Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 13 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue — The Second in the Inner Palace

Another month had passed.

During that time, Zenjirou had sent a single person each day from Uppasala to Capua. He had sent Freya, Skaji, and the maids who would be caring for Freya. He had also sent the specialist craftsmen, starting with Völundr. Sending them all would have been excessive, so the others would be crossing the sea over the next hundred or so days on the Glasir’s Leaf.

Natalio and Zenjirou’s other guards, along with Ines and her subordinates, needed to be sent home as well, as did their guest of honor, Lucretia, and her maid Flora. He had sent one of them back each day. That meant that Zenjirou would have to be the last to return, but he was beginning to feel somewhat lonely.

Additionally, sending his guards and maids away would cause problems with both his safety and lifestyle. Fortunately, Uppasala had given over usage of a building in the palace for Capua to use as an embassy. There were diplomats and soldiers from Capua there, so he was not left defenseless.

It was now the final day, and once he had sent Ines—who had worked tirelessly right until the end—he used the spell on himself, finally drawing to a close his life on the Northern Continent.

“Welcome home, Sir Zenjirou,” the familiar guard in the stone room greeted him.

The room had no windows at all. The ever-burning brazier lit the chamber, which was as unchanging as ever. Day or night, rain or shine, there were no changes in this room. That was exactly what made it the best destination for teleportation.

During his trip to the Northern Continent, Zenjirou had sent countless people back and forth, along with himself, so he could almost always cast the spell to teleport there. The second-best destination for him was the room in the Capuan embassy. He was capable of casting the spell to send someone or head there himself without the aid of his camera. Teleportation was the most useful spell in space-time magic, so it made more sense to focus on expanding one’s repertoire of destinations rather than trying to learn countless different spells.

“It is good to be back. Where is Her Majesty?” he asked.

“Waiting in the inner palace.”

As he had expected, Aura had refrained from work to wait for him there.

“Thank you,” he said before swiftly leaving the room.

“I’m back,” were the first words out of his mouth as he entered what was closest to his home now—the living room in the inner palace.

“Welcome home,” Aura greeted him with a smile as the door opened.

Ordinarily, kisses and hugs would follow, but they refrained, considering what was to come with the rest of the day. Ines seemed to have gotten straight back to her cleaning duties without even a break.

“Everything’s done with for now. I did make sure to arrange a monthly visit for a while just in case, though.”

The Northern Continent was in the midst of a blisteringly fast change. It might increase the burden on Zenjirou somewhat, but they wanted to keep gathering information as best they could.

For Gustav, the periodic visits would let him hear about his now distant daughter and keep in close contact with their trade partner, so he’d had no reason to refuse.

“You have carried out your duties well. As the queen of this country, I thank you,” Aura said, speaking in a solemn, official tone that he rarely heard in the inner palace.

“Of course,” he replied with a serious bow.

Not a moment had passed, though, before her attitude switched from a monarch congratulating her subordinate to a wife overjoyed to see her husband.

“I am glad you are safe.”

“Thank you.”

He was home. That was truly how he felt: this was his home. Yet while the inner palace might be his home, that did not mean it was unchanging. He looked over the young maids in the living room and spoke.

“Has the transition gone well here too? I’ve not seen much of a difference in people.”

Aura looked in their direction as well and smiled. “It has. They brought their own staff as well, so we have only assigned six of ours for now. Nilda was requested and was receptive, and the others are new.”

Nilda Gaziel was the second daughter of the margrave. She was a slight girl who had started working in the inner palace relatively recently. Now that she had been mentioned, Zenjirou realized he hadn’t seen her.

Before she had become a maid, she had been relatively close to Freya in the margrave’s estate and in the palace. To Zenjirou at least, they seemed on fairly frank terms. It was rather unsurprising that Freya would want a maid she got along with relatively well.

