Now that she mentioned it, I had heard that Juna was supposed to be turning twenty this year, just like Souma.
“This is something His Majesty realized later, but in his world, a year is apparently 365 days,” said Excel. “The days in our world are 384 days, so with the gap between the two, you would be a year older in Souma’s world.”
The gap between the two worlds’ years was 19 days. 365 divided by 19… In about 19 years, it would add up to a full year’s difference.
This fact sent Juna into a rare panic. “I–I was older than His Majesty Souma? Excuse me, what did His Majesty have to say about that? He’s not against having an older woman, is he?”
I didn’t think Souma would ever reject Juna just because she was older than him, but she probably couldn’t help but be worried. By the way, when she mentioned the possibility of him not wanting an older woman, Aisha looked like she’d just been hit by a stray bullet. You could never tell how old someone from the long-lived races was by their appearance, after all. We hadn’t been told how old she was right now, either.
Excel gave Juna a big grin. “Don’t you worry. This is what His Majesty Souma said: ‘In my world, there was a proverb: “Find a woman one year your senior, even if you have to wear metal sandals to do it.” Juna is a woman worth wearing metal sandals that won’t wear out, and searching the entire world to find. There’s no problem with it at all.’”
“…I’m glad.” Juna looked deeply relieved.
Next, it was Aisha’s turn.
“His Majesty’s appraisal of Aisha was…”
“Um? Why did you suddenly pause there?” Aisha burst out.
“Well… ‘She’s like a pet.’”
“Say what?!”
“““Oh…”””
“Whaa?! Why do you all look satisfied with that answer?!” Aisha shouted.
No, I mean… You know? When Aisha was with Souma, she was like a pet dog, catching prey for her master and then going, “Praise me, praise me” as she wagged her tail, after all.
“According to His Majesty Souma, ‘Aisha is a strong, noble, and beautiful warrior. It would be fair to call her this kingdom’s greatest warrior. It’s reassuring to have her at my side… or it should be, but I feel like I just can’t leave her alone sometimes. It’s supposed to be her job to protect me, but I end up wanting to protect her… Well, when there was that disaster in the God-Protected Forest, I did see how emotionally fragile she could be, after all.’ To my question of, ‘Is there anything on your mind about her?’ he responded, ‘That I hope we can sit at the same dinner table forever, I guess.’”
“Uwahhh! I’ve failed as a bodyguard!” Aisha wailed. “But still, when he says, ‘I can’t leave her alone,’ and ‘I want to protect her,’ it made me feel a little happy, stupid meeee!”
While Aisha laid her head down on the desk, stuck between feeling happy and pathetic, Roroa patted her gently on the back. It looked like Aisha was in shock, but as for me… I felt a little jealous of her, maybe? If she was like a pet, it meant he cherished her just that much, and I wanted him to say he wanted to protect me, too.
Wait! Have I always been this prone to jealousy?
Hearing Souma praise his other fiancées, I caught myself feeling envious of them, and it shocked me a bit. This was a feeling I couldn’t let myself embrace, wasn’t it? I was the candidate to become Souma’s first primary queen. More than anyone else here, I had to respect the harmony between my fellow queens. I felt the hand I was holding my collar with clench tighter.
At last, my turn came.
“Finally, Princess Liscia… For this one, I should start with his response to my question, ‘Don’t you have anything on your mind when it comes to Princess Liscia?’ I suppose.’”
“Huh…?”
Why were we starting with the “Do you have anything on your mind?” question for me? I wanted to find out what Souma thought of me, just like everyone else had. While I was thinking that, Excel shook her head silently with a smile.
“There’s no need for that. I think his appraisal of you is summed up quite succinctly in his answer to this question. This is what His Majesty said: ‘Nothing.’”
Nothing? He didn’t have anything on his mind when it came to me? No fair… He’d had something for everyone else, hadn’t he? And yet… when it came to me, it was “Nothing”…
Why…?
“Princess!” Excel barked.
I’d nearly gotten lost in my thoughts, but Excel’s voice snapped me back to attention.
“Oh! Sorry.”
“Listen until I’m finished, please. His Majesty continued on to say this: ‘I told her the most important thing on that snowy day. I don’t have anything more to say than that.’ Now, as for what he said on that snowy day… I refrained from asking him in detail, but I think you must have some idea what he meant, right?”
It came back to me. Of all the days I had spent with Souma, there was one day in which I vividly remembered that it was snowing. It had been the 31st day, 12th month, and 1,546th year of the Continental Calendar. Last year’s New Year’s Eve.
“The truth is, this is something… I really ought to have told you before Aisha, before Juna, and before Roroa…”
That night, on the terrace of the governmental affairs office, Souma had said it.
“Liscia… I love you. Please, marry me.”
Souma had proposed to me in the snow that had just begun to fall. He had already told me the most important thing, and there was nothing else left to think about. That was what Souma said.
I see… I had already received them, hadn’t I? The feelings that Souma held dearest. The moment I thought that, there was a warmth in my chest. Then…
Slap, slap, slap, slap… Roroa, Aisha, and Juna all started slapping me on the back.
“Ow…! Hey, stop it! That hurts!” I shouted.
“““…”””
“I dunno,” Roroa said. “It feels mighty unfair that only Big Sister Cia gets it.”
“Ohh… Something special just for the two of you, I’m so jealoooouuuus,” Aisha moaned.
“Oh! Dear, how shameful of me…” Juna said.
When I looked at the jealous Roroa and Aisha, and Juna who was blushing in embarrassment about what she had just done, I broke into a smile.
Yeah… That was right. Everyone could feel jealous, or that things weren’t fair. The fact that I was candidate to be the first primary queen had nothing to do with it. It was a feeling I had just because of how much I cared for a person. That being the case…
“…Hey, Roroa, I’m jealous of the rest of you, too, you know?” I said.
“Hm? Are ya?” she asked.
“Yeah. I wanted to be told, ‘I like this about her,’ or, ‘I don’t want to let anyone else have her,’ or, ‘I want to protect her.’”
“Hmm. Well, maybe that’s just how it goes.”
That was why I had to accept it, not deny it. Because I realized this feeling was important.
With all of our appraisals over and done with, Excel clapped her hands together.
“Now, you all understand what Souma thinks of you. From here, I think we’ll go into some more practical knowledge of how to improve your marital relations.”
“‘Practical knowledge’?” I echoed without thinking, for which Excel gave me an incredibly nice smile.
“Didn’t I tell you at the very beginning? In this lecture, I teach you how you should act as a wife, the way gentlemen think, and everything from how to support your husband to how to perform your nightly duties in the bedroom in a way that makes your marital relations go more smoothly. I’ll be ever so very thorough teaching you about that.”