Souma: “Your Name Is”
— One day in the 1st month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar —
“This is... a hard one.”
I was in the governmental affairs office in Parnam, clutching my head. I hadn’t agonized this much over something since the Lunarian Orthodox Papal State sent a saint to me. Oh, geez, seriously, what was I going to do...?
“Sire...” eeing me in agony like that, Hakuya raised his paper fan. Please, just do your work already.”
Fwap! He whacked me on the head. Pressing a hand to the spot, I looked resentfully at him.
“Can you not see that your liege is grappling with a difficult problem?”
“I cannot. Only my liege worrying over something trivial.”
“Like hell it’s trivial! They’ll be stuck with it for life!”
“It may be an issue for them, but to the country, it’s trivial. And you are in a position to manage the affairs of state. Which to prioritize should be clear.” troking his paper fan, Hakuya sighed and added, Just use whatever you like. It’s your own son’s name.”
“...Don’t say that like it’s so easy.”
The question I was grappling with was what to name my newborn son.
Liscia and I had talked it over, and we’d decided I would name the boy, and she would name the girl. The boy would eventually succeed me, inheriting the throne and the name of the House of Elfrieden. If I named him anything too weird, it would look bad to the people and to foreign countries, too.
I had no intention of naming him anything too eccentric, but maybe a Japanese style name...
It seemed there were a lot of names like that in the north of the continent, and in the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago, but not in this country, so probably not. It was probably safest to borrow a name from a historical king, but that lacked flavor...
As I was worrying about that, Hakuya whacked me with the paper fan again. Fwap!
“I said to worry about it later. Do your work first.”
“Ow... I get it, okay?” reluctantly started looking through the paperwork.
Hakuya sighed. You’re hitting a dead end because you’re thinking about it alone. Why not ask your vassals who have children?”
I see... There was some logic in that, yeah. One of the good things about Hakuya was that he wasn’t just tough on me at work; he actually gave advice, too.
“That makes sense,” I said. “Well, guess I’ll finish this work up quickly so that I can go ask.”
I desperately worked to make the mountain of paperwork disappear.
Finally finishing work a little earlier than usual, I headed to the day care set up inside the castle. Tomoe’s real mother, Tomoko, was the first person who came to mind as a person at the castle who had children.
“How did I chose names for my children?” omoko cocked her head to the side gently. I don’t think I need to explain where Tomoe came from, right?”
“Right. It comes from your own name, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. Because when Tomoe was born, my late husband said she looked just like me.”
A name based on one’s parents’, huh? There seemed to be a lot of those in this world.
“Then did Rou come from your husband, perhaps?” I asked.
“Why, yes. His name was Rouga, so we used part of it.”
“But I feel like Rou looks a lot like Tomoe.”
Tomoko smiled softly. It’s true, his face is a lot like ours. But my husband died soon after Rou was born, so I wanted him to have that name as proof that he was here.”
“Oh... Sorry. That was insensitive of me.” Now I felt bad.
But Tomoko silently shook her head. No. I can reflect fondly on back then because of how fulfilling my life is now. That’s because the people of the kingdom, and you foremost, sire, have treated our family so well. My husband is gone now, but Tomoe and Rou are growing up healthy. I couldn’t be happier.”
I stood there, unable to say anything.
Tomoko smiled. My husband also worried a lot about what to name Tomoe before she was born. When he saw her face, he decided instantly. So, please, worry a lot.”
“Thank you for your insight,” said, bowing to her, and then left the day care.
Proof that he was here, huh...? pondered. Though the children are mine and Liscia’s, they also bear the blood of the Elfrieden royal family. Between me and the former king, Sir Albert, we’ve had two generations of kings who’ve married into the family, but my son will likely one day bring a wife into Elfrieden’s royal house.
He had the blood passed down from the former queen, Lady Elisha, and Liscia. wanted a name that reflected that. As proof that they were family.
“...Okay, I’ve decided.”
Looking up at the sky from the corridor between buildings, I thought of my son and whispered:
“Your name is Cian. Cian Elfrieden.”
Thinking I should tell Liscia right away, I went to the office to write a letter.
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