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Prologue: The Countdown to Marriage
— Afternoon on the 2nd day, 2nd month, 1,548th year, Continental Calendar — Parnam Castle —
“Heh heh heh! At last, it is complete.”
It was a clear day, and fairly warm for the winter season. In a curtained, somewhat dim room, I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at a certain work of mine. That was because the thing I’d found time in my busy schedule to slowly work on was finally finished.
Fwahaha! It would be no exaggeration to call this the ultimate weapon.
I’d never lose again.
That was how excited I was about this.
“What’re you grinning about?” Liscia, who was sitting on the bed, said in exasperation.
This was Liscia’s room. Though the layout of the furniture hadn’t changed since the last time I was here, we had recently installed a crib for our children, Cian and Kazuha. It had only been a month since they were born, so the children lived next to Liscia.
I lay down my completed work and turned to sit backwards in my chair, resting my elbows and chin on the backrest as I watched Liscia and the children. It was currently time for breastfeeding.
Liscia’s hair had grown out to the same style as when we’d first met. With her hair tied back at the nape of her neck, Liscia lowered her clothes off one shoulder, and gave milk to our child with a gentle expression on her face. Her beauty was so divine as to make me think she’d been cut from a portrait of the holy mother.
Cian finished, and now it was Kazuha’s turn. The now-full Cian was lying in the crib with his eyes closed.
“Oh, come on, I finally finished them, you know?” I picked up the thing lying at my side and showed it to Liscia. It was two sets of baby clothes. “Well? Don’t you think they came out cute?”
The little hooded outfits were hand-sewn by me.
Upon hearing we were having twins, I’d started coming up with ideas, then taken measurements after they were born to begin work. I was confident with the results.
Incidentally, I’d apparently been grinning the whole time I was working on them, and my other fiancĂ©es had found it super off-putting.
When Liscia saw the unusual design of the outfits, she sighed. “Yes, they’re cute, but those are practically costumes. What creatures are they modeled on?”
“Machapin and Zukke.”
“I’ve never heard of them?”
“Well, yeah, they’re fictional creatures from my world.”
Machapin and Zukke were the main characters of a children’s show I’d watched a long time ago.
They were blue and brown with relaxed faces, and when you looked closely, you started to doubt whether or not they were really cute, but they had a strange charm, and many products were released of them.
Setting out to make baby clothes for the twins, the first thing that had come to mind was that full-body costumes based on Machapin and Zukke would be adorable.
“They were modeled on Nessie and a yeti, I think?” I added.
“I get that I don’t get what you’re talking about... You seem to have put a lot of effort in, but they’re babies, they’ll make a mess of them in no time, you know?”
“Well, I did make two more sets, so they’d have a change of clothes.”
“Focus that passion on your administrative duties. You’ll make Hakuya cry, you know?”
“But I refuse.”
“Honestly... Oh.” Feeding must have ended, because Liscia pulled Kazuha away from her and patted her on the back to burp her. Then, carrying Kazuha over to the crib, Liscia laid her down next to Cian. Kazuha soon closed her eyes, mumbling as she went to sleep.
Kazuha tended to get cranky when she was alone, but if Cian was there, she went to sleep easily. Since they were twins, was it reassuring to have her other half next to her?
Liscia and I stood side-by-side looking down at the children, who were sleeping with full bellies and peaceful expressions.
Just looking at them made me feel happy, too. I hoped they’d drink lots of milk, sleep well, and grow up healthy.
Liscia laughed wryly. “You’re grinning again, Souma.”
I must have had quite the smile on my face, but could you blame me? I mean, Liscia’s expression wasn’t that different.
“Oh, come on, aren’t our kids super adorable?” I said.
“A doting parent already? ...Well, I feel the same way, though.”
“I mean, seriously, I’m just so happy.”
“When you say it so directly... that’s kind of embarrassing.” Liscia let out an embarrassed laugh.
Oh, I loved her so much.
“I’m happy, being surrounded with family like this.”
“Hee hee! We’re not married yet, though.”
“Ah! Speaking of marriage... we’ve finally set a day for the ceremony,” I said.
Our wedding ceremony, which had been pushed back repeatedly by Liscia’s pregnancy and the campaign in the Union of Eastern Nations, finally had a date: the first day of the fourth month of the 1,548th year (this year) of the Continental Calendar. That would be the day of my coronation and marriage to Liscia and the others.
When I told her that, Liscia let out a deep, emotional sigh. “In two months, you finally will be the real king, not just the provisional one.”
“Yeah. And you’ll all stop being queen candidates and become queens.”
“It’s been about two years since you came to this world, I suppose. But with all that’s happened in that time, it’s hard to believe it’s only been two years.”
“Yeah... I’m sure the me of back when I was first summoned could never have imagined the situation he’d be in now.”
I had five fiancĂ©es, and children already born to one of them. It felt like I’d come to a very far away place.
Liscia giggled. “Hee hee! Come to think of it, Souma, when we first met, you said, ‘I’ll probably quit this whole king gig in a few years, anyway. We can tear up the engagement then,’ or something like that, didn’t you?”
Yeah... I did say that, huh? It felt so long ago now.
“Don’t bring it back up too seriously,” I said. “It’d be a problem if you wanted to call things off at this point.”
“Obviously. But, back then, I thought, ‘If I become his family, could I tie Souma down in this country, I wonder? If I can make the marriage a fait accompli...’”
“Huh, you were thinking things like that?”
She’d been ready to marry me from that early on?
Liscia smiled proudly. “I did, in fact, manage to become your family and make the marriage a fait accompli, so isn’t that impressive?”
“...Yeah, I’m no match for you.” I gave Liscia a light kiss.
It had been embarrassing before, but we could kiss more naturally nowadays. Liscia didn’t look like she minded it, either.
After the kiss, I awkwardly scratched my cheek. “Ahaha... But there’s a problem that’s come up regarding the marriage.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“With my coronation, the marriage with all of you, and the first public appearance of the children happening together, Roroa and her people are getting worked up.”
They apparently wanted to mobilize the entire capital in a massive celebration. It was the sort of idea you’d expect from a girl who loved festivals so much.
Liscia smiled wryly. “That’s so like Roroa, but... it sounds like a lot of trouble. What’s involved, exactly?”
“The initial plan included holding wedding ceremonies for any of my subordinates who wanted them, too. The House of Arcs and House of Magna were just happening to have weddings planned for around the same time, after all.”
The Captain of the Royal Guard, Ludwin, would be marrying Genia the Overscientist, while Hal was planning to marry both Kaede and Ruby. By having the castle run those ceremonies, the hope was to have wedding ceremonies all around the capital for the event.
“We found other subordinates who wanted to take this chance to get married, but... because the event got too large, we don’t have enough couples to marry during it. If possible, having marriage ceremonies for those who serve me directly would be convenient, I’m told.”
“But marriage isn’t that simple, right?” Liscia said, chiding me, and I could only nod.
“Well, yeah. But we have a number of couples who feel like they should be coming together, but aren’t, so I think it’s up to them to act.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“Poncho for one, Ginger for another.”
“Ohh...” Liscia nodded, seeming to get what I meant.
Those guys were in a situation where it wouldn’t be strange for them to get married at any moment, but they themselves were so awkward that there was no noticeable progress whatsoever.
I want Poncho, in particular, to settle down soon...
The number of marriage meeting requests coming into the castle was starting to have an adverse effect on the bureaucracy. I understood Poncho’s opinion on the matter was important, but still.
Was there really nothing that could be done...?