Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 9 - Chapter 2.5

Intermission — A Strategy Meeting

That night, Lucretia Broglie, the mediator for the guest of honor from Capua—Zenjirou Capua—shucked her oversized dress and feigned innocence as she returned to her own room.

“Argh, I’m so mad! So! Mad! They made it obvious. They’re serious. Well, they’re not having him! He’s mine! They can’t have him!” she yelled as she stomped her tiny foot and balled up her fists. She was clad only in a luxurious silk slip.

“Lady Lucy, His Majesty is no one’s. At most you could say that he is Queen Aura’s, but he is certainly not yours,” her confidante, Flora, said sharply.

“I know. I just wanted to say it!” she replied while tugging the ribbon from her hair and diving into the bed. “Ugh. Why, why, why won’t this go well?”

She kicked her legs as she buried her face in the pillow, slapping at the bedding.

“Acting like that makes you a real unreasonable child, Lady Lucy,” Flora pointed out with half-lidded eyes.

The blonde grabbed the pillow with both hands and hid her face behind it, peeking out at the maid with her blue eyes.

“Is it not cuter than that?”

“A person may feel that way if they have reached the point where a child is cuter the more difficult they are to handle, perhaps.”

“Tch...”

Lucretia put on a sulky look at the maid’s merciless answer before shifting upright and crossing her legs. The lack of any other outerwear than her slip made her underwear visible, but she was honestly too young for it to look alluring. Frankly, it just made her look all the more like an impolite child.

It was the same way she always acted, so Flora only let out a purposely audible sigh and said nothing more.

“Cease the silliness. Since you undid your hair, I will brush it if you come over here.”

The girl slid back to sit in front of the maid on the edge of the bed.

“That works fine. I will get the brush.”

“Mmm...” Lucretia said as the brushing started. She half closed her eyes like a cat at the comfortable sensation of her confidante running the brush through her hair. “Say...Flora?”

“What is it, Lady Lucy?”

“Tell me honestly, what did it seem like His Majesty thought of the four?”

“The four,” of course, referred to Shuura, Nazeema, Talajeh, and Fiqriya—the representatives of the four dukes.

The maid didn’t stop brushing her mistress’s hair as she answered the question put to her. “Well. This is my own estimation, but I do believe that he had no interest in them at all.”

“Hah! I was right!” Lucretia exclaimed with a sunny smile.

“I would also add, if I may, that he feels the same towards you.”

“Of course he does...” She gave a self-deprecating laugh.

Flora kept running her one hand through the blonde locks of her disappointed liege, lifting the hair and pulling the brush through it.

“I don’t understand, though,” Lucretia continued. “I can see why he would not have an interest in me. Why would he feel nothing for those four, though?”

Lucretia was aware that she had no womanly charms in the way most would see it. For better or worse, however, she hadn’t expected him not to show any interest in the others. As much as it vexed her, she had to admit the four women were certainly charming.

Shuura was strong-willed and had a cool beauty to her. Nazeema might be slightly plain but she had the air of an obedient lady. Talajeh had amazing looks and a figure to match. Fiqriya might not show much emotion, but her obsidian eyes were alight with intelligence.

Each of the beauties had their own charms leveled his way. Including Lucretia, five charming women had an interest in him, but he showed no interest in any of them. That was far beyond their expectations.

“Maybe he has no interest in women?” Lucretia suggested, voicing the worst case.

Flora immediately refuted her. “I believe we can discount that. His Majesty has already fathered a child with Queen Aura and she is currently pregnant with their second. While a woman interested in other women can be forced into pregnancy by a man, the converse is far more difficult.”

“If it’s difficult, that means it’s not impossible, is it?”

“It certainly is possible. The potential for children is a matter of life or death for royalty and nobility and yet there are always some born either impotent or homosexual.”

The blonde gulped and leaned forward. “S-So how might they...”

“I do not know about other countries, but here we have both the enchanters of the Sharou family and healers of the Gilbelle family. The two families have developed magic tools so that men and women may...” She then realized she was straying from the topic and cleared her throat and dragged the conversation back on track. “Well, I believe that we can assume that His Majesty can indeed love a woman.”

Lucretia was in thought, however. “Impotent...magic tools for... Oh! Those magic tools are why our royals have children for longer than other count— Mgh?!”

Her face had been shifting into an even deeper smile as she felt towards a dangerous truth before Flora covered her mouth from behind.

“Going any further would be inappropriate for a lady.” Once she saw her charge nod, Flora recommenced her brushing as if nothing had happened.

“Then why is he so indifferent? I admit he does not seem to be the type to grasp for power.”

