Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 9 - Chapter Pr

Prologue — Sleeping Alone

The grand Kingdom of Capua reigned over the western area of the Southern Continent. Its queen awoke as usual in her bedchamber in the inner palace, unconsciously reaching a hand out across the bed with a murmur.

She was still half asleep and needed to look across to the smaller bed that had once more been brought into the room before she could remember the current situation.

“Ah. Zenjirou is in the Twin Kingdoms,” she muttered before lifting herself from the bed.

Her husband usually slept in the same bed as her. That same beloved husband also slept in a spare bed to reduce any possible risks in her pregnancy. Said husband was currently away in another grand kingdom, the Twin Kingdoms of Sharou-Gilbelle, which reigned over the center of the continent.

“Just when did it start to feel so strange to sleep alone?” she mused with a self-deprecating smile.

Her words were not precisely accurate, though. Recently, Zenjirou had been rather busy—he had been in Valentia, then in the Gaziel March, and was now once again away in the Twin Kingdoms.

His stay in the Gaziel March, in particular, had been close to a month. Despite that, she had not longed unconsciously for him as much as she did now.

While this might be her second pregnancy, she was still pregnant. Coupled with Zenjirou’s current location being outside of her sphere of influence, she felt subconsciously nervous about the state of affairs. Whatever the case, the lightly clad queen took a silver bell from the bedside and rang it.

“Pardon us,” said the maids as they entered.

In short order, they had the queen out of her nightclothes and a loose dress prepared for her.

“Your Majesty, how would you prefer the shutters?” a maid asked from the window.

Still nude thanks to the other maids’ efforts, the queen considered it before replying. “The air is still rather fresh, so leave them closed. I would rather not have the cool air escape. Put the lights on instead.”

They were currently in the middle of the blazing season. Even at night, the temperature would be above thirty degrees.

The temperature now was already above body temperature everywhere with the exception of their air-conditioned bedroom. Opening the shutters would let all of the cooled air out of the room or let the heat of the outside in.

“Understood,” the maid answered before turning on the floor lamps with practiced movements, illuminating the whole room.

While shutting yourself away and relying solely on artificial light was not the healthiest of lifestyles, it was better than exposing yourself to the elements when you considered the heat. Once the maids had finished fastening the dress to keep pressure off her stomach, the queen spoke to the head maid, Amanda.

“I will be taking my lunch here for the time being. See that it is brought in.”

“Understood, ma’am,” the middle-aged woman replied calmly.

Mealtimes were often synonymous with unofficial negotiations for royalty. Aura therefore usually took her lunches in the royal palace. On the occasions where she ate in the inner palace, it was normally in the dining room. However, she had to prioritize her health—both mental and physical—now. Acclimatized to it or not, the blazing season was a significant burden even on the locals. With her pregnancy, any exposure that could be avoided should be.

“I will be checking on Carlos before breakfast.”

The maids all bowed in acknowledgment.

“We will accompany you.”

The young maids flanked the queen as protection. They would usually follow behind her, but they were at her sides to prevent her from falling while pregnant. Aura easily adapting to what her husband would doubtlessly consider to be suffocating behavior was due to her upbringing as a royal.

They left the air-conditioned room, passing through the living room to the corridor before eventually arriving in the bedroom of the first prince of Capua, Carlos Zenkichi.

When the maids opened the door and the group stepped in, it was pleasantly cool. Of course, it wasn’t to the same extent as the royal couple’s room with its air conditioning. The constant stream of cool air from fans set up over ice from the freezer meant that the temperature was below thirty, though. In comparison to the usual air temperature being higher than one’s body temperature, it was practically paradise.

“Excuse me,” the queen said.

“Oh, Your Majesty. Prince Carlos is still asleep,” Cassandra, the infant’s wet nurse, said quietly as she stood to greet the queen.

“Understood,” Aura answered in kind, making her way over to the bed without a noise. Her expression relaxed as she watched him sleeping peacefully. “He seems comfortable,” she commented.

“He is,” Cassandra nodded. Even so, she didn’t forget to mention the concerns she had. “Though this is the only room in which he currently is. I have been removing him from the room for periods that will not harm him, but every time we leave the room in this season, he begins to cry.”

“I can certainly sympathize, but that is hardly ideal. You may take it slowly, but ensure he becomes accustomed to the climate.”

“I understand.”

Prince Carlos was her and Zenjirou’s child, so he was naturally in the inner palace with its electronic conveniences. In turn, it also meant that he had no experience living through the season without the aid of the ice and fans. With that said, a count from Earth would put him at a year and a month old, while even using the local system, he was only two. The concerns might be somewhat premature, but it was a problem that should be solved sooner rather than later.

Men were prohibited from the inner palace. All but Zenjirou, who was the lord of the palace. His son, even being a prince, was no exception. All that made him an exception at present was the fact that he was younger than seven, and boys and girls were considered the same at such ages.

In other words, come what may, Carlos would have to leave the inner palace in another five years. If the only environment he was used to was one of the comforts of modern appliances, the rest of his life would be rather uncomfortable.

“In fact, it may be better to consult with Doctor Michel to stop using the ice such that it will not cause harm. If things continue as they are, Carlos will be unable to live outside of the inner palace.”

If things went as they should, Carlos would be the next king after Aura’s reign. A weakness to heat that saw him shutting himself away in the inner palace during the blazing season was unacceptable. If they didn’t get him used to a life without such conveniences before he was conscious of them, it would be worse for him.

“Though if this new child is a girl, perhaps we ought to be concerned about the opposite,” the queen murmured. She kept her gaze on her son, but softly caressed the visible bump on her stomach.

Boys would leave the inner palace once they were seven, but girls lived there until they were married. If the child she currently bore was female, Aura wanted to bring her up to be as proficient with electronics as possible.

The AC, fridge, and television were one thing—more changes in lifestyle than anything. However, spreadsheet software could be a weapon for the royals, and they had to make sure it was inherited by the coming generations. If the royal family could quickly and accurately check tax calculations from every territory, it would put an immense amount of pressure on the nobles who held those territories.

Aura’s plan was therefore to create a new matrilineal branch family that knew how to use the appliances—particularly the PC—and could maintain them with time reversal.

“I cannot foresee my husband being pleased, but he at least understands.”

Zenjirou was against a child’s birth guaranteeing that she would be destined for the inner palace. Logically, though, he knew she was correct. The spreadsheet software depended on Japanese, English, and Arabic numerals. It would require a long period of one-on-one tutoring from Zenjirou to become proficient in it. That was only possible for Zenjirou’s own daughters, who would be guaranteed to spend a long period within the inner palace.

“Still, no point in worrying until they are born. It is not even a certainty that this is a girl,” she said, sighing deeply.

Still, if she were being honest, she would prefer her second child to be a girl. If this second child was on schedule, then there would only be two years separating the siblings. While they were currently focusing solely on numbers and therefore sequential pregnancies, several brothers of similar age from the same parents would inevitably be a cause for future contention.

“So I can only pray that you are a girl for more than one reason.”

Even the birth of a beloved child had an inescapably political bend to it.

“Truly, our positions thrust these stumbling blocks into even love for a child...” the queen stated with a gloomy sigh before taking a deep breath.