Chapter 151

The Bururade Peninsula was abuzz.

The merchant twins, Sansio and Susanna, never ones to miss a commotion, joined in the buzz. Sansio chattered about the new rumor he had picked up.

“The Lord of Guidone is getting married!”

“The young Gwaemos? Finally? That’s not so surprising.”

“That’s not the problem! Do you know who he’s marrying?”

“Who?”

“A princess, a princess!”

“A princess…? No way…!”

Across the entire continent, there was only one country that used the title of princess.

A startled Susanna inadvertently spat out her beer.

“The Lord of Guidone is marrying a Cordis princess!?”

At her shout, the entire pub fell silent.

Those who were just getting tipsy all clamped their mouths shut.

They looked ready to jump out of their seats at any moment, and a few actually did.

“I think I heard something strange.”

“What was that about Guidone?”

“Hey, Sansio, did you hear some nonsense somewhere again…?”

As menacing figures approached, Sansio hastily waved his hands.

“It’s true, it’s true! The Guidone family officially announced it! He’s engaged to the Second Princess of the Cordis Empire, Santia Hostanio!”

“Ha! Is that for real?”

One of the men snorted.

His eyes held an unconcealable contempt.

“Guidone has completely lost it, they’ve really lost it!”

“Well, I knew they were chasing the Empire’s tail, but now they’re planning to stick to it for good, huh?”

The people grumbled.

It had been 53 years since the war with the Empire.

Many things were forgotten, but the hatred remained.

In some ways, it was even more intense because it was becoming a baseless loathing.

They all spat curses at the Cordis Empire and the Lord of Guidone who intended to marry its princess.

“A former imperial family, have they no pride!”

“Still, it’s a relief. If Guidone had remained the imperial family, they would have handed over the entire Bururade Peninsula to the Empire, wouldn’t they?”

“These damned bastards!”

“Cowardly Guidone!”

Sansio squeezed through the angry crowd and returned to his original table.

He felt he had said something unnecessary.

He hadn't realized people would get that angry.

“…Aigoo, I thought I was going to get beaten up for a second.”

“You fool, that wasn't something to say just anywhere. They're already getting dirty looks for taking the Empire's money.”

Susanna gave her twin brother a small scolding.

Sansio nodded his head as if in agreement.

The thoroughly enraged crowd was now suggesting they burn the goods bought from the Guidone family's trading company.

The most chilling part was that there were no dissenting voices.

“Let’s drink up and get out of here quickly….”

“Let’s. We don’t want to get caught up in something unnecessary.”

Sansio and Susanna hunched over and tilted their beer mugs, intending to empty their glasses quickly and escape the heated pub.

They were merchants, and whatever their ideologies or beliefs, they had a deep-seated habit of choosing the path of profit.

As their mugs emptied, the people’s voices grew louder.

“Cowardly Guidone!”

“Cowardly, Guidone!”

***

The rumor that Guidone had formed a marriage alliance with the Cordis imperial family quickly spread beyond the Bururade Peninsula to the entire West.

It spread particularly fast among the Western high society, who listened intently to every move of the Cordis Empire.

Grand Duke Pret, the head of West-Erta, was no exception.

“…Guidone, they’ve lost their minds!”

Grand Duke Pret let out a sigh.

“Gwaemos Gustav Guidone, I thought he had a libertine streak, but wasn’t a foolish young man…!”

He found himself slamming his fist on his office desk.

It was something he would never normally do, for the sake of decorum, but he couldn't help it as the situation was so absurd.

“How could a member of the Dawn Brotherhood… with the Cordis imperial family…! No, this isn’t the time for this….”

He ground his teeth and called for his aide.

Ranting alone wouldn't solve the problem.

“Connect the communication mirror to Guidone!”

As soon as the words were spoken, an aide rushed over and chanted an incantation in front of the communication mirror.

Befitting the aide to the head of West-Erta, he was a Three-Star Mage. Soon, the communication mirror flickered and displayed a distant scene, proof that the other party had accepted their communication request.

[…Grand Duke Pret, what is the matter?]

“What is the matter? Did you just ask what is the matter, you!?”

Hearing the voice of Gwaemos Gustav Guidone, Grand Duke Pret felt his anger surge.

He pointed his finger at the person on the other side of the communication mirror.

“No matter how friendly Guidone is to the Empire, this is too much! To form a blood tie with the Cordis imperial family! It’s a betrayal of the entire West!”

[You are speaking too harshly….]

“You’re the one who’s being harsh! I’ll propose it to the council immediately and have your Lower House membership revoked!”

[Go ahead….]

The Dawn Brotherhood, a testament to power in the West.

The threat of losing his Lower House seat would normally have sounded very menacing to Gwaemos.

But now, Gwaemos’s attitude was as if it was no big deal.

[If you have nothing more to say, please hang up. The cost of running a communication mirror is quite expensive, you know.]

“…Fine, I’ll hang up!”

Grand Duke Pret shouted, even more enraged.

The communication ended, and the Grand Duke shot up from his seat.

“Tsk, what a foolish brat! Seeing his face, I know for sure!”

He nervously stroked his mustache.

Grand Duke Pret and Guidone had been in conflict within the Dawn Brotherhood due to their different stances on the Empire.

But still, as they were both from the West, there was a minimum level of affection.

“There’s no way that libertine would have agreed to this marriage on his own!”

The reason Gwaemos was unshaken by the threat of losing his Lower House seat was simple.

