386 - Alfred's Perspective Felicia's Wedding 1
Even with the search for the kidnapped Japanese reincarnator underway, when it comes to a royal wedding, and especially the marriage of one's own elder sister, one simply cannot afford to be absent. It was not so urgent as to require relay horses, but neither did I have the leisure to enjoy the journey in a carriage, so I came directly from the city of Grenore by horseback. Though it was early spring, there were still mountain roads with lingering snow, so at night I obediently used inns in the towns. It was a hurried journey, but not a matter of life and death. Once my business was finished, I planned to return to Grenore the same way, taking lodging along the route.
"I have come to pay my respects upon my return, Mother."
After resting and tidying up at my residence in the noble district, I immediately went to the royal castle to inquire after the health of my birth mother, Evelina. Since she began taking the antidote that Christina revived, she seems to have stopped falling ill. The removal of Chadwick likely played a large part as well.
"Your complexion looks good too. I am relieved."
"Thank you for worrying. I am gradually trying to regain my strength."
Mother smiled, saying she might be able to return to her official duties before long, and her cheeks looked a little fuller. Before, she lived a life where she could barely lift her head from the pillow, having grown gaunt and thin, but it seemed she was recovering her health on the outside as well, which was a relief.
"How is the search for Christina going? Has there been any progress?"
"We have managed to determine that she seems to have been taken to the Zugari Empire, but we do not have a clear fix on her whereabouts yet..."
I could not say it would be tomorrow, but I assured Evelina that we were moving to retrieve her for certain. Everyone feels the same desire to get her back as soon as possible. The one who feels this most strongly is Leonardo, her brother. And since I am the one holding Leonardo back, telling him not to rush, I cannot afford to act rashly myself. We have only just determined which direction she was taken in. To retrieve Christina without fail, we also need to let the kidnappers run free for a while.
...Christina is a clever child. She is probably waiting for an opportunity to escape without provoking the criminals.
As for Christina, I am not as worried as Leonardo, who looks like he might dash off at any moment. She sometimes takes childish actions like playing pranks, but fundamentally she is a girl who thinks before she acts. She would not do something foolish like provoking the criminals and bringing harm upon herself. She should be either biding her time for an escape while acting like an obedient prisoner, or waiting quietly for rescue.
...If there is one thing to worry about concerning Christina, it is that I cannot entirely rule out the possibility that she might attempt to escape on her own if she finds a good opportunity.
She is a girl with a strangely calm side, so I trust she will not act rashly, but even so, she also possesses a boldness that might make her run away from the kidnappers if she finds a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She displays courage and a tomboyish nature in the strangest of places. That alone was a source of worry.
...If only she would just come back safe and sound, I would welcome it.
It would be impossible for Christina to return alone from the Zugari Empire. The distance alone is too great. On foot it would take months, and besides the distance, there are mountains, valleys, and forests. Since there were signs that her clothes had been changed, the black cat wallet she always wore around her neck when going out was probably taken from her as well. Even if the contents of the wallet were not taken, the amount of a child's allowance would be far too insufficient to cover travel expenses from the Zugari Empire to the city of Grenore.
"Oh, yes. You should also go see Felicia."
"I will pass. Felicia elder sister must be at her busiest right now."
After I let out a little of my anxiety about Christina, Evelina brought up Felicia's name as if to change the subject, so I went along with it. I was worried about Christina, but I had come to the capital to celebrate Felicia's wedding. Unlike Leonardo, I cannot keep repeating Christina's name.
I shrugged and gave a wry smile at Evelina's suggestion, saying I would only be in the way. I had rushed here to celebrate Felicia, but regarding Felicia's wedding, I was aware that I had forced her into a difficult situation. I was prepared to receive any scolding, but the timeframe I had forced upon the wedding was far too short for a royal wedding. At the very least, I did not want to interfere with the preparations.
"I will listen to whatever complaints Felicia elder sister has after the ceremony is over."
"Saying that, you plan to return to Grenore as soon as the ceremony ends, do you not?"
"...Does it show?"
"I am your mother. I know what my son is thinking."
Pushed by Evelina, who warned that if I did not want Felicia to barge into Grenore Fortress under the pretext of a honeymoon, I had better appease her before the ceremony, I went to visit Felicia's detached palace. Felicia, who holds a Royal Peerage, has a residence in the noble district just as I do, but apparently she had been living at the detached palace for a while due to being busy with wedding preparations. She must have thought the time spent traveling between the noble district and the royal castle was a waste.
...No, that is not it. Perhaps her residence was overflowing with gifts and she fled.
