Several days after what could justifiably be called a historic conversation between Zenjirou, Yngvi, and Representative Rök in Utgard, Yngvi was in a room in Uppasala’s royal palace, Valaskjálf. He was joined by King Gustav and no one else. It was a top secret meeting between the two.
“That sums it up, father,” Yngvi said, now finished relaying the events of the meeting. “Both we and Capua have assigned space in the city, and my brother-in-law obtained permission to use teleportation to and from it. Utgard is now far closer.”
The king remained silent, shutting his eyes as he mulled over everything that had happened. Then he shook his head to clear it. “I hardly know what to say. I may have been calling this an era of change and revolution, but this is drastic...” He couldn’t contain the soft complaint.
“If you find yourself not keeping up, then you can hand over the throne at any moment. You have a reliable successor right here.”
“I intend to do so as soon as I have made my successor reliable,” Gustav answered curtly as his son pointed at himself with a grin.
Yngvi’s face dropped into a very put-on look of disappointment before he shrugged. “Very well, I will continue my efforts. On that note, I will be going to Capua. I can, can I not, father?” Yngvi’s trip there as the next king of Uppasala was to fulfill his claim of taking a bride from Capua.
“Very well. Even disregarding a connection with Utgard—or even if we focus solely on that—a link with the Capuan royal family and their space-time magic is indispensable. Remember that your first wife must be from within Uppasala, or at least the royal families of the Northern Continent.”
With that rather obvious reminder from his father, the prince considered for a moment and then sought confirmation. “Taking the woman from Capua as my first bride is not an option, then, is it?”
“Of course not. If you did, your reign would be pulling Uppasala away from both the influence of the church and the northern five. If the woman was a direct member of the Capuan royal family, you may be able to sway their views, but you cannot wait until Princess Juana is of age.”
There were currently only two female royals belonging to Capua. Aura—being both married and the nation’s monarch—was naturally out of the question. The only other one was Juana, who was still a baby. That meant that the highest-ranked woman that Yngvi could marry would be a member of the high nobility at best. Taking into account their precautions against lineal magic leaving the nation meant that even they may not be an option.
The Northern Continent tended to look down on the Southern Continent. If Uppasala had a noble from there as their first queen with the second and third being from their own nobility, you could practically guarantee no one else would send their nobility there. Indeed, even domestic prospects for a second and third wife could be rather slim in that case.
The young prince ought to have been well aware of that. Despite that knowledge, however, his desire to strengthen his country was such that he had been considering a first wife from Capua. Gustav was by no means enough of a fool to miss the implications.
“Speak. How much value do you see in Capua? Enough to make clear enemies of the church? Enough to risk parting from the rest of the five?”
Yngvi remained silent in the face of the harsh rebuke for a few moments. Eventually, he shook his head, sending his hair—long for a man—swishing from side to side. “No, not that much value. Very well, father. Whoever I wed from Capua will be at most my second or third wife. I will search for a woman who will be able to fulfill that role.” There was the extra implication that if he could not find such a woman, he would give up. Yngvi then continued, “I leave the choice of my first wife from here to you, father. However, my conditions are the same as the second wife from Capua.”
“Of course,” the king agreed.
The conditions being the same did not mean that they would be equal. Instead, it meant that just as his second wife from Capua must be able to abide by her position as his second wife, the first wife must act in a manner befitting his first. In other words, she must not treat his second wife as inferior solely for being from the Southern Continent.
Indeed, as Gustav had said, it was a natural condition. Their first princess, Freya, had married into the Capuan royal family as a concubine, and Yngvi taking a second wife from Capua showed just how Uppasala viewed that nation at a glance. If, despite that, his first wife did not treat the marriage with his second wife as legitimate solely due to her origin, it was quite right to consider it a failure to uphold her position.
“Still,” Gustav murmured, his brow creasing, “a first wife willing to accept a second from Capua? That will be no mean feat.”
It was hardly a surprise. The disdain for the Southern Continent was practically ingrained. Of course, most royals and nobles would be able to treat a temporary guest well, but a fellow wife would require a much longer and closer relationship. It would be necessary for someone to hide their feelings for decades no matter how they truly felt—a rarity, to be sure—or someone who truly did not have negative feelings about the Southern Continent—even more of a rarity.
“Maybe we should look to Graz as well?”
The Kingdom of Graz was a nation that, despite its position within the church’s sphere of influence, proactively pursued marriages with even the animistic countries of the Northern Continent.
“Do not even joke about it. Our country will become a second Ofus,” the king rebuked him lowly.
While around twenty percent of Ofus’s population followed the dragon faith, Uppasala was almost entirely animistic, so the royal family inviting someone from the church’s religion would invite significant backlash from the populace. The next king taking someone from the dragon faith as his first wife and someone from the Southern Continent as his second would never be accepted.
Yngvi himself knew that. He let out a deep sigh but still agreed. “So it’s definitely not an option, then. I really wish it was. They’re the only country willing to let their lineal magic spread.”
Graz’s royal family had lineal magic but made no effort to keep it within their borders. Instead, they proactively sought out international marriages for their royals.
“This is all your greed coming to the fore. You think too highly of yourself. Learn the difference between what you can do and what you can definitely do. If the possibility of an unrecoverable error is there, you should only wager on the latter,” the king scolded him harshly.