The Marquis of Lagarea forced a smile.
“I had no ill intentions, Your Royal Highness. I only thought that my nephew would be disappointed. I’m sorry, gentlemen, if I gave you the wrong impression.”
The Marquis of Lagarea apologized for his earlier comment. That calmed the assembly.
August made an apologetic expression and spoke to the Marquis of Lagarea. “It seems that Leorino was too immature to appreciate Julian’s courtship. I am sorry for that.”
“It’s no matter. It was a good lesson for my nephew.”
The old men smiled, their gazes meeting.
Ginter asked the Marquis of Lagarea again, “Does this mean there are no other objections to the marriage of His Highness Prince Gravis?”
The three ministers nodded. With that, Ginter lifted the documents prepared by the adjutant behind him, and handed them to the king.
“In that case, Your Majesty, please sign here.”
Ginter offered him a brush. The king nodded, took the brush, and brought it to the document.
“Father. I would like to make a final comment.”
The crown prince suddenly raised his hand.
The attendees stirred.
“Kyle. Say your piece.” Joachim looked up and allowed his son to speak.
“I agree with my uncle’s marriage to Leorino. However, no royal has ever married a member of the same sex. I accept the lovely Leorino as my uncle’s spouse, but given the question of succession, I suggest a condition requiring my uncle to take a female concubine.”
The crown prince’s statement startled everyone present.
A deep furrow appeared in Gravis’s brow, and August got to his feet with an indignant look on his face.
“…Kyle,” said Gravis. “I plan to take no other partner but Leorino for the rest of my life.”
While the attendees froze at the sight of Gravis’s ice-cold ire, the crown prince, his nephew, who resembled his uncle more closely than his own father, took his anger in stride.
King Joachim asked his son in a calm voice. “Kyle, please explain the intent of your remark.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I deplore the current situation in which the number of male members of our kingdom’s direct royal line is dwindling. Some royal families have been branching off for four generations. However, only one or two sons have been born every generation in our direct royal line since the time of my great-grandfather. Moreover, my uncle has been a bachelor, and I am the only male remaining in the direct line. Doesn’t this concern you?”
“You are right. Since the time of my grandfather, the Fanoren royal family has had very few sons.”
Kyle watched as his uncle seethed with anger.
“You don’t seem to take the crisis of our bloodline seriously, Uncle. That’s why I’m daring to rain on your parade.”
“Absolutely not,” Gravis dismissed the suggestion. “I will say it again. I will not take a concubine. You should be thanking me for bringing Leorino into the royal family. If I cannot marry Leorino, I will not marry anyone at all.”
The uncle and nephew with their striking resemblance glared at each other for a moment.
At that moment, August spoke in a solemn voice.
“Your Royal Highness, Brungwurt has no political ambitions. Naturally, it is only because of their feelings for each other and my son’s wishes that Leorino is to be given in marriage to His Highness. Otherwise, I would not have gone through the trouble of offering him to the royal family, knowing he would face hardship, when the mere fact that he is of the Cassieux name is enough to guarantee his happiness.”
At these words, the assembly stirred.
“What are you trying to say, Margrave of Brungwurt?”
“I am telling you that Brungwurt is not to be trifled with.”
August quietly threatened the crown prince, the young man old enough to be his son. The northern man’s boulder-like body seemed to swell with an intimidating aura.
Gravis decided to let his future father-in-law handle the situation for the time being.
“Your Highness, I understand your duty as a direct male descendant of the royal family, but that has nothing to do with us.”
Kyle’s face turned serious at these words.
For the first time, the ruler of Brungwurt showed the royal family what he was capable of.
“These deliberations are only possible because His Royal Highness the King’s brother has shown his sincerity in respecting my son as his only partner for the rest of his life. I would advise you to carefully consider what you are proposing in my presence, if it means going against His Highness’s wishes and forcing my son to walk down a path of suffering.”
August was threatening the Fanoren royal family by saying that they could part ways with the kingdom at any given moment, and that Brungwurt had the power to do so.
The room turned bitterly cold.
August’s anger was real.
Gravis decided that any more would cause friction between the two families, so he continued after the man who would become his father-in-law.
“Kyle. I know my duty as heir to the royal bloodline. I know it, and I’m sorry. I cannot do what you ask of me. I will take no other partner but Leorino for the rest of my life…no matter what happens to Leorino in the future. Yes… Ginter, put that in writing.”
“But, Your Royal Highness.” Ginter faltered.
“Without that, the margrave will not be convinced. I do not wish to invite my future father-in-law’s ire, should he keep me from my beloved spouse. Now add it to the document.”
Ginter sought confirmation from the king with his gaze. King Joachim nodded calmly.
“Do as Gravis says, Ginter. You may add that sentence.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
Ginter added a sentence at the end of the existing text and presented it to Gravis. Gravis read it over and nodded.
“That’s it.”
At that moment, Kyle threw his hands up in the air in defeat.
“…Ah, I knew that wasn’t going to work. And here I thought I could solve my greatest and only concern. Now I’ve lost that opportunity forever. I have failed miserably.”
“You lost, Kyle. You’re still no match for the margrave.” King Joachim chuckled at the crown prince’s complaints.
Kyle looked back at his father and shrugged with a sigh. “My concerns are serious, too, Father. Someone must carry on the rightful line of royalty.”
The king and the crown prince watched each other for a moment. Eventually, the king sighed. “Kyle…I believe your interests have never lay with men. You could simply get married already and produce an heir and a sufficient number of spares.”
“Ah, that’s the one thing I didn’t want to hear.” Kyle’s face crumpled.
Instead of an apology, the king expressed his consideration to August.
“Margrave. I swear to you that Fanoren will respect your youngest son when he leaves the Cassieux family and joins ours. Would that be acceptable?”
The attendees stirred once more at the king’s words. The king had compromised with the Cassieuxs.
August took the opportunity to bow to the king. “I am deeply honored to hear that, Your Majesty. My family will never forget the favor you have bestowed upon us.”
August was willing to forget all about the crown prince’s suggestion. He had reconciled with the royal family, and the deliberations on the marriage between Gravis Adolphe Fanoren and Leorino Cassieux of Brungwurt ended without further incident.
Gravis spoke to August. “Thank you, Father.”
“Hah, I threaten Your Highness’s family and you thank me… Well, it was all I could do for my beloved youngest son. He does not have the strength to fight for himself. Consider it a wedding gift from his father.”
August’s show of force managed to make not only the royal family but also the congress and the royal court aware of Leorino’s value. Forcing the king to show his respect for the Margrave of Brungwurt was an achievement of its own.
Now, when Leorino became the spouse of the king’s brother, the congress and the nobles would not disrespect him because of his sex.
That was when the Marquis of Lagarea approached them. The two men were privately nervous, but they had both fought many battles to get to where they were now. They greeted the old nobleman with an air of ignorance.
“Marquis of Lagarea. I’m very sorry about Leorino. I realize it’s not fair to Lord Julian.”
The kindly old man with gray hair and light brown eyes wore an inscrutable expression.
“No, I have resigned myself to the natural course of events. My nephew’s charm was no match for His Royal Highness.”
His kind, if forced, smile was still the same as the old best friend August had always known. But this was all a game of deception.
“I suspect Leorino is attending the duke’s soiree tonight. I wonder what he and Julian might be talking about.”
Hearing that, Gravis and August exchanged glances.