As I was guided by a lady's maid to the reception room of the detached palace, I caught sight of the entrance hall buried in gifts for Felicia, whose marriage had been decided, and even the hallways and guest rooms seemed to be occupied by gift boxes. If the detached palace was like this, then the smaller residence in the noble district had probably been filled with gifts easily.
...Normally, once a woman is decided to belong to another man, the number of gifts would seem to decrease.
But that is just how Felicia is, I suppose. Even with her marriage decided, Felicia's popularity did not wane. On the contrary, even followers who usually refrained from offering tributes seemed to think that a celebratory wedding gift would be fine, and each was preparing the finest items they could give.
"...You are as beautiful as ever, Felicia elder sister."
No. Far from being as beautiful as ever, I felt she was becoming even more beautiful.
Felicia, who was looking over the ever-growing catalog of gifts, appeared to have a slightly tired expression, but even that face was all the more beautiful for being my elder sister. Felicia's followers are those who have become captives of her goddess-like beauty, so of course acquiring a partner would not cast a shadow over her popularity. Between the goddess (Felicia) and humans (themselves), there was only faith from the beginning, and there were no followers (humans) who wished to become the husband of the goddess they worshiped. One might then wonder if jealousy would not be directed at the human man who would become her husband, but Erald, who is to become Felicia's husband, is a medieval-style handsome man with delicate features like a lovely beauty. Anyone would pale in comparison to Felicia, but he is not an unsightly man to stand beside her. In that sense as well, jealousy toward Felicia's husband probably does not arise.
"That I am beautiful is as natural as the sun rising and setting, as night breaking and morning inevitably coming."
"It sounds like Felicia elder sister will be saying the same thing fifty years from now."
"Of course. Growing older does not mean growing ugly and decrepit. You do not think of Ariel as an ugly old woman fifty years from now, do you?"
"I do not."
I replied without a moment's hesitation, and then imagined the figure of my fiancee fifty years from now. Her beautiful, supple skin might only be for now, but even if wrinkles were carved into her face and her skin lost its firmness, she would still be herself. Every single one of those wrinkles would be precious, and I looked forward to being able to grow old together with her.
"...I apologize for forcing such a demanding schedule upon Felicia elder sister's wedding this time."
"The difference is only whether it is sooner or later. I do not mind. ...The longer the period, the more Erald would just dilly-dally."
Rather, giving him no time to escape and notifying it as a done deal was a good move, Felicia said with a cheerful smile, while the prospective groom, the Silver-White Knight Erald standing behind her, had a pale face that looked like he might collapse at any moment. If you only looked at his face, he seemed dissatisfied with this wedding, but it was not that Erald did not want to become Felicia's husband. Like the other followers, he was aware of being a captive of Felicia's beauty, and he was a rare person who could love Felicia as a woman including her somewhat self-confident personality. What he lacked was only the confidence that he himself was the man worthy of Felicia.
"Aurelian lace has been sent from Mandez. It is magnificent. To think that complex bobbin lace could be woven this beautifully in just a few years. The ribbon Christina made for me is also lovely, but I can tell this lace is on a completely different level in skill."
If Aurelia had not shut herself away in Waiyakku Valley, bobbin lace might have taken root as one of the country's industries by now. What a waste, Felicia said, lowering her eyes slightly. If Aurelia had not been sold to the Sedovara Church, bobbin lace might have taken root in this land as an industry. In exchange, the secret arts of Saint Yuuta Hiraga would have been lost much sooner. The gap period until Christina was found was long. The current situation, where the revival of the secret arts was in sight just one year after news of Aurelia's death, was close to a miracle. And that miracle had now run aground because Christina had been kidnapped.
"Aurelia has shut herself away in the valley, but Christina has taken over and put it into the form of a guidebook. From now on, we will establish it as one of our country's industries."
That was the purpose of Felicia's wedding. If bobbin lace was used in a princess's wedding dress, the advertising effect would be unparalleled within the country.
"I do not mind wearing Aurelian lace for Christina's sake, but you had better apologize properly to Ariel. A wedding dress is a garment filled with sentiment that a woman would have been preparing for years."
"...I hope the Aurelian lace will improve her mood. For my part, I chose what I thought would best bring out Ariel's cuteness."
"That is that, and this is this."
Felicia says this, but it is not as if the introduction of bobbin lace ruins the entire wedding dress. Bobbin lace is merely one decoration. The original design would change, but it was entirely possible to make use of the originally planned design.
The same was true for Felicia having bobbin lace incorporated at short notice, but I had even suddenly arranged the wedding date for Felicia. There was no wedding dress that had been prepared for years, and since the design incorporating bobbin lace could be created from scratch, the tailors probably had an easier time in that regard. However, they were probably screaming because now there was too little time to finish the design.
