kscans

Chapter 23 - The Life of a Certain Marquis's Daughter (Part 2)

By the pond where the lotus flowers were said to be in full bloom stood a chic white gazebo, which struck Emeralda’s eyes as a scene from a painting. The pure white buds floated above the waves of green leaves like glowing candles, creating a fantastical sight.

Among the many buds, the two flowers that had opened seemed especially dreamlike and beautiful.

"What do you think?"

"I’ve never seen a lotus flower before. What a strange flower…"

The fist-sized flowers stretched their necks straight up, as if entirely separate from the large, curtain-like green leaves spreading across the water’s surface. They possessed a flawless shape and texture that seemed almost artificial.

The white petals lacked the fragility of something that might scatter in the wind; while delicate, they had a solid, stable quality.

"The lotus flowers here are small, but in other places, they can bloom larger than your head, Lady Emeralda."

"Oh, really?"

"Indeed. The water in this pond is clear, you see. Lotus flowers bloom largest and most beautifully the murkier the water."

"It’s better when it’s murky?"

"Does that seem strange to you?"

Allen asked with an amused smile, and Emeralda tilted her head.

To her young mind, she could only imagine the simple cause and effect that beautiful things are born from beautiful things.

"Don’t you find it strange, Lord Allen?"

"I… when I first heard that, I thought it was a noble flower. Like a lady among ladies."

With a soft sigh, Allen’s gaze drifted back to the lotus flowers, his expression hardening into a tense look that a keen observer might have found alarming. Unaware of his change in demeanor, Emeralda etched his words into her heart with a sense of elation.

"A lady among ladies…"

"Yes. Modest in times of peace, yet possessing a noble strength to endure harsh environments in times of adversity, blooming into a great flower untainted by its surroundings…" At that, Allen seemed to snap back to the present, smiling down at the little lady beside him.

"This might still be a difficult topic for you, Lady Emeralda."

"Not at all! One day, I will become a lady among ladies."

Seeing the young girl’s face shining with aspiration, Allen smiled back, as if dazzled.

"Oh, in that case, Lady Emeralda, you are a future royal governess."

"A governess…?"

"‘Lady among Ladies’ is another term for the governess of a royal heir. I’m sure you have a governess yourself, Lady Emeralda, but the circumstances for a royal governess are different from those of the nobility."

"How are they different?"

"A royal governess is a teacher responsible for raising a prince or princess into a fine individual. I imagine you have tutors, Lady Emeralda, but I’m sure you also learn many things from your mother, do you not?"

"I do! My mother is very skilled at embroidery. And the harp, too."

"You have a wonderful mother. I am quite envious."

Allen feigned dramatic surprise at Emeralda’s proud declaration, and they both burst out laughing.

"In the case of a prince or princess, their parents are His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen. Their positions keep them busy, and even as parent and child, they cannot offer close guidance. That is why a special governess is needed. A woman of outstanding character, dignity, and knowledge, who holds the deep trust of Their Majesties, is chosen. The governess who raises the heir is called the ‘Lady among Ladies.’"

In this country, children born to royal concubines were, in principle, publicly treated as children of the official queen. A concubine, though the birth mother, was not permitted to be involved in her child’s upbringing. Concubines were officially regarded not as formal consorts but as flowers to comfort the king, and no matter how favored they were, they were strictly forbidden from interfering in the education of the king’s children.

From among the princes who were raised, the most capable was chosen as the heir, regardless of his birth mother’s status. For this reason, the governess who raised the heir received great praise.

At that moment, Allen’s heart was actually filled with irony, a fact of which Emeralda was blissfully unaware.

The detrimental effects of a governess’s oversized influence were beginning to show in his cousin, the crown prince, Lugares. Prince Lugares had no siblings and had thus lost the opportunity to compete and improve himself.

The governess herself was much the same.

She may have been a respectable person when first chosen, but now her judgment seemed to be thoroughly clouded.

Though no scandal had reached outside the palace, Allen knew of the problematic governess from his mother. Allen’s mother, who had married out of the royal family, made daily visits to the palace to admonish the governess for her tyranny and keep a watchful eye on her.

It was manageable for now, as Prince Lugares was still the crown prince. However, he was the long-awaited heir, born after a succession of five princesses, and it was common knowledge that the king doted on him and intended to abdicate the throne early.

At this rate, he will not become a proper king—hearing his mother’s lamentations, Allen himself had often tried to admonish his cousin. But the spoiled prince only found Allen annoying and refused to listen.

The system worked well when it functioned properly, but the consequences of its failure were far too great.

Allen’s parents, along with other sensible nobles, had begun to discuss revising the royal governess system, but progress was slow, as many sided with the governess or chose to remain neutral.

Allen, who would come of age the following year, had already qualified as a knight and was slated for assignment not to the prestigious Royal Guard, but to the Border Knights who protected the nation’s frontiers.

