Chapter 66

“I now make a public announcement to all the people,” At the sound of the Prime Minister’s voice, the enthusiastic cheering of the people ceased. A hushed silence fell over the vicinity.

I clung to Al. I did not want to hear it. I wanted to close my ears with both my hands, but I couldn’t because they were held by Al as he kissed the back of my hands.

“We are pleased to announce that our king, His Majesty Arnold Diaz Frialist and the first princess of Agrid, Caroline Guon Agrid, will get married. Their wedding would be held in three months on an auspicious day in July.” The cheerful voice of Prime Minister Rowlight rang out.

There came an earth-shaking roar of joy. Along with the sound of thunderous applause. You could feel the excitement and clamour of the people from beneath the balcony.

Eh…… Ehh…? Ehhhhh!

“A-Al. What’s going on? EHHH, Al! His Majesty, His Majesty is getting married? Whyyy?” I couldn’t speak proper words in utter confusion, and I didn’t know what was what anymore.

“That’s right. His Majesty and Princess Caroline will get married. Princess Caroline has come here to marry the King of this country after all. Perhaps Fania thought that Princess Caroline and I would get married? That’s terrible, I’ve told Fania I’d come for you, didn’t I? I told you that the one I love is only Fania, didn’t I?”

“Y-yes, you said it. I heard it. But our engagement was called off.”

“Originally it was like a temporary engagement, so I want to reset it once and make a formal engagement.”

“Re-really? Al, you really aren’t going to marry the princess?”

“That’s right. I’m going to marry Fania, not the princess.”

“Really? Really?” Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. Even though I was in front of the people on such a balcony, I just couldn’t hold them in.

“I’m sorry, Fania. I couldn’t tell you because the situation was still unsettled. I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Al, who until now had been acting like a joker to ease my nerves, turned serious and lowered his head to me as I hugged him.

“Al. Am I allowed to be with Al? Can I stay by your side?” I clung to him, my face a mess of tears.

The make-up and hair that the maids have worked so hard on might have turned into a mess. But I still clung to Al.

“Of course. I’ll stay with Fania. We’ll always be together. If Fania wants to leave me, I won’t let you.”

“Al…”

I was thoroughly trained by my Mother to be a prince consort. I did my best and was praised by my Mother. And yet, at such an important moment, my emotions exploded. I had been taught to remain calm no matter what, but…

As I clung to Al’s chest, my emotions got the better of me, I hyperventilated, and I fainted.

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It was only after the public appearance on the balcony ended that I regained my consciousness. No one was angry with me for my disgraceful display. I was having a tearful reunion with my childhood friends, whom I hadn’t seen for a long time, so there was no time for me to be scolded.

Al, who had been by my side since I woke up—or rather, since we met in front of the balcony—explained everything to me. The country of Agrid, which bordered our country to the west, had asked for a royal marriage with their Princess Caroline as a condition of signing a treaty to avoid war. The country of Agrid offered to make its first princess the rightful wife of the King of Frialist. In Agrid where even a princess has the right to the throne, marrying off their first princess represented an enormous value.

And while there had been some skirmishes near the border, the warlike Agrid might be invading Frialist at any time. Thus the offer couldn’t be flatly refused. However, it was difficult to meet this condition since His Majesty still had Princess Consort Jane as his main consort while the Second Prince Prince Alfred, although his position as the crown prince was fixed internally, he had yet to be investitured as the crown prince.

Frialist tried to buy time after Princess Caroline’s arrival by enrolling her in the academy and let the marriage happen two years later following her graduation; but the Agrid country pushed for the marriage. Agrid probably hoped to get the better of the Frialist country through Caroline by making the current king—a man of immense charisma—abdicate to let the younger Alfred succeed to the throne.

In the meantime, the Fania opposition group in the second prince’s faction became more active when they learned that Princess Caroline was coming from Agrid. For these people, the king would abdicate, but he would remain in control of the country as the Retired King. Then, Alfred and Caroline would marry and have children.

This opposition group were getting excited all by themselves, but the King had no intention of abdicating, and Alfred had no intention of marrying anyone but Fania. They decided to sign a treaty with Agrid, but the royal father and son figured out how they could avoid being at Agrid’s mercy.

The first thing Alfred was instructed to do was to deal with the Fania oppositions in the second prince’s faction. The Duke of Arginia—known as the bigwig—was Fania’s father, so Alfred had not been able to make a decisive move. However, due to the divorce between the Duke of Arginia and his wife Carina, the Duke of Arginia left not only the Fania opposition group, but also the Second Prince faction itself.

