Volume 5 - CH 3.04

In merely three days, Bettina had finished deforesting the planned construction site of the second greenhouse just by working alone. The work that awaited her next was to dig up the stumps and transport a large quantity of soil to fill in the holes. And afterwards, if she made the ground level and trod the soil down, all the work entrusted to Bettina would be completed. From there onwards, it was the specialists’ domain.

「Fu~…」

Bettina, who had raised the visor of Bachururus and wiped the sweat on her forehead, leaned against the bundle of the logs of albizia julibrissin, which were piled up like a hill, and sat down.

There wasn’t much physical fatigue due to the power of Bachururus, but only the heat of summer was something about which nothing can be done. Bathed in the sunlight of summer, the amour of Bachururus, in particular, had greedily accumulated that heat. Without the shade of the cytisus scoparius, the situation would be as though she was entering a steam bath.

「I’ll be troubled if the seasons in the future are like this. I have to request Oji-sama to think of a way to let me stay cool—」

Bettina rehydrated with wine and took a short rest.

「…But not wanting to go and pee very much after you sweat a lot, that was true」

Bettina, who was talking to herself about such a thing, overheard the flustered voice of a middle-aged man and secretly showed her face from the back of the mountain of logs.

「Even if you suddenly tell me such a thing…」

「No, it’s not a sudden topic at all!」

It was Isaac; in addition, if she remembered correctly, she believed that that person was Minister for Home Affairs Camuñas-kyou. Bettina saw the two people entering the greenhouse. Seeing that there wasn’t a single page who would help the Crown Prince with his work if it were usual, perhaps the two people might be planning to talk about politics.

For a moment, Bettina thought “Is it all right for me to be here, I wonder?”, but Isaac also knew that Bettina was working here at this time, so Bettina continued to drink the wine, thinking he probably didn’t mind in particular if that was the case.

「—Your Highness is twenty years old already. It isn’t strange even if you take a consort—or rather, it’s stranger that such a topic wasn’t brought up until now!」

「Pu!?」

Knowing that the topic of the two people was related to Isaac taking a wife, Bettina almost spouted the wine.

「Though it’s somewhat rude to say it like this, His Majesty is, well… um, how do I say, towards women—」

「Isn’t it fine if you say it clearly, that his womanising is extreme」

「…H, His Majesty certainly has that kind of tendency, but despite that, he has no child besides Your Highness. This means that a male of direct descent who can succeed to the throne of Ahmad is just Your Highness alone! Naturally, if Your Highness doesn’t have a heir, our royal family will cease to exist, you know!?」

「It’s not something to be so anxious about, right? You said that I’m twenty years old already, but if you’re going to say that, then I’m still twenty years old, you know? Besides, if we don’t care about direct descent, there are also other young men who can be the successor, right?」

「You mustn’t!」

While wiping the sweat on her forehead, Bettina heard Camuñas-kyou, who was rumoured to be a timid person, speaking loudly unexpectedly and reflexively ducked her head.

「—Please look at the nearby Heidelauta! As a result of the king passing away without deciding on a prince to be the crown prince, the issue of the successor grew worse and the country split apart, you know? Though discourteous, if His Majesty and Your Highness die all at once like this, even our Ahmad might be on the verge of splitting apart!」

「Hoho. …In other words, if Chichi-ue or I died, what you’ll think about first isn’t our funerals or what but the issue of the successor?」

「T, that, well… if I have to speak without fear of misunderstanding, we don’t serve an individual but the country called Ahmad—」

「Un, good, good, that’s correct. I also felt relieved that Camuñas-kyou is a possessor of such a sense of balance」

「Though they’re—such kind words, I won’t let you leave this matter unsettled here today, Your Highness!」

The conversational exchange of Isaac and Camuñas-kyou could be seen beyond the greenery through the glass. Bettina even forgot about her thirst, held her breath and gazed at that.

「In any case, you have to choose a suitable partner as soon as possible and get engaged at least…」

「Suitable partner?」

「I think choosing from among the daughters of famous nobles and royalties after surveying not only within the country but also the entire allied countries is the logical move」

「Well, it’s an issue that can be settled immediately if Dilmah has a princess of marriageable age, but unfortunately, they don’t have one… in that case, I can’t choose so easily, right? In the first place, what kind of person will you accept? If I married a strange person, her relatives will throw their weights around, and it’ll become terrible, you know?」

「Mu…」

「Then」

Isaac sighed exaggeratedly and continued.

「—For example, how about a Dominas?」

「Yes?」

「The House of Costacurta is originally a distinguished family that has a connection to the royal family, and the House of Rudbeck is also a distinguished family with a long history, right? They just fell by chance recently, and their family statuses are much higher than such nobles, and there’s also no fear of troublesome maternal relatives interfering impudently」

「I, I see—」

「If it’s Costacurta-geika, she probably can give birth to many healthy children. And if it’s Rudbeck-geika, she seems to be able to give birth to very intelligent children. …In fact, there should be a few examples of a retired Dominas becoming the queen before now」

「C, certainly, if it’s both Their Eminences, they have enough qualifications to become Your Highness’s consort—however, both of them were just inaugurated this year, so the wedding will be nine years later at the quickest…」

「That sort of matter, we can just prepare the next Dominas candidates and have them retire earlier than usual, right?」

「—」

Bettina was listening to those words of Isaac in a daze.

Isaac was looking for a marriage partner, and in addition to that, partners like Valeria or Karin—at the point of time Bettina thought so, her mind went blank, and further information didn’t go in at all.

When she realised, she had opened the window of the room of her home fully and was looking up at the summer night sky fixedly.

A lot of time must have passed after that, but even so, she had no memory of what she did during that time at all.