Chapter 8.3

Cermiane’s Secret (3)

“As long as I had my Elder Brother, I wouldn’t need to enter the imperial family, which meant that I would never be a member of the imperial family. As such, I had thought I wouldn’t need to tell anyone, even you, Ral, about this. I intended to serve and support Elder Brother and the imperial bloodline as a knight my whole life.”

“Why do you not want to be part of the imperial family so badly?”

“Rather than not wanting to, I had thought that I must not. Mother would always tell me, ‘I have received an unbelievable amount of grace from Her Majesty. If the child of such a person were to be of equal standing with Her Majesty’s child, that would be overly presumptuous.’”

A mother’s way of thinking and her values are a sort of curse to her child. If the child is repeatedly told something from when they were really young, they believe that is the truth. I felt that Cermiane’s way of thinking was deeply influenced by Her Highness Felianne.

“I too deeply respected Elder Brother and did not want to cause any potential problems with his succession as the next Emperor. As such, I concluded that the best course of action for me to take was to become a knight and support him that way.”

There were many things I wanted to point out in his way of thinking, but it seemed that Cermiane firmly believed in what he was saying. I let out a sigh and said,

“Their Majesties and His Highness the Crown Prince countlessly wished for you to become a member of the imperial family, right?”

“Yes, after Mother passed away, I was called to the inner palace and was asked a couple of times to do so. I declined, though.”

“You should have obliged at that point.”

Cermiane made a surprised expression. He probably doesn’t understand yet.

“His Highness the Crown Prince didn’t have any other siblings other than you, right? Then, if he wanted to step down from his position, there would be no close relatives around. Isn’t it understandable for him to want a close relative whom he could rely on to be nearby?”

Cermiane looked as if he was completely taken by surprise.

“Moreover, they wanted you just in case something happened, like right now. That way, the hand-off would be a lot smoother.”

I thought that Her Highness Felianne and Cermiane were too focused on the demerits of having multiple princes that they did not think of how there were just as many merits. Since I got along well with my siblings, I knew about this, but having many close relatives whom you could trust was very reassuring.

“I had never thought about it that way.”

Cermiane slumped his shoulders. Yeah, assumptions were a scary thing. I can’t say much about other people, either.

Putting all of this aside for the time being, with how things turned out, we shouldn’t focus on the past. We need to focus on what will happen from now on. Cermiane truly was an illegitimate child who was officially acknowledged as an imperial prince by His Majesty. And with the current condition of His Highness the Crown Prince, he needed to fulfill his promise of returning to being a member of the imperial family. He needed to become the Crown Prince, and as his wife, I naturally needed to become the Crown Princess, it was how it panned out. Yikes. Are you serious?

“…So His Majesty was pleased to learn that I was a lady from a marquisate, at that time?”

“Yes. His Majesty had been recommending me a couple of marriage proposals with high-ranking noble families. I declined them, of course.”

If Cermiane had married a commoner or a low-standing noble lady and had children, it would have caused problems when he returned to the imperial family. His Majesty was concerned about this, I guess. So, putting my personality aside, I was a noble lady with a certified high rank. There was no room for any complaints.

Just like how His Majesty requested support from Elder Brother at the ceremony, with Cermiane becoming the Crown Prince, the imperial family can look forward to the Caliente family’s full-on support. If I had come from who-knows-where and if Cermiane was in a situation where he had no supporters among the nobility, since there were still some distant relatives of the imperial family, Cermiane might have not been able to smoothly become the Crown Prince. At any rate, his mother was from a low-ranking family, so they couldn’t expect much support from that side.

So basically, marrying me, ironically, spurred on Cermiane succeeding the throne. It was something neither Cermiane nor I had ever imagined. … Or actually, who knows?

“Cermiane, you declined all the marriage proposals from high-ranking families that His Majesty suggested, right? All in order to avoid becoming part of the imperial family. Then, why did you marry me, who also comes from a high-ranking family? Wasn’t it for insurance, just in case you did need to return to the imperial family?”

If he had instead married a commoner, he surely would have been able to distance himself from the throne. The question is, why did he not do that? As I suspected, wasn’t it because he still had some regrets about the throne? However, Cermiane just made a surprised face.

“I have never thought of you as a high-ranking noble, Ral.”

…That is certainly very valid. After saying that, Cermiane apparently thought he phrased it the wrong way, and corrected himself:

“When I fell in love with you, I had never thought about what your status was. Or rather, after meeting you, I was able to free myself from being bound by status and rank.”

What did he mean? Cermiane apparently recollected this memory and gently smiled for the first time today.

“Until I met you, I had always restricted myself whenever I did anything by telling myself, ‘I am just a mere knight.’ I mustn’t overstep my status. For I had believed that very action was evidence of me unconsciously thinking of myself as an imperial prince.”

That was why, even when a young noble lady was getting bullied, since a knight cannot reprimand a high-ranking noble, he did not take action.

“But, at that time, you literally kicked noble status and rank out, flying.”

What I sent flying was a young man from a count family, to be exact.