“Y-Yes, I suppose we are.”
Liscia’s cheeks flushed red when I said the word wedding. It had been just the other night, on New Year’s Eve, that I had proposed to Liscia and she had accepted, and it was still a little embarrassing to think about it. It was adorable when she did that, but… let’s move the story along.
“So, at the wedding, I want to reveal all of my queens, with no discrimination between who’s a primary and who’s a secondary.”
Because secondary queens, whose children would lack the right of succession, had originally been the kings’ concubines, they were seen as lower than the primary queens. As a result, even now that they were treated as queens, there were many cases where they would not be given a big wedding ceremony in front of the people. There had even been cases when secondary queens had felt inferior to the primaries, and so had declined to attend on that basis. They must have feared it would be a seed of later troubles.
I wanted to change that custom.
“Roroa said she was fine with being a secondary queen, but since we are going to be ruling over the Amidonia Region, I want to make her my third primary queen,” I said. “That would make Juna the only one who can’t participate in the ceremony, right? I was thinking, if possible, I’d like everyone to be there together.”
“You’re right. I think that would be for the best.” Liscia nodded and agreed without hesitation. “Aisha and Juna were with us during the hard times, and we got through them together. They feel like war buddies to me. Oh, I don’t mean to leave Roroa out. I think she can be a nuisance sometimes, but the way she’ll play around with me like a little sister is cute. It’s just that Aisha and Juna are special. It doesn’t matter who’s a primary and who’s a secondary; I don’t want anyone to feel neglected.”
“I see… I’m relieved.”
It was a good thing the first primary queen, Liscia, was so tolerant. Liscia and the others got along well, so I hadn’t been worried, but… even so, it was a relief to hear Liscia herself say all of that. Honestly, these wonderful girls were all better than I deserved.
Liscia tilted her head to the side. “But does that have anything to do with this broadcast?”
“Yeah,” I said. “For now, my betrothal to Juna is secret, but that’s going to become untenable as the ceremony gets closer, right?”
“Well, of course. The wedding will be broadcast nationwide.”
“Yep. So, there needs to be an announcement made at some point… I was thinking, when that happens, between the lorelei Juna and the Juna who sings songs with children, which would the people be less upset about… you know…”
Liscia narrowed her eyes and gave me a hard look. “Don’t tell me you planned this program just for that. Did you?”
“Oh, no. The plan itself was meant from the beginning to help educate the people,” I said, trying not to make eye contact. “It’s just, well… I let my own selfish interests get involved a bit, too, you could say…”
Liscia let out a sigh. “You’re hopeless. Do you really have to worry that much about how the people see you?”
“No, no, it’s a pretty critical issue, you know?!”
After all, Juna had become such a national idol that we had gotten petitions from the Congress of the People saying, “Have her on the Jewel Voice Broadcast more often.” If I just announced our engagement the way things were, there seriously might be riots. That was why, in order to keep them under control, I was planning to gradually shift Juna from idol work to children’s songs.
When I told Juna that, as much as it pained me to do it, she said, “If I can sing at your side, sire, I don’t care what position it is in,” and smiled for me.
Judging by the fact she had then immediately recommended a new lorelei, Komari Corda, who could carry on her current style, Juna was enthusiastic about the idea.
And, as we were discussing that, the part where they sang with the children had come to an end.
“All right, everyone, well done,” Juna said.
“And did all of ya out there watchin’ us manage to sing along, too?” Roroa asked.
Juna and Roroa were closing out the segment.
“What’s scheduled after this?” Liscia asked quietly.
“Next up is exercise time. It’s a program to get everyone’s bodies moving.”
“Exercise? Since so far you’ve only been using family members… Is Aisha doing it?”
“No. I’ve brought on a proper expert for the exercise segment.”
“An expert?” Liscia was tilting her head to the side in confusion.
Roroa in the hall took the lead again. “Okay, it’s time for exercisin’. We’re all gonna call the exercise guy together. One, two, aaaand…!”
“““Exercise guuuuuy!””” the children all shouted together at Roroa’s prompting.
“Hahhhh!” A man jumped down from the balcony on the second floor. The man landed stylishly in front of the children, flashed his bright white teeth, then turned towards the screen and gave the viewers a thumbs-up.
The young human man was tall, standing at around 185 centimeters. He had a muscular physique that was apparent even with all of his clothes on. His face, taken as a whole, would have been considered handsome, but his thick, upturned eyebrows, his sharp eyes, and his shining white teeth… Each of the individual parts had a lot of “character.”
The young man put a hand on his hip, then turned to the children and said, “Sorry for the wait, children! Now, move your bodies with me!”
He was a young man who spoke passionate words with a passionate smile.
Liscia watched the young man, her mouth agape, and whispered, “…Who is that?”
Earlier, in the middle of the 12th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar.
On that especially cold day…
“We’ve changed the way we produce grain in our territory. It’s greatly increased our food self-sufficiency rate,” the man told me. “Thanks to your transportation network, sire, my domain is more prosperous than ever.”
“Oh, ho,” I said. “I see…”
I was standing next to a burly, middle-aged man and smiling along as he rambled on endlessly. The man’s name was Moltov Juniro. He was the head of one of the ten most influential noble houses in the country, the House of Juniro. Today I had been invited to a banquet they were hosting.
These days, I was being invited to a banquet held by some influential noble or other nearly every day. It seemed that in this country, in the middle and towards the end of the twelfth month, the nobles would invite guests they were close to and hold a banquet. There they would thank them for their interactions throughout the year, and express their hope to remain just as close in the next one.
Well, basically, it was an end-of-year party.
In addition, it seemed that the number and level of the guests they could attract was used as a barometer of the noble’s power and influence. That was why, at this time of year, the nobles invited as many people as they could, especially those of high stature.
Now, if you asked who the person of highest stature in this country was, that would have to be me, the guy who was currently holding on to the throne. Naturally, even if they wanted to, no ordinary noble could invite the king without having any special ties to him. I wasn’t overly fond of these banquets myself, after all. Normally, even if I received an invitation, I turned it down because I was busy.
So if I still had to attend someone’s banquet, that meant they were no ordinary noble. While they might not be on the level of Excel, there were still powerful nobles in this country. It was difficult to turn down invitations from those sorts of people. It’s a superior’s duty to socialize with those who serve under them.