saying that it would be needed, Brother prepared food and everyday necessities. A solicitude as expected from him.
I accepted everything without hesitation, so I should give something back next time.
“Hey Will, what did you talk about with Brother?”
We also received many clothes, but Brother still invited the tailor, saying that he wanted to invite us for evening party next time. When they were taking measurements for the evening dress, I saw that Brother followed Will.
I"m absolutely sure that they were talking about something very important.
I mean, Will"s behavior is definitely strange. He"s even trying to avoid eye contact with me.
“Nothing much…he just warned me to serve you properly.
“Really? Your eyes are running all over the place, you know?”
“I-it"s true.”
I answered back sullenly so Will inquired hesitantly.
“Do you have any other n.o.bles…a person you could reveal everything to and rely on?”
“Oh my, are you worried about me?”
Now, this is unexpected. Will can afford to be concerned about others? I wonder if it would be okay if I bullied him a little bit more.
“W-wrong. But it"s too…I"ve heard that Alonia didn"t have any relatives but now that I think about it, what happened to your father?”
I sighed lightly.
“He pa.s.sed away when I was a baby.”
“I see…what about the relatives from your father"s side?”
“They"re probably gone. Even if they were alive, I doubt they"d be any proper. After all, my father is a person who once fell to becoming a male prost.i.tute.
“Huh!?”
“It"s strange, isn"t it? For the father of the Queen to be a former male prost.i.tute of all things. Something outrageous almost ended up being mixed in the blood of Mistria"s Royal family.”
Thinking that it would clearly be bad, father became an adopted son of some n.o.ble and was given a suitable status, but considering that it was a relationship only in name only, I have never met those n.o.bles. Now that father has died, our connection has been cut off.
“No, that"s not it. It"s just that, for your father to be a former male prost.i.tute…”
I didn"t really want to tell this to Will, but it would be impossible to keep it hidden. Both the witches in the village and Brother know it anyway.
“My father"s name was Ambert. He"s the young man which Jebera once fell in love with.
“I don"t know anything about my parents" love story, but I find it hard to believe that they loved each other. My father, which I saw in the past, didn"t seem to have interest in me or my mother. He was just living leisurely in Cucurouge. He was something like a gigolo, I"d say.
Seemingly fed up, Will looked down while holding his head.
Notes:
lmao Alonia didn"t just kill Jebera but she also cucked her. What a f.u.c.king champ.
“N…Guess it can"t be helped.” – raw says 「う……仕方がないか」and it feels like started to say something in protest but then stopped so the “n” in tl is for “no way”.
Escort carriage is 竜車, which can be both dragon carriage (as in carriage drawn by dragons) and imperial carriage, but since only royalty can use the imperial carriage, I decided that the other option was probably more right. For visual representation:
Regarding the “brother”:
Sonia calls Sanigue 兄様, as in nii-sama and sometimes she calls him Sanigue nii-sama so I decided to go with Brother for former and just simple name for latter.
Sanigue is written as サニーグ btw
開口一番、兄様は言った。- literally “first thing nii-sama said.
Guillotine was 断頭台の露 so it"s something like standing on the guillotine
Commander is 軍団長, a.k.a corps commander
蹂躙 is what Sanigue uses for “trampling”
Judia is ユーディア
Also, Sonia says お久しぶり……というほどではありませんけど, basically starting with “Long time no see…” but correcting it and saying that it hasn"t been enough time since the last time they saw each other
Sonia literally says “your eyes are swimming”
This was a big-a.s.s chapter so pls tell me about any mistranslation, typos, and grammatical mistakes
P.S Since I had 100 followers set as a goal, I decided to make a discord server as celebration~