"I think it is a good advertising method to spread it throughout the country, but I feel it is a bit weak for piquing the Empire's interest."
"Regarding that, we plan to gift Aurelian lace to a party in the Empire that cannot be ignored. We are having the finest that can currently be made produced in the city of Mandez."
"Oh my, Alf. You have a nasty look on your face."
Felicia's white hand reached out and cupped both my cheeks. She kneaded my cheeks between her fingers, and it seemed the 'nasty look' Felicia mentioned had been worked out. For my part, I had intended to wear a smile that could be used anywhere, not a 'nasty look,' but it seemed my elder sister saw it differently.
"So, who are you planning to involve this time?"
I am a younger brother who, without giving my own elder sister and her long-waiting fiance a proper preparation period, proposes to hold their wedding in quick succession. It was not unreasonable for Felicia to want to know who I planned to involve next. A little recklessness could be solved by Felicia's smile alone, but the person I was planning to involve this time would be beyond Felicia's ability to handle. Whether they would agree to this proposal could only be left to their goodwill.
"I plan to make the fullest use of Christina's connections."
"When it comes to Christina's strongest connections, that would be the spirits and the Divine King, would it not? Both are from the age of mythology..."
Both the spirits and the Divine King are figures from mythology. According to Christina, the Divine King still exists, but I have never met him. When it comes to figures from mythology, even if they have name recognition, it was impossible for me to have personal dealings with them and have them advertise bobbin lace. It was probably because Felicia realized this as well that she trailed off. We cannot ask the Divine King to advertise bobbin lace, but there are still people close to the Divine King.
"Indeed, if the Acting King of the Divine Kingdom of Quebia would wear it, the Aurelian lace would spread throughout the continent."
"It has been a long time since the Divine King vanished at the end of mythology, but the faith itself has not been lost."
The bloodline descended from the Divine King. If the Acting King, considered the most venerable of them in the present day, wore bobbin lace, then demand for bobbin lace would arise on its own afterwards. Devout believers would surely seek bobbin lace. And because it was close to the Divine Kingdom of Quebia, the faith of the people living in the northern part of the Zugari Empire was strong. Conveniently, it was also close to the region where an old kingdom was located, according to information Leonardo had received from an 'acquaintance.'
"...Christina was not a child who went out much from the detached palace, but she has such strange connections."
"I think I understand why Leonardo was reluctant to let her out of the residence, saying she would make outrageous acquaintances without him knowing."
She is a girl who, just when you think she has finally gone outside to participate in a festival, ends up getting acquainted with a mythical Divine King. As a guardian (big brother), it must have been nerve-wracking. From my perspective as a prince, it was reasonable, but from a commoner's viewpoint looking at Christina, even just being acquainted with royalty and several Silver-White Knights would make her seem to have strange connections.
"Speaking of the Divine King, I hear that another 'Spirit Seat' was discovered in Gumons, Grandfather's territory. Since it appeared right after hearing about it from Christina, the destruction of the 'Spirit Seats' must truly be the Divine King's will."
I assumed it meant we should devote all our efforts to searching for Christina, but I had not been informed at all about the discovery of a new 'Spirit Seat.' According to Felicia's brief explanation, they apparently attempted to destroy the discovered 'Spirit Seat' immediately, but far from destroying it, they could not even scratch it, and Gumons seemed to be in trouble.
"I had heard from Christina that she destroyed them easily..."
"I heard the same. I wonder if only Christina can destroy them?"
I had also heard the story that Christina destroyed the 'Spirit Seats,' namely the Divine King's coffins. I had even heard the details of how it happened and how the coffins were broken, directly from Christina herself. I recall she did not seem particularly conscious of how she had destroyed them.
"...It should not be the case that only Christina can destroy them. Because Christina said there was talk of leaving it to the next generation if she could not destroy all of them."
According to what Christina told me about the Divine King's words, it should be possible for people other than Christina to destroy the 'Spirit Seats.' Thinking logically, if Christina, who has no physical strength, could destroy them, there is no way an adult could not. Since it was found in Gumons, Grandfather and his attendants, or at the very least the boastfully strong Black Knights and Silver-White Knights, should have been nearby. There is no way that something Christina could destroy with her strength could not be destroyed.
...Is there some method or trick that Christina simply was not aware of?
This seemed like a good place to stop. I did not manage to reach Felicia-sama's wedding ceremony.
Irregular updates will last until Monday, for now. After that, it is unclear whether I will have time for a while, so I will aim for updates every other day or so.