Chapter 5 part 6
The Reincarnated Thirty-Something Woman’s Otherworldly Reform Life
The Queen Drops a Bombshell
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*****
What a beautiful young lady. That was my very first thought upon seeing her. Standing beside the Prince, they would surely make a perfectly matched couple.
The Queen projected her own past dreams onto her son and Magnolia.
***
Magnolia glanced over at the young ladies and decided to cast her vote for Gardinia.
Perhaps she herself was content with that position, as she was actively trying to support the Prince. (I don't know if it's parental brainwashing or her own free will... I thought it'd be bad to push her into it if she wasn't interested, but if she's motivated, then there's no problem.) She's honestly too good for the Prince, but the future crown princess needs to be exceptionally capable anyway, so this is a perfect godsend.
Then there's Lady Hortensia, the Count's daughter. I hear her father is quite a smooth operator whose businesses are thriving, and he's highly driven and ambitious. They would be a good match for the royal family. It's a double-edged sword since they might steal the spotlight if the royals let their guard down... but hey, that goes both ways. Business doesn't let just one side profit. That's just how the world works.
While it's not unheard of, a count's house is a bit weak for marrying into the royal family, so she can just be adopted into some duke's house before the wedding. Problem solved. Everything's perfectly fine.
Secretly hoping their own daughters might have a chance, but realistically trying to figure out which faction to back, the mothers watched the battlefield unfold. Hats off to their hard work.
Just as the Prince was getting restless, seemingly bored of bragging about himself, the Queen gently turned the conversation to Magnolia.
「My, today was truly delightful. It has been a wonderful day, allowing everyone to interact with the Prince... Did you enjoy your first time here, Magnolia?」
A ripple of probing stares swept across the room. The Queen kept tilting her head with an air of serene innocence. Wisteria° and Big Bro Brian froze solid. I glanced over at the Prime Minister, but he was just watching me with intrigued eyes, as if wanting to see how I'd handle this.
(Aaand she put me on the spot. Well, totally expected.)
「Yes, Your Majesty. It was an honor to meet His Highness the Prince, as well as the young ladies and their families.」
I pasted on a bright smile.
「Did the Prince catch your fancy?」
*Gulp.* The sound of people catching their breath echoed from all around.
(Yikes~ Talk about a straight down the middle fastball, Your Majesty.)
The silence was practically deafening now.
「...Oh, someone like me could never. It is far too intimidating. After all, when it comes to the Crown Princess position, I believe someone like Lady Gardinia, the daughter of the premier marquess house, is far more suited. She is beautiful, comes from an excellent lineage, and I observed her being incredibly considerate of everyone here. I hear she is a highly accomplished young lady who is diligent and well-educated. I am sure they would make a perfectly matched couple.」
I made sure to lace my words with a bit of sarcasm, implying that the Queen and Prince should follow her lead and pay attention to their surroundings instead of leaving it all to a younger girl. I smiled as I looked over at Gardinia, who had beautiful crimson hair like a red rose and slightly upturned eyes, but she was glaring back at me with pure suspicion. (...She looks just like a wary little kitten.)
From her perspective, the person she'd written off as her biggest rival was suddenly singing her praises and giving her a massive endorsement. She was probably trying to figure out what my real angle was. Yeah, total beauty. She's the picture-perfect image of a talented, beautiful villainess. Judging by her looks alone, she's definitely a villainess. If worst comes to worst, I should probably think of a way to bail her out.
「I have also heard that Lady Hortensia is incredibly kind-hearted and a model lady. I am certain she would make a wonderful Crown Princess who could take a step back to support His Highness's strong leadership while genuinely caring for the citizens.」
While she lacked flashiness, the girl herself was modest—even if her father was a total social climber. Either way, I made sure to nominate one powerful young lady from each of the two major factions.
The Queen blinked in surprise, looking back and forth between Wisteria and me. Her puzzled expression practically asked, (Don't you want to be the Crown Princess? Everyone does, right?)
「But then again, they are the young ladies of our kingdom's most prestigious families. No matter who among the ladies gathered here today—excluding myself, of course—becomes the Crown Princess, I am certain they will make a magnificent couple.」
I tacked that on to say that literally anyone else was completely fine, covering my bases so nobody could find a reason to nitpick. I definitely didn't want to breed unnecessary resentment and get stabbed in the back later, after all.
The crowd looked around at one another, and the sharper noblewomen gasped as they realized that Magnolia—the absolute favorite for the position—had just officially taken herself out of the running.
「...Why does it have to be anyone but you?」
「I believe I am unsuited to be the Crown Princess. I have been frail since childhood, to the point where I could only make my public debut at the age of six. While I can live a relatively normal life now thanks to residing in Azenda... in any other land... I truly believe a young lady with robust health should take up the mantle.」
The Queen questioned me with a sorrowful look, and I offered up my neatly prepared, completely bogus excuse with a picture of meek modesty.
Shattering the solemn atmosphere, the Prince laughed pompously and spoke without a shred of shame.
「Your face is decent enough, so I wouldn't mind making you one of my concubines! You can just come to the royal capital whenever you're feeling energetic!」
「Prince!」
At that utterly outrageous remark, every single person in the room went pale, save for the Queen, the Prince, and Magnolia herself. Everyone present knew of Servas's terrifying track record. To suggest—even as a joke—that the absolute apple of the "Demon General's" eye could just be "one of his concubines"...
