Rest, who had been thoroughly pummeled by Irish in the training grounds, was immediately carried to his room and given medical treatment.
His spine was on the verge of breaking and his internal organs were one step away from rupturing, but fortunately there was no danger to his life.
If anything, it seemed he had been precisely battered to the very limit of what healing magic could barely mend.
"Rest...!"
"Lord Rest...!"
Viola and Primula — the Rosemary sisters — stayed by Rest's side, nursing him.
It was a scene much like a repeat of the previous occasion... but what came after was different.
The sisters, who had been tending to Rest, were summoned by their mother and made their way to the sitting room within the manor.
"...Did you need something, Mother?"
"Mm..."
The two who had arrived in the sitting room glared at their mother.
Being stared down with resentful eyes by her beloved daughters, Irish let out a wry laugh and shifted her legs on the sofa.
"Don't glare at me like that, dear daughters."
"But, Mother..."
"Going that far was just cruel..."
"I did hold back, you know. If I had really gone all out, his organs would have come flying out."
"..."
"It was a joke. Don't glare at your mother like that."
Irish tried to calm her daughters down, but the looks on Viola and Primula's faces were stern.
She was probably still furious about Rest being injured.
"Both of you, just sit down already."
Interjecting from the side was their father, who had been sitting with them — Albert.
"I called you here because I have something to discuss. Sit down."
"..."
"...Pardon us."
The sisters sat down warily on the sofa across from their parents.
Once the girls had settled in, Irish opened her mouth to speak.
"Well then... I'm not one for beating around the bush, so I'll say it straight. Viola, Primula... you two are going to have Rest's children."
"Wh—...!?"
"Wh—... Hey, you! There's a way to say things, you know!"
Viola and Primula were dumbfounded by their mother's bombshell of a statement, and Albert hastily jumped to his feet.
"Couldn't you have... sugarcoated it a bit more...?"
"Getting straight to the point is more efficient than being coy. I've decided to welcome him as a son-in-law of House Rosemary. Both of you will be marrying him. You're to have at least three children each."
"M-Mother... are you truly certain about this?"
It was Primula who asked timidly.
Viola's mouth hung wide open, her face frozen like a clay figurine.
"Welcoming Lord Rest as a son-in-law is... well, it makes us happy. But are you really sure it's alright to so casually allow both of us to welcome him...?"
Irish's proposal was, if anything, exactly what they had been hoping for.
Primula had already decided she would marry Rest, and she expected her sister would do the same.
That was precisely why it was too convenient, and she couldn't help but be suspicious.
She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something hidden behind her mother's words.
"There's no need to be on guard. She has no ulterior motives."
When her daughter confronted her with suspicion, Irish's expression softened ever so slightly.
"Originally, I intended for Viola to take a husband and inherit the family, while Primula would marry into another house to build connections. However... when a talent like him comes along, that changes everything. Rather than forging ties with outsiders, having him father as many children as possible would be far more beneficial to House Rosemary's... no, to this kingdom's prosperity."
"Mother, you've... taken quite a liking to Lord Rest, haven't you?"
"You can learn most things by exchanging blows."
Irish shrugged.
"Once, long ago... this mother fought a magician known as the 'Celestial Emperor.' The chairman of the Council of Sages himself, and the most powerful mage in the world. Lord Rest is still immature and his inexperience shows in many areas, but I sensed something in him — a quality that resonates with that man's."
"The 'Celestial Emperor'..."
"If we could bring a mage of equal potential into the family, two daughters would be a small price to pay. Even if you had screamed and cried in refusal, I would have had you bound and delivered to him."
"............Hey."
At her remark — impossible to tell whether a joke or entirely serious — Albert's face twisted.
"That you didn't have to resort to that was a stroke of fortune. Since you both hold favorable feelings toward him, this makes things simple. Once the Royal Academy entrance exams are concluded, the three of you will be formally engaged. After graduation, you'll be married, and I expect you to begin producing children immediately."
Irish steamrolled ahead on her own, jabbing a finger firmly at the sisters.
"Pre-marital relations are acceptable, but take care to practice contraception! Children born before the wedding will not be recognized as heirs to the title, and that would cause them no end of hardship!"
"I... will not allow any pre-marital relations."
A magnanimous mother and a father muttering resentments under his breath.
The conversation had progressed this far... and only then did Viola, who had been sitting in a daze, finally speak.
"I-Is it really okay? For the three of us to... to get married together...?"
"I explained as much."
"Then... even after we graduate, I'll be with Rest and Primula forever, right?"
"Big sister..."
"I'm so happy...!"
Viola smiled as though a blooming rose had burst into full flower and threw herself into her sister's arms.
Primula, drawn in by the moment, smiled gently and stroked her elder sister's back.
Even for twin sisters who got along as well as they did, forever was not something they could count on.
Eventually they would each choose their own path and drift apart.
But now, with Rest as the man between them, they could walk together through the rest of their lives.
It made her just as happy as the prospect of marrying the man she loved.
"Primula...!"
"Sis...!"
The deeply moved sisters embraced one another, wearing tearful, laughing expressions at the same time.
Even Albert, who had been sulking about having his daughters taken away, looked at the two of them and slumped his shoulders. "Can't be helped..."
The sitting room filled with a warm and blissful atmosphere.
"Oh... that's right, I forgot to mention."
But the words Irish suddenly recalled and spoke aloud shattered that gentle calm in an instant.
"He'll be fathering children with several other women as well. I'll be selecting eligible daughters from the branch families and vassal houses... and if the situation calls for it, we'll gather concubines from allied houses too. Make sure you all get along with them."
"Wh—Whaaat!?"
Just when everything had been smoothed over, that single remark had torn it all apart.
Angry shouts from the parent and child arguing with each other echoed through the parlor, and the heated quarrel continued late into the night.