by Dojyomaru
“Yeah, I’ll fill you in.”
“Souma, you got like that towards the end of the meeting, right? What exactly happened?” Liscia asked.
“The whole time, there was something about that girl, Mary, that felt... off to me,” I said.
“Something that felt off? Nothing she did seemed suspicious to me, though.” Aisha cocked her head to the side in confusion.
I shook my head. “It’s a little different from what you’re thinking. The first time I saw Mary, I thought she was incredibly beautiful. But... at the same time, I felt she was strange somehow.”
“Strange? Whaddaya mean, strange?” Roroa asked.
“I should have found her attractive, and yet I couldn’t see her that way. That’s how it felt.”
“Hm... She seemed like a cute girl to me, though,” Hakuya said.
Yeah... Probably no other person would have noticed it. I’d noticed because of who I was, and because of that, I’d been able to discern the truth behind it.
“I didn’t notice it myself at first, either,” I said. “But the moment I thought she was doll-like in her lack of emotion... or artificial, to take it a bit further... I realized what it was that had felt off to me the whole time. She... looked like them.”
“Looked like them? Who?”
When she asked me that, I put my hand down on Liscia’s shoulder. “Like you, Liscia.”
“Huh?! Like me?!”
“Yeah. And like Aisha, and like Roroa, too.”
“Huh? Did she?”
“Like me, too?”
Aisha and Roroa looked at each other after hearing what I said. I looked over to Hakuya.
“Hakuya, if you were to describe Mary’s face for those of us who weren’t there, how would you express it?”
“Well, let me see... she had regular features, silver hair, and it was tied back in two tails...?!” Hakuya seemed to have picked up on it, and his eyes went wide.
I nodded. “Here’s how I’d describe her. Her regular features were like Liscia’s. Her silver hair was like what Aisha has as a dark elf, and her hairstyle was like Roroa’s. In other words, Mary’s face was like a composite of Liscia, Aisha, and Roroa’s faces.”
“O-Our faces?!” Liscia yelped.
Yeah. The reason I hadn’t been attracted to her, despite her being so young and beautiful, was because of the disconnect with my expectations. If one day, out of nowhere, Aisha had suddenly gained human facial features, that would surprise me, and if Liscia or Roroa’s hair had turned silver, it would be only natural for me to think something felt off.
Aisha raised her hand and said, “Wait, hold on. If she has a mix of all of your fiancées’ features, what part of her do you suppose would have come from Juna? From what I saw, her figure was average, too.”
“See, that’s it,” I said. “From what I saw, Mary has practically nothing in common with Juna. If I had to give you something, I’d say those sensual eyes of hers were similar, but that’s a little weak as far as traits go. That’s got to have been a coincidence. Also... can one of you tell me what the difference is between Juna and Liscia, Aisha, and Roroa?”
“I’m the only one who’s a secondary queen candidate,” said Juna. “Besides, I’m also... the only one whose engagement to you hasn’t been announced yet!” Juna clapped her hands as she figured it out.
I nodded. “My engagement to the other three has been announced already, but we haven’t been able to announce Juna’s yet because of her work as a lorelei. In other words, it’s not known that she’s my fiancée. So, when we think about how Mary, who has the defining characteristics of all my fiancées except Juna, was sent here, combined with the fact that the Orthodox Papal State’s spies have been growing more active in the castle town, we can infer that the spies were collecting intel on what my fiancées looked like. They did this in order to create a woman I would like, or at least not find unpleasant, and send her to me as a saint.”
“Souma, that’s...” Liscia began.
“Yeah... When I said, ‘The way you say that, it’s almost like you’re coming to marry me,’ do you remember what Mary said in response?”
“If Your Holy Majesty wishes, you may do with my body whatever you might please. I will offer my body and heart to you as I do in service to God.” Mary had said that without hesitation.
A girl tailored to my tastes had been sent to me, and that girl had said, “You may do with my body whatever you might please,” and, “I will offer my body and heart to you.” Then, as if asking for compensation, they had tried to push their own demands through. In other words...
“For the Orthodox Papal State, the saint is a honey trap laid for state-level actors,” I said.
“What they’re doing is the same as the nobles trying to sell their daughters to you...” Liscia said, sounding exasperated.
Honestly, for a country ruled by men of the cloth, they came up with some vulgar ideas. It looked like, as a country, the Orthodox Papal State was a very human enterprise.
“Once I figured out what felt off about her... I asked Mary about how she was selected to be a saint,” I said. “When I did, she kindly gave me a thorough explanation.”
I was told that the saint had been chosen from among the nuns of the central church by the divine revelations contained in the Lunalith. Most of those nuns had originally been orphans, and there were nearly fifty of them. Most likely, the goal was to keep a diverse stock of potential saints for any rulers they wanted to seduce.
The nuns were trained at the central church, and raised learning the doctrines of the faith in a place cut off from the secular world so that they would become obedient believers. Then, if they reached a certain age without being chosen as saints, they were sent out to churches in each region as bishops.
“That’s... terrible,” Aisha said with open revulsion. “Then they really are like dolls. It’s as if they have no will of their own.”
