The Reason for Marriage

Muelton clenched his teeth. The Duke of Levinain used to be on Ruben’s side, not the liberal he had become. However, upon Daniel beginning his reign, the King coaxed the aristocrats that previously sided with Ruben onto his side, instead of driving them away. The liberal aristocrats, who previously predicted their own extermination, would be satisfied with some of Daniel’s occasional liberal policies and would speak of unconditional allegiance if it meant protecting themselves from the Rebellion. But Muelton did not speak up. Instead, he thought it wiser to allow Levinain to dig his own grave by aligning with these plans.

“I also agree,” Levinain continued, “I believe in the fact that His Majesty is taking great care of us, by welcoming a woman from an aristocratic family to be his Queen and moving our laws and codes into the future, for the good of all of us.”

Daniel seemed to be waiting for another word, and glanced in the direction of Count Esselburn. However, Count Esselburn, who drew everyone’s attention with such protests originally, stared at the table until the meeting was over and didn’t say another word.

There was another man watching the precarious atmosphere of the conference hall anxiously. Daniel was talking to the Levinain, therefore he was unable to see that the Duke of Muelton was approaching Count Esselburn as soon as the meeting was over. However, Anriq, who was guarding the conference hall like a painting behind Daniel, did not miss that moment.

“Duke.”

Ewill Esselburn stiffened, unable to even respond to the greetings of Duke Muelton, who was the most powerful nobleman in the Kingdom of Amethan.

“Let me take care of this. Sierin is pregnant with her second child, and Edward is growing well, I take it?”

Duke Muelton didn’t say much. Sierin was the eldest daughter of Ewill, who had married his son. Edward was Sierin’s eldest son, and also the grandson who was in line to inherit the Esselburn title.

“Among the five sisters, isn’t it curious that only Iveca resembles the stable keeper, right? It could end up being a blessing for us, in this… difficult time.”

After finishing everything that he had to say, Duke Muelton walked away without hearing any answer. Ewill couldn’t be offended by the rudeness, as he wouldn’t have been able to answer if Muelton had given him time to anyway.

***

Iveca could be found at the palace gym most evenings after she returned from work in the Judicial Affair Bureau now. She threw her daggers at the target one after another without any expression or words. It was a physical art that Anriq had taught her in the past, saying that it was a suitable combat style for her small body and short arms. There was no particular occasion to use it now, but it was good to get rid of her complicated thoughts through the physical and mental preoccupation of the activity.

The two years she had been given by Daniel to form the new committee was the main thing on her mind. During those 2 years, correction, correction, and more correction to the drafts she had made up for him. Referring to the principles of Republicanism that were proclaimed by the previous imperial rebels, she discussed and even debated among a few staff members of the Judicial Affair Bureau, and after a week had created ten articles and handed them over to Daniel.

The Attorney General Orem advised his youngest employee-turned-Queen carefully, after his turn to review the documents had passed.

“You should expect to receive some backlash, my Queen. Nobles don’t want to be in an equal position with commoners. I… I think it will be difficult after all.”

Iveca didn’t answer to that statement, but instead questioned it.

“What is your personal opinion of all this, Chief?”

Orem remained silent for a moment before answering.

“I grew up as a commoner. There’s no denying the fact that clever commoners have a strong antipathy towards the aristocrats. I always wonder why nobles who are dumber than me have a better life. I’ve been trying to ignore that question. But in Amethan, the path to wealth and fame for a commoner is only when you close your eyes and let your worst traits guide you.”

Iveca nodded, but not in agreement. Her own position was fortuitous, but she certainly had not utilised her worst traits to get there.

“But not all intelligent commoners succeed in joining the affiliated organization. There were people who posed a higher risk to get caught up in republicanism. It was thought that the best way to put their complaints to rest was by not giving them justification. Whether republicanism is right or wrong, when a revolution occurs, many people are hurt. But…”

Iveca knew that the old Attorney General was looking at her with worried eyes.

“My opinions do not represent any agency. Presumably, there will be a lot of opposition from the Bureau of Investigation.”

Iveca was conscious of the remark referencing her previous post.

“The Bureau of Investigation is the only affiliated agency with an authority. For a while, there were parts even the royal family could not touch. However, if they also need to obey the law, their actions would be severely restricted. And if that’s not the case, the next 50 years will be a significant crisis for the Bureau.”

“Why?” Iveca asked.

“Because the magic is disappearing. The Bureau of Investigation is the Bureau where Queen Evena gave her most special demonstration of ancient magic. If the spell goes away, there will be a lot of problems. It was simply a great deal of trouble that was far different than any other agency would possibly face.”

“Even the unique ancient magic… What is this demonstration? A spell?”

“If the magical power gradually disappears, isn’t it so that the ancient magic will gradually disappear too? The magic of Queen Evena will eventually fade away. The Bureau of Investigation is predicting around 30 to 40 years from now. It would be 50 years at most,” Orem replied.