"Well, I must say... you've gotten yourself into quite the situation, haven't you."
"M-my deepest apologies..."
While the three girls were making a ruckus in the bath...
Rest had been summoned by his father-in-law, Albert Rosemary, and was now cowering in the office.
Albert sat at the desk before him, arms crossed.
Behind him, the butler Diebl stood in front of the door as though blocking the only escape route.
It was an impossibly awkward situation. A guilt with no clear cause washed over him.
(N-n-no... the cause is perfectly clear, isn't it...)
Rest was engaged to Viola and Primula, Albert's beloved daughters.
He was in the position of being granted the hand of two young ladies from the prestigious marquis household.
And yet... he was on the verge of becoming engaged to Celestine, and had even received a marriage proposal from Yuri.
There was no way Albert, his father-in-law, could be pleased about that.
"Nngh... ggh..."
"No, no, I'm not angry, so relax."
Albert spoke to the thoroughly tense Rest with a somewhat complicated expression on his face.
"I understand that the matter of the young lady of Duke Crocus isn't something you could have refused. It was an engagement driven by the royal family's wishes, to begin with. They said either Viola or Primula would be fine as the main wife, and once they made that concession, you couldn't very well refuse."
"H-huh... I see?"
"The situation with the young lady of Marquis Cattleya was unexpected, but... well, I'll confirm matters with the knight commander on our end. My wife is trying to shove a whole harem of concubines onto you, and at the very least, I won't oppose it."
"Thank you...?"
He wasn't sure if he should be thanking her, but without fully understanding the situation, Rest bowed his head nonetheless.
"Um... why does your wife go out of her way to be so kind to me? I've never heard of someone finding a lover for their own daughter's husband..."
"Yeah... I suppose it is unusual."
Albert furrowed his brow and rubbed the wrinkles between his eyebrows with his finger, looking troubled.
"Irish is... well, she's worried about the future of this country."
"The, the future of the country...? That's quite a large-scale topic..."
"It is... but there are very real problems. You must be aware of this too — our country is beset by both internal and external troubles."
Internal and external troubles.
The internal trouble was the existence of the tyrant known as the Third Prince of the Rodele royal family, and the faction of supporters behind him known as the Queen Dowager's faction.
The external troubles were the hostile foreign tribes to the north, and the Gaiselle Empire to the east — nominally an allied nation, but one that had grown increasingly suspicious in recent years.
"Thanks in part to your efforts, the internal issues are gradually being resolved. But the external threats continue to grow larger with each passing day."
"..."
"It hasn't been made public yet beyond a select few, but... the northern foreign tribes have been making suspicious movements. It's possible that within a few years, there could be a large-scale invasion."
"...!"
The northern foreign tribes — the ones known as the "demi-humans" — had supposedly been quiet for years. And now they were on the move.
"The one silver lining is that the Empire, which has also been acting suspiciously, is focused on the north..."
"Does this mean... another war?"
"No, it doesn't seem like anything immediate. That's precisely why the royal family is trying to use the Duke of Crocus's young lady to keep you as a military asset on our side. The rush to push forward with frontier development on the Sabnock Plains is for that reason as well."
"..."
"It's as if a dam that had been holding back a flood has suddenly burst. And one of the triggers for that... was you."
"I'm sorry..."
"There's nothing to apologize for. In exchange, I'll be troubling you from here on as well."
Albert looked at Rest with a sympathetic gaze.
He'd heard the saying that happiness and unhappiness balance out to zero, but... it seemed Rest had taken on quite a burden as the price for gaining those beautiful young ladies.
"Irish arranging a concubine for you is also... well, part of that same equation. He's probably thinking that if you have many children, it will lead to strengthening our military forces in the future."
"I see..."
He couldn't say he understood everything, but... when it came to romantic relationships and marriage, there didn't seem to be much room for Rest to have a say.
(No... it's fine, really. As long as Viola and Primula are okay with it. Yeah.)
If the two people who, by all rights, should have cared about Rest's romantic life more than anyone else were fine with it, then there was nothing left to say.
If anything, Rest was in a fortunate position.
(I'm lucky... I became a noble and even got beautiful wives. What could I possibly complain about...)
As if convincing himself... Rest left Albert's office.
As it happened... no sooner did he step into the hallway than he was caught by Viola and Primula and subjected to an interrogation about Urla Lavender — but that, as they say, is another story entirely.