The other new maids had been recruited while Zenjirou was away. They were completely unrelated to him this time, so they had not needed to be selected for age, marital status, or looks. Instead, they had been chosen solely based on their capabilities and loyalty to the crown. That last factor was particularly important. After all, while working in the inner palace, they would be assigned to a foreign princess in the form of Freya. There was the possibility—remote though it was—that she could win them over.

Once Zenjirou had changed into casual clothing, he sat on the sofa and drank some of the iced water he’d pulled out of the fridge. Aura could tell that he was slightly on edge. It was not that he was against the act required of him in itself; he just felt unwilling to gleefully go about it. His wife, understanding that, made sure the smile on her face had no signs of reluctance as she spoke.

“Zenjirou, I think they are ready as well, do you not?”

Those words were a slight push to her husband. A push towards a room where another woman was waiting for him.

It would seem like a warped relationship to a commoner, but many of the royals and nobles of Capua would have experienced it.

“Aura...” he began before trailing off. He looked at her with an expression that was a mix of surprise and sadness.

“You have been forced into a difficult relationship for the sake of the country. So if nothing else, I wish to tell you this: you have nothing to be concerned about. Princess Freya was the one to want this more than anyone, and I was the one to accept it. You resisted it until its end,” she said, telling him he needn’t be conflicted over the situation.

It was worded differently, but he had lost track of how many times Aura had told him this kind of thing. He understood the logic, but his emotions—based on how he had been brought up and lived until today—didn’t let him accept it. He had come this far without accepting it, and now that he was in this position, he was not allowed to retreat.

He took a deep breath. “Right!” he declared, standing up forcefully. “I’ll be back later!”

“Of course. I will see you then,” Aura replied, standing slowly to see him off.

Zenjirou’s feet took him from the living room out of the main building and into the gardens.

“Urgh, it’s definitely the blazing season,” he grumbled as the sun beat mercilessly down on him. In the blazing season, the sunlight almost felt like a physical attack. He wasn’t walking far, but he was already sweating in his jeans and T-shirt.

He quickly strode over the grass. He passed by a fountain as he walked and was sorely tempted to stop in the cool spray. Still, he carried on. Cooler though it might be next to the fountain, he would still be in the direct sunlight.

He was half-running as he reached the annex. While he had lived solely in the main building so far, the inner palace was originally supposed to be an area where a single man could live with multiple wives. Making women who had married the same man live in the same building was like trying to keep many fish in a small tank. That was why the inner palace was split into multiple buildings. The one he had just reached was the new home to his now concubine, Freya Alcott Capua.

“Welcome and good day, Your Majesty,” she greeted him with a smile as he entered the room.

“Thank you, Princess Freya,” he answered, looking over the chamber.

It was about the same size as the living room in the main building. The tables and sofas were of similar make as well, the kind used in Capua. However, there was a distinct difference. There were none of the appliances Zenjirou had brought from Japan in here. Instead, the magic tool they had purchased from the Twin Kingdoms kept the temperature under control by giving off mist.

To Zenjirou’s senses, it felt like it was still over thirty degrees. Of course, that was dramatically cooler when compared to the forty-plus degrees outside. Still, considering the air-conditioned bedroom in the main building, he was rather concerned about how she would cope after having been brought up on the Northern Continent.

“Are you comfortable? If you find yourself lacking anything, then I will make arrangements, so speak your mind freely. I must say that anything which can only be found in Uppasala will take at least a month, so please bear with us.”

Freya chuckled softly. “Thank you. There is one thing I would ask. Her Majesty has delivered a large amount of ice out of generosity each evening, and I would like that to continue.”

“Very well,” Zenjirou answered.

It seemed that even without his intervention, Aura had already taken precautions against the heat for their new arrival. The mist-generating tool and ice combined were enough to lower the bedroom’s temperature enough so that she could sleep. He was somewhat relieved. It wasn’t solely for her benefit, as he would be sleeping here tonight.

Freya gave a sigh that went past just being impressed. “Arrangements from Uppasala within a month, though? The sense of distance has been completely destroyed,” she said with a rueful smile.

