Laura seemed to bounce back immediately as well, expression returning to normal. “Understood. First, may I inquire to the room at large if you are all aware of how the Kingdom of Albashaf was founded?”
We all nodded in response to her question. If I knew, then of course Nia and His Highness would too.
The Kingdom of Albashaf had apparently been a religious monarchy. Back in the age where faith in the gods was stronger, there was a man who could hear the voice of God, and he founded the Kingdom of Albashaf. After that, a number of prophets and saintesses loved by God appeared, and the nation cemented their position by safeguarding them.
But as time went on and belief in the gods weakened, there were longer and longer stretches of time where prophets and saintesses didn’t appear, to the point where merely ten years after the last saintess passed, the kingdom was absorbed into the Kingdom of Sylvario.
“Apparently, on the eve of their absorption into Sylvario, before they became simply one of many Sylvarian baronies, the head of the Albashaf family cast a charm. One so that we wouldn’t be looked down on as the royal family of a ruined kingdom and could live quietly. It was also for the sake of carrying out the mission we had left,” Laura explained.
“Their mission?” I repeated. The words triggered something in my mind, and when I looked over to Nia, it seemed that she was thinking the same exact thing.
“Nia. Did you know Laura’s family name? Or did you think to ask for it?” I asked her.
“Yes. It was the first thing I confirmed when we met,” she replied with a nod.
Nia knew about the Kingdom of Albashaf, so when Laura, with the same last name, came to serve her, of course she’d have asked about it. Even I should have checked her family name when I hired her. But I didn’t even think to. Even if I had trusted her simply because she was a servant of Nia’s, it was still strange that I hadn’t even considered a background check.
“Maybe that’s the charm’s effect. So that only the people who are told their family name will learn it. Either that, or that the person who they need to protect will know,” I guessed.
“That’s right. The charm would have no effect on a prophet or saintess,” confirmed Laura.
So that was why I didn’t notice Laura’s family name or think to try to find it out. But in that case, there was still one strange thing left. However, one person had already figured out the answer.
“But in the end, it was only a charm,” His Highness said. “One that couldn’t stop someone with a strong desire to know this information from researching it.”
“The charm has lost most of the original magic behind it, but there’s enough left for it to still work,” Laura confirmed. “There aren’t a lot of people who would investigate a barony with no hope of getting ahead in the world, after all.”
When His Highness spoke his conclusion, Laura agreed.
His Highness wasn’t the type you could ever compare to a prophet or a holy man, even in polite terms. The reason he’d managed to break through the Albashaf’s charm must have been because of the strength of his will. And thinking about it like that made me feel a little pitiful.
“It’s because you accepted Laura as a member of your household, Lord Ark.”
I must’ve had my feelings written all over my face, because Nia spoke up to comfort me. I had some conflicting feelings over this recent discovery, happiness and shame swirling around inside me. But hearing as much as I had, I could just accept the way things went.
“So the reason Laura was able to teach Nia so much was because she’d inherited the knowledge as a member of a former royal family?” I said. I turned to Laura. “Was that the source of all of your weird connections too?”
“I suppose. I’ve never had the desire to revive our kingdom, but I thought it would be a shame if what I knew was forgotten,” Laura replied.
“If that knowledge was what helped Nia live comfortably in Brigandia,” I said, “then I can’t thank you enough.”
“What a coincidence. I was feeling thankful for the same thing,” Laura said, a little smile on her face. That was a bit of a relief.
“I see. So now that we know about Albashaf and stuff, it doesn’t seem like you only served Nia, or Princess Sonia, because she was the saintess, huh?”
“That might have been the case at the beginning, but that wasn’t all.”
Looking at Laura’s face, I knew. She must’ve grown fond of Princess Sonia while she was serving her and started wanting to genuinely help her. The fact that Nia—Princess Sonia—was just that sort of person was something I also knew very well.
“And it was for those reasons that I had initially planned to crush any political marriage that would harm the princess,” Laura said.
It was a bit amazing that she was saying that in front of His Highness, who was supposed to be the other party of the aforementioned political marriage. Though in our case, you could call my marriage to Nia political as well. The reason we’d married in the first place was to give Nia peerage in Brigandia.
I looked conflicted. His Highness looked like he was having the time of his life. And Nia looked nervous. After taking a look at each of our faces, Laura heaved another sigh.
“It’s my loss. I ended up thinking that Viscount McGuine would be all right.”
“Laura...”
The maid looked a bit lonely and also a bit relieved as she said that. Nia looked shocked by Laura’s words, and at once she began to tear up. She must have been absolutely touched to hear something like that from the person who raised her and was practically like a reliable older sister to her.
And yeah. On my end, I felt a little victorious and kinda happy, but also a bit heavy with the responsibility those kind of words implied. I hadn’t planned on treating Nia badly at all, but I felt even more determined not to do it now.
“Your Highness,” Laura said, “I believe that, for the ‘story’ you seek, an old anecdote about saintesses from the Kingdom of Albashaf might suit. Current citizens of Sylvario would be familiar with it.”
“I see. So if you hadn’t thought that Ark was appropriate as Princess Sonia’s, or rather Lady Nia’s, spouse, you wouldn’t help us with our story,” His Highness said in amusement.
I balked a little bit. And the fact that Laura just nodded in response flabbergasted me even more. Seriously? To that extent? Or no, of course it’d be to that extent. That was just how much she treasured Nia. Yet she accepted me as Nia’s spouse. I really, really didn’t want to betray that trust.
“Then let’s go with that,” His Highness said. “Make sure you do your best playing the part of the Saintess’s spouse, Ark.”
“Leave it to me.”
Both personally and for the sake of the larger situation, I didn’t want anyone else occupying that role. I didn’t want to let anyone else take it. So when His Highness asked me I was able to respond immediately. It’d make me even more infamous than I already was, but at this point, I was all for it.
“Nia, can you leave being your spouse to me?” I asked.
Really, I should’ve asked if she could leave “playing the part” of her spouse to me, but I couldn’t say it. I didn’t want to. And those feelings of mine reached Nia.
“Yes, of course. There’s no one else who could be my spouse,” she replied with a nod and the biggest smile I’d ever seen on her face.