Baigao Shiyoki then said, “I think you were wrong from the beginning. We’re royals from a nearby country, so for us it wasn’t a revolt at all... It was a regime change. Although it was wrong for us to do it on a personal level, we would have been doing Magyan a favor as a matter of policy.” Princesses from neighboring countries had formed a conspiracy and tried to make Tahlan, who lacked the Royal Presence, king. It sounded like a moving tale, at least depending on how it was told; however, for other countries, it just made the Magyan gambit more appealing. If they succeeded, it would all be fine, and if they failed, the nations could deny everything and the princesses who were complicit would be removed from their positions. That was the dark side possessed by many countries.
“Well...I didn’t expect it to go to plan,” she said, speaking bluntly, “because although we idolized Tahlan and tried our best, I never once thought we would be able to win out over Prince Heki, the leading candidate for heir to the throne. I wasn’t aware that having help from the Shrine Maidens was a cheat, but honestly, even if we hadn’t been caught cheating like that, we had no chance of winning. Having the Royal Presence but being unable to use Spirit Summoning meant that he wouldn’t earn the right to be the heir.”
However, there were people who did have the right to become heirs everywhere within the kingdom, and only the strongest could become king. That was the case for Sunae too; however, the seven people who had participated in the fight the other day were all just weaklings with privilege. None of them had any hope of becoming king from the outset. “The right to be king...that’s just how it is.” There was a hint of pain in Shiyoki’s words. Even though she was born a royal with the Royal Presence, she was still compared to her siblings. If you were lacking in any way, you couldn’t even dream of becoming king. Even if a prospective heir wasn’t just some nobody, they wouldn’t ever be able to keep up with the high-level competition if they were only average in talent.
“So, I wanted to dream that I would be the woman to make Tahlan king, the woman that Tahlan needed... I wanted to live that dream for a while.” He was more gifted and had been born at a higher level than Yabia and the others, but he never treated them coldly. However, those four lacked the ability to dream. It wasn’t a case of not putting in enough effort—they simply lacked the talent. Wanting to dream was enough of an incentive.
“You may not have noticed but...Tahlan is so much more special than us. He is like sunlight,” Deyiaoe Utto said, continuing the final part of the conversation as she began to explain why they admired Tahlan so much. “As we were all born with the Royal Presence, we were always fussed over, but since we weren’t considered candidates for the throne, we were treated badly. That made us feel discouraged, and we began to look down on others as a way to preserve our pride.” Rather than looking up at what they couldn’t be, they chose to look down on others for a sense of superiority. Even these women, who were supposed to be close to the top, weren’t able to escape such vileness. One wondered how much Tahlan, who was leagues below them, struggled.
“That’s why, at the beginning, we looked down on Tahlan too. No matter how good-looking he was, and no matter how much he trained, he was still regarded as someone who could only use Shadow Summoning. He seemed like someone we could easily beat if we felt like it...” Their superiority complex was strengthened by the perceptions of others about the reality of the situation, and it was comfortable. Looking down on Tahlan had also become comfortable. “Even in front of Tahlan, we did nothing to hide our glares, full of contempt... We were awful women.” It was something that happened a lot, but even then, it was despicable of them. It pained them to admit that they were just as bad as other people. The fact that they were able to admit to that, however, was a sign of their growth.
“Then...when we saw Prince Tahlan actually fight...we were amazed.” Shadow Summoning users couldn’t hold a candle to Spirit Summoning users. They were the only two Rare Arts in the Magyan Kingdom, so both were still respected by the general public. As they were able to make duplicates of themselves to deceive or fight, they had a lot of opportunities to show off their abilities. Naturally, there were also exhibition matches where nations would compete against one another. “Half of his siblings were Spirit Summoning users. They would constantly train, continuing to win glory after glory. They were brilliant.”
No matter how blessed with aptitude someone was, it would always be a struggle to become the nation’s strongest swordsman. Tahlan had fought against other Shadow Summoning users, achieving the title of the strongest. After that, he fought warriors from other countries, demonstrating his prowess. The seven female warriors knew all too well the difficulties he had gone through to become rightfully acknowledged as strong, and to be rightfully acknowledged as the greatest. The women, unable to do that, admired Tahlan for that reason.
“We just brazenly changed our attitude once he produced results. And he...laughed at us, without any malice.” The person they once used to ridicule had achieved something, causing them to change their attitude entirely, such that they began to admire him. While that was a good thing, it couldn’t have felt good for the person who had been ridiculed in the first place. They would be resentful, questioning the sudden change of heart. Or they could get arrogant, saying their former detractors could no longer make a fool out of them.
However, Tahlan had gracefully accepted their recognition, such that everyone had been mesmerized by his pure heart. “When he accepted our recognition...that was when I really fell for him. I felt ashamed that I had been so vile as I watched Tahlan improve himself without a trace of malice.” They loved and respected him, so they wanted to be loved and respected by him. He had then traveled to a faraway country and made another woman his wife, choosing her home as the place where he would put down his roots. That was a good enough reason to cause havoc. “However, his heart was meant for someone else...” Utto began crying as she recalled her lost love. She had realized her feelings for him once again and was unable to deal with the magnitude of her loss. “Why did Lord Tahlan...go for her?!”
Toris and Shiyoki joined Utto in crying in despair.
“That bitch, Douve Sepaeda! What kind of underhanded tricks did she use to win his heart?!”
“What was His Majesty even thinking? Why did he allow the wedding to go ahead?!”
“I can accept that being weak is a part of her country’s culture but...couldn’t he have picked a better woman...?!” The three women were overflowing with jealousy and unable to come to terms with the fact that he had chosen Douve despite everything. It would have been a better match if he had met a noble and intelligent woman. Instead, he was with a woman whose only positives were her social standing and her good looks. She was a venomous she-devil armed with a sharp tongue who looked down on others. It would be one thing if they had just misunderstood her character, but she actually was like that, and she had even acted like that in front of Tahlan.
“I think it’s wonderful that Tahlan can love a woman like that! But it shouldn’t have to be that way!”
“True...” The four women from Tempera all felt the same about Douve’s personality. None of them had gotten deeply involved with her, nor were there any deep connections between them. However, even though they only knew her on a surface level, they understood her personality all too well.