Indeed, it was a distance that would usually take an exceptionally large ship and over a hundred days of true peril, so being able to retrieve something from that distance every month was absurd. She had initially been prepared to have no further contact with her homeland ever again, so the anticlimax from that tragic sacrifice was almost embarrassing for her. Still, it did not change that Zenjirou’s offer was exceedingly welcome.

“Could I ask you to make deliveries rather than just collecting things? Both the maids and I would like to inform our families of the current situation, I wager. Also, if we obtain something special, we would like to send it to our families as a souvenir,” she added.

“Understood. I shall also bring back any replies if there are any.”

“Thank you.”

The maids at her back broke out into slight smiles at the conversation. Unlike Freya, who had come to the Southern Continent of her own accord, the maids had been ordered here by their superiors. Zenjirou wanted to accommodate them as best as he could, but the difference in both culture and climate were extreme. He was all but certain there would be some of them who grew intensely homesick.

Even so, making all of her maids Capuans would not be fair to Freya. However earnestly they tried, being surrounded only by people with dramatically different views would be a source of stress. The idea was for the maids to operate on a rotation each year.

“Skaji, if you have anything you require, you should also feel free to ask,” he added, turning the conversation to the warrior, who was in her usual position behind the princess.

Skaji showed no shock at the sudden address and instead answered with the same serious look she always seemed to have. “Thank you. I shall take you up on your offer. I wish to discuss arms, so I would like to consult with Völundr in the palace.”

“Arms? Do you not already have your weaponry and such?” he responded.

She nodded firmly. “I do. However, pardon my rudeness, but they are not entirely suitable for here. The armor we would wear is far too hot to use in Capua, and thus I would like to discuss it with Völundr.”

According to Skaji, the normal armor in Uppasala was thick metal not over the whole body, but on the arms, chest, shins, and insteps. In combat, they also learned to use that thick metal to take blows rather than dodge them. Naturally, someone of Skaji’s skill was able to take on most opponents without resorting to that, avoiding each strike without even a scratch. However, if they were greater in either number or skill, not being able to use the defenses she had learned was a big detriment. She therefore wanted to be able to use the same techniques in the heat of the Southern Continent.

Zenjirou was taken by her proclamation. “Very well. I shall make the arrangements. Of course, it would be difficult to allow Lord Völundr here, so you will likely have to meet him in the palace proper. You should discuss that with Princess Freya.”

“Thank you, sir,” she replied.

“Skaji, you need not worry about my protection while I am in the inner palace. Think nothing of going to your meetings.”

Skaji had a somewhat reluctant look as she acknowledged her liege’s words. She likely didn’t trust the inner palace’s protection enough to entrust Freya’s safety to it but would not say as much in front of its lord, Zenjirou.

Silence fell between them now that the business was concluded. If he had been with Aura, it would have been a comfortable shared silence, but it was still somewhat discomfiting with Freya. Was this another thing that would be simply solved in time?

While Zenjirou considered that, Freya let out a sigh.

“Skaji, everyone, please wait in the next room for a while. I wish to speak to His Majesty.”

She looked at Zenjirou for confirmation. He nodded and the other women walked out of the room, leaving the two of them alone. Silence fell once again.

Zenjirou had known Freya for a fairly long time, but it was still rare that they were utterly alone apart from each other. Usually, at least Skaji was present. Why would she go out of her way to send the warrior away as well?

Freya stood in the silence and rather pointedly moved to sit next to Zenjirou. She fixed her icy-blue eyes on his as he tensed up and spoke.

“Your Majesty?”

“Yes, what is it?” he replied reflexively.

Freya then carried on, her tone meaningful. “That way of speaking. I spoke with Her Majesty at length before you returned and she informed me of it, but that is not how you would usually speak, is it?”

“Uh, well, no.”

In the back of his mind, he remembered his first night after marrying Aura. The situation and conversation were both similar, so he could imagine where the discussion was going. His assumptions were soon borne out.

“You and I are now husband and wife. It saddens me to hear you putting on a facade.”

