“It wouldn’t be such a bad arrangement for you either, Marquis.”

“...Hm.”

At Torimavia’s proposal, Alon suddenly thought of the princess.

‘If I remember right... was it Serena Raksasia?’

Serena Raksasia, daughter of Queen Torimavia Raksasia of Raksas.

He knew a fair amount about her.

In fact, there was no way he wouldn’t.

When playing Psychedelia, Serena was a major NPC who handed out various quests to players visiting the Raksas region.

On top of that, both her illustration and in-game model had been done quite beautifully, so she was always listed in the player-voted “Top 20 Most Beautiful Characters in Psychedelia.”

...Though of course, she was outside the top fifteen.

Anyway, because of that, Alon knew a decent amount about Serena too.

Including the fact that her personality was unusually wild for a princess.

Of course, it wasn’t the unappealing kind. It was more the sort of slightly unexpected charm that came from being a little rambunctious.

“...Thank you for the offer, but I’ll need some time to think about it.”

After thinking that far, Alon answered Torimavia that way.

On the surface, it sounded like he was asking for time to consider it.

But everyone gathered here understood.

Alon had just politely expressed a refusal.

‘Because I’m just not interested right now.’

It wasn’t as if Alon didn’t understand.

The moment he took the throne, taking a consort really would be one path to keeping a kingdom peaceful.

Even so, he had no real desire to marry Princess Serena.

More than that, the kingdom Alon was going to build would not need a marriage, at least not for the sake of early stability.

And that was because a country only started getting noisy when nobles began fighting over the position of queen.

But in the first place, there were no nobles in Alon’s country who held landed estates.

No, to be precise, that was impossible.

The only land he had was the marquisate’s territory and Divine Land far off in the distance.

So how could there be nobles?

And above all, Alon simply did not want a political marriage all that much.

Some might say that was oddly pure for someone who had already lived in this world for more than ten years.

But Alon’s thinking had always been the same.

If he were ever going to meet a partner, he wanted it to happen as naturally as possible.

“I see.”

At Alon’s polite refusal, Torimavia nodded as calmly as she could.

Then she made an additional request.

“Then, if it would be all right, would you at least be willing to meet my daughter once?”

“...Princess Serena?”

“Yes. She came here with me this time.”

At Torimavia’s smile, Alon hesitated.

If he were being honest, he wanted to refuse.

But turning down the request of a monarch who had personally come all the way here for the proclamation ceremony felt a little awkward.

...Of course, this was obviously not a situation where Alon needed to worry about that.

So he only hesitated briefly, but—

“All right.”

Alon accepted.

“Thank you for your consideration, Marquis.”

A small smile slipped onto Torimavia’s lips.

After that, the two monarchs returned to the accommodations Alon had prepared for them in advance.

“You’ve had a rough time, Marquis.”

Once the distinguished guests were far in the distance, Evan finally spoke.

“...I really didn’t expect the kings to come in person...”

“I was surprised too. I never thought the kings themselves would come at a time like this...”

Rubbing around his eyes in exhaustion, Alon spoke, and Penia chimed in.

Basically, kings did not attend proclamation ceremonies like this.

Even if you stretched things a hundred times over.

Even if they were close enough that a king had decided to come personally just this once.

At this point in time, for those two kings to move in person was dangerous in all kinds of ways.

Because right now, Divine blood could appear anywhere at any time and destroy a country.

“Well—aren’t they all just trying to get in line with you in advance, Marquis?” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“Going this far just to get in line?”

“The story about Caliban being saved from Divine blood because of your statue has already spread everywhere. Considering that, their behavior isn’t exactly impossible to understand.”

“...Is that so?”

“You didn’t hear?”

“Hm?”

“I heard it from Sili, and apparently all kinds of important figures from every kingdom are practically living in Divine Land right now, begging to receive a statue of you.”

“...Begging to receive my statue?”

“Yes.”

“That...?”

“Right...?”

At Evan’s finishing blow, Alon covered his face with one hand.

Because he was a little embarrassed.

‘...Why that pose of all things?’

Honestly, if the pose had at least been normal, it probably wouldn’t have been this embarrassing.

But no matter how many times he saw it, he still couldn’t get used to the pose of that statue Deus had given him.

‘...Maybe if I ever get the chance, I should at least change the pose.’

He was only thinking that for a moment when—

“Ah, Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“I didn’t get the chance to mention it earlier, but gifts arrived from Asteria today as well, along with House Zenonia and House Altia.”

