"I don't care about Mother anymore!"
"I'm going back to take care of Rest!"
Viola and Primula stormed out of the parlor, leaving their furious shouts ringing behind them.
The parents left behind fell into a brief silence... but before long, Albert spoke up.
"...Trying to force this through so aggressively. How unusual."
Whether to assign Rest a third wife — or one beyond that.
Whether to give him concubines or mistresses purely for the purpose of producing heirs.
The contentious discussion had reached a dead end.
Viola and Primula marrying Rest had been settled, but the matter of taking a third wife, mistresses, or concubines was left unresolved.
As a temporary compromise, Irish was forced to concede that she would not be allowed to marry any woman off to Rest without the sisters' approval.
"There's nothing unusual about it. I'm a forceful, terrible mother, after all."
"I don't think that's true. It would be incredibly out of character for you to ignore Viola and Primula's opinions and prioritize the family's advancement."
Irish was a strong-willed mother, but... she rarely forced her will upon her children.
Despite appearances, she was actually a doting mother.
She would never ordinarily try to foist another woman onto the man her daughters were going to marry.
"Does this have anything to do with your being in poor health?"
"Oh my... so you'd already figured that out."
"Well, I'm your husband, after all. Did something happen in the neighboring country?"
During the earlier clash between Rest and Irish, Albert had sensed something off about his wife's body.
Her movements seemed sluggish, the flow of mana obstructed... He had wondered if something was wrong with her body.
"It appears the world situation is changing by the moment."
"...?"
"It's nothing that will come to a head immediately. However... in ten or twenty years, war between our neighboring country and our own will become inevitable."
"What did you say...?"
Impossible.
The relationship between this country and its neighbor... the Kingdom of Aiwood and the Gaiselle Empire was on good terms.
They were long-standing friendly nations, allies bound by a common enemy in the barbarian tribes of the north.
The Emperor himself, the sovereign ruler, was known for his moderate temperament, and from the surrounding nations' perspective, he served as a mediator who quelled disputes.
"That would only hold true as long as the current Emperor remains alive, wouldn't it?"
"What...?"
"It appears His Majesty the Emperor has been stricken by illness. He has perhaps five years left at most."
"...!"
"Should the Emperor pass away, a succession dispute will surely erupt. There is no guarantee the next Emperor will be a moderate man."
If a warlike individual with a thirst for conquest were to become the next ruler, they might issue declarations of war against the surrounding nations.
The first target would be the steppe where the northern foreign tribes resided, but there was no guarantee this country would be spared.
"Even if direct hostilities do not reach us, the weakening of the Empire as a stabilizing force could prompt other nations to make their moves. There are borders that have remained peaceful solely because our country maintains an alliance with the Empire, after all."
"So our own country cannot be considered safe either..."
"The northern foreign tribes have also been showing suspicious movements in recent years. And within our own borders, fools are proliferating. There are even those attempting to prop up that idiot prince."
"Internal troubles and external threats, I see... So that's why you were thinking of the next generation, and even went so far as to provide Lord Rest with a mistress..."
"A war doesn't guarantee it'll end in ten or twenty years. Wouldn't it be better to have more heroes for the next generation?"
"............"
Albert fell silent.
He didn't necessarily think his wife's methods were right... but there was no denying that the state of the world was moving in an unfavorable direction.
Perhaps a great storm that would engulf the entire continent was approaching.
(The appearance of an extraordinary talent in magic like Rest could be a harbinger of that. The arrival of an aberrant child destined to stand at the center of the coming age of chaos... talk like that is overthinking things, no matter how you look at it.)
This wasn't some heroic tale from legend.
Albert dismissed the trivial fantasy that had briefly crossed his mind and turned his thoughts to the path that House Rosemary should walk.