“Um, well...” his awkward look wasn’t getting him out of the conversation, so he capitulated. “It is a little difficult. I only spoke so formally with Her Majesty for a brief while, so it was simple to fix. However, I have spoken with you like this for more than a year now.”

He could still understand that maintaining that formality after marriage was more unnatural, and continued.

“Would you be willing to take a longer-term view—ah, I mean do you mind waiting a bit? I’ll do my best, but I don’t think I will be able to change immediately.”

He purposefully didn’t moderate his speech.

A smile made its way onto Freya’s lips. “Very well. Let us get used to it bit by bit.”

“Of cour— I mean, yeah. Um, what about you? Is that how you normally talk?”

Freya considered things for a moment. “Well... I speak this way with father, mother, brother, and Skaji, so I suppose so. You could say that I speak more casually with Yngvi, but I think that is less ‘my normal way of speaking’ and more how I spoke as a child.”

Spending quite literally one’s entire life with someone, even while still in the womb, would lead to a somewhat unique relationship.

“That’s fine, then. Aura told me this as well, but the inner palace is meant to be somewhere we can relax, so don’t force yourself into anything.”

“Thank you,” she laughed after a brief pause.

As Freya had said, she had indeed spoken with Aura multiple times while Zenjirou was absent. In one of the meetings, Aura had very clearly set her expectations out.

“While you may be marrying into my land, you also hail from your own. I, therefore, understand you will wish to guide matters to benefit your homeland. I will turn a blind eye to your personal sailing and laying the groundwork for your adventures. It is, of course, your right as a concubine to attempt to compete with me for my husband’s affection and also to attempt to surpass me in that regard. However, this inner palace is, first and foremost, a place for him to relax and be at ease. He detests people fighting around me. Therefore, you and your maids should be aware that if your conflict or competitiveness becomes aggressive and causes him heartache, that will be a large enough detriment that we would be prepared to consider ending our trade deal.”

Essentially, she was saying that while subterfuge and the like were fine, if it became known to Zenjirou and caused him mental pain, it could lead to divorce.

Of course, she would not mention any of that to him. She did as Aura had said, keeping her competitive nature and aspirations inside as she smiled.

“Speaking of how we talk, there is one thing that we absolutely must change,” Zenjirou said. “It is not just you either. You, Skaji, and your maids need to stop referring to me as ‘majesty.’ In this country, it is a title only afforded to those who have ruled.”

In Capua, even a queen consort would be referred to as “highness.” However, Zenjirou was in the tricky position of being the first-ever husband of a reigning queen. Calling him “majesty” would be akin to treating him as king. Conversely, calling him “highness” would be putting him in an inferior position to Aura—a woman—despite him being a man. There had therefore been people even in Capua who had called him “majesty,” but Zenjirou was now addressed—both formally and informally—as Sir Zenjirou most of the time. Many foreigners still called him using “majesty,” but Freya was now part of Capua, so she had to stop doing so.

“I see. Very well. I shall inform the others later. In which case, as I am no longer a princess of Uppasala but a concubine in Capua, you should stop calling me ‘princess’ or ‘highness,’” she smiled.

Zenjirou had been half expecting her statement from how the conversation had gone. “Right. Got it, Freya.”

He felt that hesitating would just cause problems further down the line, so he spoke slightly quicker than normal, getting the whole sentence out in a single breath.

“Of course, Sir Zenjirou,” she answered happily.

“Uh, you’re adding the ‘sir?’”

“I was not raised in a way I could address a superior male with simply their name, so I ask your forgiveness there,” she explained with a rueful look.

“Ah, okay.” He could understand that insisting on it would just be a burden for her. “I look forward to our partnership then, Freya.”

“Likewise, Sir Zenjirou.”

The silver-haired woman took his hand firmly as he stretched it out hesitantly before letting herself almost fall atop him and resting her head on his chest.

Silently, Zenjirou gently put his empty hand around her waist.

To be continued in The Ideal Sponger Life 14.