It was because he was facing a much greater threat (such as the blustering of the Cordis Empire).

Though it was a short conversation, Grand Duke Pret sensed that Gwaemos Gustav Guidone’s marriage was not of his own free will.

“The Cordis intelligence agency must be getting pretty desperate… to send the Great Emperor’s daughter to the West….”

Grand Duke Pret finally found the target of his irritation.

There was only one person who could make the great Cordis intelligence agency anxious.

“Because of that punk, Shion of Merion!”

A ‘tsk’ sound naturally escaped his lips.

“I thought he was recklessly provoking the Empire. Who would have known the sparks would fly to Guidone?”

Of course, Shion knew, and it was all part of a very meticulously laid plan.

However, Grand Duke Pret, who couldn't even guess that Shion was a regressor who knew the future, could only see the series of events as a spectacular coincidence.

“It’s gotten complicated.”

Grand Duke Pret shook his head.

He lived his life looking up.

Thinking life would get easier if he climbed higher, he clawed his way up to become the head of West-Erta, but strangely, the weight of life only grew heavier.

Of course, it wasn't without its gains, but sometimes it was so heavy he felt like throwing it all away.

“It’s so tangled I don’t even know where it started…. How am I supposed to untangle this….”

The fall of Del Conti.

The revival of Verchello.

The marriage between Guidone and the Cordis imperial family.

The Bururade Peninsula was being turned upside down, and at the center of it all was a man named Shion of Merion, no, a kid who could still be called a boy.

“Should I just leave it to the one who tangled it up in the first place…?”

***

Gwaemos Gustav Guidone looked as if he was about to burst into tears.

He looked so sorrowful, it was hard to believe he was the protagonist of the marriage alliance that was causing a stir across the Bururade Peninsula and the entire West.

“I’m ruined….”

He was practically sniffling.

“Guidone’s reputation of several hundred years is about to be blown away in an instant…. I’ll lose my Lower House seat in the Dawn Brotherhood too… this is a loss like no other….”

“That statement does not make sense, Lord Gwaemos.”

The man with the mustache bowed his head.

He was a senior agent of the Cordis intelligence agency, a man whose real face was unknown.

Until now, he had maintained a high-handed attitude towards Gwaemos, but he had suddenly started using polite language.

“Do you think the Cordis Empire would mistreat the Guidone family, with whom it has formed a marriage alliance?”

“……”

“It seems you thought so.”

The mustached man gestured.

“Come closer. I will tell you what the Empire has prepared for the Guidone family.”

Gwaemos hesitantly stepped closer.

The mustached man whispered softly into Gwaemos's ear.

As he did, he handed over a small piece of paper, densely packed with the names of prominent Western trading companies.

“This is a list of the secret businesses the Empire maintains in the West. You may choose one of these.”

“…All of these belonged to Cordis?”

“And we must also give you goods in kind. Her Highness the Princess will arrive with four carriages full of gold and treasures. She will be accompanied by magi-soldiers for her protection, and these too will become Guidone’s.”

“…No way!”

“It may be unbelievable in the West, but for Cordis, it is common sense.”

The mustached man smiled faintly.

The Cordis Empire is the hegemon of the continent.

The people of the West do not fully understand the meaning of these words.

“And all of this is merely the dowry. Guidone will enjoy even greater wealth, honor, and glory with the Cordis Empire in the future. Do you still consider it a loss?”

“…I can’t say that it is.”

Gwaemos glanced at the mustached man.

It was hard to understand why the senior agent, who until just a while ago had been blustering and using a near-threatening attitude, had changed so much.

“…More importantly, you’ve suddenly become friendly.”

“Of course. Lord Gwaemos is now a man engaged to the great Cordis imperial family.”

The mustached man bowed his head in a very formal manner. It was Cordis etiquette.

“Senior agent of the Cordis intelligence agency, Tectus Tatium. I will formally introduce myself.”

Tectus waved a hand in front of his face.

The fake face he had been wearing disappeared, revealing a real face covered in scars.

“There was an imperial decree from His Majesty the Emperor. He said that if Lord Gwaemos accepts the marriage alliance, he is to be treated as a quasi-imperial family member of Cordis.”

“Oho….”

Gwaemos could finally manage a small smile.

It was a marriage he was forced into, but if he could receive treatment as a quasi-imperial family member of the Cordis Empire, it might not be so bad.

It was Cordis, after all.

The great thousand-year empire!

To be treated as an imperial family member of the Empire, one would have to be crazy to refuse.

“This Tectus Tatium will serve Lord Gwaemos until the wedding ceremony. Please command me as you wish.”

“…Well now, I’m quite flustered.”

Gwaemos forced himself to hide his emerging smile.

He finally felt at ease.

He suddenly realized he had been missing the most important thing.

He was so surprised at himself for having missed such an important point.

“…Um, Tectus?”

“Yes, Lord Gwaemos.”

“Then let me ask just one thing. I don’t think I’ve asked something very important….”

“Please ask anything.”

“Uh-um, well, how should I put this….”

He wore an awkward smile.

“About Princess Santia… my future wife….”

“Yes, you mean Her Highness the Second Princess.”

“It’s really awkward to ask this kind of question, but it’s just so, so important….”

Gwaemos cleared his throat.

It was an embarrassing question even to himself, but one he couldn't avoid.

Tectus, sensing Gwaemos’s intention, had a ‘surely not’ expression.

Gwaemos blushed and smiled bashfully.

“…Is she beautiful?”

“……”