This was at his mother’s recommendation. She was so brilliant it was said that had she not been a woman, she would have been chosen as crown prince. Her own governess was a woman worthy of the title "Lady among Ladies." Allen had been taught by them both.

At this rate, the country would slowly decline. For now, no neighboring countries dared to challenge their great nation, but a famously bellicose emerging power lay just beyond a small buffer state.

‘In preparation for the worst, temper your mind and body on the frontier, and build your strength.’

Allen, who held a claim to the throne, had been drilled since childhood by his mother and her governess on what it meant to be a royal. Understanding the unspoken words as well, Allen had silently nodded in agreement.

Unaware of any of this, Emeralda’s innocent admiration made him feel as if he had seen a glimmer of hope in a vaguely dark future.

Perhaps when this country faced a crisis, this little lady, grown into a fine woman, would bloom beautifully.

For Allen, the brief time spent with Emeralda was a gentle memory, but it was soon buried deep in his mind, swept away by the torrent of his new life on the frontier and the raw suffering of the people he witnessed firsthand.

For Emeralda, however, it was an event that indelibly etched a vibrant love and aspiration into her heart.

Emeralda’s first love grew in secret, unspoken to anyone.

And so, at a young age, she began to walk the path toward becoming a "Lady among Ladies," a path presented to her like a revelation.

With a speed that astonished the adults around her, Emeralda absorbed all manner of knowledge. In the process, she came to understand that the feeling growing in her heart was love, and at the same time, she learned the nature of noble marriage, realizing that she would likely never be united with her first love in matrimony.

The ducal House of Dindrion was prestigious, but its ties to House Garnos were thin, and a marriage alliance would yield little profit. Furthermore, Allen already had a fiancée. She had never even been a candidate to begin with.

Emeralda’s engagement was arranged before she turned ten. Her betrothed was the heir to the neighboring Farisael Marquisate, a territory that sometimes clashed with the Garnos Marquisate over water rights. He was ten years her senior.

But she did not mind.

Because Emeralda was in love.

For a noblewoman, love was not something to be shared with a husband, but a right to be earned after fulfilling one’s duties.

Her first love would one day find her, grown into a "Lady among Ladies," offer his praise, and beg for her love.

This had become Emeralda’s goal.

Young Emeralda did not realize how shallow a dream this was.

The foolish girl, her eyes clouded by love, failed to realize she was critically lacking something to be a "Lady among Ladies."

Though she became well-versed in the anecdotes of the many great kings, queens, and nobles of the past, and learned how one should live with pride, she never truly grasped why.

Emeralda never thought of the country, or the lives of its people.

She possessed the knowledge, but she never understood its true meaning.

As she grew, Emeralda captivated high society with her polished beauty and education.

King Lugares, who had already ascended the throne, even made a secret offer for her to become his concubine.

But becoming a concubine would make her dream unattainable. Even a concubine, once married into the royal family, was required above all else to be chaste. Moreover, since one of her dreams was to become a royal governess, it was a position she particularly wanted to avoid.

Her parents had anticipated that she might be desired as a concubine, and in accordance with Emeralda’s wishes, they had made preparations for her to marry at any time before her debut in society.

Noble marriages required the country’s permission. At Emeralda’s strong request, both families had already obtained permission for her to marry as soon as she turned fifteen, the age of majority. By the time the offer came, even the wedding date had been set, allowing them to gracefully decline.

And so, within months of her debut, Emeralda married and joined House Farisael.

Now, I must bear an heir as quickly as possible and begin a romance with him.

Such was the childish and foolish love that occupied Emeralda’s heart.

Their reunion came fifteen years after that childhood tea party.

Allen had rarely returned to the capital, moving from one part of the frontier to another. As a mere son of a noble house, he had steadily risen through the ranks from a common knight to a battalion commander. Set to marry the daughter of a Border Count in the autumn, he had returned to the capital for the first time in ages to report to the king and express his gratitude for the marriage approval.

His engagement to his first fiancée had been broken three years after he left for the frontier, making this his second betrothed.

Allen was now thirty-two, a late marriage for a high-ranking noble.

As a quasi-royal with a claim to the throne, his marriage was inevitably entangled in political machinations.

He had sought permission for the engagement quite some time ago, but the alliance with the powerful Border Count, a key figure in defending the border region, was seen as dangerous, and permission was slow to come.

However, when a neighboring country with which they had a relatively long-standing relationship was destroyed by an emerging power, the central government, feeling a sense of crisis, finally granted permission in order to strengthen the frontier’s defenses.

The central government’s motive was likely to tie down the Border Count, who was often critical of them, so he would not be tempted to switch allegiances. The king, too, was annoyed by his meddlesome cousin and saw it as a perfect opportunity to keep him pinned down near the border.

At the same time, it was decided that the king would take a concubine from the newly neighboring emerging power as part of a marriage alliance.

Meanwhile, Emeralda, now twenty-one, had already borne a son and had just earned the right to pursue love.