“Really? Then I should go meet them right away.”

“And there was also a letter addressed to you personally, Marquis.”

“A letter?”

“Yes.”

Evan nodded and handed the letter to Alon.

Alon accepted it with a puzzled look.

“This is...”

“It came from His Majesty.”

Realizing it was a letter from Siyan, the king of Asteria, Alon opened it without hesitation and read it.

“......”

It did not take long to read the letter.

No, in fact, it hadn’t even taken three seconds.

There was only a single sentence written on the unfolded paper.

‘Come see me after the proclamation ceremony ends. You’ll be curious too.’

Alon fell silent for a moment.

Sure enough, just as Siyan had expected, there were many things Alon wanted to ask.

‘I should go see her the moment it’s over.’

After that, Alon stood up to meet Count Zenonia and Duke Altia, who had come looking for him.

And right after Alon left the room—

“Must be nice, huh?”

Evan said that to Penia, who had been silent the whole time.

“...Hm? Out of nowhere?”

Penia looked at him like he was talking nonsense.

But Evan was already wearing a knowing look, as if he had seen straight through what she was thinking.

“You know—Princess Serena is your friend, isn’t she?”

“Well, yes, that’s true.”

“Then you’d be jealous, wouldn’t you? It’s basically the same thing as her being set up on a date with the Marquis.”

At Evan’s words, Penia let out a long sigh.

“You’re not seriously saying that because you think I’d actually be jealous of that, right?”

“I’m not?”

“You’re not.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Why?”

At the quick question, Penia answered as if it were obvious.

“Because the Marquis has absolutely no thoughts about that, so there’s no way anything’s going to happen anyway.”

“Hm...”

At Penia’s perfectly reasonable point, Evan let out a small cough, but even so, he didn’t stop teasing her.

“Isn’t that a bit dismissive just because she’s your friend? She’s still a princess, you know.”

“So because she’s a princess, the Marquis is suddenly going to be interested?”

“...Isn’t he?”

But Penia just let out a dry little laugh, as if the very idea were ridiculous.

“I don’t think Serena is even going to go meet the Marquis.”

“Hm? Why?”

“I don’t know, I just have a feeling.”

Soon after thinking briefly of someone who was currently in this marquisate, she left those words behind and followed after Alon.

“...Why?”

Only Evan remained behind, staring after her with a bewildered expression.

####

Serena Raksasia, the First Princess of Raksas.

Having come to the marquisate because of her mother, Torimavia Raksasia, she was going through something strange late that night.

Though really, it wasn’t exactly strange.

She—

“Hello, Princess.”

“...Ah, um... yes.”

—had simply been invited somewhere and was having a conversation.

“......”

Serena Raksasia looked to one side.

There sat Yutia Bloodia, a cardinal of Rosario and someone Serena knew all too well, smiling pleasantly.

And on the other side sat Rine Gropf, a senior committee member of Lartania.

...To be honest, Serena did not particularly want to be here with the two of them.

Because she had heard plenty.

She knew that in Lartania, committee members who had turned against Rine Gropf had disappeared one by one over the course of several months.

And Yutia Bloodia needed no explanation at all.

At this point, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say Rosario was effectively ruled by her.

Which meant anyone who had defied her had all ended up dead.

So why was Serena Raksasia sitting here?

Normally, she would never have known.

Serena had no connection whatsoever to either Yutia Bloodia or Rine Gropf.

But unfortunately.

Right now, Serena found it very easy to guess why she had been dragged here and made to face the two of them alone.

‘Marquis Palatio.’

It was because of that man.

The two women in front of her were both very close to Marquis Palatio.

And this time, marriage talks had come up involving Serena Raksasia and Marquis Palatio.

So, while looking at the two of them—both of whom were clearly smiling, yet somehow gave off the feeling they might bury someone alive at any moment—she rapidly worked through her thoughts, and then—

‘...Huh?’

Serena suddenly realized something.

‘...Wait, couldn’t this maybe be my chance to get through this without getting married?’

The truth was, Serena Raksasia did not particularly want to marry Marquis Palatio.

Because she did not find Marquis Palatio all that attractive.

No, it went beyond not attractive. He was closer to her idea of a turnoff.

Even so, the reason she had still followed the queen here was simple.

From the beginning, she had known perfectly well that she would never get to choose her own marriage.

But if she could use these two well, persuade her mother, or get the marriage talks erased altogether?

For Serena, that would be an incredible opportunity.

