Alicia had been with me for two months now. The air gradually grew colder, harkening winter’s arrival.
“My, Alicia, what’s gotten you so angry?” I asked.
“Did you hear my inner voice?”
“No, but I can tell from your mannerisms that you’re upset.”
While two months wasn’t a long time, we’d been stuck together almost all the while. I could discern her mood at a glance, whether she was happy, sad, or upset. In truth, it wasn’t just our proximity—she was easy to read.
“I just went to the palace,” she told me.
“Oh, for the usual report? Thank you for working so hard.”
Alicia regularly went to the palace to update my parents on my progress. Normally, someone of her status would have no chance of an audience with the king and queen. But with my confinement being strictly under wraps, they opted to have her report to them directly. The fewer people who knew of the situation, the better.
“It went perfectly fine and all, really…but I saw something that made me sick.”
To summarize, Alicia had encountered some palace bureaucrats who engaged in what seemed an awful lot like bullying. There hadn’t been any violence involved—they were in the palace, after all—but seeing a group of people crowding around someone just to insult them had gotten her all wound up.
“And then the guy went, ‘This is no place for a baron. It’s probably best for you to leave as soon as possible.’ Isn’t he horrible?!”
“Hmm… That definitely sounds hostile.”
Since I hadn’t been there, I couldn’t speculate further on the situation. Though the aggressor’s words certainly sounded like a threat, the person on the receiving end might’ve done something bad enough to warrant a reprimand.
“Yeah! But still, I can’t believe he said, ‘You won’t go up against me if you know what’s good for you. I’m a close relative of Lord Slade.’ Augh, just thinking about someone abusing their power really ticks me off!”
“Lord Slade…? Oh.”
“You know of him?”
“Um, yes, of course. Lord Slade is head of one of the great five marquess houses in this kingdom.”
“The…great five marquess houses?”
“Don’t you know about them?”
Alicia shook her head timidly. Right, I still haven’t taught her politics or history.
“The great five marquess houses—or Great Five, for short—are the five most influential families in this kingdom. By the way, Alicia, what’s the name of our kingdom?”
“Huh? It’s the Federal Kingdom of Ausgrid, right?”
“Yes, we are a federal kingdom. That means our nation is made up of smaller, individual kingdoms. The king who unified the country gave five families the status of marquess and permitted them to govern the abundant land over which they had always ruled. That’s how the Great Five came to be.”
“So the marquesses were given the title because they agreed to serve the royal family, right?”
“Yes, but they were granted considerable authority over their regions, so we aren’t exactly a single kingdom—it’s mostly in the name. The federal kingdom is still essentially a group of six separate countries.”
Calling it “considerable authority” was putting it mildly. Each region had its own legislation and administration. As long as they didn’t go against the interests of the wider kingdom, they were free to do as they pleased.
“Six separate countries? Really?”
“Yes, six if we count the region centered around the capital—governed by the royal family—as one country.”
“Okay, got it. So basically, um, the royal family and the Great Five…”
“Have similar amounts of power, yes.”
Since Alicia seemed dismayed, I finished the sentence for her. I supposed it was bad manners to tell a royal that her family was essentially powerless against the nobility.
“If one family rebels, we can probably suppress them by joining forces with the other four. If all five families rise up…it’s over. Just two or three would put us in quite a pickle, I think.”
“Ahh. Is that why?” Alicia asked.
“Pardon?”
“Going back to the Sacred Swords… Is that why the firstborns with summoning power take the throne? You use the swords’ power to keep the Great Five in check?”
“Correct. If someone who can’t inherit the swords succeeds the throne, there’s a possibility that the person who can use the swords will conspire with the Great Five. Ultimately, this is why the firstborn becomes ruler, regardless of gender. Since I can wield the swords, I’ll be the next ruler. If I had younger siblings, my brother would become a duke, and my sister would be married off somewhere.”
“Dukes have higher status than marquesses, right?”
“Yes. Dukes are attached to the royal family, so they do have higher status. But in reality, marquesses have more political sway—they have extensive land and more authority.”
That said, the royal family had produced only one child for each of the past several generations. No royal children had joined ducal households in some time, and our blood ties had become quite thin. If I were to die without siblings or successors, there would be no one left who could summon the Sacred Swords. Miraculously, the royal family’s lineage had run uninterrupted thus far. I didn’t actually know what would happen if our line ended, but there was no point worrying about that right now.
“Sorry,” I said. “I went on a tangent there. Long story short, that’s why anyone related to the Great Five can throw their weight around in the palace. Father has been trying to strengthen other families, but…I guess you could say it’s still a work in progress.”
“I understand now. Doesn’t change the fact that bullies are bullies, though. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Your Highness and His Majesty will break those people’s noses!”
That was quite violent language for Alicia. It proved just how angry she was about what she’d seen.
“Let’s start by supporting my father’s endeavors,” I said to Alicia. On the inside, I thought, If only Father could just hurry up already.
Not even the royal family could stand tall in the face of the Great Five. I’d gathered that from eight years of eavesdropping on the inner voices of others in the palace. People’s thoughts were so honest. Even though I was somewhat removed from the heart of politics, I grasped the gist of the situation just by listening to the thoughts of my parents and the servants. If I discovered that one of the servants was affiliated with the Great Five, I had them dismissed.
That being the case, if any servants who worked at the palace right now were affiliated with one of the Great Five, the bureaucrats should’ve been able to root them out. Seeing how angry Alicia was, I was even more certain of it.
Who would want to take the throne when enemies lurked everywhere? Surely I couldn’t be blamed for hoping my father would take care of them during his reign.
“Oh, right! I shall make you some tea, Your Highness!” Alicia’s voice had returned to normal, so her gloom must have lifted.
I suppressed a sigh as I watched her leave.