Viola and Primula were growing exasperated with the mother they hadn't seen in so long... but the conversation was far from over.
"Ah, that's right. There was one more thing I needed to tell you."
"...What is it?"
Viola asked, already sounding fed up.
Why did a simple conversation with her own mother have to be so exhausting?
"A letter has arrived at House Rosemary. One from the royal palace, one from House Crocus, and another... from House Cattleya."
"...!"
Viola and Primula exchanged glances at Irish's words.
They had a pretty good idea what was coming next.
"Could that be..."
"A marriage proposal? From Lady Celestine?"
"Yes, exactly right."
The sisters' guess was confirmed by Celestine, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The letter from the royal palace, and the one from House Crocus... both expressed a desire to see Celestine—the jewel in the crown of the Crocus duchy—married to Rest.
Celestine carried the blood of the royal family, and with no young, unmarried women left in the royal line, she was treated as a de facto princess.
She had long been betrothed to Third Prince Rodele at the queen dowager's arrangement... but when the idiot prince involved himself in the rebellion, the engagement was rendered void.
In other words... Celestine was currently without a fiancé.
"The first name to come up as a candidate for Celestine's new fiancé was His Highness Andrew... but he apparently turned it down himself. He said that if he became tied to House Crocus, it would threaten His Highness Crown Prince Richard's position. It seems His Highness Andrew is quite the sensible one."
Irish remarked, sounding genuinely impressed.
Few knew the real reason he had refused the engagement, and publicly, Andrew's loyalty was cited as the cause.
"There are other men of suitable age who are already spoken for. There was even talk of sending her off to marry in another kingdom, but... that would be far too cruel for Lady Celestine."
"...The neighboring kingdom is politically unstable. Sending Lady Celestine to the Empire would be far too dangerous, wouldn't it?"
The Empire had been a friendly nation, but had recently grown aggressive in its foreign campaigns.
Using Celestine as a hostage could be an effective tactic, but it would be far too harsh on her.
She had been made to deal with Rodele—an irredeemable liability—for so long, only to be married off to a kingdom where it was uncertain whether she would return alive. That was a flagrant disregard for her rights.
The royal family, who owed Celestine nothing but apologies over the Rodele affair, could not very well impose such a fate on her.
"So the conversation eventually reached Lord Rest... I heard about it from Lady Celestine the other day," Viola said.
Primula let out a sigh tinged with sympathy.
The other day, when Celestine had visited the frontier village... she had come to Viola and Primula beforehand to tell them herself.
"I'm so sorry. You two are Rest's fiancées, and yet here I am, cutting in from behind like this..."
Celestine had explained that the royal family intended to have her marry Rest, and she had apologized for it.
Faced with her like that, Viola and Primula felt nothing but pity—there was no anger or blame to be had.
It was obvious that Celestine was in a miserable position.
There was absolutely no reason to blame her, their friend, for any of this.
(Then again... Mother has been amassing mistresses and trying to turn Rest into a stud, so I suppose it's not surprising.)
(It's clear the royal family wants to keep Lord Rest tethered to them. I'm honestly grateful it's Lady Celestine...)
Viola and Primula sighed in unison.
"House Crocus sent a letter saying, 'Please, we entrust our daughter to your care.' Apparently, they plan to contribute most of the compensation the royal family paid them over the Rodele incident as an engagement deposit."
"My, my... that is quite the generous gesture."
"Rest's fortune is going to increase again, isn't it..."
The two of them exchanged a bitter smile at their mother's words, but then... they suddenly remembered.
The letters hadn't only come from the royal family and House Crocus. One had arrived from House Cattleya as well.
"Come to think of it... I wonder what Yuri's father had to say?"
"Right. The letter was addressed to my son-in-law, but given the urgency, I took the liberty of opening it myself. Apparently, it said things like... 'Give me back my daughter,' 'If you lay a hand on my daughter, I'll tear you limb from limb,' 'What sort of scandal is this—an unmarried girl living under the same roof?' and 'I'm coming to get her, so you'd better wait'... something along those lines."
"......"
"Albert has also been fed up with that knight commander who shows up at the royal palace the moment he has free time. My son-in-law is quite dependable, isn't he? I hear the Cattleya marquis's daughter has little mana but is unmatched in physical strength? If she were to bear my son-in-law's child, I wonder what kind of child would be born. I'm looking forward to it."
That wasn't really the issue at hand... but it seemed Irish had no intention of complying with the knight commander's demands.
On that point, the Rosemary sisters were of the same mind.
"Rest is... away on a campaign with Yuri, right?"
"I wonder how the knight commander would react if he found out?"
They didn't think the busy knight commander would make it all the way to the frontier village, but if he did happen to run into them, things were sure to get troublesome.
The Rosemary sisters thought of their beloved fiancés and sympathized deeply.
———————— I'm also publishing this work.
If you're interested, please give it a read!
"I'm just a mob priest, but since I realized this world is an otome game, I'm going to raise a heroine."
"I did everything my little sister told me in battle, and somehow I became king. But the princess I forced into being my wife is super hostile toward me—what should I do?"
"I was summoned to another world and abandoned, but nobody knows I'm an evil god... probably."
I also post follow-up episodes in a limited-status notes section.
If you'd like, please take a look inside!