When Dirk raised the question, the men groaned and fell silent. At that moment, Theodor opened an old book he had brought with him and showed it to his master.
“Your Highness, we received this from the spy you had sent to the Lagarea domain. He delivered the relevant church records after disguising them by switching the covers… Here are the marriage records of the former Marquis of Lagarea.”
The men peered into the old book on the desk. The records were nearly seventy years old. The paper had deteriorated to the point where the text was difficult to read, and the ornate script made it illegible.
“It’s old calligraphy. I couldn’t read it if I tried.”
Dirk gave up and pulled away. The others did the same. Theodor held out his hand and offered to read it out to them, but Gravis lifted the book himself and began to examine the records.
“…Indeed, I see a record of a marriage between the former Marquis of Lagarea and a woman named Marfa, but Marfa was not a ‘Ladoga.’”
“And her age? How old was this Marfa?”
“It says she was seventeen.”
Gravis replied to the chancellor’s question. In return, Ginter showed him the records from the Palace of Foreign Affairs.
“Marfa Ladoga is listed as sixteen years old. If she was given to the Marquis of Lagarea within the year, that could explain the discrepancy.”
Lucas visibly wrinkled his nose. “A concubine at the age of sixteen…? No one should have to do that for their country.”
But August groaned in a hoarse voice. His expression was grim. “No… If you think about it, if Marfa had been a concubine in the first place, it would have been impossible for her to marry the Marquis of Lagarea.”
“What do you mean, Lord August? Wasn’t Marfa taken to the palace as a concubine?”
“She couldn’t have been, Lord Lucas. Which means…Marfa may not have been King Tyrone’s concubine at all.”
Ginter nodded with a frown. “Lord August is right. If Marfa had become an official concubine, it would have been impossible for her to have been given to the Marquis of Lagarea in the first place.”
“…What do you mean?”
“The Royal Marriage Act.”
When the men made it clear those words clarified little, Ginter carefully explained.
“According to the Royal Marriage Act, men of the royal family are not permitted to divorce their partners, unlike nobles and commoners. Instead, they are given the privilege of having multiple concubines in addition to their spouse. If King Tyrone had broken that law, it would have become a major scandal. But we know for a fact that did not happen…which means…”
“Princess Marfa was not given the status of a concubine, so she could have been given to the former Marquis of Lagarea as his wife,” August finished in disgust. The men’s expressions all turned somber.
No matter how small her country, a royal-born princess had been summoned to the king’s personal harem, was denied the status of a concubine, and was passed on to a vassal instead. Whether or not the king had laid his hands on her, she had been treated like a royal mistress. For all it mattered, she could have been a common whore.
Leorino also seemed to have arrived at that conclusion.
“Then they treated Lady Marfa like a… She was only sixteen, and a princess… That’s dreadful…”
Hearing his heartbroken murmur, the men fell silent. If it was true, the king’s status would not have made the decision any more acceptable in terms of diplomacy or morality. It was heinous behavior, utterly worthy of contempt.
Lucas looked at Gravis. But it was his valet, Theodor, who responded to the man’s gaze, unconsciously filled with disgust and pity for the royal family. Theodor glared back at Lucas with a deadly glint in his eyes.
But Gravis himself did not seem particularly bothered by the slander befalling his grandfather’s conduct.
“…Perhaps it was because of the way King Tyrone treated the princess that Lürik had chosen to join Zwelf instead of Fanoren.”
At the sound of August’s hoarse voice, Ginter nodded.
“It’s certainly possible. The princess was sent to the palace on the assumption that she would be taken as a concubine. Not only was that promise not kept, but within a year she was passed on to one of the king’s vassals. I can’t imagine the humiliation and wrath Lürik must have experienced. If only their kingdom had been stronger, they would have declared war on the spot.”
“Small country or not, the pride of its royalty must have suffered. If the royal line of Lürik lives on within Zwelf…we are beginning to see a possible connection between the Marquis of Lagarea and Zwelf.”
Ginter summarized everything they had learned:
“They changed the princess’s surname and disguised her as the daughter of a minor nobleman, likely to keep the matter concealed. ‘Ladoga’ was the family name of the Lürik royal family. At the time, many people likely knew the Lüriks, small as their country was… Denying her the status of a concubine, treating her like a royal mistress, and then sending her away to a vassal would have caused an instant scandal.”
Gravis pondered it for a moment and began to flip through the church records.
“Your Excellency? What are you looking for?”
“The birth records for Bruno Henckel.”
“…Do you suspect that the time of the marquis’s birth is in question?”
Everyone looked to Ginter. The men had guessed what his words meant, their faces turning rigid.
The sound of Gravis flipping through the pages in silence echoed through the quiet room.
“Considering his age, it should be around here, but…this is strange. The son of a feudal lord, yet the date of his birth is not recorded in the church records of his domain? How could that be possible… No, wait.”
With that, he continued to flip through the old pages. Eventually, he found the entry he was looking for.
“There it is. An entry for the date of the baptism of Bruno Henckel, son of Samael Henckel and Marfa. Theodor, when do baptisms usually take place?”
Theodor answered immediately. “The nearest Sunday six months after the date of birth.”
Gravis nodded and calculated in his head the time between the marriage and the baptism. After a moment, his face grew ever more severe.
“…If my calculations are correct, then Marfa gave birth to Bruno Henkel seven months after her marriage to the former marquis.”
Except for Leorino and Josef, the faces of all the men in the room went slack. Eventually August murmured in a hoarse voice, “Your Highness…this is serious.”
Leorino looked between Gravis and his father, unable to follow the conversation. He was shocked by the words that left Gravis’s lips next.
“Yes. The months don’t add up. It is possible that Marfa was already pregnant when she was sent away from the palace.”
Gravis’s starry-sky eyes flashed darkly.
“If what these records show is true, the Marquis of Lagarea may be…the illegitimate son of my grandfather, King Tyrone.”