Chapter 43:
Reaction to the Peace Treaty
THE ANHALTISH ROYAL CASTLE HAD A MASSIVE meeting room that housed a large round table. Dozens of Nobles of the Robe sat around the table—they were high-ranking bureaucrats specially chosen for this important occasion. They gazed upon me with bated breath as I sat in front of my crystal ball and awaited my report. This magical orb was connected to several others, which allowed me to communicate over long distances. But I wasn’t speaking with my daughter Valiele. On the other end was Villendorf’s Minister of War.
Her husky voice filled my ears. She was rumored to be over a century old. When I gazed into my childhood memories, the Minister of War was elderly even then. She had remained the same for over two decades now.
“Then you’re telling me that negotiations are over,” I said.
“Precisely,” the Minister of War replied. “But I shall have him uphold his end of the bargain. I’ll repeat myself: he will uphold his end of the deal. And if Sir Polidoro doesn’t have a lawful wife in two years’ time, I will have him take a wife from Villendorf. This is all part of the contract.”
The word “contract” was more important to Villendorfians than life itself. Even if they died, they’d uphold their promises; their culture didn’t even allow death to release them from their contracts. In other words, now that they’d agreed to peace with our kingdom, they would maintain it no matter what. As long as Anhalt followed the contract as well, there would be no issues even if I withdrew our army from Villendorf’s border.
The issue was the contents of the contract. As the queen of Anhalt, I did my best to make sense of the situation. Faust von Polidoro had sold his chastity to attain peace from Villendorf. That was the biggest issue of all.
“Now then, I’ll end communication,” the Minister of War said. “The mana within these crystal balls is a finite resource.”
“Go ahead,” I said. “By my name as Queen Liesenlotte of Anhalt, I’ll see to it that we uphold our end of the contract.”
Communication promptly ended. We’d ended up selling Sir Polidoro’s body to the Villendorfians; Anastasia and Astarte would be furious. Frankly, I wasn’t too happy about it either. I was upset on both public and personal grounds, and this wasn’t wholly good news. How in the world could I reward Faust for his efforts?
I’d told him to slice Queen Catalina’s heart asunder, but I hadn’t expected he’d acquire such a firm grip on it instead. He’d masterfully melted the Coldhearted Queen’s heart and even tempted her to make him her prince consort. I hadn’t been able to predict that far ahead, and that was by far my greatest mistake.
“Take the crystal ball away,” I ordered.
“Right away, Your Majesty,” came a reply.
The court mage who’d helped create Sir Polidoro’s Maximilian armor covered the ball and used both hands to preciously carry it away. She disappeared beyond the door. Crying over spilled milk would do me no good, and this wasn’t Sir Polidoro’s responsibility either. It all fell upon Valiele as the chief delegate, Anastasia as the one who’d dispatched him, and me as queen of the kingdom. We’d foisted all the responsibility onto Sir Polidoro’s shoulders, and his efforts had to be rewarded.
But who could I offer to be his wife? Even if my life depended on it, I couldn’t allow him to take a wife from Villendorf after failing to marry in Anhalt. He was the hero and savior of our kingdom; if Anhalt failed to produce a proper wife for him, he’d take a Villendorfian wife. What’s more, Villendorf wanted to make him a prince consort, but they’d frame it as a benevolent gesture, as though they were doing us a favor. I’d sooner die than let that happen. It would bring shame to all of Anhalt.
“Isn’t this good news?” a voice said.
A young woman to my side dared to break the silence. She’s a new face, I thought. Ah, yes, just the other day, I granted her my audience as she succeeded her household.
“We successfully negotiated peace with no loss at all,” she went on. “This was the best result we could’ve hoped for.”
Are you an idiot? “No loss at all,” you say? Sure, a successful peace treaty was better than a failed one, but we’d lost a great deal. As I’d mentioned before, we’d foisted all the responsibility onto Faust’s shoulders. The royal family pushed all the hard work onto the savior and hero of Anhalt, a weak lord knight with only three hundred citizens to his name. Nobles of the Robe with good heads on their shoulders would naturally see it as the royal family shirking our responsibilities, and the lords who had contracts with us would agree.
