Intermission: The Twin Kingdom takes Actions

　　While the Carpa Royal Palace was in uproar over the audacious act from the Princess of the North Continent, the Prince and Princess from the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell were having a somewhat serious discussion in the part of the Royal Palace that had been rented out to them.

　　“Wow, what a surprise. The northern Princess sure is a.s.sertive.”

　　“Yes, you can say that again. I suppose the North Continent handles things differently after all?”

　　Although she usually was no fan of gossip, Princess Bona also seemed interested this time as she responded to Prince Francesco with a glittering sparkle of curiosity in her purple eyes.

　　She was born into a low-ranking n.o.ble family and still focussed more on her Bestowal Magic and engraving techniques, even after she had become royalty, so she had only internalized the bare minimum of royal etiquette and att.i.tude, making her moral values slightly different from the typical member of the royal family.

　　“I would never even dream of having the courage to make a proposal of my own accord in public. Actually, will she be alright? The marriage between royalty is pretty much a taboo, is it not?”

　　Her worried interjection revealed how trivial her level of knowledge actually was.

　　Prince Francesco on the other hand only looked like a carefree idiot on a glance and was an idiot in actual fact, but was a true-born royalty, so he at least knew more about these kind of things than Princess Bona.

　　“Not quite. Most royalty on the North Continent don’t have a bloodline magic, so marriages between royalty aren’t a taboo there. If anything, they are endorsed.

　　Going by our standards, it would be more like a marriage between influential n.o.bles in the same country.”

　　“Oh, I see. So something like a feudal lord moving up the ladder and gaining independence?”

　　Princess Bona had never been the stupid type, so she was quick on the uptake.

　　“Yeah, more or less. Therefore a political marriage with another country is pretty common for Princess Freya. If anything, His Majesty Zenjirou and Her Majesty Aura should be the most shocked by it. The Carpa Kingdom is a major power here after all.”

　　“Yes, you are right. Then I a.s.sume it is quite likely that Princess will be turned down?”

　　Her expression as she asked this worriedly looked like she was genuinely concerned about Princess Freya.

　　“Hmm? I wonder. They currently do have a dangerous shortage of pract.i.tioners for their bloodline magic due to the previous war, so it would be wise to have His Majesty Zenjirou take a concubine. Princess Freya may not hold a bloodline magic herself, but her magical power is by no means low.

　　The matter might actually work out easier than expected.”

　　Considering the secret pact between the Carpa Royal Family and the Sharrow Royal Family, it should actually be a problem, if it worked out, but Prince Francesco was not bothered by it in the slightest and mentioned this unconcerned.

　　Technically also a part of the Sharrow Royal Family, Princess Bona did not know of these circ.u.mstances, though, so she nodded admiringly.

　　“I see. Then His Majesty Zenjirou will probably be ‘made’ to take more concubines in the future. I feel for him.”

　　She expressed her sympathy for Zenjirou like that. Her moral values were almost identical to his, so in a way, she understood him better than anyone else.

　　Only wealthy merchants or higher n.o.bility perceived multiple wives at the same time as a blessing. Monogamy was the norm for commoners or lower n.o.bility and taking a second or third wife would only cause unnecessary trouble.

　　Princess Bona understood that by nature, since she was born as a low-ranking n.o.ble.

　　And it was probably something a true-born royalty like Prince Francesco could never relate to.

　　“Hmm? Her Majesty Aura is a woman of character and Princess Freya is a fine lady as well. His Majesty Zenjirou is actually in an enviable position.

　　But well, if you’re that worried about him, why not run for a concubine position yourself?”

　　As always, Prince Francesco wore his childish smile without the slightest shred of malice as he proposed the crucial question.

　　However, Princess Bona had no way to know about the inner workings of the Sharrow Royal Family, so her reaction turned out to be rather boring.

　　“Oh please. You are always so quick to speak in jest, Prince Francesco. Even if we are by ourselves here, you may not tell such an heedless joke.”

　　When she scolded the older prince like a child that had done something bad, her expression revealed neither shame, nor surprise.

　　It was the expression of someone, who literally never had considered becoming a concubine for Zenjirou, not even as a joke.

　　This was not even a matter of being attracted to him or not. She was just not envisioning this kind of development to begin with.

　　Princess Bona was profoundly convinced that she was going back to the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell soon. And Zenjirou was the Prince Consort of a different country.

　　So before their social standing or the taboo for marriages between royal families with bloodline magic even came up for discussion, she did not see him as a potential marriage candidate in the first place, since they were going to live their lives too far from each other from now on.

　　But the blonde Prince said suggestively with a smirk as if to spur her on unnecessarily.

　　“But Bona, you saw the pair rings of Her Majesty Aura and His Majesty Zenjirou, right? I mean those pretty rings with three diamonds. Apparently they are called ‘wedding rings’ and are something that men give their future wives in the world of His Majesty Zenjirou.”

　　“I- In other words, I would get a fantastic ring like that, if I were to marry him?”

　　Swallowing her saliva with a gulp, Princess Bona completely changed her expression into a dead serious one.

　　“Yes. But right now, he can’t interact with his world anymore, so any wedding ring for a concubine would have to be from this world.”

　　When Prince Francesco pointed out this fact, which would have been obvious after a bit of thinking, Princess Bona trembled with realisation.

　　“P- Prince Francesco! Please refrain from making vicious allusions. I was almost tricked, you know!”

　　“Oh come on, don’t be tricked by a joke like that. It makes me feel bad for telling it.”

　　Scratching his head with a troubled look, Prince Francesco averted his eyes from the angry glare of Princess Bona and kept it to himself that he was thinking how “naïve this girl got as soon as it concerned jewellery”.