The Reason for Marriage

There was a comforting air about Reina, so Iveca unconsciously poured out her words to her. Because she could not tell Daniel anything about Daniel himself. Envying her sisters chatting about one man or another, she laughed and rested her chin.

“Please listen to me. It is okay if you do not say anything. I think you are a nice person. These days, I was thinking about how fortunate I am that His Majesty has a place in my life, and I in his. If I had married the son of the Telsy Family as my father said, I would have likely been ignored for the rest of my life.”

“Queen.” Reina called her softly at her proud words. However, Sid stopped her immediately. “Reina, let’s have no nonsense here, please.”

“Be quiet, Sid.” Reina patted Sid’s arm sharply and spoke. “Even if His Majesty doesn’t give you much attention or praise you, in your position I could not think of how you could have done a better job. I mean that, my Queen. And you will also do better in the future. Even if His Majesty had not appeared in your life, someone else would have appeared and stood by the Queen’s side.”

Iveca stared blankly at Reina. Sid touched his forehead as if he were in trouble, but it did not stop Reina from speaking.

“In those eighteen years you might have been lonely, but after that, you would have been recognized wherever you went. His Majesty is a kind and sweet person… but he is not the Queen’s saviour. Do not rely too much on it. You could have escaped from the Count’s estate by yourself, but the timing is…”

Reina blurted her words. There was a strange silence, Iveca looked at her quietly and grinned.

“Thank you, Reina. I’m very glad you said that.”

Sid sighed. “It’s a good thing that you feel happy, my Queen, but what bearing does that have?”

Iveca chose to ignore the statement and again addressed Reina. “I am doing pretty well in the Judicial Affair Bureau, but I wish I could have done something while I was still in the middle of the Bureau of Investigation.”

“You would have done well wherever you went,” Reina reiterated, though with a sadder tone. Even though she had been attacked and threatened with poisoning, the Queen’s eyes blushed as she poked her nose in the law and said, ‘His Majesty told me I did well’, like an innocent 18-year old who came of age without the world being properly communicated to her.

Iveca smiled and suddenly thought that it was good that they were with her, even if it was just their duty to be around her. There was another sense of closeness compared to her escorts and maids. They were once colleagues who spent time together with her, and when she and Reina had a private conversation, she even felt a strange sense of relief at the connection.

So, a part of her was a little excited at the vague thought that her life in the Bureau of Investigation would have been good. At least, if she were as much of a mess as she thought, Reina would not have told her that she had done a good job anywhere quite so insistently.

It was okay for everyone to have different thoughts inside. It was great already for her, having Daniel and the staff from the Bureau of Investigation standing in front of her smiling and being so kind to her. In comparison, of course, was her father. Count Esselburn openly ignored her, and she chalked this up to his own, different, ideas inside. But everyone she met at the Queen’s palace, at least on the surface, was warm enough for her.

***

“Baron Eribon?”

Daniel read Kayden’s report with cold eyes. Kayden sighed, noticing the King’s expression of disapproval.

“He cut off his tail perfectly. It was highly likely to be a stand-alone action. It could have been conditional on a larger aristocratic family…”

“A mere baron did this to the Queen…” Daniel was visibly shaking with rage. Kayden spoke cautiously for fear of upsetting him further.

“Because he was just a mere Baron, he was able to come out on the surface.” Kayden continued to report, contemplating with his dark eyes. “It is going to get worse, your Majesty. I heard that the Queen also said she would elect a representative for the common people, within two years. It’s like giving people on their leash a deadline for their desperation.”

Daniel had no answer to his comments. Instead, he handed over the report and gave low orders.

“I’m going to set an example for what happens when you dare to touch the Queen. Behead everyone involved.”

Daniel’s blue eyes no longer shone. Kayden knew instinctively that he was trying to suppress what he genuinely wanted to do to the perpetrators.

“Yes, your Majesty.”

Daniel turned to the next report. It was a report on the civil war of the Medesto Kingdom. Medesto, who had a republican revolution going after the empire, beheaded the kings and nobles at will, but the revolutionary forces were divided into two and entered a long civil war among themselves.

“You have to live a thousand years with the Queen.” Kayden smirked without realizing it. Daniel did not point out his rudeness. “If you somehow stop the civil war, the countless lives that would have been cut off by the war will be able to live a long time too. A noble goal.”

His hands were busy reviewing the report, but there was a smile on Daniel’s lips.