How can I make up for the distrust that I’ve built? How can I possibly reward Faust for what he’s done? All eyes were focused on me. Even a bunch of chimps—I mean, even Valiele’s corps could read the room and understand this situation. What in the world is this girl on about? Besides, isn’t she…
“Faust von Polidoro served his purpose well,” the young lady continued. “His ugly appearance is an eyesore, but he’s popular in Villendorf, I imagine. I’m sure that he’s happy there.”
Everyone, excluding this newcomer, furrowed their brows. Is this girl an actual idiot? Was she not told of anything when she succeeded her house, before she set foot in this castle? Even if she wasn’t, as the eldest daughter, she should be in the know. Surely it’s no secret that Sir Polidoro is set to become the paramour of Anastasia and Astarte.
This newbie should’ve known that the two ladies were enamored with the Knight of Wrath, and their love wasn’t hidden either. Only a shockingly dense person would’ve missed it. At the very least, a bureaucrat permitted to be in this meeting room should have known all about Anastasia and Astarte’s schemes—it was expected of them to.
That aside, why does she feel that she has the right to insult Sir Polidoro to such a degree despite him negotiating peace? This woman undoubtedly called him “ugly.” We all heard it, didn’t we? If memory serves, your mother—the only reason you’re allowed to sit in this room with me—is… While the rest of the room cast her withering looks, as queen, I swiftly realized what had to be done here.
“Your mother was initially ordered to negotiate with Villendorf, I believe,” I said. “Sir Polidoro went to negotiate peace in her stead, and you feel justified in calling him ‘ugly,’ mocking his appearance.”
I wore a smile on my face as I spoke to the woman who’d brazenly insulted his looks. The other nobles all turned tense. My corps needed no royal order—they had already positioned themselves behind the woman. Technically, I’d already given them my order; my smile said it all.
“I sure did,” the clueless woman replied. “And what of it? Wasn’t this the best possible outcome for our nation? We exchanged an ugly man for peace with Villendorf. That burly, muscular man truly is—”
“Did you dare say ‘And what of it?’ to me?” I asked. “Do you dare utter those ignorant words? What’s more, you insulted him once again.”
The smile on my face deepened. I normally remained fairly expressionless. In recent times, only Sir Polidoro had been capable of making me lose my composure as he rubbed his face on the ground and begged that I show mercy toward a little girl. All the other nobles in the room with me understood exactly what they were seeing—this was the ominous grin of a queen.
“You called him ugly again, did you not?” I asked.
It was a display of my anger. Only when I was genuinely enraged did my expression morph into a clear sign of my emotions. Those who held the right to visit the palace knew that this expression was more terrifying than anything else they would ever see. I knew when to play this card; I purposefully remained expressionless during other moments, but at times, I would let my emotions show as I governed this kingdom as its queen.
Only one person failed to understand the meaning behind my smile.
“Wh-what the?!” the woman cried.
The newcomer had her hands restrained by my corps as her face was slammed against the table. Her new formal outfit, prepared precisely for this occasion, was spattered with blood from her nose.
“Is this the state of our kingdom?” I asked. “Fresh faces of the Nobles of the Robe—even bureaucrats behave so atrociously. They refuse to recognize the accomplishments and feats of Faust von Polidoro, the hero and savior of Anhalt; deep down, they mock his appearance and rejoice that he sold his body to a foreign nation. They clap their hands with delight at this news, all with smug smiles painted on their faces.”
My smile grew deeper still. My corps was more than aware of the meaning behind my words; they’d been with me since my first battle eighteen years ago. Again and again, my corps member slammed the woman’s face onto the table, and she began to shriek with pain.
“Silence her,” I ordered. “Her voice is unpleasant to my ears.”