Shortly afterward, we exchanged our vows of love before the divine. We held each other close as we left the cathedral. Upon exiting, we were greeted by a large crowd and thunderous applause. My white squirrel familiars scattered flower petals as Van and I made our way down the path. We could only smile at the dreamlike scene that unfolded before us.
Thus, I married Van and became the Dragon Duchess consort.
I knew that with Van by my side, I would overcome all the challenges that stood before me. That was what I had thought, at least, but we immediately faced a difficult problem.
Once the issue of dragonkin women’s mana depletion had been solved, women were no longer bedridden for long bouts. As a result, travel had become a fad within the Dragon Duchy. However, the only notable tourist destination in the duchy was a lake to the west where people could go boating. The lack of tourist destinations was a problem that had persisted since the days of the Kingdom of Sacristain. Since the kingdom had spent most of its budget on its military, there was little left for its citizens’ entertainment.
Van had ordered his councillors to think about the recreational needs of the state at their next council meeting. Things like hunting grounds, horse racing, and gambling had all been suggested, but Van had rejected all of them. He wanted a tourist destination that people of all ages and genders could enjoy. Even though Van made himself clear, his geriatric councillors could only come up with places that would appeal to men. These meetings had borne no fruit, so Van had brought the topic to me.
It was now autumn, the season when colorful leaves danced through the air, but I still had no time to relax and prepare for the coming winter.
Deep wrinkles formed on Van’s face as he furrowed his brow. “My council’s suggestions were giving me a headache. I’ll have to think about replacing everyone sitting on it soon,” Van muttered.
“That’s something to think about. Still, it’s a difficult problem to solve,” I replied.
“It is.”
Duchesse, the man who had been handling the nation’s political affairs, was no longer here. But even so, Van was still surrounded by men who had been handpicked by Duchesse, and their ideas were too biased to consider.
“Things had been going smoothly until recently, but ever since Duchesse died, some of them have started becoming rebellious,” Van complained.
Roche, Van’s impassioned, enthusiastic friend and knight, was also adamant that Van replace all the councillors picked by Duchesse. While Van understood where Roche was coming from, such a drastic change would certainly ruffle more than a few feathers. He couldn’t afford to do such a thing right now.
He had lectured Roche afterward, explaining that replacing the councillors needed to happen slowly and over a long period of time. There was no need to rush, for dragonkin lived long.
Still, whenever a problem like this came up, it only caused Van’s headaches to intensify.
“When I informed the council that I wouldn’t need their help, those old men all started complaining...”
Though he called them old, they all still looked quite young and were full of vitality. Van complained that he was sick of appeasing them and it took too much of his energy to do so.
“Since Duchesse has been gone, I really feel like their egos have only grown. I hope I’m only imagining things. What do you think, Mille-Feuille?”
“From what I’m hearing, I don’t think it’s just your imagination,” I answered. I knew that there were several among the council who had opposed our wedding. They wanted Van to marry someone of higher status—a noblewoman with a robust pool of mana. While their opinions were certainly within reason, Van had gone against all of them and selected me to be his wife anyway.
My very existence weakens Van’s standing. Every time that thought crossed my mind, my heart ached.
“Mille-Feuille, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
“It doesn’t seem like nothing to me. What’s wrong?” he asked again.
Now that he was prying, I could no longer hide my thoughts from him. I revealed my honest feelings to him: I had been thinking it was my fault that Van’s councillors were turning against him.
“Mille-Feuille, it’s not your fault. It’s mine for being so inexperienced. I don’t have enough experience to be able to tell off those aging councillors.”
Van had left most of the daily administration of the nation to Duchesse. Now that he was in Duchesse’s position, Van surmised that his councillors were still getting used to the change.
“I do hope that it’s nothing more than needing to get used to me,” Van added.
Van then embraced me and patted my back. This must have been his way of telling me to pay those old men no mind.
“In any case, I can’t think of anything on how to boost our tourism sector. Mille-Feuille, do you have any ideas?”
“Hmm. Let me think...”
The difficulty lay in finding a tourist spot that everyone could enjoy, regardless of age or gender. When it came to activities that appealed to women, I thought of things like the theater, concert halls, museums and art galleries, as well as making small talk with friends over tea and shopping. But just like the councillors’ suggestions, these were not things that people of all ages would enjoy.
“Now that I think about it, this might be a pretty difficult problem to solve,” I concluded.
“Right?”
Apparently, children thought the boat rides at the lake were boring.
“Perhaps asking children to sit there and enjoy the scenery is too much,” I said.
A memory from a year ago flashed in my mind—the day when my parents had told me that we would be going to see the Dragon Duke’s glorious personage. I remembered having thought that it would be very boring and giggled to myself.
Van gave me a quizzical look upon seeing me laugh. “What’s so funny?”
“Do you remember that huge event when you first showed your face in public again?” I asked. “Frankly, that was really, really boring!”
“How rude of you. Being able to glimpse my visage is an honor!”
“Stop it! It’s even more hilarious when you pump yourself up like that!”
“On that note,” Van said, lowering his voice, “I’ve been secretly planning a wedding reception parade to make our marriage known to everyone.”
“That sounds like you just want to show off,” I said.
“That’s not true. I just think that it would please our subjects to see us happily married... Well, just showing our faces to the public would be boring, huh?”
Van looked dejected, so I apologized. “I’m sorry for saying that.”
“No, it’s all right. Arranging security for a parade would be very difficult anyway.”
Even before we had gotten married, I’d been surrounded by a number of indomitable female knights. Though I had felt that it was overly cautious, I hadn’t complained. Since then, however, I had needed to bring a large convoy with me wherever I went. I even had a body double who acted on my behalf for visits to facilities such as orphanages and hospices. That was how tight the security was around me.
Hearing that there were people who were vehemently against our marriage made me worry about my safety. Right now, I didn’t feel that having this much security was being overly cautious.
“I ended up restricting your freedoms by marrying you. I’m really sorry about that,” Van told me.
“No, you don’t have to feel bad about it.” It was true that I found some aspects of my new life somewhat inconvenient, but just being by Van’s side was making my life so fulfilling. “Van, I’m really happy to be with you.”
“I feel the same way, Mille-Feuille.”
Van kissed my cheek. The spot where his lips touched my skin felt warm. Even though we were husband and wife, I still wasn’t used to such displays of affection. I spent my time with Van immersed in warm feelings, doing my best to subdue my embarrassment.
The next day, I called in Parfeil and Madeleine to help me come up with types of entertainment that people of all ages and genders could enjoy. It was apparently a difficult task for them too, as they both furrowed their brows thinking about it.