“Now, now, Big Sister Ai,” Roroa interjected, “it doesn’t sound like that bad of a deal to me.”
Aisha was critical of the system, but Roroa seemed to be of a different opinion.
“No matter what country ya go to, there ain’t nothin’ harder to run than proper orphanages,” said Roroa. “If they don’t get educated by the time they’re old enough to work, they’ll just end up bein’ used for cheap labor. It’s rare to find places like ours that teach readin’, writin’, and arithmetic. For girls who come up out of the orphanages... often, sellin’ themselves is the only thing they can do. If they’re bein’ lifted up from that situation, given food, clothing, and shelter in the church, don’t ya think that’s fortunate for them?”
“But they’re being raised so they can be given as offerings to foreign rulers, you realize?” Aisha shot back.
“I’m not sayin’ I like it. But usin’ girls to form bonds is somethin’ every house, noble, knightly, or greater, does. I mean... in a way, I used myself politically like that, too.”
“Oh...”
When Roroa pointed that out to her, Aisha was at a loss for words. It was true, when Roroa had arranged her own marriage in order to protect her people, you could say she had been making use of her position as a woman.
“Sorry...” Aisha apologized.
Roroa simply said, “Think nothin’ of it,” and waved her hand. “Besides, I’ve never heard of there bein’ multiple saints. In other words, for all o’ the nuns other than this Mary girl, it won’t be happenin’ to them. Even for the saint, sure, callin’ her an offerin’ makes it sound bad, but if a lord does lay his hands on ’er, she’s set to marry into money. I married for political reasons, and I’m plenty happy now, so it’s up for her to decide whether or not she’s happy with it in the end.”
Roroa said that firmly. She really... was a strong girl.
“I agree with Roroa’s opinion,” I said. “I don’t like their methods, but it’s not a system we need to say anything about. I mean, it’s another country’s issue, after all.”
> “Well... why do you look so torn up, then?” Liscia asked, looking me straight in the eye.
I put a hand to my head. “What shocked me... was that Mary had accepted she was a saint, and was willing to go along with it knowing exactly what that meant.”
◇ ◇ ◇
As the meeting was ending, I asked Mary about one thing that was bothering me.
“Madam Mary, do you have no doubts about being treated as a saint? Suddenly being saddled with the dignity of your country, having to appear before a foreign king, and being expected to tell that king, ‘I will offer my body and heart to you.’ It’s too great a burden for one person to bear. I would have thought a life like that would be too cruel for an ordinary young girl to take.”
Mary smiled and said, “By the will of Lady Lunaria, I was blessed with the great honor of becoming a saint. The saint is the face of the Orthodox Papal State. Having been granted this role, rather than live for my own feelings, I want to fulfill the duties I’ve been given. Because that is what is best for the country, and, in turn, for all people.”
“...You’d abandon your self for the sake of others?” I asked.
“It is my natural duty as one who has received a greater honor than most. I would think, as a king, you would understand that, wouldn’t you, sire?”
I was silent.
“Living the way others want you to,” she said. “I believe it is a wonderful way to live, and one I can be proud of. For the people who revere me as a saint, I intend to give myself fully to serving them.”
For the people who revered her as a saint... huh.
She must have believed with all her heart that living the way others wanted her to was a thing she could be proud of. When I saw Mary’s smile, the words of another saint flashed through my mind.
“I may be an empress, but I’m still just a human being. Instead of being worshiped as a saint, I want to remain a person, and to be loved as a person.”
For one, being a saint was something to pride herself on, and she chose to act like a saint.
For the other, she rejected being a saint, and insisted on being a person.
”I would think, as a king, you would understand that, wouldn’t you, sire?” Mary had asked.
Which path will I choose...?
◇ ◇ ◇
“There was a time... when I thought the same way Mary does,” I said to my assembled companions, as if I were confessing my sins at church. “You remember, right, Carla? What happened during the battle with the forces of the principality?”
“That time, you mean...?” Carla, who had been standing by in the corner of the room, said in a whisper.
I was referring to the time during the war with Gaius VIII and the corrupt nobles when, in order to protect my heart from the pressure bearing down on me, I had walled myself off and tried to focus solely on playing the role of king. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been able to bear the weight of all the lives being lost on my orders.
“We’re people, so we suffer due to the size of our responsibilities,” I said. “We’re people, so we agonize over the decisions we’ve made. That time, when I was forced into a war I didn’t want, but that I had no choice but to fight, little by little, without realizing it, I began acting as a system called ‘the king’... like I was a machine. Because if I was a machine, I didn’t have to suffer, or to think and agonize over things.”
“Souma...” Liscia had a worried look on her face, but I gave her a wry smile and shook my head.
“When Carla asked me, ‘Aren’t you afraid to die?’, I realized how warped it was for me to be ready to accept dying as king. Thanks to that, I was able to stop short of it. When I think how things would have turned out if Carla hadn’t pointed it out to me then... I shudder. I could well have ended up like Mary. When I think about that, it makes me feel bad.”
When I thought of what it would be like if a version of me that had become the system called a king had been here now standing in front of Liscia and the others... it scared me.
Could the me who had become able to accept everything because I was the king make Liscia and the others happy? ...No, he could not.