The Queen just offered a serene smile, murmuring, 「Oh dear, but Magnolia is quite beautiful, isn't she?」 Unable to watch any longer, the Prime Minister spoke up to intervene.
Magnolia let out a clear, amused giggle, sweeping her eyes across the completely silent room from corner to corner before locking her gaze right back onto the Prince.
「Oh my! Thank you ever so much for complimenting my appearance. However, such a position is far too intimidating for someone like me, and I doubt I could fulfill the duties. Furthermore, I simply do not have the hobby of sharing my husband with other women. I will be sure to relay Your Highness's words to my grandfather and uncle, word for word.」
Along with countless rumors, the Margrave's extreme doting over his granddaughter was common knowledge. What would happen once he found out? The noblewomen shuddered and quietly cast their eyes downward.
「Umu, you may do so.」
(No, it is extremely not okay!)
The Prime Minister glared at the Prince in protest. ...Tragically, he could already vividly envision a future where Servas cornered him with the face of a literal demon...
The atmosphere of the tea party—a chaotic blend of a smugly smiling Prince, a serenely smiling Queen, and a crowd of utterly bewildered young ladies—was absolute garbage.
***
Seeking to shift the absolutely abysmal mood, Gardinia stepped up to smooth things over. Thanks to an unexpected endorsement from her supposed biggest rival, her position as the top candidate (?) for the crown princess spot was now practically set in stone.
She threw out a few conversation starters, and just as things were finally starting to soften up, the Prince suddenly launched into a completely nonsensical autobiography about how awesome he was. Predictably, quite a few of the young ladies looked completely exasperated.
Juggling harmony, common sense, and basic decency to keep the peace, Gardinia was fighting a losing battle amid the chaos. Truly a pitiful sight.
And she's only nine years old. Good for her! She's got real potential! As far as I'm concerned, she's the one and only choice for the future princess. But no matter if she brought up poetry, literature, or art, or tried to pass the mic to the other girls, everything crashed and burned the second the Prince got involved. After all, his entire vocabulary consisted of "I'm so cool! Yay!" He smashed every conversation down right as it was being built.
At this point, I figured it might be faster to just toss him a topic he excelled at and let him ramble to his heart's content... but Gardinia's consideration to include the other girls was just spinning its wheels.
Given my position, it would be awkward to pipe up, so I decided to just cheer her on from the bottom of my heart.
...Still, is he always like this? Is he like this even when talking to foreign dignitaries? The questions were endless.
Will he actually learn how to read the room during summits in a few years? Or can he magically read it now only when it's an official meeting?
I mean, he is the kind of guy who talks about taking concubines at the ripe old age of ten. ...Does he even know what a concubine actually is? Does he possess that level of knowledge?
Lady Gardinia glanced over at me, but I just gracefully deflected her gaze and directed it toward Lady Hortensia. Lady Hortensia flinched, her shoulders trembling as she let out a sharp gasp, her face turning pale. ...Yeah, handling the Prince and this absolute circus was way too heavy a burden for her.
And without learning her lesson, the Queen turned the conversation back to me yet again.
「Men have such childish streaks no matter how old they get, don't they? If a woman is clever, isn't it the perfect chance to show off her skills by wrapping him around her little finger?」
Several of the noblewomen nodded along in agreement. (...Ah~, the classic "keeping your husband on a leash" talk. What a massive pain.)
But do wives out there really control their husbands that much? If that were true, you'd think women's social status would be a bit higher by now.
「Oh my. You all possess such magnificent talent, don't you? As for me, I have always hoped for a husband who is wiser than myself. To think a man could be wrapped around the little finger of someone like me... Personally, I would prefer someone who could gently guide me and keep me on their track without ever making it obvious~」
(Which means your son is a hard pass!) I loaded that exact sentiment into my eyes as I smiled.
「My. To wrap someone like Lady Magnolia around their finger... it sounds like it would take a highly intelligent, much older gentleman, wouldn't it?」
One of the guardians sitting at the same table casually piped up, so I nodded and kept the ball rolling.
「An older gentleman is indeed so reliable (and I don't mean a mere two-year gap, way more!). Nothing is set in stone, of course, but there have been talks in Azenda regarding a certain noble (?) older individual.」
「Oh my,」 the Queen murmured, her face clouding over as she looked at the Prime Minister. She seemed to be checking the validity of my statement. I also offered a sweet smile to the Prime Minister° as I looked at him, silently pleading my case.
(...Hm?) The Prime Minister tilted his head.
There shouldn't be any such marriage talks for Magnolia. Much less while she hadn't even left Azenda, with some older person from a noble house... .
......... ........... H o l d o n a s e c o n d.
As the realization struck the Prime Minister, Magnolia flashed him a mischievous grin before turning her gaze back to the noblewoman.
「It is still just a casual talk, mind you. There is no telling how it will turn out.」
(Viictorrr! Have you finally crossed the line into committing actual crimes?!!)
—I am going to rip out every last strand of that ridiculous hair of his!
Well, technically it's perfectly legal? He'd totally say something like that if confronted. ...I mean, he hasn't actually done anything, though!
Next to the trembling Prime Minister, Magnolia sent a completely unnecessary update toward the skies of Azenda: (I'm just hinting at it! I didn't name any names!)
*****
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