With that, it seemed that the Fania opposition were going to fall apart, but instead they tried to lay their hands on Fania directly. This led to the Fania oppositions being rounded up by Alfred and others through the former Marquis Meissit. Thus, the Fania opposition ceased to exist.

In tackling the next problem, there was the fact that the King was still in his forties—early forties at that. He had no thoughts of abdicating at all. And if Alfred would not marry Caroline, the current king would have to take her as his main consort. However, the king had Princess Consort Jane. The King got down on his knees for the first time in his life. He begged Jane to ‘please die’. Jane was smart, they had both worked in national politics and she knew what was going on. Jane agreed in a three-letter-word while leaving these words, “It’s not for your sake. It’s for my little boy.”

Jane was promised the security of a lifetime of living. With that, one problem was settled. However, Jane’s absence left a big hole and Alfred had to take on the administrative duties that Jane had previously handled, leaving the already swamped Alfred absolutely no time to visit Fania. The letter he wrote Fania could not contain any details or core information, as it might fall into anyone’s hands at any time. It was necessary to keep the matter under wraps from Agrid’s knowledge until the announcement of the marriage between the King and Princess Caroline.

As a result, Fania was kept in the dark, leaving him feeling anxious.

“Sorry, Fania. You must have been lonely.” Alfred sat on the bed and embraced Fania, who had raised his upper body on the bed.

“No. I know how hard you’ve been working. Thank you Al, thank you for working so hard for me and not letting go of my hand.”

The dark circles under Alfred’s eyes showed how hard he had worked. For Fania’s sake, he had done everything he could. Fania, who had been hugged, hugged Alfred in return.

“Fania.” Alfred’s hand touched Fania’s cheek.

Then he put his own lips on Fania’s. The lips parted quickly. It was a light kiss, just a touch.

He had been dying to touch Fania for months.

“Al…” Fania, who was always shy and pretending to be angry, sent a snarling gaze as if a light kiss was not enough.

Alfred gave a blotchy smile and got up from the bed, this time on one knee in front of Fania, “Fania Arginia. I ask you to marry Alfred Gaicias Frialist. I swear to love and protect you for the rest of my life.”

Fania’s eyes fluttered as he looked at Alfred. Fania had fussed a lot about the engagement, but it was an engagement formed when they were twelve; he was too young back then and never connected it to an actual marriage. He knew in his head that marriage comes after engagement, and he was disturbed by the talk of marriage between Princess Caroline and Alfred. And yet, he never thought for a moment that he would be asked for a hand in marriage.

There were a myriad of thoughts and emotions whirling in Fania’s mind: the panic upon discovering that he was actually a villainous noble son, the qualms from being a gay couple regardless how it was legal in the country, the doubt whether or not he—someone unable to bear children—could be a match to Alfred, the apparent future king, and also the fear that people not would be accepting this marriage.

Alfred looked suspiciously at Fania, who was frozen by the proposal and did not move.

“Fania, why don’t you answer me? You still mulling over it? Fania’s answer can be from the following: ‘Yes’, ‘Certainly’, ‘By all means’ or ‘OK’. Just choose one.”

Somehow, he smiled like a mask, which was different from usual.

“Oh, I just haven’t thought about getting married until now. I always wanted to be next to Al, and I didn’t want to embarrass Al for that, so I did my best in my consort training… Is that so, the person who marries Al would be the prince consort… I see, I see.”

Something fell into place in Fania’s chest. It was his one and only love for Alfred. A feeling that was irreplaceable and could not be changed. It was not just that he adored Alfred, he loved him, he wanted to protect him, he wanted to help him, he was jealous because of him, he wanted to play foul. Various feelings burbling inside him were not limited to the beautiful ones.

Fania locked eyes with Alfred. In contrast to the blank stare of a few moments ago, he had a firm, determined look on his face.

“Al, I love you, Al. I want to be next to Al for the rest of my life. I won’t give you to anyone else. Please give yourself to me. I want you to marry me.”

“Fania!!”

A jubilant Alfred hugged Fania as he exclaimed, “I’ll definitely make you happy!”

“No, we’re going to be happy together.” Fania’s words were met with a beaming smile from Alfred.

Gently they locked lips.

‘No matter what happens in the future, we will never let go of each other’s hands’; they exchanged a kiss like exchanging such a vow.

…His Majesty’s name was furtively mentioned for the first time.

author’s note: There are only four episodes left until the final episode. Please come along until the end. There is also the DILF festival.