218 - The Triangle Surrounding Alf
Now then, where to begin. While I was worrying about that sort of thing, Leonardo's birthday arrived. Having turned twenty-four, Leonardo was in the prime of his manhood, the peak of his working years.
Though, no wife, and that.
It would be troublesome if he brought home a problematic lover like Kaya, but bringing no one at all also seemed questionable. Lately he spent almost all his time except winter inside the residence, so I supposed he wasn't blessed with opportunities for meeting people, but it also felt like he had no interest in it whatsoever. At last year's Spring Flower Festival, far from seeking encounters, he'd carried me in his arms while walking through the city as if to ward off women. That was practically parading around announcing he had a daughter this old. An ordinary young woman would hardly consider him as a lover or husband.
"Come to think of it, I don't hear any stories about Alf-san either, do I?"
"What brings this up so suddenly?"
Stopping the hand sewing Leonardo's shirt, I voiced a thought that had occurred to me. At my bringing up Alf's name without context, Hermine blinked. She stopped her work with a dubious look and turned her gaze toward me.
"Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama doesn't have any romantic rumors either, but I was thinking the same goes for Alf-san."
Now that I'd noticed, it was strange. Unlike Leonardo, Alf was a considerate, wonderful gentleman. His face was handsome, and since he served as a Black Knight, he was strong too. I tended to forget because Leonardo with his bangs pushed back looked older than his age, but Alf was actually older than Leonardo, and being unmarried at his age was rather unnatural. And yet, I'd never once seen him with a lover, nor heard anything about marriage plans.
...Was it because I only ever saw Alf-san during work hours?
Alf came to the residence when he brought Leonardo's work or when something happened at the fortress. Both of those were work-related for Alf. Occasionally when he stayed for dinner, surely that wasn't work time, but I'd only ever seen Alf out of uniform when he was staying at the residence in Leonardo's place.
I almost convinced myself that it was simply because I almost never saw Alf during his private time, but then Hermine made a slightly troubled face and warned me, "Please don't ask him directly." Apparently she intended to satisfy my curiosity to some extent here, so that I wouldn't go asking him myself.
"Alfred-sama once had a childhood friend as a fiancee, but her father sought a better match, unilaterally acted as though the engagement with Alfred-sama had never happened, and had her engaged to Prince Alfred instead."
"...Er, what?"
Since Hermine called Leonardo "Mr. Dupre" and Alf "Alfred-sama", when Alfred came up it got confusing. The "Prince" part made the difference clear, but it still made me pause for a moment.
"It seems that at the time, the fiancee also had feelings for Alfred-sama, and there were various complications... but officially, she is now Prince Alfred's fiancee."
"...But, Alfred-sama, um. Prince Alfred is..."
"Yes, Prince Alfred is someone who publicly declares his love for Alfred-sama without restraint."
Since my way of saying Alfred and Hermine's way of saying Alf kept getting mixed up, I decided to match Hermine's way of addressing him. Or rather, perhaps as a lady I should be calling Alf "Alf-sama" instead.
According to Hermine, the childhood friend whose fiance was swapped away initially still had feelings for Alf, but whether time healed it or not, she now seemed to have properly cultivated her love for Alfred. As if in compensation, Prince Alfred paid no attention to his fiancee and loudly proclaimed his love for Alf instead.
...What a delightful love triangle.
It seemed that the reason Alfred, who was of considerable age, remained unmarried was that the only thing Alfred, having obtained the Royal Peerage, had requested of his father the king was the right to choose his own partner -- a right hardly uncommon among commoners. Therefore, the engagement arranged by his parents with Alf's childhood friend was broken off, and Alfred was still loudly proclaiming his love for Alf.
"Did that woman's father quietly accept the broken engagement?"
"It seems he did raise objections, but since he had done the same thing first, he couldn't very well complain about having it done to him."
The childhood friend's father had unilaterally acted as though the engagement with Alf had never happened, and arranged an engagement with Prince Alfred. I hadn't noticed earlier, but the initial engagement with Alf hadn't been "broken off" but rather treated as if it "never existed." No matter which side was at fault, a young lady who had once had her engagement broken off would have a poor reputation. So they treated the engagement with Alf as if it never happened, had her engaged to Alfred, and now Alfred himself had broken off the engagement.
"...Do you think Prince Alfred did it to get revenge for Alfred-sama?"
"One would have to ask Prince Alfred himself to know for certain, but the fiancee's father does seem to be in a difficult position."
As a father, he wanted his daughter married before she became too old, but he couldn't foist her onto Alf now, and a daughter who was once the fiancee of a prince wouldn't find a new match easily. If it had simply been a broken engagement due to changing circumstances, there might have been a path forward, but she was a daughter with baggage, having had her engagement "broken off" despite being desired by a prince who had obtained the Royal Peerage. In other words, it was as if the prince himself had branded her "unfit as a partner for a ruler." This meant the nobles who governed territories would also judge her unfit as their own partner. Though there were differences in the scale of the lands they governed, they too were rulers themselves. They would hardly want to take as a wife a daughter deemed unfit as a partner for a ruler.
"...Everyone's a victim here."
The childhood friend's father was the perpetrator, so I excluded him. I felt Alfred was close to being on the perpetrator's side too, but since I didn't know his motives, I'd reserve judgment. Given that Alfred loudly proclaimed his love for Alf, he might have stepped away from the fiancee for Alf's sake, or he might have taken revenge on the fiancee's father on Alf's behalf. Either way, the most unfortunate one was the childhood friend.