There were many among the royal and titled nobility who dispensed with romance or sexual attraction to focus on gaining power and status for their families. Those people put an emphasis on the woman’s status and prestige, thinking nothing of how attractive or not they were.

If Zenjirou was one of those ambitious people, then she could understand why he would be so unmoved no matter how beautiful they were. Lucretia could not see him as that kind of man, though.

Flora felt the same. “I think so too. He lacks the gleam that characterizes nobility taken with power. Of course, those with sufficient self-control can hide the signs, so I cannot say for certain.”

“The only other thing that comes to mind would be that he feels little lust to begin with? You hear about them from time to time, no? They lose their drive while they are young or as they mature?”

“I can see elements of that in His Majesty. However, those with little appetite often have little initiative to begin with. What I have heard from the soldiers paints the picture of him being rather proactive within Capua. We should consider him as such while he is in our lands, at least.”

“You’re right,” the blonde agreed, chewing at her lower lip in thought. “If he is proactive despite having little lust, perhaps that isn’t his true nature?”

“In that case, it would be Queen Aura pushing him into such a lifestyle outside of his preference, but that contradicts the rumors. I have heard that the relationship between the two is as harmonious as can be. If she were forcing him into a lifestyle he disliked, they would not be so affectionate.”

“Then their relationship’s status could just be propaganda from Queen Aura, and he is actually henpecked and suffocated by her?” she asked as she turned around with shining eyes.

Flora gently turned her head back to her front and chided her verbally.

“I cannot say that is impossible. However, that passes prediction and estimation and becomes fanciful. You should not assume the variables are as you would prefer or you may well get burned.”

“Ugh...”

She seemed to understand the selfishness in her comment because she fell silent. Once she’d recovered, she muttered seriously to herself. “Though with my impressions so far, there must be some falsehood contained within the information we have.”

“Indeed,” the maid agreed. “If the information and impressions we have are all correct, then His Majesty shows no interest in any of multiple beautiful women yet is not homosexual or impotent. Has little personal ambition but actively pursues his duties as royalty and has a good relationship with his wife in all respects.”

“It’s all conflicting! No one like that exists!” Lucretia exclaimed, throwing her hands up at the list of conditions Zenjirou would have to fulfill. “No ambition but takes the initiative with his duties? Not interested in other beauties but taken just with his wife? That’s just impossible. Or is she just that beautiful? Enough that he wouldn’t consider other women and happily carry out his orders without really wanting to?”

“Indeed. I have heard that she is an amazing woman, and beautiful as well, but...”

The maid’s expression was conflicted. It was no surprise; there was a large difference between an amazing woman—or Amazonian, as she may be called on Earth—and amazing beauty. Having finished brushing Lucretia’s hair while they spoke, she stepped away.

“You may move again, Lady Lucy.”

“Mm, thanks, Flora.”

Now with shining, silky hair, Lucretia turned around on the bed to face her maid. Even sitting on the edge of the bed, her feet didn’t reach the floor. Swinging her legs was far from the behavior of a noblewoman, but it was much better than having her legs crossed as she had done before.

She continued the earlier conversation in her new position. “I feel like I’m trying to deal with an illusion that doesn’t really exist. I have made passes over the past few days, but he hasn’t reacted at all.”

She had done exactly that, making passes just on the right side of acceptability for her station. She stood so close that another half step would have seen her rebuked for shamelessness, and she never missed an opportunity to praise him. She made the benefits of marrying her for both Zenjirou and the royal family as a whole as blatant as was seemly. Her expression and the way she presented herself were constantly intended to make her as charming as possible while she was around him.

And yet those words all slipped off without even a flinch from his smile. The maid inclined her head at Lucretia’s statement before offering her own opinion.

“Viewing things externally, it seems more as if you are attacking in the wrong place rather than attacking an illusion. How to put it? It is as if you are attacking your enemy’s shadow with full strength.”

“How’s that any different than attacking an illusion?” she asked with a frown.

Flora raised her index finger as she explained. “It is very different. If you were attacking an illusion, then there would be no way at all for your attacks to connect. However, if it is simply a case of a mistaken target, then the real target must exist. If you can find that vital point, you will certainly be able to take him down.”

“I see. So it is not that His Majesty is completely insurmountable but that my approaches have been wrong so far?” the girl asked, leaning forward.

“Indeed. Though that does not mean that you will necessarily be able to make a correct approach,” Flora replied, raining on her parade somewhat.

The slight shower could not fully dampen the flames of her ambition, though.

“Great! It’s a battle of attrition, then! I’ll try all the ways I can without being rude, and once I know what works best, I’ll go full strength!” she exclaimed, stretching her tiny fists towards the ceiling.

“Kindly refrain from causing the Broglie household issues,” Flora replied with a resigned sigh after a moment.