Of course, she knew this marriage discussion was a very important matter for the kingdom, but she did not feel all that guilty about it.

Because unlike her, Raksas had a Second Princess who actually liked the Marquis, but had never been considered because she was not the strongest card.

So wouldn’t it be more fitting for that younger sister, who liked the Marquis more than she did, to be the one standing here instead?

—After finishing that peculiar bit of self-justification, she opened her mouth at once.

“...The reason you called me here... is because of the marriage talks with Marquis Palatio, isn’t it?”

At the cautious question, Yutia smiled.

“Oh my, not at all. We simply wanted to talk with you, Princess.”

“...Talk?”

“Yes. As you know, Teacher... no, the Marquis, and we have known each other for a very long time, and we are very close. So I was worried. I wondered whether perhaps someone was approaching the Marquis with ulterior motives... something like that.”

...Enough to abduct me in the middle of the night? Serena thought, but she did not say it aloud.

“Ah, of course, if you truly love the Marquis, we have no intention of stopping you. The choice belongs to the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Marquis, after all.”

“...Is that so?”

“But there could be intentions other than love in meeting the Marquis—”

...So that just means no, doesn’t it.

That was what Serena thought, but just like before, she kept it to herself.

“To begin with, I should say this first: I actually have no intention of going through with marriage talks with the Marquis.”

“Hm...?”

“Weren’t the marriage talks supposed to proceed, though?”

“That part is true, but... as you know, that was arranged by my mother. I have no interest in it.”

“If you have no interest...?”

“I mean exactly what I said. I have no desire to marry the Marquis.”

For a moment, silence fell.

Yutia looked at the princess expressionlessly.

Without realizing it, Serena tensed up.

Yutia’s gaze looked perfectly normal, but for some reason, it was frightening.

But only for a moment.

“Mm—so you really mean that?”

At Yutia’s next words, Serena let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

“That’s right.”

“Then the marriage talks—”

“As I said, my mother pushed them through on her own. Even if I do end up meeting the Marquis, I don’t think that relationship is going to develop in that direction.”

“Of course, if possible, I’d rather it end without meeting him at all, so I don’t have to deal with my mother pressing me about it,” Serena muttered quietly, and then—

“Mm-hm—then I suppose there was no helping it.”

“We’ll help you with that part.”

The atmosphere, which had been heavy just moments ago, suddenly turned light as a lie.

“Mm—Princess, you really do seem thoughtful.”

“You do.”

And seeing light praise start coming from them now, unlike before, Serena was left slightly dumbfounded, but—

“Thank you for saying so.”

She answered with an awkward smile.

“By the way, you say you have no intention of marrying the Marquis, but why is that?”

At the naturally flowing question, Serena hesitated for a moment.

After thinking briefly—

“...To be honest, he’s just not my type.”

She could still see suspicion lingering in Yutia Bloodia’s eyes, and deciding this was her chance to cut that suspicion off completely, she began honestly laying out her real thoughts.

“Oh my, really?”

Yutia and Rine both looked at her with curiosity.

Serena kept talking.

“Yes. Honestly, everyone else says the Marquis is handsome, but to me he looks a little gloomy. My type is handsome men, so...”

“Mmm—”

“And on top of that, he’s always expressionless and never shows his emotions, so I can’t tell what he’s thinking, and I don’t like that either.”

“Mm.”

At Serena’s words, the two nodded.

Feeling their suspicion fade, Serena continued.

“And to be honest, the statue the Marquis sent... no matter how many times I look at it, it just convinces me that the Marquis’s tastes and mine are never going to match.”

“...Hm.”

“Honestly, from my point of view, it just... doesn’t look cool.”

Seeing that the two of them were only quietly listening, Serena got carried away.

The truth was, Serena had found the Marquis strange and disliked him for quite a while now, but with everyone everywhere praising him, she had never had any proper place to let it all out.

But if there was one thing she was overlooking in her excitement, it was that—

“And the titles attached to the Marquis too... honestly, I think they’re kind of embarrassing. He’s a human being, so all that god-this and god-that is ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“......”

“And I don’t think there’d be any chance of a romantic atmosphere either.”

“......”

From a certain point on.

The eyes of Yutia and Rine, which had been reacting with interest, had turned cold.

“To be a little more honest, I also think he’s kind of rea—”

““...What?””

“...Ah... I mean, that is—”

She only realized it around the time she had finished insulting the Marquis in full....

“......”

“......”

The pupils in her eyes, which had been lively with excitement a moment ago, began to tremble.