"Noble political marriages are scary, aren't they."
"It is not someone else's problem, you know."
If someone wanted to form a connection with Leonardo, who would eventually become a Merit Peerage, they would either send a daughter to Leonardo as a bride, or seek to take me, who was treated as his sister, as a bride, Hermine said. If Leonardo married within a few years and had many children, proposals for me might decrease slightly, but only slightly. If someone wanted to form a connection quickly, without waiting for Leonardo's children to grow up, they would come for me as a bride.
...She was right. It wasn't someone else's problem at all.
As the granddaughter of Bertrand, a Merit Peerage, and also as the sister of Leonardo, who would one day become a Merit Peerage, troublesome marriage proposals seemed likely to come pouring in. I really would need to seriously find a commoner man stronger than Leonardo.
"Will Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama also arrange a fiance for me someday?"
In the living room after dinner, when Leonardo was at his most relaxed and attentive with me, I asked him this. We had been playing Saik today, and Leonardo, who had been drinking coffee while pondering his next move, instinctively held back from spraying the contents of his mouth at me sitting across from him, and as a result, choked magnificently. For my brother, I thought he held up well.
"...Wh-why... did that... come up...?"
Still sounding a bit pained, occasionally choking, he asked me back. I reflected that it had been too sudden and too direct, and told him what I had heard from Hermine during the day. That nobles who wanted to form a connection with Leonardo, who would eventually be counted as a noble, might bring up marriage proposals to me as well.
"I don't intend to force anything on you, Tina. Even with marriage, you should be with whatever man you like. ...Well, I will be vetting him as your brother, though."
I gave a wry smile and teased Leonardo, who said he wouldn't recognize a man weaker than himself. The pool of candidates was already quite narrow at "a man stronger than Leonardo." According to Siegwald, there were only a few among the Silver-White Knights, but all of them were married, so having them as my husband was out of the question.
"...So, what brought this up?"
Clack, Leonardo moved his piece on the Saik board, and now it was my turn to think. Since I'd played quite a lot of Saik with Kalisa around, my hopelessly terrible Saik skills had improved a little. I still couldn't beat Alf, but occasionally I could even beat Leonardo.
"It started from the topic of Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama not finding a bride this year either, and then the conversation turned to Alf-san."
"...You heard about it."
Leonardo made a troubled face at the moment I mentioned his bride, but when he heard the topic had shifted to Alf, his expression turned serious. He was talking about Alf, his friend, or rather, his best friend. Leonardo must know the circumstances as well.
"Alf still has feelings for his ex-fiancee, his ex-fiancee long ago moved her heart to Prince Alfred. And Prince Alfred is head over heels for Alf."
"A perfect love triangle."
Or perhaps one might call it a three-way stalemate. A magnificently hopeless configuration was complete.
"Prince Alfred is a royal who has obtained the Royal Peerage, but if he marries Alf, he would automatically renounce his right to succession. Even if he publicly declares his love for Alf, he will likely take a female partner eventually."
"Huh? Does Alfred-sama intend to become king?"
Rather than the fact that Alfred would eventually take a female partner, I was more surprised that Alfred apparently had intentions of pursuing the throne. I had learned about same-sex marriage since coming to the city, but in this country it wasn't so much broadly accepted as it had never been subject to discrimination or distinction from the start. Perhaps because the gods in the myths were so free, common sense was subtly different from Earth. However, just as heirs to carry on bloodlines were preferred to be female, same-sex couples tended to be excluded from succession. Similarly, those who wanted children chose partners of the opposite sex, so statistically it was almost the same as Earth's marital patterns.
"Prince Alfred does have his troublesome aspects, but it seems he is properly thinking about it, considering whether there is no one else more suitable."
I had only seen Alfred's private side, but it seemed that as a public figure, Alfred behaved properly as a royal and worked for the people. Even if he appeared to act freely now, having been born into royalty, he understood his role.
"And the ex-fiancee also knows Prince Alfred's character well, so she's waiting, thinking that someday he might turn back to her."
If Alf found another bride, everything should move in a positive direction, but it was difficult, Leonardo said, closing his eyes thoughtfully for a moment before opening them again.
"Right. Why don't you go marry Alf, Tina?"
Leonardo said that while he'd have some complaints, he'd allow me to marry Alf. Above all, Alf was better at handling me than he was.
"I like Alf-san, but Alf-san is a noble, isn't he? I don't want to become a noble."
"I think you're suited for nobility, though..."
"I'm not. I was born and raised a commoner."
I insisted that as long as I acquired enough manners as Leonardo's sister not to embarrass him, that was enough. I had heard that the nobles of this country weren't the type of 'high and mighty nobles' I wanted to avoid, but that didn't mean all nobles were like that. Alf had also told me there were nobles like the villains in stories. Better to stay away.
For reference, Napaji prohibits same-sex marriage, the Empire discriminates against it, and the neighboring country treats same-sex lovers as a noble's refinement. Incidentally, even siblings with the same mother can marry under various conditions -- that setting does exist, for what it's worth. Not that it has anything to do with Tina.
Since children are also considered labor, at the village level, same-sex marriage becomes subject to ostracism. The reason being that same-sex marriage doesn't increase the workforce (i.e., children). That's probably why Tina hadn't known that same-sex marriage was also a normal thing until she came to the city.
Incidentally, this doesn't particularly touch the main storyline, so there's no need to remember it...
Typos and misspellings again another time. I've fixed the typos and misspellings I found.