”I want to remain a person, and to be loved as a person.”
Yeah... That’s right, Madam Maria, I thought.
If I couldn’t notice Liscia and the others’ tears, if I couldn’t make Liscia and the others smile, even if it meant suffering under a heavy burden and agonizing over the decisions I made...
I didn’t want to become a mere system.
“Yeah. Me, too. I’d rather be a person.”
“Souma?” Liscia asked. “...Eek!”
I got down off of the desk, walked to Liscia’s side, and hugged her slender body tight. My sudden action left Aisha, Juna, and Roroa all dumbfounded.
“Whuh?!”
“Oh, dear me.”
“Whoa, Big Sister Cia, that’s no fair.”
With the three of them staring at us, Liscia turned a bright shade of red, her eyes darting about rapidly. “U-Um... Souma? Could I ask you to let go of me, maybe? This is a little embarrassing... Everyone is watching...”
Liscia said that, but I ignored her and kept hugging her. If she really didn’t like it, I knew Liscia was more than capable of pushing me away.
I held onto Liscia as I said to Hakuya, “I won’t become the holy king. I won’t let the Orthodox Papal State get their way, either. I do have a policy in mind that sidesteps the Orthodox Papal States’ scheme, but... it’s probably only good enough to stall for time. If we’re going to come up with a more fundamental solution to the problem, all the followers of Lunarian Orthodoxy in the country will be a problem. I do hope it can disempower them, or render them harmless...”
“Hold on, why are you talking about serious stuff while holding me like this?!” Liscia cried.
“Hm... In that case, let me handle the countermeasures for that,” Hakuya said. “I have some ideas of my own. I’ll be borrowing Kagetora and some members of the Black Cats for my purposes.”
“You, too, Hakuya! Why are you holding an ordinary conversation?!”
“Got it,” I said. “Let’s bounce ideas off each other and work on our plans tomorrow.”
“By your will.”
“Ignored?! I’m being ignored?!”
“Thanks, I’ll be counting on you. Now then...”
Scratching my cheek, I turned to Aisha, Juna, and Roroa.
“Sorry, but could you leave Liscia and me alone tonight?”
“““?!”””
The moment they understood what those words meant, Aisha, Juna, and Roroa’s eyes all bulged in surprise. And as for Liscia, who had been protesting for a while now...
“Uh... Uh...”
It seemed she couldn’t even form words properly, and she was just opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish. Liscia was usually so dignified, but when I thought, Hey, she makes faces like this, too, it was kind of funny.
“D-Darlin’, does that mean you two’re gonna...”
Roroa came back to her senses and tried to get some answers out of me, but Juna laid a hand on her shoulder and stopped her.
“Roroa.”
Then she said something to Roroa and Aisha in a whisper before turning and giving me a deep bow.
“Now then, Princess, Your Majesty, we will be taking our leave of you now.”
With that said, Juna quietly departed.
“Erm... Good night, Your Majesty, Princess,” said Aisha.
“Murgh... Big Sister Cia! Tell me how he did later, ’kay?”
Aisha and Roroa followed Juna out of the room.
“Well, until tomorrow, then,” said Hakuya. “Rest well.”
“I-I will be standing guard outside the room... Please, take it easy, Master...”
With Hakuya and Carla being the last to leave, Liscia and I were left alone in the room.
I picked up Liscia, who was frozen stiff.
Hey, she was pretty light. She
did have a bit of muscle on her, but on the whole, she had a slender figure, so the weight difference between us made it easy for me to lift her up. When I sat her down on the simple bed that was sitting in the corner of the room like always, Liscia finally came back to her senses.
In the candlelight, we sat side by side on the bed, staring into one another’s eyes.
“U-Um, Souma? This means... what I think it does, right?” she asked with her face beet red.
My cheeks started to feel hot, too. “Uh... Yep. That was... kind of the intention...”
“O-Oh, I see...”
“...Can’t we?”
“No! It’s not that we can’t! I mean, I’ve been waiting for this...” Liscia hurriedly shook her head. Her words were trailing off and getting weaker, though. “B-B-But why now, all of a sudden? You held out on me so long.”
“Oh... Yeah, well... I was thinking I should wait until the kingdom’s more stable, until I was able to take responsibility for it, until we had gone through all the steps, but...”
Aw, geez, this was really embarrassing! I scratched the back of my head.
“But... When I saw Mary, and thought about how I want to be a person... I just couldn’t hold back any longer. I wanted... to act on a human impulse, and to have you accept me for it.”
“I-I see...”
That, and Maria’s words, “I want to remain a person, and to be loved as a person,” probably had an effect on me, too.
I wanted to be a person, and I wanted to love Liscia and the others as a person.
I wanted Liscia and the others to love me as a person.
I felt that way strongly, and I couldn’t hold back any more.
...Well, at a time like this, I wasn’t about to tell her that another woman’s words had that deep an effect on me, though.
“Um, but... having our first time in the governmental affairs office, it sure isn’t very sexy,” Liscia said, tripping over her words, as she folded her top which she had stripped off and set it aside so that it wouldn’t wrinkle.